European modulation mode

On the second day of the wedding, Aenarion did not wake up until noon. Astariel, a newly married woman, had a more mature charm on her youthful face. He kissed his wife lovingly, then got up and started working, checking the surplus food, surplus money, and population of the entire Athenian territory.

There were 5,000 silver coins and 12 tons of various grains in the warehouse, which was pitifully small. There were more than 8,000 citizens in Athens, and the castles, villages, and towns outside the city had a population of about 70,000, which were distributed to more than 50 nobles and knights.

The population of this place is not large, but its composition is very diverse. Sixty percent of them are local high elves who believe in Eastern Orthodox Christianity; thirty percent are humans from Western Europe who believe in Catholic Christianity; and the last ten percent are actually the remnants of the old days who believe in Roman and Greek polytheism, and there are quite a lot of them.

The cultivated land in this place is not large, with more than 70% of it being mountainous. Rainfall and heat are at different times, so most of the crops that can be grown are economic crops such as olives, citrus, and grapes. There are very few wheat fields. Even though there are many herdsmen who go up the mountains to graze goats and fishermen who go down to the sea to fish, there is still not enough food, and the area is very dependent on trade imports.

No wonder the Ottoman Empire conquered Athens several times, but only set up puppet regimes, plundered the population and left. They were too lazy to care about this devastated land. The most recent conquest was four years ago, when Sultan Murad led the Seventh Legion, the Sultan's Fist, to personally invade this place. They only plundered 100,000 slaves, set up a puppet government and ran away. The population of Athens was hit so hard that it has not recovered until now.

The more troublesome problem is that the seal holder in charge of political and internal affairs of the Principality of Athens and the war commander in charge of military campaigns

, the Minister of Finance who is in charge of economic taxation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs who is in charge of diplomacy, the Minister of Spy who is in charge of espionage and assassination, and the key personnel under these five ministers, are all dark elves sent by the Ottoman Empire to undermine the puppet Grand Duke Francisco. Only the regional bishop is a devout Catholic.

In a palace, five of the six most important positions were held by Ottomans.

However, all these people fled after he took control of Athens. Outside the city of Athens, most of the feudal knights who originally controlled the more than 60,000 people died on the battlefield, and the others were still imprisoned as prisoners. All the positions were vacant. The entire Athenian government was paralyzed under his attack.

Aenarion sighed and built a team from scratch. He served as the Athenian war commander and foreign minister. His beautiful mother helped him share the work of political internal affairs and finance minister. There were 8,000 urban residents engaged in industry and commerce in Athens. The average monthly salary per person was nine silver coins, of which two-tenths went to the Holy See and two-tenths went to the lord. Theoretically, more than 14,000 silver coins could be collected in a month.

As for the rural areas and small towns outside, they are completely out of control and there are simply not enough grassroots officials to manage them.

The captured knights began to suggest setting them free, so that they would swear allegiance to Aenarion, return to their villages and towns, and provide Aenarion with a source of cavalry. Some of the heirs of the slain knights ran away, while others bravely came to Athens to meet the king, hoping to inherit their father's knighthood by swearing allegiance to themselves. The families of the captured knights also rushed to the scene, paying ransom to buy the freedom of their husbands and fathers.

Aenarion chatted with this group of people for several hours and found out that they were all people who could not make it in their homeland, so they joined the Crusades and came to the East to become holy war knights of the nobility. They just wanted to be knights and did not care whether they were knights of the Ottoman puppet regime or knights of the high elves. It was not clear what the people who ran away were like.

Aenarion thought about it. The feudal fiefdom system in Western Europe had existed for such a long time, and naturally it had its advantages. That was that one did not have to worry about a large number of rural towns. The knights would help you govern and collect taxes, and they could quickly recruit a large number of heavy cavalry without the lord having to pay for it himself.

However, it is now 1450, and the dominance of heavy cavalry on the battlefield has been shaken, but it has not yet collapsed - the basic logic behind the crushing of the knight class is that since you can no longer dominate the battlefield in the age of firearms, how can you gain such a superior position?

However, he lacked a large number of grassroots officials and could not realize the centralized rule of the Eastern Roman Empire. If he forced it, the people managing the countryside might be local landlords, Ottoman tax farmers and other disgusting people. And even if he had them, once this policy was implemented, this group of knights who were deeply rooted in the countryside and had a complex network of connections would definitely start a new riot.

But now he has not yet established a firm foothold. The Principality of Athens has two county territories, and he has only conquered the County of Athens. There is also a County of Thebes in the north. Further north is the Thessaly region occupied by the Ottomans for many years. The enemy may attack from the north at any time.

Forget it, let’s start with the knight fiefdom system and take it step by step.

Aenarion thought about it. The Duchy of Athens was a new country founded by the Crusaders. It was not like the Duke of Normandy in France or the Archduke of Austria in the Holy Roman Empire, who had clear superiors. Moreover, Francisco surrendered to the Ottoman Empire to avoid being beaten by the Eastern Roman Empire. In theory, he was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. This kind of title transfer... no one in the Christian world cared about you.

So, Aenarion ordered Francisco to transfer his title of Duke of Athens to himself in public, making Athens his fiefdom, and all the seals, rings, and deeds were transferred together, giving him the right to enfeoff the Athenian nobles. Afterwards, he placed Francisco under house arrest in Athens to live out his retirement.

Then, Aenarion used his power to divide Marathon into his own territory and gave himself the title of Baron of Marathon. He then went into the prison himself and personally pardoned and released all 108 captured heavy cavalrymen without asking for any ransom. He also returned their equipment and horses and invited them and their families who came to redeem them to a sumptuous dinner at the Governor's Mansion.

Eighteen of them were knights, and the rest were squires. For the legitimacy of their rights and lands, each knight knelt before Aenarion and re-swore allegiance. Of the thirty-two knight families that had died, twenty-five had fled, leaving seven knight families. Aenarion personally selected the most outstanding and loyal descendants from their families and personally appointed them as new knights.

Then he brought the manors and lands of the remaining 25 knight families under his direct jurisdiction.

Among these twenty-five knight families, there were two barons who seemed to be the leaders of the knights. Aenarion ordered them to send their eldest sons to his court to receive a good education and enjoy generous treatment, and then return to their fiefdoms. He used these hostages to further ensure his rule and authority over the Principality of Athens.

Aenarion estimated that if war broke out again, his twenty-five knight families should be able to raise a hundred heavy cavalry, and every year during the harvest season, they would pay him one-tenth of the various crops and agricultural products from their fiefdoms as taxes.

Now that we have dealt with the political and economic issues, the next step is diplomacy.

The Duchy of Athens consisted of two counties

: One is the Earldom of Athens and the other is the Duchy of Thebes. Theoretically, Thebes in the north is his vassal. He tentatively sent a messenger to the north, asking the other party to bring his eldest son to Athens to swear allegiance to him, and he would guarantee his rights and land.

Then, the messenger was chopped to death. Faced with this pirate who came out of nowhere, the Count of Thebes asked the Ottoman Empire for help without hesitation. North of Thebes was the picturesque Thessaly Basin, the only large plain and the only horse farm in ancient Greece. The ancient Thessalian cavalry was notorious and feared by the Greeks. Thessaly also had another name: Arion. Their cavalry who came and went like the wind were also known as the Arion plunderers.

The Janissaries stationed on the only great plain and horse farm in ancient Greece were the first alien slave soldiers formed by the Ottoman Empire: the First Legion, the Dark Angels.

Chapter 142: The New Athenian Army

Aenarion felt a terrible pressure coming towards him. He was not afraid of ordinary Janissary soldiers, but those groups of level 4 soldiers were simply a dimensionality reduction attack on his level 1 or even no level soldiers! And he could only barely fight against the powerful Janissary captains in his demon form.

According to Astariel's intelligence, the composition of these dark angels is very complex.

The First Legion: The Dark Angels are the Turkic ogres of this dimension. They are the first batch of Janissary Corps created and are the prototype, template and Unit-01 of all future Janissary Corps of the Ottoman Empire.

At the beginning, the Ottoman Empire selected some of the strongest boys from the conquered Balkan Christian families, converted them to Islam, taught them Turkish, and received military training in 19 other subjects to form the empire's first standing army, which was the prototype of the Dark Angels.

Subsequently, with the destruction of the Bulgarian Kingdom and the surrender of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Serbian Empire, and some small Crusader kingdoms, the composition of the First Legion began to become complicated. The original Janissaries were a mixture of beastman feudal knights under the Yugoslav culture, armored cavalry under the high elf military district system, and Crusader knights who were either pretending to convert or firmly apostasy.

Even the original Janissaries included multiple races such as Yugoslav beastmen, Greek high elves, Caucasian half-giants, Mongolian orcs, and even Western European Germanic peoples.

Although the First Legion had tremendous power and weapons after integrating so many forces, it also led to numerous factions and cliques within the legion.

Facing this Janissary Legion that was extremely good at attacking, especially cavalry assaults, Aenarion recalled all the knowledge from his previous life and combined the power he could get at hand to come up with a solution: the Spanish phalanx,

Valkia's hometown is in the Black Sea, so it is impossible for them to stay there forever. After burning, killing and looting, these Khorne returned home with a boatload of heads and silver coins. The archers that Alleli lent to himself also withdrew to Evia after conquering Athens. Only Aurelia's 100 rangers remained. These first-level professionals were paid one silver coin a day. Although the 300 heavily armored spearmen were well-equipped, they were all civilians and only earned half a silver coin a day.

The monthly military pay for these four hundred men alone is seven thousand five hundred silver coins. Don't worry. If I calculated correctly, not counting the food, meat and livestock in my territory, the cash tax alone is fourteen thousand a month.

Aenarion thought about it. Astariel still had a dowry of three hundred thousand silver coins, and he also had more than ten thousand silver coins saved. With the attitude of "money is spent, it just accompanies you in a different form", he bought a 40-meter-class caravel through the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes at a preferential price of two hundred and twenty thousand silver coins. The ship was ninety percent new and was for the female captain's personal use. It had portholes on both sides, forty cannons, two hundred shells and the corresponding gunpowder was sufficient to ensure his absolute advantage over the Ottoman Empire, a group of landlubbers, on the sea.

After the caravel arrived at the port, Aenarion gave the ship directly to Artemisia and promoted her to the captain of the new ship, as she was the only one who could control the zombie pirates.

Artemisia missed her old ship and gave the new carrack the name of her original ship, which was called "Caesar's Pride". However, Athens was heavily Latinized now, so in the eyes of the Crusaders and nobles, this ship was called "Emperor's Pride". One hundred and fifty zombies, half for Ulthuan and half for Emperor's Pride.

Afterwards, Aenarion recruited 700 of the most outstanding young high elves in all of Athens, spent 40,000 silver coins, and ordered 400 muskets from the Genoese, as well as a large number of lead bullet molds, lead, and gunpowder. He temporarily armed a 400-man musketeer force, trained them intensively, and equipped them with leather armor from the Athenian warehouse.

Finally, he ordered 300 sets of chain mail from the Genoese, which were expected to arrive within a week, for a total of silver coins. He spent all of Astariel's dowry and his own savings were also depleted.

There were many weapons, shields, and light leather armor in the warehouses of Athens, but no iron armor. Blacksmiths could forge many spearheads a day, but it took thirty or forty men to forge a piece of chain mail.

There was simply not enough time in just a few days. Three hundred sets of chain mail, three hundred spears, and shields could be used to equip three hundred new elven heavy-armored spearmen.

Within a week of the arrival of the mail and carracks, Aenarion hurriedly trained his newly recruited six hundred heavily armored spearmen and four hundred lightly armored musketeers to deal with the impending Dark Angels.

More than 50 heavy armored infantrymen were arranged in a 12x square formation. The people were densely packed together and faced the enemy on all four sides. There was no such thing as flanks or blind spots. All elves over two meters tall and half-giants over two and a half meters tall held a shield and a spear about three or four meters long, forming an extremely dense spear wall. Countless sharp spears were crowded together like hedgehogs.

At the four corners of this square formation, there are four 10x10 musket formations. They are located at the four corners of the large square formation. They can advance in a scattered formation to shoot and harass the enemy, and retreat to stay behind the spearmen in a dense formation, using the muskets in their hands as spears to enhance the thickness and density of this spear square formation.

It was unrealistic to train them in a few weeks, but Aenarion focused on training the six hundred heavily-armored spearmen on spear wall and the four hundred musketeers on loading and shooting. They could practice slowly in the remaining time. Just make do with it, there was no better way. Matchlock training was much simpler than spear training. Aenarion also taught them the three-stage strike to improve the output efficiency of the matchlock guns. In the last battle, only the first row of muskets could fire in unison, which was a serious waste of firepower.

Under the leadership of Aenarion, one thousand civilians in the military camp received intensive training. Referring to the methods of famous generals in training their armies, he promulgated and formulated extremely strict military laws. The requirements for training were very harsh, but he was able to lead by example and carry out high-intensity training with the soldiers to improve his melee ability to make up for the lack of his own combat power. The shadow of the Ottoman Empire and the Janissaries was like a huge wolf, forcing him to become stronger and stronger.

A week later, although the soldiers were still complaining about Aenarion's high-intensity training, feeling that the salary was high but too tiring, when they saw Aenarion completing the same training as them every day, eating together, and emitting terrifying magic, they could not help but be in awe and had to admit that the Duke was fair and selfless.

He would not withhold food, would eat the same meals with the soldiers, was the first to finish training every day, exuded a strange charm in his every move, and would not favor anyone. When several people committed crimes, the new Duke used some charm spells to quickly find out who the mastermind was and who was the accomplice, and quickly gave out fair punishment.

At this time, in order to increase the fighting power of the one thousand soldiers, Aenarion distributed all the land and property confiscated from the twenty-five knights in the twenty towns to the seven hundred young men recruited from Athens and the three hundred homeless half-giants, turning them from Black Sea slaves, field serfs, and city hired laborers into property owners, with the least of them owning a wheat field.

Although he was a professional soldier and could only train in the barracks and had time to go back to see his family but no time to farm, he could ask his family or buy a few serfs on the spot to help manage his land and house.

After this policy was implemented, all the soldiers who complained about the hard training shut up.

Now is a time of war, and you may be killed by the Janissaries at any time. No matter what policy is issued, soldiers should be the first beneficiaries. Otherwise, why should they work hard for you? The wealthy have perseverance, and only after winning the war and surviving can they be qualified to do other things.

Hearing that being a professional soldier for the new Duke of Athens would not only earn a high salary, but also allocate land and property, the whole of Athens was eager to try it out. Many people wanted to join in the fun, but Aenarion declined. Now the soldiers were almost enough, and he didn't have that much land. Expanding the army? Let's talk about it later.

Aenarion waited for about ten days in Athens before he received the ships and armor he bought. His army was initially trained and formed. At least it was no longer a group of noisy farmers. Their morale and will also increased significantly after they had their own land and real estate in Athens. Even if they did not fight for their own race, country, and ideals, they had to fight to protect their private property and not be looted by the Ottomans again.

Afterwards, Aenarion asked Aurelia to guard Athens, while Artemisia took two caravels, the pirates, and all the artillery to blockade the port of Thebes by water.

He led six hundred heavily-armored spearmen, four hundred lightly-armored musketeers, and a hundred feudal knights who had gathered at his command, and marched overland to attack Thebes - if he didn't fight, he wouldn't even be able to pay these soldiers their June salaries!

Moreover, Thebes is the gateway to Athens. The Attica Peninsula is a place with rugged mountains and rivers. Even in the 21st century, there are only two ways to come from the north, and these two roads converge in Thebes. As long as you control the city of Thebes, you can ensure the safety of Athens.

As for the Ottomans, her mother-in-law said with disdain that the Ottoman executive body was extremely bloated and inefficient. A few Janissaries did not need to be reviewed when they went out, but a company-level Janissary army needed the approval of the high lords to go on an expedition. The twenty Janissary legions were too powerful and good at fighting, so they had to be firmly controlled by the sultan, prince, or the Thirteen Diwan Council, and it was impossible to let them act on their own.

After the request for help from Thebes reached the First Legion of Thessaly

They also have to report it to the Thirteenth Diwan Council in Edirne, and then the twelve high lords and Sultan Murad will discuss this issue for a while. Considering that Sultan Murad is seriously ill and cannot attend, this discussion will become a matter of wrangling and buck-passing among the high lords.

Vichyr, in charge of the army and wielding the sword, absolutely wants to fight for victory, honor, and fame.

However, Vichiel, the seal holder in charge of finances, would certainly consider whether attacking Athens, which did not belong to the empire, and the entire territory was a remote and poor area with a smaller population than the capital, and whether he could make a profit. By the time they had discussed it, Thebes might have been gone.

Chapter 143: Armed Taxation

A few hours later, two enormous carracks lay across the port of Thebes. Forty portholes slowly opened upwards, and forty cannons slowly rolled out to the side, announcing the beginning of Aenarion's conquest of Thebes with a devastating salvo.

Under the cover of fierce artillery fire, the ogre zombies and the second batch of rich zombies created by Aenarion roared and rushed down the sailing warship. While the Count of Thebes was unable to react, they seized control of the port in a lightning speed and set up fifteen cannons at the entrance of the port.

The Thebans wanted to counterattack, but the zombie pirates had already established a defense line at the narrow entrance to the harbor. Whenever their soldiers rushed over, they were attacked by a round of devastating shotgun fire from fifteen 12-pound stone-throwing cannons and ten lead-spraying cannons, followed by a volley of musket fire and a bayonet charge from the rich zombies.

They launched nine consecutive charges inside the narrow streets, and were repelled nine times by cannon and grapeshot. Once, the Count of Thebes assembled a large army, but the two caravels parked in the port directly performed a wave of parabolic bombing with solid bullets at an ultra-long-range. The whole street was destroyed by the terrible artillery fire for a hundred meters, and the Thebans were killed and blood flowed like a river.

The next day, the zombies even used the corpses of the Theban soldiers to build a wall of flesh and blood, increasing the difficulty of the attack and forcing the enemy to give up control of the port.

And then? Then Aenarion's host came overland.

The Count of Thebes was really panicking at this moment. The port was occupied, the land was surrounded, and the First Legion stationed in the Thessaly Basin had not made any movement! The population of his earldom was about the same as that of Athens. Even Francesco was defeated, how could he possibly defend it?

In desperation, he once again sent out carrier pigeons, and the messengers quietly broke out of the siege and went to Thessaly for help. A day later, a pigeon brought back a message from the First Legion.

"Sword-bearing Vichir has agreed to the army's attack, but the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire have completely cut off their access to the empire's money and food. Seal-bearing Vichir is currently collecting money and food to transport the First Legion's attack. You should hold on for a while."

"Hold on!"

The Count of Thebes cursed after reading the reply from the First Legion. Under normal circumstances, he could defend the city walls until the enemy died of old age, but Aenarion had already occupied the port, and the fifteen cannons could even shoot directly at his governor's mansion from the port! How the hell was he supposed to defend it?

In desperation, the Count of Thebes packed up his belongings that night, put all the silver coins and treasures in a dimensional bag, abandoned the city and fled to Thessaly, handing the entire city over to Aenarion.

It is too dangerous here. I'd better go and wait in the army of the Dark Angels. As long as the First Legion launches an attack, everything will be fine. As long as I recapture Thebes, I will still be the count. No matter how much the enemy has eaten during this period, they will have to spit it all out for me.

On July 1, Aenarion captured Thebes almost without a fight. Afterwards, he led his well-trained army to review the city of Thebes, which also had a population of only 8,000, and collected June taxes from every household and every factory.

This murderous army marched through the city in an orderly manner. They were quite polite. They knocked on the doors of the frightened residents one by one, collected the taxes for the month at a 20% tax rate, and did not take a penny. They did not take any extra bribes from factories and big merchants. After collecting taxes, they even swore to every household in Thebes that as the new Earl of Thebes, they would protect their safety and make the high elves great again! The people in the whole city respected and feared this army.

They burned, killed and looted, but this group of people only wanted the monthly taxes and did not commit any other crimes.

They were a righteous army, but the first thing they did when they entered the city was to collect taxes armedly.

After going around in circles like this, Aenarion collected 14,000 silver coins, and with the remaining money he had, he finally paid out the June military pay worth 15,000 silver coins. Well, he still had 6,000 silver coins left in his pocket.

Perhaps because Thebes was directly adjacent to the Ottoman Empire and the First Legion, the local feudal knights were more afraid of the Turks than themselves. None of them pledged allegiance to them, and they fled with their families like the Count of Thebes. The entire Principality of Athens was conquered by themselves after 45 days.

The city of Thebes is located on the only road leading into Athens from Greece. To reach Athens, you have to go south through a canyon and over the mountains.

However, it was impossible for the First Legion to bypass Thebes to attack Athens. Athens was located in the south of the Attica Peninsula. As long as they dared to bypass it, they could block the canyon with their soldiers and trap these landlubbers in the peninsula with nowhere to go.

If they didn't want to starve to death, they had to surrender quickly. Therefore, the First Legion had to ensure that Thebes was captured and there was no worry about their retreat before they could go south to Athens.

As for the County of Thebes, he had no way to defend it for the time being. This County was a narrow valley carved out by the Kiphissus River in the Greek mountains. Because of this river, the land of the entire County of Thebes was relatively fertile.

However, there are three roads into this valley. The two roads in the north lead to Thessaly in the Ottoman Empire, and the one in the south leads to Athens. If he wants the whole valley, he has to divide his troops to guard the two mountain passes. His 1,000 men are to cooperate with the training of the Spanish phalanx, so it is impossible to divide them. Even if he recruits soldiers from Thebes, Astariel's dowry has been spent, and the soldiers he recruits are lightly armed and unarmored. It's okay to fight ordinary people, but it's better to forget about fighting the Janissaries. He can dream of anything.

Aenarion was temporarily unable to recapture the entire territory of Thebes. Even if he did, he did not have enough grassroots officials to effectively manage the fifty or sixty villages and towns of all sizes. He simply gave up and had the entire army strengthen the defense of the city walls of Thebes to prepare for a possible counterattack from the Ottoman Empire. He also asked the blacksmiths of Athens and Thebes to devote themselves to forging armor for him, the more armor the better.

One day, after Aenarion and all the soldiers had finished training for the day, he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten: the First Legion, the Dark Angels, were stationed in the Thessaly Basin. Did he capture a Dark Angel when he was fighting the half-giants in the Black Sea? He seemed to call himself Luther El'Jonson, the Dark Angels' chief recruit? This man was still imprisoned in the prison of Ulthuan.

Chapter 144: Lord of the Legion, King of the Knights

With this in mind, Aenarion returned to Ulthuan via the port of Thebes and met Luther El'Jonson in person.

He is a middle-aged Yugoslav man, with a very elegant and easy-going face, but with a bit of vicissitudes of life. He has a simple and capable flat head and a beautiful black beard.

"Ah, we meet again, Captain Aenarion. No, I should call you Duke Aenarion now. You conquered the entire Principality of Athens in 45 days. Even Constantine and his brother Thomas, two real dragons, took two months to accomplish the feat you have accomplished now."

Luther said gently that although he was captured, given his identity, Aenarion did not make things difficult for him. He just confiscated his armor and weapons and handcuffed his legs and hands in a cabin.

"But those two dragon cubs only lasted ten months under the attack of the Seventh Legion: Sultan's Fist. How long can you last under the counterattack of the First Legion: Dark Angels?"

"You are imprisoned here, but you have learned a lot of information."

Aenarion was not angered by him. He ordered the zombies to bring the most alcoholic wine in Thebes and a whole roasted lamb as dinner. He chatted with his captive while eating, talking about family matters, trying to get more information from him.

You, Luther El'Jonson, an Orthodox Christian, are responsible for capturing children from the Black Sea as recruits for the First Legion, brainwashing them, training them in combat, and teaching them knowledge?

It seems that you, a foreigner and heretic, are very trusted by Osman. You have held such an important position for eight years, and almost all of these new recruits in the First Legion are your students. "

"Ah, I nearly lost my life for this minor logistical job."

Luther laughed and drank two more glasses.

"Eight years ago, when I accompanied the legionary commander in the Danube defense line to fight against the Hungarian Centaurs, we were ambushed by the notorious White Knight János Hunyadi. That time, we attacked at night, and our group was small. We were defeated miserably by the charge of the Hungarians. The legionary commander's beloved horse was shot and killed by the White Knight. I personally jumped off my horse and gave my horse to her. I pulled the reins on foot, waved the shield, and protected her on foot as she crossed the river and retreated. This saved the legionary commander's life.

That time, I was hit by thirty-three arrows, sixteen of my limbs were pierced by spears, and I had twenty-two scars from being torn by scimitars. I risked my life to protect the legion commander and broke out of the siege. Only then, as a heretic from an alien race, I was appreciated by the legion commander and got the logistical job of the chief of new recruits. I no longer had to fight on the battlefield. The only danger was that I might be robbed by pirates like you.

However, I am old now, and after I was injured that time, I had to walk through the icy river. I have hidden injuries all over my body, and my movements are far less flexible than before, so I lost to you, a young boy, in the Black Sea."

"Haha, life is full of surprises."

While drinking with him, Aenarion secretly cast a charm. Luther was a little drunk after a few drinks. Under the effect of the charm, he vaguely felt that the elf in front of him was more pleasing to the eye, as if this was not a prison visit, but a drink and chat with friends.

"You are afraid that you can't defeat the First Legion. How about this? I will guarantee you! You bring all your people and join the First Legion, the Dark Angels. How about that? I saved the life of the legion commander! With this friendship and your strength, it won't be a problem for you to get a position in the Janissary."

Luther tried to recruit again.

"Thanks, but I have a big grudge against the Thirteenth Legion and Prince Muhammad. If I really join, my first mission may be to assassinate the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire or the Sultan of the Timurid Empire. You can't protect me."

Ainarion

absolutely.