Chapter 379

Believe you? "

"..." Carlisle fell silent after listening to the Napoli representative's words.

The other party was right, he had indeed delayed the opportunity to fight, but when he was taking remedial measures now, he did not choose to believe himself.

The key is that the other party's soldiers can't be used by themselves!

He obviously only has 5,000 militiamen under his command, but he pretends to lead 50,000 elite soldiers, which is not so outrageous.

But they came for "friendly assistance". If he reprimanded the other party, the other Duke's troops would inevitably feel chilled.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of footsteps at the door.

Then, Orson appeared at the entrance of the military tent, with Li Teuk following behind him.

Everyone turned their heads and looked at the two people who walked in. They were about to refute something, but after seeing the family crest on the other person's chest, they all shut up.

"General Carlisle." Orson looked at Carlisle and walked up.

Carlisle also stood up.

"Master Osun, why are you here suddenly?"

"Help father handle some things." Orson said, smiled, and then looked at the officers sitting at the long table.

"General Carlisle, who are these people?"

"Ah, they are members of the military joint meeting." With that said, Carlisle explained the contents of the joint meeting to Orson.

"I see."

When Orson heard this, he nodded.

Then, he moved a chair and sat down next to Carlisle.

"Hello everyone, starting from today, I will replace my father, Duke Lucius, and fulfill the responsibility of the frontline commander."

With that said, he glanced at everyone.

After hearing Orson's words, everyone had different expressions, but most of them were surprised and puzzled.

They didn't understand why Lucius allowed a young man to be the commander-in-chief of the front-line army.

No matter how powerful Orson is personally, it doesn't prove that his command level is high.

"I know that everyone may have doubts about my ability. This is normal because everyone is dedicated to the country. If I am not qualified enough, the front line will probably suffer a lot of losses because of me."

"But please rest assured, I, Orson, am here with only one goal, and that is victory."

Chapter 3: Preparation before the war (6K)

"Hey, that's easy to say." On the other side, Napoli's representative began to deliberately provoke again.

"If I remember correctly, Mr. Osun, you have never had any experience in leading troops in war. I'm afraid you don't even know how to give orders on the battlefield, right?"

His mission here is actually to provoke the people on the Duke of Antica's side, and by the way, lead other people who are dissatisfied with the Duke of Antica to resist Lucius's orders.

Therefore, after seeing Lucius send Orson, who had no experience at all, he suddenly felt that an opportunity was coming.

You know, although Carlisle's ability is average, he has been fighting with Lucius anyway. His military achievements can convince the public. In addition, he is willing to hold joint military meetings to listen to opinions extensively. Although everyone is not obedient to his orders, they still As long as it can be clearly seen as beneficial to the war situation, everyone will relent after Carlisle's lobbying.

But now that Orson suddenly airborne, it's hard to say.

Although there is no allusion to armies on paper in this era, the military still has more faith in officers who work their way up from middle to lower levels than top students who come out of colleges and are assigned directly.

Especially in the face of such a major battle, it sounds too childish to let a student who is still in school be the commander-in-chief.

The words of Napoli’s representative also touched the hearts of others present.

Although everyone knows that you, Osen, are great, no matter how great you are, it is only on a personal level. Commanding troops to fight is not necessarily linked to your personal level.

"I know that everyone may not have that much trust in my abilities, and I do have no relevant experience, but I still hope that everyone can give me time to show my strength." Orson was reported by Napoli's representative After saying something, he didn't get angry, but smiled.

On the contrary, Lite, who was standing behind Orson, had been staring at the Napoli representative with an unkind look on his face.

"At Imperial College, military theory courses are arranged in the general courses every year. To be honest, everyone, I have completed all the four-year military theory courses in the college, and among the subjects that have been tested, I have also completed all the courses. It’s a perfect score.”

After hearing what Orson said, some of the officers present had some changes in their views on Orson, but most of them still had a negative view of Orson.

Orson is skeptical of his abilities.

After all, test scores are not equal to real abilities, and everyone knows this.

"Of course, I know your concerns, and I can understand your reluctance to hand over your troops to my unified command and control." Orson said this and looked at Carlisle. "General Carlisle, I wonder what the main purpose of this meeting is to discuss?"

"Ah, to report back to Master Orson, the content of this meeting is mainly related to the recent orc offensive." Carlisle said this and pointed to the map on the table.

"You see, from the frontal front, the orcs have broken through and captured five small cities on the border. The surrounding villages have also been attacked by the orcs. Although they have not yet penetrated deep into the hinterland of the dukedom, if the orcs are allowed to attack, our The defense line will be broken through at one point, and the whole line will collapse.”

"Is that so..." Orson nodded after hearing this. "In that case, everyone, if I take back the five cities occupied by the orcs, you should be able to recognize me, right?"

"Oh, that's easy to say." Under the stage, the representative of Napoli continued to provoke Orson. "Don't think of using our people as cannon fodder. Since you want to prove your ability, then use your own troops to do the job."

"Is that so?" Orson heard this and glanced at the people under the stage again.

No one present dared to look at Orson, for fear of being picked by Orson for questioning.

Orson could also guess their attitude from their performance.

He didn't say anything, but just expressed his understanding, and then said: "Okay, since you all said so, then I will use the forces I can mobilize to carry out this counterattack."

"This joint meeting can't make any sense. Everyone, you should go back to your defense zone and defend the place you are responsible for." Orson said this, indicating that the meeting was dissolved.

Afterwards, the commanders and representatives in the audience stood up, saluted, and left the military tent.

"Mr. Orson, what you just said, is it a bit too arrogant..." After the crowd dispersed, Carlisle looked at Orson, his tone full of worry.

"Just now you just looked at the map, and you don't know the intelligence of the orcs on the opposite side."

"Well, so now I want to ask you, how many orcs are there in the front battlefield this time?"

"According to preliminary estimates, the number of orcs deployed in this battle should be conservatively estimated to be around 200,000, which does not include their reserve troops. On the front battlefield, that is, the orcs in our defense zone, there are about 100,000 to 150,000."

"The orcs launched a fierce offensive before, and the main losses were all my men. I originally had 100,000 combat soldiers, but now there are only a little over 90,000 left. Relying on these troops, even defense is stressful..."

"So General Carlisle decided to hold a joint meeting this time to transfer people from other defense zones to defend, right?" Orson asked.

"Yeah." Carlisle nodded.

"It's okay, General Carlisle, I'll sort out the current intelligence on the front line today, and prepare for a counterattack tomorrow." Orson said this with a confident smile.

...

On the other side, representatives of other armies have ridden their horses and returned to their own garrisons.

When they left the garrison, they were surprised to find that a group of troops had been stationed outside the city at some point.

According to the size of the camp, the number of this group of troops may exceed 20,000.

"What's the situation?" The representative of the Naples army looked at the barracks in confusion, and then prepared to go in to investigate.

It was quite surprising for him that there was such a sudden addition of such a troop on the front line.

But when he was about to approach the barracks, he was stopped by the soldiers on duty at the door.

"Stop ahead." The soldier said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Hey, do you want to see where I am from?" The representative said this, looking at the soldier in front of him with disdain.

"We are here to help you. Is this your attitude towards guests?"

"Sorry, but the front is a military camp. No idle people are allowed. If you must go in, please show the pass given by Master Orson, otherwise I can't let you go."

The soldier still had no intention of giving in.

The representative only knew at this time that the troops stationed here were Orson's men. After knowing this information, he had no intention of staying here, but left with a harsh word.

He was going to go back and report this matter. Orson didn't know where he got another 20,000 people to help him.

...

Saint Laurent City, Imperial College.

The news of the orc invasion had spread in the Imperial College, and Orson's request for leave was a disguised confirmation of the news.

"Afro, tell me, how do you elves view orcs?" Elsa sat in the student union office, turning the pen in her hand boredly, and asked Afro.

"Orcs?" Afro thought for a moment after hearing this, and then said, "Compared to us elves, the lifespan of orcs is really pitifully short. I don't have any special dislike for orcs."

"There is no other special feeling. Anyway, in the eyes of us elves, orcs are almost the same as humans, just ordinary short-lived species."

After all, the elves live on the west side of the continent, and there is a whole empire between them and the orcs. They are usually out of touch.

And those elves who left the Elf Forest would not risk going to the desert where the orcs live.

"In your eyes, orcs should be the species you hate the most, right?" Afro asked back.

"Of course!" Elsa nodded. "Looking at the history of the empire, it has been a history of fighting against orcs for a long time."

In fact, at the beginning, there were orcs living in the lush grass and water areas in the east of the empire, but later, as the relationship between humans and orcs deteriorated, large-scale battles broke out, and humans eventually drove the orcs out of that fertile land and drove them to the desert.

Originally, humans thought they had won, but they underestimated the orcs' ability to adapt to the harsh environment.

The orcs in the desert quickly recovered some of their vitality, and then they came out of the desert again with hatred for humans.

After that, the two races had endless hatred and killing for generations.

"When the Academy Council issues the tasks for the second half of the semester, will you go to the east to help support the front line?" Elsa asked.

"I think so, after all, I am also a student of the Imperial Academy."

"Then when the time comes, can you take action against those orcs?"

"Yes." Afro nodded.

"Well, according to the time, the Royal Brother's Knights should have arrived in Antica..." Elsa said, looking out the window.

"I hope Orson didn't lie to me." She said so.

...

"President Chelinina, according to your instructions, we have recruited all the war mercenaries that can be recruited on the market, a total of about 20,000 people, and now they have rushed to the eastern front." In the room, Lorenzo looked at Chelinina and reported the tasks he had completed.

"I know." Chelinina nodded and rubbed her swollen temples.

Before Orson came back, he contacted me through the Chamber of Commerce of Saint Laurent City and asked me to gather all the mercenary groups on the market as soon as possible to fight against the orcs in the east.

For this reason, Chelinina invested all her working capital.

Except for the money for expanding the industry, all the money she earned in the past few months was basically "returned" to Orson.

Twenty thousand people, and mercenaries are more expensive than ordinary armies. This is a considerable expense. Even if the working capital of the Lison Chamber of Commerce is more, it can only barely maintain the expenses of this army for two months. After two months, these mercenaries will disperse.

"Mr. Orson sent a thank-you letter and asked you to be careful about the industry in the Naples area recently. You can try to transfer it to the direct jurisdiction or the Dukedom of Antica."

"Huh? Why?" Chelinina showed a puzzled look, and then, as if she thought of something, she suddenly realized.

Because of the war, many people in the eastern part of Antica were evacuated. Some of them went to their relatives, but most of the farmers could only live without a fixed place and became refugees.

These refugees still have some money in their hands, but when all the money is spent, they can only become refugees.

At this time, as long as they can be provided with jobs, no matter how they are treated, they will participate in the work so that they can support their families.

Moreover, in the Antica region, with the official support of the Duke, Celinina does not have to worry about her industry being restricted everywhere like in other regions.

The most important thing is that in this way, other industries in the Duchy of Naples can be indirectly defeated.

The previous wave of operations has made the textile industry in the Duchy of Naples half dead.

But in the same way, Celinina also invested in part of the representative industries of the Duchy of Naples, such as porcelain making, which have low output, complex processes and high profits. After all, those industries can only make more money in Naples.

Although she didn't know why Orson asked his capital to withdraw from Naples, as the person who made Celinina's current status, Celinina obeyed Orson's advice almost unconditionally. She immediately ordered Lorenzo to help withdraw all his investments in Naples, and the collected funds were used to develop the handicraft industry in the Dukedom of Antica.

As for the specific cities to be developed, obviously, there is only one goal, that is Antica City.

The current population of Antica City is increasing, but the supporting jobs are quite small, and many jobs are still limited to small-income jobs such as shop assistants.

It can be said that Antica City has unlimited possibilities.

…

While Celinina was still discussing how to make money, on the other side, the Duke of Naples, Duke Giovanni was in a surprisingly bad mood.