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

"war???!"

Chapter 95: Battle

Hearing the word "war", Christina immediately frowned and said, "Do you want to overthrow Margaret and become the emperor of the Holy Roll Empire? Force the two sides to merge."

"Well, although I also want to do this." Fran said, "But the war I'm referring to is not this, but the war between Margaret and several grand dukes in the south."

"Well, I thought you wanted to overturn the table and reshuffle the cards. You scared me," said Christina.

"I do want to...Flan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "How can I have such ability now?"

"Okay, I misunderstood." Christina said, "Then what do you want to do with this war?"

Fran said: "Although I have caused quite a stir recently, most people are still most concerned about the war! After all, this is truly related to their safety. If Margaret loses, and the enemy army invades Vienna, everyone knows what tragedy will happen. If the monsters of Orila City can fight side by side with Margaret

, then the public will have less resentment towards us.”

"That's true," Christina said, "but will Margaret be willing to let you join? Don't forget that she urgently needs a war to prove herself. If you join, wouldn't her military exploits be divided up a lot?"

"Compared to the war merits that were shared, I think Margaret will get more practical benefits. And with us here, she might be able to accomplish some strategic goals that she couldn't accomplish before."

After thinking about this, Fran and Christina immediately went to the Imperial Palace of the Holy Roll Empire.

Margaret's bedroom.

This time, Margaret rarely indulged in debauchery in the palace. There was not even a maid in revealing clothes in the huge palace. There was a huge sand table on the central dance floor, and Tilly and Wallenstein, two of her confidants, were discussing something together.

Lord Fran, it's really rare that you come to me on your own initiative. What happened?" Margaret smiled immediately after seeing Fran.

"I have a request." Fran said straight to the point: "I want to fight alongside you, Your Majesty."

"Fight together?" Margaret was stunned when she heard this.

"In the name of the Vienna Alliance." Fran said, "You know, your people are very hostile to the city of Aurora, so so far no monster has dared to leave the city to work in Vienna. This is not a solution. I was hoping that more people would come out to help the dungeon make some money."

"Using war to enhance unity within the League of Vienna is a very good idea." Margaret immediately began to think about it.

Fran continued, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I just want to integrate Orila City into the Holy Roll Empire as soon as possible. As for the military merits, they will all belong to Your Majesty. I will never take over the throne."

"Haha, it seems you still don't understand." Margaret said: "Although I like to take other people's things (referring to girls), I don't like to take other people's military merits. If you can really take the lead in the war, I have no complaints. And this war is not important to me. Seizing these pieces of land is the real thing.

real.

Margaret pointed to the sand table.

Fran looked over and saw that the geographical locations of the three hostile dukes were clearly marked on the sand table.

"Principality of Harald, Principality of Biesson, Principality of Vasa." Fran read out their names along the way. Suddenly, she seemed to think of something and suddenly realized: "If these principalities are incorporated into Vienna, it means that Vienna will have its own estuary!"

"As expected of Lord Fran, you are really sharp." Margaret said, "The Principality of Bieson has a large number of deep-water ports, so it should vigorously develop ocean trade. However, the Principality of Bieson is weak and cannot form an ocean-going fleet on its own, and cannot even maintain the existing ports. The surrounding principalities

They don’t trust each other, and are not only unwilling to work together, but are suspicious of each other and impose tariffs on each other.”

"As a result, passing ships would rather take a long detour to dock in neighboring Venice and Genoa than come to the Holy Roll Empire," Wallenstein added.

Looking at these natural deep-water ports, Fran's mouth was watering.

If she owned a deep-water port, wouldn't she be able to sell her products to the Volsas Plain on the other side, to the Elf Empire in the east! Or even to the whole world! Even if she did nothing but collected tolls, she could still make a fortune.

Margaret obviously had the same idea as Fran, so she said that compared to land, military exploits and reputation were nothing.

"If Lord Fran wants to help me win the war, then I will certainly be happy for it." Margaret said, "I still say that during the siege, I will never ask about your military exploits, looting, and spoils of war, and the subsequent compensation will also be in accordance with the standards of the empire! There will be absolutely no mistakes.

Margaret was very generous, but she never mentioned the port. It was obviously her core interest, and she would never allow anyone to get involved. So Fran could only drool over these ports.

Although she could not own these ports, she was still a member of the Vienna Alliance and could still do business all over the world. Thinking of this, Fran's eyes lit up again.

"In that case, I am willing to fight alongside Your Majesty." Fran said.

Lord City Lord, please don't rush to make a decision. Let's take a look at the war situation."

As she spoke, Margaret brought Fran to the front of the sand table.

"The strength of the Principality of Harald, the Principality of Bieson, and the Principality of Vasa is not strong. The elite troops of the three countries add up to only 3,000 people, of which only 500 are spirit knights." Margaret said: "The most important thing is that apart from Duke Harald himself, there are not many people in the three countries who can lead troops to fight."

The strength of this coalition is probably not as good as that of Margaret during her earldom. So how did Margaret support 3,000 cavalrymen and so many spirit-clad knights with just a piece of earldom? This is simply impossible. It seems necessary to check her history of making a fortune.

Margaret continued, "But you also know that after the establishment of the Anti-Vienna Alliance, these three Grand Dukes suddenly received a large amount of money and supplies, as well as the support of various mercenaries. As far as I know, there are nearly 20,000 mercenaries, the more famous of which are the Orcs' Heaven's Roaring Legion, the Sunset Highlands from the west, and the

The Second Sons Mercenary Group of Yuan, and the White Army in Feruman. There are countless other scattered mercenaries. "

"Twenty thousand people!" Fran was shocked by this number: "The nobles of the Holy Roel Empire are still rich."

"It's not just the nobles of the Holy Rohr Empire who are funding them." Wallenstein said, "Think about it, if His Majesty gets involved in the Principality of Bieson, whose interests will suffer the most."

"Of course it's Venice and Genoa next door!" Fran blurted out

"So these two small countries also paid. You know, these two countries don't have much else but a lot of money." Margaret said, "But mercenaries have always been money-conscious. Once they find that the cost is greater than the benefit, they will immediately retreat. And there are so many legions that there is no coordination between them at all.

Fran nodded. This was probably the reason why the war had not started yet.

Margaret declared war last year, and now it is almost spring, and they have not yet completed the reorganization of their army and have not been able to threaten Vienna.

"Before this, we have taken the initiative to harass these mercenaries many times, greatly slowing down their marching speed. We even ambushed the Duke of Bieson's army and won a great victory. This was without firearms." Count Tilly said proudly.

"You haven't used firearms yet?" Fran was a little surprised.

"The most important weapon should be used in the most important place," Margaret said. "Under our constant harassment and guidance, these mercenaries gave up their preparations to fight on their own and planned to join forces with the Duchy's army and then attack Huanglong. What we have to do is to set up our formation here and attack them openly.

A proper fight."

Fran looked at where Margaret was pointing.

It is on the south side of Vienna, with flat land and no strategic locations to defend, making it very suitable for the use of firearms.

Chapter 96 What are you made of?

On the outskirts of Vienna, the main camp of the Principality Coalition Forces.

Inside the luxurious tent, a row of nobles wearing gorgeous armor stood in a row, and in the middle of the tent were four chairs.

Why are there four chairs?

All the nobles present expressed this doubt.

Aren't the three archdukes the main leaders of the coalition? Who will sit on the remaining chair?

Just as everyone was thinking about it, three grand dukes came in one after another wearing gorgeous armor.

"Everyone!" Duke Harald said in a muffled voice, "Please allow me to introduce a distinguished guest - Yelona, ​​one of the ten great magicians from Rainbow City."

Behind the three grand dukes was a woman in a dark blue robe with a huge staff in her right hand. When she entered the camp, all the nobles fixed their eyes on her.

It was early spring and the chill in the air was still there, but the woman in front of him didn't seem to feel the cold at all. The thin robe barely covered her slender figure, but vaguely revealed her crystal clear skin.

The woman had a cold face under her long black hair. As if she had sensed the noble's gaze, a sly smile immediately appeared at the corner of her mouth, and murderous intent was already in her eyes.

When Duke Harald saw the nobles were looking at him, he coughed heavily. Then the nobles woke up from their dreams and lowered their heads one by one.

Ice Mage Yerona.

She is one of the most beautiful women in Rainbow City, and also the most arrogant woman. She cannot tolerate any offense. At the beginning, a nobleman wanted to look at her figure, but she blinded him with ice crystals.

Rainbow City is a transcendent existence in the Holy Roll Empire. It is a city composed entirely of magicians who believe in the God of Elements.

In this world, the individual strength of a magician is not strong, and is not outstanding compared with the strong ones of the same level, but the magic circle composed of many magicians can unleash the power to destroy the world.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, meteor showers, and even forming a powerful defensive formation, they are the most powerful aid in positional warfare.

This is one of the important reasons why the Holy Roel Empire, though in disarray, has never been destroyed by the surrounding empires. Whenever foreign enemies invade and threaten the empire's survival, the magicians of Rainbow City will help the empire resist the foreign enemies. In this way, magicians have become a transcendent existence in the entire empire.

Even if the individual strength of a magician is not amazing, after all, there is a powerful Rainbow City behind them, so no one dares to annoy them.

Once a noble makes friends with a magician and makes him his direct retainer, it is a great honor, no matter how low his rank is.

However, except when a powerful enemy invaded and seriously threatened the Holy Roel Empire, Rainbow City would remain neutral most of the time and never participate in the internal disputes of the empire. No matter whether you were a powerful lord or a wealthy tycoon, you could not make them take action.

So when the nobles saw the Rainbow City wizard appear, they were all very surprised. But after the surprise, they were all ecstatic. With the help of Rainbow City, why would they be afraid of not being able to defeat Margaret?

Seeing the excited faces of the nobles, Yelona said indifferently: "You don't have to be grateful. This time, Rainbow City's move and the three grand dukes have nothing to do with you. As long as you agree to Rainbow City's conditions after the war, it will be fine."

"That's inevitable!" a noble said indignantly, "Margaret is colluding with the monster! This is really too much! We will definitely destroy this absurd Vienna Alliance and drive the monster back to Orila City."

Other nobles also echoed.

However, the three grand dukes were obviously embarrassed, and finally Duke Harald said, "Everyone, please be quiet. Our agreement with Rainbow City is not to exterminate the monsters. Instead, we must stop all the privileges of the Shinra Church."

Shinra* religion?

Rainbow City is actually concerned about the half-dead Shinra* religion??

This surprised the nobles, but it was fine with them, so they all agreed.

Moreover, restricting the Holy Roman Empire is in the common interest of all nobles.

"This time I am leading a total of 500 magicians from the Blue Tower to assist you in the war. As long as the privileges proposed by the Shinra Church can be abolished, Rainbow City will not care about anything else." said Grand Mage Yelona.

"That's for sure! Margaret, for her own selfish desires, dared to openly violate the previous treaty and untie the shackles of the Holy Roman Empire. As nobles of the Holy Roman Empire, we naturally cannot sit idly by." Duke Harald immediately said righteously.

"So everyone, please speed up your march and end the war as soon as possible." After saying that, Grand Mage Yerona stood up and left the tent without looking back, completely ignoring these nobles.

In recent days, the entrance of the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce has suddenly become quiet. Apart from the long queues of customers buying cloth, all those who were marching, making trouble, and shouting slogans have disappeared.

This was all thanks to a speech by Margaret, in which she said that the city of Orila would raise 5,000 people to join the army of the Holy Roll Empire and fight alongside the imperial army.

Note! It's incorporation! Rather than coordinated combat. This also means that the empire's generals can, in principle, command monsters at will, even if they are used as cannon fodder.

In this way, the nature of criticizing the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce has changed.

Now Orila City is a staunch ally of Queen Margaret, but at this critical moment you are insulting and accusing them. Who are you? Are you a spy from the north of the empire?

Just like that, all the forces opposing the city of Orila stopped their movements, at least for the time being, until the war was over.

And Fran took advantage of this time to step up her layout in Vienna.

First, she released a group of captured soldiers (the agreed time had indeed arrived). These soldiers had been treated very well in the city of Aurora and had a deep understanding of what monsters looked like, making them suitable as messengers for communication between the two sides.

Afterwards, Fran opened a tailoring factory in Orila City to recruit unemployed craftsmen. As long as you are an unemployed person (victim) related to the textile industry, you can participate in free training and use the machines produced by Orila City to assist in cutting clothes. You will be taught until you learn it, and you can also get paid during this period.

The tailor factory soon attracted a large number of unemployed craftsmen. After all, we can't criticize Aurora City or the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce for the time being. It's better to go there to make some money and learn some skills. Even if it's a scam, at least there's money to be made.

Finally, Fran also sent her troops to Vienna first, to show up here in advance so that the citizens of Vienna could see and get familiar with them.

In the inherent perception of the citizens of Vienna, monsters are either born with bloodthirsty and brutal faces, or they are charming and seductive, such as succubus and dark elves, that attract men and women. But when the Aurora army arrived, the citizens found that these monsters were completely different from their impressions.

The neat pace and solemn appearance made them look like a well-disciplined army. In comparison, the imperial army with its lax discipline and training was more like the monsters they imagined.

Chapter 97: Confrontation

During the period before the army was about to set out, the army of Orilla City had gained enough face in Vienna.

At this time, early spring had just begun, and every household was in the gap between the harvest and the harvest. The winter chill had not yet dissipated, and the lower-class civilians suffered from hunger and cold. It could be said that this period was the most difficult time of the year for them.

So Fran organized her own troops to distribute free food to various slums (although it was just porridge and mushrooms, a specialty of Orila City), and then personally visited each poor household, giving them clothes and coal. At one time, she received piles of good person cards.

The logic of the poor at the bottom is actually very simple. They will love whoever can provide them with food and drink. It's just a pity that the nobles and clergy of the Holy Roel Empire disdain such love.

This series of good deeds for the lower classes soon paid off, and with the help of the Shinra Church, the reputation of Orila City was transformed among the lower classes. Although they did not become comrades and brothers all of a sudden, at least they were no longer filled with fear and terror as before.

Of course, the nobles still hated Aurora City. After all, Fran's arrival had taken away some of their benefits. But they... Fran didn't want to fight for it either. She just wanted to crush them with a torrent of steel.

After a while, the army of the Anti-Vienna Alliance was finally about to arrive at the site of the decisive battle.

Originally, Fran thought they would arrive in less than half a month, but what she didn't expect was that the troops stopped and grabbed guns along the way, and it took a full month and a half to arrive. As a result, during this time, Fran got more than a hundred muskets and more than ten cannons out of thin air.

In this way, the army of the Vienna Alliance also set out in a mighty manner.

Compared with the 30,000 troops on the opposite side, the number of people on Fran's side was obviously much smaller.

Margaret reorganized the Empire's standing army, gathering together relatively elite troops, totaling 10,000 troops. With the addition of Fran's 3,000 men and 2,000 Crusaders, the total strength of the Vienna Alliance was only half of that of the other side, which was still recruiting mercenaries continuously.

In other words, in this battle, the Vienna Alliance cannot even win a miserable victory! They must win a great victory. Otherwise, they will not be able to withstand the next round of attacks from the other side.

The armies of both sides stopped more than 20 kilometers away from each other, and then began to send small groups of troops to test each other. Both sides suffered casualties, and even Margaret suffered a small loss.

A 2,000-man army led by Wallenstein encountered a mysterious 1,000-man army on the opposite side. Wallenstein originally wanted to defeat the enemy with his 200 heavy cavalry, but he did not expect that snowflakes would fall from the sky when he charged, and the charging knights immediately felt a slight chill.

Soon, the knights were covered with frost, and their mounts began to slow down, while the enemy's infantry had already deployed their forces. At this time, Wallenstein saw a group of aqua-blue figures in the middle of the enemy's team.

Magician!

Although he had more than 200 cavalrymen, including more than a dozen spirit-armored knights, Wallenstein still ordered his troops to withdraw.