Chapter 168 That Place is Called Black Bone Swamp

Blackbone Swamp is located northeast of Fort Jeanne, at the border of Mountain County and Plains County.

As a mountain swamp, it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only exit is covered by a wild spider forest, two-thirds of which is swamp.

The swamp is filled with lakes of various sizes, underground rivers, puddles and muddy areas.

But it must be said that such a small place has the three types of terrain that cavalry hates the most - mountains, swamps and forests.

After the Hundred Years' War, when the Empire was at its most powerful, it was unable to conquer this small Black Bone Swamp. Not to mention that there are now giant spiders from the Wild Spider Forest guarding the gate.

According to Horn's rough calculation of the area, if there is nothing wrong with the measurement system of this world, the entire Black Bone Swamp is approximately 7000 square kilometers, which is roughly equivalent to the size of Guangzhou.

This area is equivalent to 1.5 Hedgerow towns, while its population is only 0.3 Hedgerow towns - around 2 people.

Geographically speaking, it is indeed within the Duchy of Kush, although it has never been actually controlled by the Duke.

Most of the water from the streams and canals near Joan of Arc flows into Joan of Arc from the Wyrmslee Mountains through the Blackbone Swamp.

"I actually forgot about this place." Jessica slapped his head.

"The terrain of the Black Bone Swamp is indeed suitable for defensive cavalry operations. If you want to enter, you either have to climb over the mountains or force your way through the Wild Spider Forest."

Taking a map from the cabinet beside her, Jeanna blew off the dust on it and spread it flat on the table.

“Even if they can enter the Black Bone Swamp, they will still face a problem, that is the underground rivers, puddles and lakes in the swamp.

Even if those knights were blessed with the "lifting heavy things with ease" and "horse hoof flying", they still couldn't run on water."

The church's response was that walking on water was the power of Myrcella and no mortal could surpass it.

But the knights knew in their hearts that it was just an excuse. In the final analysis, it was because the church was conservative and refused to do more research on the blessing system. It even refused to allow the monks to develop new blessings.

"During this period, if we are short of supplies, we can even use some smuggling waterways, or sneak out of the Wild Spider Forest to trade with the nearby Jeanne d'Arc."

"The beastmen in the Black Bone Swamp are on good terms with us, and the beastmen kings even regard our Holy Grandson Pope as the emperor of the Third Aiel Empire?"

The old camp elders who had walked through the Black Bone Swamp and were very familiar with the place immediately began to discuss it. The more they discussed, the more feasible they thought it was.

The new members of the Salvation Army were sitting nearby with sad faces, but as they listened to the old guns talking about everything, often mentioning veterans, emperors and kings, the dullness in their eyes gradually brightened.

You know, even though they didn't say it, when Horn really chopped off the Duke's head, they realized that they had no way out.

Even some members of the Salvation Army, after being carried away by the enthusiasm, would think that they were tricked by Horn.

It’s not that they don’t want to follow Horn, but this group of people are all refugee farmers, and there is really no future for them.

But now when I heard it, wow, the rewards from the Papal State are too generous. Who can afford to appoint generals or minor generals at will?

Listening carefully, Horn actually has hundreds of powerful beastman kingdoms as his subordinates in the Black Bone Swamp.

Even if the population of a kingdom is smaller, there are still thousands of people, otherwise how can it be called a kingdom?

Then, let alone anything else, it wouldn't be too much to give them the title of duke, right?
Our Salvation Army is so awesome!
"In fact, the Black Bone Swamp is good, but it has a very big disadvantage." Horn, who had been silent all this time, said slowly, "You all know that according to the agreement, we still have to come out in three months.

Pasrick, who just changed his name to Crispa, has said that the Duchess' letter will become invalid in three months. It is very likely that the Duchess of Hermash is preparing for an uprising.

By then, the main force of the Imperial Order Company will surely head north to attack the Duchess of Hema Stone's North Mound County, and we will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to attack.

This means that we have to train a new army in Blackbone Swamp and aim to defeat at least three Command Companies."

"Yeah, is there any problem with that?" Thomas asked curiously.

"This is a huge problem." Jieshka helped Horn to reply. Apparently, he had also thought about this problem. "According to the plan of His Majesty the Saint, the number of new troops to be trained is between 4000 and 6000.

Only with this number of people can we barely fight against the enemy infantry while also resisting the impact of the extraordinary knights. "

In the Battle of Windmill Field, the famous Frantian general, Wheelchair Marshal Otto Dunjar, organized an elite infantry phalanx of 4000 people in the retraining of mercenaries. The Frantian Kingdom was in the throes of centralized reform at the time, with constant civil unrest, and a large number of Frantian knights defected to the Kingdom of Leia.

But Marshal Dengjar relied on the mercenaries' super-long spear phalanx and a small number of extraordinary knights to hold on to the knights of the Kingdom of Leia.

Because the infantry lacked the means to attack, the knights did not lose, but they could not win either, and were drained of blood by the huge financial resources of the Frankish Kingdom.

The Dunjar Phalanx became the empire's recognized method of dealing with cavalry.

"Do you know what this means? 4000 to 6000 people, including their families, the total number is estimated to be to people." Jeshka spread his hands, with an expression that said, "What else can I say to explain?"

"With so many people, where can we find space to station and train the new troops?"

This is a big part of the reason why Horn and his team are in the dark.

As long as they can bring some food with them, the entire Black Bone Swamp can barely accommodate 30,000 people.

But the problem is that the terrain of Blackbone Swamp is a solid field of puddles and underground rivers. Where is there so much space for Horn to station and train his troops?

The entire meeting room fell into silence again until a hoarse female voice with a heavy accent said:
"Your Majesty, can I say something?"

That was Horn's Varangian captain, Gergo, daughter of Queen Hittian.

"Go ahead." Horn waved at her. "Go to the front and talk. Don't be afraid."

"In fact, there is a place for garrison and training in the Black Bone Swamp." Gergo's innocent nasal tone made many people frown. Except for those who were familiar with Gergo's accent, most of the refugee representatives could not understand it.

"Where?" Horn was a little surprised.

"That is our beastman's ancestral land, the former capital of the beastman empire, Autumn Dusk Island. It is an island in the middle of a lake with lush grass and flowing milk and honey."

"There is such a place? We almost crossed the Black Bone Swamp, so why didn't we find..." Horn suddenly stopped talking here.

He suddenly realized that they had not walked the entire Sweat Trail, but had bypassed the swampy lowlands via the trail through the Blueblood Orphanage.

In other words, they avoided all the swamps and hairy monsters recorded in Homer's mercenary group's notes.

"Is the Autumn Sunset Island you mentioned in the lowlands south of the swamp?"

"Yes." Gergo nodded seriously, "In the past, our Great Beastman Empire did not live in the north of the swamp, but lived on Autumn Dusk Island.

Autumn Dusk Island was given to us beastmen by the El Empire. The island’s peak population was over 100,000 people, so it can definitely accommodate you.”

"Then how did you move to the north?" Sissi seemed to have thought of something. "Was it those hairy monsters?"

“No.” Gergo shook his head, “Those hairy monsters showed up later, and we moved away because of the overpopulation and the plague.

After that doomsday plague, the Beastman Empire was completely split into two, the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire.

The Western Empire was later divided up by barbarian warlords, while the Eastern Empire was forced to move to the archipelago in the north.

Due to the fragmentation of territories and the extinction of the royal family, it gradually split into hundreds of kingdoms.

After the plague was over, we were planning to move back to our hometown, but the dam near Qiumu Island had fallen into disrepair and the roads were flooded by the lake.

The island was occupied by long-haired monsters and barbarians. We launched four southern expeditions and won great victories.

But because we are a peace-loving civilized kingdom and don’t bother with those barbarian monsters, we didn’t migrate back.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. Horn did not expose Gergo's words, but just coughed: "Ah, so that's it."

"In that case, as long as we can wipe out those barbarians and long-haired monsters, we will have a place to stay?" Jeanna asked Gergo in surprise.

"We no longer consider that place our home." Gergo looked at Horn. "If Your Majesty can seize it, as long as you don't mind us trading on the island and recognize our beastman kingdom, we are willing to follow the example of the Barbarian King Gobo and donate it to you as the new Holy City!"

(End of this chapter)