flstandardbreds Chapter 317 Erosion
Chapter 317 Erosion
"Hurry up and bring the wounded here!"
In a military camp in the occupied area of Midran in northern Lana, a dozen soldiers carried several unconscious soldiers on stretchers into the doctor's tent, and several other soldiers followed behind with bandages and crutches.
The doctor in the camp first unwrapped the bandages, and after seeing the wound inside, he couldn't help but ask the soldier next to him:
"Did these people go hunting? Such wounds should be caused by an adult brown bear. The bones inside should also be broken."
"But fortunately, judging from his current condition, his heart is probably not injured, so his life can still be saved. As for whether he can return to the army, it is hard to say."
In another huge tent, a Crusader Knight who had participated in the crusade against the zombies was reporting the entire operation process to John.
After listening to the knight's statement, John asked:
“Is there a strange black stone inside the monster’s lair?”
"Oh, you are talking about this, right? When we were cleaning up the scene, we found several boxes full of jewels, and there was a black stone in them."
After saying that, the knight took out the stone from his armor. Looking at the chaotically arranged facial features on it, John was sure that this was the Behelet he was looking for.
After taking over the Behelet, it was immediately recovered by the system and dissipated into a puff of dust. The number of Behelet recovered by the system has now reached eight.
"How did you deal with those villagers?"
John continued to ask.
"We interrogated all the villagers who had turned back from ghouls. They all said that they fell into a coma a few days after being injured and had no idea what happened. So we handed these people over to the village chiefs of their respective villages to look after them for a few days, and released them after we were sure they would not turn back into ghouls."
"Lord John, an envoy from Lana has come to discuss the redemption of Lana prisoners of war. Lord Hoss asks you to go over and discuss it."
At this time, a soldier of the regular army spoke outside the tent. John stopped thinking about the apostles and after getting dressed, he came to Hoss's tent under the escort of the White Wolf Knight.
The candlelight flickered inside the tent, illuminating the surroundings with a dim and warm glow. In the center of the tent stood a huge rectangular wooden table, on which was spread a detailed map, with lines and marks of different colors outlining the layout of mountains, rivers, and enemy and friendly positions.
On both sides of the wooden table, senior Midland generals including Hoss and Warren had already taken their seats, and Hoss left John a seat on his right. After John sat down, two White Wolf Knights stood behind him, one on the left and one on the right.
Seeing that everyone was present, Earl Hoss cleared his throat and said:
"What do you think are the conditions we have proposed in this negotiation regarding the Rana prisoners?"
A general of the Midland standing army stood up and said:
"I think we should use these nobles to exchange for the fortress city of Logronia. As long as we control Logronia, there will be no fortress that can stop us on the road to Leon."
“I don’t think it’s safe.”
At this point Warren shook his head and retorted:
"To King Lana, the value of these nobles may not be worth this fortress city. Although the nobles are in our hands, their families are still in their territories. King Lana can completely offer the members of their families the right of inheritance in exchange for their support. Generally speaking, if the nobles are gone, they can be enthroned again. If Logronia is occupied by the Mitlan people, there is a risk of national destruction."
"The Lana army has left Logronia, and they may distribute weapons to local citizens. If we can't end the battle in a short period of time, the Lana people will definitely rise up in resistance. By then, we may not even be able to attack the city gates. Even if we completely occupy the city, they may secretly attack the patrols or generals."
"I think Captain Warren is right."
Jules on the side immediately added:
"These past few days, I have interrogated those nobles one by one. There are more than a hundred nobles with titles in this army, and there are countless other heirs, second sons, or illegitimate children. The Lana Kingdom has a large population and a small land area. If the noble children born in small noble families are not heirs, they have no hope of obtaining territory.
"If King Rana is cruel enough to abandon all these nobles and instead support others in his family, then everything we have done before will be in vain."
"At the same time, I also found out that the city council of Logronia is mobilizing citizens to join the army and has even hired several mercenary groups for defense. Even the local Chamber of Commerce has joined in and contributed money and manpower to the army of Logronia."
Soon, almost everyone present expressed their opinions, and most people's eyes were on John, wanting to see what ideas he had.
Feeling that many people were paying attention to him, John raised his head, stood up and looked at the map, then took out his sword and said to the Lana camp near Logronia:
"Have them move out within a day. As their only large camp near Logronia, this place has complete facilities and our troops can move in directly."
"Because their army lost its only large camp, they can only enter Logronia for a short period of time. While consuming the food in its warehouse, the Lana nobles will gradually make the Lana army lose the support of the people because of their bad personalities. It would be best if the local people could turn against the Lana army."
In John's opinion, it was not important whether Mitlan controlled Logronia. The ultimate goal was to make Logronia break away from the control of the Kingdom of Lana and turn to Mitlan. If the locals overthrew Lana's rule in Logronia and were willing to negotiate with the Mitlan army, John would not mind supporting another vassal with a high degree of autonomy like Paulino.
At this time, a general asked:
"Just occupying this one camp? It seems a bit too worthless."
"It would definitely not be worth it if we were to exchange all the Lana noble captives. So we divided these captives into three groups. One group will be used to exchange for the Lana camp, and the second group will be used to exchange for the Mitlan prisoners of war held in Logronia. They have been in there for so many days, so they must have a certain understanding of the city of Logronia. The third group will stay and continue to be our bargaining chip for the Lana people."
"The most important thing is that the nobles who stay must be pro-Mitran or those who are dissatisfied with the current situation in Lana. As long as King Lana abandons them, they will definitely cooperate with us for their own interests and lead our army."