Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 471 Dimo's Scheme, Emerald Blood
It has been proven that if a person is intelligent, they can not only lead troops into battle, but also be adept at politics and intrigue.

Dimo clearly belongs to this category.

After receiving the unexpectedly high "Tiger" brand, his first reaction was ecstasy, followed by fear.

Such a great achievement cannot be taken for oneself; it would cause serious problems.

As an old saying from Dongxia goes, some things are nothing until they're weighed, but once they're on the scale, they're worth a ton.

Exchanging "Tiger" brand cigarettes is something that should absolutely not be done.

If I were to take back a dozen or so, I would be commended for battlefield capture and bravery in battle; if I were to take back a few dozen, I might be praised for my outstanding military achievements and be considered a pillar of the nation. But if the number reached hundreds or thousands, such a remarkable achievement would be something that I, a general from the Zircon Territory, who was no longer well-regarded in the kingdom, could not bear.

This thing is a bit too hot to handle.

Even if we digest it in batches, it won't work. If everyone else has no achievements and only your unit has them, there will still be big problems.

After a moment's thought, he quickly made a decision.

We need to get the other Green Pine Army troops to join us.

This point itself is not difficult. According to the current battlefield policy of the Green Pine Kingdom, these "Tiger Badges" from the Vast Ocean have high reward amounts and are difficult to obtain. More importantly, these items represent special achievements in a direct confrontation with the Vast Ocean army, and are very valuable. For any local legion of the Green Pine Kingdom, they are hard currency that is almost impossible to refuse.

Dimo's main task is to do two things.

First, isolate the private communication channels between the Hanhai Army and the Green Pine Kingdom as much as possible, and keep this "Tiger Tag" exchange channel in your own hands for as long as possible.

Secondly, we need to ensure that we have new and more bargaining chips to exchange for "Tiger" from Hanhai, so that this transaction can continue indefinitely.

The first point is difficult, but Dimo ​​actually has its own unique advantages. The Cloud Mist Territory was once renamed "Kedi Territory". During that period, it was a subordinate territory of Zircon. Zircon Territory's relationship channels are much more active in this land than other legions.

Oscar was able to connect with Iron Fist Stronghold because that area had previously been under his jurisdiction, and even the old cripple's resettlement was arranged by him out of consideration for their friendship.

Now that Hysen's fate is unknown, the new lord appointed by the kingdom is obsequious, and the old Zircon generals who still retain some spirit and backbone are more willing to give Dimo, the heir whom the former marquis had placed high hopes on, some help.

Dimo already had a plan in mind. He wanted to take this opportunity to gather the old talents of these zircons and make his own power more abundant.

Prepare for all possible scenarios that may occur later!
However, he cannot say these things now, not even to his closest knight, Commander Ronan.

As for the second point...

“If we exchange these ‘Tiger Badges’ for the lords of other territories, we’ll have to make them offer something in return.”

"Money, the spoils of war for jade, or... some other gain..."

The words weren't explicitly stated, but everyone knew that the only people who could exchange "Tiger Brand" for it from Han Hai were Emerald's head and Green Pine's own.

"I've heard that there's a rule in the Hanhai (a region in China known for its high-level seizures) that all spoils are confiscated and distributed uniformly!"

"I don't understand the logic behind this either, but their soldiers are better at fighting than ours, so there must be a reason for their actions."

Dimo grabbed a handful of Tiger Brand cigarettes from the box and slowly scattered them, the clinking of metal creating a crisp and pleasant sound.

"Therefore, I would like to make a statement to all my uncles, elders, and generals here today: I, Dimo, will not accept any money or merits that I may receive in the future. I will distribute them all to you uncles and elders, and to the entire army."

"I only hope that after this battle, if we win, all my uncles will be ennobled and appointed as generals, reaching the highest ranks of officialdom! If... if we lose, I hope we will have enough money to redeem ourselves in a critical moment, take our families away, and even if we move to another place, we can still live peacefully."

That was said quite sincerely.

If some generals had some psychological reservations about cooperating with the enemy before, Dimo's words at this moment completely resolved their concerns.

That's right. If they lose the fight and get captured, given the current state of Zircon Territory, will they still have the ability to redeem themselves?
So many people were captured in the Glazed Valley, has the kingdom redeemed even one of them yet?
Green Pine wasn't without its attempts to negotiate, but in this state of war, even if Han Hai were desperate for money, let alone not caring about the cost, it wouldn't release people on the battlefield and create trouble for itself. Therefore, the ransom terms offered by Han Hai were completely unacceptable to Green Pine.

These inside stories were unknown to most of the generals who had been scattered on the front lines, and even if they knew some of them, they might not be able to empathize with them. After all, the fact was that prisoners of war could not be redeemed, and they themselves could become the next ones at any time.

What else is there to say?

Let's do it!

Of course, before that, Dimo ​​had to take all sorts of factors into account.

How to reasonably arrange the source of one's "Tiger Brand" products.

How can you get others to willingly exchange their "loot" from the Emerald Kingdom for their "victories" from the Vast Ocean?
How can we get the other Green Pine Legions to keep this secret so that the Green Pine Kingdom doesn't discover it too early?

Inspired by Han Hai's series of operations, Dimo ​​stayed up for several nights in a row and finally set up this scheme with bloodshot eyes.

Soon, an invisible trading line was laid out across the Crystal Plains.

All the legions of Green Pine received a secret message: the front-line troops, especially those in Zircon Territory who were considered suicide soldiers, seemed to have indeed found a weakness in the defenses of the Vast Sea.

They launched a series of attacks on several Han Hai camps, and although they paid a heavy price, they also achieved considerable success.

Most importantly, according to information from various channels, Han Hai Ling has confirmed that it has indeed suffered considerable losses, which confirms the authenticity of this matter.

This made everyone somewhat eager to try it out.

Then, unsurprisingly, the Green Pine troops who dared to attack were severely punished by the Vast Ocean.

Just when everyone was feeling dejected and gritting their teeth, news came that Nava, the knight commander of Shiyuan Territory, had handed over hundreds of Hanhai "dog tags" to the Green Pine Army camp in exchange for a very generous reward for his meritorious service.

The relationship between men is the same: they both fear their brothers' hardships and fear their brothers driving Land Rovers.

That very day, several Green Pine officers who were usually very close to Nava couldn't wait to approach him. After a round of drinks, the tipsy Nava finally revealed the truth.

"Let me tell you... let me tell you, we can't fight this Han Hai ourselves, only Zircon's gang can fight it!"

Everyone was indignant: "Why is that?"

Nava's eyes glazed over. He let out a heavy hiccup, shook his head, and continued, "The magic of the Vast Ocean is too ruthless. Even with their defenses in place, no matter how many great knights you have, you can't get through."

"To find their weaknesses, we need top-secret intelligence!"

A lieutenant sneered, "You're getting more and more outrageous. Zircon Territory and Han Hai have such a deep grudge, how could they get top-secret intelligence that we can't even obtain?"

Nava slurred, "Don't believe me... fine, I was just guessing anyway. Just pretend you didn't hear anything. Let's continue, let's drink!"

No one could possibly drink that much anymore.

After much coaxing and persuasion, and after being forced to drink several more glasses of wine, Nava finally spoke again.

"Don't you guys think about it? Zircon and Han Hai have a grudge, but they also have connections within Han Hai!"

"What relationship?"

Nava lowered his voice, "You can't possibly not know who the commander of the First Army of the National Defense Force in Hanhai is, can you?"

The Green Pine generals suddenly realized what was going on.

That's right. Back then, half of the ten knights from Zircon Territory who went to conquer the Vast Sea were captured, a large number of mid-level generals were taken prisoner, and the entire magic legion was captured. Although some were later ransomed, more remained in the Vast Sea, and it seems they are all doing quite well now.

From this perspective, Zircon Collar really does have quite a few "acquaintances" in the vast sea of ​​information.

“That doesn’t make sense!” Another Green Pine General questioned, “The group of people captured by Galen back then were all in the First Army of the National Defense Force in the Vast Sea. Wasn’t it said that their lord didn’t trust them enough to send them to fight in the Crystal Plains?”

Nava gave him a look of utter contempt.

"Use your...use your pig-like brain to think about it. As a fellow member of the National Defense Force, Galen is suffering in the north, watching the orcs, watching the Second Army of the National Defense Force achieve great success and become famous. Can he be content with that?"

Hey, that's it!
That's absolutely true.

In feudal dynasties, the various territories and legions cooperated while also distinguishing themselves from each other, much like the local warlords of the old Eastern Xia era.

The generals present put themselves in Gallon's shoes and thought about it from Gallon's perspective; they realized that this was indeed unbearable!

Having grasped this crucial point of logic, everyone quickly pieced together the truth of the matter through their own words.

As the First Army of the National Defense Force, in principle, their seniority and position should be above those orc servants. Now, seeing the Second Army of the National Defense Force achieve a great victory at the entrance of Glazed Valley, and who knows if they will ride roughshod over them later, they must be heartbroken.

And precisely because the First Army wasn't on the scene, any setbacks or defeats on the battlefield were none of their concern. So it was perfectly reasonable for them to quietly trip up the Second Army.

The generals present, if they put themselves in the other's shoes, would probably have seized the opportunity without hesitation.

Galen has risen to the rank of commander in the Han Hai army, so his network of connections and resources must be quite extensive. Even if he's not on the front lines, it's normal for him to know some intelligence from there.

If he finds an opportunity, who should he sell this intelligence to? It would be safest to sell it to an old acquaintance in Zircon Territory, of course!

Next, everyone returned to the question they were most concerned about: where did Ishihara's battle achievements come from? Nava was indeed drunk, and he just blurted it out so casually.

He bought it from an acquaintance in the zircon area.

"Why doesn't the zircon lord claim the reward himself, but instead sells it to you?"

Nava chuckled, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Because they're not well-liked. They can't handle too much of this military merit!"

"Moreover, they are the only ones with military achievements, while others have none. If this goes on for a while, their collusion with foreign powers will probably become impossible to hide."

"Will those old fogies in the kingdom benefit from this?"

The lieutenant who had just been scoffing was now the first to stand up, quickly walked a few steps to Nava, held a wine glass in his hand, and bowed deeply: "Good brother, could you show us the way so we can buy some too?"

"Rest assured, we will never surpass your achievements. We also have other intentions for you here!"

After talking for so long, Nava seemed to have sobered up a little. Looking at the other person's sincere expression, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"You can go ahead and exchange them. Even if I wanted to take more, I couldn't. This isn't just about money; it also involves paying with people's heads!"

"To tell you the truth, Zircon gave me a clear price: the spoils of six Jadeite Duchy armies, life or death, plus seventy silver coins, in exchange for a 'dog tag' from the Vast Ocean!"

"what?"

Everyone looked at each other.

"What do you need the spoils from the Jade Kingdom for regarding zircon?"

Nava smiled mysteriously: "How would I know? Let's drink, let's keep drinking!"

It's okay if Nava doesn't say anything; everyone can guess. With so much information already, continuing to deduce the future shouldn't be too difficult.

Soon, another adjutant, known for his intelligence, offered his conjecture.

"After we finish fighting with Green Pine, Vast Ocean will never let Jade, that opportunist, get away with it!"

"Could it be that the Han Hai side already has a battle plan? Their First Army of the National Defense Force is too familiar with our Green Pine, so it's not suitable to use it to fight us, but when we fight the Emerald Duchy later, this force will be the main force."

"That Galen guy, he's unwilling to sell the intelligence for nothing, so he's accumulating merits in advance!"

The logic is closed loop, completely closed loop!
Although most of the content was fabricated by the group, and although Nava insisted, "I haven't heard any news; it's all just my own wild guesses," when numerous illogical phenomena were completely nested within the overall logical thread, all the participants unanimously believed that this was the truth.

This is our own deduction, how could it be wrong?
Left with no other choice, Nava had to issue a serious reminder, which was also a warning.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'll emphasize again, I know nothing!"

His gaze swept over every face present, his drunkenness seemingly completely gone, and his eyes now held a sharp edge.

"However, if any of you present here today leaks this wild speculation, whether it gets to the royal court or to the Han Hai, you'll have to fight tooth and nail to get this 'dog tag' in the future!"

That won't do.
Is killing a jade connoisseur the same as killing a soldier from the Vast Ocean?
It's a world of difference!

The crowd readily agreed, immediately drawing their swords and cutting off their hands or arms, dripping their crimson blood into the wine. In this way, they swore an oath to keep the secret and make progress together.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In the following period, the Crystal Plains battlefield became unprecedentedly lively.

The first and biggest victim was naturally the Jade Kingdom.

The various units of Green Pine abandoned their previous style of hiding and retreating whenever possible, and began to frantically besiege Emerald's forces.

Intercepting and killing reconnaissance squads is the most basic operation. The scouts of the Emerald Kingdom are often spotted by the Green Pine ambush soldiers who appear out of nowhere just a few miles from their camp. Arrows rain down and blades flash. When the dust settles, only a few headless corpses with their outer armor stripped off are left on the ground.

As for the temporary outposts in those villages, they were even more targeted, especially at night when Green Pine troops would come in waves to plunder. Small groups would kill sentries, medium-sized groups would launch surprise attacks, and sometimes two or three battalions would even be assembled for a frontal assault.

Even if they couldn't take it, they would always set fire to the granary or poison the well before leaving.

When supplies at the garrison become scarce and need to be replenished from the rear, these logistics troops responsible for transportation become prey.

During this period, two generals from the Green Pine Kingdom even joined forces to launch a strong attack on Flying Goose City. Although they failed to capture it due to insufficient siege equipment, they still terrified the Emerald Kingdom's defenders.

In just a few days, the Western Cloud Mist region was engulfed in flames and the Emerald Occupation Army, which had just enjoyed a favorable situation, was turned into a human trafficking line.

The second biggest victim should be the Green Pine Kingdom.

Good news kept pouring in from all fronts. The "Scorpion Sting" tactic was a great success. "Dog tags" from the Vast Ocean, engraved with various names, were flying into the kingdom like snowflakes. His Majesty the King and all the officials had been smiling from ear to ear for many days.

But after the laughter subsided, a problem arose.

We're running out of money.

Having been engaged in continuous warfare for years, the Green Pine Kingdom had become extremely reliant on plundering from outside. These two defeats against the Vast Ocean had severely weakened the kingdom.

The surge in the number of "dog tags" has quickly emptied the kingdom's already meager treasury reserves.

However, a strategy that has already proven effective cannot be stopped just because of a lack of funds.

While the emperor and his ministers celebrated their newfound official positions in the Green Pine Court, they had no choice but to tighten their belts.

His Majesty the King tightened his belt, the major families generously donated, wealthy merchants accepted the levies, and corrupt officials confiscated a number of their goods... A high "Han Hai Tax" was levied on the people, and the kingdom even sought a huge loan from the Azure Sky Holy City of the Mist Moon Divine Court.

Having heard of Green Pine's illustrious achievements, and after thoroughly assessing the risks, the Archbishop of Azure Sky Holy City not only approved the loan but also gifted an additional batch of new resources.

So many high priests of the Azure Sky perished in the Glazed Valley; the Azure Sky Holy City has not let this matter rest.

With mobilization from top to bottom and concerted efforts from both inside and outside, Green Pine is determined to win this battle no matter what!
Since both major participating countries were victims, the third victim must be Han Hai, or more precisely, someone in Han Hai that no one expected.

Late at night, at the Summer Moon Alliance's Hanhai City Security Headquarters.

An urgent, top-secret intelligence report arrived with the highest level of alert, forcibly dragging Xia Yuanchen, the head of the Discipline Inspection Department and the head of the Internal Security Department, out of his sleep.

Xia Yuanchen, wearing an overcoat, finished reading the intelligence under the desk lamp, his face gradually losing color.

This anti-revolutionary expert, who remained unfazed even when faced with a collapsing mountain, was now sweating profusely, his back drenched in cold sweat.

The source of the intelligence was the bodyguards he personally trained and arranged. The three of them, working on three separate lines, were unaware of each other's existence. Now, the three of them were sending out almost identical intelligence from three different channels.

"Director, should we report this to the Chairman immediately?"

Xia Yuanchen hesitated for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

"The Commander-in-Chief has been extremely busy lately and is at a crucial juncture in his preparation for advancement. Master Towns and Academician Anthony have both instructed that no matter what happens, the Commander-in-Chief's cultivation and rest must not be disturbed!"

"Let's handle this first, and report back after the Chairman comes out!"

"Prepare the vehicles, muster the inner guards, grab the heavy weapons, and let's go!"

A dozen minutes later, heavily armed and fully equipped Hanhai troops surrounded a military compound. Xia Yuanchen, holding a document stamped with a bright red seal, personally stepped forward and disarmed the guards.

As I entered the living room, the burly man, who had just been awakened from his sleep, came out wearing his clothes, his face filled with shock and barely suppressed anger.

"Director Xia, you've brought troops into my private residence in the middle of the night. Are you trying to rebel?"

Xia Yuanchen smiled slightly and raised the arrest warrant in his hand again.

"Commander Galen, you've been caught!"

"Please come with me. The Inspectorate has reserved a private room for you."

Galen's eyes were fixed on the document, the muscles in his cheeks twitching violently, his fists clenching and cracking before slowly relaxing.

"Okay! I'll go with you!"

Xia Yuanchen coughed lightly and made a "please" gesture.

"Rest assured, we will never wrong an innocent person."

"Of course, we will never let any criminal go unpunished!"

"please!"

(End of this chapter)