Heroes of the Invincible Knight

Golden Dragon Capital, the palace hall.

There was a depressive atmosphere in the resplendent and magnificent hall, and Ren's worries were fully displayed on his face. Originally, with Ren's bearing, he was able to hide his emotions and anger most of the time, which made the ministers below They speculate on his mood from time to time to maintain the mystery of his superior.

But the recent barrage of bad news made him too lazy to maintain his demeanor. From the defeat of the army in the middle to the death of Thor, and the bad news that the golden dragon left and a large number of white dragons assisted the orcs in fighting, Renn instantly aged ten years. In the face of the orc crisis, other things are not important. After all, the orc doesn't care about his kingly demeanor, and only talks to him with the battle ax in his hand.

What Renn has been doing during this time is to continuously transfuse blood towards Dragon's Breath Pass, using the power of the entire kingdom to increase the strength of the defenders of Dragon's Breath Pass. The expectation of losing the defense is evidenced by the continuous training of the local garrison.

"How is the sorting out of the garrison in Andema City going?"

Because Ren himself is diligent, the order of affairs of the Golden Dragon Kingdom has always been waited by the ministers. Ren will ask questions and discuss first, and after Ren has discussed and decided on matters that he thinks are important, the courtiers in the hall will come out to make supplements. , if there is nothing to discuss, just disperse.

At this time, the first thing Renn did was to ask about the garrison. The military system of the Golden Dragon Kingdom roughly divides the army into three categories. The King's Imperial Guard under Sol's direct command is the first rank in the kingdom. The army is different from the imperial guards that have been raised and abolished in most countries. In addition to maintaining a good combat effectiveness, the imperial guards under Sol's leadership always use the best equipment and receive a military salary that is not deducted.

The second tier belongs to the kingdom's regular legions stationed all over the country. These troops are fully paid for by the kingdom to provide equipment, and they have to train from time to time to deal with the kingdom's inspections. Therefore, most of the combat power of this part of the army still has a bottom line. The officers may have had empty pay, but they can still pull out the army when it is time to fight. Now half of this part of the army has been pulled up to the battlefield of Longxiguan to accept the baptism of actual combat.

The third type of army is the garrison troops in various cities. This part of the army is jointly maintained by the kingdom and local officials and nobles. The number accounts for more than half of the national army, but the level of combat effectiveness is a little erratic.

There are also some private soldiers of the nobles. Typical representatives are the former Lanster family, the current Rose family in the west, and the Hunter family, which is currently in full swing. Let’s not mention these for now.

In some places, a part of the garrison has been completely reduced to a book soldier, that is, when the kingdom was paid by the hair of a person, there was this person. When the war was fought, this person would disappear out of thin air, and a small part just acted as a facade. It's okay to welcome and check, but it's definitely not good to go to war.

There are still a very small number of special fighting forces that may not make the kingdom worry. In the case of the kingdom's regular army with abundant military virtues, the local garrison has not received much attention. They are all cash cows for local officials. If there are sufficient, well-equipped, and well-trained garrison soldiers in any small town, it is very likely that the church used its influence to secretly infiltrate the nobles and officials here, and raised them with the skins of the kingdom's garrison army. His own army was just like when Richard was attacked by the town's garrison when he entered the capital for the first time.

After all, no matter how you calculate it, the Golden Dragon Kingdom can be called a vast land, rich resources, and a vast territory. This kind of land has exceeded the limit of state control in the feudal era. It can maintain the authority of the central government for hundreds of years and ensure long-term obedience. Maintaining their combat effectiveness is considered to be the monarchs of Charlemagne's family who are skillful in governing the country, and they cannot demand the king of Jinlongdu with the strength of the modern state's control over the local area.

Therefore, in the past, the high-level officials of the kingdom didn't care much about how bad the local defense army was, and they couldn't control it, but now it's different. In the situation of shortage of troops, it is natural to use the garrison, which occupies a large amount of military expenditure of the kingdom.

This part of the military expenditure was once the cash cow of local officials and nobles, and it could not be moved easily, but under the pressure of the general situation, it had to be moved even if it did not move.

The person in charge of this matter is Ren's eldest son, the eldest prince Wolf.

At this time, the eldest prince was dressed like a real general, standing above the hall in a general uniform, and immediately stood out of the queue when Ren asked about the garrison, and replied to Ren:

"The reorganization of Andema City's garrison is still in progress, and it will take at least a month to form combat effectiveness."

"Why is it so slow?"

In all fairness, the eldest prince Wufu has the ability, otherwise, Li Cha would not put him on the same level as Paley, and judge him as someone who is dominant. You know, let Li Cha be so demanding It is not easy for people to give such a high evaluation.

But Ren still thinks that the opponent's speed is a bit slow. After all, judging from the previous military situation, the situation of Longxi pass is definitely not optimistic. The orcs' breakthrough may happen at any time, and they don't have enough time.

And Andema City is a large city across the central plain, three or four hundred miles east of Jinlongdu, radiating several small cities around it. There were several legions of the Kingdom's regular legions stationed around it, but they had been transferred to the city long ago. On the front line of Longxiguan, only half of the flag regiment remained. If there was an enemy attack, the main task of defending the city would have to fall on the garrison regiment.

Faced with Ren's doubts, the eldest prince Wolf had to speak up to explain.

"When I took over the garrison of Andemar City, there were less than 5,000 soldiers in the battalion normally, and the combined army of the surrounding cities was no more than 10,000. After excluding the old and weak, the number of soldiers that could be used was less than 5,000. , the remaining vacancies were all filled later, and the training time was only equivalent to one month at this time."

"Hiss~"

After the eldest prince Worf told the specific situation, Ren took a deep breath. Although Ren is a wise man, his energy is limited after all. It is impossible for Ren to know everything about the kingdom, or to say , The greed of local officials and nobles in the kingdom completely broke Ren's understanding.

In Andema City and the surrounding small towns and towns, there should have been a garrison army of 100,000. In addition to paying full military expenses to the regular legions with numbers every year, the kingdom also paid half of the garrison army.

It is said to be half salary, but this half salary is not a small number. The kingdom has always treated the army preferentially. The salary of a soldier directly under the regular army is enough for him to barely support his family. There is absolutely no problem with adding one more person, and according to the regulations of the kingdom, the local government should also pay a part of the money to maintain the garrison.

The annual garrison salary paid by the Kingdom is definitely not a small number. In Ren's mind, if so much money is spent, it must be heard. He has never imagined that there will be 100,000 well-trained and full-time workers. The garrison soldiers, but there must be a shelf of 20,000 to 30,000 people.

In the final analysis, it was still Ren's lack of understanding of the greed of bureaucrats and nobles. He knew that these people would be greedy, but he did not expect to be greedy to such an extent that he directly wiped out 100,000 troops.

Being able to pull out these 5,000 people is still somewhat of a deterrent to the center of the Golden Dragon Kingdom, and it has to be prepared to deal with inspections from time to time by the kingdom.

In this way, it is natural that the eldest prince Wolf who is in charge of rectifying the garrison will suffer. He can only recruit a group of young and strong men to pull up the team. Such a large proportion of recruits is equivalent to training from scratch. , and training has a direct impact on the combat effectiveness of the army. The army has only been trained for the previous month, and it is still in the recruit stage. It is estimated that all kinds of weapons have not yet been used. It is said that it takes another month of training to form combat effectiveness. Worf is extremely confident. statement.

"The officials in charge of this..."

"Already executed."

Ren was already angry, but Worf obviously got the job done and sent away those greedy officials and nobles physically. The Golden Dragon Kingdom may not be able to use the same method to eliminate all similar officials and nobles in the country, but The power of the royal family allows them to verify batches and process batches.

"Um"

Hearing Worf's answer, Ren just nodded and said no more. Worf did what he wanted to order. It's just that behind the calm, at least thousands of heads fell to the ground, and many ministers in the hall were nervous. Renn completely acquiesced and supported Worf's killing behavior.

"If you have any needs, you can ask the local officials to cooperate. If you encounter any obstacles, you can kill first and then fight, so that the defenders can fight as soon as possible."

"yes!"

After a brief answer, Worf stood back in the queue. At this time, Worf's speaking and acting style became more and more like that of a military officer. I don't know if he got it during the process of rectifying the army, or because he wanted to mingle with other officers. …

However, Ren didn't care about Worf's a little bit of behavior. He let go of the power on his own initiative. He was not afraid that his sons would seize power, but he was afraid that these people would not use it well. Now it seems that Worf is using it well.

After discussing a few more minor matters, when Rennes was about to end the half-monthly court meeting, an ordinary official stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, the internal officer Peggy falsely passed on His Majesty's order to order the nobles to hoard the autumn grain stored in the castle into the big city. This has caused dissatisfaction among many nobles on the Great Plains. Please deal with Peggy..."

Although Ross's order was to prepare for the fall of Dragon's Breath Pass and to minimize the source of supplies for the orc army, this order actually harmed the interests of the nobles on the Great Plains. Naturally, it will cause widespread dissatisfaction. With this excuse, someone will come out to make trouble. There are serious errors in the order of this order.

Peggy gave the order in the name of Rennes in advance. In fact, everyone knows who ordered it in advance, but at this moment, no one dared to stand up and demand accusations against Ross. After dealing with Peggy and blocking the order, the goal was completed.

Some well-informed officials in the hall already had some understanding of the matter, and they all lowered their heads silently waiting for Ren's reaction.

When Ren heard this matter was mentioned, his expression moved slightly. He knew about it. After all, the black prison under Varys was not a decoration, and Peggy later explained the situation with Asuka.

As a king, Rennes instinctively dislikes Rose's behavior of pretending to be his name and making up the ticket after acting first, but he also understands the principle of rushing to power, so he didn't intend to pursue it, but he didn't expect that he would be so soon. It was mentioned in the court meeting.

After a short pause, Ren still replied:

"Peggy didn't pass on the decree, it was my order to let the nobles on the Central Great Plains fully cooperate with the action without delay."

"Yes, Your Majesty..."

The process of this matter is definitely not correct. Ren usually has to announce this order in public at the court meeting, but now it has been implemented without this step at all. There must be a problem.

But with Ryan's endorsement, no one dared to stand up and question it.

After waiting for the court to dissipate, Renn gave Varys a word.

"That person just now, let Hei Prison investigate."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

...

Dragon's Breath

The battle was still fierce, and the orcs stormed the pass almost day and night. A large number of corpses were dropped along the pass city on both sides, and even a few white dragon corpses could occasionally be seen among the layers of corpses.

The resistance of human beings is tenacious. When the orcs had the help of the white dragon, they fought against each other for several days at the first pass. They took down the breath of the white dragon with their lives, and even defeated them Several white dragons.

However, at this time, the defenders of Guancheng had reached the end of their strength, and almost all the large instruments such as the mighty crossbow had been destroyed. Bailong once again risked his life and rushed to the city wall with the orcs.

Several well rails crashed down on wooden boards, and the orc warrior fell on the city wall first and smashed several soldiers into the air with an axe. There were even more orc warriors who completely ignored the hot oil poured down from the stones that fell from their heads, and used dense The formation carried a long ladder to attack.

"General Taize, the southern part of the city wall has fallen, should we send a reserve team up?"

"It's useless, order the army to withdraw and abandon Guancheng."

"Let the reserve team organize a line of defense in the trenches to cover the retreat."

"Master Taize, this?"

Taize's order to give up the order to close the city made the officer next to him a little hesitant. After all, in the eyes of many people, the closed city is the strongest barrier.

"Excuting an order!"

"Yes, General!"

Under Taize's strict order, the human army gradually withdrew from around the pass city. After a few days of grinding in this flesh and blood mill, the orcs finally took down the first pass of Dragon's Breath Pass...