A quarter of an hour later, Lane got dressed with the help of Hardy and came to the study.
Mossack and the old butler Ens had been waiting inside for a long time.
Hardy poured wine for the two old men and Lan respectively, and then stepped aside.
"Tell me about it, Lan." Mossak didn't drink, but looked at Lan with a smile on his face. "You must have gained a lot from this trip to the north. You have already told me part of it when you were in Novigrad, and you also shared part of what happened later in the letter. So what did you gain from this Northern Conference? Is it really like you said outside, that you have gained the support of other kings?"
"Half of Novigrad is under Lann's control" was the message that came back when Triss brought Orphir back. The two old men were in disbelief for a while. You know, Novigrad is the first city in the North. The prosperity of the city even exceeds some small countries in the North and some medium-sized countries. Even Vizimir II couldn't guarantee his control over Novigrad. Now Lann said he had done it?
It can only be said that Chapelle, the alien among the shapeshifters, is too crucial. After knowing the truth, Mossak had to sigh at Lann's luck; of course, it was also Chapelle's luck to meet Lann, otherwise he would have been burned at the stake sooner or later.
As for the old druid's questions about the talks in the North, Lann shook his head slightly.
"I did sign some agreements with them, but how much of them will be effective and to what extent remains to be seen."
"The North has indeed reached a consensus, but we are still a long way from 'full cooperation'. In terms of military support and resource allocation on paper, we may be able to drive Nilfgaard away, but this will inevitably cause Cintra, which is already dwindling in population, to suffer greater losses, so we need to take a long-term view."
The main purpose of what Lann said to the people outside was to "encourage" them, but the actual situation was still different. Lann then summarized the gains of this time with the old druid and the old butler:
The full support of the United Kingdom of Lyria and Rivia, the military support of Aedirn, the sea transport support of Redania, the resource support of Temeria, and Kaedwen's promise not to cause trouble.
At the same time, these countries will also issue a joint boycott of Nilfgaard, calling on the northern countries to boycott Nilfgaard in various aspects such as trade. As for how much of it can be achieved in the end, it is unknown.
"As expected of Henselt." After hearing Kaedwen's promise, Mossack couldn't help but sneer.
Afterwards, everyone began to calculate Cintra's current strength and began to formulate the next strategic plan.
Queen Calanthe worked hard to make Cintra the "fifth kingdom" after the four northern kingdoms, and at its peak, it was able to gather an army of 20,000. However, due to the trap set by the Nilfgaardians, the main force was wiped out in one battle, and then the scattered soldiers were cleared out, and now there is really not much fighting power left.
"If the forces gathered by Brokilon now are combined with those of Marshal Visekid, and with the young and strong men who are constantly being gathered and joining the army, we will be able to mobilize about 5,000 troops in a month."
Mossak analyzed: "But these 5,000 people can only support one battle. If we cannot drive out Nilfgaard in one fell swoop and fall into a protracted war, then our logistics will be difficult to support. At least half of the 5,000 people will have to retreat and serve in logistics positions."
Lann pondered for a moment: "Does that mean our real 'standing army' level combat power is only about 2,000?"
Mossak nodded.
The Northern Kingdom's army is mainly divided into two types: standing army and conscripted soldiers.
The standing army is a professional army that is completely off-duty and whose mission all year round is to train and prepare for war. It is mainly composed of knights, royal guards, and city guards. A powerful army may also have a special numbered legion.
Conscripts are essentially peasants. They only fight for the king for a few dozen days a year, and they don't have much combat power. They are basically used as logistics or cannon fodder. Once this mandatory period is over, if the battle is not over, the king will have to pay to hire conscripts to continue fighting for him.
During the Calanthe era, Cintra was full of martial virtues, and it was like everyone was a soldier. The quality of the conscripted soldiers was also the best in the North. Now that the country was destroyed and the family was ruined, the conscripted soldiers were naturally on standby at all times and volunteered to join the army. But they were willing to fight, and Cintra now did not have the capital to allow all of these more than 3,000 people to leave their jobs and become soldiers. They had to do production work on a daily basis, and even occasionally helped the standing army that was not fighting on the front line.
So, as Mossak said, these 5,000 people were only capable of "one battle". After the first battle, most of these soldiers would have to be put back into production. Even if their casualty rate was a little higher, the existing structure of Cintra would have to be rewritten and the entire structure would collapse.
In addition to the 5,000 men in Cintra, there are also the United Kingdoms of Leiria and Rivia, as well as Aedirn, who can clearly provide military support.
The United Kingdom of Leiria and Rivia is also fighting a national defense war like Cintra, and if they are fully mobilized, they can gather about 15,000 troops and can fully devote them to the battle.
Aedirn is a big country, and the standing army plus the conscripted army can probably gather 40,000 people. But they are only there as support, and they are thankful to be able to send 10,000 people to help. If there are more, they themselves and even other countries in the North may have objections.
Lann pondered for a moment, and said to the old butler and the druid: "Let all these 5,000 people take off their jobs and strengthen their training."
Looking at the two elders who were hesitant to speak, Lann smiled and said, "What I gained this time is not only the help from the northern countries, but also wealth, a huge amount of wealth. Not only is it enough to support us in restoring and rebuilding our country, it is even enough for us to hire a mercenary group to replenish our troops."
Ens reflexively opened the account book in front of him: "That will cost a lot of money."
Lane laughed and said, "I do have a very 'large' sum of money."
Cintra has 5,000, the United Kingdom has 15,000, Aedirn has 10,000, so all in all there are no more than 30,000 people.
And what about Nilfgaard?
During this period, through the intentional and unintentional intelligence support from intelligence organizations of various countries and the help from Novigrad, everyone now has a general understanding of Nilfgaard:
First, Nilfgaard unified the south, with a population of between 30 and 50 million. This number fluctuates because the local intelligence is not very detailed.
In comparison, the population of the entire North is about 30 million. Among the four northern countries, Temeria and Redania, which have the largest populations, have a combined population of about 10 million.
What was truly terrifying was Nilfgaard's military strength. The entire Black Sun Empire had a standing army of 350,000, plus civilians, logistics, conscripted troops, etc., so it was no problem for them to claim to have an army of one million.
This is a million-strong army, which is smaller than the entire northern army combined. Every intelligence agency in the north was stunned when they received this news. This is a number that makes people despair just by hearing it.
Fortunately, Nilfgaard did not send out all its troops this time. First, its internal integration had not been completed, and second, they still needed to leave people to guard the rear. This time, Nilfgaard sent a vanguard of 100,000 troops to attack the northern border. Only after opening the gap in Cintra and establishing a base, the troops behind would be sent over.
This is also because Nilfgaard is fighting a long distance and the logistics are very tight. Therefore, Nilfgaard is eager to capture Cintra in one battle and turn this gateway to the north into its own province. It will become a springboard for launching a general offensive towards the north.
Of course, this strategic goal has not been achieved to this day. However, according to intelligence, Nilfgaard has gathered in "Lower Soden" next to Cintra and "Anglin" across the river from Lyria, and established temporary military bases in these two places; several cities south of Cintra have also been built as temporary war fortresses.
In other words, if Lann wanted to drive Nilfgaard away, he had to speed up the process before Nilfgaard's follow-up troops came to gain a foothold. And Nilfgaard obviously knew about the North Border Talks, and they would definitely be on guard against the movements of Lann and his party.
Mossak analyzed: "According to intelligence, Nilfgaard's army was defeated by the Northern Alliance in the Battle of Sodden Mountain. Our original battle in Cintra and the subsequent battles also consumed more than 10,000 of their troops."
"Even so, there are still more than 60,000 people." The old butler Ens frowned.
"There are also many factions among the Nilfgaardians. I heard that their emperor Emhyr executed a group of older officers, which strengthened the cohesion of the troops. But this also made their officers and soldiers lack coordination. In addition, their current bases are all occupied lands, and a large number of natives have been captured as slaves." Mossak said meaningfully, "They are not standing firmly now."
"Since they found that they couldn't conquer all of Cintra, the main force headed east to attack Queen Mevy's United Kingdom. According to what Lann said, Aedirn will support the United Kingdom. So what we have to deal with are the 5,000 Nilfgaardians currently in Cintra and the 10,000 soldiers stationed in Lower Soden who may come to support us at any time."
Fifteen thousand people, three times more than our own. Moreover, the five thousand soldiers under Lann are very valuable. They are the seeds of Cintra's rise in the future. We can't really lose most of them here.
"We need to plan a surprise attack, a blitzkrieg, to destroy the enemy's main force and morale in one battle, and drive them out of Cintra completely before the reinforcements can react." Lann pondered, "We must do this, Cintra cannot withstand the current consumption."
To achieve this goal, they will need additional support.
Mossak confirmed: "Skellig can give us help. They can launch a surprise attack from the river to delay the enemy forces in Lower Soden. I just don't know how many people they can support us."
The people of the islands, who were organized as families, had a total army of no more than 10,000 people. However, on the sea, they could fight against enemies that were several or even dozens of times their size. Their mobility allowed them to plunder the southern coastal areas almost without any damage, making them the most suitable for harassment operations.
"I'll go talk to Skellige, and it's a good opportunity to visit Uncle Easter," said Lane.
Lann then added: "In addition to this, we also need other support. We need a large number of mercenaries. We will accept all mercenaries from the North, especially from Kovir, who have a large mercenary group. It just so happens that Redania promised us to open shipping ships, so we can let them transport soldiers to Cintra to fight for us."
Ens said worriedly, "Kovir's mercenaries are indeed brave and good at fighting. But the compensation Kovir gives them is already sky-high. If we want to hire them temporarily, we need to pay at least 1.5 to 2 times the price. Add in the long-distance transportation and logistics, and we can't afford it even if we pay all the money in Cintra now."
The Kingdom of Kovir is located at the northernmost end of the North. It is a strange and absolutely neutral kingdom. It is most famous for its mineral resources. It is said that Kovir produces 80% of the gold and 70% of the dremel in the North. Therefore, even though Kovir has a small population, it has formed one of the most powerful armies in the North by hiring mercenaries, and even defeated the coalition forces of Redania and Kaedwen.
It’s no wonder that the old butler looks worried when “competing for business” with such a country.
"I'm very rich now." Lann chuckled. "Not only will I use mercenaries to supplement our troops, I will also upgrade the equipment of Cintra's existing soldiers. I heard that Nilfgaard's soldiers are all issued with standard equipment, and even the lowest-ranking soldiers have chain mail; while the conscripts in the North all provide their own weapons, and don't even have a cotton coat?"
Lann said seriously: "We in Cintra must be as strong as the Nilfgaardians, or even stronger than them."
Ens sighed even more heavily: "This will not only require a large amount of money, but also a lot of craftsmen and manpower. This is definitely not something we can do now."
"I will go to the dwarves of Mahakam and buy equipment from them," Lann said. "If possible, I would even like to borrow a troop of heavy infantry from them to fight against the Nilfgaardian cavalry."
Spending money to hire Kovir mercenaries, purchasing equipment directly from the dwarves, and even persuading the dwarves to send troops to support. Any of these things sounded unbelievable to Ens and Mossak. However, they did not refute Lann, but after Lann proposed it, they began to think about how to achieve the goal set by Lann to the best of their ability.
Ens took out a notebook and wrote and drew on it for a long time. After a while, he finally determined the number on it and showed it to Lan.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve said this today, but Lane – this is a lot of money.”
Lan took it and glanced at it, then said with a smile: "Well, Ens, do we have an empty warehouse now? I'll go show you my current wealth."
The old butler had long known that Lann had the magical space storage ability of [Inventory]. After hearing Lann's request, he and Mossack led Lann to an empty barn.
Lan looked around, stretched out his left hand to open the [Inventory], and gently supported Ens's back with his right hand.
"Master?" Ens was confused by Lan's behavior.
"Because you won't get too excited." Lann was ready to contract Ens as a follower at any time, so that the old butler would not be distracted by the wealth that would emerge before him.
Ens sighed and said, "Master, I am the royal housekeeper and I grew up in the palace."
The implication is: What kind of scenes has the old man not seen?
Lann curled the corners of his mouth and immersed his mind in the system.
…
Enns and Mossak will probably never forget what they saw next:
Lann's left hand seemed to have turned into a spring, gushing out a torrent called "wealth": at first there were all kinds of golden coins, including crowns, florins, orens, and lintas, which are the currencies in circulation today. Then ancient gold coins from the elves' rule began to appear, and then there were various gold coins that even Mossak's knowledge could not recognize.
It's all golden, and silver and copper don't even qualify as embellishments.
After the golden torrent, the dazzling red, blue and green gemstone lights appeared, mixed with large diamonds, jade and pearls. These glittering little things seemed to have turned into stones that could be seen everywhere on the roadside.
Then, several gold-inlaid boxes rolled out and opened in midair. From them rolled out pearl necklaces, gold-cast crowns, gemstone rings and other valuable jewelry and decorations; one could also see exquisite antique swords, gold and silver wine glasses and tableware, shiny and smooth porcelain, and framed oil paintings.
When these fragile objects first flew out, the two old men almost screamed in fear, fearing that they would be damaged by bumps. But then they saw them rolling down onto the coins that already filled the warehouse, slowly sinking as if they were sinking into the sand.
The coins in the warehouse were as numerous as the sand on the beach, and this was another, more invigorating color of gold.
The entire warehouse began to be filled with a pungent aroma, perhaps a strong musk, or fragrant sandalwood, etc., fragrant and sweet.
Ens swallowed hard and shook his body violently a few times.
Lann pulled the old butler back to prevent him from being buried by the treasure. The three of them retreated all the way to the door, letting the gold coins barely cover their insteps.
Then Lan looked at the old butler with some concern, and was about to do something, but he saw Mossak, who was breathing heavily, put his hand on Ens's shoulder.
Even the experienced old druid was shocked at this moment. But then a wave of magic like a breeze in the forest rose from his body, covering him and Ens, and even Lann felt a refreshing comfort and relaxation.
After more than a dozen breaths, Ens finally swallowed his saliva, moistened his dry throat, and was able to speak again.
"Master...are these all yours? Where did you get them from?"
Lann smiled shyly: "Actually, this is not all. I kept some for pocket money. But it should be enough for the things we just planned, right?"
"More than enough..." Ens muttered to himself.
The fluctuations of natural magic rose from Mossak's body again. It was obvious that he was not calm enough.
The green light rose and fell repeatedly, and Mossak and Ens became calmer and calmer until their faces were expressionless.
Finally, the old druid said without any emotion: "I will contact the mercenary group in Kovir. I know a lot of people there. Kelda can also help. I will convince him to join me."
The headquarters of the Griffin School, Kel Siren, is located in the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Kovir. Kelda has traveled to every corner of this place for more than a hundred years and has established many connections. Which immortal does not have some connection with the ruling class? Maybe the grandfather of the current king's grandfather was once saved by Kelda.
Ens also said coldly: "This money is enough to hire a 10,000-level army to support us... No, we still can't hire too many, otherwise it will be difficult to send people away. Five thousand people is a suitable number. The remaining money is enough to upgrade the equipment of our own troops, build siege equipment, and rebuild Cintra after the war. In the future, we can completely rely on importing food from Aedirn to meet our needs, and the 5,000-strong army can also be fully invested in military training."
Lan was a little uncomfortable with the emotionless tone of the two people, so he could only nod and agree with their views:
"Ah... yes! That's it."
"Then Lann." Mossak turned around and said seriously, "Your next task is to go to Skellige to borrow troops, and then go to Mahakam to find the dwarves. All this needs to be done quickly, before Nilfgaard reacts to the policies of the northern countries. One month is a suitable time, enough time for Skellige's warships to come. If the dwarves really have heavy infantry support, I can ask Triss, Geron and a few druid friends to open a portal to let them come in batches."
"Yeah, okay, okay!"
Ens also turned around and said, "Master, before you go out, you need to meet Her Royal Highness the Princess first. She misses you very much. When we received the news of your return, we also informed Marshal Vissekid. You need to accept his troops, and the princess also needs to accept his loyalty."
"Ah...Okay! I've been missing Ciri for a long time too!"
Lann swallowed and said, "Is there anything else I should be aware of?"
Mossak and Ens looked at each other expressionlessly, and the fluctuations of natural energy began to surge from their bodies again.
"Lan, please put away these treasures first. The door is blocked."
"Yes, sir. And we also need to find a place to store our property. The barn is not very safe after all."
Lann nodded obediently: "...Okay."
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