Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 191 The Third Spiritual Tree and the Possibility of 500 Half-Griffin Knights

The information revealed by the daily intelligence this time was a bit dense, which made Su Li feel under great pressure and full of confidence at the same time!

In any world, victory is the greatest motivation to human heart.

No matter how great the price you pay, as long as you win the battle, you will be compensated in the final victory.

Especially the last piece of information, which means that if he can defeat the army of the Wyvern King and show the power of the Black Forest Lord, a large number of believers of the Fiery Sun Goddess will join the Black Forest Lord's army.

The priests and believers of the Goddess of the Fiery Sun are all powerful warriors. When they hear that Hessen led a group of people and defeated the evil monster army in the name of the goddess, they will probably rush to help from all directions on horseback, carrying spears and swords.

If Su Li fights well enough, he might even launch a human version of the waaagh and launch an expedition into the forest.

So Su Li did not do morning exercises after getting up in the morning, which was a rare occasion. He kissed Leviah under him. After three days and three nights of training, the female knight's whole body was limp and powerless.

Su Li supported her smooth back and helped her sit up. He said, "Get up and pack up. We are about to face our first battle against the Green Dragon's followers."

This battle is no longer a small-scale skirmish as in the past. The Green Dragon's minions number nearly ten thousand, and Su Li's elite army has more than two thousand people. If the free militia is added, the size of his army may exceed three thousand, or even close to four thousand.

How can a battle of this scale not make people excited?
Hearing Su Li's words, Freya immediately became alert, adjusted her breathing method, and quickly recovered.

Her eyes were bright as she asked, "Will all the main forces be deployed in this battle? We will once again face off against the Knights of the Red Night on the battlefield."

This proud woman was truly competitive. Su Li put on his clothes and asked, "Do you know the Scarlet Night Knights' collective magic?"

Freya nodded and said, "I heard Marshal Orstein mention it at the banquet. This is a secular knight order, so they possess a powerful bloodline ability: the Crimson Night Sharp Formation. After activating the divine spell, the knights' weapons will shine with a dazzling red light. The Crimson Night Knights will become like enraged red dragon kings, greatly increasing their damage and speed. At the same time, there is a high probability of shocking the opponent's bloodline power, resulting in a critical strike with both internal and external damage."

That's right. Unlike the Corona Knights' powerful passive abilities, the Scarlet Night Knights' abilities are actively activated. Once activated, they transform into murderous tyrants. Their charge sweeps across the battlefield like a red dragon tyrant, shredding all enemies in its path.

Therefore, it is very difficult for the Knights of the Corona to compete with the Knights of the Red Night in terms of the number of kills.

But if they fight side by side and work together, the effect will be unparalleled.

Su Li was full of hope for them and said, "If the goddess blesses you, and the wyvern lands, both of your knight orders can charge it together. After the Corona Knights weaken its close combat capabilities, the Scarlet Night Knights can unleash their full power. We might even be able to kill it directly."

And the wyvern will definitely land!
Wyverns are naturally incapable of mastering dragon language magic. They don't even have dragon breath, only three acid breaths. Their main means of attack is close combat.

Therefore, they are also called stepping stones for knights, and countless wyverns have been killed by the Knights in history.

Recently in the province of Surand, the secret weapon discovered by the greenskin warlords, the six-legged wyvern, an exceptionally powerful variant of the wyvern family, was completely wiped out by the Knights of the Empire.

Those were all powerful monsters of the God-chosen level, and they fell one after another in the palace under the continuous charge of human knights.

Every knight dreams of slaying a wyvern. Freya, a female knight, was no exception. Upon hearing this goal, her heart leaped. She immediately rose, donning the scarlet uniform prepared for her by the castle maid, and then donned her own vibranium rune armor.

Then she said in a stern voice, "We will not fall behind in the battlefield. I also suggest that you quickly cultivate the territory's griffins. The territory's griffins are already quite large. For this battle, we should gather the full strength of the Demi-Griffin Knights and launch an attack."

Then she walked forward, helped Su Li straighten his collar, kissed his cheek, and said, "My conquering knight, be careful when you go to the battlefield, don't fall down easily, otherwise you will never be able to enjoy such a wonderful knight training again."

Su Li raised his eyebrows. As expected, once there is close contact, even the coldest female knight will become more intimate?
From the moment she got up from the bed, to putting on her stockings and underwear, and finally putting on her military uniform, she did not avoid his gaze at all.

Now, there is a touch of charm and spring love of a young woman between her frosty eyebrows.

As she finished her breathless words, she patted Su Li's collar and prepared to leave. Su Li immediately grabbed her arm, pulled her into his arms, and asked, "You want to leave now? Since you mentioned the assembling of the Demi-Griffin Knights, shouldn't you set an example? Bring the Demi-Griffin Knights from your order with you. Fight together with the Knights of the Vengeful Sun in this battle and unleash your greatest strength."

A smile appeared on Freya's frosty face, like a snow lotus suddenly blooming, illuminating the entire room. She crossed her arms, looked at Su Li, and twisted her lips with disgust: "Oh? Lord, you really are calculating. This is a bet. Whether you win or lose, I must help you lead the Demi-Griffin Knights to charge. You lost the bet, but got my body. Now you want to take the winning share of the bet as well, and seduce me and the Demi-Griffin Knights of our knight order?"

Su Li didn't mind her arrogant look at all, which was a reflection of her unique charm.

So he leaned over and blew a breath of warm air into her ear, then said with a smile, "When a beautiful woman takes the initiative to ask a man for a bet, the man wins regardless of whether he wins or loses. Do you remember this now?"

Freya turned her body to the side to avoid the scorching breath from Su Li. Both of them had the lingering feelings of the love potion on them. If they got too close now, their bodies would become hot and their heartbeats would speed up. If they practiced for a while longer, they would delay their important work.

So Levya could only curl her lips and said to Su Li: "You are so shameless and frank. I really have nothing to say."

Su Li smiled, then turned around and said, "Come and help me put on my armor, and then tell me about the Demi-Griffin Knights. Your Knights have been stationed in the territory for so long, so there should be four Demi-Griffin Knights, right?"

Although Freya had a look of disgust on her face, she still walked over gently and helped Su Li put on the vibranium rune armor. At the same time, she said, "It seems that you have been plotting against the Demi-Griffin Knights of our Knights for a long time. You remember the data so clearly. There are four Demi-Griffin Knights, yes, but it is impossible for Captain Constantine to ride a Demi-Griffin to charge with the Knights of the Vengeful Sun."

Su Li put on his armor and stretched his body. Then he said, "That's no problem. Captain Constantine can continue to lead the Corona Knights in the charge. But I will tell Captain Constantine about you and the remaining two Demi-Griffin Knights coming to assist."

"Also, you just mentioned that you wanted to keep an eye on the Demigriff Knights. What did you mean? Tell me about your trip to the Griffin Forest. What did you gain?"

Freya nodded gently and said, "This time we're going to the Griffin Forest to tame the Demi-Griffins directly, so we can form Demi-Griffin Knights right away. The territory has already obtained quite a few Demi-Griffin eggs. If we can ripen them all and form a Demi-Griffin Knight Order, the size should be close to two squads."

Demigriff Knights differed from ordinary knights. A squadron of ordinary knights would be divided into two battle groups, each 60 men charging. This maximized their charge's power without sacrificing mobility. Unless it was a major battle, and the commander was determined to break through the enemy's defenses at all costs, knights generally wouldn't charge in formations of hundreds.

Due to their enormous size, Demi-Griffins have to reduce their numbers to maintain mobility, usually forming a charge team of 24. This way, they avoid crowding, collisions, and difficulty turning around.

Therefore, if the territory really has nearly two teams of Demi-Griffin Knights, it can already form a standard Demi-Griffin Knight detachment.

But this wasn't as easy as Freya had imagined. Su Li sighed, "Do you think I don't want to speed up the growth of the griffins? But the druids in the territory have been poisoned by the potion, their faces turning green. It's already great that he can speed up the growth of one or two griffins and half-griffins. So we must first defeat the first round of invasion by the green dragon's followers to buy time for him and the entire territory to develop."

Of course, Levitra understood the difficulty of this matter, so she continued, "Then you can change your mindset. I have good news for you."

"Good news?" Su Li raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "I like to hear good news the most. Tell me about it."

"The existence and growing power of your territory has actually affected the ecological balance within the Blood Pine Forest. The presence of humans and knights has killed a large number of monsters, goblins, and goblins, causing the balance of the Griffin Forest to become somewhat uncontrollable. The number of half-griffins within is increasing."

Su Li's brows immediately lit up with joy. This was really good news.

The food chain in nature is truly remarkable. Mighty demi-griffins patrol their territory with the majesty of lions. Yet, it's hard to imagine that their growth is restrained by the roaming goblins and goblins, scavenging like hyenas. These insidious yet weak monsters constantly steal the griffin eggs hidden within the demi-griffin's nests in the Griffin Forest.

Su Li couldn't help but wonder, "We killed a large number of monsters, causing the number of half-griffins in the Griffin Forest to increase dramatically. Will a large number of half-griffins emerge from the forest to hunt for food and harass the Green Dragon's followers from behind?"

Freya said coldly, "This is bound to happen. When the food in the Griffin Forest is not enough to sustain the number of half-griffons, they will definitely rush out to find food."

"But my Lord, don't get your hopes up too much. This process may take quite a while."

Su Li nodded. The territory itself still needed to withstand the initial wave of attacks before a turnaround could occur. Furthermore, once the territory weathered this crisis, the size of the Demi-Griffin Knights within the territory could rapidly expand! Recruitment could potentially increase by 100%, from taming one or two Demi-Griffins per month to taming three or four. Perhaps forming a Demi-Griffin Knights order of 1 would be no problem.

So Su Li said with great confidence: "Let's go, have a simple meal, and then we will go to Marshal Orstein to count the status of each knight group, infantry group and free militia group."

Soon after Su Li and Freya packed up everything and walked out of the room, Commander Orstein and Lord Ron came to the conference hall in the castle.

Priest Rong En was indeed a knight who once possessed the strength of a God-chosen level. He had eaten the flesh of the light-scale fish time and time again, and after resuming his knight training, his progress in training was advancing by leaps and bounds.

He now possesses the strength of a high-level elite knight, and breaking through to the champion knight level is only a matter of time. After all, bottlenecks and thresholds do not exist for him.

Therefore, he also served as the mentor of the territory's free militia, organizing and leading the territory's free militia.

After taking a seat in the conference room, Su Li spoke directly, "As we expected, the Wyvern King Sandarion will lead the vanguard army out of the forest first. We cannot passively defend and let them gather and march at their leisure. Otherwise, their orderly deployment and sheer scale will overwhelm us."

"The Wester High Chamber of Commerce sponsored our first line of defense west of the Bloodpine Forest, building a series of border outposts. This is a position we cannot afford to lose easily. I intend to proactively confront Sandalion's legion here. My commanders, how many troops can we mobilize for this battle?"

The followers of the Goddess of the Fiery Sun would advance the war in an orderly manner. Even if they had to fortify their defenses and clear the countryside, they would not abandon all the outer fronts right away and directly use the capital to meet the enemy's encirclement.

Especially since there are still many wealth and opportunities in the wild within the Hessen Territory, it is impossible for Su Li's army to simply abandon all defensive fortifications in the wild and hide in the castle.

This border outpost sponsored by the West High Chamber of Commerce was the first battlefield chosen by Su Li to fight against the Green Dragon's Legion.

The defensive fortifications built here are far more than a simple outpost. This is the most rugged terrain on the west side of the Blood Pine Forest. On the vast plain, there is a group of stone mountains and earth slopes, which has become the commanding heights for more than ten miles nearby.

Therefore, the caravans and the territory's army built a series of defensive facilities here. At the bottom of the stone mountain, near the water source, humans used wooden stakes to build a wall that stretched for more than four miles and constructed a military camp with a large number of tents, wooden houses, warehouses, and even simple blacksmith shops. In peacetime, they can repair the workers' mining tools and daily ironware. In wartime, they can also simply repair weapons, swords, and mail and leather armor.

Even on weekdays, there is a squadron of armed servants and three squads of halflings and dwarves stationed here.

Together they patrolled the border and maintained the camp's wells, sentry towers, arrow towers, watchtowers, etc.

Atop the rocky mountain, three military camps were set up at various strategic points, along with four defensive towers and a carefully maintained path down the mountain, complete with fences and wooden stakes. There was even a small defensive fortress constructed from rubble. This was the core of the defensive system, ensuring that if an enemy army laid siege to the camp below, the defenders on the mountain could launch an attack from this point at any moment, attacking the enemy's flanks and rear. The enemy, however, would be unable to launch a feint attack up the mountain through this narrow path.

After all, this small fortress had two arrow towers built on it, and the halfling archers and dwarf musketeers behind the firing holes could shoot calmly and were almost impossible to get hurt. However, their precise shooting skills aimed at the narrow mountain road where they had already calibrated their shooting routes, and their arrows almost never missed their targets.

Ever since the Green Dragon was about to awaken, the Hessen Lords had begun sending reinforcements, rapidly increasing their forces from a single squadron to over 600 men. The knights, commanding their armed squires, began comprehensively reinforcing all of the defenses, expanding, raising, and strengthening them at almost no expense.

The defensive wall, which was once just a thin wooden fence, has now been thickened with two layers, and a large amount of lime, gypsum and clay have been compacted in the middle. The wall, which was more than two meters high, has been quickly increased to more than four meters. Even if the trolls come, they cannot directly attack the archers on the wall.

More than a dozen defense towers and watchtowers were quickly built. With the financial allocation from the territory, they quickly purchased a large amount of wood and had no shortage of raw materials.

At the same time, a large number of adventurers, mercenaries and bounty hunters have gathered here. They not only undertake some tasks issued by officers and knights, help build city defenses, solve material transportation problems, earn bounties, but also provide the territory army with a large amount of food, props and adventure items.

Among them are some magical things they found in the evil wizard tower, ancient ruins and monster nests in the Blood Pine Forest.

For example, the spiritual tree Stardew Orange mentioned in the intelligence system today.

Priest Rong En also brought this important item with him. He handed the mud-covered shrub to Su Li and said solemnly, "I was just about to report to you on this matter. With the upcoming territory war, a large number of adventurers have come to our territory seeking opportunities to make a fortune."

"Not only did they bring with them rare items found in various ruins and dangerous places, but they also brought with them a sizeable group of free militia."

The Empire's broad definition of the Free Militia includes not only the citizens and peasants who bravely protect their homes and families from vicious monsters and demons, but also mercenaries, bandits, and pirates, who trade their strength and combat skills for money.

These people have no fixed place of residence and are difficult to count. They are spread across the heartland, border areas and other remote corners of the empire.

Therefore, Su Li was not sure about their number, so he asked with concern: "My Religious Advisor, do you have the exact number of the Free Militia?"

Ron said calmly, "No one can fully count the number of freemen. But I have a list of registered freemen here. A total of 1623 are willing to fight for our territory and are currently undergoing military training."

Su Li frowned: "This number is far less than I expected."

Ron spread his hands and said, "Assuming five people per household, there are a total of eight or nine hundred households in our territory. Organizing a militia of over 1600 is already quite a feat. This is also due to the size of our citizenry. The dwarven community, as well as the artisans and workshop owners of various workshops and shops, have actively participated in the training."

Su Li asked with concern: "How are their equipment?"

Speaking of this, Ron couldn't help but sigh. "It's hard to explain. These people's weapons are quite varied. Many veterans or Sun Goddess believers who have been retired for many years may still have their uniforms, crossbows, and long-handled weapons from their service, while others may only be able to use long swords, hand axes, hunting bows, etc. to make up the numbers. In some troops, even farm tools are used by these poor people as weapons."

"Although our territory urgently provided them with a batch of weapons, the fully-equipped militia we formed only consisted of six squadrons. To organize thousands of people and provide them with sophisticated equipment in such a short period of time is simply beyond our territory's current capabilities."

"Also, this is the first time that the Freedom Militia has been mobilized in our territory, and many people are skeptical."

This is normal. As an important force in defending the territory, the Free Militia has contributed to the victory and will naturally receive compensation from the victory.

According to Imperial tradition, free militiamen who survived bloody battles would receive a sum of money from the Elector's treasury as compensation, and they were also allowed to keep the spoils they plundered from the battlefield. However, some unscrupulous Imperial generals were notorious for often deploying mercenaries into the fiercest areas of the fighting. After all, the dead do not need to be paid.

Therefore, if the Hesse Lords could be a little more fair to the Free Militia and lead them to victory, the number of Free Militia would increase.

While Su Li was thinking about this, Rong En continued, "But there is also good news. While the weapons and equipment of these free militias are diverse, the adventure items and fantasy props they brought are also diverse."

"The spiritual tree you asked us to find, the Stardew Orange, is a typical example. The adventurer brought it out solely because of its luminous leaves and their beauty. It's only priced at 1 gold crown and 50 silver coins."

"But I just asked Minister of Agriculture Fandral. This is a very precious spiritual tree that only grows in the southern part of the empire. The sweet oranges it produces have powerful purifying and detoxifying effects. For example, if the poison that Edmond, the Head Steward of the Pastoral Garden, was poisoned with was cured by eating a sweet orange."

"A high-end luxury perfume made from sweet oranges, worth 100 gold crowns per bottle."

This is truly the territory's cash cow. One Stardew Orange tree can bring at least 500 to 600 gold crowns to the territory.

Although the pressure of the green dragon's invasion is huge, the development of the territory cannot be stopped.

Su Li then called Phyllis and asked her to take two nuns from the Dawn Church to plant the sweet orange tree in the purple spiritual field. It was planted next to the Consecrated Wisteria tree. It was a low shrub that could coexist with the tall wisteria tree.

Su Li plans to turn the garden that Ingrid takes care of into a fantasy forest or dream garden, where all kinds of fantasy fruits can be grown.

Then Su Li asked, "From what Lord Rong said, it seems that besides this Star Dew Orange, the adventurers also brought a lot of good things?"

Ron nodded immediately and said, "They brought quite a few goodies. In the past few days, we've purchased a batch of witchcraft props from them, such as the [Echo Conch], [Mask of Morr], [Wild Skull], and so on."

(End of this chapter)