Four-Armed Divine Emperor

Caesar recalled his knowledge about the Zoroastrians and didn't care much about these "superstitions".

In his opinion, the Alan - the Fire Worshipers are a weak nation.

Thousands of years ago, they bowed their heads and obeyed the Fire Wizard King, and were burned by his powerful force. Generation after generation, the burning mark passed down from generation to generation was left in their souls and blood.

They respect fire, fear fire, and have to be "close" to fire.

The power of the ancient Witch King can transcend the passage of time and even affect generations of tribes. But today, when the Witch King has long passed away, they continue to pretend to worship the fire that once punished their ancestors for generations with its fiery violence. This is really foolish and cowardly.

Yes, warlike, brutal, greedy, cunning, and lustful... Any country that has been a neighbor of the Zoroastrians would use the ugliest and most vicious words to describe the other evil and powerful ethnic group. In Caesar's view, they have only an ignorant and cowardly nature.

But Caesar did not dislike this about them.

He looked up at the blazing flames of the Kitchen God, and at the fire priests who were wrapped tightly, wearing sacrificial robes and ritual instruments, dancing, shouting, and acting like gods to show their "sacredness and solemnity".

His psychic powers allowed him to sense the opponent's strength and potential threat. The priests had an aura of extraordinary power, but they were too weak, so weak that in Caesar's eyes they were no different from stronger mortal warriors.

But even such a weak guy could stand in front of the flames, make those who were much stronger than him kneel down, and worship a ball of flame that was actually nothing as a god.

Really interesting.

He saw that even some "holy wizards" who were obviously Alan fire worshippers were rushing towards a ball of fire that was no different from the fire they could create and summon at will, but the priests claimed that this was "the holy fire from the holy fire of revenge rekindled by the spark of the eternal fire that never goes out", so it was worshipped by most Alan people from the bottom of their hearts.

"They are bound by superstition and have never seen the true appearance of holiness and greatness." Caesar thought of this and looked at the commander-in-chief of the army who took the initiative to step forward to accept the fire servants' use of a branch cut from a tree that was said to be ever-burning wood and carried the sun. They lit it in the flame of the Kitchen God sacrifice, then circled around the prince twice, sprinkled some white ash or something like that, and then poked the burning branch into the prince's forehead - with a hiss.

The prince trembled slightly and turned around. A mark like a dancing flame suddenly appeared on his forehead.

"Eternal fire flows within us—and our enemies will forever be trapped in the endless darkness of purgatory!"

"Under the protection of the fire of revenge! Defeat all enemies—offer their souls to the sacrificial stove and burn them to ashes!"

The prince's declaration of war was spread throughout the main force of the Northern Expedition Army through a loudspeaker and sound transmission device.

Everyone stood up, their necks flushed and their eyes burning as if with flames.

Chapter 127: Ardabil (26)

The Alan army roared and shouted in unison:

"Burn it all!"

"Burn it all!"

Caesar seemed very excited, and even showed a hint of fanaticism as if he was infected, unable to conceal his excitement about the upcoming battle - but it was all a disguise.

He was not even thinking about the war now, but was thinking about how to help the Alan people who were still burdened by the shackles of ancient relics and were ignorant and lost without knowing it.

Appreciate and witness what a true god is.

False faith will be dispelled, twisted shackles of inheritance will be removed, and the Father of Genes will use the true brilliance that even surpasses the sun to make the Alan people and fire worshippers willingly submit and become part of the great clan.

He believed that this vast mortal race would prostrate themselves upon seeing the mighty power of their father, and, just as they fanatically worshipped fire, they would enthusiastically offer their bodies and souls to the Kitchen God.

But their ethnic ancestor was so kind.

As long as they walk in this world, serving the Father, they do not need to be burned up in the fire.

written request for leave

rt

163: Consumables

The prince did not allow his large group of "Holy Witch" advisors to show up during the first formal attack.

Although he originally hoped for this, because for the Serso countries where there may have been only two or three mages in a country in the past, even if they completed the unification, the overall number of mages would not change much.

The three-digit, two hundred "holy wizards" in the Northern Expedition Army were definitely a crushing gap to the Roman Empire of Thurso that they had envisioned.

As long as they showed their strength, went to the enemy's carefully built fortress, and each of them cast a spell, or even used the most basic [Element Control] once, they could easily destroy the fortress built by those stupid and ignorant barbarians with huge manpower.

There once was a great emperor who fell, a spellcaster from the late classical period. He was also a secular ruler who served under Emperor Ashtar as the Governor of Canaan. He later rose to become a dominant power during the Age of the Diadochi. He and his legion of spellcasters were extremely skilled in siege tactics, capable of dismantling the defenses of even the most extraordinary cities, hence the title.

Chapter 214

"Besieger".

It is said that when he was at his most powerful, he alone could use magic to capture a fortress guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers in half a day.

But as mentioned many times before, the Zoroastrians were a civilization with a very strict hierarchy and strict hierarchy between superiors and subordinates.

Because of their worship of fire and deep-rooted cultural traditions, spellcasters in the fire-worshipping country are respected as "holy witches" rather than the "magician" commonly used on the mainland, the latter meaning "seeker of knowledge" or "explorer".

The status is more noble.

Although these two hundred holy wizards are in the army, they are not mortal soldiers who work hard and do nothing but obey the prince's orders. Instead, they are superiors with the title of "advisors".

Every "Holy Witch" has at least ten military servants who serve him personally. He is not allowed to use slaves. They are all nominally free people because this would make the "Holy Witches" feel disrespected.

They will nominate several prestigious people, generally senior students with a long "schooling age", or people with extensive experience and achievements in certain areas, to represent the entire spellcasting team.

But these people are generally too lazy to take care of things, so after accepting this identity, they will turn to look for some relatively enthusiastic and capable mages in the team - usually those with less experience, who may be newcomers who have just come down from the floating city not long ago, to represent themselves and participate in tasks such as military meetings and discussions.

Then these people will inform their "classmates".

The Holy Witch would not listen to news brought by slaves, servants, or people of low status.

There was even a case where a commander on the battlefield was anxious and ordered his personal followers to "invite" the Holy Witch to fight. When the other party found out that the person who came to "convey the order" was just a servant, he directly threw a fireball in the messenger's face.

Only when a "seeker of knowledge" of the same status as them or a noble general of high status "delivers the message" will these extraordinary people express a:

I see.

Of course, the degree of arrogance of the "holy wizards" in an army generally depends on the status and prestige of the commander. A commander like the prince, who is both a member of the royal family and a "classmate", is undoubtedly the highest type. He can speak loudly in front of the arrogant extraordinary dignitaries and directly issue demands in the form of orders.

—————But we can’t ask the extraordinary people to fight before the mortals and slaves bleed!

Yes, it was obvious that they could easily capture the enemy's heavily guarded fortress and inflict heavy damage on the enemy at the lowest cost, but the advisory group of the Northern Expedition Army refused after considering the prince's "proposal".

The reason for the proposal was that the prince also felt that his request was "unreasonable".

The Asta people's martial culture has given them the tradition of warriors fighting and generals dueling before two armies engage in battle.

But even though they advocate bravery and one of the duties of the nobles is to fight bravely, the Asta people also fight wars by having civilian soldiers attack and consume each other first, and the elite professional warriors and noble knights are left until the final decision.

What’s more, they are extraordinary nobles whose status is higher than that of mortal nobles.

People still respect mages more because they are fire worshippers with a filter of religious beliefs and god worship.

They only sent one representative, a newcomer who had just arrived from the floating city, had no background or qualifications, and was introduced by his senior to join A Lan's northern expedition to the barbarians out of kindness to broaden his horizons and come to respond to the prince.

"How can the godlike take up arms before the earth is soaked with the blood of mortals?"

It comes from a proverb. An ancient king led his troops to war. The enemy sent out a mage unit to massacre his elite soldiers, but his well-trained troops withstood several rounds of attacks from the enemy mages. The king's generals requested several times to let the spellcasters fight, but the king suppressed them and kept the troops in place. Finally, he touched the ground under his feet and found that the blood of the soldiers from both sides had soaked the soil. Only then did he order the mages to go out. Only one round of spellcasting defeated the enemy's mortal soldiers, and finally forced the enemy to retreat. The extraordinary people who had consumed their magic power and had no mortal troops to protect them had to either withdraw from the battlefield or be captured by the king.

This later became a kind of routine.

That is, if the mortals' fight is only halfway done, the mages will generally not take action easily.

Because at this point in time, the investment of both sides can more or less directly determine the outcome of the battlefield, and even if they lose, the winning team has been exhausted physically and mentally after a long battle and has poor pursuit ability.

Even if their magic power is exhausted, the mages can escape safely under the desperate protection of their mortal guards.

It is also a "form" that shows the noble status of the caster and is the finale.

So the prince had no choice but to send the legion out. This was actually no big deal for him, it was just a matter of consuming more consumables.

He thought that if he sent out the advisory group, he could capture the enemy's important fortress in one morning without any casualties on his side, which would undoubtedly deal a huge blow to the morale of the barbarians.

This would help force the enemy to surrender and speed up the conclusion of the Northern Expedition.

However, since the advisors were unwilling to be the first to die for a mere group of barbarians out of pride, he would not object to it.

It's just a matter of wasting more consumables.

The prince, including the commanders of all ranks in this army, and even those officers who are about to go to the front line may not take it seriously at all.

.........

164: The Mortal War of Helveys

Ahmed

Chapter 215

The prince felt a little regretful that he could not rely on the power of the holy wizards to capture this unknown fortress in one go.

Similarly, the defenders in the fortress also felt regretful that the enemy did not send out spellcasting troops in the first wave of attack and "take them down" in one go.

Among Ai'er's first twenty children, the fourth sons after the third son Caesar, Roland, Kyle, and Cyrush, as well as the second son born to Princess Zeina, Cyrus, four of the twenty first-born children were stationed in this fortress called Helveys.

There were five standard armies stationed there, that is, five regiments of 10,000 men, and three "Wise Guards" of 18,000 men, which were the highest level and elite in the Roman military system.

In accordance with Al's usual COSplay hobby, he surprisingly did not give these legions some high-sounding and majestic names, but simply arranged them with serial numbers such as "Legion X".

The elite guards are of the "Xth Guards" type.

With his personality, such a thing is simply unimaginable.

But Al was thinking that no matter how awesome the names were, if they didn't have anything substantial to say, they would just be self-centered and he felt a bit like a middle school student... It would be better to wait until these legions fought and made meritorious contributions before bestowing corresponding honorary numbers on them. This would not only greatly satisfy his personal hobby, but also really improve the morale of the soldiers and make them feel that they shared the honor and disgrace of the glorious history of the legion.

Therefore, the five legions currently stationed in the Helvetic Fortress are the 3rd, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 12th, and the 4th, 5th, and 6th Guards.

Compared with the 240,000 Alan troops in front of them, which consisted of elite troops, regular troops, provincial troops, professional mercenaries who brought their own dry food to join the army, association rangers, and aristocratic retainers...it seemed completely inadequate.

After all, although the Alan Empire has been in decline for several decades, its foundation is still there, and there are only three such large empires in the entire Tartarus.

The three major empires in the north, south and east each ruled one side.

The Alan people lost two recent battles, one in the Yellow Sand Battle, due to a combination of factors such as the long expedition, the climate and environment, and the fact that this prosperous and fertile land, which once gave birth to the Golden Dynasty, the earliest glorious civilization of mankind, was in chaos and seriously divided, but its strength should not be underestimated.

One was the Battle of the Titan Sea, where they also faced the Aegean states, which were divided but had a rich and powerful ancestry. The other side also had the support of the Kronos Empire, so it was not unfair...

But as a great empire, Alan has never suffered any losses when fighting against the small countries around it.

The advantage of size alone can crush the opponent. Rome, with a population of nearly ten million, may be considered a "powerful country" compared to the former Serso countries. It can be "crowned emperor" within this novice village. But for Alan, a population of ten million may not even be the size of his large and prosperous province.

Chapter 127: Ardabil (27)

......

"The gap between the two sides is absolute."

The attacking commander Alan and the Roman generals in charge of defense—the descendants of Ai'er—had the same idea in mind.

The reasons are simple, just pick one:

In the plan of Ai'er's twenty-three Roman standard ten-thousand-man regiments, during wartime, each ten-thousand-man regiment must have at least one hundred and fifty to two hundred descendants on its staff. They are responsible for building an efficient command network formed through the tacit understanding and psychic communication between the descendants, commanding the army, and also shouldering the triple responsibilities of generals and spellcasters.

In order to ensure that there are no unexpected risks in this war, at least judging by the paper strength of both sides, the five legions in Helveys are all equipped according to the "fully equipped" specifications.

In a regiment of 10,000 people, there are more than 300 descendants of Aiur. Almost every 33 soldiers are supported by a dual spellcaster with psychic power and warlock magic.

Two hundred and forty thousand men, two hundred, with an average of one mage behind every one thousand two hundred soldiers.

Of course, the Alan people would not even think about this number. After all, how could the noble "Holy Witch" be compared with mortals?

Even if the number of military advisors was only half that of a hundred, and even if there were no mages on their side, the Alan people believed that an army of 240,000 was more than enough to conquer the "Roman barbarians" and it would be a piece of cake.

So the war began with both sides having "absolute certainty" and great confidence.

While the Alan people were building a siege camp, they couldn't wait to launch an attack. Helvey was in a wasteland and there was basically no wood available for cutting around. The existing wood had been cleared out in advance by the defenders in the city.

According to the consistent experience in the Thurso area, launching an attack would have to wait until materials were collected and siege equipment was built, but the Alan people decided to use their advanced technology to give these Roman barbarians a little "civilization shock".

The giant chariots they used to transport supplies, the mobile castles, could not only transport food, but also siege weapons prepared in advance.

Battering rams, siege towers, catapults, ballistae, battering rams...

If the giant half-magic mobile warehouses were not extremely fragile, had no offensive capabilities, and were very slow, unable to perform actions such as "ramming", the Alan people could use these behemoths that the enemies could see from afar to destroy their city walls.

As for why we already have this kind of giant power machine used for warfare, why don't we continue to research and develop giant war weapons for offensive purposes that rely on magic power?

Chapter 216

Device.......

Maybe the mages are smarter and don't want to invent something to replace their jobs?

Of course, this is just a joke...

The Alans prepared for the siege in just one day. Outside the range of the defenders, in order to intimidate the Romans, they specially built various siege weapons and arranged them neatly. At a glance, it was obvious that they would pose a huge threat to the city walls.