I will be crowned king

After clarifying that Major General Ludwig was "innocent", the frightened Anson finally regained his composure, and reluctantly took him away from the banquet site and returned to his own tent with the little clerk Allen.

Opening the thick curtain, Anson casually pulled out two chairs and placed Archbishop Luther's letter on the table: "Explain the situation in general, I want to hear the details."

"yes."

The little clerk saluted and immediately sat down at the table obediently. At the same time, he took down a bottle of room-temperature rum and a glass from the wine rack next to him. He poured the wine and said softly:

"The cause of the incident dates back to a month ago. You should still have some impressions, right?"

"A bit." Anson frowned slightly and began to try to recall a few fragments in his memory - he ignored Ludwig for too long, causing him to have a blurry view of the situation on the Yser Elf front:

"I remember that the Thirteenth Council suddenly exposed itself, causing the surrendered Elf Lord of Yser to rebel again, causing the Southern Legion's attack to be frustrated and forced to retreat to the Cliff Fortress...right?"

"Your memory is very accurate." The little secretary praised without leaving any trace, and pushed the wine glass in front of Anson:

"Major General Ludwig Franz, who was frustrated at Antler Fortress, was betrayed by the Elf Lord of Yser who had surrendered to him before. He was attacked from both sides and his supply line was cut off."

"On the way back, we encountered an ambush by the Thirteen Council. The leader on the opposite side... is also the nominal commander of the Ysel Elf Guards Corps and one of the heirs of the Ysel Elf Kingdom, Princess Freya Moses Field. Your Highness used powerful magic and shocked the entire world of order."

"Then the Southern Legion, which paid a heavy price, successfully broke through, arrived at the Cliff Fortress and held it; under your efficient and decisive operation, the 30,000-thousand Thun Army led by Count Arkad, Lord of Thun, marched eastward to aid Ludwig ·Major General Franz.”

After a slight pause, the little secretary also poured himself a glass of water: "Until the beginning of August, the situation was more or less like this."

Anson nodded. This was basically consistent with the situation in his impression: "What about the back?"

"Behind..." the little secretary said in a slightly surprised tone:

"It should be said that, on the whole, it went very smoothly."

"In general?"

Anson was stunned for a moment.

"To be more precise, it should be quite smooth." Allen immediately corrected his statement:

"After being supplemented by Count Arkader's 30,000 Thun troops and lifting the siege of the Cliff Fortress, Major General Ludwig immediately began his counterattack..."

……………………

Just like every time before, Ludwig Franz's "Jedi Counterattack" progressed very smoothly, and it can even be said that there was not even the slightest obstacle.

After being supplemented by the 30,000 Thun Army, the Southern Army, which suffered heavy casualties, once again expanded to the level of a full army; although most of them were Hantu troops with slightly insufficient combat effectiveness, this was not a very serious situation. question.

Because the Yser Elf army on the opposite side is essentially a rotten fish and shrimp that is completely different from them - at most, it relies on racial talent and rich experience to make it slightly stronger.

Ludwig did not expect how strong the combat effectiveness of this "Hantu reinforcements" would be. As long as it did not collapse at the first touch and could hold the battle line in front of the Yser elves, that would be enough.

And Count Arcade was obviously very aware of His Majesty Claude's intention of sending him here. He did not have the slightest pretense of being a "savior", he was very proactive and actively cooperated with Ludwig's military deployment, and took the initiative to take on tasks such as maintaining supply lines and garrisoning fortresses. The "dirty work" that is not outstanding, treats Ludwig like a subordinate treats his boss.

With the tacit cooperation of the two, the Guards Corps that besieged the Cliff Fortress was quickly defeated.

After experiencing the rout of Eagle Point City, the Yser Elf Guards Corps, which had only more than 10,000 people left, was almost completely wiped out; and the local lords of Yser Elf, who came from all directions to "support", saw the guards. After the legion was defeated, they immediately dispersed at the speed of light and disappeared without a trace.

According to Ludwig's long-standing habit, next he should use the Cliff Fortress as a logistics base, rely on the reinforcements of the 30,000 Thun Army, re-launch the attack on the Antler Fortress where he had failed before, and capture the Yser Elf King's Court. , end this war.

But now things have changed.

What was originally a simple "Iser Elf Punishment Battle" has turned into a dazzling brawl as all forces entered the scene.

If arranged in order, it is almost Clovis's invasion of Yser, Yser's win over Hantu, Hantu's rebellion against Yser, Yser's split, the rise of the Thirteen Council, the church's accusation of the old god sect of Yser, The Empire rushes to aid Israel, the Church accuses the Empire, Clovis praises the Church, the Empire invades Hantu, the Church continues to accuse the Empire, the Thirteen Council and the Elf Court of Yissel have a civil war, Hantu counterattacks the Empire...

It's chaos, it's all chaos.

But for Ludwig Franz, this matter is very simple - this war has risen from a simple conflict of interests between the two countries to a battle of faith between the church and the Old Gods.

As the direct heir of Archbishop Clovis, he immediately realized that simply winning the war and forcing the Elf King of Yser to surrender would no longer solve the problem.

Before the attitudes of all parties, especially the church, are determined, any reckless behavior that disrupts the situation will most likely bring unforeseen consequences!

More importantly, the previous "reckless" fate cast a huge shadow on Ludwig; if it were repeated again, the Southern Army would probably be wiped out.

So this time, he chose a more "cautious" tactic.

In short, after establishing a foothold in the Cliff Fortress, we did not immediately move eastward, but instead swept away the territories of many surrounding Yser Elf lords; dividing, wooing, squeezing, and exploiting...draining their war potential and creating a sufficiently stable environment. of the rear.

Basically, it was exactly the same as what Anson did before attacking Carindia.

The only difference is that Anson only has 5,000 men, while Ludwig Franz has 40,000 troops in his hands, and the difference between elves and humans is also clear and obvious, coupled with the hatred left by both sides before …

The massacre began.

For all the elven lords of Yser who had betrayed him before, Ludwig gave these trembling traitors hiding in the castle two options - either pay for their lives and get out of their own territory; or the whole family could ascend to heaven and see the world. How do devout followers of the Circle of Order treat pagans?

Faced with the Clovis people's "attack", some relatively rational Yser Elf nobles decisively chose the former; but there are always people in this world who are lucky or like to hesitate, wavering in the face of dilemmas. indefinite.

But Ludwig was not a person who liked to hesitate, so he decided to take matters into his own hands and "help" them make the decision.

With the support of hatred and hostility, in just twenty days, one-third of the western territory of the Yser Elf Kingdom was reduced to a sea of ​​blood; the intense heat that covered the sky lasted for many days, and one village after another was submerged in the sea of ​​blood. Amidst the fire and smoke, countless corpses were dragged out and crucified along the marching road.

On the head of every corpse and on the road sign outside every burned village, "This is the fate of the Old Gods" is written in twisted blood.

These are not Ludwig's "creative ideas". The artillery major general who values ​​efficiency has little enthusiasm for so-called performance art - they are more "masterpieces" of the Thun Army.

In fact, these various "playing methods" caused Ludwig great confusion. In his inherent impression, Thun and the Yser elves had a very good relationship and had always been close allies. On the contrary, they had a close relationship with Clovis. There was a lot of friction.

So it's obviously a blood feud between Clovis and the Yser elves. Why are you Thun people so enthusiastic about revenge?

However, he was confused. For the sake of face and Count Arkad's close cooperation, Ludwig did not want to accuse the other party.

What's more, this was my order, and the other party was at most "slightly" overly aggressive in its execution.

After solving the nearby trouble, the next step is to eliminate the enemy's effective force.

The last time the Antler Fortress suffered a setback, it was not only due to being backstabbed by the Elf Lord of Yser, but also because he had ignored that the Elf Kingdom of Yser had a large number of effective forces in addition to the Guards Corps.

So this time Ludwig decided to change his mind and defeat the legions that were still loyal to the Elf Kingdom of Yser one by one, and then attack the Royal Court of the Yser Elf.

The general strategy is to go north first, then south, and finally...

……………………

"Just wait a moment."

Anson raised his hand to interrupt the gushing little clerk, with a rather confused expression on his face: "Is there something missing?"

"Where is the Thirteenth Council? And Freya Moses Field...they just watched Major General Ludwig break out and remained indifferent?"

"Of course not." Allen shook his head, as if he had already guessed that Anson would ask:

"After the entire Guards Corps was annihilated, they have been trying to make a comeback and gather enough strength to confront the Southern Legion head-on."

"But?" Anson raised his eyebrows.

"but……"

A smile appeared on the little secretary's face: "It turns out that the Thirteen Council may be a group of spellcasters beyond our imagination, a group of terrible conspirators and a force that cannot be underestimated."

"But as a military organization... no, I should say purely as an organization, they have failed quite a bit."

"They do not have a complete organizational structure, no strict superior-subordinate relationship, no coordinating department that can rationally utilize resources, no supervisory force to ensure that orders are effectively implemented, no sufficiently solid chain of interests, no real detailed plan, no Sufficiently detailed short-term and long-term goals…”

"What they have is a basis that can barely be regarded as 'common interests', a symbolic leader who can barely unite them, and a very vague 'vision'."

"Such a group does not deserve to be called an 'organization' at all. It can only be regarded as a 'club' at best."

As the words fell, a rare trace of disdain showed in the corner of the little clerk's eyes.

"Then what are they doing now?" Anson asked.

"civil war."

The little clerk summed it up in a very simple and easy-to-understand manner: "In a sense, Major General Ludwig's choice was completely correct - by attacking the army loyal to the Elf King Yser, the ten troops who could have united against the Southern Legion were able to The three councils immediately became divided."

"A small number of troops are still confronting the southern army on the front line, and the vast majority of the main force has taken the opportunity to move eastward, preparing to seize the opportunity to seize power from the Elf King Ysel and support Her Royal Highness Princess Freya Moses Field to be crowned king."

"In fact, this should be the original purpose of the Thirteen Council - to use the invasion of the Kingdom of Clovis to realize their ambition to seize power, and then rely on the power of the empire to expel the Kingdom of Clovis."

"The letter from Archbishop Luther Franz..." Anson suddenly understood.

"No matter what happens, the Church of Order will never stand by and watch a king who believes in the Ring of Order be overthrown and allow the Old Gods to seek power and usurp the throne!" the little secretary said seriously:

"This is not only the order of Archbishop Luther, but also the supreme will of the Church of Order, and the will of His Majesty Carlos Osteria - the army of the Kingdom of Clovis is advancing towards the Elf King's Court of Yser!"

"No matter what, we must do everything we can to stop the conspiracy of the Thirteen Councils; if necessary, continue the war to the end!"

"From this moment on, you are no longer fighting only for your own king, but also for the welfare of the entire world of Order, and even for the welfare of all believers who still believe in the Ring of Order!"

"Immediately?" Anson hadn't reacted yet.

"Immediately, and must be as soon as possible!"

The little clerk's expression suddenly became excited: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There is nothing more conducive to improving your reputation and popularity than declaring war on the infidels; the Orderly Church personally endorses you, and no one will dare to question you anymore. All the credit for winning so far.”

"The most important thing is that according to the latest intelligence, Major General Ludwig Franz is being trapped in the north by troops loyal to the Elf King of Yiser, and it will be difficult to rush to the Elf King of Yiser in the short term; as long as you can lead the Storm Division The first one to arrive on the battlefield..."

"You...my lord...will become the hero who saves the Elf Kingdom of Iser and even the entire world of Order from the Old Gods!"

“Replace Major General Ludwig Franz…!”

While speaking, the little secretary was trembling from head to toe.

Ansen also felt faintly moved.

This does sound like a great opportunity. The opponent is a group of Old Gods who are shouted at by everyone around the world. There is no need to worry about the means. Even because they hold the status of "fighting for faith", they don't even have to worry about it. .

As long as the military flag is planted outside the Elf King's Court in Yser, it is equivalent to winning; but...

"But even if I wanted to, it would be too late." Anson couldn't help but smile bitterly:

"At the marching speed of the Storm Division, even if most of the baggage is abandoned and the troops move forward lightly, it will still take at least two to three weeks... There is no way they can overtake Major General Ludwig."

"About this... Lord Anson Bach, there is something I may have to apologize to you for."

The young clerk changed the topic and showed a very ashamed expression: "Because of the news of His Majesty Claude Francois's defeat and the lack of news from you, just in case, I did some extra things. thing."

"Excessive things?"

"Yes, I found Mr. Erich, the representative of the military factory, and used the deposits in the Storm Division's account to buy from him a batch of weapons and equipment that had not yet been shipped to Hantu." The little secretary said guiltily:

"The process is a little complicated. All in all, all the equipment of a fully equipped infantry division is now stored in the warehouse in White Tower City."

"So now you don't need to think about equipment. All you need to think about... is how to get the five thousand storm divisions to arrive at White Tower City within a week."