Um…
Bishop Stephen was thoughtful. After asking his attendants to give up the plan, he raised his head and asked seriously:
"How much do we know about the strength of the Elf Forest troops? Not only the number of troops, but also the weapons, armor, and other things."
"Not too much, but not too little either—we have actual armed specimens. Please follow me."
“By the way, notify all the chaplains accompanying the army to come here. We need to study everything about the elves. Not only for the purpose of going into battle, but also for the purpose of skinning and bone-stripping them.”
The bishop and his attendants rushed to the specimen room on the 57th floor of St. Peter's Basilica as quickly as possible.
Stored here are all kinds of spoils that the Cult of Light has collected through various means over a long period of time - including, of course, the weapons of the elves.
The weapons of the elves can hardly be called weapons.
They do have the same effects as ordinary weapons.
But they look more like works of art—no, they are works of art.
Bishop Stephen fell into deep thought as he looked at the elven weapons displayed behind the glass in the specimen room.
From a human perspective, this is an "overly decorated" longbow.
The longbow is made of the finest wood, a bowstring made from a mixture of the finest plant and animal materials, and the most important "enchantment" process.
This is the "practical part".
The skills of the elf craftsmen can be better demonstrated in the unimportant "decorative part".
At least human craftsmen cannot ensure the stability of the bow structure, perform micro-carving on it according to the grain of the wood, and use the expensive and rare golden magic material to create a rotating scroll.
But the elves can do it - not only that, the content of the scroll on each bow will have different artistic conception according to the owner's preferences and the material of the wood.
Should this kind of thing really be used on the battlefield instead of being displayed in a glass cabinet like it is now
Even the arrowheads and branches were engraved with paintings and praises!
Bishop Stephen fell into deep thought, while the attendant who accompanied him said that it was said that it would take the elves a full hundred years to make such a longbow.
"As for this longbow, as long as we take it out for display, especially to foreign merchants in Drake Harbor, it will be sold at a sky-high price, and it can even be used to show the majesty of the parish and the God of Light."
Bishop Stephen nodded subconsciously, and then suddenly reacted:
"And you said... this 'Elven Standard Longbow'... would take a hundred years to make?"
"Yes. According to the lifespan of the elves, this seems to be acceptable. And it must be admitted that this longbow is perfect, whether in terms of artistic value, practical value, or magical value."
"But according to the development of the war, this is undoubtedly a stupid thing - the elves are using thousands of years of "perfection" to deal with modern wars, just like an ant that has evolved to perfection trying to use its indestructible claws to fight against a blazing torch. It's as ridiculous."
"You are right. After all, according to the elves' usual "perfect" practice, they cannot possibly stockpile a large number of elven longbows, let alone fight against our believers in terms of numbers—
We can pave a path to the Elven Forest with our flesh and blood. Their arrows are consumed faster than our reserve troops can replenish them."
"Not to mention, as long as we equip our vanguards with enough shields, the damage the elves will cause to us will be less. There are only a few elven archery masters who can shoot through an entire array. Most elves are just sharpshooters. The arrows they shoot do not have such strong penetrating power. At most, four layers of wooden shields can directly block them..."
The attendant continued to expound on his views, while Bishop Stephen nodded thoughtfully:
"In this way, our main job is to 'classify' the 300,000 believers under our command."
Classification - As a bishop who once commanded a large army to fight against the barbarians, Bishop Stephen naturally knew that "classification" was a must in the army.
Untrained recruits and conscripted believers are not allowed to mix in and fight alongside the professional soldiers who constitute the backbone of the army.
Because new recruits are easily timid, and unlike professional soldiers, they are not willing to follow orders relatively firmly, and are even less likely to abide by discipline. Instead, they will shout for battle when they see military exploits, and flee in panic when they see a powerful enemy. They are the kind of people who must be eliminated immediately.
The same is true for professional soldiers. Although they do have more professional characteristics than recruits and conscripts, and understand the importance of obeying orders and discipline, in the final analysis, they are just ordinary people who work for money.
The premise of being willing to obey orders and discipline is that the battle can be won. Once the war situation falls into defeat, these professional soldiers will easily flee. Therefore, they are at most used as the "backbone" of the legion, rather than the final trump card.
The ones Stephen classified as the trump cards were the Knights and Priests of the Church of Light.
The Crusaders were the exclusive army of the Church of Light. In a sense, they were just like the royal family's former national army, receiving resources from the Church of Light, eating the best food, wearing the best equipment, sleeping with the best women or men, and holding the best swords in their hands.
But unlike the Roman royal family's national army, they have an extremely fanatical belief in the God of Light, and will not betray their master for 800 gold coins like the trash of the national army.
Not to mention the priests who also have fanatical beliefs. The priests who know how to use all kinds of powerful offensive magic are not only the best "morale maintainers" of the army, but also the small commanders or officers responsible for commanding small troops in Bishop Stephen's next military operations. Even if the army is defeated, they can be used as a mage corps. If they cooperate with the crusader army in combat, they can almost be said to be invincible in the Roman Empire - but only under the premise that there are a large number of believers around them.
But whether it was the Crusaders or the Priests, their numbers in this northern expedition were extremely small...
Therefore, they are not only the last trump card in frontal combat, but also need to be used as the "gendarmes" under Bishop Stephen in daily marches to manage military discipline.
Bishop Stephen meant to restrain the believers from taking the spoils of the Church of Light for their own use. After all, that was the money of the Church of Light and the bishops, not the money of these lowly believers.
In short, in Bishop Stephen's vision, his army needs to be reorganized roughly according to these three categories, and if nothing unexpected happens, the number of useless recruits and conscripted believers will be the largest -
All these people need to be given is a shield and their own farm tools as weapons. They are just cannon fodder anyway, and there is no expectation for them to perform any other functions other than attracting arrows.
The number of professional soldiers is average, so they need to be used with caution. As the trump cards, the Crusaders and Priests need to be used as military police in daily life, and they need to be used in a concentrated manner in decisive battles...
Um…
Perfect!
Bishop Stephen nodded with satisfaction. Just as he was feeling proud of his arrangement, a word from his servant calmed him down.
"The reorganization of the soldiers is not a problem, but the baggage... what should we do?"
…
The key to fighting a war is to put food and supplies first.
As a commander with rich combat experience, Bishop Stephen, although his private life is extremely extravagant, also knows the importance of keeping his soldiers well fed.
After all, if they don’t have enough food to eat, even the most fanatical warriors with strong faith won’t be able to muster the willpower to travel long distances, let alone go into battle and kill the enemy.
Although the magic of the Church of Light can temporarily give people a sense of sweetness and fullness, it is false after all and cannot provide enough nutrition for the soldiers...
Any commander should know the importance of food and supplies, but the problem is, the Roman Empire is suffering from drought, right
We can’t count on the royal family or the warlords in the military zone to send food, so the parish can only rely on itself
Bishop Stephen calculated the grain he had now - apart from the half of the grain that he had to sell at a high price, the grain that the Northern Expeditionary Force had now should be enough to last about half a month when the invasion was launched in October...
Half a month...huh
He frowned, and then in an instant, his brows relaxed:
"Anyway, cannibalism has occurred during famines. We can just turn the bodies of the dead into food. And there are plenty of mobile food supplies in the Monster Forest."
When the war breaks out, many people will surely die in the rain of arrows from the elves.
Dealing with the bodies of these dead people is a waste of time and financial resources. Instead of wasting them, it would be more practical to directly recycle them.
only-
"Don't let the nuns of the Saint's sect and the Saint herself know about this. They are kind-hearted and can't stand this. If they cause trouble, it will be difficult for us."
Bishop Stephen gave orders to his attendants with a pleasant face.
The attendant following Bishop Stephen nodded, took the bag of gold handed to him by the bishop himself, and prepared to use the money to reward himself, and also to privately settle one-tenth of the remaining half of the food.
Anyway, we can eat humans when the time comes and fill the gap.
The master and the servant smiled knowingly.
Chapter 9: The future of a peaceful life, and the little queen who shattered the future
…
On the other side…
Yang Hao and others took the elevator of the sky garden - according to the elves, it was an ancient elevator given to them by the Bayerzas Empire - all the way up to the sky garden in the true sense.
They were not immediately received into the Green Courtyard of the Elves' Palace, but were taken to the inner ring building complex closer to the Green Courtyard to rest for a while.
"This is the house that Finn prepared for you and your followers. Considering the difference in diet, we will not prepare hot food for you. Instead, we have stored a lot of ingredients and meat in it. Please feel free to use these things..."
Qinna pointed to the house in front and said that spare clothes and other things were ready. Although there might be some differences in body sizes, it shouldn't be a big problem.
"If nothing unexpected happens, Finn hopes you can rest for a few days before going to see her. After all, you have been working hard all the way, and you must be exhausted from a human perspective."
Originally, Yang Hao wanted to say that he was not tired yet and planned to finish his work thoroughly before taking a rest.
But when he saw Sister Teresa's eyes shining and she looked like she couldn't wait to go in and take a nice bath and rest, he chose to nod and say yes.
"But if possible, I hope that after you take a short rest, you can go to the Green Courtyard with me to register. This is the rule of the capital, please understand."
"I know. I will go back with you later. Now please let me settle my people."
"Please help yourself."
After Qinna handed the key to Yang Hao, she and her entourage waited on the street outside.
Yang Hao led everyone into this house which could be said to be a "manor".
According to the elves' concept, no one except Finn and the court staff is allowed to live in the Green Courtyard.
Those prominent families or ministers all lived in the mansion area close to the green courtyard and lived together as neighbors.
The manor in front of Yang Hao was built according to the standards of aristocratic mansion - in other words, they were now neighbors with the bigwigs of the Elf Royal Court.
This is really... a love with a special meaning.
Yang Hao sighed, and after assigning rooms to everyone, he asked everyone to rest for a while. Then he was dragged into the master bedroom of the house by Theresa with a confused look on his face, and disappeared without a trace.
Joseph watched helplessly, and after a long while he shook his head and said to his wife:
"It's just like us before—but then again, Lady Priscilla doesn't seem to be this close to Your Majesty."
"She is just an ungrateful person and a coward, so let's not talk about her. Okay, let's not disturb His Majesty and his wife. Let's take a break. After all, we still have to go to the streets to find an elf doctor to treat the injuries of the Ling people."
"But the money issue..."
"It all depends on your majesty."
…
After Theresa came in, she immediately ran to the bathroom to take a shower, leaving Yang Hao alone in the bedroom, sitting on the sofa and staring at the elves' newspapers.
The social life of the elves is not as boring as humans imagine. They have newspapers that have been serialized for hundreds of years. The content of the newspapers ranges from gossip to national politics, from love talks between couples to teaching children how to eat, and even has a special log on "How to Feed Tree People". It has everything.
Moreover, elves also eat meat, and are even more advanced in cooking meat than humans—
At least for now, there is no cooking method like "hot pot" in the human social life of the Roman Empire, let alone "steaming" in addition to frying, roasting, boiling and stewing.
But compared to this, Yang Hao cares more about Fen, the current elf.
"Quite young for an elf... Only about 300 years old?" He muttered to the newspaper in his hand, "Blond hair and blue eyes, but with short hair... Oh, are all elves blond and blue eyes? Wow, it's hard to tell them apart from their hairstyle and body shape... But then again... 300-year-old Finn would only be in his early 20s if converted to humans, right?"
The standard of "maturity" for elves is very different from that for humans.
Although the time required for sexual maturity is similar to that of humans, the elves do not have the low standards of the Roman Empire: "As long as you can speak, look tall, and can work, you are considered an adult." The elves have extremely strict examinations and assessments on whether a member of the tribe is "an adult."
According to Yang Hao's understanding, this is like the "college entrance examination" for elves -
A mature elf not only needs to study literature and poetry for many years, but also needs to train his or her body and hit the ten rings of a target the size of a human head with a longbow five times in a row at a distance of 100 meters.
For elves, this is as easy as eating, drinking, defecating and urinating for humans. But this is just the basics.
If an elf wants to gain the respect of his tribe after adulthood, in addition to the basic assessments mentioned above, they also need to hone their own specialties.
For example, the skills of craftsmen, for example, advanced archery skills, for example, magical attainments, for example -
"Ranger...?"
Become a ranger who travels outside the Elven Kingdom and brings tales of your adventures back home through magic.
Yang Hao keenly realized that this meant that the Elf Kingdom actually had a large number of "scouts" outside to gather intelligence...
Regardless of whether they are elves who have just reached adulthood or elves who have gone out to travel the world as adventurers, they are not considered "regular troops" in the elven society but ordinary people.
But according to human standards, they are all elite warriors. It's really scary, not only are all the people soldiers, but they are all elites...
Their actual strength might be stronger than expected - just as Yang Hao was thinking about this, the door behind him suddenly opened.
The air coming from behind was moist and sweet. He didn't turn around because Yang Hao's head was somehow pressed down by two heavy pieces of dough.
"Theresa?"
"Yeah! Hot baths are great! And the elves are so considerate... They even prepared the nun's uniform that I usually wear, and it fits me perfectly."
"Ah? It's not the traditional costume of elves?"
Yang Hao was stunned for a moment. After the pressure on his head was gone, he turned around and carefully looked at the fragrant little nun in front of him.
She was still dressed as a nun as always, but it looked like the uniform was newer - it should be a newly made uniform, after all, one could see the elves' elaborate and perfect decorations on it with the naked eye.