Riding and Slashing

Chapter 421 A Different Jatu
'Whoever comes here, please salute. '

'Here is buried my friend Gaius Marius, a kind elder and a mighty emperor. '

'Being strong is an attitude, not having power.To be strong is to always do what is useful to people, not to pursue the thrill of conquest.Being strong is the spirit of enlightenment and self-confidence and a happy and peaceful heart, rather than eternal desire and dissatisfaction. "

——Leon Griffin, New Pendor Kingdom.
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"This is the inscription on the tombstone written by His Majesty Li Ang for His Majesty Marius. I think I can now understand why they became friends."

Alina stood in front of Emperor Mario's tomb, looked at the inscription that had just been carved by the craftsmen, and turned to look at Justus: "Father, I plan to marry Leon."

Justus looked at the inscription in silence. After a long time, he asked softly, "Why? Your Majesty, is it because of what the Son of Prophecy said?"

He referred to his daughter as His Majesty.

This meant that he was speaking to Emperor Bacchus as an aide.

"Not only for this...but also for the future of Bacchus. After the death of His Majesty Mario, the enemies of Barkley and Amara will take action, and the D'Shar will also be eager to launch a counterattack. Bacchus will face There will be more danger than ever."

As the ruler of Bacchus, Arina also spoke to the chief political officer, Justus, on official business: "The reason His Majesty Marius asked me to surrender to the New Pendor Kingdom before he died is because we are about to face countless foreign enemies and we must rely on The power of the New Pendor Kingdom. But I want to keep the name of the Empire, so I can't make Bacchus a vassal..."

"Actually, Bacchus has never been an empire, and there is nothing wrong with taking this opportunity to change to a republic... Besides, there is nothing to lose by bowing your head for a while."

Justus doesn't really care if Bacchus will still be called 'Empire' in the future, although the name Bacchus Empire has existed for thousands of years, and the head of state has always been called 'Emperor', but in fact it started from the Second Empire of Bacchus , this country that elects its head of state is no longer an empire, but a republic.

Of course, it was a typical aristocratic republic at that time, everything was decided by the Senate, and it had nothing to do with the common people.

Now, after the reform of Emperor Marius, citizens have the right to vote for tribunes, and former slaves have also obtained citizenship in name;
Tribunes can stand for election and elect members of the Council of Elders;

Members of the Council of Elders can nominate candidates for the head of state, and members of the council will elect the emperor from the candidates.

——That is to say, Alina is actually the first emperor to be determined after three tiers of elections, and the first head of state under the real republican system.

But in fact, this election was a completely authoritarian operation, because only one candidate was elected.

At the last moment of his life, Emperor Marius actually used a dictatorial method to ensure the smooth transfer of power.

"No, the Empire still has to be the Empire... At least until I step down, it has to be called the Empire."

Alina shook her head and said: "Leon will understand me, and only he will understand... So I have to marry him, which will not only maintain the integrity and independence of the empire to the greatest extent, but also suppress the domestic empire with New Pendor. , to make sure that I push for reform as a dictator."

"Then...you decide for yourself."

Justus nodded: "Actually, I know, you always think dictatorship is better..."

"No, no, father. I just want a constitution—a constitution that treats all citizens equally, whether noble or commoner, or the emperor himself."

Alina smiled self-deprecatingly: "But to do this, I must first become a dictator."

"You are braver than me, child. But you should know about Leon's decree... This requires the consent of the two queens first."

Justus nodded slightly, he understood his daughter now.

Arina wanted to finish what Emperor Marius had left unfinished.

"They have agreed."

Alina smiled and said, "I received a reply from Amy yesterday, and I'm going to Sarleon City to meet her."

Amy did write a letter to Alina.

But to be precise, this letter was actually written to Wendy.

However, Wendy and Alina are currently living together, and this is indeed Amy's response to Alina, so Amy was sent to Emperor Lingang on a fast horse.

The content of the letter is——

Dear Wendy:
I have received your letter.

But please don't blame Leon and Alina.

Since the decree allows him to marry three wives, even if he doesn't mess with women himself, his subordinates will force him to have more offspring...

Without Alina, there would be others, that was inevitable.

If the third is Alina, maybe we can all live with that.

But if it's anyone else, I'm sure I can't accept it... I think you should too.

However, for the sake of our friendship and the peace of the three countries, we should not only help each other, but also restrain each other.

So, we'd better meet up, I'll be waiting for you in Sarleon City.

Don't let Leon know.

…………

Li Ang really didn't know that Wendy and Alina went to Sarleon City to handle diplomatic affairs.

Because after Li Ang received the news from Lisa Dilan, he set off for Long River City——Wendy let him go first, because the wounded soldiers who stayed in Dilingang needed someone to take care of them, and there were many wounded soldiers among them. Warrior, Wendy is of course the most suitable person to stay and lead the team.

Li Ang's injuries were not healed, and the journey was not fast, and he didn't arrive at Changhe City until October 10nd.

Lisa Dilan sent the message on September 9th. Based on the time, the Jatu people have entered the eastern part of the kingdom for at least half a month.

Strangely, after Li Ang arrived at Changhe City, he received a report that no villages or towns had been looted by Jatu people for half a month.

It was Ors of the Owl Knights who came to report the situation, and he is now a baron.

The Owl Knights, who had been staying in Trubrun, did see a large number of Jatu people entering from the east, that is, coming out of the Noldor Forest half a month ago.

However, the Jatus did not attack anyone after they entered the country, and they probably deliberately bypassed White Hart Castle and Maixiangling. It was not until the night of September 9th that the Jatus passed by near Trublen at night, and they were attacked by owls. We found out.

The Owl Knights immediately reported the alarm to various places, and then followed the large Jatu troops.

But the Jatu people are good at riding and archery, and they have a lot of horses, so the scouts are placed very far away. The number of owl knights is too small, so they dare not follow them all the time.

On September 9th, after passing through the foggy no-man's land, there was another heavy rain, and the Owl Knights were lost.

The location at that time was on the west side of Serenmis, under the Goddess Mountain—and the Jatu people did not attack Serenmis, and Serenmis had no defense force.

After this, they lost all trace of the Jatu people.

Godric was not careless, he asked Ralph to bring the horn to summon the ranger group to guard Fort Valor, asked An Dongjia to help Charles guard Fletcher Village, and sent three hundred newly trained red arrow longbowmen to supplement Fighting power, and sent an order to Fawcett to send people to block the intersection and suspension bridge north of Kewen Village.

At the same time, Risadilan also sent a large number of Noldor troops to search the forest, and arranged Noldor warriors to garrison White Hart Castle and Forest Market.

Godric and Lisa Dilan wanted to close the door and beat the dogs, and they were blocked at several ends, so the Jatu people should not be able to escape.

However, until now, there is still no news of being attacked anywhere.

In other words, the Jatu people did not plunder any place in the past half month, nor did they return to the grassland, and they may have been moving westward.

But this kind of marching discipline is not like the Jatu people's style at all - they marched for a long time and long distance, but did not commit any harm to the places they passed, and even Serenmis, who was defenseless, did not attack...

Even the regular army of an ordinary country will more or less forcibly confiscate some military rations when they pass through the villages and towns of the enemy country.

"That is to say, the Jatu people have arrived near the Goddess Mountain half a month ago, but they have never attacked anyone... How big is the Jatu army that you saw?"

Li Ang asked Ors, and he felt a little incredible.

"At that time, we saw at least [-] horses, and the number of people was unknown. It was difficult for us to keep up with them."

Als said firmly.

Now, Li Ang felt even more incredible.

Half a month, more than [-] horses...

A large number of horses are in the inland area, neither looting nor besieging the city. How did the Jatu people resupply the horses in the past half a month?

People really can't eat much, so maybe twenty pounds of food is enough if you save some food, and you can carry it with you.

But horses can't. A horse consumes at least ten pounds of fodder every day.

The inland area is not like a grassland, the grassland that can feed horses is limited, except for the large-scale fields near the villages and towns, it is impossible to supply [-] horses in the wild.

You can't carry hundreds of pounds of forage with you, can you?
Usually, the Jatu raided long distances by sacking villages along the way, both for looting and to feed their horses.

Because Gatum horses are easy to feed, they are not picky eaters, they don’t need to be fed concentrate, and they don’t have diarrhea when they eat green grass. The most important thing is that they can directly eat the crops in the field—whether they are mature or not, and they can eat them with water. Eat, not as delicate as mainland horses.

Wheat stalks were commonly used as fodder for horses. The usual method used by the Jatu raiders after they left the grasslands was to raise horses with straw from wheat fields or wheat stacks near villages and towns, and feed their people with the grain they looted.

However, wheat fields are only found around villages and towns, and the Jatu people have never attacked villages and towns, and they avoided the search of the Owl Knights, which means that they should not have stayed in any villages and towns...

Could it be that they can conjure fodder out of thin air? !
Li Ang expressed his incomprehension, this is not the Jatu people he remembered.

But there is nothing wrong with the arrangement of Godric and Lisa Dilan at present. It is also a good idea to close the door and beat the dog. Li Ang does not need to adjust the strategy.

The question now is, where are the Jatu people who broke into the hinterland of the kingdom?

Godric was also a little anxious - he never thought that one day he would look forward to receiving news that a place was attacked by Jatu people...

But there has been no news from the Jatu people who entered the hinterland, but new news came from the north.

It was Rafael who sent back the news.

"Your Majesty Li Ang, we have found the Jatu troops... They are in the wilderness between Lion Lake City and Fletcher!"

Raphael described to Leon what he saw: "I took the horn rangers to spy on the grassland once, and found a lot of wheel marks going west, so we followed them... I saw countless things with my own eyes. It seems that there is a large-scale migration."

"Are they migrating? Migrating again? Last time they migrated... I killed thousands at Eagle Claw Fort. Last time it was Juda's tribe..."

Li Ang became more and more confused: "Who is this time? Do you know which tribe those Jatu people belong to?"

"I'm not sure, I didn't dare go any closer - there were too many of them."

Raphael shook his head: "However, I think it should be Zakar's."

"Zakar defeated Zhu Da a few years ago and forced Zhu Da's tribe to migrate to Lion Lake City... and now his own tribe has also begun to migrate to Lion Lake City? What's going on..."

Li Ang frowned: "Have you sent a warning to Lion Lake City?"

"Of course, Ms. An Dongjia went to Lion Lake City. I came to Changhe City and left separately. Lion Lake City should have gotten the news earlier."

Raphael nodded.

Li Ang felt that the current situation was a bit tricky.

There is a Jatu army in the hinterland of the kingdom, and 2000 horses usually mean [-] Jatu people. These [-] people cannot be ignored, but they cannot be found.

And between Lion Lake City and Fletcher, a large number of Jatu people moved to that wasteland, which cannot be ignored, but the question is how to deploy troops?Where are the soldiers transferred?

There may be [-] to [-] garrisons in Lion Lake City, and these people must stick to the city; the manpower of Fort Yongshield and Fletcher cannot be moved casually, otherwise it is difficult to guarantee that the Jatu people will not turn around and attack.

Long River City has [-] troops, half of them are Godric's troops, and half are from the Freedom Legion, but none of them are suitable for taking the initiative to attack.

After Sadilan came back, he left the Freedom Legion in Long River City-the Freedom Legion currently only has about 1000 people, and hundreds more are recuperating in Emperor Lingang.

It's hard to bring hoplites to deal with the Jatus, and Li Ang doesn't want to ask for trouble.

Most of Godric's troops are newly recruited soldiers, so there is no problem in defending the city, and it may be bad luck if they are taken out for field battles.

Besides, Changhe City cannot have any accidents. It is estimated that the Jatu people hiding in the hinterland are waiting for Li Ang to send out the garrison.

As for Risadilan, to ensure the defense of the Noldor Forest and White Hart Castle, it is estimated that only a few hundred Noldor rangers can be dispatched.

Leofric of Karen Deer Castle still has more than 1000 people to call, and there are more cavalry, but it is a little far away.

Dalyon and the Griffin Knights can also be transferred, but they are still at the Sava River Castle, farther away...

Moreover, even if they are all transferred here, there will be just over 2000 people in total... Is it enough?

Probably not enough, this time there is no Knights of the Lions and Ravencrow army to use, it is impossible to copy the joint resistance against Jatu in Eagle Claw Fort last time.

When the power grows, the battle becomes more difficult to fight, because everywhere is one's own territory and must be guarded everywhere.

After sending people to send orders to dispatch troops, Li Ang began to think about whether there was a way to talk to the Jatu people...

If it's possible not to fight, then it's best not to fight... Li Ang really didn't want to waste the lives of the soldiers on Jatu barbarians who would go on a suicide charge at the slightest disagreement.

Moreover, there are many ways to deal with the enemy, and fighting the Jatu people is the least cost-effective way.Unless it's for some other reason, there's really no need to go head-to-head.

So, Raphael got an important task, and Leon asked him to serve as his special envoy, in the name of the new Pandor King, to try to communicate with those Jatu people in the wasteland——No way, although Raphael's eloquence is very mediocre , but only he can speak Jatu.

(End of this chapter)