Chapter 434, First North and Then South
A fragile covenant was tentatively signed, and then a huge map of Brittany was spread on the wooden table of the abandoned villa.
The great undead wizard Kemler stretched out his dirty hands. His hands were shriveled like dry branches, with slender fingers and long nails. The nail caps were filled with sludge. It looks pretty nasty.
On the contrary, Kemmler also felt ridiculous about Matthew Bard's powdered face, carefully groomed corners and full of etiquette. In the eyes of necromancers, only magic and power are the true meaning of everything in the world , is the ultimate goal, and the rest is all illusion.
For power, Kemler doesn't mind turning to Chaos, it's just a way to gain power.
The allies with their own concerns finally stood in front of the map and looked at the current situation.
The situation left to the vampires is already quite critical. Mousilon is like an isolated island in the ocean. Since the time of the former kings, the Britannians have created a whole epidemic prevention belt along Mousilon. These are formed by the castle. The epidemic prevention belt formed by the city wall may not be able to completely block Mu Xilong's undead army on the cursed land, but it is enough for Matthew Bard's army to spend a lot of effort to break through the defense line, and immediately let the The entire knight kingdom was aware of the movement.
Therefore, Matthew Bard could not easily mobilize Musilon's undead army, and the main combat power of the initial deployment still relied on Kemmler's ancient tomb army.
"If possible, I really hope to go west and directly attack Bastogne." The necromancer reached out and pointed at Bastogne Castle, which is located not far to the west of the Blackstone stronghold. On the tall stone mountain, Duke Berhemond and him The Red Dragon family is living here.
"Attacking Bastogne now is not a wise choice." Matthew Bard shook his head: "The Principality of Bastogne is a very special place, it is the place where the country of Britannia thrives, and there There are the most grail pilgrims and crusading knights, there's fake family arms about Arthur that would turn a true master of heraldry, and the south of Brittania has continued to prosper and prosper over the years , Seeing the fixed tax reform carried out by Earl Ryan Macado, many dukes have learned how to implement reforms in the name of the lake in the lake. Among them, Bastogne is in full swing when the fixed tax reform is in full swing. I dare say that if At this time, when we go south to attack, no matter whether it is knights or serfs there, they will definitely pick up the guys and fight us desperately."
Bastogne was the birthplace of Arthur, the first king of knights, and the most important place of pilgrimage for expeditionary knights. Because of this, this principality has a large number of forged Arthur family coats of arms, and almost every lord claims his own territory It contains the battle experience and battle relics left by Arthur. This is the same as many restaurants in the Celestial Dynasty claiming to have been patronized by Kangxi or Qianlong.
"What's wrong? The more dead, we can revive a large number of dead and form a new army." Hearing what Duke Musillon said, the necromancer already knew it, but Kemmler wanted to test Mashuba. De's ability, so he pretended to be surprised and said: "This is in line with our plan."
After hearing Kemmler's words, Matthew Bard immediately understood that this was Kemler's temptation. As a former Britannian knight and Akhan's godson, Matthew Bard knew a lot about this country. Knowing the palm, he continued calmly: "Yes, that's right, when you resurrect a certain number of dead, you will face Ryan, François, and the coalition forces of the dwarf clan. Lord Behemond and his Brotherhood of Red Dragon Knights, I don't think your Tomb Legion is up to the task, and I don't mean to belittle you, Lord Kemmler, but I still have to say that we have Better choice."
The undead alliance has just been established, and Matthew Budd and Kemler still need each other, and Matthew Budd also knows that he must produce some dry goods, otherwise it will be difficult to gain Kemler's trust.
"Better choice? We can go south and attack Palaion,
Or go north to attack Montfort. Kemmler strode past Matthew Bud, the noisy staff in his hand was chattering about something.
"Because of the Chaos invasion at the beginning of last year, the country's army was severely depleted, and the northern part of the kingdom was the most serious. Not only did Lyonnaise fall into internal divisions, but its productivity was seriously regressed. The rebellion is already in a state of desperation, and it is almost impossible for the Principality of Connet and the Principality of Le Angoulang to pass through the Arden Forest." Matthew Bard moved his fingers along the gray mountains: "So, we have two ideal targets for attack. "
"Montefort, or Gisole Oaks." Kemler moved his deep gaze along the gray mountains, and whispered, "But if you fight like this, are you sure you won't attract reinforcements from Bastogne?"
"As long as the speed is fast enough, no." Matthew Bard pointed to the border between Gisole Aux and Montfort and Bastogne, the corner of his mouth curled up: "Historically until now, the relationship between these three duchies The relationship is very bad. Both the Principality of Montfort and the Principality of Gisoleaux covet the vast plain of Bastogne, so although the two sides did not engage in large-scale battles, the sporadic conflicts between the barons and viscounts under their leadership never stopped. We moved fast enough, the pride and arrogance of the knights doomed them too late to reinforce each other."
"Very good." Kemmler expressed satisfaction with Matthew Bard's plan, and the great necromancer raised his head, meeting Matthew Bard's eyes.
What he saw was a Black Knight with hatred and malice, the kind of ally Kemmler liked.
In Matthew Bud's eyes, what he saw was a necromancer with strong hatred and greed.
"So... what is your decision?" Matthew Bard signaled that it was time for Kemler to make a decision.
"I agree with your decision to go north and then go south. We will attack first and catch Britannia by surprise." Kemmler smiled, his old and dry laughter resounded throughout the deserted villa, the great necromancer First he took a few steps, then turned back immediately, pointing to Matthew Bard behind him: "You have provided me with a good suggestion, godson of the Lich King."
"Then we can prepare to attack Gisole Oaks..." Matthew Bud subconsciously said.
"Gisole Oaks? No, we won't attack Gisole Oaks!" Kemmler rudely refuted Matthew Bud's suggestion: "I and my ancient tomb army will not attack there for the time being."
"???" Matthew Bud frowned slightly. He had already given two locations. Among them, the Principality of Montfort was not a good target for attack. The Principality had almost no farmland, and its income depended on grazing and customs duties, as well as gray areas. In this case, almost every lord of the Principality of Montfort has built strong castles along the Gray Mountains to monitor the roads and control the pastures: "Can you tell me the reason?"
"The reason is... I'm the one who decides where to fight!" Kemmler walked up to Matthew Bard, staring at the wrinkled face under the wizard's hat at the not-so-good-looking Duke Musillon: "Learn to adapt. Your role, Arkhan's godson, your task is to assist me, not order me, do it well"
"...Of course, since you have decided so, let's do it." Matthew Bud's face was cloudy, and he finally nodded in agreement: "My army and I will assist you. No matter where you plan to attack, we will attack you." will do their best.”
"You'd better do this." The great necromancer stared at Duke Musilon for a while, and then looked away after making sure he had no other thoughts: "Very well, now let's go back and prepare for the war, my ancient tomb army It will bring disaster to this world, starting from the Principality of Montfort."
"In this case, I will take my leave first, Your Excellency Kemmler. When you are ready, I will lead my army to support you from Mousillon." Matthew Bard lowered his posture, full of Bow lightly politely: "Don't forget our agreement."
"Hmm." Kemler clenched his noisy skull staff, and the crow at the tip of the staff screamed a few times, and the strong undead magic surrounded him, dissipating in a mist full of death and corpse odor middle.
"So arrogant and disrespectful." A vampire lord behind Matthew Bard came up, his voice was full of anger: "The great necromancer without even a title has wandered the Gray Mountains like a dog for many years , so arrogant, I think we must teach him a lesson, my lord."
"Lessons have to be taught, but not now." Matthew Bard was very calm. After many failures, this young man grew up very quickly, and his blue eyes were full of strange smiles: " Now, Kemmler and I are still allies for the time being. We need each other. We are now compatriots, siblings, comrades-in-arms, and no matter how bad we are, we are allies with our own concerns. He and I must unite and work together to fight against the knights. The relationship between me and him is that if we cooperate, we will both benefit, and if we divide, we will harm both."
"Your will is the yardstick of my actions, my Duke." The name of the vampire lord is Hal Harris. If Ryan is here, he will immediately find out that he is Gabe Newell, a Marienburg businessman under the pseudonym of Ryan, in Musillon After Akhan left, Musilon's vampires pledged their allegiance to Matthew Bard.
Vampires are all in the 20s and 50s. Matthew Bud doesn't know how loyal these people are, but it's definitely not many.
After thinking for a while, Matthew Bard continued: "Since Kemler has decided to attack Montfort, we just need to fully cooperate and prepare to go back and gather the army."
"Do you really want to fully cooperate? My Duke? Then Kemler is so arrogant, he will be our strong enemy in the future!" The vampire lord was very reluctant, and it screamed: "We should take a step against him, at least, not Let him win so easily."
"No, this time we must help Kemler with all our strength. Even if it is not beneficial, we must help him." Matthew Bud rejected Harris's suggestion again, and he frowned: "Now Musillon has become a In the isolated city, we must rely on the Tomb Legion to open the situation for us. Every victory of Kemmler will make the eyes of the knights and the lake in the lake move away from Mu Xilong, which is exactly what we need. In the future On this premise, we must do our best to help him... at least for now it is necessary."
"Need to contact the Lich King?" Harris continued to ask.
"No." Matthew Bard lowered his head and pondered the question. Arkhan, the Lich King, is currently searching for the Crown of Witchcraft in the Southern Badlands and the Border Princes, while Manfred is leading a large undead army. The Legion attacked Skaven, and the sword of Nagash was inside Skaven.
"Prepare the plan." Matthew Bud stopped thinking about it, and he signaled his subordinates to prepare to leave.
…………
Golden Autumn, Old World, Britannia, Earl of Glamorgan.
Ryan is riding his pure-blood elf warhorse Grape to inspect his territory. His army is temporarily disbanded except for the dwarves and knights. The soldiers are busy going home for the autumn harvest. This year is another good harvest year. The barns are piled up, everyone has a smile on their faces, and groups of children are playing and playing in the countryside.
The serfs used wheelbarrows or loads to transport grain. First, the lake gods and prophets under Morgiana collected tithes, and then the tax officials of Lane collected fixed taxes. After these two taxes were paid, the remaining grains belonged to the serfs. Own.
The horse-drawn carriage industry has sprung up in the territory, and some serfs began to change their appearances and become carriage drivers, shouting for business. Ryan even saw that some serfs had begun to hire people to help them harvest grain. A market was gradually forming in the village, and some merchants carried horse-drawn carriages. Carrying fruit, meat, and lamp oil, they peddled along the village along the way, and some dwarves of the Angrund clan joined them, selling dwarf farm tools and daily necessities.
There are more and more windmills and waterwheels in the territory. In some places where Ryan’s craftsmen have no time to build waterwheels, the serfs even pooled money to hire dwarves to help them build waterwheels first. Some serfs who have learned a skill choose to move in In the city, rely on their own skills and craftsmanship to eat, or open a shop in the city, and work for the knight lord or businessman. Through their hard work, they gradually gained wealth and higher social status.
A new class was sprouting, collectively known as the Freemen, who represented an enterprising group of serfs eager to change their destiny, and these people were gradually becoming the glue that filled the unbridgeable gap between serfs and nobles.
The oracle of the fairy in the lake brought great hope to this emerging class. Every enterprising serf realized that if he wanted to become a freeman or even a knight lord, he must go to the battlefield and make military exploits. While buying a whole set of soldier equipment and weapons to wait for conscripts, you will never return to the countryside to work hard. There are no farmlands in towns, but there are opportunities.
"It's really a prosperous rural scene. In the past few years, the number of freedmen has increased from a few hundred at the beginning to two thousand now." Ryan looked at the fiery harvest scene and the smiles on the faces of the serfs, he said to Looking at Surya next to him, he said: "There will be more in the future. If this continues, my army will gradually be out of production."
"Apothecaries, armorers, bowmakers, brewers, scribes, carpenters, cartographers, jewel cutters, gunsmiths, herbalists, peddlers, shipwrights, blacksmiths, stonemasons, tailors, and weaponsmiths, In my territory, I can see almost all types of craftsmen in the entire old world." Suria raised her chin, and the countess gave Ryan a wink, and said delicately: "Ryan, you still did a good job, My trust was not in vain”
After finishing speaking, the female knight covered her mouth with her little hand and snickered softly: "It's interesting, the dukes of the whole country are now secretly learning about your reforms, and you are injecting fresh blood and bringing fresh blood into this country." atmosphere, well done."
"???" Ryan felt very strange in his heart, and he tentatively asked, "Suria? What's the matter with you? It's not like you."
"Oh? Why doesn't this look like me? Am I not your beloved wife?" The female knight couldn't stop laughing. She rode a pure-blood elf warhorse Richter and approached Ryan, and said in his ear: "Still, Do you like me to be serious?"
"You..." Ryan's face slowly turned black: "You are not Suria!"
"Hehehehe was discovered, this is your reward." The female knight patted her full chest with great interest, making it bounce, and she kissed Ryan's face lightly: " This is the deposit, and so on, when we get to my tower."
"What's wrong? What happened?" Ryan was keenly aware of the problem.
"The situation has changed, my champion." "Suria" also became serious: "Go to my tower, let's talk in detail."
"good."
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