A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

The night is deep, the night is very quiet, and everything seems to have fallen asleep.

In a corner of Rudas City, this is a deserted area full of gravel depressions. High wooden fences surround this large area, and simple straw sheds are built haphazardly.

There was no light in the vast wasteland, only torches hung on wooden fences surrounding the wasteland.

Hundreds of Gasdad's soldiers stood outside the fence, guarding the place.

This is the only slave residence in Rudas City that is treated specially and is guarded by Gastad's soldiers.

The slaves here were all shackled at the hands and feet, doing the heaviest work, but they could only get insufficient food to satisfy their hunger. They were not fed enough every day, and were scolded and killed by the guards at will.

The slaves here are all new slaves.

They were prisoners of war from the Gastad.

To be precise, the slaves who were closely guarded here were all soldiers of Aaron Landis's first regiment who were captured by the Gastad people in the battle a month ago.

The First Legion is also known as the King's Guards Legion, a legion that only the strong are eligible to enter.

All soldiers who can enter the Guards Corps are the pride of heaven and the envy of everyone.

But now, the warriors who were once the pride of heaven have become the most humble slaves, slaves of the enemy.

At that time, due to the murder of the traitors in Rudas City, both the food and the water source in the military camp were secretly drugged. Although it was not fatal, it greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the soldiers.

I didn't expect that I would be raided by the enemy while staying in the city, and the camp suddenly burst into flames. Gastad's army raided late at night. Most of the generals of the army went to the castle to attend the city lord's dinner. The army lacked a leader when they were raided. It was difficult to organize effective resistance. In the dark, there were still people shouting that King Camos had been poisoned by the betrayed Lord Rudas, which seriously shook the morale of the army...

All the above reasons, combined with all aspects, made the First Legion unprepared and defeated in a short period of time.

Some soldiers died in the melee.

A small number of soldiers escaped from Rudas City and disappeared.

The remaining Aaron Landis soldiers became prisoners of the Gastad people, were branded as slaves, and became slaves from then on.

The Gastad people unceremoniously drove these new slaves to do heavy work for them. In order to prevent them from resisting, they only gave them very little food every day and tortured them wantonly without caring about their lives.

Before leading the army, Tire took away a group of slaves to transport army supplies, and specially escorted half of the captive slaves to Canal. Therefore, these slaves who were originally Aaron Landis soldiers stayed in Rudas City. The number is no more than three thousand.

What's more, in the past month, these prisoners of war and slaves have been tortured to the point of breaking bones and emaciated.

In this way, there is no need to worry about what disturbance these prisoners of war may cause.

In the dark night, inside a thatched hut, a man who was tall and strong but skinny at the moment was lying quietly with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

However, it was obvious from the way he touched his abdomen from time to time that he was pretending to sleep.

Before he was captured, he was also a low-level general in Aaron Landis's army, leading more than a hundred cavalry under his command.

He was also a knight who was honored and admired by everyone.

But now, the mark of slavery is branded on his shoulders, and he has become the slave of the enemy, being driven around like a pig or a dog.

He closed his eyes, but his fingers pressed tightly on the hard place on his abdomen.

I remembered the scene two days ago again.

Early in the morning the day before yesterday, they, prisoners of war and slaves, were driven to work hungry as usual. During this period, food and grass supplies were often transported from Kanal to Rudas City, and then sent to Rudas in an endless stream. The direction of Tyr's army.

And they were driven to carry supplies, and working with them were the original slaves in Rudas City.

Due to lack of food for a long time, most of the prisoners of war were extremely thin, and so was he. Those ordinary slaves looked much stronger than them.

He reluctantly carried a sack and walked forward slowly and with difficulty, his hand and foot shackles making heavy banging sounds as he walked.

Probably because he was walking too slowly, the supervisor next to him whipped him and knocked him to the ground.

The man was about to whip again, but suddenly a slave rushed over from the side, bowed and nodded to the overseer, laughed with him, and said a lot of flattering words, trying his best to flatter the overseer.

Probably happy with the flattery, the supervisor snorted and Shi Shiran walked away.

The slave who rushed over helped him up and patted the dust on his body seemingly casually.

He was shocked.

Because he clearly felt a short dagger being secretly stuffed into his arms by this slave.

When he raised his eyes, the familiar face in front of him made his pupils shrink suddenly.

He recognized this man.

This man is not a slave—it should be said that this man was a slave before, but no longer is.

There is a special team under Caihos, and the soldiers in it are all slaves of the former Tozes City.

Although these slaves were granted civilian status by the crown prince's grace, to their noble knights, these people were still no different from slaves.

They still regarded those soldiers as inferior human beings, looked down upon them, and even called that army contemptuously, the slave army.

The man in front of him was a low-level general in that special slave army. He recognized him because this man had had a conflict with him to protect the soldiers under his command.

He was shocked in his heart when the man dressed as a slave looked up at him with a meaningful look.

The man slapped him with his slave-tattooed hand, then stood up and left.

The moment he passed by, the inaudible voice reached his ears.

"The Crown Prince's order is to counterattack the night after tomorrow."

…………

Waking up from his memory and holding the dagger hidden in his abdomen tightly, he felt all kinds of emotions in his heart.

What's more, it's a tremor coming from deep within the body.

Fight back.

Pressing the dagger hidden in his abdomen, he silently recited these two words in his heart.

The heart in his body was beating violently, and the surging blood seemed to be burning, making his whole body hot.

The blood of a warrior is boiling.

Aaron Landis blood boils.

At this moment, he heard the originally silent city suddenly become noisy.

The man who pretended to be asleep suddenly opened his eyes.

In this hut, all his companions suddenly opened their eyes at the same moment.

In the dark night, the eyes on the faces were astonishingly bright.

Firelight lit up around the prisoner of war camp.

When Rudas City was in turmoil, the army that was derided as the 'slave army' could only be stationed outside the camp because of being squeezed out. However, it was a blessing in disguise. Many people rushed forward under the leadership of Tewa during the turmoil. Out of the city.

Then, under Garlan's order, they disguised themselves as slaves of Rudas City and sneaked into the city, scattered in twos and threes throughout the city.

That night, when the slaves in the city rioted, Tewa and the others who were lurking here also fought with the Gastad garrison guarding the prisoner of war camp.

The door of the prisoner of war camp was knocked open and people rushed out.

At this moment, they who had been reduced to slaves once again became the warriors of Aaron Landis in glory.

…………

In one part of the city, Gastad's general had just suppressed the slaves who were making trouble in this area.

He was riding a horse, his eyes coldly and contemptuously sweeping over the corpses lying on the ground.

He thought, how could these beast-like things have the courage to resist the Gastad people.

Evil spirit surged in the eyes of this rough-faced general.

This spirit of resistance must be suppressed.

Kill all the slaves who resist tonight and hang their corpses on the city wall to scare the Aaron Landis people so that they will never dare to resist again.

At this moment, a cavalryman galloped over and shouted from a distance.

"Sir! Something happened in the prisoner of war camp in the east!"

Prisoner of war camp!

The general's heart skipped a beat.

If he didn't take the slave riot seriously at all, then he was really nervous now.

There are more than 3,000 prisoner-of-war slaves in the prisoner-of-war camp. Even if those prisoners of war have been tortured to the point of breaking their bones, their combat effectiveness as former Aaron Landis soldiers is by no means comparable to that of ordinary slaves.

Without any time to think, he immediately recalled his soldiers and hurried towards the prisoner of war camp with his army.

…………

Turn back to the east gate of Rudas City.

The East City Gate, which stood quietly in the darkness a moment ago, was now ablaze with fire.

Juta, who led his subordinates to run towards the east city gate, was shot off his horse by an arrow from Garlan who was standing on the city wall. He did not know whether he was alive or dead.

And the second after Garlan shot that arrow, countless sharp arrows followed closely behind, shooting towards the army of Juta below like rain.

The horses neighed in fright or pain. They did not expect that there would be an ambush here. The cavalry were caught off guard and were shot down.

The people who attacked them almost all stood on the city wall, shooting arrows from a high position, and they couldn't even fight back at all.

What frightened them the most was the heavy creaking sound coming from the walls of the city gate.

That was the sound of the heavy winch turning.

Following this sound, the huge city gate slowly rose.

In the bright firelight, they could clearly see the countless horse hooves that had been exposed from under the door. They scratched the ground and couldn't wait to rush into the opening city gate.

"……Walk!"

Juta, who was rescued by the soldiers, spit out a mouthful of blood, his face twisted in pain, and gave the order to evacuate with difficulty.

The men and horses he led in a hurry were definitely no match for the countless cavalry outside, not to mention the fact that they had archers on the city wall to help suppress them.

Under the protection of his own soldiers, Juta fell on his horse and fled in panic.

As he fled, he glanced back.

In the city wall, in the red firelight, the young man still stood there, his long golden hair flying in the night sky.

Like a cluster of golden flames starting from the darkness.

Just one look made him feel palpitated for no reason.

In the sound of friction, the heavy city gate finally opened completely.

The cavalry who had been waiting outside the door for a long time filed in.

The leader was actually an underage boy, riding a majestic brown horse with dark brown curly hair. Although his face was still a bit immature, his body was as thick as a black bear.

The weapon he held in his hand was actually a huge hammer, black and shiny, with sharp thorns on the edge, and the thorn tips shone with a cold light, making people feel chilled just by looking at it.

Sinas rushed in on horseback, waved his hammer and knocked away the enemy blocking his horse. Then he looked up and looked around, as if he was looking for something.

It wasn't until he turned around and saw Garlan standing on the city wall that his eyes lit up, he grinned and shouted loudly.

"Brother... uh..."

Suddenly remembering that he couldn't call him "brother" in public, Xinyas choked and quickly changed his words.

"Your Highness!"

He shouted excitedly, swinging the giant hammer in his hand casually and easily in the frightened eyes of others.

Sinas grinned and pointed at an empty horse next to him with his hammer.

As early as Xinyas rushed in, Garlan had already put down his bow and arrow and ran down quickly.

When he reached the lower part of the city wall, he jumped.

The young man's figure landed lightly on the horse's back, and his fluttering blond hair drew a golden arc in the dark night.

Then, he took the lead and led everyone to gallop forward on the city's avenue.

………………

Gastad's general led his cavalry running through the streets of Rudas City.

At this moment, he was extremely anxious.

His colleague led the army towards the prisoner-of-war camp, and on the way to suppress the rioting slaves, he received news from the despicable General Aaron Landis that the East City Gate had been lost.

He immediately dropped everything and led his army to rush toward the east city gate.

Just halfway through, his pupils shrank suddenly.

He hadn't seen the scene ahead yet, but he had already heard the sound of horse hooves that shook the earth.

A huge cavalry army is rushing from the front not far away.

Close.

He had seen the familiar black and red colors.

Aaron Landis Cavalry Colors.

We meet on a narrow road.

A ferocious aura like a beast surged out of his eyes, and the sound of fighting horse hooves made his fierce blood as a Gastadian boil at this moment.

Kill all the Aaron Landis!

No matter what the conspiracy or trick is, he only needs to lead his troops to rush over and kill all those Aaron Landis!

As long as he chops off the opponent's general's head with one knife——

Suddenly, a man from the army of Aaron Landis's cavalry on the opposite side came out of the crowd, urging his horse to speed up and rush towards him.

It seemed that the other party also wanted to kill the general first.

Just what he wanted.

The bravery of the Gastadians is never lost to anyone.

Especially when he saw the appearance of the visitor, he sneered in his heart.

The person who rushed towards him was actually a young boy. Although he had a strong body, looking at the childish face with no hair, you could tell that he was a little guy who was not yet an adult.

It's simply courting death.

good.

Kill this little guy first to shock the Aaron Landis.

Gastad's generals rushed towards Xinyas.

He smiled ferociously and slashed hard with his heavy broadsword.

With just one strike of the sword, this little thing can be split in half.

he thinks.

Sinas swung the hammer in his hand.

Bang.

The hammer hitting the broad sword instantly bent it.

The broad sword that was originally coming towards him was smashed back by him with a hammer.

Under the stunned and horrified gaze of General Gastard, Xinyas struck down hard with the hammer again.

Bang.

The general's head was smashed into pieces like a watermelon.

The headless body fell from the running horse and was trampled into pulp by countless rushing horses.

Xinyas rushed into the enemy army alone, like a tiger among sheep.

The huge hammer in his hand was swung with great force, and all the Gastard cavalry in front of him were smashed away one by one by him.

The hammer was stained with blood, and the sharp thorns on the edge made people fly.

His ferocious appearance, almost like a humanoid beast, made the usually brave Gastad people feel terrified and subconsciously wanted to get out of the way.

And at the moment when the Gastad people's formation was in chaos, Aaron Landis's cavalry attacked like a blade.

The black-red flood swept across and completely submerged the Gastad people.

…………

In the prisoner of war camp, everyone was already locked in a bitter fight.

The Gastard army guarding Rudas City arrived in time and blocked back the prisoners of war who were almost able to rush out.

Although these soldiers of the First Legion were once a strong force, they had been tortured for nearly a month and suffered great physical losses. Now they were fighting infantry against cavalry, so they were naturally crushed to death and forced to retreat step by step.

They, along with the Tewa slave army who came to rescue them, were trapped in the prisoner of war camp. They could only hold on with all their strength at the moment, and they were about to be defeated.

The noble knight and the slave general, who had disliked each other in the past, stood with their backs against each other and fought hard to kill the enemy.

The blood of the enemy dyed their bodies red, and the scars on their bodies were the medals of their warriors.

No more words are needed, at this moment, they already understand each other tacitly.

Once again, he killed an enemy soldier and once again received a bone-deep wound on his body.

He breathed heavily and looked around.

More and more companions fell, the enemy troops were approaching little by little, and the circle was shrinking little by little.

No one knows how long they can last.

Darkness enveloped the city, and the light of the fire was so weak in this huge darkness.

The night seems to have no end in sight, and the sun seems to never rise again.

The Guards Corps, once known as the strongest regiment of Aaron Landis, was reduced to such a state of survival.

The knight looked around blankly, his heart filled with sorrow.

If King Camos was still there, how could Aaron Landis allow these young men to do whatever they wanted.

If their king was still there...

Suddenly, a loud shout echoed through the sky and penetrated into his ears suddenly.

"The Crown Prince!"

"The Crown Prince is here!"

"Our reinforcements are coming——"

The shouts rang out from the slave army, one after another in an instant, accompanied by the sound of horse hooves coming from the distance.

Crown Prince?

In a daze, he subconsciously raised his head and looked into the distance.

In the light of the fire, he saw a cluster of golden light emerging from the darkness. For a moment, he almost thought it was the first golden ray of sunlight shining from the horizon at dawn.

The familiar cavalryman in black and red leather armor appeared in front of everyone with the golden light like spreading black and red fire.

Gastad's generals, who were sieging the prisoner-of-war camp, hurriedly turned their army around and faced off against the sudden appearance of Aaron Landis's cavalry army.

In the bright firelight, the young crown prince stood on horseback, with his blond hair flying in the wind behind him, the brightest color in the night.

Sinas, holding a giant hammer, followed closely beside him, and the one-eyed guardian knight guarded behind him.

Countless Aaron Landis cavalry were behind him, ready to attack.

In the dark night, Garlan raised the long sword in his hand.

The sword pointed at the night sky.

The sharp sword edge flashed coldly against the firelight.

"Aaron Landis—!"

The boy's roar tore through the night sky.

His hand fell heavily.

The arc of the sword in his hand seemed to cut through the darkness.

The long sword points straight ahead.

"Aaron Landis!!!"

The roars of countless people resounded throughout the world.

In an instant, thousands of horses galloped.

The sound of horse hooves trampling the ground shook the city.

The countless Aaron Landis cavalry were like fire, igniting the city that was once shrouded in darkness——

…………

That is the roar that all Aaron Landis's warriors are extremely familiar with, the roar that inspires the warriors to move forward bravely.

At this moment, the land of Aaron Landis sounded again.

The knight stared blankly at the scene.

At that moment, he seemed to see a familiar tall figure and the figure of the young crown prince overlapped.

It was as if a hot flame was igniting in his chest, burning the blood in his body.

His sore eyes turned red little by little.

The body that was extremely heavy not long ago seemed to be penetrated by endless power again.

"Aaron Landis!"

he roared.

Just like how he roared behind that majestic figure countless times before, he bravely charged towards the enemy.

Around him, countless people roared like him and rushed towards the Gastard people.

…

The sun sets.

Darkness enveloped the land.

The night is long, as if there is no end in sight.

but--

The long night will eventually pass.

A new sun will rise from the earth.

It will drive away the darkness and illuminate the land of Aaron Landis again!