Although the news of the victory combined with Xiaya's deliberate and wanton promotion, the hearts of the army and the people were lifted, and even a wave of signing up for the army was once again set off.
However, under Green's warning, Char still ordered that no new recruits be recruited for the time being.
The reason is simple: you can't support too many troops on your own territory. At present, for Char, who only owns half of the county, it is already an extremely scary ratio to support two corps.
Different from the joy and cheer among the people, the newly established Northern Corps quietly implemented a set of strategies that are loose on the outside and tight on the inside.
The 1st Corps, which had just formed an army, had been secretly mobilized. Almost every day from the barracks outside Denzel City, there were envoys riding fast horses. There were also a large number of messengers rushing on the road leading to Mesta City.
Although it hit the Odins hard, whether it is Xia Ya or Green, it is clear that this loss is far from hurting Manninger and Chi Xuejun. move bones. And Manninger, who suffered from this small loss, is hard to say what he will do next.
But no matter what, the entire Xia Ya's small new-born group was already nervously preparing for war.
The First Corps of the Northern Military Region dispatched three banner regiments and was ordered to go south, and the independent cavalry regiment also began to be mobilized. More than 10,000 troops moved to the south one after another, stationed in the southern part of More County, and deployed along the central road of the two rivers, ready to respond to the massive northward march of the Chixue Army.
Xia Ya's family is not rich. In order to cope with such a situation, Cato, the logistics chief, almost put his life away. During the two months of breathing time, almost all the arrows and armors in stock that were finally produced were matched. Sent to the front line troops.
In the areas controlled by Char, they had to announce the continuation of the food rationing system, the prohibition of alcohol was extended indefinitely, and almost all the supplies and food that could be mobilized were given priority to supply the army.
At this critical time, the people of More County did not have the slightest complaint, and even more encouraged by the previous small victory, people were still willing to grit their teeth and survive this difficulty.
Just after about fifteen days, the south was surprisingly quiet. A large number of scouts reported the results, but there was no news of the Chi Xue Army going north.
It seems that after Manninger suffered this small loss, he really swallowed it.
In such a situation, both Xia Ya and Green had mixed feelings.
The good thing is that as long as the Odins don't go north, I can get more breathing time. Now my own side is too weak, and I must strive for sufficient time to recuperate and continue to expand and grow my strength. In the future, I will have the capital and Odin. People fight.
The worry is that such an unusual situation is not necessarily a good thing - Manninger is a rare hero among the Odins. , I'm afraid there are other ideas!
Sure enough, just after Xia Ya waited for many days, the spy who came back from the south finally brought back an amazing news!
About eight days before the news was delivered to Xia Ya, Manninger personally led about 30,000 of the main elite of the Chixue Army, and finally conquered the capital city of the Corsica Military Region!
The process of the battle was full of drama: Manninger first made a retreat gesture, deliberately quickly withdrawing the army from the battlefield, and made the appearance of a hasty withdrawal. The defenders in the city, led by the second son of the Governor of Corsica, rushed out of the city to pursue them, and ended up being ambushed by Manninger. 20,000 Corsican troops were ambushed, most of them were killed or wounded, and the rest surrendered.
Only the second son of the governor of Corsica escaped desperately with a dozen horses, and his whereabouts were unknown.
Manninger immediately returned to the army for a blow. This time, facing the empty city, the Odins did not spend much effort, and the capital city of the Corsica Military Region was swept down in one fell swoop! The governor of the Corsica military district failed to break through the siege, and was finally captured by Odin during the breakout. Most of the officials up and down the Governor's Palace surrendered.
Manninger ordered the governor of the Corsica Military District to be imprisoned, and then officially took over the Corsican Military District. After the surrender documents of the Corsican Governor were sent to various places, most of the remaining small local troops of the Corsican Military District announced their surrender. , In almost two or three days, most of the territory of the Corsica Military Region has been passed down!
The Corsica Military Region is one of the traditional forces among the fifty-four Tema Military Regions of the Empire. The family is rich, and the materials and wealth accumulated over the years have all fallen into Manninger's pocket! Let Odin Chixue Army suddenly get a great supplement! It is said that when the capital city of Corsica was broken, the weapons, food, grass, armor, weapons, etc. captured by the Odins were piled up like a mountain! These are the wealth accumulated by generations of Corsican governors!
And the surrendered Corsican army was no less than 20,000 people.
This time, Manninger did not use his bloody and cruel tactics again, and did not slaughter the prisoners of war like the 7th Corps of the Byzantine Empire before, but collected all the 20,000 surrendered troops, and appointed a small number of Odin tribe leaders and a small number of soldiers. The army of Odin supervises and controls, and then takes the 20,000 troops for his own use.
Finally, Manninger made a surprising move! He actually moved his command post to the Governor's Palace, the capital of the Corsica Military Region!
This move is equivalent to the official and complete annexation of the Corsica Military Region!
With this victory, Manninger and Chi Xuejun suddenly became famous on the mainland! Manninger doubled the size and population of the land he occupied and controlled! Also seized a lot of material and forage!
He directly controlled the land and population equivalent to two counties, and recruited 20,000 Corsican troops. He was powerful, and he occupied the northern part of the Byzantine Empire, overlooking the many military districts in the south!
For a while, after the news spread, it wasn't just Xiaya who was shocked...
The Red Roundtable, the Byzantine warlord party, was originally an alliance-like group. In this civil war, almost all the warlord parties stood in the same camp. There is no doubt that the Corsica Military Region is also a member of the rebel camp. Although they did not directly attack Osgilia with many troops, but as a red The members of the roundtable meeting, who still supported a large amount of materials and military expenditures for the rebel coalition forces on the front line, also raised the flag of rebellion in response!
In the spirit of the covenant of co-prosperity and shared shame released by the Red Round Table, one of the allies was directly wiped out by an external force, and the entire property was swallowed up... Moreover, this foreign force was welcomed into the door by himself...
Such a fact has caused many shocks and influences within the rebel alliance of the Red Round Table.
When the Odins were drawn south, the purpose of the rebel alliance was very simple. It was to deal with the three central standing corps loyal to the royal family stationed in the northern part of the empire, the 6th and 7th corps, as well as the confidant Rodria Corps! Use the army of the Odins to contain the three regular armies loyal to the imperial family of the empire, and then the rebels gather to besiege Osgilia, so that there is no need to worry about the army of the royalist faction threatening the rear nest behind them.
It can be said that this strategic goal has been basically achieved: the Chixue Army annihilated the Seventh Corps, and Hasting's Black Flag Army solved the Sixth Corps. Only the Rodriguez Corps gave up the station and ran for thousands of miles to help the imperial capital.
But at least, the rebels can continue to add troops to siege Osgilia without worries.
An agreement was reached with the Odins. According to the judgment of the Red Roundtable, how could the land of the three or four northern counties satisfy those greedy Odins? Besides, those Odin barbarians are not adept at politics, so it takes a lot of time for them to eat such a large land. Even within the rebels, there is not no one who has this idea: overthrow the royal family first, and then have a chance later, and then drive those stupid and barbaric Odins back.
But the problem is... The situation is now far beyond the expectations of the Red Roundtable!
That guy Manninger actually attacked his ally? ! Such a move is equivalent to blatantly tearing apart the secret covenant between Odin and the Red Round Table! This is a perfidy practice!
What is even more worrying is that since Odin dares to annex the Corsican military region, then... Since he has already turned his face, what else will this Manninger do? Could it be that after getting the Corsica military region, the greed is not enough, and the coveted eyes will continue to be aimed at the rear nests of other rebel military regions? !
Even if Manninger doesn't do it... But there are three legions that the Odins invaded southward! Where is the Black Flag Army Hastings, and the Odin Royal Legion on the Western Front will be "inspired" by Manninger's actions and raise the butcher's knife...
At this moment, many members of the rebel alliance have dispatched their elite troops to Osgilia. Although the strength to stay in the nest cannot be said to be weak... But don't forget, all the Corsican troops are in the nest, all It was dropped by Manninger in one fell swoop!
On the side of the Rebel Alliance, when they got this amazing news, they suddenly fell into a subtle loss of voice! There was no response at all!
Only those with a keen sense of smell understand that it is not that the rebels have not responded, but that in the face of such a huge change, the internal quarrel has turned into a pot of porridge!
The interior of the Red Roundtable was split into at least three different positions on how to deal with this matter.
Some military districts headed by Armenian Governor Hughes, because their own territory and nests are not in the north, and are not under the threat of the Odins, so they strongly advocate the continued siege of Osgilia, and even think that the Odins can be temporarily delayed. and tolerance strategies.
And a group of members headed by Salvador, the head of the Red Round Table, because they want to maintain the decency of the Red Round Table Alliance, they strongly demand a tough and severe response to this treacherous practice of the Odins! If it is weak at this time, then I am afraid that the Odins will gain an inch, and in the future these guys will only be more greedy and stretch their claws to other places. More from a long-term perspective, once the Byzantine royal family is overthrown and a new force is established, then each military region will become a kingdom one by one. In the future, a collective alliance will still be required to fight against the Odins. Too weak to bully.
The third position is that some old nests are not far from the north, and they are directly threatened by the front of Odin's army. These members of the rebel army were shaken one after another, and many people even thought that they should withdraw their troops and go back to their old nest to protect themselves. The foundation of oneself is in the old nest. If the old nest is in danger, then the front-line army soldiers, family members and property are all in the territory of the military region, I am afraid that the military heart will collapse immediately - in fact, there is no need to wait for that time, now the Odins have captured it After the Corsica Military District, there have been riots of varying degrees in the rebel armies of several nearby military districts.
The three parties were arguing endlessly, and they could not reach a single result for two days.
Finally, on the third day after getting the news, the Red Roundtable finally came up with a solution that was barely accepted by most people—or, it was a solution that couldn’t be considered a solution…
protest!
Or to put it bluntly, it is to test the current reaction attitude of the Odin people and the next step.
El Salvador, Governor Hughes, and the governors of the military districts jointly signed a solemn protest against the Odin Empire by the Red Roundtable, and then sent this protest to the Odin Empire through a secret emergency channel, through the magic teleportation array. The urgent transmission, this document equivalent to the credential level was quickly sent to the Odin Empire.
In this protest letter, the members of the Red Round Table collectively protested against Manninger, the commander of the Red Snow Army of the Odin Empire, for such a perfidious act, and claimed that such a move seriously damaged the Red Round Table and the Odin Empire. The long-standing friendly and cooperative relationship between the two sides has seriously hurt everyone's difficult friendship and hurt the interests of the members of the Red Roundtable! For the sake of long-term consideration, the Red Roundtable demanded that the Odin Empire immediately order the Red Snow Army on the front line to stop this vicious act of infringing on its allies, return the occupied Corsica military region land, release the prisoners of war, and especially demand that the prisoners be released unconditionally Governor of Corsica.
After this document, which is equivalent to a credential, was sent to the Odin Empire, it is said that it soon appeared in a cold and spacious stone hall in the Odin Imperial City.
This is a stone hall that is a hundred steps wide and a hundred steps long. In the spacious hall, it can accommodate at least a thousand people.
There is no doubt that the rough style of Odin's imperial architecture is here. There is no splendid decoration on the walls. It is the true color of the huge rock that was cut squarely! It looks black, thick and hard!
And on the huge windows, which are several meters high, are covered with huge red curtains... This is dyed red with some kind of animal skin texture.
Red curtains, black walls, such colors mixed together, give people an extremely savage taste!
All kinds of heavy weapons hang on the walls, giant hammers, prismatic hammers, chain hammers, giant swords, heavy axes…
In the center of this big house, on an iron platform made of pure iron, in a wooden plate, the "national letter" is lying there quietly, but it has been torn into a ball!
In the center of the room, a tall and majestic figure stood there. His broad shoulders seemed to be able to hold up a mountain. The entire body was almost an amazing inverted triangle when viewed from the back. An amazing combination of shape and strength!
A strong palm slowly placed a wide-bladed long sword on the table, and then gently wiped off the wet sweat on the hilt.
"Hmph... That guy Manninger is really courageous. I didn't expect that he would dare to make such a decision and tore his face against those Byzantine rebels without my consent."
A cold voice sounded in the hall, as if talking to himself.
This voice sounds full of a cold metallic feeling, thick, indifferent, and hard! Although it was talking to himself, the sound seemed to fluctuate with some kind of power, and the weapons hanging on the wall were buzzing.
"...I originally planned to reprimand Manninger for his unauthorized actions, but the reaction of these Byzantines is actually like this... Then instead of punishing Manninger, I have to reward him greatly."
…
The uneasy red round table finally waited for the reply from the Odin Empire.
Actually, this answer was written by His Majesty the Supreme Being of the Odin Empire, who is recognized as the most powerful human being today!
But when El Salvador, and the leaders of the rebel alliance, such as Governor Hughes, started this book written by the Emperor Odin, everyone was stunned.
Because this letter of return is actually just sending back their previous protest credential, but at the end of the following, the legendary Odin Supreme wrote a word that is a reply.
"So much nonsense! If you want land, bring your own troops to get it!"
A group of rebel leaders: "..."
…
"This guy Manninger... I think we all underestimated him."
In the council hall of the city guard in Denzel City, most of the core figures under Xia Ya's command gathered, and standing in front of the crowd was talking eloquently, a thin and handsome young man with a pale face - Reinhardt.
Reinhardt lowered his eyebrows and said solemnly: "We all thought he might not dare to do such a thing before. After all, the Odins invaded this time, we can all judge that they must have colluded with the rebels. .But Manninger dared to swallow Corsica before he got a firm foothold... The rebels still have hundreds of thousands of troops. Originally, we all thought that the battle between the Red Snow Army and the Corsican Army, maybe It will end under the mediation of the two sides, and at most the Corsicans will suffer some losses... But Manninger dared to do such a thing, this knife is equivalent to stabbed the rebel alliance directly in the waist!"
"... This, I think this Manninger may be too reckless."
It was Philip who spoke a different view.
Since being attracted by Char Ya's true confidant, Philip's confidence has grown more and more, and he has gradually dared to show himself more in this core group.
He looked at Reinhardt, frowned and said, "I think Manninger made a mistake. Although he got the land population of the Corsica military region and surrendered the army, but... the rebels will not do this, even if it is for the sake of To maintain the unity of their inner alliance, they must also intervene. Once the rebel alliance sends troops to deal with Manninger, then the Odins are after all a large army far away from the mainland... I'm afraid... "
Reinhardt glanced at Philip: "I admit that what you said is reasonable, but... You think so, even the inside of the rebel alliance has always thought so, so they have never really worried about Odin because of this reliance. People dare to turn their face! Before the friction between Manninger and the Corsicans, there was even a big fight, and the rebel alliance also sent people to mediate, because they didn't think that Manninger would really dare to destroy a military area directly. So... I just Speaking of this guy Manninger, we underestimated him! Everyone thought he didn't dare, but he just did it - this was the best time, and before someone intervened to stop it, he annexed Corsica in one go all the territory!"
"But now if the rebel alliance sends troops..."
"The Rebel Alliance will never send troops!" Reinhardt's tone was sonorous and powerful, and he cut Philip's words decisively.
The young general looked absolutely resolute, and there was deep worry hidden in his brows. He turned his head and stared at Xia Ya: "Sir, I suddenly worry about something more important!"
Taking a deep breath, Reinhardt's tone was extremely serious and solemn.
"I'm worried that Manninger's self-initiated move will suddenly awaken the ambitions of the Odin Empire!" His eyes were full of unease: "Before this, the rebel alliance or the Odin Empire would be good. , even those of us have such an idea in our hearts: the Odin people going south this time is nothing more than taking advantage of our civil strife, and at most they will occupy a few counties of land and population. I believe it is not only the rebels who think so, the Odins themselves think so, and even everyone here, I am afraid they have always thought so!"
Speaking of this, Reinhardt suddenly raised his voice and shouted: "Actually, we were all wrong! This action of Manninger is a signal! It is even a powerful signal that wakes up the whole country of Odin's empire! This signal The meaning behind, have you thought about it? Actually... Odin and us are both wrong! We all underestimated this crisis! Odin is actually fully capable of getting more this time! In fact, our empire The crisis we are in is far deeper and heavier than what we can see! The Odins... If they dare to take the risk, then they may even take this opportunity to completely destroy our empire in one fell swoop! Not only It's a little bit of interest in occupying a few counties! Yes, if they dare to gamble, take risks, and invest... Everyone think about it carefully, we really have the possibility of subjugating our country or even a nation! And Manninger... I I wonder if this guy has seen this too, so he dares to make such a big move! This action of his is likely to awaken Odin's domestic ambitions! Especially... The one who is known as the number one in the mainland His Majesty the Emperor!"