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

In the end, Christina fought off Fran's pursuit, but she was also injured and retreated under the protection of a group of guards.

Chapter 47 Victory!!

"A great victory!" After the attack, Catherine's eyes were filled with uncontrollable joy: "A total of 4,327 enemies were captured. There were also a large amount of food, supplies, weapons and equipment. They were so busy running for their lives that they didn't even take these with them! Now it's a good opportunity for us."

"Just when we were worried about not having enough food, they sent it to us." Fran smiled and said, "The food we seized is enough for us to eat for several months. There are also so many spiritual clothes. I heard that each piece is priceless!! This large amount of supplies can be sold for more than 100,000 magic crystal coins."

"But what should we do with these prisoners?" Catherine asked. "Including the prisoners we captured in the ambush, we have nearly 5,000 prisoners. Even if there are 5,000 pigs, it is not easy to settle them. Food, water, and shelter are all important."

"That's easy." Fran said, "I just happen to want to expand the camp of the garrison at Thermopylae, so let them build it. After it's built, let them live in it and experience it first."

"You mean, use them as slaves?"

"No, no, no!" Fran said, "I'm not a demon, how can I be used as a slave? They are just redeeming themselves for their crimes. And I'm not interested in keeping them locked up. Tell them to work hard for Aurora City for a few months, and I'll let them go."

"You want to let them go?"

"Yes." Fran said, "Most of these soldiers were born civilians. They didn't come here on purpose. Why bother them? Besides, not only will we not kill them, we will also treat them well. Tell those who are in charge of the prisoners not to abuse them! And they must be provided with sufficient food three times a day, and no deductions can be made.

. Anyway, Margaret brought me so much food. "

"Yes! I will follow the standards of our soldiers." Catherine immediately understood Fran's intention, and then said: "When they go back, they will naturally understand the meaning of your speech on the tower."

"Let's not talk about the prisoners for now." Fran said, "Do you have any information about the mysterious archers?"

"No, they had already retreated while you and the Saint were acting. But we found the arrows they used on the battlefield." As she spoke, Catherine presented a black arrow.

"Dark Elf?"

"Yes." Catherine said, "There is indeed a group of dark elves in Orila City. But their leader, Naranissuoya, is also one of the nine major families. Logically, shouldn't she be helping the Four Yellow Wolves? How come she suddenly appeared on this battlefield? It's so strange."

Fran remembered the look Naranissoy had given her at the previous banquet. It seemed that after this matter was over, it would be necessary to have a long talk with the dark elf matriarch.

After cleaning up the mess, Fran's troops returned to Thermopylae once again.

Although Margaret was defeated in this night attack, Fran did not kill many of her living forces. If they really set up a battle array on the plain, he would definitely not be her opponent. Even if she used all her strength to attack the city and sent all the magicians and spirit warriors, it would still be a question whether he could defend against her.

Fortunately, we had seized all the enemy's food and supplies, so we had to capture Thermopylae as quickly as possible.

After the retreat, Margaret did not regroup her troops to seek revenge, but quietly marched towards the exit of the underground world. She was obviously unwilling to fight to the death with all her might.

At this point, this vigorous siege ended in just one day.

When the news spread throughout the city of Orila, everyone was stunned.

Is this the end?

You must be kidding!

The patriarchs of the nine major families looked at each other in bewilderment, and some even suspected that the intelligence was wrong.

This scenario is different from what was agreed upon? Wasn't it that Margaret would go around and kill Fran, and then start looting like crazy? Why didn't she kill Fran, but was killed instead?

That's an army of more than 20,000 people! That's more than 20,000 pigs! It would take more than a day to catch them all! Even if all the soldiers under Fran are succubi! It would take at least several days to squeeze the juice out!

Where is the military god of the Holy Roel Empire?

Where are Margaret's descendants?

Where are the Imperial Elites?

In order to confirm, Huang Silang even sent his confidants to investigate Thermopylae, but he only saw a messy camp! The expeditionary force of the Holy Roll Empire was indeed deserted! He hurriedly sent an envoy to contact Margaret in secret, but Margaret was like a bomb and threw Huang Silang's envoy away.

He was thrown out without giving any face at all.

This made Huang Silang a little confused. What on earth happened in this world?

You lost, so you lost. Why are you scolding me?

While the people of the nine major families were still confused, the citizens of Orila City were in complete carnival.

Over the years, it has always been the Holy Roll Empire that came to bully them, but they have never taken the initiative to bully the Holy Roll Empire.

Fran's victory can be said to have made history.

Before the war, some people were skeptical of Fran. After all, although her speech was passionate, it was just her eloquence. Throughout history, there were many city lords, many of whom were good at talking, but in the end, they failed to achieve anything and died on the Shinra Church's barbecue grill.

But now, no one doubted Fran anymore! Her reputation was like the price of flower cards during the tulip storm, it skyrocketed. That night, the people in the city of Orila spontaneously organized a victory parade, and the team shouted Fran's name as they marched.

When Fran's troops returned, the citizens of the city lined the streets to welcome them, offering them food and drink. This made the soldiers feel very proud, so they straightened their chests and brought the effect of their daily formation training to the extreme.

This was also the first time that Fran's troops appeared in front of the public.

They marched through the streets in a majestic goose-step, each step and each movement in perfect sync, as if they were cloned.

On weekdays, the armies that citizens saw were all shabby. They were either family-run private armies that only knew how to bully the locals, or city garrisons that had no discipline and were like gangsters. They were simply incomparable to Fran's army.

To be fair, the current drills of the Fran army are still far from perfect, and they are a far cry from the pace of the top army in my mind. But in Orila City, they are already a standout!

The citizens had never seen such an array or such orderly steps before, and they just thought that Fran was holding a magic weapon. However, when they looked closely at the members of the team, they clearly saw many familiar faces.

Isn't this the second son of the village blacksmith?

Isn't that the apprentice of the rice shop?

These people were not divine soldiers! They were all ordinary Aurora people, but under the leadership of Fran, they seemed to have completely changed and became invincible heavenly soldiers. For a time, the citizens' respect for Fran reached a new level.

Chapter 48: Hongmen

In the following days, the nine families still couldn't find Fran. They were probably still confused and didn't know what happened, so they didn't dare to contact Fran rashly.

Fran was naturally happy to have some free time, so she focused on solving various post-war chores.

The most important thing is of course the 4,000 prisoners. After all, many of them are professional soldiers and masters of rank. If they riot, it will be a headache.

However, after a few days, most of the captives have adapted to their current lives. After all, apart from a small number of officers and elite soldiers, many of them are servants of elite troops. They originally thought that if they were captured, they would most likely be forced to work until they were killed. The nobles could get away with ransom, but they were just commoners, so how could they do that?

The money came to pay the ransom.

However, when they had their first meal, everyone was stunned.

Is this food for prisoners of war? They don't eat that well in the army. When some prisoners saw this kind of food, they immediately knelt down and shouted in fear, "Don't kill me." They actually regarded this as their last meal before execution.

As for the work, although it was a bit tiring, the intensity was not much different from their usual work. When you were a captive in Orila City, as long as you didn't slack off or have bad intentions and finished your work every day, you would never be whipped for no reason.

This is different from the military camp of the Holy Roel Empire. If the nobles are not happy, you will be in trouble. For the nobles, killing an ordinary soldier is as easy as killing a fly.

Under such treatment, most of the prisoners of war calmed down and worked hard, and no longer had any bad intentions.

In the evening, Fran arranged a special activity for them - a grievance meeting.

To this end, Fran took photos of some civilians who had fled from the Holy Roll Empire to Orila City, asked them to tell about their tragic experiences, and then let the captives talk about their own experiences.

Originally, there was some estrangement between the captives and the civilians who had fled to the city of Orila, but the situation changed completely once the grievance meeting began.

How could a commoner in the Holy Roel Empire not have been exploited and oppressed? Oppressed by the nobles, oppressed by the army...

So everyone immediately told their tragic experiences.

Some had their food rations taken away in the winter, some had their sisters taken away by nobles, and some were robbed by bandits today and by the army coming to suppress the bandits tomorrow.

After several rounds, a very strong resonance arose among these people.

They all knew that they had fallen to this state not because of the city of Orila, but because of the nobles of the Holy Roll Empire who oppressed them and left them with nowhere to go! This reduced their rejection of the city of Orila a lot.

Of course, in addition to civilians, there were also many nobles among the captives.

Fran did not discriminate, but treated everyone equally. Hai even threw them all to the grievance meeting, letting them listen to the miserable lives of these civilians. As for whether they felt guilty or angry, it was up to them.

After that, Fran told them that the reason why the two sides fought was because of the nobles of the Holy Roel Empire. They were just defending themselves. Neither side was wrong. The one who started the war was wrong.

So Fran promised these captives that they could leave on their own after working here for a period of time, and she would even give them a sum of travel expenses when they left, which would be regarded as their wages for their work here.

If Fran had said these words at the beginning, the captives would obviously not have believed them. But after a few days of complaining, they had obviously put aside their prejudices and grudges. Some captives even praised Fran's righteousness in public.

With hope and motivation, the prisoners' work efficiency increased sharply, and soon there were rows of camps and various fortifications at Thermopylae. It was no longer in a state of disrepair.

During this process, people from the nine major families finally couldn't hold back and came to find Fran.

Huang Silang wrote a letter to Fran, and invited Fran to the Wolf Castle for a banquet on the pretext of his sixth daughter's birthday. However, this time Fran rejected him directly, saying that she had been in Orila City for so long and had never properly entertained the nine families, so she wanted to treat everyone to a drink at the City Lord's Mansion.

Today, Fran has the army, logistics (although it cannot produce stably), and popularity. Naturally, it will no longer give the nine major families a cold shoulder. Negotiations are fine, but you have to come to my place.

Huang Silang had no choice but to agree.

After having money, Fulan naturally reorganized the City Lord's Mansion. The City Lord's Mansion has changed a lot now, and it is no longer the shabby look it was before.

The patriarchs of the nine major families came to the City Lord's Mansion one after another, and were soon shocked by the appearance of the soldiers at the door. These soldiers were wearing exquisite armor, holding weapons in their hands, and exuding murderous aura on their faces.

This doesn't look like welcoming guests at all.

They didn't understand where on earth Fran got the ability to pull out such a powerful army from the void.

The clan leaders came to the reception hall and found that Fran had already sat on the main seat. On the wall behind her was a huge plaque with two big characters on it - Hongmen. No one knew what it meant.

Seeing the people from the nine families coming, Fran entertained them as the host. Since her strength had been exposed, she naturally stopped pretending and showed her cards!

"Dear clan leaders, welcome, welcome." Fran's joyful look formed a sharp contrast with the sad expressions of the clan leaders (except Naranissoyah, who still looked as if she was staying out of the matter).

"First of all, congratulations to the city lord for winning a great victory." The pig tribe leader said first.

"It was all luck, luck." Fran said modestly, but there was no trace of humility on her face.

"It's just..." The Pig Tribe Chief paused, then said: "According to the previous agreement, we should be acting out a play. Now that you have driven away the people of the Holy Roll Empire, how can we continue this play..."

"Please be at ease, clan leaders," said Fran, "The war tax collected previously should be divided as it should be."

After hearing this, several clan leaders cursed inwardly.

What we want is the dividends from the war tax! The bulk of it comes from the looting! And there is not much left of the war tax due to your lavish spending.

Of course, they didn't dare say this out loud.

The nine clan leaders looked at each other awkwardly, and finally Huang Silang said, "Lord City Lord. We agreed before that both sides would play a stalemate and then collect more war taxes. Logically, the war taxes in the later few times are the biggest part. But now you have driven them away, and the loss to us is not small.

"Don't blame me for this." Fran knocked on the table and said, "I wanted to defend well. But one day my men found a small path near the Hot Spring Pass! Master Huang, you are so disloyal. You didn't even tell me about such a dangerous thing."

"What? There is such a thing!" Huang Silang was surprised when he heard it, as if he had heard about it for the first time. Fran had to admire the acting skills of these old foxes.

"What does this trail have to do with you driving away the army of the Holy Roel Empire?" The one who spoke was Naranissoy. But it was obvious that she was paving the way for Fran to continue.

Chapter 49 We are all good people

"Of course it matters!" Fran pretended to be angry and said, "Originally, I just sent a few soldiers to defend it. But I didn't expect a large group of Holy Roll Empire soldiers to pass through there! Judging from their equipment, these soldiers are not here with good intentions!!"

At this point, Fran's eyes gradually became fierce. The other clan leaders knew they were in the wrong, so they lowered their heads and dared not look Fran in the eye.

"I ambushed these uninvited guests and then began to interrogate the leader, the knight named Tilly." Fran said, "You won't know until you ask. I was shocked when I asked. Count Tilly actually wanted to secretly raid and capture Thermopylae, and then bring in a large army to plunder."

"There is such a thing!"

“It’s so dangerous!”

"Fortunately, Lord City Lord, you discovered it in time!"

When the clan leaders heard this, they all gritted their teeth and praised Fran.

"Master Huang, and all the clan leaders, do you really not know the existence of this path?" Fulan asked.

"This, this, this... I really don't know."

"I remember Thermopylae, it seems to be Mr. Huang's territory. Mr. Huang, do you know about this?"

"Yes, Master Huang."

Several clan leaders blamed each other and soon threw the matter on Huang Silang. After all, it was Huang Silang who promised them at the beginning that the secret would never be discovered by Fran. Now that the trick was exposed, they also urgently needed Huang Silang to give an explanation.

Huang Silang had cursed these clan leaders a hundred times in his heart, but on the surface he said firmly: "I swear on the honor of the entire Huanglang clan! I definitely don't know this path! It has been a long time since the enemy attacked Wenquan Pass! How could I pay attention to that dilapidated fortress."

"That's strange." Fran pretended to be doubtful: "Even you don't know, how did the Holy Roll Empire know? It's obvious that we have a traitor here! It seems that I need to make a surprise move to interrogate Count Tilly again. He seems to know a lot of things."

The clan leaders did not (or did not dare to) respond to Fran's words. They all lowered their heads and looked at the wine glasses on their tables.

"But I thought about it... However, Fran changed the subject: "Well, this Earl Tilly is very stubborn, and it is not easy to pry information from him. So I think that instead of spending energy to find the traitor, it is better to strengthen my own strength, so that even if there is a traitor, it will not be able to be found.

What do you think, clan leaders?"

"What the city lord said makes sense!!"

"You are absolutely right!"

"You still need to be tough to make iron."