This time the Khan's army did not even suffer any casualties. If the casualties of the slave soldiers were included, he actually lost less than a hundred people.
This was another conquest of the Khan to the south - the Khan entered the city with his head held high and his Qiexue.
But before entering the city, he once again announced the discipline of the Khutot Khan Army in public:
"After entering the city, you are not allowed to plunder or harass the local people! We must maintain the discipline of this city. As for those small groups of troops that escaped from the "secret door", we don't need to pay attention to them. Let them spread our fear on the grassland to facilitate our subsequent rule."
"Father Khan, then our previous plan..."
A Khexue came up. The Khan looked at him and whispered to him:
"Have someone you trust send a small force to dress up as the Polan army and attack the villages in Roman territory before they do. Also spread the news that some nomads are planning to use the rumor that the Khan is heading south to loot."
Hutot Khan stated word by word, so that his Qiexue could understand the meaning of every word.
"But try not to let our soldiers suffer casualties. Let them pretend to be the defeated Polan army as much as possible. It would be best if the Polans crash into the Romans' defense line after they send reinforcements. In this way, after defeating the Polans, the Romans will relax their vigilance against us... Do you understand?"
"Yes, Father Khan."
Qiexue nodded, and before entering the city, he selected a group of personal guards, left the battlefield, and headed south.
At the same time, outside the festive Constantinople, Yang Hao and Fen were reviewing the intelligence provided by the defeated Polan prisoners.
In short, they judged that Polan was probably dead. The nomadic people who were still using iron tools were facing a whole army of elite soldiers equipped with siege equipment... It was simply unjust that Polan didn't die.
The only problem is that Yang Hao and Fen don't know exactly when the Great Khan will go south -
But if nothing unexpected happens, he will need time to recuperate, and the United Nations will still have time to build its defense line.
"The concertina wire should be able to stop the Centaurs from advancing too deeply. Combined with the stone walls and trenches, the firepower network formed by the machine gun golems and howitzer golems, a line of defense against the Khutot Khanate army on the plain has been completed.
Although their trolls sound powerful, they are just slow-moving targets in front of their epoch-making weapons.
Next is the defense line in the forest... Unless Hutot Khan is a tough guy, he will definitely choose to march in the forest after suffering certain casualties when facing our defense line..."
To build defenses in the entire plain and the vast monster forest at the same time? This is impossible.
If Yang Hao now owned a country with a population of tens of millions, then it would be possible...
But their combined population is barely one million. In this case, how can he build a line of defense to stop the entire barbarian tribe from moving south
Yang Hao was thinking hard, and at this moment, Fen suddenly said something strange - let the nomads go into the forest? Are you sure you don't want them to commit suicide
Why do you say that
Yang Hao was a little confused, but when he saw Fen casually let the vines in the forest grow horizontally to form a "lasso" that was strong enough to trip the horses... he understood that Hutot Khan could only march southward across the western plains.
Chapter 7: Preparation for War and Demons 8K
…
Neither Bayerjans nor Caparia had any intention of accepting the defeated Polan army.
On the one hand, the elves hate the job of taking care of prisoners - on the other hand, the Bayerjans don't have the energy to manage prisoners. But in the end, the most important issue is that the United Nations doesn't need to accept prisoners now.
So after executing these defeated soldiers who were bound to cause trouble directly in the forest, Yang Hao ordered the army to find a place on the grassland suitable for building a defensive position or fortress and mark it. At the same time, he and Finn immediately returned to Constantinople to discuss things with Theresa and others there.
After all, this was not just a small fight with the Roman Empire. The fact that the northern barbarians had already used steel weapons and siege equipment was a big deal that Yang Hao had never even thought about. They were the first truly powerful enemy that the United Nations had faced since its establishment.
More importantly, that Khan seems to have the same reputation and ability as Brother Yang Hao...
In general, the barbarians will be the next strong enemy of the United Nations - especially considering that the population of the United Nations is simply not enough to support them in a very long war. Yang Hao hopes to stop the barbarians in the north at the lowest cost and prevent them from coming in.
So what should we do specifically
After Yang Hao returned to Constantinople, which was still immersed in joy, he took Theresa, Naluga and others to the conference room.
In the conference room, except for Naluga who tilted her head and obviously didn't understand what was going on, the other two were worried about the attack from the north.
"After all, they are northerners." Theresa muttered, "When the Roman Empire was occupied by barbarians, we knew how powerful those barbarians were... They were more populous than the elves and the Byrdians, and their physical fitness was several times stronger than the Byrdians—not to mention the peculiar species like trolls and centaurs...
They are our formidable enemies. If their goal is really to clear all obstacles to the south and conquer again, then not to mention Isgard and the Roman Empire, and Alesse - even our United Kingdom will become a thorn in their eyes... Who made Constantinople's position so awkward?"
"Although the location is good, it has become a thorn in the eyes of the north-south passage. There is nothing we can do. And we can't give up our home, right?"
Yang Hao patted Theresa's shoulder and helped her tidy up her hair. At this time, Finn frowned and said that instead of thinking about "the opponent's strength", it would be better to start mobilizing resources according to our current configuration.
They decided to build a castle on the pasture plains in the west to prevent the barbarians from invading from the south.
But how big the castle should be built and how to arrange the defense facilities have all become good problems.
It is foreseeable that the castle design of Constantinople or Byzantium thousands of years ago would definitely not be used. Firstly, it would require a large amount of stone;
Secondly, this kind of castle is not suitable for the current era of firearms.
If the ancient city walls were as high as possible but their thickness would also decrease accordingly, then the castle that Yang Hao envisioned today is more like a "bunker".
On the sand table made by Finn with magic, it appeared in a prismatic shape, with artillery placed at every node, and the walls were not vertical but steeply inclined.
It is not as high as the old city walls, but on the other hand, its thickness and construction difficulty are thicker and simpler than ancient castles.
More importantly, this kind of prismatic castle is very suitable for construction on pasture grasslands.
Firstly, there are not many stones on the grassland, so in addition to the stone bricks on the outside, the interior filling is best done with wood and compacted soil. Although wood is not available everywhere, it is easy to obtain in places near the forest.
Secondly, soil is everywhere. When building a castle, one can dig trenches outside and use the excavated soil to raise the height of the prismatic castle. This is the largest building that best meets Yang Hao's needs at this stage, and it can also be easily constructed using "earth" magic.
Thirdly, and most importantly, the prismatic castle does not have any "blind spots" in the traditional sense for muskets.
Archers can easily use the steep slope of the city wall to attack anywhere they want, and the artillery reserved on the city wall can also deliver firepower to the enemy's giant units and siege units from a high position, which can not only cause greater casualties to the engineering party, but more importantly, it can also facilitate the transition from defense to offense in the era of muskets, killing two birds with one stone.
The Prismatic Fortress will be a powerful fortress to stop the barbarians from moving south - not only that, it will also be the best defense to prevent enemy invasions from other places in the future.
But then again...
"We may only have half a year or even less than four months at most."
Yang Hao sketched out the layout of the prismatic fortress on the sand table with his bare hands, while also drawing as many necessary things as possible on the sand table.
“The first thing to complete is the main body of the fortress, followed by the blockade of the surrounding forest and the digging of trenches… In front of the trenches, we also have to set up a gentle upward slope on the path of the enemy attacking us.
In this way, our archers on the city wall can see them approaching us very slowly, and we can also use the visual difference brought by the steep slope to make the barbarians' siege rams and siege towers stop directly at the top of the gentle slope and unable to move forward even a single step.
But with this calculation, even with the help of the wizard, it is impossible for us to complete such a bunker in less than four months, let alone fill it with supplies...
Moreover, the mages could only allocate some of their resources to assist in the construction of the bunkers, because the northern part of the Monster Forest still had to use "vines" to prevent the barbarians from advancing through the forest...
And we also need manpower or Oak Factory for production over there. "
"There are still places in the Elf Kingdom where oak factories are planted, but Your Majesty the Regent, I must remind you. If this happens, the output of the oak mine will become negative."
"Yes, this is what gives me the most headache."
The United Nations have always relied heavily on metals produced from the underground mines of the Elf Kingdom for production and trade.
As the appetite for metal resources grows, "mineral production" has become a problem that the United Nations must solve...
There are only a few mines in the Elf Forest, and in the territory of Bayerjans, although they have a large amount of "demon ore" to dig, the underground mineral veins are very scarce... If you insist, there is only a part of iron ore, and it is not suitable for large-scale mining.
In other words... the United Nations must find a way to find new iron ore on the Elucia continent.
If you think about it, the Great Khan has steel weapons in his hands. Doesn't that mean they have found their own minerals in the mountains of the Mountains of Mourning in the north
This is a good question. But at the moment, Yang Hao couldn't go to the northern plains to play travel with a group of centaurs who ran faster than the wind, so Yang Hao thought about it and could only focus on the Roman Empire.
In addition to the pastures in the west, the dioceses in the north, and the coastal areas in the south, the Roman Empire can always find rich iron mines in some mountainous areas.
Among them, there are minerals in the mountains around Kagad, which was once completely ruined by Yang Hao and the Ling people and is still in ruins. There are also minerals on the mountain of the monastery where Theresa used to be a nun in the village of Scuol...
Um…
How about finding some time to go back and take a look? Anyway, we have to expand to meet domestic needs. How about stopping the barbarian invasion and then finding a way to go back and take a look while assisting Ishgard
Yang Hao fell into deep thought, but he still didn't put down his work.
"For now, let's temporarily stop the production of the 'Metal Golem', a big mouth that consumes iron ore. We have to produce the 'barbed wire' and 'weapons' first. I will go to Japaria to demonstrate the specific design of the barbed wire in person when the time comes."
In addition, we will temporarily determine that the mining of minerals will be carried out in the mountains of the Roman Empire...
Then, let's go back to the trade-offs of defensive facilities - we can't build a perfect prismatic fortress in a few months, so we have to make trade-offs...
The height of the city wall was set at 5 meters, the moat was two meters deep and covered with sharp wooden sticks or broken porcelain that were easy to make.
Then the size of the entire prismatic castle was appropriately reduced... We don't need this castle to directly block the road going south and north, we just need it to be stuck in the middle and threaten the enemies on both sides of the road at the same time.
Besides that... in terms of the design of the entire castle, we can choose not to build the second half.
Or it doesn’t matter if we are a bit perfunctory in the second half. It would be best if the barbarians could not rely on the prismatic castle to stop our attack from this direction even if they take it down.”
"But... if the second half of the castle is built carelessly..." Hearing this, Theresa was a little confused, "Doesn't this mean that the second half of the entire prismatic castle will become its biggest weakness?"
"Yes. That's exactly what we want. And Theresa, do you think they will risk being attacked from three directions at the same time by the castle garrison, our main force, and the forest by besieging and attacking the castle from behind? That's impossible. They are not Romans."
The prismatic castle was deliberately built to face the direction of Constantinople, which not only greatly reduced the cost and time required for construction, but more importantly, it meant that even if the barbarians really took down the castle, they would not be able to rely on the castle to gain much help in their attack on Constantinople.
To use the most typical example, the battlements of a city wall are always built facing outward. Archers on the city wall can use the battlements to protect themselves from shooting by external enemies, thus obtaining the protection of the city wall.
After the city wall was occupied, if the enemy wanted to stand on the outer wall and continue to attack the inner city, the side facing the inner city would be completely unprotected!
To use the easiest way to understand it, it is like the naked O apron in Yang Hao's impression... the front is covered with cloth, but the back is clearly visible.
Theresa tried it yesterday. It was really exciting.
The man subconsciously touched his nose, and then when he realized that everyone was still looking at him, he quickly diverted his attention away from Theresa's sexiness last night.
After confirming the size of the castle, the scope of protection, and the most important issue of "time and cost" - let's leave the matter of defense here for now.
It was already afternoon. No one had eaten much, so Yang Hao asked someone to prepare some snacks while the meeting continued.
While eating snacks, Naluga said blankly - do we really have to fight the barbarians to the death
Why can't the barbarians, Isgard and us sign a non-aggression treaty and fight the Roman Empire together
"Uh..." When these words came out, everyone was stunned.
After all, it seems to be true... Everyone subconsciously treats the northerners as "enemies", believing that the barbarians are untrustworthy and will never negotiate with them - but things don't seem to be that absolute
Yang Hao thought, if Cecilia is a fanatic who believes in religion, then there is room for discussion. Then the barbarians are more like tribesmen who believe in religion, and as long as you can defeat them, you can sit down and talk.
In this situation, it seems that Yang Hao really has no need to keep the barbarians in the north
As long as he could bring unacceptable losses and threats to the barbarians in the defensive battle, the Great Khan would surely be willing to condescend to discuss with him what "mutual assistance between friendly neighbors" meant...
Indeed, it was the right decision to bring Nalujia here - although Nalujia might not realize what kind of impact her naturalness would have on the meeting, from Yang Hao's perspective, Nalujia could indeed broaden his ideas and expand his thinking.
But we have to wait until the war is over to talk about the details - just as Yang Hao was about to adjourn the meeting to talk about tomorrow's wedding, the adjutant standing outside knocked on the door and said that a guest from Isgard wanted to see him.
"Your Majesty, Miss Nia wants to discuss important matters with you." Barry looked at Yang Hao and nodded, "And she wants it to be quick—it's very important, and she wants you to go alone."
"Okay then... I'll go over now."
I guess it was because of the wind.
With this thought in mind, Yang Hao temporarily left the meeting room.
And it was when only three women were left that the smoke of war between the women began to rise...
Only Naruga, sandwiched between Theresa and Finn, seems so out of place. Perhaps it is also because of her simple and easily satisfied personality
Let the women handle this - in the reception room where Heilong was, while waiting for Yang Hao to come, Heilong looked pale and had no idea why his luck was so bad.
They had finally paid a high price to ensure the supply of the colonial army that was about to land, but at this critical moment, the United Nations was attacked by the northerners...
Although it is not clear how large the total number of troops in the North is, it is certain that the "industrial capacity" of the United Nations will be further invested in the most urgent war...
In other words, it may be difficult for the United Nations to take into account the supply needs of Isgard in the future, and it may even directly refuse to provide supplies due to the threat from the north.
After all, when the situation is urgent, we must deal with the most important matters... Although Nia understands, she still has to fight for the industrial capacity to be placed on their side...
After all, the Ishugard colonial army was ready to launch an attack - if they lost the most urgent supplies provided by the United Nations...
(These 20,000 soldiers will die in a foreign country without the possibility of rescue...)
Thinking of this, Nia swallowed hard.
She was once again forced to consider what she had that could be traded with the United Nations...
But right now, if the United Nations is really facing a crisis of national extinction, Nia really can't use other things to trade to ensure sufficient supplies...
What to do? What to do? This is not a matter that can be resolved by Nia saying whether she is willing to "use the hidden rules". It is a matter that may not be discussed at all...
Miss Black Dragon waited anxiously for Yang Hao to arrive. Soon, Yang Hao came over.
He greeted Nia first, then he sat opposite Nia with wrinkles and white hair on his face. He drank some water and rinsed his mouth, then he said:
"Ms. Nia? Let's get straight to the point - is there anything you want to say when you come here this time?"