"...Dalton's musketeers are coming too."
When Andréte was on the observation tower and saw the warships sailing slowly across the sparkling sea, his expression became very dignified.
All those watching on the coast were horrified. The army Roland sent far exceeded their original expectations. The entire sea surface is full of shadows of warships, and the trajectories of the ships collide and mix, smashing the originally calm sea surface. The intertwined flags of crossed swords and roses form an endless forest at first glance, and every battleship is full of soldiers, the most striking of which is undoubtedly the army commanded by Dalton himself.
They are on the largest and tallest battleships.
Through the binoculars, Andret could distinguish those soldiers at a glance, they were very different.
Dalton rose through the conflict between the New Gods and the Old Gods, and was the nominal leader of the New Gods army. The soldiers under him uniformly wore solemn black coats, abandoning the cumbersome decorative details in traditional costumes, and all the lines from coats to trousers were extraordinarily clean and neat. After allegiance to the Queen, their sleeves and necklines have more silver rose buttons, and shoulder straps with ammunition bags are uniformly carried on their shoulders.
Dalton's army, which was laughed at by most of the nobles, who regarded simplicity as a sign of inferiority, called the uniformed Daltonian new army "crows". Andrete had never felt the importance of the uniformity of soldiers' uniforms before, until now, when he witnessed Dalton's new army approaching with his own eyes.
—This chilling dark army has a terrible sense of oppression like a taciturn and sharp sword.
Just like the legend in the scriptures, the army of judgment came from the end of the evening.
Andrett adjusted the angle of the telescope, concentrated on observing the new army on the Roland battleship, and estimated their number.
After searching for one battleship after another, Andrett's heart sank slowly, and the number he got was unexpected—Dalton actually brought his subordinates almost without reservation.
Contrary to the familiar arquebus soldiers with extremely poor aim, the soldiers under Dalton are known for their proficiency in sniping.
No one could figure out that Dalton, a guy with an ordinary background—if humbleness is a characteristic, he would be considered one of the best. Where did he find these soldiers who are as patient as decades-old hunters
Andrete could almost see how dangerous it would be to move around where the walls were not high enough.
Beacon towers on the coast burst into flames one after another.
The Roland fleet approaching Senglei Island did not stop at the port, and kept a short distance from the coast, sailing around the island. Seeing Roland's fleet quickly appearing in front of them, and then quickly disappearing from sight, the people in the castle were in shock, not knowing what the Roland people were trying to do.
On the observation tower, Andrete sighed regretfully.
He waved his hand and said a few words to the orderly.
Not long after, the gate of Fort Saint-Cil was raised, and a cavalry who had been ambushing on the coast and wanted to take advantage of the chaos when the Rolands landed to launch an ambush withdrew.
Andrete stopped wasting time on futile things, and soon he swept through the castle like a storm, and his orders thundered from all the walls:
"Raise the parapet! Bring me all the wood and stone!"
"Iron chain! Pull it up!"
"Everyone stand firm!"
…………………
The water in Baijiao Bay is so clear and almost transparent under the sun, lying in the arms of Iris Island like tears of an angel.
The queen is on the island with such a beautiful name as "Iris", which is on the route to Senglei Island, and it is not far from the port of Kehemia. It is a zone that can be called "the queen's personal conquest" without really putting the queen in mortal danger.
Of course, this "not too dangerous" is a relative term.
In fact, if Dalton launches an attack on the city of Saint-Cyr on Sengley Island and other fortresses, then everyone on Isle of Iris can hear the sound of artillery from there.
For most of the worried courtiers, they felt that this was too rash - they hoped that the queen would be as far away from the battlefield as possible. This kind of worry is not because of how loyal these people are to the queen, but they all know... When the war carriage starts, Roland has become a whole, and the queen is the direction of this carriage. Man can afford the dire consequences that follow.
"What a touching loyalty."
The queen commented while signing the document.
There was a slight sarcasm in his tone.
Most of these advices that have been sent in a steady stream come from officials and nobles who also joined the war.
It is true that joining the war was not their intention, but after declaring war on Yager and the Free Merchant City became inevitable, practical people should consider what this war can bring for themselves-they prepared an army for the empire, If weapons are provided, there should be tangible benefits, right? Naturally, their eyes fell on the free commercial city, which has the cake of "City of Gold" and "City of Wealth".
The harvest of this victory can make everyone rich.
For those who come for profit, their loyalty is naturally subject to consideration. Although these people have joined the war, there is no better way to describe them than "grass on the wall".
Only when Senglei Island, the springboard for attacking the free commercial city and Yager, was taken, and they saw the certainty of victory in the war, would they really devote themselves to the war.
"Do your best to capture Senglei Island in the shortest possible time."
After receiving the reports from Dalton and Abigail, the Queen ended the reply with a text message with rare stern tone, giving instructions for the first phase of the war.
The messenger carrying the queen's order did not stop for a moment, and immediately set off from Iris Island and took a fast boat towards Senglei Island.
A carrier pigeon flew in through the Queen's open window after a long journey, flapped its rain-stained wings, and landed on the trestle beside the table.
The queen removed the brass letter box from its foot, turned the lid, and poured out a rolled letter.
The seal on the envelope was stamped with a cross standing in the fire, which was the personal seal of the Grand Master of the Knights Templar.
The letter was from Archbishop Rodri, who was in the south of the empire.
Archbishop Rodriguez was the actual organizer of the backup system for this war. The materials from various regions were distributed to all aspects of the battlefield in an orderly manner through his hands. He built the center of Elmia-Rose Strait-Senglei Island. A complex and tight material flow network.
To be honest, even the Queen was very curious about the education that Archbishop Rodrik had received at the University of Sao Paulo - he knew the price changes brought about by the supply and demand of commodities, and his calculation of various data was even better than her Chancellor of the Exchequer. If it weren't for his excellence in intelligence and espionage work, the queen would want to appoint him as her treasurer.
— This gave the chancellor an unprecedented sense of crisis.
Recently, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has devoted all his talents to the service of the Empire, fearing that he will lose his job anytime soon.
Could it be that the seven arts of the church including "logic", "mathematics" and "geometry" serve to cultivate businessmen, conspirators and war talents
I don't know how those old priests feel about teaching someone like Archbishop Rodriguez.
The queen was chatting and thinking for entertainment while browsing the letter from Archbishop Rodri.
By the time the letter was read to the end, the relaxed look had completely disappeared from the queen's face, and the lines of her face under the candlelight revealed a frightening sternness.
"... The merchants in East Berek have already raised the price of grain to the point where every ten gold coins can be exchanged for a carriage. The famine first appeared in the city of Kara. The initial negotiations between the royal merchants and the grain merchants failed, and they refused to lower the price of grain. …Here, too, we are about to start another war without gunpowder.”
food.
How simple and how terrible a word!
Every war is supported by an astronomical amount of food. In addition to the risk of victory and defeat brought by the front-line guns, the traps of war are hidden on the small grains and wheat. First of all, most of the adult men who participated in the war were drawn from the farmland. Since they took up the sword, they could not plow the field, and the food production naturally declined. And the remaining people have to go all out to fill the army's astonishingly consumed stomachs, and it is difficult to have any spare energy to satisfy the citizens of the city.
All it takes is a little bit of a delicate balance to be upset for a famine to ensue.
History abounds in victories at the front only to be decimated by famine at home. They are the blood-sucking maggots of war.
In history, there are many examples of victories on the battlefield but defeat by domestic famines abound. If the Queen does not want Roland to fall into this strange cursed den, she must be extremely careful from the beginning.
The merchants of Perik in the eastern part of the Roland Empire are proficient in this, and have even formed an alliance with an unwritten order. When they smelled the smoke of impending war in the air, they would immediately purchase grain from the fields with astonishing speed and hoard it tightly. When the war is halfway through, Roland's monarchs will find it difficult to buy enough food from the country—except from these speculators.
If the royal family refused the price offered by the merchants, they would rather dump the grain into the sea. Even if their representatives are executed, it will not help. In the face of huge interests, these people are more fearless than soldiers on the battlefield.
In this invisible smoke of gunpowder, it is often the royal family who lose the battle, and the speed at which the army without food collapses can never be compared with the speed at which businessmen bow their heads before pressure.
This year, East Berek merchants have pushed up the price of grain even higher.
When Archbishop Rodrik wrote the letter, even a piece of the roughest and simplest piece of black bread in the eastern Berik area was sold at a sky-high price that ordinary people could not afford.
The Queen took out the letter paper and began to write a reply to Archbishop Rodri.
……………
Roland Empire, Southeast.
Under the gray sky, a church with a slender and straight spire towered under the lead-colored clouds. There were many carriages parked outside the iron gate of the church. Apart from many servants, businessmen in gorgeous costumes came in and out of the iron gate. These merchants are particularly fair and fat because they have not worked all year round.
In stark contrast to them are the yellow-colored people on the street not far away, and even a little farther away, people who look like skeletons can be seen leaning against the shadow of the wall, unable to stand up. The crow landed not far from them, waiting for these people with no grains in their stomachs to die, so that they could have a good meal.
Anyone with a conscience should feel pain seeing this situation.
But this scene, in late spring, the merchants who sweated because of the excess fat after wearing clothes, could not see it.
Their hands, which can sensitively distinguish the gold content of each gold coin, are quickly counting in the air, as if they are beating an abacus that only they can see, counting the numbers clearly in their hearts.
These people are representatives of the East Berek merchants, and before that, they had a not-so-pleasant negotiation with the royal merchants.
Although the decisiveness of the royal businessman's refusal was somewhat unexpected, the East Berek businessman was still full of confidence.
They were well-informed and knew that the Iron Cross pirates had paid a huge amount of treasures to the queen, and they also thought in their hearts that, as the first queen of the empire, this war might only be a matter of honor and disgrace to others, but to her. decide life or death.
They have nothing to fear.