Late June 1433, midsummer.
The weather has become very hot, the sun is shining in the city of Metzl, and every tower is like an iron coat. On the streets, in such hot weather, there are many cavalry in armor and well-armed, and the castle suddenly looks like a graceful lady into a chilling Valkyrie.
In the tense air, the whole city was filled with soldiers.
The king stood on the tallest tower of the palace, overlooking the city at the heart of the empire.
The "Legrand Wartime Emergency Act" was passed half a month ago, and the nobles finally had to give up their original ideas and retreat to the king before the wave of anger from the common people. Parliament has given the king the supreme power without precedent in history, and the whole country will be driven into war.
On the first day of the bill's passage, the king gave his first order:
Within the Legrand Empire, all men over the age of sixteen but under the age of sixty prepared weapons and rushed to the designated recruitment point according to the arrangements of the county magistrates.
The whole country is at war.
"Aren't you going to prepare for your wedding?" The king said to General John who was behind him without looking back.
"Let's go later, the time has not come."
General John replied.
After he led the rose cavalry to Pudun City, he hurriedly handed the rose cavalry to the Queen Mother of Eleanor, and immediately set off back to Metzl City. His marriage was decided half a month ago, and the bride was the daughter of the king of Anger, a red-haired beauty.
The marriage meant a closer alliance between the Legrands and the Western States. When the Holy Army was approaching, the King of Anger Kingdom married his daughter to General John, which was equivalent to tying himself to Legrand's warship.
In the words that King Angel invited someone to send, he has already bet on Legrand twice, and this time he still bet on Legrand.
Of course, for King Angel, the best candidate for marriage in his mind is King Legrand, Purland. However, relative to the status of the two parties, making an Anger person the queen of Legrand, whether it is a noble or a commoner of Legrand, will not agree.
Therefore, King Angel consciously set his sights on General John, who was also unmarried.
For Anger Bangguo, this marriage was a big gamble. For Legrand, this choice of Angel Bangguo undoubtedly helped them reduce the pressure on their backs.
Through the efforts of the Legrand kings since the Mad King Henry, many small states formed by the division of the Legrand Empire have been continuously recovered and weakened. During the period of William III, there were only the last thirty-six states left in Legrand. There were seven states in the north, because they were the farthest from the Legrand royal family. These seven states rebelled most frequently and had the strongest military strength. But after the rebellion in the north was quelled, the most powerful three of the seven northern kingdoms have been split and completely merged into the Legrand territory. The west is the place with the largest number of Legrand states, but most of the other countries, excluding Anger, are small in size, and their economy is highly dependent on the central and eastern part of Legrand. Apart from the existence of the nominal state royal family, it is not much different from the county of Legrand.
Only the two states in the southwest have the strength and the possibility to rebel.
At this time, the royal family of Ingres and the royal family of Legrand were married. In the next war, as Legrand's most reliable ally, once any country in the west and southwest rebelled, they would be the first to welcome Ingres State attack.
"The reply from Cyrus has arrived," said General John. "They have agreed to make an alliance with us."
"How is the city defense construction in the middle recovering?"
the king asked.
During the recent rebellion, all the towers and walls of the cities captured by the rebels along the way were destroyed. The people of the Holy Court seem to have already prepared that their operation will fail soon, so before they fail, they try their best to achieve the greatest results.
Destroying a city's towers, walls, and bunkers is equivalent to pulling out the city's teeth to arm itself.
The towers or the city walls can be rebuilt. But repairing them also requires human and material resources.
"Your military designers also joined the rebuilding of the towers. They destroyed them in a hurry. Some foundations were not completely destroyed, and the rebuilding speed was faster than expected. The eastern cities that have concentrated their efforts on repairing are basically the same. But the central ones won't be fully repaired until at least the end of July."
"They're not going to give us that long."
The king shook his head, and he looked in the direction of the Holy Imperial Palace.
"The Olde is not our noble gentleman. His army is almost finished and may attack at any time."
"The Holy Army of the North, the Holy Army of the Sea, the Holy Army of the Frontier, the Holy Army of the Holy Land..." General John read out one name after another in a low voice, "They really can't wait to be the lackeys of the Holy Court."
"Our enemy is the Holy Court," the king said. "It is the Holy Empire, the Alliance of the Low Countries, the Alliance of Small Nations in the Abyss, and the Alliance of Hopeless Inner Seas... All countries that believe in the Holy Lord are picking up swords and guns, joining the Holy Army, and participating in the In the war against Legrand. What reason did they have not to join the Holy Army? Siold offered enough attractive conditions, and now Legrand is the lamb waiting to be slaughtered in their eyes. I want to share a mouthful of this delicious offering."
The midsummer weather turns quickly.
The sky was clear just now, but before speaking, the wind suddenly blew on the ground, and the dark clouds piled up layer by layer. Heavy rain can fall at any time.
The squire came up to remind General John that it was time to go down and prepare for the wedding.
Although this was a wedding for the Alliance, and the procedures were streamlined to the point where they couldn't be more streamlined, out of respect for the Allies, there were still many things that had to be handled by General John himself.
After General John went downstairs, the rain fell.
The wind blew the rain and washed the earth hard, and the whole world was shrouded in heavy rain curtains in an instant. Soldiers and pedestrians on the streets hurriedly sought shelter from the rain.
Click.
A clear sound.
A black umbrella was propped up in front of the king, blocking the rain that was blown by the wind and was about to hit the tower. The black umbrella was lifted up slowly. After it was lifted, it opened like an invisible barrier. The wind blew the rain, and it could no longer fall into the tower.
Pale, articulated hands held the handle of the umbrella, and the devil stood beside the king.
"The legions of angels will come to hell," said the devil. "It's going to rain, Your Majesty."
"It could fall at any time."
said the king.
From the tower, the pouring rain washed over every eaves and every long street, and the water of the whole world gathered above their heads, and then the sky was torn apart by invisible hands, and the water fell like that, with a majestic momentum drown everything. In front of such a mighty force in the world, people seem extraordinarily insignificant.
The castle is submerged in water.
Neither the king nor the devil spoke again.
Side by side, they watched the long rain flood the world.
…
Cossoa.
The order of martial law was first communicated to the port of Kossoya when the city of Hrid fell. The Citizens' Self-Defense Forces, which were organized because of the Black Death, gathered again during this time. Except for the two Dragon Wing battleships that had to go to hell for repair and recovery due to the battle with the Angels, other merchant ships that participated in the raid on the Lowland Alliance were anchored here.
Also called heavy defense.
Taylor, the current Mayor of Cossoaia, climbed the lookout tower and looked in the direction of the sea horizon, as he had done all this time.
Other city officials don't feel the need to bother these days, because it's the end of June.
The end of June is the most frequent time for storms near Kossoya Bay. The ocean currents become very fast at this time, and the monsoons on the sea often send huge waves tens of meters high. The Chamber of Commerce has reduced sailings during this period, and even the Royal Navy has to moor into the harbor. Unless someone familiar with the weather in the sea, no one dares to take their own life to joke at such a time.
But Tyler saw with his own eyes how Kossoya's five-port alliance vanished overnight. He felt that since he was the mayor appointed by the king, he should meticulously implement His Majesty's orders.
Just now, Kossoya also had a heavy rain during the day, and the wind on the top of the observation tower was very strong, making it cold enough in summer.
Mayor Taylor looked out the observation window while thinking about the old events of the Five Harbors Alliance.
The waves of the sea with the torrential rain were ups and downs, and the ships of the Chamber of Commerce were quietly moored in the harbor. With the help of a telescope made by witches, you can see some things floating on the sea. Seeing those things, the mayor feels a headache. That's why they spent a lot of effort to pull up the line of defense to block the ship on the sea.
Good thing this time, a storm ripped them all out.
The mayor made a note of where the sea fence needed to be rearranged, and then zoomed out to take a look.
With this sweep, he was suddenly stunned.
In the distance, some sails appeared to appear on the horizon.
Whose Chamber of Commerce's ship was so lucky that it wasn't smashed to pieces in such a storm
The mayor thought, holding the binoculars, trying to look more closely, to see the signs on the sails. Soon, the sails one after another appeared in his eyes, and his complexion suddenly changed. On the white sails, there is a golden cross.
"Blow the trumpet! Blow the horn!"
The mayor held the binoculars in one hand and waved it vigorously in the other, shouting loudly to the soldiers on the lookout tower.
The bleak horn was blown hard, and the sound of the horn echoed over the whole bay. In the sound of the horn, the soldiers who had been sheltering from the rain and looked lazy all woke up. They jumped on the city wall and looked at the sea in the distance together.
On the observation tower, the mayor's hand trembled, and the telescope fell from the sky.
Telescopes are no longer needed.
Countless sails were raised on the sea, and the battleship in front of them rode the wind and waves. Crossbows rose from the ships, ropes twisted. The next moment, spear-like arrows with flames shrouded the port of Kossoa.
Like an unreal fire rain.
It ignites the sky and the sea.