Rose Empire

Jarrod followed Charlotte out, and Charlotte raised her head and asked again, "What happened to Platinum City after I left?"

"This..." Jarrod's expression suddenly became a little strange, "The situation in Platinum City may be a little hard to believe..."

Jarrod roughly recounted the development of the battle in Platinum City after Charlotte left - the tribesmen besieged Platinum City, the South Gate was opened from the inside, the elite tribesmen raided the palace wall, and the Duke of Bonan, Fernandez Pastor, led the cavalry to counterattack, but was killed in the battlefield. When Jarrod left Platinum City, David Boyan had already led the Griffin Knights to hunt down Basha, but no battle report had been sent back yet...

Charlotte was stunned.

Fernandez died in the battle?

The world has just started to become chaotic, and a duke has died?

Who is the heir to the Duke of Bonan?

Fernandez came to the Principality of Green Plains once or twice a year, so Charlotte was quite familiar with the Duke and Duchess of Bonan, but she rarely met Fernandez's sons.

Charlotte only vaguely remembered that Fernandez had about seven or eight sons, and the eldest son was named Fraser Pastor.

Is it a good thing to have so many sons? Not necessarily.

Fernandez died so suddenly. Could his eldest son really succeed to the throne in time and control his younger brothers?

Charlotte was skeptical.

In addition to the death of Duke Bonan, Charlotte was most interested in the group of terracotta warlocks who killed Duke Bonan and almost shattered the city wall.

Many scholars in Platinum City have already admitted that the terracotta sorcerers have used ordinary clay to create a new special ceramic with extraordinary properties. Everything can be extraordinary, and the terracotta sorcerers' theory is undoubtedly correct. However, due to the face of the church and the royal family, everyone tacitly agreed not to mention it publicly.

Charlotte doesn't have such unnecessary concerns.

"Can extraordinary materials really be created and transformed from ordinary substances?"

Charlotte suddenly felt that an unexpected treasure trove had opened up to her.

Sokya Peninsula, Dorrucocha city-state.

Robin Mancini sat in a window seat at a pub, drinking and listening to the loud conversations of the patrons around him.

That’s what Robin Mancini does every day these days.

Although Charlotte's task was still to gather intelligence, the situation in Dorucocha was different from that in Ambratu. Without Harvey Sherwin, Robin Mancini could no longer easily contact the elders of Dorucocha. Therefore, the tavern became the biggest place for him to collect intelligence.

Due to the prosperity of the mercenary industry, the taverns in Dorrucocha are also very prosperous, especially the tavern where Robin Mancini is now. Opposite the tavern is the square where the elders give speeches and citizens gather, and further away is the Senate. The citizens of Dorrucocha like to talk and express their political views in this tavern.

Robin Mancini can hear a lot of useful information just by sitting here with a glass of wine.

Sometimes, elders who want to win people's favor and votes will even take the initiative to walk into the tavern and tell citizens what important things they have done recently, what key issues they have discussed in the Senate, and how they themselves speak for their voters.

There really is no secret...

Robin Mancini remembered that before he came to Sokya, Charlotte once said to him: "These city-state people have no awareness of intelligence warfare at all. Your job is actually very simple."

It's not just simple, it's so simple that it's a bit outrageous.

Although the Orlan Empire did not have a mature concept of intelligence warfare, the decisions made by the upper nobles were usually only selectively disclosed to the lower nobles or civilians, in fact forming a confidentiality system. Unlike the rulers of these city-states, no matter what they did or wanted to do, there seemed to be an irresistible desire for them to speak out loudly.

While Robin Mancini was drinking and complaining about his job, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a group of figures in exquisite robes walking out of the Elders' Hall - they were the Dorucocha elders who had just finished their meeting.

Robin's eyes quickly fell on two of them, because their robes were different from those of the elders of Dorucocha. After sitting in the tavern for so many days, Robin almost knew every elder of Dorucocha, but these two looked unfamiliar to him.

Before Robin could guess anything, the elders of Dorucocha stopped in the square, and then a Dorucocha elder named Balotelli took the two strangers to the pulpit.

"Citizens, this is Elder Pishos of Lesser Sasini, and this is Elder Sinna of Sudaman," Elder Balotelli introduced.

The elder of Little Sassini?

Robin immediately became interested, for he knew that the city-state Charlotte was going to attack next was Little Sassini.

"Today, Elder Pishos came on behalf of the Little Sasini Elders' Council to discuss with us the matter of joining the Northern Sokya Front..."

Balotelli began a long speech, the content of which was nothing more than boasting about his achievements. Elder Cleon of the Filipino city-state had worked so hard for so long but failed to establish the Northern Sokya front, but when the Elders' Council of their Dorukocha city-state took the lead, it was accomplished immediately.

Although it may sound like bragging, Balotelli is not entirely wrong. When Cleon wanted to form the Northern Sokya Front, Little Sassini was the city-state that should have joined the Northern Sokya Front because it was closest to the Viscount of Lanwan, but it did not join. Therefore, the remaining three city-states, Badan, Carmela, and Corolo, also chose to sit on the sidelines. Now that Little Sassini has chosen to join, the biggest obstacle to the formation of the Northern Sokya Front has disappeared, and it is not difficult to convince the remaining three city-states.

Robin sat by the window and frowned as he listened. It was obvious that the Northern Sokya Front was a military alliance. Why did Dorukocha suddenly want to form such an alliance? Was it a defensive alliance or an offensive alliance? Who were they targeting? Was it the Viscount of Lanwan?

Elder Balotelli did not offer answers to these questions.

"Nadal, do you know what this North Sokya Front is for?" Robin asked the young man on his opponent's side curiously.

The young man named Nadal was a drinking buddy that Robin had just met and a citizen of Dorucocha.

Nadal was a little drunk at this time. He shook his head and said, "I don't know either. You can ask him yourself. Forget it, I'll ask for you."

"Eh? Wait, wait a minute, this is a military secret..."

Robin had no time to stop him, Nadal had already walked towards the podium.

"You've been talking for a long time, but what exactly is the North Sokya Front for!" Nadal pointed at Elder Balotelli and asked loudly.

Elder Balotelli was interrupted by a drunkard, but he didn't get angry. Instead, he raised his hand and pointed to the north, and replied proudly: "The mission of the Northern Sokya Front is of course to recapture the city-state of Ambratu and drive the Orans out of the Sokya Peninsula!"

"Get out! Get out!"

Balotelli's answer caused cheers.

Just ask directly!

Robin Mancini picked up his wine glass and took a sip. He felt that the difficulty of his intelligence war was beyond description.

PS: Thank you all for your monthly tickets and blade recommendation tickets. Thank you for the reward from Shuke 81997751174. I missed it before, and I am very sorry.

PS2: Thank you for your correction, the previous error has been corrected.

Volume 116: Chapter 104 Chapter Defense or Attack?

Although the city-state people's almost non-existent sense of confidentiality gave Robin Mancini considerable convenience in his actions, after an in-depth investigation, Robin's mood inevitably became heavy.

Dorukocha, Little Sassini, Sudaman, Bataan, Camera, and Coloro, these are the six city-states that Cleon originally planned to include in the Northern Sokya Front.

Among them, Sudaman and Kororo are the smallest in scale, and they are suspected of being just for the sake of gathering numbers. The two city-states combined may not have 300 extraordinary citizen militiamen, which is about the same as the Viscount Lanwan before Charlotte took over.

Small city-states like Sudaman and Kororo are quite common in the Sokya Peninsula, usually existing in the mountains in the central part of the Sokya Peninsula. They are similar to some villages or large families in ancient China in Charlotte's previous life, who would band together in times of war, occupy strategic terrain, build strong fortifications, and build strongholds to protect themselves.

Dorrucocha and Minor Sassini belong to the second tier of city-states.

In the war with Ambratu, the citizen soldiers of Little Sassini suffered little loss. After the war, the Council of Elders recalled the citizen soldiers who were sent to the front line of the Aiye Alliance. Currently, Little Sassini has at least one thousand extraordinary citizen soldiers.

In terms of scale, the city-state of Dorukocha is much larger than Little Sasini. According to the information Robin heard in the tavern, Dorukocha currently has about 1,800 to 2,000 extraordinary citizen soldiers.

However, the situation in Dorrucocha is more complicated. First, it still has at least 500 citizen soldiers serving on the front line of the Aiye Alliance, and second, almost two-thirds of the citizen soldiers in Dorrucocha are mercenaries all year round.

In other words, even if we calculate at the maximum level, there are currently only more than 500 extraordinary citizen militiamen in the city-state of Dorukocha.

If the Dorucocha Senate wants to start a war, it will also need to issue a call to recall the citizen soldiers who are away.

Bataan and Carmela are the first-tier large city-states.

Robin had not yet collected enough information about these two city-states, and could only speculate based on the few words in the tavern that both city-states might have 4,000 to 5,000 extraordinary citizen soldiers. Even if half of them were recruited by the Ai Ye Alliance, there would be at least more than 2,000 citizen soldiers.

Among them, Bataan is even more special because it has a powerful navy that is in no way inferior to its army.

In other words, if the North Sokya front is fully formed and all the troops are assembled, the Viscount Lanwan may face an attack from nearly 7,000 extraordinary citizen militiamen and a navy of unknown number.

The Viscount Lanwan currently has only more than a thousand knights, three griffins and a weak Swordfish Island fleet.

Judging from the military strength, the Viscount Lanwan was completely at a disadvantage.

Robin Mancini immediately used a raven to pass the preliminary intelligence to Viscount Lanwan.

Charlotte was preparing to return to the Principality of Green Plains - Andre was getting married and she wanted to go back to attend the wedding.

I had just arrived at Viscount Lanwan, and after a few days of rest, I had to go back again. This was why Charlotte was not in a hurry to return to Viscount Lanwan.

However, before the gifts were packed, Renee handed Charlotte a note, which naturally contained all the information Robin had already found out.

Charlotte took the note, read it quickly, and her expression became solemn.

"Go and call Knight Herman Green, Knight Eric Scamario, Knight Jack Moore, and Knight Ryan Nasazzi." Charlotte said to Celine.

"Yes." Celine took the order and left.

Charlotte sat down at the desk, picked up a pen and paper, wrote three letters, handed them to Leni and said, "Send them to Riverside Castle, Oak Castle and Sister Monica respectively. Viscount Lanwan's territory will probably go to war. I won't have the chance to go back to attend the wedding. I can only wish my brother and Sister Monica a happy marriage."

"Yes." Leni took the letter. The reliability of crows was limited. A handwritten letter like this, used to show sincerity, still needed to be delivered by a courier so that it wouldn't be lost or delayed.

Charlotte felt quite regretful that she couldn't attend the wedding. After all, she even attended Henry's wedding, but had to miss her brother and cousin's weddings. She always felt like she had suffered a great loss.

After writing the letter, Charlotte didn't have to wait too long before Herman Green, Eric Scamario, Jack Moore, and Ryan Nasazzi rushed to the castle.

Charlotte handed them the note with the information and passed it around one by one.

After reading the intelligence, the four of them looked serious.

"If Knight Mancini's information is accurate, we'll be in big trouble this time." Jack Moore said with a breath of cold air.

"It's because of the trouble that I called you here to discuss countermeasures." Charlotte made an inviting gesture, "Everyone, please tell us your ideas. How should we deal with this wave of powerful enemies?"

Everyone thought for a while, and finally Ryan Nasaz spoke first: "Why not ask for help from the Duke of Green Plains? If the Duke can send five more griffins, no, three more, we won't have to worry about the Northern Sokya front at all. We may even have a chance to counterattack and crush these city-states one by one..."

Ryan Nasazzi shook his head and said, "It's a bit difficult to counterattack. The size of the enemy's navy is still uncertain. If the enemy has enough ships, they can go around the sea and cut off our retreat. However, with three more griffins, the defense will definitely be enough."

"I agree with asking for help, but asking for help alone may not be enough," Old Jack was also very familiar with Ryan Nasazzi, so he said frankly, "If we ask the Duke for help, the reinforcements will take at least half a month to arrive. And the armies of those city-states, the closest city-state of Little Sassini, only need half a day to attack the Viscount's territory from the sea. Dorucocha, the second closest to us, wants to attack Ambratu, but if it marches quickly, it will only take more than a day. So, while asking for help, we also need to do some work to try to delay the enemy's offensive."

"What kind of work? Building fortifications?" asked Ryan Nasazzi.

"No, it's obviously too late to build fortifications," Old Jack shook his head. "I mean, we can actually negotiate with those city-states."

"Negotiation?" Ryan Nasazzi was very surprised.

"Yes." Old Jack explained, "I think not every city-state in the North Sokya front wants to fight with us. After all, the young lady is a vassal of the Oran Empire, and they must have some reservations about fighting with us. Except for the city-states adjacent to us such as Little Sasini and Dorukocha, there should be room for negotiation in the city-states far away from us such as Bataan and Carmela as long as we can bribe some powerful people."

Charlotte nodded slightly, frowning in thought.

"I agree with Knight Moore's countermeasures," Eric Scamario also spoke up. He paused and added, "Besides, I think there is still a possibility that we can negotiate with Little Sasini."

"Oh? Why did Knight Eric say that?" Charlotte asked with interest.

"I think the reason why the Little Sasini wanted to go to war with us is not only because of the Viscount's... vigilance, but also because they gained nothing in the war with Ambratu." Eric said, "In the war with the city-state of Ambratu, the Little Sasini won a great victory on the battlefield, but suffered heavy losses outside the battlefield. Most of their city-state houses and docks were burned down, and they lost a large number of sheep and almost all of their stored wool and fodder. This is enough to make Little Sasini harvest nothing for three years, and it may not be able to fully recover within ten years. If we can seize Ambratu, Little Sasini will have a chance to make up for the losses, but Ambratu was captured by us, so Little Sasini hates us."

"You mean that if I give up enough economic benefits, little Sassini will also give up the war?" Charlotte concluded.

"I'm not sure, I can only say that there is such a possibility." Eric said quickly.

Charlotte nodded, then looked at Hermann Green, who was standing aside but never spoke: "Knight Hermann, what do you think?"

"I think...if we can temporarily abandon Ambulatu County and withdraw all troops and supplies to Viscount Lanwan's territory. Then, relying on the narrow terrain of the Lanwan Isthmus, even with our current weak forces, we will be able to stop the attack of the main force of the coalition forces on the North Sokya Front."

As soon as Hermann Green opened his mouth, he gave everyone a new idea.

"The armies of the Northern Sokya Front belong to six city-states. The most troops are from Batan and Carmela, which are the farthest from us. These troops cannot stay in Ambratu for a long time. After a period of time, when the enemy withdraws or most of them withdraw, we can retake Ambratu. With the powerful siege capabilities of the Griffins, this is an easy task."

Charlotte clapped her hands lightly and praised: "This is a great tactic."

The economy of Ambratu has not yet recovered. As long as all its warehouses and even the population are transported to the Viscount Lanwan, Charlotte will not suffer any loss even if the entire Ambratu is given to the enemy. The enemy cannot take the city and land away, so it can be taken back after a while.

After the other three knights carefully pondered it, they couldn't help but admire Hermann Green's strategy.

Charlotte summarized everyone's thoughts and pondered for a long time before saying, "There is no need to ask for help. The situation in the country is serious now, and I don't want to distract my father. Negotiations can be launched, not just with the city-states that are far away from us, but with every city-state on the North Sokya front. As long as they are willing to remain neutral or even form an alliance with us, we can negotiate no matter what the price is."

Charlotte didn't want to ask Jose Melefield for help, not only because of the war around the Green Plains Principality, but also because she couldn't ask her father for help every time she encountered a war, which would damage her own prestige and be detrimental to her control over her subordinates. The eldest daughter of the Duke of Green Plains could be a label or a trump card for her, but it couldn't be everything to her.

"Also, Knight Herman's defensive tactics can be kept as a backup..." Charlotte stood up and walked to the map on the wall. She stared at the map and said, "Before this, I don't want to just defend. Rather than defending, I would rather take the initiative to attack."

"attack?"

The four knights were very surprised.

"That's right," Charlotte nodded. "It's very convenient for Little Sasini and Dorukocha to attack us. On the contrary, isn't it also very quick for us to attack them?"

"Especially, Dorukocha," Charlotte pointed to the city-state of Dorukocha on the map. "There is no defense between this city-state and us. Their citizen soldiers are still outside, and the defense force in the city is very weak. If we take the initiative to attack, they will not be able to stop our three griffins!"

A menacing look appeared on Charlotte's face.

"But, but about the negotiations..." Eric was puzzled. He didn't understand why Charlotte was talking about negotiations one moment and took the initiative to attack the next.

"Negotiations are negotiations," Charlotte smiled brightly again, "We can fight and talk at the same time, talk and fight at the same time, without delaying either."

Sokya Peninsula, the city-state of Lesser Sasseni.

After the Council of Elders decided to join the Northern Sokya front and launch a counterattack against the Viscount of Lanwan, the small Sassini city-state also began its orderly preparations for war.

As a famous general renowned in the Sokya Peninsula and the savior who had just led the citizen militia to destroy Ambratu, Awa was naturally appointed as a general again, responsible for commanding the Little Sasini citizen militia in battle.

"Please take me to see Zaryusu."

That day, Apo found Elder Matt, who was in charge of managing the city-state's slaves, and said.