In Britain, the Noble Phantasm: Divine Key

"Is it because of the Battle of the Great Plains?" Artoria asked, puzzled.

She believes that Vortigern may have felt pressured by the complete victory in the Battle of the Great Plains, which is why he chose to launch an attack on the south at this time.

“I think it might be because Vortigern felt the time was right,” Keith pondered. “Didn’t our teacher say before that Vortigern is very close to achieving his goal? It’s understandable that he chooses to start the war whenever he wants.”

“Actually, I think there might be another reason,” Bedivere, the only one present who had actually experienced war, said. “The North has been silent for fifteen years, and it’s winter now. If Vortigern chooses to make his move at this time, there is a very high chance that he can catch us off guard.”

"In short, whatever Vortigern's reasons for starting the war, the facts are now before us." Yanan tapped the table with his hand, looking around at the crowd. "Now, the only thing we need to think about is how to keep this army here!"

That's right, Yanan was not only thinking about repelling this attack, but also about wiping out this army of 50,000!

—Vortigern wanted to start a war, and so did he.

After all, all signs have indicated that the white dragon has gone further and further down the path of reviving the Age of Gods. If he is allowed to continue to drag this out, the end of Britain may really be coming.

Anan had originally planned to cultivate the land for a year or two, allowing Camelot to reach his peak strength before launching a final assault on the North. However, unexpectedly, Vortigern made the first move.

Moreover, he did not order all seven kingdoms of the North to take action, but only selected three of them to participate.

This shows that he did not actually intend to start a full-scale war with the Southern Territory at this time, but if it was a test, the scale was a bit too large.

Although he didn't understand what Vortigern's purpose was in doing this, Anan had made up his mind to take this opportunity to completely annihilate this tri-nation alliance!

If they could annihilate this army of 50,000 men, Vottigan would be severely weakened, which would greatly increase their chances of winning when the decisive battle breaks out in the future!

Anan looked at Ferius: "How many men does Camelot have in his army right now?"

Feuerius hesitated for a moment, then said, "A total of 30,000. 10,000 will be responsible for guarding the border, 10,000 for guarding the capital, and 10,000 for guarding the national border."

"So few?" Yanan was slightly taken aback. Even if Camelot had declined considerably in the past fifteen years, there shouldn't be so few soldiers, right?

“Actually, Camelot doesn’t lack soldiers,” Ferius said with a wry smile. “The key issue is that none of them belong to the royal family.”

Yanan suddenly realized.

As anyone who has studied history knows, Europe has never had the concept of centralized power. Rather than saying that the royal family is the ruler of the country, it would be more accurate to say that he is actually the highest noble in the country. He only has the title of king because he owns the most territory in the country and has the most power.

As for the other nobles, they each had their own territories, and within those territories they wielded immense power, such as collecting taxes, assigning corvée labor, enacting laws, building armies, and even instigating wars. Apart from not being allowed to call themselves kings, they were virtually indistinguishable from kings.

It is precisely because of this system that the national conditions of most European countries are quite unstable, and it is not an exaggeration to describe them as a disorganized mess.

The defeat in that battle fifteen years ago was a very serious blow to the Pendragon family. In addition, the fact that only Morgan, who was incompetent, remained in Camelot all these years further damaged the prestige of the royal family, and naturally, weakened their strength.

Therefore, Feuerius and others were eager for a new king to appear as soon as possible, otherwise Camelot would be in chaos before any external enemies could invade.

"If we include the troops held by those nobles, how many troops can we gather now?" Anaen asked after a moment of contemplation.

Without hesitation, Feuerius replied, "At least 100,000."

Yanan showed a hint of surprise. According to the pattern of European history, when a king of a country has less than one-fifth of the country's total military strength, it is already in a very dangerous situation.

It seems that Feuerius and his group have indeed had a tough time these past few years.

“In that case, you, Feuerius, will summon those nobles and have them gather at least 70,000 troops for me to go to the border within a month,” Yanan said.

Feuerius hesitated slightly: "But what if they don't agree?"

According to tradition, the king did not actually have the right to command the armies held by nobles. If the other party refused to send troops, even the king could not do anything about it.

This has led to a situation in European history where states often collapsed, but the nobility remained intact. Some powerful noble families were even able to survive for nearly seven or eight centuries, going through dozens of regimes without falling.

"You won't agree?" Yanan's lips curled into a cold smile. "I'd like to see how many people dare to disagree."

As a legitimate transmigrator from the Celestial Empire, how could he possibly allow any noble to challenge his status?

From this day forward, all of Camelot's rights must be in his own hands!

Anyone who dares to object, he'll smash their dog's head in!

Chapter Thirteen: The God-Slaying Knights

Having settled the recruitment matter, Yanan then looked at Bedivere: "Is Camelot's food reserve currently sufficient?"

“More than enough!” Bedwell nodded without hesitation.

For the past fifteen years, Camelot has maintained a policy of recuperation and development, and its grain reserves can be described as quite abundant.

Yanan nodded slightly, then turned to Morgan: "What about financial resources?"

Morgan's expression turned slightly grim: "That bastard Hubergan's accounts are all fake, and that guy has embezzled who knows how much money he's taken from the national treasury over the years. I had someone recalculate, and with our current financial resources, we can probably only support a war of 30,000 men."

Yanan frowned: "Didn't we plunder a lot of nobles before? They should have a lot of money on them."

“Only the Hughes family has a relatively large amount of gold and silver. Most other noble families don’t actually have much money. Their most valuable possessions are works of art, which are not easy to sell,” Morgan said helplessly.

This is the inherent weakness of the aristocracy: in order to maintain their so-called dignity, they often spend money on all sorts of inexplicable luxury goods in order to maintain their nobility.

“Then let’s sell these things as soon as possible. It doesn’t matter if the price is low. We need money right now.” Yanan pondered for a moment. “If that’s still not enough, let’s sell those territories as well.”

He was referring, of course, to the territories that had once belonged to the anti-royalist nobles.

A look of emotion crossed everyone's faces, and Feuerius even stood up abruptly, saying urgently, "No, Your Majesty! Those are your territories! How can you sell them to others?!"

In this era, land was the most important resource. The larger the territory a nobleman owned, the more prestigious his status and the stronger his power.

For nobles, status, wealth, and even life are things that can be given up, but their territory is an inviolable taboo!

This is why Feuerius was so excited.

“Calm down, Feuerius,” Yanan said calmly. “Even if I sell these territories, do you think my status will be affected?”

Feuerius frowned: "But..."

"Don't worry, I only intend to have them manage things for me temporarily. Once I've dealt with Vortigern, I'll take everything back," Yanan said calmly.

He didn't value his territory as much as traditional nobles. Besides, taking over a territory that already had an owner required a tremendous amount of manpower and resources. With the northern border about to invade the south, he had no time to worry about such things.

It would be better to sell these territories, which would not only save resources but also greatly increase the national treasury.

Yanan even planned to sell off a portion of the land after conquering the North, squeezing all the nobles dry.

Anyway, once he transforms Camelot into a centralized state, what use will it be for these nobles to have more territory?

Although Feuerius still found it hard to accept, looking at Anan's determined eyes, he could only sigh helplessly: "Yes."

Yanan nodded slightly and turned to Bedivere: "You should hand over your work to Karls as soon as possible, and then come with me to the North."

Back in the Lucamont battle against the beast tide, Bedivere demonstrated remarkable command abilities, and he certainly wouldn't forget such a rare talent.

In addition, Artoria and Kai naturally had to be brought along as well.

Yanan then looked at Lancelot, a hint of hesitation appearing on his face.

"Don't worry, I will also contribute my share." Lancelot looked earnestly at Anahn with his light purple eyes. "Besides, isn't it something we agreed on in the first place to slay that evil white dragon?"

“In that case, I’ll leave it to you, Lancelot.” Anan nodded with a smile, then turned to Merlin: “After I leave Camelot, I’ll leave things here to you and Feuerius.”

"Oh dear, am I going to have to take care of all these troublesome things again? Honestly, I'm already so old, can't you be a little more understanding and let me rest a bit more?" Merlin shook his head helplessly.

"Enough with the nonsense. If anything goes wrong here, you'd better be prepared to pay with your head." Yanan sneered.

A few beads of cold sweat slid down his forehead, and Merlin's smile became slightly stiff: "How could that be? With me, the most famous sage in Britain, personally overseeing Camelot, I guarantee there won't be the slightest problem!"

Arnan didn't even bother with this guy, and looked at everyone and said, "Alright, that's it for today's meeting. Go back and remember to do what you're supposed to do. Everyone else, except Morgan and Lanmarok, can leave."

Everyone stood up, gave a slight bow to Anaen, and then left the council hall.

Yanan leaned back in his chair, slowly exhaled, and looked at Morgan: "Sister Wang, how is the pseudo-circuit experiment going?"

Morgan Stanley's top micro-analysis: "The experiment was very successful. The one-month observation period has ended, and no problems have been found."

"That's good." A relaxed smile finally appeared on Yanan's face.

He then turned to Lanmarok and asked, "How is the Knights doing lately?"

“Everything is normal,” Lanmarok said meticulously. “The Knights are training every day according to the training plan provided by Your Majesty, and their progress is very obvious.”

In order to further unleash the potential of the Knights, Yanan drew on the training programs of the army in his previous life and tailored a new training method for the Knights.

In such an era, a systematic training program can have a tremendous impact, so much so that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as a divine skill manual.

Yanan nodded slightly: "This time, the Knights will be a very important force on this northward journey, and may even become the key to this war."

Lanmarok hesitated for a moment: "But Your Majesty, the Knights only have three hundred men. In such a large-scale war, we can't play much of a role."

Lanmarok naturally had complete confidence in the Knights' strength, but that didn't mean he was blind to the situation.

In a battlefield with over 100,000 people, the role that a mere 300 can play is simply too small.

“Of course I know that,” Yanan smiled. “So, I’m planning to add something new to your things.”

He then revealed his entire plan for the "Godslayer Knights" to Lanmarok.

After hearing this, Lanmarok's eyes showed intense shock.

Even with his composure, he was stunned by this insane plan.

To kill a god with the body of a mortal!

Is this incredible feat really something they could do?

But then Lanmarok suddenly recalled the scene of them working together to overcome all kinds of difficulties and obstacles on the road to trial, and the appearance of everyone fighting bloody battles in the Great Plains Battle. The doubt in his heart instantly turned into boundless pride!

They are knights personally recognized by the king, the strongest knightly order in Britain!

So what if they're facing gods? Since they've overcome so many hardships and dangers, this time will be no exception!

If killing gods is a miracle, then let them create it themselves!

Chapter Fourteen: Heading North, To Meet the Enemy!

When news of the North's southward advance spread from the palace, it immediately stirred up a violent storm in Camelot's upper class.

No one will forget that it was because King Uther was defeated by Vortigern that Camelot was in a state of stagnation for fifteen years. Now that the white dragon has returned after fifteen years, will history repeat itself?

Although the one on the throne now bears the title of the chosen one, Uther also had a legendary experience of being undefeated in countless battles, but in the end, didn't he still fall in front of Vortigern?

Moreover, this king is still so young and has never experienced any major battles. Can he really shoulder such a heavy responsibility?

Many nobles couldn't help but feel this concern.

This concern was amplified, especially during their conversations, and is even developing in the direction of public opinion.

As a seasoned politician, Feuerius naturally noticed this sign immediately and reported it to Anahn.