I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 158: Avoid Fighting on Two Fronts

Chris was busy all night, and by noon the next day, he finally arranged for people to place and control the captured prisoners of war. The place of placement was in their original military camp.

Chris made a rough count of the number of prisoners of war, including the deserters and civilians, and found that there were more than 12,000 of them. Excluding the more than 3,000 who were killed or seriously injured on the battlefield, the remaining 5,000 were undoubtedly those who escaped.

Let them run. Anyway, all the villages within a radius of 50 kilometers have been cleared out, and they will soon return hungry.

Don't get me wrong, Chris didn't carry out any scorching heat or clearing operations. This was all done by the Republic itself.

The members of the Restoration Army are all great nobles, and their style of doing things is also aristocratic. They look down on the common people and ignore and disregard the common people under their feet. Apart from collecting taxes, they basically don't even think about the existence of the latter.

This is not a good thing, but it is not a bad thing either. At least during the war, the Restoration Army never thought that they could forcibly conscript local people to fill trenches and confiscate the last bit of food in their homes.

The Third Infantry Regiment of the Republic did it. Chris didn't know what was wrong with them. They didn't bring enough rations when they went out to fight. After interrogating the surrendered officers, he learned that they were almost out of food when they took a detour across the Bolas Canyon. The food supply team that should have been delivered from the rear did not show up at all.

Therefore, in order to replenish military rations, Lieutenant General Dalek sent out a grain collection team to collect grain from all nearby towns and mountain villages.

As the old saying goes, thieves come like a comb, soldiers come like a rake, and officials come like a razor.

Dalek's behavior was like combing and shaving at the same time. Wherever he went, he scraped the place clean. Except for the very remote mountain villages, he also scraped away the food supplies in some villages and towns right on the road, and the wheat that was about to mature in the farmlands.

Therefore, Chris was not really afraid that a few of the defeated soldiers would escape back to their hometowns. First of all, the local villagers who had been attacked by them once hated them very much.

Anyone who can survive in the mountain country must have a bad temper.

So, the people who ran away are not the problem; the problem is that the people who did not run away left behind a lot of problems.

Chris felt dizzy just from making a simple list.

First of all, food is the easiest to get. Chris has decided to release more places to players. Secondly, this battle has also stimulated many players to spend money, and there is still a lot of money to buy food.

The aftermath is the real trouble. These 12,000 people certainly cannot be allowed to go home like this. The civilian laborers among them are easy to deal with because they are not professional soldiers. However, the members of the Third Infantry Regiment of the Republic are difficult to deal with.

Well, let’s not worry about this issue for now.

The most important thing to take care of is the expected new wave of refugees, and another major event... taking Oncandra and the territory between it and Bolas Fortress.

From the interrogation, Chris could clearly learn one thing... Lieutenant General Dalek's crazy gamble not only involved the Third Infantry Regiment he led, but also half of the Republic of Bagnia and one-third of the territory of the former Kingdom of Bagnia.

The demise of the 3rd Infantry Regiment at the Bolas Fortress meant that for a short period of time, Oncandra would be nothing more than a beautiful woman wearing only a light gauze dress in front of Chris.

But with 12,000 prisoners of war here, Chris was tied up and couldn't do anything for the time being.

With no other options, Chris could only issue tasks to all players and ask them to set off quickly.

At the same time, the warehouses at Bolas Fortress were opened, allowing all players who had accepted the quest to freely take rations, weapons, and equipment. It could be said that, aside from a lack of manpower, Chris provided players with his full support, including "authority"... Chris would grant any player who accepted the quest a title.

+The commander of the independent corps of the defense army of the Kingdom of Bagnia/the captain of the battalion (with a set of officer uniforms and flags). +
Chris asked players to use such titles and banners to use as a banner to reduce the resistance of the locals. As for what the latter can do, he no longer cares too much.

After Chris spent two days letting most of his players out to have fun, although there were still many troubles to deal with, he still felt a long-lost sense of peace.

Ah, this is a temporary, long-lost peace, it’s so wonderful.

Even though he was very busy, Chris still took an hour to make himself a cup of tea, lying quietly in the old chair, with his mind empty, thinking of nothing and doing nothing.

When Chris opened his eyes again, the sunlight outside the window had become softer. The warm afternoon light shone through the half-closed curtains onto his face, bringing a sense of lazy comfort.

He stretched, put down the teacup in his hand, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly. This rare leisure made him almost forget the disputes and chaos outside.

However, the peace is always short-lived.

After enjoying the rare leisure time, Chris stood up and started working again.

Twelve thousand prisoners of war was a heavy burden for Chris, but it was also a valuable asset that could build a country.

First of all, there were the weapons and equipment they left behind, including 32 bronze long-barreled field cannons, 5,000 matchlock guns, more than 30,000 armed swords, halberds, spears and other weapons, and more than 7,000 pieces of protective gear such as mail, plate chain mail, and leather armor.

As for other military tents, carriages and other miscellaneous items, there are countless of them.

Even though these things are not valuable to Chris individually, when the quantity increases, it is still a considerable fortune.

Just like sand, Chris held a handful of river sand in his hand. Apart from throwing it away, it was difficult for him to think of a second use for it.

But when there is enough river sand to pile up into a mountain, it can be sold for money.

The reason is the same.

Chris has begun to organize Isaac's infantry to supervise the prisoners of war, asking them to pack up all valuable supplies in the camp and complete the construction of the prototype camp.

The Third Infantry Regiment of the Republic passed this level, but the situation on the Restoration Army side seemed not to be good. If they were defeated by the First and Second Corps of the former, the next person to face the former's attack would be Chris.

Therefore, while sending the player army to attack, Chris was also thinking about whether he should support Count Dirac and use these captured weapons and equipment as waste... except for the artillery.

Doing so can not only prevent the Earl from collapsing prematurely, but also prevent this guy from becoming too powerful due to the military aid, defeating the Republic Army, and then turning around to attack Chris himself.

(End of this chapter)