Chapter 251: Self-reliance
To be honest, Emperor Marius was a gambler.
Because, what he did was actually equivalent to sending out all his trusted troops again.
Currently, the only thing left in Siyuan City is a small half of the Immortal Legion that has been crippled in continuous battles.
If it weren't for clearing out the remaining rebel troops around Siyuan City and maintaining the law and order of Siyuan City, I'm afraid the Immortal Legion would have been sent out by Marius...
Therefore, Emperor Marius appointed General Agathon as marshal and sent General Agathon, whose troops were also crippled, to the Lera Fortress to reorganize the troops.
Agathon was driven away by Marius to find Justus, but he went to the wrong place - he thought Justus was in the City of Knowledge.
Before, General Creon was in the City of Knowledge controlling the Red Death. In order to give Creon more space and not be restricted, Justus went to the Imperial Port and never came back.
The reserve forces of the Immortal Legion, namely the Imperial Guards, also followed Governor Justus to rebuild Imperial Port.
But Agathon went to the right place, the City of Knowledge - not long after he arrived in the City of Knowledge, Emperor Marius was rescued by Leon in Bretavon.
Therefore, General Agathon naturally had no need to go to Imperial Port to find Justus again, but returned to Emperor Marius again.
Emperor Marius asked Agathon to go to Fortress of Leura because Fortress of Leura was originally the base of General Agathon.
However, at that time, the rebels had already approached Siyuan City, the uprising army lost control in Boshi City, and the Snake Cult launched a large-scale siege on Dilingang. There was no point in defending the Leila Fortress at this time - all the enemies emerged .
So Emperor Marius recalled Agathon, abandoned the Rhela Fortress, and allowed Agathon to recapture Malassos, which was a more important hub at the time, so as to quickly reconnect the three major cities.
Now that the domestic war has subsided, Emperor Marius has turned his attention to the Principality of Desha, and the Lela Fortress naturally becomes more important at this time.
Besides, the Leila Fortress was controlled by Kairos a few days ago. Although Kairos is now focused on hunting down the Snake Cult, his current condition is not something that can reassure Emperor Marius.
In order to prevent Kairos from becoming the second Hieraeus, Emperor Marius replaced the marshal with Agathon and sent him back to the Lera Fortress.
Unlike the Seven Forks Fortress of the Fierce Lion Kingdom, the Leila Fortress is not a border fortress that directly faces the enemy country, but a connecting hub between various military and political centers.
Three hundred miles to the east of the fortress is the cultural center of Boshi City, four hundred miles to the south is the capital and political center of Siyuan City, more than two hundred miles to the north is the Sava River Fort that has been at war with the Kingdom of Fierce Lions for many years, and about four hundred miles to the west is the border with the Principality of Desha.
There are two such hubs in the Bacchus Empire. One is Malas Fortress, which Emperor Marius once ordered General Agathon to recapture, and the other is Lera Fortress.
This kind of hub location usually has a large number of troops stationed there, because if there is a problem anywhere in the surrounding area, reinforcements can be sent from Malasbourg or Lera Fortress. At the same time, logistical supplies and various material transfers must also be transferred through it.
In fact, in the entire Pande continent, only the Bacchus Empire has such a transit hub.
This is partly due to the different military systems. The various large legions of the Bacchus Empire are essentially dispatched by the state, not the private troops of local lords.
In order to prevent border lords from taking advantage of the emperor's remoteness to build their own armies and gradually turn the country's legions into the lords' private armies, it is necessary to build a midway fortress to keep a close eye on them. Usually, the person in charge of the Lela Fortress is the general most trusted by successive emperors.
This is not because he does not trust the border lords, after all, it is related to national security. In fact, even if he did so, there would still be problems. The rebels of Hira Yuzas actually bribed the country's legions into becoming his own followers in various ways.
On the other hand, it was mainly because the Bacchus Empire lacked horses.
Since Siyuan City is located on the southern coast, it is far away from places like Sava River Fort in the north.
However, there are few cavalry and horse-drawn carriages in the country, and the efficiency of transportation and rescue is not high enough. Naturally, this kind of military transfer center is needed to shorten the reinforcement distance to avoid the important places being cut off.
Just like not long ago, due to the fall of the important hub town of Malasburg, the connection channels between Siyuan City, Boshi City and Dilingang were lost, and the Bacchus Empire was directly cut in half.
Agathon's prestige in the army is indeed very high, and now he has the status of marshal. After he returned to the Lela Fortress, there were no problems with the garrison of the fortress.
Even though many of these troops belonged to the Shadow Legion and were originally under the command of Kairos, Agasson, who also came from the Shadow Legion, still easily took over them and reorganized them in a very short time.
But a serious situation has occurred in the Sava River Fort in the north...
To be precise, war broke out again in Sava River Fort - at a time when war should not have been started at all.
The lord of Sava River Castle was General Titus, but this general was sent to the continent of Amarra by Emperor Marius early on , and the situation at the time did not allow for the dispatch of another person to manage Sava River Castle.
The rebels of Hirayuzas have been persistent in besieging Siyuan City and have not gone to Sava River Fort.
This resulted in the Sava River Fort being unattended for a long time, and there was not even enough troops stationed there.
Under such circumstances, the Kingdom of Sarleon and the Principality of D'Shar would naturally set their sights on this place.
The reason why King Ulric did not respond to Arina's call for help was actually because his troops had secretly crossed the Sava River.
So he signed a ceasefire agreement with Alina, but did not announce the ceasefire agreement to the whole country...
Because he was just like the emperor of the old Bacchus Empire on the continent of Amara, who launched a surprise attack before the ink on the armistice agreement had even dried.
But history is really amazingly similar, just like when the Barclay Empire and the Bacchus Empire both set their sights on the Pendor Continent, but ended up fighting each other over a piece of the pie - the Kingdom of Serenity and the Principality of Desha also fought over the ownership of Sava River Castle and surrounding areas .
While Leon was fighting the Snake Cult in Bacchus, Duke Brunus of the Serpentine Kingdom was fighting fiercely with Caliph Bahaman of the Desha Principality near the Sava River Fort.
Brennus's troops are relatively elite, but the Lion Knights are still being rebuilt, so the number of troops sent into battle is relatively small;
Bahaman brought a large number of Desha Ghazi raiders, and the number of troops was larger, but the Desha troops have never been well adapted to overseas operations. In terrain outside the desert, their combat effectiveness probably cannot be fully exerted.
As a result, the two sides fought for nearly two months, with heavy casualties on both sides, but neither side gained any substantial benefits...
It was not until the news that Leon had occupied Karen Deer Fort came that the Desha people completely evacuated Sava River Fort, but they were ambushed during the evacuation. Bahaman managed to escape and returned to Desha with only a few dozen guards.
Brunus, who suffered heavy losses, also failed to capture the Sava River Castle. When he led his troops to try to control the surrounding villages, he was also ambushed. His fate was the same as Bahaman's. He only fled back to Sarleon with a few dozen knights...
——The people who ambushed Bahaman were the same group as Brennus. General Titus just happened to come back at this time, and he came back with the Phoenix Knights.
In fact, General Titus had returned long ago, but he encountered the enemy on the way - the infantry of the Legion of Terror.
There are actually a large number of infantry in the Legion of Dread. After all, most of the former Third Legion of the Empire were actually infantry. The number of infantry in the Legion of Dread is even greater than that of the Python Knights.
These undead infantrymen are very powerful. When they were alive, they were elite warriors. They were the Spear Regiment of the Third Legion of the Gubash Empire, which is a typical hedgehog-type infantry regiment with dense phalanxes formed by spears and large shields.
But when Martis appeared at the gate of Siyuan City with the Legion of Terror, this infantry corps was not with Martis, otherwise Emperor Marius might not be able to seal the Legion of Terror into Siyuan City.
This was because the infantry regiment was separated from Maltis at sea, and was separated quite far away.
In winter, the northern waters of Pendor will freeze over. Large areas of frozen ice will cause ocean currents to appear on the sea, and the currents will continue to advance towards the bay in the southern part of Pendor.
Therefore, in winter, monsoons and waves caused by ocean currents often occur in the southern part of the Bacchus Empire, just like the wind and waves that Leon's troops encountered in Serindir.
If the Legion of Terror's dilapidated ships, which have been in disrepair for a long time, encounter wind and waves during a long voyage, it is indeed easy for all kinds of problems to arise.
In addition, General Titus was ordered to destroy the Snake Cult port on the Amara continent in a timely manner. The other large forces of the Snake Cult did not go out to sea, but Maltis's Legion of Terror came out alone in a broken ship.
After all, the undead army of the Dread Legion is different from ordinary people. They have no requirements for the safety of transportation and the suitability of ports. Anyway, the undead of the Dread Legion don't care about falling into the sea, they can climb out from the bottom of the sea...
The Dread Legion, driving their dilapidated ships, encountered the winter ocean currents on the southern coast of Pendor. As a result, this fleet, which had insufficient sails and relied almost entirely on oars for power, was split into two parts by the ocean currents.
Most of the Python Knights followed Maltis to land in Qiza, while the infantry of the Legion of Fear were affected by the ocean currents and drifted to the bay northwest of Siyuan City - this huge bay is the end point of the ocean current in the southern waters of the Bacchus Empire. Of course, in summer, this is the starting point of the reverse ocean current.
In other words, the ship carrying the Dread Legion infantry had actually passed through the waters of Siyuan City and traveled a long distance...
But they have never been able to land because of the Phoenix Knights led by Titus.
After General Titus attacked the Snake Cult port on the continent of Amara on the orders of Emperor Marius, he returned from the continent of Amara with the Phoenix Knights. When they were about to return to the waters of Siyuan City, they encountered the fleet of the Legion of Terror washed over by the ocean current.
They didn't know that these were just infantrymen in the Legion of Terror, so they followed them all the way, trying to stop the Legion of Terror from landing.
Encountering the Legion of Terror at sea is actually a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - this undead army is indeed powerful after landing, but those broken ships are simply vulnerable at sea.
Therefore, the fleet of the Phoenix Knights planned to take this opportunity to kill the Legion of Terror at sea.
After all, the Phoenix Knights did not bring horses when they came from the continent of Amara to provide support, and they did not intend to fight the Legion of Dread on land without horses.
Unlike the Legion of Terror, normal horses are not suitable for large-scale ocean voyages.
The horses of the Dread Legion were all undead, they would not run around or get scared, so they could be loaded into the ship's hold. But live horses would take up a lot of space, and they could easily get sick and die on the ship.
General Titus and the Phoenix Knights did kill half of the fleet carrying the Legion of Fear infantry at sea, but it also took a long time. They didn't land at Vida Village near the bay until Siyuan City was relieved.
Because Siyuan City had been relieved at that time, General Titus did not go to Siyuan City immediately. After landing in Vida Village, he soon heard that there was a war in his territory, and two groups of foreigners came to his territory to fight...
General Titus naturally could not tolerate this situation. He was a fierce general with a bad temper. In addition, Vida Village was not far from Sava River Fort, so he led the Phoenix Knights to Sava River Fort and happened to run into Caliph Bahaman who was retreating.
To be honest, the reason why Bahaman was ambushed after leaving the Sava River Fort area was probably because he brought too many horses...
Seeing Bahaman's troops withdraw from the Sava River Fort area, the Phoenix Knights naturally realized that these desert tribe cavalry must have attacked General Titus's territory before...
The people of the Phoenix Knights are indeed very loyal. General Titus helped them destroy the port of the Snake Cult on the continent of Amara. To them, he is one of their own. Plus, that army of the desert people brought so many horses... they must do something about it.
As a result, Bahaman was ambushed by the Phoenix Knights without any preparation, suffering heavy casualties, and most of the horses became mounts for the Phoenix Knights.
Afterwards, Titus planned to take the Phoenix Knights back to Sava River Castle to replenish supplies, but he ran into Brennus who was looting the village under his jurisdiction.
Brennus's habit of robbing wherever he went had brought him to his knees this time...
Although Titus himself sometimes took advantage of the situation, he obviously couldn't accept his own land being taken advantage of by others...
The Phoenix Knights were a team with a strong sense of justice and could not stand such robbers, so they committed another crime.
The Phoenix Knights with horses were indeed very powerful. In addition, Brunus did not expect to encounter such a strong enemy in the village. After being charged by the Phoenix Knights for several rounds, Brunus had no choice but to run away.
But sometimes people are really fickle. After winning several great victories in a row, General Titus was probably a little too proud. After defeating the Legion of Dread and the strongest lords of the D'Shar and Sarleon kingdoms in a row, anyone would probably be a little too proud.
During the continuous fighting on the two continents, Titus has forged a deep comradeship with the Phoenix Knights. The Phoenix Knights currently only know him and will naturally follow him to fight.
And suddenly he had such a strong army in his hands, and had been winning streaks without any major losses - in this situation, General Titus began to have some other ideas.
For example, having troops and being powerful.
For example, now that the Phoenix Knights are in his hands, he can take the opportunity to expand his own strength.
It was actually quite normal for him to have such thoughts. If he went to see Emperor Marius now, he would most likely no longer command the Phoenix Knights, and he would become an ordinary general again.
I guess he is not as respected or powerful as Agasson and Cleon, and there are two or three governors with higher status above him...
But what if he still has the Phoenix Knights in his hands?
Even...what if he could use the Phoenix Knights to conquer more territory of his own?
Is it possible to become the governor of the Bacchus Empire?
His Majesty the Emperor has always been the smartest man. Governor Levius has always had a bad record. He has been able to hold the high position of Governor only because his family controls the Shadow Infantry...
So, what if I could hold on to the Phoenix Knights for a while longer and find a way to turn them into my own private army?
If they want to keep the Phoenix Knights in their grasp, the best way is of course to prevent the war from ending...
