When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 760 Very annoying

"Where's my Griffin Cannon? Was it washed away by the flood?!"

"What about Meliati? Her whereabouts are unknown? She's still missing?"

"What's the flood situation like? I don't know. You tell me you don't know?! Go check it out right now."

Bernardo was sprayed with saliva in the face by Horn, and he just squinted his eyes and took it, not daring to move.

Madeleine, however, had a straight face and said, "Your Majesty, after the flood, the front line of the Gravel Plain was in chaos. It is normal that the news is not flowing smoothly. We have tried our best to investigate and there will be news soon."

Horn walked back and forth behind the table several times before forcing a smile and patting Bernardo on the shoulder: "I'm sorry, I lost my composure. You did a great job."

"No, it's our fault." Bernardo quickly made amends.

Horn didn't say much, just shook his head: "Cardinal monks and chief monks in front of the emperor, please come here if it's not an urgent matter."

While waiting, sitting on the cushioned chair in the Stag Room, he looked at the blood-covered cloud hanging on the wall, but the worry on his face was hard to hide.

He thought that Meliati would win big, win small, or win miserably, but he never expected that she would lose miserably.

There were more than 20,000 people, including at least 10,000 new troops, and yet they suffered such a crushing defeat.

After all, Horn also didn't expect that the Gravel People would dare to dig a dam.

The Innocent Dam is the economic lifeline of the Thousand River Valley and even more so the lifeline of the Gravel Plain.

If the dam is dug, floods will also wash away their territories and estates.

According to previous investigations, not all lords are so absolutely opposed to Meliati.

In other words, some lords were actually wavering.

Unlike Horn who always waged the Great Judgment Crusade to strip away titles and fiefs, Meliati was a declaration war.

For those lords, losing the battle was a matter of replacing their superior lords and their cronies. What did it have to do with them?

They just want to be vassals, it doesn't matter who the lord is.

If the Duke of Wingchao insists on demolishing the dam, the vassals will immediately revolt.

What's going on here?
Regardless of the Gravel Plains, Upper River County and North Mound County are in chaos right now, with rumors spreading everywhere.

Some say that Meliati died, while others say that the Holy Father sent down a flood to destroy the world.

There are also claims that Horn was a church spy who killed Meliati.

The reason turned out to be that Horn took advantage of Meliati's absence and sneaked into North Mound County, breaking the heart of the Grand Duchess.

In any case, this wave completely disrupted Horn's battle preparation plan.

Horn felt his scalp tingling at the thought that in the future he might have to fight floods while fighting the Leia people.

"Carrie, Carrie, you lost at a really bad time." Horn slammed his fist on the table, and the teacup on the table bounced in the air.

Looking at the cup of water that jumped up and fell, he took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then walked to the door: "Is everyone here?"

"Everyone's here."

"Bring over the fruit coffee and tea. Madeleine will preside over the meeting and give the briefing. I will go and wash my face."

The ceramic basin was filled with ice-cold well water. Horn immersed his face directly in the cold water to suppress his impetuous spirit.

According to his idea, after four years of preparation, the situation would be like this by 1449.

As for the army, Horn had three battle regiments and a cavalry regiment, totaling more than 18000 soldiers, all in the Galar horizontal formation mode.

Meliati has five war regiments and two cavalry regiments with a total of more than 30000 soldiers, using the Galar phalanx mode.

Such an army of nearly 50,000 can almost compete with the Leia invasion army and the Ni army.

In terms of economy, a unified grain market and simple industrial market will be established in Shenglian to reduce transaction costs and carry out specialized division of labor.

In addition, through price signals and Horn's strong intervention, the efficiency of resource allocation can be greatly improved. At the same time, there must be at least 10 gold pounds in reserve to cope with the flow of money during the war.

Politically, a centralized and grassroots government system should be established, and an efficient taxation and human resources system should be built.

In this way, Horn could ensure that every one of his orders during the war would be truly implemented rather than just a perfunctory response.

But now this defeat will result in the loss of at least more than 10,000 troops, and will undermine people's confidence in war bonds.

Politically, it caused an imbalance of power between the Holy League and the Kushite faction, leaving the Kushite faction leaderless.

Fortunately, there is still room for recovery. They still have at least six to nine months.

Horn lifted his head up under cold water, and the privy monk next to him immediately handed him a towel.

After drying my face, I opened the door, walked through the corridor, and the meeting room was next to the Stag Room.

"There are three crises at present. The first is the disastrous defeat of the Grand Duke's army, the second is the recurrence of floods, and the third is to restore the credit of bonds to avoid large-scale bankruptcy..."

When Madeleine saw Horn coming, she immediately gave up the main seat and the meeting room was filled with "pious" sounds.

"Go on." Horn pulled a chair at random.

Madeleine did not refuse. After four years of studying and working, he had long since transformed from a clumsy baker into a moody cardinal.

Although making bread is still one of his hobbies, making bread is his real job.

"There is no news from the Grand Duke yet, we should send someone to find a contact..."

"Don't block the news of the defeat, but report it positively, otherwise the rumors will spread more and more outrageous..."

"We must choose a flood discharge site. The Poison Witch Swamp is a good choice. We can open the gates and release some of the water..."

"As for the bond issue..." Madeleine looked at Sissi, "I really don't have any idea. Sissi, do we have enough reserves?"

"It's enough to deal with the invasion of Leia, but flood control may not be enough." Sissi then looked at Bernardo, "Do you think the Leia people will take advantage of the opportunity to do something?"

Bernardo shook his head: "A large-scale invasion is impossible, but small-scale harassment is certain to happen."

"That trade route..."

"There is no problem with the trade routes of the South Nauan River and the Ibe River, but the Lower Nauan River will probably be blocked again," Horn continued.

The Lower Nauan River leads to the Kingdom of Leia and eventually flows into the sea at the Windmill Land.

Originally, the border nobles relaxed the restrictions to allow small-scale commercial trade.

Now that Meliati was defeated, it was impossible for King Jinigis to do nothing.

"We must stabilize the situation before the beginning of next spring. The Leia people are expected to arrive as early as next June, which is ten months from now."

"Your Majesty, there is actually one piece of news I haven't told you." Bernardo scratched his head. "We just received news that Genegis officially broke through the Duke of Neidbach's last fortress two weeks ago. The Duke's wife, daughter and son were all captured, and he himself escaped. I'm afraid we don't have ten months..."

Bernardo's new news caused the entire conference room to be silent for a moment.

Then, monks and cardinals, both great and small, began to whisper to each other.

Horn was not particularly shocked, or rather, he was numb from shock: "How long will it take?"

"We expect that they will first send the soldiers home for the winter, and then assemble after the New Year's Day, and the war will begin in February next year at the latest."

In other words, Horn and his team only have half a year left.

Only half a year.

"The war is about to begin..."

I don't know who suddenly said this, it was so abrupt in the originally quiet meeting room.

(End of this chapter)