126. Pre-war meeting
Chapter 126 – Pre-War Meeting
After the pre-war meeting, Richard received a batch of supplies.
Surprisingly, this batch of supplies had a complete assortment and surprisingly, there were no deductions.
In addition to rations, there were also clothes, shoes and socks, pots and pans.
Richard also received a batch of weapons, lances, heavy swords, the quality is quite good, no rust, after receiving back to open the blade can be used.
Consul Jerram’s steward, Savell, personally came to Richard’s barracks and delivered sixty pieces of chain mail, one hundred iron helmets, three enchanted crossbows, and ten explosive arrows.
Directly picking out this batch of equipment are Jerram consul funded to buy, hope that Richard can put aside prejudice, cooperation as soon as possible to eliminate the rebels.
Richard will be this batch of equipment divided Baron Sharp part, of course, lock armor, iron helmets, enchanted crossbows, bursting arrows and other more precious materials, are equipped in their own direct line of troops.
Although the rebels entered Brenner County, the county town of Osma was still in the hands of the Brenner Noble Coalition.
It was about eighty kilometers from Fort Wright to Osma.
There was also a military station along the way to rest. Richard was prepared to spend three days to get to the castle of Osma.
After wrapping up their leggings, the serf soldiers had an easier time traveling, especially when marching in the jungle, the leggings had a very good effect.
This small equipment is inconspicuous and inexpensive, but it is very useful in war, avoiding the legs from being scratched and promoting the circulation of blood in the legs.
With the aid of the leg binding, along with the improved will, physical strength, and group system, in the next three days, the coalition army of the Black River County nobles easily arrived at Osma City.
Seeing the reinforcements arriving and looking like they weren’t serf soldiers with low combat power, there were also a few hundred cavalrymen assisting them, and the magical beast warhorses added up to a few dozen, and the Brenner nobles were very happy.
After entering the city, Richard first settled the soldiers, and then rushed to the city lord’s mansion with a few barons, ready to meet the main officers of the Brenner nobles’ allied army, and listen to the real thoughts of the frontline officers.
After settling the soldiers, informing the officers, and being slightly busy for a while, night had already fallen.
The light in the room became faint, and Richard lit two candles in the military tent, which burned quietly with flickering flames.
The candlelight cast on the wall, reflecting crisscrossing light and shadow.
After waiting for about less than an hour, all the officers with status in the Osma Castle came to the meeting place.
Brenner County Municipal Officer Adeles also arrived in person, looking a little disheveled, presumably fooling around with his lover, received Richard’s summons, and hurried over to the meeting. His face still had a bit of unhappiness on it.
Richard saw that most of the people had arrived, and took out the appointment letter issued by Duke Roger himself, read it out, and then let the people circulate it.
“Duke Roger has appointed me as the Brenner County Direction Commander, with full command of the noble allied forces of the two counties. Whether you are satisfied or not, the order has been given, as soldiers you must obey the military order.
For the noble who is not present today, I would like you all to inform him that if he does not come to the meeting next time, I will make him pay a generous fine.”
In the Grant Kingdom, the status of nobles was naturally different from that of commoners.
Richard could make an example of the serf soldiers, killing them through harsh military law and terrorizing the pawns to make them follow orders.
But it was not easy to kill nobles with titles.
Unless serious damage was caused, only then could he kill a noble with a title on him.
After the war, they had to be questioned by the council of nobles about the necessity of killing hereditary nobles. Not to mention Richard, even if it was a general commander like Duke Roger, unless it was very necessary, he would easily not move against hereditary nobles.
“I’ve just arrived at the frontline, I don’t know the enemy situation yet, please ask the officers of Brenner County to tell me about the enemy situation.”
After Richard finished speaking, he stared at the noble officers of Brenner County, only to see Baron Planey stand up, pointing at the simple map on the desk, and spoke, “After the rebels entered Brenner County, they’ve already overrun two baronies. Recently, we scouted and the rebels are showing signs of mass buildup, and it looks like they want to attack Osma City.”
“What about the strength of the rebels?”
“Most of the rebels are rabble. But the cultist Scarlet Horns cannot be underestimated and have a small number of elite soldiers.
In addition there is a boiling blood potion within the rebel army that the cultists give to a portion of the cultists before each engagement.
After using the Boiling Blood Potion, the Cultist soldiers immediately became angry and berserk, their physical qualities would increase by three times, and they could already fight against elite veterans and even professionals.
We also seized a few Boiling Blood Potions and found that the effect of this potion is only half an hour, which is enough to fight a shorter war.
There were also serious after-effects of using the potion; the potion would extract a portion of the power of the life essence. After using the Boiling Blood Potion, the physical quality of the soldiers would have a serious decline, and the strength and stamina of some of them could not even compare to that of an adult woman.
Soldiers who take the boiling blood potion, we call them boiling blood converts, these people have very strong explosive power, when we meet a larger scale of boiling blood converts, it’s hard for us to win in a head-on battle.”
“Have you guys ever captured any Scarlet Horn cultists?”
“We did capture some of them, and through the interrogation of the clerics of the Morning Sun Church with divine magic, we know that the cultists in the Scarlet Horn are divided into five classes.
The highest level is the cult leadership, with a total of the Pope, the High Priest, and the four Cardinals adding up to six. The one who has come to our Kingdom of Grant today is Cardinal Marlowe the Nightwalker.
Below the leadership are the high priests and cardinals. The one commanding the rebels in Brenner County today is Cardinal Golivan.
The third level is the local bishop, who is responsible for managing the cult activities in a certain area, and is usually held by a cultist of the third or fourth order. The reason why the rebellion broke out in Canyon County was that there were cultists from the Scarlet Horns conducting missionary activities more than ten years ago.
The fourth rank was the missionaries, these people were the foundation of the cult Scarlet Horn cult organization, and they carried out the instructions from the higher-ups. They are responsible for conducting various religious ceremonies, prayers, missionary activities, and supervising the behavior of other believers.
Generally speaking, cultists preach in secrecy, and it is difficult for outsiders to blend in.
The lowest level is the ordinary believers, and these people have many fanatics. It was believed that upon death, one could enter the divine kingdom of the God of Killing and gain eternal life.
Most of the people who took the Boiling Blood Potion on their own initiative and caused us to fight unfavorably are these people.”
After listening to Baron Pliny’s introduction, Richard immediately felt the severity of the situation.
If the cost of refining the Boiling Blood Potion wasn’t too high, the Scarlet Horn would be able to create a large number of Berserker Soldiers.
The impact power of these Berserker Soldiers was a few points more powerful than even the Orc army.
Think about a few thousand berserker soldiers, everyone with professional combat power, launching a charge at the same time, even though it lasted for a shorter period of time and was slightly better equipped, it would be enough to crush a main army.
If you want to deal with this kind of explosive cultists, you can only use the magical beast cavalry, to play the characteristics of long-distance combat and faster speed, no wonder the Brenner County’s noble allied forces, found Richard with magical beast cavalry reinforcement, acted so happy.
(End of chapter)