Chapter 250: Meliati has too many cards in her hand

In this way, whenever the war monks of the Salvation Corps arrived at a place, they would first use scouts to conduct reconnaissance, and after the cavalry attracted the nearby monsters, they would use the chariot forts to defend against the impact, and finally use the infantry to go out of the chariot forts to make the final move.

The hairy zombies can simulate majestic armored sergeants, while the bull spiders and jumping spiders can simulate charging knights.

In fact, in terms of bravery and charging spirit, the giant spiders surpass many extraordinary knights in the countryside.

However, the giant spiders and hairy zombies are not as intelligent as humans, and do not know how to cooperate and form formations to maximize their effectiveness, but at least they have increased the monks' practical experience.

In this way, in the constant rotation, stabbing and shooting have a realistic feel. Stabbing the target a hundred times will not gain as much experience as actually killing a strong animal.

This kind of actual combat drill can also uncover problems that cannot be discovered in normal training.

It is better to find out now than later when fighting with the knights in Jeanne d'Arc.

In this way, in the pest control battle, the four legions took turns to fight, all of them were fully trained, and successfully cleared a piece of space in the southern part of the swamp.

By the sixth day, the Savior Corps had basically advanced to the southernmost end of the swamp.

The rabbit-skin boots made a clanging sound as they stepped on the cold, hard ground, and the beastman scouts poked at the snow with long poles.

There are many hidden ditches and rivers beneath the snow. If you fall into them accidentally, you may get drowned but at least you will get sick.

Since the roads available for passage were sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, the Salvation Army could only practice changing their formations while marching.

The red and black battle flags of the Salvation Army fluttered in the cold wind as two thousand war monks marched in neat steps between the green mountains and black lakes.

From time to time, they would squint and look towards the bottom of the lead-gray clouds.

The layered Tibetan blue mountains and towering ridges rise up from the ground before your eyes, with cracked rocks and shrubs visible through the silvery white snow.

What snow remained on the mountain peaks melted into running streams that flowed into ponds and bogs.

The water of Nanze Lake flows out from the mountains, forming several winding rivers.

However, many mountain passes were blocked by silt and boulders, forming natural dams that hindered the discharge of lake water.

Of the previously numerous mountain rivers, only two are still flowing.

Riding on horseback, Horn and Jeanne galloped on the snow. They climbed a hill and looked down from the height.

The lake water flows over a huge stone weir and falls into the shallow river like a slow-flowing waterfall.

Occasionally, a few pieces of snow float on the crystal clear river water.

"The Jeanne d'Arc Canal probably draws water from the mountains." Jeanne smiled, pointing at the water flowing below with her whip.

Horn did not focus his gaze on the still flowing rivers, but turned his back to Jeanne and looked at the dry riverbeds.

The river channel is overgrown with wild grass, the withered yellow grass leaves sway gently in the breeze, and the remains of the dilapidated water conservancy buildings are still left.

Horn squinted his eyes and saw the stones and silt of various sizes. He seemed to see again the scene of these rivers once flowing continuously.

But now, it is as quiet as a ghost town, with only a few small animals running quickly through the grass, making rustling sounds that disappear in a flash.

"Witt." Horn turned around and saw Witt climbing up the hillside panting. "Do you know how to repair these water conservancy facilities?"

Holding on to an oak tree beside him, Werther bent over and looked down the mountain, panting.

After looking at it for a while, he stood up and said, "The siltation is layer by layer. We have to move away all the boulders and silt. Otherwise, repairing the water conservancy facilities will be useless."

"So if you can remove all the silt, can you repair it?"

"Haha, I can't do it." Seeing Horn's unhappy expression, Witt quickly said, "This requires a professional hydraulic scholar or engineer. My alumni can do it, but they may not be willing to come."

Turning his head and looking at the other side, Horn asked Witt: "Based on your knowledge, can dredging this section of the river improve the environment of Daze Township?"

"If a weir is built upstream of the swamp to slow down the water flow, and the silted river channel is dredged downstream to drain the water, the previously dried-up Gaotai River can flow again.

By then, the water level of Nanze Lake will drop, forming a height difference with the pond puddle in Beize. We will then connect the puddle with Nanze Lake to form a water network, which will improve the current geographical environment of Daze Township.

But this section has been silted up for hundreds of years, so it will probably take a decade to repair.”

"Oh, yes, it's too early to think about this now." Horn shook his head helplessly, "We can only wait until later."

Today is January 1445th, 1, and the three-month deadline is getting closer and closer.

But Pasrick was reluctant to tell him the specific time of the uprising. Although Horn would not fully cooperate with the Duchess, it was better to know this important information as soon as possible.

"I don't know if there will be a future."

………………

It was already early February, but the temperature in the mountains had not dropped at all.

Ice and snow covered the spire of the Cold Spring Castle tower. The snow on the spires and flying buttresses had not yet melted, and had frozen into icy ridges, with drops of icy water rolling down to the ground.

Cold Spring Castle, built entirely of black rocks, is the political center of the Dukedom of Hema Stone and is located on the slope of a valley. Cold Spring Town, located below Cold Spring Castle, is a gathering place for commercial trade and a residential area.

Despite the cold weather, street vendors did not give up their business activities and continued to sell their wares on the streets.

The most eye-catching thing around Lengquan Town is not the street vendors, but the dense columns of black smoke rising up.

It was the black smoke rising from hundreds of smelting workshops and the Duke's blacksmith shop.

The five mountain counties of Qianhe Valley are famous for their rich mineral resources. Except for the lack of gold and silver mines, there are large quantities of various metal mines.

Their mineral resources cannot be compared with those in northern Norn and the Crucible Highlands, but they are among the best mines within the Kingdom of Leia.

The people in the five mountainous counties either work as miners in the mines or go out as mercenaries. Only a few of them can work as farmers to supply food.

Because there is less arable land in the mountains and the terrain is long and narrow, the living standards in terms of food, clothing and other aspects are far behind those of the four plain counties.

Correspondingly, the per capita iron consumption of mountain people is more than twice that of people in the plains.

When Melia first proposed to conquer Codburg, her boar riders all wore three-quarter armor and rode donkeys and mules.

The Meliati do not attack cities, but specialize in looting knights' manors and noble farms.

The militiamen in leather armor were no match for these boar riders, and the genuine extraordinary knights either fled or gathered into Dunjar phalanx and longbowmen.

It's more painful to be beaten than to eat shit.

Of course, Meliati's hometown was in a mess after being ruined by Lord Codburgh.

In the end, the war-weariness within Lord Codburg's family was too high, so they had to invite Lord Norn, a branch of Meliati's great-grandmother's family, to put an end to this fierce battle.

It had been ten years since that fierce battle. In the lord's hall of Cold Spring Castle, Meliati sat on a bearskin chair, her cold iron face reflecting the scorching fire.

Beside her sat four knights, most of them were old knights over sixty years old, with only one middle-aged knight who was only thirty-nine.

The three old men are a combination of tall, short, fat and thin. They look so ugly that when they stand together, you would think they are a clown comedy.

As for the middle-aged knight, he had a handsome appearance, but there was always an inexplicably sad expression on his face, giving people a feeling that he was in low spirits.

As for these four knights, no one would have thought that each of them was a titled knight.

Including Meliati herself, there are a total of five titled knights in the Dukedom of Hermash.

Throughout the Thousand Valleys, the church has two titled knights, namely Bertold, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and Lionel, Count of Marais.

Prince Condé has three titled knights in the Royal Company: himself, Ailain and Arman.

In other words, only by adding the Church and Prince of Condé together can the number of titled knights be equal to that of the Dukedom of Hermash.

Most of these four titled knights were the old duke's knight squires and old subordinates.

They are basically the intangible military legacy left by the former Duke Antoine of Hermash to Duchess Meliati.

The Grand Knight Antoine of Hemashi was an old knight from the Hundred Years' War, and a great knight rarely seen in the world.

Antoine's father was King Gobbo IX of Fran, his mother was the younger sister of King Heinlock of Leia, and his wife was the only daughter of Vladel, the Elector King of the Glorious Norns.

In a sense, Meliati and Prince Condé are actually cousins.

However, since Prince Condé's grandfather once married the daughter of the King of France, the two can be considered cousins.

The Grand Duke has only one daughter, and Meliati's father actually married into the family as an adopted son, so she always calls the Grand Duke grandpa.

Antoine holds a very high status in the three major knightly orders. Compared to Antoine, Prince Condé's connections in the knightly orders are all younger brothers.

However, since Meliati ascended the throne, he has been constantly causing trouble, and he has used up a lot of favors to cover up his mistakes.

This time she is against the church, I am afraid that the Knights will cut ties with her directly. After all, this is not a joke.

But the old subordinates of her great-grandfather, the Norn Kingchoosel, would still give face to Meliati.

This face only means not taking sides at best. If they really want to fight against the church, they can only give some supplies secretly, but it is impossible for them to stand on Meliati's side openly.

At least this way, Meliati's rear is safe.

As the high priestess of the Ruoan Party, she can even mobilize the power of the Secret Party.

Meliati has too many cards in her hand.

"The lords of Seven Elms Town and Long Fort, and the bishop of Oak Flower Fort, sent us letters of surrender, and the words were almost pleading."

Seeing that everyone was present, Meliati threw a stack of letters on the table and said, "How about this? Let's discuss it."

(End of this chapter)