flstandardbreds Chapter 318: Substitute
Chapter 318: Substitute
"That's strange. I thought the Midlan people would ask for a huge amount of Logronia."
After receiving the letter from the Midland envoy, General Schneider immediately opened the letter. A Lana general saw that the condition for Midland to release the prisoners was only to let the Lana army leave this temporary camp and release the remaining Midland prisoners of war, so he asked in confusion:
"Sir, is this really all they want? We can exchange a temporary camp and the remaining hundreds of Midland soldiers for a group of Lana nobles."
Schneider glanced at him, sighed and said:
"If it were me, I wouldn't want the hot potato of Logronia. There are too many things to deal with."
Then he said to the generals present:
"The strategy of the Midlan people has changed from a long-distance raid to a war of attrition. Although all they want now is a camp, once we leave this camp, we will no longer have a camp to house a large number of soldiers near Logronia."
"The army will then have to temporarily enter Logronia. In addition to consuming the food stored in the city, there will also be conflicts between the soldiers and the local citizens."
At this time, a general of Lana asked:
"Sir, what is Leon's attitude?"
"I don't know what Leon's ministers got. The Midlan army is almost at their doorstep, but they are not even willing to negotiate and are still insisting on fighting to the end."
Schneider couldn't help but stroke his forehead to express his helplessness. Everyone knows how to fight a war, but the key is what you use to fight. Now the army has no weapons and equipment, and they still want to counterattack. He really doesn't understand what the powerful people in Leon are thinking.
"First, tell His Majesty the King about the conditions of the Midlanders, and at the same time, order the soldiers in the camp to move out some important supplies in the camp."
"Also, have the city council of Logronia quickly find a place for 10,000 people to live. It doesn't matter if it's a little crowded, as long as they can sleep."
The news quickly spread from Logronia to Leon. Not to mention the ministers, even King Lana collapsed on the throne after hearing the news. He was stunned for a long time before asking:
"The Midlan army is so powerful that they have even reached Logronia and captured a large number of nobles. Can't our country's army stop them?"
At this moment, all the ministers present either looked at each other in bewilderment or lowered their heads and whispered to each other. After a while, a minister who advocated war stood up and said:
"Your Majesty, don't panic. The reason why Midlan was able to reach Logronia was because of their cavalry that moved like the wind and their artillery that could break through the city walls."
"But Logronia is a fortress city, and your majesty has seen the thickness of its walls. Ordinary artillery can't destroy the walls at all, not to mention the various defensive equipment such as artillery and catapults on the walls. The enemy's artillery will be defeated by us before they even fire."
"What we need to do now is to stabilize the front line near the city of Logronia. As long as Logronia does not fail, the Midlan army will not be able to reach Leon. When the Yoda people launch a large-scale attack on Midlan, the Midlan army that remains here will definitely withdraw to the north. Then it will be time for us to counterattack."
After the minister talked for a long time, King Rana understood his strategy: as long as they hold on firmly, there will be a way.
"But my standing army has been sent to the front, and now I have no troops left."
At this time, a minister suggested:
"Your Majesty, why don't we recruit some more mercenaries and have them enter the Miteran occupied area to attack the Miteran patrols or baggage trains. As long as we can cause trouble to the Miteran people, they will definitely send troops to deal with it. When the Miteran army is dispersed, we can concentrate our superior forces to counterattack and annihilate the Miteran army besieging Rogronia in one fell swoop, and then take advantage of the situation to go north to recover the lost territory."
"At the same time, I also suggest that we draw elite troops from each free city to form an army, and then let the major chambers of commerce pay to hire mercenaries, so that we will have a steady supply of soldiers."
Hearing this, King Rana felt a little relieved. He looked at the letter brought by the Midlan envoy and asked:
"Do the ministers agree with Mitlan's request?"
However, the ministers did not take it seriously after seeing this. They thought that it was a great bargain to exchange so many nobles for only a camp and a few hundred prisoners. So they all advised:
"Your Majesty, the request of the Mitlan people is a good thing for us. Although the nobles were defeated, it only proves that their military capabilities are unsatisfactory. But if they are redeemed, after experiencing the feeling of being captured, they will definitely spare no effort to support you in repelling the Mitlan people. So we suggest that you agree to this plan."
With the unanimous agreement of the ministers, the king finally agreed to the agreement and stamped it with the emblem of the Lana royal family. After the messenger delivered the letter back to Logronia, Schneider ordered his men to move everything that could be moved from the camp.
"My Lord, would you like to burn this place down again?"
"No, doing so will easily irritate the Midlanders. It will be a headache if they don't release us."
Soon the news that Lana's army had moved out of the camp reached Midland. Count Hoss sent people to investigate the situation in the camp and ordered people to prepare to release the first batch of nobles.
John was sorting out intelligence at this time, and there were two pieces of information that caught his attention.
The first one is that the king is finally preparing to marry a royal woman from the Kingdom of Nice as his princess. John knows that this woman is the stepmother of Princess Charlotte in the main storyline, who was later burned to death by Griffith.
Her fate had no impact on John, but for now, once the marriage between the Kingdom of Midland and the Kingdom of Nice was successful, it would be equivalent to the Kingdom of Nice joining the side of Midland, and it was very likely to declare war on the Kingdom of Lana. Even if the Kingdom of Nice did not send troops, the mercenaries hired by the Kingdom of Lana would have to take a detour to enter the kingdom.
Another piece of news was that a notice had been posted in Windham, appointing a former Free City mayor named Sharan Fran as the governor of the New Forest Governorate.
The former mayor was of noble birth and had a knighthood but no territory. John was also shocked by the salary the king gave him. According to the proclamation, Sharan could receive 10,000 Midland gold coins from the king every year, which was ten times the salary John received when he was governor of the forest.
However, John could also see from this that the king's intention was most likely to prevent Sharan from imposing various harsh taxes as soon as he arrived at the governor's territory, so that the local civilians would have no good feelings towards Sharan or even the king, or even become enemies with him.
"Let's see what new tricks this Governor can come up with."
John said slowly after looking at Sharon's character model on the system map.