Chapter 252: New Marshal
In order to take control of the Phoenix Knights, Titus did not go to Siyuan City, but put his idea into action.
Taking advantage of the fact that Sava River Fort was attacked, he once again provoked a revenge war against the Kingdom of Sarleon and the Principality of D'Shar.
He led the Phoenix Knights and attacked the Sarleon Kingdom in the name of "revenge". He wandered around Sarleon and provoked Sir Rayman who was stationed at Qicha Fortress.
Afterwards, he went to Turda Fortress in the Desha Principality, killed many Desha people, and seduced several Desha lords.
He wants to provoke a large-scale war between the three countries.
Because the three forces will be involved with each other, this will actually be better for Titus's goal than facing only one hostile force.
Putting aside the timing of his provoking a large-scale war, this tactical idea was actually a good one. It was to induce the enemies to kill each other, expand the scale of the war, and then take advantage of the situation by occupying a strong city like Sava River Fort.
This was originally intended to gradually turn the Phoenix Knights, which did not belong to him, into his private army through continuous fighting, and to use the expansion of the scale of the war around the Sava River Castle as an excuse to urge Emperor Marius to give him greater authority and freedom.
But Titus did intend to conquer more territory for the Bacchus Empire and gain an advantageous position for the empire in the west - because in his opinion, the lord of the Fierce Lion Empire, Leon, had taken over two border counties in the northeast of the Bacchus Empire. Since the situation on the northeastern border of the empire was worrying, he should create good conditions in the west.
Titus did not intend to commit treason. He understood Emperor Marius and knew that the decisions made by Emperor Marius were always made to benefit the Bacchus Empire.
He knew that as long as he did not commit treason and considered the interests of the empire, Emperor Marius would not care about his own military power - just like Kairos, even though Kairos had always opposed Marius' reforms, but because Kairos had always been thinking about the country, he still held the highest position.
Of course, Kairos was now confused because of his son, but Titus didn't know it.
Titus was not in the country during the most chaotic period of the Bacchus Empire. He was unaware of the current situation of the Bacchus Empire. The major legions of the Bacchus Empire had basically been defeated, and he did not know that the cavalry of the Legion of Terror had actually landed in advance. He thought that the entire Legion of Terror had been killed by him at sea.
In Titus' eyes, Bacchus was still the powerful empire. Fighting both the Kingdom of Sarleon and the Principality of D'Shar at the same time was a routine operation for the Bacchus Empire...
And at this time, General Agathon came to the Lela Fortress. The reason why Agathon was able to reorganize the troops of the Lela Fortress so easily was because the soldiers of the Lela Fortress had heard that the Sava River Fort had started a large-scale war again.
Agathon, who knew the current actual situation of the empire, was of course very panicked. He knew very well that the current situation of the Bacchus Empire was absolutely not suitable for triggering a war between the three countries.
If the war continues and its scale continues to expand, turning into a long-term national war between the three countries, then given the current state of the Bacchus Empire, it is almost certain to lose.
Although the root of all this was indeed the betrayal of the Kingdom of Sarleon and the opportunistic looting of the Principality of D'Shar, the Bacchus Empire was in ruins at the moment, and the matter of Sava River Fort should be tolerated.
But since everything has happened and the war has already started in Sava River Fort, there is no way out for Agasson - the Bacchus Empire must win this war quickly because it cannot show the other countries that Bacchus is weak.
Once the Kingdom of Sarleon and the Principality of Desha discover that the Bacchus Empire is so weak at the moment, it will be all over - if other countries see that the Bacchus Empire is weak and dare not fight for a long time, they will not even give it a chance to negotiate.
In this situation, the only way out is to launch a thundering strike and end the war in the fastest and most fierce way. It must not be dragged into a protracted war.
But it was really difficult for Agasson to operate at this time.
Kairos, with the main force of the Shadow Legion following him, tracked down the Snake Cult on the border of D'Shar;
Emperor Marius drove those illegal armed forces into D'Shar territory, and the Shadow Wolves were also sent to D'Shar to obtain horses. Siyuan City is currently empty, and the Immortal Legion cannot move;
The First Imperial Army was crippled by the rebels in Boshi City, and it would take at least several months to rebuild;
In order to quickly roll out the Red Death vaccination, the Knights of the Radiant Cross were unable to spare any manpower, and General Cleon's exorcists were also tied up;
Meanwhile, at Dilingang, Justus and the Imperial Guards were negotiating with the serf general Ivaylo, trying their best to avoid a new serf uprising.
In addition, Dilingang is thousands of miles away from Sava River Fort, so even if Justus properly resolved the issue of Ivaylo, he would not be able to get here in a short time.
The most powerful legions of the entire Bacchus Empire were unable to participate in the battle of Sava River Fort...
The Bacchus Empire can only face the armies of two countries at the same time with the more than 1,000 troops newly reorganized by Agathon in the Leila Fortress, as well as the troops under General Titus and the Phoenix Knights...
Moreover, Agathon knew that he had to quickly reinforce Sava River Castle. If Titus and the Phoenix Knights did not receive reinforcements for too long, they might think that the Empire had abandoned them. What if Titus made up his mind to rebel against the Empire with the Phoenix Knights?
Perhaps every brilliant hero is a gambler, such as Emperor Marius and General Agathon.
While sending people to report the situation to Emperor Marius, Agathon sent out all the troops he had just reorganized. Except for a few wounded soldiers guarding the gate, basically no one was left in the Lera Fortress.
His troops consisted of only a thousand men, and since they were newly reorganized, they were not very skilled in coordinating with each other.
But Agathon implemented an extremely bold tactic - he personally led the troops, sneaked across the river at night, and launched a surprise attack on the Qicha Fortress!
Sir Leiman, the lord of Qicha Fortress, was stationed at the bridge over the Sava River at the time. In order to maintain control of the bridge, Leiman carefully arranged a large number of troops to patrol both ends of the bridge.
But no one expected that Agathon's troops would cross the river between Seren Village and Qicha Fortress and land at the end of winter and the beginning of spring when the river water was the coldest, and make a big circle in one night and get behind Qicha Fortress.
You have to know that this is not the southern part of the Bacchus Empire, this is the center of the entire continent, the climate is not that hot. In February and March, the ice in the upper reaches of the Sava River has just begun to thaw, and the river water is icy cold. No one knows how Agasson can sneak across the river with a group of newly reorganized troops at this time.
The location chosen by Agathon for crossing the river was also very clever.
Since Karen Deer Fort was already under the control of Li Ang at this time, Seren Village, sandwiched between Qicha Fortress and Karen Deer Fort, was originally considered a safe hinterland. Most people were engaged in construction during this period, and the nighttime defenses were not very strict.
At present, Anson is still organizing border checkpoints at Karen Deer Castle to ensure that the Red Death does not spread. In addition, there is the Qicha Fortress to the west, so the patrol team is not arranged to the west of Salem Village, so as to avoid any conflict between the Bacchus people who have just moved into Salem Village and the Qicha Fortress.
Sir Leiman of Qicha Fortress probably had the same idea. After learning that Leon had captured Karen Deer Castle, Leiman did not send patrols to the east of Qicha Fortress - also to avoid misunderstandings. Leiman did not want Leon to think that he had any plans for his newly occupied territory...
As a result, Agasson passed through the gap between the two places, and then launched a surprise attack from the north gate behind the Qicha Fortress that no one expected.
Qicha Fortress had also been controlling the Red Death some time ago. Dead bodies had been being transported and burned outside the north gate. In addition, Leiman brought a large force to the bridgehead, leaving insufficient garrisons in the fortress. As a result, Agasson managed to sneak in under the guise of "reinforcements" and then controlled the entire Qicha Fortress from the inside.
This surprise attack shook the entire continent in a very short period of time - Qicha Fortress had never been captured by anyone since its construction!
Even when the first emperor of Bacchus, Osa the Conqueror, led tens of thousands of troops to roam the continent of Pendor, he stayed in front of this fortress for a whole year and finally withdrew his troops and stopped the war.
Such a result was naturally more attractive than the fight against the Snake Cult in Bacchus, and General Agasson became the most dazzling general in the entire continent for a time.
But he is also the most dangerous general...
After occupying the Seven Forks Fortress, Agathon sent an envoy to Sarleon before anyone could react, demanding in strong terms that King Ulric sign an armistice agreement and pay a war reparation of one million dinars in exchange for his withdrawal from the Seven Forks Fortress.
This operation was of course intended to prevent the Sarleon Kingdom from seeing the true colors of the Bacchus Empire, and to end the war as soon as possible as a victor, or to divert the Sarleon Kingdom's war goal to "recapture the Qicha Fortress".
The Seven Forks Fortress is not only a symbol of victory in the founding war, but also the gateway to the capital of the Kingdom of Sarleon. Everyone knows its importance. If the Seven Forks Fortress is captured, the capital Sarleon will be directly exposed to the enemy.
This will cause the residents of the entire capital's economic circle to lose their sense of security, and a large number of nobles and merchants will flee as a result. If Qicha Fortress cannot be recaptured in a short period of time, the indirect losses caused will be immeasurable.
Moreover, everyone in Sarleon would probably misjudge the strength of Agasson's troops because of his tough words. In the eyes of most people, it would take at least several thousand elite troops to capture the Qicha Fortress, right?
This means that it would be difficult to recapture the Qicha Fortress through fighting in the short term. After all, General Osa, with his tens of thousands of troops, failed to capture the thousands of troops guarding the Qicha Fortress led by Grand Duke Alfred of the Fierce Lion.
In addition, the current state of the Sarleon Kingdom is not particularly good. Two powerful dukes have passed away one after another. The Lion Knights suffered heavy losses a few months ago and have not recovered yet. Duke Brennus has just been crippled by Titus and the Phoenix Knights...
If it were in the past, Ulrich would probably agree to Agathon's conditions, using one million dinars in exchange for Agathon's withdrawal from the Qicha Fortress, admitting defeat and declaring a ceasefire.
But Agathon probably didn't expect that King Ulric was very poor now...
The price of one million dinars was not high. Agathon was actually asking for the lowest price. Agathon was also worried that Ulrich would fight him to the death...
But if the asking price is any lower, it would be really outrageous. The Qicha Fortress is not some remote town. It is a large-scale and solid bastion that has never been conquered before. The cost of building it back then was more than one million dinars.
To be honest, even King Ulrich himself felt that Agathon's asking price was not high, and it was probably just a revenge for his previous violation of the agreement and attack on the Sava River Castle.
But the problem is that although this one million dinars is not much, Ulrich really can't take it out now...
Logically speaking, it is the beginning of the year now, the national treasury has just received the tax money not long ago, and has not yet distributed all of it, so the treasury should have money.
But the problem is that King Ulric owed a lot of usury last year - he spent a lot of money to find a noble girl from Noldor, and spent a lot of money to buy off the rebels of the Bacchus Empire. All this money was borrowed from various lords...
Originally, Ulrich had no intention of repaying the money he borrowed, but the domestic situation was not good in the second half of last year, and he was afraid that his throne would be unstable if he did not repay the money... So at the beginning of the year, Ulrich embezzled taxes from the national treasury to repay the money.
At the same time, the reconstruction of the Lion Knights, which had suffered heavy losses, cost a large amount of dinars - King Ulric knew too well how much this army meant to him. It was only after the reconstruction of the Lion Knights ten years ago that he truly took control of the entire country. No matter how much money he spent, he had to restore this royal knight order to its original state.
The Royal Knights needed to be respectable, and the Minister of Finance did not dare to refuse the reconstruction expenses of the Lion Knights. Dinars were spent like water, and part of it was secretly swallowed up by Duke Brunus...
This has been the routine for the past ten years. Brunus is greedy for money, and Ulrich knows it very well.
But the reason why Brunus was so loyal to the king and why Ulric trusted Brunus so much was because of this convention...
So King Ulrich is really poor now. He has hundreds of thousands of dinars, but every penny has a place to go. It is really impossible for him to take out an extra million dinars.
Ulrich's idea of attacking the Sava River Castle was actually to make up for some profits from the Bacchus Empire - Brunus was not just taking advantage of the situation for himself, he had to hand over half of his gains to Ulrich.
He couldn't afford the money, but he had to take back the Seven Forks Fortress. Otherwise, many wealthy families around Sarleon City would flee, causing greater economic losses. So King Ulric had no choice but to choose to retake it by force.
As a result, the entire Kingdom of Sarleon was basically fully mobilized. King Ulric issued a royal decree, declaring war on the Bacchus Empire again and summoning all lords to the vicinity of Qicha Fortress.
At this time, Li Ang met the king's envoy in Changhe Town.
"…Earl Leon has made great contributions to the expansion of the country's territory and is truly a role model for the kingdom's lords…Now that the country is in danger and the enemy is arrogant and domineering, the whole country hopes that Earl Leon will lead the army to defeat the powerful enemy…In accordance with the decree of His Majesty, in accordance with the glory of the goddess Eunomia and the will of the late king, Earl Leon is appointed as the kingdom's marshal…"
After a long conversation, the eunuch in charge of conveying the king's order handed Leon a gorgeous scroll and took out a short-handled silver scepter with both hands.
That is the authority of the Marshal of the Sarleon Kingdom.
Ulrich appointed Leon as marshal, and the primary combat goal was to recapture the Qicha Fortress.
The lord had only casually mentioned that he would be appointed marshal, but he did not expect that his words would come true - although it was not too surprising, he did not expect it to happen so soon.
