Chapter 407 Rand: I didn’t want to fight (5000!!, there might be more in the early morning)

The royal city was captured at dawn in the early morning.

And now it is almost evening.

Zorn is cleaning the palace.

Because of his invasion, this place changed from being majestic and noble to being cold and bloody.

In the past, this was where the king and nobles discussed state affairs.

Now it is filled with smoke and blood.

Zorn was a little disappointed.

It was relatively easy to attack the palace.

But it is not easy to control the entire royal city.

Many nobles and knights from the royal city didn't believe that the eldest prince was dead.

Even if Zorn took out the eldest prince's head, it would be useless.

Moreover, even if they believed in the nobles who had lost the eldest prince, they did not believe that the Queen's faction would be lenient with the nobles of the Royal City faction.

Or maybe he had no intention of communicating with Zorn at all, and when he discovered the situation, he fled with his army.

Although the troops brought by Zorn were all elite, the overall number was not large.

As a result, almost no great nobles were captured.

It was his senior who caught it. Due to years of war, this senior no longer wears perfume.

Unfortunately, Zorn didn't have much time to catch up with his senior.

The situation in the city was still somewhat chaotic, but several key sections of the city wall were now finally under Zorn's control.

Zorn did not insult the eldest prince's corpse any more. He had the body pieced together and found an ice coffin to place in the palace.

The next step is to welcome the third prince into the city.

In fact, the third prince should now be addressed as His Majesty the King.

Unfortunately, the issue of the neutrals has not been resolved.

Zorn thought about the preparations to be made next.

If the neutral faction is really just a neutral faction, a fence-sitter, then the war is decided and everything is over.

After all, now that the Royal City faction has been destroyed, what is there to be neutral about? However, the faction formed by Rand and Grand Duke Thorn is obviously not a neutral faction.

It's just that everyone called it that before.

A true neutral party would not gather a large army to suppress both sides when the two sides are fighting to a standstill.

This is clearly another faction fighting for the throne.

As for who will fight for the throne, isn't it obvious?

The Duke of Thorn is the king's cousin.

The next battle will still be a battle for the throne.

And Zorn knew very well that the Queen's faction still had to take the initiative.

Because the Queen's faction can no longer sustain any protracted war.

…

Under the autumn dusk.

The third prince and the queen entered the royal city under the escort of the army.

There are still many collapsed houses and scattered boulders in the royal city.

The traces of war are engraved on this city.

If there were no neutrals, the third prince and the queen would have been enjoying the sweet fruits of victory.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible now.

In the palace that was barely cleaned up, the great nobles sent by the queen, the queen and the third prince began to discuss the next countermeasures.

"We should take the initiative to attack." Zorn said, "Our soldiers are already very tired and have little supplies, while Rand and the army of Grand Duke Thorn have been recuperating for a long time."

The nobles present all nodded.

Zorn has proven his military ability, maybe he can really fight against Count Rand? After all, the Queen's Faction plus some of the Royal City Faction's troops are now much stronger than the neutral faction.

As for whether the neutral faction will withdraw its troops after the Royal City faction and the Queen faction decide the outcome.

No great noble would be so naive.

This is the throne.

Sitting on the throne of the Frost Moon Kingdom.

It means that the power of the entire country is in your hands.

Especially the Duke of Thorns.

The Grand Duke of Thorn is the only Grand Duke in the country and has a huge influence in the country.

If the Duke of Thorn were to sit on the throne, he might be able to do what the now deceased king finds difficult to do.

Just like integrating the country's forces and combining the country's strength into one.

No one believed that the Duke of Thorn was really not interested in this position at all.

Even if you weren't interested before, you may not be interested now.

In fact, among the great nobles who were discussing matters in the palace, there were still some who wanted to join the neutral faction rather than stay with the queen's faction.

"How many of the nobles who supported the eldest prince are willing to support me?" the third prince asked Zoen.

Zorn shook his head: "Many have fled and are unwilling to communicate with us. I guess they have joined the neutral faction."

The third prince frowned.

"Then it will be difficult to fight next."

…

It is half a day's journey away from the royal city, and many of the royal city's nobles are here.

The eldest prince stood in the tent.

He is not dead.

Just like the Third Prince was able to plant some traitors among the Knights Out on the Road.

The eldest prince is in the third prince's camp, so of course there is a traitor inside.

And it just so happens that.

The mole knew about the attack at dawn that day.

But there is a problem at this time.

If we use this information to stop the surprise attack sent by the Third Prince.

Of course the city was defended.

But there is no further discussion on the cooperation between the two parties.

At this time, both sides will have to face the neutral faction that has been gathering strength for a long time.

No one has the confidence to defeat the army led by Rand, and the military capabilities of the Duke of Thorn should not be underestimated.

Then, pretend to die first, let the Queen's Faction take the lead, let them fight the neutral faction first, consume the neutral faction's strength, and then the Royal City Faction will reap the benefits, isn't that great? Therefore, after the eldest prince discussed with most of the trusted nobles, they decided on the current plan.

The eldest prince has a substitute, who looks very similar to the eldest prince himself. This substitute was found in the royal city before the spring plowing this year.

The stand-in and the eldest prince do not look exactly the same, but unless you are close to them, you cannot tell them apart in a short time.

The eldest prince also learned from an insider that the commander of the attack was Zorn.

Zorn of the Hound family was once just the second son of a viscount family.

At most, I had seen the eldest prince's face from afar, or in oil paintings a few times.

It's impossible to tell the difference.

The stand-in's origins are unknown and he is mentally handicapped.

Appearing out of nowhere is highly questionable.

Originally, the eldest prince had no intention of using a substitute.

But the current situation does not allow the eldest prince to make careful considerations.

Hence the plan for a replacement.

Now it seems that everything is going well.

The Queen's faction never realized that the eldest prince in the palace was a fake.

…

In a town in the Frost Moon Kingdom.

Karin is interrogating a Scourge cultist.

This Scourge cultist is a human, not a skeleton, which makes it much easier to torture him.

At least there's no need to ask an alchemist to install vocal organs in the skeleton.

After the City of the Dead was established, it seemed to be really afraid of the Crimson King and deployed many reconnaissance units to the Frost Moon Kingdom.

But thanks to Rand's triple intelligence network, the capture was not very difficult.

The Torch Church has a good reputation in the Frostmoon Kingdom, and there are no obstacles to its operations in the Kingdom.

"What? You also have spies in the royal city?" Karin frowned, but because of the crown, the Scourge Cultists could not see Karin's expression clearly.

After confirming that this Scourge cultist was not talking nonsense or lying.

Karin burned the Scourge cultist to ashes.

Karin walked out of the church and ordered the paladins waiting outside the church: "Let's go to the royal city."

In fact, Karin was not very worried that a small number of Scourge cultists or undead could cause any major trouble in the royal city.

It feels like even if I don't deal with it, Rand will solve it.

But now the last undead that needs to be captured is in the royal city, so we can go there and meet up with Rand now.

Maybe I can still take care of it.

…

The neutral army is almost reaching the royal city.

In fact, the majestic city could already be seen from afar.

The smell of burnt and rotten human flesh, blood, and smoke could already be clearly smelled.

Because the army is stationed here.

The forest ecology has also been greatly polluted.

In many places where there were once forests, only tree stumps remain.

Rand and Lord Thorn's demeanor had relaxed.

The outcome seemed to have been decided suddenly in the royal city.

Looks like there's no need to fight.

Duke Thorn breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing that he no longer had to be a king.

Rand also breathed a sigh of relief. It was great that he didn't have to help Lord Thorn with his work.

Great news.

Moreover, fighting fewer wars can also reduce population losses.

As a nobleman with a military background, Rand does not mind using military force to achieve his goals.

But now that his goal has been achieved, there is no need for him to insist on fighting a battle with the Queen's faction.

It's time to return home.

Now, there are some great nobles of the Royal City Faction who had been secretly communicating with the Neutral Faction before and want to come and join the Neutral Faction.

Rand did not refuse.

It is understandable that they fear being liquidated after the Royal City faction is defeated.

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Rand also didn't mind providing some protection to enhance the voice of himself and the Duke of Thorn.

But after that, everyone will definitely be the king's party.

Rand has no intention of establishing a new territory in the Frost Moon Kingdom.

After that, he developed his Earldom of the Moon Phase. The king took over the work of the previous king and governed the country, while the Duke of Thorn continued to throw the work to his son and then did nothing.

The Earl of the Stag can also return to his territory to play his teacher play.

The only one who might have suffered a little loss is probably the thirteenth son of the Black and Brown Marquis. Rand had originally intended to let him see the world, but now it seems that he can never see it.

The war is over! "Set up camp, we will go back tomorrow." It is already dusk, and we can go back after one night.

Rand looked at Lord Thorn and asked him if he had any suggestions, but Lord Thorn waved his hand to indicate that he had nothing.

The night passed like this.

Then just as the sky was getting light.

The Queen's army appeared before the neutral army.

Dawn raid is indeed a good time.

But Rand's camp did not cope.

Although Rand had not imagined that the Queen's faction would send a large army to attack.

But since we are already close to the battlefield, setting up camp is certainly not enough.

The barracks are arranged neatly according to the soldiers' organization.

Some wooden fences or stakes were set up, and lookout posts were established to arrange soldiers to take turns on reconnaissance.

In fact, a more rigorous camp could dig trenches and even build arrow towers.

But since there was no imaginary enemy, Rand didn't have to do too much trouble.

The reconnaissance cavalry were sent out as usual.

Therefore, Rand was not panicked by the Queen's faction's surprise attack.

But Rand was very helpless.

The Queen's faction actually took the initiative to attack.

Could it be that the pressure they put on the Queen's faction as a neutral party was so great that they had to take a risky surprise attack? "Do you want to surrender?" Rand looked at the Duke of Thorn, who had also gotten up.

Lord Thorn sighed.

Now great joy and great sorrow followed one after another.

How could I surrender now?

After surrendering, he and Rand would inevitably be executed. Apparently, the Queen's faction regarded the neutral faction as another faction fighting for the throne.

But Rand and Grand Duke Thorn came here this time really to end the war.

Indeed, in the eyes of ordinary people, since there is an opportunity, how could they miss the possibility of seizing the throne.

Who would believe that the Duke of Thorn has no ambition?

This is the throne.

How could anyone give up the throne when it was within their reach? Even now, some people still suspected that the Duke of Thorns was behind the previous king's death.

"Surrender bullshit." Duke Thorn cursed.

Now it's really terrible.

Rand sighed, stretched his body, and after making sure that the armor on his body would not affect his movements too much, he headed for the camp gate.

Lord Thorn also put on full body armor and followed Rand.

He was relatively confident in his military command ability, but now that he had a super expert teammate, the Duke of Thorns naturally chose to believe in Rand's military command ability.

All he had to do now was to make sure he didn't become a flaw.

On this expedition, Grand Duke Thorn brought a lot of family guards. He quickly summoned his family guards and asked them to surround him.

Then he rode on his horse and prepared to watch the battle.

The thirteenth son of the Marquis of Black and Brown was also arranged by Rand to follow the Duke of Thorn.

Duke Thorn looked at the thumping young man. He knew that Rand wanted to train this young man to prevent the Black and Brown Marquis from having no successor.

Duke Thorn asked with great interest, "What do you think these armies look like?"

Thirteenth Son knew the identity of Lord Thorn and was a little nervous. When Lord Thorn asked him about his situation, he felt as nervous as if he was facing an exam: "Iron Mountain."

"Hmm?" Duke Thorn was surprised by this answer.

The Thirteenth Son said, "Lord Rand said in class that the food for a knight to go on a campaign requires forty farmers to work day and night for a year. The knights' armor requires three blacksmiths to hammer day and night for a month, which consumes a whole cart of iron ore."

And now, there are thousands of knights and a large number of magicians attacking the camp.

On Rand's side, there are also a large number of heavy knights, light cavalry, Rand's own army, and many infantrymen with excellent armor.

How much gold and stone is consumed? How many miners are needed to mine a cart of iron ore?

How much iron ore is needed to produce so much armor?

Now the two armies began to face each other, and it was indeed like two iron mountains stretching for miles, colliding with each other.

What an interesting perspective.

Now the Duke of Thorn somewhat understood why Rand wanted to make money so much.

A large part of war is fought over money.

…

Rand has arrived at the front.

Countless knights were charging towards the camp.

The last time we fought a war of this magnitude was when we faced the orcs.

He was really helpless, there was no need to fight.

But now that it is unavoidable, Rand has nothing to fear.

He believes in the wealth he has accumulated.

The land in the Earldom of Moon Phase is relatively fertile, but the iron ore is poor.

The coal mine was just discovered in the burning land not long ago, and after testing, it was found that the coal was not of very high quality.

In order to smelt iron, Rand had to cut down trees in large quantities, burn them into charcoal, and then use the carbon as fuel for the blast furnace and as a reducing agent.

However, due to technical limitations, the iron obtained in this way is generally of varying quality, and most of it is rough sponge iron.

However, the quality of the iron armor and iron swords in the Earldom of Moon Phase is not bad now.

This is the result of thousands of forgings that finally bring iron and carbon into balance.

Therefore, the quality of these iron swords and iron armor lies in the care and effort that the blacksmith puts into every strike of the hammer.

When Rand's soldiers used these iron swords and iron armor to fight the enemy, the blacksmiths' millions of hammers when smashing the iron blanks would be launched at the same time, bringing up a mighty wind and thunder.

These soldiers from Rand's Moon Phase Earldom are not easily obtained.

When Rand first became the Baron of Crescent Territory, there were not many people.

Today, the Earldom of the Moon Phase has a population of nearly 30,000, and Rand now has nearly 3,000 soldiers and knights under his command.

It was Rand who worked hard to plunder and buy slaves, and then he worked hard through missionaries, or Rand himself, to preach, to make these people believe that their lives would get better if they followed him.

Or he could persuade the elders in the villages to hand over their young people to Rand.

After that, it comes training, sufficient food rations, the transmission of faith, and the resolution of worries.

It can be said that the source of every bit of morale of Rand's soldiers is the result of Rand's hard work.

This is extremely down-to-earth because there is nothing hypocritical about it.

Rand believed in the armor and weapons of his soldiers, their morale, and their martial arts.

On the battlefield, they will never be defeated, and they will never be timid.

The early morning light shone on Rand's armor, reflecting a dazzling gleam.

Olenna held down her sword, Elsa held down her dagger, and Ellie raised her staff.

Rand pulled his heavy sword from the mud.

He wanted to resolve the battle once and for all to minimize the losses.

Rand raised his heavy sword. Rand's knights struck their saddles with their shields. The soldiers struck the ground with the butts of their spears. Thousands of warriors roared in unison: "Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"

Gradually, the roars merged into a low and terrifying sound wave, and the ground began to vibrate slowly due to the soldiers' hammering.

The soldiers and knights of the Earl of the Stag, the soldiers and knights of the Grand Duke of Thorns, and other soldiers and knights of the neutral faction were also infected and began to growl.

The enemy was approaching, but the neutral fighters were in high spirits.

Wait until the roar completely controls the rhythm.

A standard-bearer raised the huge flag high, and the shield, cross sword and wheat ears on the flag flew at the highest point in the military camp.

Outside the camp, Zorn's expression had already changed.

The surprise attack in the early morning was a tactic he had figured out, and being discovered in advance was also expected, after all, he was facing Rand.

Zorn was still full of confidence.

The defense of the camp can only be described as average.

His knights were numerous and had just captured the royal city, so their morale was high.

But the closer he got to the camp, the more Zorn could feel the ground shaking and the roaring sounds.

It was like a lion roaring.

(ps. I should be able to add another chapter, I’m writing it quickly.) Thank you for the 100 coins reward from Lord Hou.

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(End of this chapter)