When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 875 Drawing Lots
The border knights marched and camped all day on June 1st.

The flags of the flag team, the flags of the knight commander, the flags of the chapter, the flags of the grand master, as well as the pope, the nobles, and various family emblems...

Amid the canvas tents, these colorful flags fluttered in the wind.

The foot of the nearby Muzhong Mountain, which is a branch hill of the Chitie Mountain Range, suffered a disaster.

Groups of farmers and soldiers wielded axes and cut down all the trees on the mountain to use as flagpoles, tent supports and fuel.

Outside the range of the clockwork cannon, on the nearest and most suitable earthen slope - Crow Feather Hill, the seventeen knight commanders met the three giants again.

The three giants sat in front of the stump of a century-old oak tree, on which was placed a map drawn by the scouts.

The knight commanders formed a semicircle, stretched their necks, and looked at the map.

The flag captains arrived one after another to report and left, summarizing the intelligence one by one.

"The east side is full of mud and puddles, with only a narrow open space, which is simply a target for a clockwork cannon."

The Grand Commander stroked his chin, which meant that an attack could not be launched on the undefended eastern outskirts of the fort.

This means that it is impossible to use multi-sided siege tactics to consume the morale of the defenders in the castle by taking advantage of numbers.

The battlefield in the north is not very wide, and there are those disgusting fortifications. Even if we attack, we can only mobilize a few thousand people at a time.

"The estimated number of defenders inside the city is 3,000, and the number of defenders outside the city is about 2,000. The flag they are flying should be the flag of the Guards. The commander of the chapter is the cousin of the evil monk Horn, named Das."

"Could it be the evil monk himself?" The head priest looked up suddenly.

"That shouldn't be the case. If Horn is not in the Holy Court, he should be in the Detention Dock." Knight Commander Cosme shook his head. "The battlefield here is far less important than Hotam County. Why would he come to our side?"

Twenty thousand border knights were forced to be immobilized by five thousand Holy Alliance troops? The Grand Commander frowned.

"In addition to the troops under the city, there are at least thousands of people in the nearby Dusk Bell Mountain." A young knight commander picked at the pus on his chin, "We captured two prisoners and interrogated them. They were all garrisons from the previous outposts.

These people used to be mountain dwellers from the Thousand River Valley area, and they are good at archery and mountain warfare. We all ride horses, and we can’t outrun them in the mountains without horses.”

The Grand Commander stopped pinching his brows, but the veins on his forehead began to throb violently.

This meant that, in addition to being unable to take the mountain path to the undefended suburbs of Nanbao, a portion of the troops had to be allocated to deal with the harassment from the mountain people.

Otherwise, a large number of soldiers would have to be mobilized into the mountains to search step by step and clear out the mountain people's strongholds bit by bit.

But that would take too long. Including the attack on Ladenburg, it would take almost two months.

The captain was not in a hurry for King Jiji. He drained King Jiji into bankruptcy and he could just run away back to his hometown.

He mainly didn't trust the nobles of Gravel Plains and Thorn Garden.

The nobles of Shishiyuan had already suffered from floods, and their homes were almost out of food. It was the church that took the lead in providing support.

These ungodly and impoverished nobles would probably riot if they were unable to supply the army with rations for two or three weeks.

The relationship between the nobles of Thorn Garden and the Border Knights is average, and they also have to supply military rations to their masters.

The grain transportation route from Ladenburg to Thorn Garden is so long that the loss will be extremely serious.

It would be embarrassing if we were to be defeated by the Holy Alliance infantry in Laden Castle due to lack of supplies.

Moreover, the Grand Commander is also worried that if time drags on, will it turn into another Battle of Malenbo?
The Count of Dreta, who presided over the Battle of Marienbo, has left his name in history - and it's not a good name.

Emeric had no intention of following in his footsteps.

After analyzing the situation, Wenceslas blushed, Cosme frowned, and even the usually calm Grand Commander Emeric couldn't help but curse:
"The generals on the other side are really despicable. If they are men, they should decide the outcome on the battlefield. It's shameless to do these little tricks!"

The knight commanders all joined in the curse.

This group of high-ranking knights cursed for five or six minutes before they gradually quieted down.

Swearing can only provide emotional value but cannot solve any problems. In the end, you still have to think about how to deal with it.

The first question is to fight or to retreat.

In the past, the commander-in-chief would have been more inclined to retreat shamelessly.

But now, he knew that this approach would never work and no one would agree.

They had walked all the way here from Bear Gnaw Castle, what an effort it took!
Even if the Grand Commander said he wanted to withdraw his troops at this time, the border knights below would definitely not agree.

The Grand Commander himself was holding a grudge.

Just as Horn relied on the three views of the Holy Way to consolidate the social consensus and ideology of the Thousand Valley Holy Alliance, the ideology of the Border Knights is the common honor of the Knights.

The border knights will do their best to maintain this "honor", otherwise the entire order will be at risk of collapse.

"Since we have to fight, how do you think we should fight?" The Grand Commander looked around. The knight commanders bit their lips, scratched their heads, looked up at the sky, or looked down at the ground.

"Don't be silent, weren't you quite talkative just now?"

However, the only response from the Grand Commander was silence after silence.

Finally, Knight Commander Cosme couldn't stand it anymore and said, "We should have rushed in without caring about anything. We gave them too much time to prepare."

"We can't turn back time, just tell us how to fight." The Grand Master pulled Cosme's arm, "You are the Knight Commander, I will listen to you."

"Since we can't retreat and all the tricks have been blocked, I'm afraid we can only attack head-on." After saying this, the Knight Commander looked up at the knight commanders.

The knight commanders who were seen turned their heads away, not daring to look at him.

A hard attack means casualties, casualties mean reduced troop strength, and reduced troop strength means decreased voice.

But they were unwilling to stop fighting because that would affect their authority over the lower-level knights.

The Grand Master had known this for a long time. He sighed and said, "Let's draw lots and let the Holy Father decide."

…………

"What is the reaction of the Border Knights?" In the castle's training ground, Horn, wearing cloth armor, practiced swordsmanship and breathing techniques in a meticulous manner with his coach.

"We have sent a number of scouts to patrol nearby, apparently looking for weak points. The rest of the troops have set up camps at Dusk Bell Pass and Crow Feather Hill." Standing at the edge of the parade ground, Leosmi replied respectfully.

Reaching out his hand to stop the sparring of the Holy Armor Guard, Horn took off his helmet and asked: "What's the news from Andre?"

"The wooden plank road will be completed before June 5th."

"Okay." Horn didn't trust Andre's character, but he trusted his abilities.

Horn's design for this battle was consistent, that is, positional warfare and delaying warfare.

He knew that Farlan was going to take action on the Windmill Land, and he knew that the Norns were eyeing the gold and silver mines in the Thorn Garden.

Given the administrative capacity and losses of the Kingdom of Elia, even the Pope's treasury could not afford to support such a large army.

Genigis didn't want to waste time, but Horn insisted on fighting with him.

This is not really about being a coward, but is based on the comparison of the strength of both sides and the execution of strategic goals.

Just like the current Battle of Ladenburg.

Objectively speaking, the Border Knights' impact capability and cavalry combat ability are stronger than the Holy League, and their numbers are greater than Horn.

Numbers are sometimes an advantage that is difficult to overcome, otherwise why would Horn go to such great lengths to expand his army?

And Horn also wants to minimize casualties, so defensive counterattack is the best way to play.

"Andre has already arranged everything, so we can't fall behind. We don't want to cook a table of dishes and then have no guests."

"I thought they would attack head-on. They wouldn't retreat unless thousands of people died. There would be no spoils!"

"Don't take expectations seriously. We don't know whether the border knights will attack, so we have to find out." Having said this, Horn fell into deep thought.

Seeing Horn thinking, Leosmi didn't dare to interrupt him. He waited for five or six minutes before gritting his teeth and speaking softly, "Your Majesty, the matter of Rapid City..."

When Horn heard about Rapid City, his expression also changed slightly. The current situation in Rapid City was another counterattack by the old forces against the Holy Alliance.

This tug of war will continue for a long time and happen many times, and he has already prepared himself mentally.

As for the means of coping...

"I have sent a letter asking the Black Snake Bay Federation to dispatch military police and tax police to stand by. Don't worry." Although he was not at ease, Horne smiled. "Andre is politically astute and responded promptly. Give him credit."

The corps commanders and the monk staff finally felt relieved.

Leosmy beat his chest and waved his hands, then was about to leave, and Besser followed Leosmy.

"Bethel! Please stay for a moment."

"Your Majesty?"

"You said that the Border Knights value honor first, right?"

"Yes...ah." Halfway through his words, Besser felt the knight's honor warning him.

This holy grandson has never had any bottom line on the battlefield!

Seeing the smile on Shengsun's lips, Besser knew that her ominous premonition was about to come true.

(End of this chapter)