Chapter 235 The Cursed Land
Perhaps the snake-worshipping priestesses of the Cobra faction in Pendor felt that they had been deceived...
They put in considerable effort to attack Dilingang, not only using the Red Death to divert the attention of the Bacchus Empire, but also gathering a large army.
But in September as agreed, after they began to attack Dilingang, they didn't even see a single hair from the Viper expeditionary force that was supposed to attack from the sea at the same time.
It wasn’t until mid-October that a few warships arrived from the Amara continent. However, they were all ragtag troops that couldn’t even get enough food. Their combat effectiveness was very poor, and they couldn’t even attack the port...
The main fleet of the high priest has not appeared until now. All that has come are ragtag troops fleeing famine. The expeditionary army's rations have been burned. In order to raise food, the high priest is forcing the believers to "donate".
But the continent of Amara has been suffering from famine for a long time. Although the believers have faithful faith, they are really powerless to do anything.
Under the "forced dedication", many believers robbed or stole several warships and ran to the continent of Pendor - this could be regarded as a practical action to support the expedition, although the believers only wanted to come to the continent of Pendor to make a living.
This is why the Snake Cult fleet that arrived at Dilingang did not find another place to land - they had no food, and they did not dare to sail to find a landing point. They are currently fishing near Dilingang for a living, and their lives are even worse than those of the defenders in Dilingang...
As a result, the Cobra priestesses gathered outside Dilingang Port have persisted from September to now, fighting from autumn to winter, for more than three consecutive months, but still have not seen the high priest's main fleet arrive at Dilingang Port.
But they heard that the Dread Legion did appear in the Pendor Continent, but the problem was that the Dread Legion fled to Siyuan City and did not appear in Dilin Port...
In this situation, they certainly felt that the Temple Priest Council was deceiving them and they no longer wanted to fight.
But they did not dare to withdraw. If they disobeyed the orders of the temple and abandoned their colleagues from the Amara continent in the warships outside the port, the Dread Legion might suddenly appear in their lair one day to "punish the traitors who did not obey orders"...
Therefore, these priestesses actually fought very restrainedly at first, and their attack on Dilingang was not fierce, which seemed to be a bit like working without putting in any effort.
Moreover, they are all very rich. Unlike the continent of Amara, there is no famine in the continent of Pendor. The priestesses have obtained a large amount of food before, so they are not afraid of surrounding the Imperial Port.
In fact, it doesn’t matter to them whether they can capture Dilingang or not. After all, if the high priest’s fleet doesn’t come, what’s the point of them capturing Dilingang?
The attack on Dilingang was the order of the Temple, but the capture of Dilingang might not be a good thing for them, because the Temple would definitely not let Dilingang be controlled by the Cobra faction.
If the Temple lets the Viper Faction manage Dilingang, wouldn't that be the Cobra Faction making trouble for itself?
But a few days ago, they heard that the slave uprising army in Boshi City had lifted the siege, and a large army was heading south to reinforce Dilingang - they found that this was an opportunity to get out of the current embarrassing situation.
The Dilingang Port has been under siege for a long time and there is a large army coming to support from Bacchus, so staying outside the Dilingang Port is definitely not a wise choice.
But if we turn around and attack Boshi City... this would definitely be considered a proper explanation for the temple's orders, both in terms of face and substance.
Since Boshi City has sent a large army to support Dilingang, it means that Boshi City is now extremely empty. It is definitely more cost-effective to attack Boshi City than to attack Dilingang by force.
Moreover, for the priestesses of the Cobra faction, taking over the City of Bossi is much more attractive than taking over the Imperial Port - the City of Bossi is located in the hinterland, and the temples of the Amara continent certainly cannot send fleets to compete with them for control.
Anyway, occupying the city of Boshi is equivalent to establishing a base in the territory of Bacchus. No matter what happens to Dilingang in the end, at least they are worthy of the orders of the temple.
The priestesses of the continent of Pendor are indeed loyal to the Snake Cult. They will obey the orders of the temple, but they will not follow them blindly.
Therefore, their troops had marched northward originally to attack the city of Boshi.
As for why they were chasing after Sigismund's scouts, it was mainly due to the combat habits of the Snake Cultists - if they encountered an enemy, no matter the enemy's target and size, they would immediately use overwhelming numbers to overwhelm all obstacles along the way.
These snake worshippers were not regular troops, and most of the priestesses were not very good at tactics. The snake worshippers did not have the clear combat intentions of regular troops, and after determining the general direction, they would migrate like locusts.
Therefore, the Snake Cultists who were chasing Sigismund's scout team were not actually targeting the lord's reinforcements. They just wanted to go all the way north from Dilingang, but the lord's troops happened to be on the way.
Sigismund and the gladiators obviously did not understand the behavioral habits of the Snake Cult, and neither did the lord.
Sometimes, many inexplicable battles occur due to these strange factors, and even seem quite unreasonable in the eyes of bystanders, but they just happen.
Fortunately, Alyssa appeared here, and this former priestess gave her judgment on the current situation.
She didn't understand the culture of the lords of the continent of Pendor, but she did understand the mentality of the priestesses.
She was right. Her knowledge of the Snake Worshipers was indeed very helpful for a commander in formulating strategies and tactics.
If it weren't for meeting her, the lord would probably have fought a head-on battle with the Snake Cult army in Buyulin Village - fighting head-on with tens of thousands of guys who are not afraid of death, the outcome is really hard to predict.
But now, Li Ang felt that he could avoid them first and use a more technical method to eliminate this group of snake worshippers.
Anyway, no matter what, Dilingang has indeed been rescued. The Lord's strategic intention to rescue Dilingang has been realized, although it was achieved in a somewhat inexplicable way...
What they need to consider now is how to get rid of those priestesses. According to Alyssa, as long as the priests, who are the "spokespersons of the gods", are eliminated, other snake worshippers will usually not take the initiative to cause trouble.
"Governor, since the Snake Cult's main force is heading for Boshi City, we can give them the way and then ambush them with cavalry... and your infantry can still enter Dilingang as planned."
The lord seems much more relaxed now. Since the Snake Worshipers have no tactical ability, even if each of them is not afraid of death, they are just a group of brave locusts.
"Leon, do you think the snake girl's words are trustworthy? If she is a liar..."
Justus was somewhat uneasy, and he was skeptical of anything a snake worshipper said.
"If Alyssa is deceiving us, then we should give way even more... Anyway, Buyulin Village is just an empty village with no one in it. It doesn't matter even if it is occupied by the Snake Worship Cult. Don't get hung up on the gains and losses of a city or a place. The goal is to eliminate the Snake Worship Cult. Now we only need to consider how to avoid the eyes and ears of the Snake Worship Cult..."
Li Ang turned his head and looked around Buyulin Village. There were indeed no civilians here.
"Then...you make the arrangements, and I will follow your orders."
Justus handed over command to Leon.
"Then, we will move westwards to Serindir first to avoid the Snake Cult's army. Since the Snake Cult warriors who escorted Alyssa were able to hide in Serindir Village for more than a month, it means that we should be able to avoid the eyes and ears of the Snake Cult there and hide ourselves in the dark..."
Li Ang drew two lines on the map. "Then, my troops will go north from Serindir to set up an ambush in Fiedner. They will have to pass through Fiedner to go to Boshi City... And Governor, after making sure that the Snake Cult's army has left the vicinity of Dilingang, you will lead your troops directly into Dilingang, and then lead the troops of Dilingang to the north, and join me in attacking the Snake Cult."
"I hope nothing happens in Boshi City..."
Justus was obviously still very nervous about his territory.
"I guarantee that no snake worshiper will be able to enter the city of knowledge alive."
Li Ang pointed towards the road to the south and said, "Hurry up, the Snake Cult troops may be coming soon."
Fortunately, all the troops had been preparing and reacted quickly. Before long, Buyulin Village became empty again.
Just a few minutes after the troops evacuated Buyulin Village, a large group of Snake Cult members swarmed in like a swarm of locusts. The endless crowd passed through the deserted Buyulin Village all the way to the northwest.
…
Thrindil.
This is an extremely quiet, gloomy and extremely miserable village.
In the days when the Kingdom of Pendor ruled the continent, the village of Serindir was originally a large market town.
This was originally the largest fishing port in the continent of Pande. There were countless fishing boats coming and going, and the coast was full of fishing nets drying in the sun.
This fishing port in the southern part of Pendor would have been very busy in the winter - as the temperature dropped, the northern seas would freeze over and a large number of fish would migrate to the southern coast.
At the same time, high-value seafood such as various pearls should also be caught in winter. As the weather gets colder, the pearl oysters will gradually slow down their secretion of nacre, which can gradually make the surface of the pearls become delicate and round. The quality of pearls harvested in midwinter or early spring is the best.
This was originally an excellent place. Not only did it have fish catches all year round, but it also had the largest pearl producing area in all of Pande.
However, the richer the place, the more miserable the lives of the lower-class people tend to be, especially after the Bacchus Empire took control of this place...
After the Bacchus Empire occupied the southern part of Pendor, Thrindir gradually possessed the most iron stakes and chains in the entire Pendor.
These iron stakes and chains were originally used to lock up slaves.
In the Bacchus Empire, all the hard work in the fishing process was naturally done by slaves. Of course, slaves also did the life-threatening work such as diving for pearls or corals.
However, the slaves could not even get the oyster shells for growing pearls.
To ensure that the slaves did not sneak away with the precious catch, slave owners would lock iron collars around their necks.
When going out to sea, the slaves would be tied to the ship with long iron chains. When not going out to sea, the chains would be locked to iron stakes on the coast - those iron stakes were also used to lock the ship.
The range of movement of most slaves throughout their lives was the area limited by their chains.
Either on the boat, in the sea, or next to the iron stakes on the shore.
They can only dive into the water again and again, and be taken to the deep seabed by heavy iron chains, struggling between life and death to find the gifts of the sea.
If they failed to complete their tasks on the day, they would not be pulled onto the boat and would have to soak in the sea.
The slave owners didn't even give them any food - the slaves would eat on the spot in the sea, and cooked food was a luxury for them.
Most slaves in Thrindir do not survive more than three years, and the conditions of slaves here are even worse than those in the mines.
This miserable life will naturally lead to more tragedies.
This is also the first area in the entire Pendor continent to be controlled by the Snake Cult.
The Snake Cult could easily control the vast majority of Serindir's slaves without using any means, and then lead them to rebel and cause chaos, and were met with extermination again and again.
For more than a hundred years, this place has been repeating tragedy generation after generation - slave owners brutally exploited slaves, the Snake Worship Cult bewitched the lower-class slaves, the slaves believed in the Snake Worship Cult and began to riot, and were then wiped out by the imperial army... After the chaos of the Snake Worship Cult was quelled, new slave owners would come to the empire, and then the same story would be repeated again.
The repeated wars made Thrindir more and more desolate year by year. Eventually, it became a "cursed" place in the eyes of the people, and this fishing port was gradually no longer inhabited.
It is said that countless ghosts appear here at night, and there are too many wronged souls of all kinds, so it is haunted.
Therefore, this place is also called Ghost Port.
There were also brave people who tried to come to Thrindir, hoping to fish out valuable pearls, but most of those who entered this "cursed land" would disappear inexplicably.
By now, the village of Serindir had become a dilapidated and gloomy ruin, with a large area and many houses, but no one.
Only the rusty iron stakes and chains scattered along the coast still tell the story of the prosperous yet sad past of this fishing port.
This was how the Snake Cult warriors were able to hide in Thrindir with Alyssa for over a month without being discovered.
This once prosperous fishing port is now almost completely deserted.
This is not a military stronghold, and generally no one would come near here.
Leon brought his army to Serindir and was able to easily avoid the eyes of the Snake Cult - the area around this fishing port was all uninhabited wasteland, and since there was no one there, the Snake Cult naturally would not know their movements.
After Lisadilan and the Noldor confirmed that there were no problems around Thrindir, the lord planned to rest here for a day and then split up with Justus to act according to the plan.
Although there are suspicions of ghosts here, of course I am not afraid of ghosts with a large army...
But what the lord did not expect was that something unexpected would actually happen after he only stayed in Thrindir for one night.
The wind was particularly strong that night. The howling wind stirred up huge waves on the sea. The sound of huge waves kept echoing, making it difficult to fall asleep even though we were hundreds of meters away from the coast.
When the army was stationed, there were naturally troops on guard at night, and Sigismund was in charge of the night watch.
Also, Sarah is here.
But Sarah had no night watch duty. She just couldn't sleep because of the noise of the wind and waves, so she came to see the sea and chat with Sigismund. The bard wanted to take some material from Sigismund's experience to compile poetry. She believed that the story of the "commoner knight" was worth remembering.
So, while most of the soldiers on duty were looking in several other directions, Sarah and Sigismund were sitting by the sea, watching the sea and the wind blowing in the night.
But the wind was really strong, and Sarah's cloak and shawl were almost blown away.
But just as Sarah was about to hide in Sigismund's tent to avoid the wind, she vaguely saw several huge black shadows on the sea.
"What is that... Sinclair, did you see it? Is that a sea monster?"
Sarah put on her shawl again, covering her round shoulders and hiding the seductive cleavage at her neckline.
Sigismund sighed with some regret.
"No... Vixen, that looks like... that's a warship! Blow the horn! Enemy attack!"
Sigismund closed his eyes and shook his head, then looked at the sea in the distance again and shouted loudly.
