What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

"So which side should we help?"

"Of course, we will help whoever wins." Naranisuoya said, "But I am looking forward to our City Lord Fran winning. Today's meeting made me realize that she is very suitable to be a tool for practicing the Pink Art. Since I came here, I haven't found a suitable candidate for a long time. She will be a qualified Pink Slave.

, but the prerequisite is that she has to survive.

Chapter 38: Dare to spend my money!

A month later, a piece of important news spread throughout the city of Orila.

The Holy Roel Empire is attacking again!

To be honest, since the Holy Roel Empire attacked every now and then, and each time they returned without success, the citizens in the city had long been numb and even regarded it as a routine performance. Therefore, the war tax that could be collected each year was getting less and less.

So as soon as the news came out, some citizens ridiculed the Holy Roll Empire for coming to offer their heads again.

However, the citizens soon stopped laughing.

Because Margaret has assembled a full 20,000 people! The scale is larger than any expeditionary force since the founding of the Holy Roel Empire. There are also a large number of siege weapons among them. It doesn't look like a joke.

Soon, the public opinion in Orila City changed from disdain to panic. It can be predicted that the war tax will be a good harvest.

However, Fran knew very well that among these 20,000 people, only 2,000 belonged to Margaret's direct line, which was the elite troops she had trained from a count. The remaining 3,000 belonged to the Empire's regular army. Although their combat effectiveness was not very good, they could at least obey Margaret's command and had received some training.

What Fran fears are just these five thousand people.

Of the remaining troops, half came from the private armies of the major dukes.

These grand dukes had no interest in attacking Orila City, but they were still interested in gaining military merit and benefits in the name of attack, and they were very interested! In other words, they would only go if there were benefits. If they encountered a tough battle, they would definitely just shrink behind the tent and stay still.

As for the last half of the people, they are basically the army's entourage, helping to carry heavy goods, doing miscellaneous tasks such as cooking and feeding horses. You can't count on them to fight on the battlefield. At most, when they are needed to cover the rear, they can be given a wooden stick and shouted, "The Holy Roel Empire needs you now! Charge!"

some type of

In other words, the combat troops that Margaret could directly command numbered no more than about 5,000 people.

No wonder the Holy Roel Empire's imperial power was in serious decline. The wars between the dukes involved more than 5,000 troops on each side. Margaret, the emperor, had only this small army after putting together a lot of troops.

A few days after the news was released, the vanguard of the Holy Roll Empire had already arrived near the city of Orila and was roaming around Thermopylae.

The people didn't know much about Thermopylae, they only knew it was an ancient fortress. The nine families took the opportunity to spread the fear, saying that Thermopylae had been in disrepair for a long time and was in a dilapidated state, and that Margaret might be able to break through from here. For a time, the city was in turmoil.

Next, it would be a good time to collect war taxes.

So during this period, Fran frequently appeared in public and gave speeches.

For this purpose, she specially asked Christina to mobilize a large number of writers to help her carefully craft a speech full of motivation, named "Fran's Struggle", which used her own (fabricated) experience as an introduction to express her love for the city of Orlila and her determination to keep the city and its people.

It must be said that the writers under the religious hands are very powerful. As soon as the speech started, it immediately attracted the applause of everyone.

Before long, the citizens of Orila City all got to know Fran. They knew that although the new city lord was petite and cute, she was ready to die! She was completely different from the previous useless city lords who only knew how to make money.

Because the speech was so successful, Fran suddenly had many fans. During one of her speeches in a beer hall, there were so many people that many people could only lean on the windows outside to watch.

Thanks to her skyrocketing reputation, Fran easily raised a large amount of war taxes. If the money paid by the nine major families was added to attract more people, Fran had a total of 500,000 magic crystal coins, which was more than twice what she earned in the tulip storm.

This money came too fast!

No wonder the nine big families racked their brains to find ways to get money from the people.

However, Fran also clearly realized that wool comes from sheep. Only by fattening the sheep can you get better wool. Otherwise, if you take away all the wool before winter comes, don't be surprised to see the dead sheep on the ground.

Oulila City has rich mineral resources, plus so many monsters, theoretically it should be able to develop better. However, the nine families are like maggots attached to their bones, madly sucking the money and food of ordinary people to grow their bloated bodies. As a result, Oulila City has been half-dead and can only rely on selling ore to maintain its

life.

If Orila City wants to truly prosper, it must get rid of those bloated parasites.

Of course, how to revitalize the city of Orila is a matter for the future. Now Fran has to find a way to overcome the current difficulties.

After receiving this huge sum of money, Fran began to recruit soldiers on a large scale.

The city of Orila originally had a city defense force, but it had become a habitat for gangsters and hooligans, and most of the officers were children of the nine major families. They only bullied ordinary people who were unarmed, and it was already very good if they did not cause trouble on a real battlefield! Fran naturally could not count on them to defend the city.

So Fran plans to start from scratch and build a new army.

The focus of this recruitment is on quantity, so it naturally cannot be as strict as before.

No one knew whether it was because she was paid enough or because of the popularity she gained from her speeches, but she easily recruited 3,000 soldiers. Adding the original 1,000 direct descendants, Fran now had 4,000 soldiers, barely a quarter of Margaret's.

After that, she went on a shopping spree in the city, buying all kinds of food, supplies, and building materials. Every day, a large number of convoys transported goods to the Wenquan Pass. Anyway, she was spending the money of the nine major families, so she didn't feel bad at all.

With these materials, she began to renovate Thermopylae on a large scale. With materials and manpower, plus cement, a convenient artifact, Thermopylae was completely renovated in a short period of time.

Of course, such extravagant spending naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the nine major families.

After all, they had already regarded the collected taxes as their own money. Every penny Fran spent meant that they had one less penny. If possible, they even wanted to use slaves as soldiers and feed them the worst food every day, just enough to keep them from starving to death, in order to cut costs as much as possible.

Soon, envoys from the nine major families came to Fran. They told Fran that there was no need to repair Thermopylae, buy armor and weapons for the soldiers, feed them such good food, and even less need to train them.

This is just a show between the two sides, why do all this mess?

Fran used the excuse that she was timid to evade the question. She told the nine families that if Margaret really attacked them, they had to be prepared for both scenarios.

Of course, this reason obviously could not convince the people from the nine major families, so they sent people again and again to tell Fran that such a thing would never happen.

Fran was annoyed by what she said, so she told the nine major families directly that she was afraid and timid. If they felt that what she had done was useless, then they would be the ones to command Thermopylae and she would go back to the City Lord's Mansion, because they were not the ones on the front line.

This kind of negotiation method made the people of the nine families lose their temper. After all, their real target was Fran. If Fran really left in anger, wouldn't it be a waste of time for them to get water from the bamboo basket? The little money collected from the war tax was not enough to quench their thirst.

In the end, the nine major families had to bear the pain and let Fran squander their money.

Chapter 39 Reconstruction Plan

Without the noise of the nine major families joining together, Fran continued to concentrate on her own work.

Today, Thermopylae is a huge construction site, with countless soldiers working hard on it. Fran also gave them a name for their organization - the Construction Corps.

When Fran arrived at Thermopylae, she could hear all kinds of shouting and collisions. With the help of cement, the cracked wall was not only filled up, but also reinforced.

Relying on the original fortress structure of Thermopylae, Fulan installed a large number of artillery launching points on it. The artillery was protected by layers of cement, with only the muzzle exposed. On the side was a small warehouse for storing ammunition and cooling water. In this way, the artillery could be fired with maximum efficiency.

At the same time, Fran also carved out a large number of shooting rooms, each of which could accommodate three soldiers and a large amount of ammunition. At that time, the three soldiers could take turns firing bullets from the shooting holes! This would ensure their own safety and the efficiency of shooting.

It is worth noting that these artillery points and shooting rooms are not only facing outside the wall, but also installed inside the wall. After all, sometimes the enemy does not only attack from outside the city.

Every day, the soldiers could see new changes in Thermopylae, and this sense of accomplishment further ignited their enthusiasm for work.

Such efficient renovation progress is of course thanks to cement, but also thanks to the small work that Fran did when she was in the demon world.

I still remember that in order to get more money from Beelzebub, Fran founded a religion, recruited nuns, and trained their acting skills. To do these things, you must build a training base.

It was at that time that Fran and her men accumulated enough construction experience.

Of course, Fran did not use the 3,000 soldiers she recruited as workers. After work, she still let them receive simple queue training and provided them with quite good food and accommodation. As a result, these soldiers not only did not become exhausted due to the high-intensity labor and training, but each of them was very happy.

Refreshed.

This is enough to show how miserable their lives were before, and how horribly they were exploited!

In addition to the defense of Thermopylae itself, the most important place is naturally the path next to Thermopylae.

Originally, Fran only intended to seal it up completely with cement to prevent Margaret's troops from sneaking in. However, when she arrived at the scene, Fran changed her original plan.

This place is perfect for an ambush.

I saw a narrow path winding through the mountains. Because of the earthquake, the terrain around the path was extremely complex, which was very suitable for hiding. Moreover, as long as you occupy the commanding heights and attack downwards, the people below will not be able to charge upwards and can only passively take the beating.

So Fran sent out her own troops, and began to secretly add ambush points on the trail, fixed artillery, and hid musketeers. Just waiting for Margaret's raiding team to pass by, and then... the cannons were fired and blasted!

By then, with artillery fire from the front and back, this group of people will be trapped in such a narrow battlefield.

What if... Margaret is also in this team, and I am lucky enough to capture her alive, then...

You want me to sleep with you? Then I'll capture you and do it first!

What a proud queen! What a vicious noble!

Fran directly used the advanced technology learned from Beelzebub (referring to training and corrupting people) to make Margaret completely submit (and take over her bedroom by the way), and then she could hold the emperor hostage to control the princes, wouldn't she be able to play with the entire Holy Roel Empire in the palm of her hand? When there is a change in the world, she will put on the yellow robe and directly

Establish a second Shinra! By then, the world will be mine, and no one else will be able to take over the world but me.

"My lord? My lord? What are you grinning about?" Catherine patted Fran on the side.

"Ah? Ah...Flan woke up as if from a dream, and quickly said seriously: "I, I am thinking about how to ambush the enemy when the time comes."

"Really? Why would you drool when ambushing an enemy? Do you still have the blood of an ogre flowing in your veins?" Catherine said in disbelief: "I think you must be thinking of something bad."

"Not this time!" Fran said, "I'm thinking about how to dominate the entire continent in the future!"

"Really?"

"Let's not talk about this for now!" Fran knew that Catherine knew her thoughts very well, and her explanation would only make things worse, so she quickly changed the subject: "Are all the firearms ready?"

"I came to you to explain this matter." Catherine said, "The production capacity of the artillery is not very sufficient. Although Baram and his team have tried to shorten the construction period as much as possible and work overtime every day, you know! The time is still too short. So far, we only have ten artillery pieces. Even Thermopylae is stretched to the limit, let alone here.

It is. ”

"If there are only ten artillery pieces," Fran thought for a moment and said, "Deploy them here first, with ambush as the main focus."

"Mainly ambushes?" Catherine said in surprise. "You, my Lord, have also directly participated in the design of the artillery. You should know that these artillery are very heavy, and they must be firmly fixed to the ground before firing. It is impossible to carry them anywhere like muskets. If they are set up here, they will basically not be used before the end of the war.

In other words, the fortress may have no guns available."

"I know." Fran said, "Thermo Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It can be defended even without firearms, but it's different here."

"But wouldn't it be a shame to use the artillery we produced with great difficulty only once in an ambush?"

"The best steel should be used on the blade." Fran said, "Besides, you see this place is so narrow. If Margaret wants to pass through here quickly, she will definitely not let the team's battle line stretch too long. With such a dense formation, one shot will be very effective."

"Okay..." Catherine said, "But Balam and the others will be very upset. This is like leaving the artillery on the top of the mountain."

"It's fine if it's lost." Fran said, "This kind of artillery, whether in terms of range, power or accuracy, is far from what I had in mind. There will be better models in the future."

At Fran's insistence, all the artillery was deployed on the trail to Thermopylae, and the most elite musketeers were also sent here for training to familiarize themselves with the terrain every day.

Of course, if there weren't enough firearms, cold weapons would be used. Fran also bought a lot of crossbows for the soldiers to use, and she even got some small catapults. In short, she got everything that could be used for long-range attacks.

From afar, both sides of the path were still calm and there was no sign of life, but undercurrents were surging in the darkness. Various firearms and sharp blades had already set their directions and positions, waiting to fire when someone passed by.

Chapter 40: The Battle Between Two Armies

More than a month passed.

Margaret's troops finally arrived at the city of Orilla.

An army of 40,000 marched into the pitch-black underground and headed towards Thermopylae.

The underground world is very vast, and Orila City is just a part of it.

According to depth, people divide the underground world into three parts.

The first part is a shallower area, with narrow terrain, winding roads, and a large number of low-level monsters. But along with a large number of low-level monsters, there are also various rare materials, so adventurers often visit this first part and also set up many temporary camps here.

The city of Aurora did not destroy the camps set up by these adventurers; instead, they even secretly supported them.

Because these camps can not only serve as outposts for Orila City, but also trade goods with the Holy Roll Empire through them. Weapons, food, and luxury goods produced by the Holy Roll Empire, and ores and dungeon-specific materials produced by Orila City, all pass through these camps.

They are the bridge of communication between Orila City and the Holy Roll Empire, and are very important to each other.

Therefore, not only will the city of Orila not destroy them, but sometimes it will even send troops to help them resist riots of low-level monsters.

A few years ago, a pink slime riot caused countless human warriors (mainly men) in the camp to die of exhaustion. They died as if they were drained of energy, but with satisfied smiles on their faces. In short, it was extremely miserable. In the end, the warriors of Orila City fought side by side with human warriors to drive away and even tame the pink slimes.

Some pink slime.

(Later, pink slime also became an important entertainment tool in the dark camp.)

For a time, this incident became a legend. Everyone even thought that Orila City and the Holy Roll Empire would use this as an opportunity to make peace.

It's just a pity that the nine major families and the upper echelons of the Holy Roel Empire still needed to "conquer and cooperate" with each other to gain benefits, and the good situation of shaking hands and making peace was finally destroyed by the expeditionary force the following year.

Now, under the tacit consent of the city of Orila, the first part of the underground world is basically controlled by various adventurers. The residents of the city of Orila will not come to this area unless they have a need for trade. Of course, the so-called control is just to build camps on several main roads leading to the city of Orila. Most areas are still

In a state of fog.

Go down along the passage in the first area and you will reach the second area. The second area is a huge and wide underground space, where the city of Aurora is located.

The city of Orila uses the raised terrain as its city walls and has built a solid defense system, which is why the surface world cannot attack this place.

The third area goes deeper into the city of Orila through various passages. The monsters there are more dangerous and the roads are more winding and dangerous. Of course, it also contains a large number of minerals and rare materials.

In the first few years when Orila City was stable, the ambitious city lord had organized troops to go deep into the third area many times and discovered a large number of minerals. These minerals also became the economic lifeline of Orila City in later generations.