Knight and Wand

Chapter 231 The Curse of the Snake
The humiliating defeat of Achaji's troops has caused discussion among the Uriah people in the Southern Army camp in recent days.

The particularly straightforward Khan of Alkin told Abel bluntly that without the same number of Kantadar cavalry accompanying him, his troops would no longer serve as vanguards for the Kantadar army alone.

They had been successfully advancing into the territory of Usato, but suddenly they lost thousands of elite cavalrymen, all of whom were elite soldiers. This was a serious loss even for a large Ulia tribe.

Abel looked at Chief Uriah, who was demanding compensation from him, and knew that the other party had already backed down.

He had no choice but to suppress his unhappiness and appease the other party with kind words, allocating food and fodder, and giving compensation in the form of money and property, before he could temporarily calm the other party down.

Fortunately, at present, the huge wealth in the royal city of Kantadar has not completely lost its appeal to the Uriah people.

Looking back at the map, upstream of the tributary river east of the forest, Aberle calmly pondered the military intelligence sent back from different directions.

Among the various vanguards sent out in the early stage, only the upstream side encountered a large number of Orlando troops crossing the river to actively attack.

This suggests that there must be a place to cross the river that can be crossed quickly.

In order to maximize the advantage of our own military strength at this moment, we must undoubtedly send enough troops to advance upstream as soon as possible to test where the loopholes in the north bank's defense are.

The enemy has sent nearly 4,000 men to garrison upstream, so we should send 10,000 ourselves.

If ten thousand are not enough, then send twenty thousand. He wants to see how the Orland people can take care of both the beginning and the end.

A dispatch plan was quickly finalized, and the three major camps of the Southern Army decided to divide their troops into two routes, advancing northward from the east and west of the forest at the same time.

But just two days after the army started moving, the Lion Scorpion Knights reported one after another that there had been large-scale troop movements on the north bank.

Although they could not risk getting closer, the number of people they saw from afar clearly exceeded their previous estimates of the size of Orland's army.

Abel was afraid that the Orlanders had sent new reinforcements from the north, so he summoned his recently emerging intelligence staff for questioning.

Two days later, he finally received a reply from his staff.

".Recent news from the north bank is that the Orland people are recruiting a large number of civilians in the name of His Highness Casso to go to the upper reaches of the eastern section of the river. The scale is at least more than 10,000 people, but my people did not see them distributing weapons. It seems that they are only recruiting civilians as labor. They may want to establish a defense stronghold upstream of the eastern tributary." The intelligence officer reported hesitantly.

"Maybe?" Abel's face darkened.

".I don't want your guess, I want the exact news.

It would take a lot of time and effort to mobilize tens of thousands of people to build a new stronghold. So why didn't the Orland people just defend the existing castles and towns?
You promised me that I could buy off the northerners' internal intelligence quickly after I gave you so much gold and jewels. But recently, your men seem to have made no progress."

Upon hearing this, the intelligence officer lowered his head deeply with a terrified expression.

But he felt no fear in his heart, he just felt that it was a wrong decision.

Asking the Duke of Aberle for that money was just a cover-up.

How could one possibly get to know the inside story of high-level military discussions during such a war just by ransom?

He had already sent people on the north bank to send secret codes and signals that only Dark Claw could understand, trying to contact the colleagues that Lord Baishou had arranged to be with the Earl of the Stag.

However, after so much time has passed, the spy who has been hiding beside General Trosa of the Northern Kingdom for many years still has no response.

Either the Dark Claw who was lurking as a close attendant did not come, or the other party was already dead.

Either way, the intelligence officer knew he could not fulfill his previous promise.

"I'm sorry, sir, our spy has been exposed and secretly executed by the Orland people." The intelligence officer told Aberle "the truth".

"Forget it. Let your men continue to investigate and find out the intentions of the Orland army for me as soon as possible." Abel frowned and had to put away his anxiety. He called the other party back and did not make any excessive demands.

This trusted aide had proven his loyalty and ability since he started the uprising. He had made great contributions to his rapid control of the leaderless Eastern Expedition Army. Abel did not want to blame him for just one failure.

Since secret reconnaissance failed, the only option was to hope for open sentry service. Aberle convened a military meeting and requested the "Knight Commander" of the former royal lion scorpion troops who had defected to him to send more personnel to investigate the upper reaches of the east where a large number of laborers were gathering.

But this request made the leader of the Lion Scorpion Knights feel troubled. After some back and forth probing, he basically figured out the deployment of the Northerners' air knights.

In the western airspace of Usato, with the help of sixty scorpion-tailed lions, they have suppressed the enemy's flying dragons and twenty Pegasus knights, so that King Orland dared not act rashly.

However, in the eastern airspace, there were only five Lion Scorpion Knights left that he could send out on a daily basis.

This lion scorpion squad rushed over to conduct reconnaissance. The other twenty Pegasus knights deployed by the enemy in the east would definitely be difficult to stop.

The bad thing is that the Orlanders have a griffin knight in the east.

Even if five manticores work together, they cannot defeat a griffin and twenty Pegasus knights.

But if more lion scorpions are transferred from the main camp to the east, once the power is unbalanced, who can guarantee that the flying dragons of the northerners will not start the battle in the sky ahead of time?
The pre-war air balance cannot be easily broken.

If we send too few people, we will not be able to break through the blockade and expulsion of the opponent's griffin and Pegasus formation. Any reckless move may result in the loss of precious air knights again.

If we send too many, it will be difficult to deal with Orland's flying dragon in front of the camp.

When no one in the military tent heard the Lion Scorpion Commander express his difficulties, they blamed him.

If the main force of the Manticore Army on the Eastern Expedition had not disappeared along with the king, and the current air knights in the country were only a quarter of the original size, which was cobbled together from various lords, the Manticore Knights would not have been so timid.

"A knight under my command has already died at the hands of the enemy's griffin knight, and that guy was a spellcaster. Lord Aberle, if we lose more riders before the battle, I'm afraid I won't be able to maintain comprehensive surveillance of the enemy afterwards." The Lion Scorpion Commander said helplessly.

The Duke of Aberle unconsciously moved his fingers on the armrest, realizing that in order to send more people to find out the enemy's unusual movements in the east, he must first weaken the enemy's air force.

As for the flying dragon and the griffin, the latter is obviously easier to get rid of.

"It seems that we have to find a way to kill that griffin." Abel set a goal.

He then sought advice from the lords.

Hunting a griffin is not an easy task. We need to consult the experience of the Uriah people in this regard, especially since the rider of the giant beast may be a wizard.

It's a pity that those powerful robed men also disappeared with the king. Now he only has a single-digit number of local wizards under his command. These people will be used in a frontal battle. Abel couldn't help but hesitate whether to send them out.

At this time, Count Yasen, who had been silent all this time, looked at the Lion Scorpion Commander thoughtfully, and suddenly asked: "Did the Lion Scorpion Knights who withdrew that day identify the identity of the enemy's Griffin Riders?
Is it the Earl of North in the north of Orland? Or the Baron of Allen in the County of Sartre?"

Seeing the old man with meticulously trimmed hair and beard looking at him, the Lion Scorpion Commander did not dare to neglect this long-famous knight.

"Neither. My subordinates vaguely saw a winged sword-shaped emblem on the griffin's armor. This should not be the emblem of the two griffin knights."

Count Arsen nodded and turned his gaze to Aberle.

"Your Excellency the Duke, let me handle the griffin. I may have some personal grudges against him."

After hearing this, Aberle was extremely surprised. This was the first time that the other party took the initiative to offer to fight for him.

Although the old earl followed the army all the way, he never let his troops participate in the battle, as if he was just waving flags to help.

However, the other party provided his own food and supplies, and was one of the most famous knights in the kingdom. Abeler had not been able to force him. After all, Abeler was already pleased to have a person of such a reputation standing in his team.

But he was still curious about what made Lord Yasen suddenly want to fight against the Griffin Knight.

After hearing Aberle's puzzled question, the old earl said calmly: "An illegitimate daughter I married many years ago fled back to my territory from Marmore County with her child a few months ago.

Her husband was killed by the Orlanders, and all her family members were massacred by the northerners. Only my daughter and a grandson escaped.

I heard that the person who killed my son-in-law was a young griffin knight, also known as the 'Snake Slayer'. He was even made into a poem and passed down. I don't know if it was this person, but since I have come across him, there is no reason for me to turn a blind eye."

(End of this chapter)