Chapter 415 Sometimes there is no need to fight
"… Your Majesty, Caspars, I hope your troops can successfully capture that abominable bastard…"
In the study of the Governor's Mansion, Alina was pitifully telling Kaspers how Leon had coerced her.
"Don't worry, dear. I have sent 3,000 men to chase him. That guy Li Ang can't get away!"
Caspers comforted the beauty in front of him with a confident smile.
Elena was whispering to Leon outside: "How did someone with this kind of brain become the 'vice emperor'?"
"Perhaps it is because of this kind of brain that he was able to become the vice emperor... Otherwise, how could the emperor of Maritim allow him to become so powerful..."
Li Ang also whispered.
In fact, the 'Elena' next to Leon is Alina, and it was Alina who fooled Kaspers at the dock before.
The pitiful girl in front of Kaspars was actually Elena...
The two of them did look alike and were both very beautiful, but if they just swapped their makeup , people who were not familiar with them would have trouble telling them apart. Besides, Kaspers had never seen them before.
The reason for exchanging identities was actually Elena's initiative.
As Alina's friend and best friend, Elena knew that Alina could never act like a 'weak woman who needs protection'.
When it comes to political strategy, Alina is naturally the best among women.
But when it comes to attracting men... that's not Alina's strong point.
Although she was very beautiful and there had been several men who had tried to propose to her, she had actually never acted coquettishly with any man in her life.
——Including Malbert, all the suitors were looking for Justus, because since she was fifteen, no man had embarrassed himself in front of her...
So Alina really doesn’t know how to seduce a man…she really has no experience.
In addition, Alina is a resolute and strong-willed person, and she speaks too bluntly, which sometimes makes people feel a little sharp - in short, she looks too independent and too smart, which makes people wary.
But Elena is a gentle lady with very soft behavior. If judged by the standards of ordinary aristocratic girls, Elena is more like a lady from a noble family - and the kind that easily arouses people's desire to protect her.
Of course, the most important thing is that Alina cannot stay in the Governor's Mansion forever.
She had to gather the surrounding troops and dispatch personnel to secretly regain control of the port, but Elena really couldn't do these things.
Therefore, Elena was left in the Governor's Mansion to keep Kaspars hanging so that she could sneak out to do her business.
Elena's behavior now really looked like a lady who was almost bullied by a villain - she didn't cry, but she showed grievance and unwillingness from time to time; she didn't deliberately seduce Caspers, but her soft voice and graceful figure always made Caspers' eyes go straight without realizing it.
This is a skill that Alina will never be able to learn in her lifetime...
In fact, the main reason lies in the word experience.
In the past few years, Elena was a servant of Emperor Marius - she was not a maid, but a servant left by Elena for Emperor Marius. She was a formal servant and belonged to the guard formed by Elena. Her brother Brutus was the captain of the guard.
Although she usually worked beside Emperor Marius and most people didn't know her existence, the guard members came into contact with her every day. As the only girl in the guard, and a beautiful and gentle noble girl, Elena naturally faced numerous suitors.
The guards who like Elena account for at least half of the entire guard...
Elena was not opposed to the pursuit of her by her brother's more reliable guards, but due to her previous experience of being persecuted by nobles, Elena was cautious about men and had not accepted anyone until now.
But she also didn't want to hurt the guards' feelings, and she had a relatively mild temper, so she wouldn't easily reject anyone...
As a result, Elena became a sea king with many suitors but keeping a distance from every suitor.
Yes, from Leon's point of view, Elena is a sea king.
But in this era, this is actually a very normal thing for beautiful aristocratic girls.
Most noble ladies would do this when facing multiple suitors, that is, not agreeing, not refusing, not flattering, not offending, not being intimate, not being distant... the six principles of "no".
Unless they are engaged, they will keep a distance from any suitor - this is not just for the sake of becoming a sea king, but for the dignity and safety of the family.
Of course, if you meet someone you really like, it will be different.
Elena now only regarded Kaspers as a suitor, and she applied the "six no's" principle thoroughly.
As a favored child of Maritim, Kaspars, who had been smooth sailing since he was eighteen, had certainly seen many girls, but he had never really gotten along with a woman.
After all, it was always women who took the initiative to throw themselves into men's arms.
Caspers was an arrogant and domineering person, and his way of pursuing girls was usually through threats or force - just like the letter he wrote to Justus last year to persuade her to surrender.
And now, I suddenly met a gentle and beautiful Sea King...
Elena was so beautiful, had such a good attitude, spoke softly, and looked so pitiful, so of course Kaspers had to "protect her".
Therefore, under the joint deception of Leon and Elena, Kaspars sent out 3,000 people to chase "Leon" from all directions, including 500 cavalrymen brought all the way from Maritim.
Of course, he himself did not leave Dilingang - he was reluctant to leave his 'poor fiancée Alina'...
Currently, Kaspers has only left 1,500 troops in Dilingang, 1,000 of whom are responsible for maintaining the city's defense and 500 are guarding the Governor's Palace.
Two-thirds of the Maritine troops have been temporarily transferred.
Elena's current identity is Alina, and she is the 'soon-to-be queen'. Kaspers will neither force her nor harm her life, so her safety is guaranteed.
Alina left Dilingang in the name of Elena - she was going to organize the people around Dilingang to "welcome the new king" and to "buy some supplies for the banquet".
Li Ang also successfully left Dilingang as Ales - he wanted to "return to Boshi City to persuade Justus and treat his injuries by the way."
Caspar even sent twenty soldiers and a carriage to protect his "brother-in-law" back to Boshi City...
At night, the emperor was more than twenty miles outside the port.
"Your Majesty, we have killed them all. Not one escaped. What do we do now?"
Klose carried a bloody sword and checked the twenty or so bodies of the Maritim people on the ground one by one, then ran to Leon to report.
Those were the twenty Maritim warriors who were responsible for escorting Leon back to Boshi City.
"Kloser, do you remember Thrindir?"
Leon looked at the bodies of the Maritim soldiers on the ground.
"Of course, that's where the Silver Hand was founded!"
Klose nodded: "But... that's not a good place..."
"Find a few smart brothers, put on the armor of the Maritim people and go to the Imperial Port to report that the large army has found Leon in Serindir, probably trying to escape by boat... The others are now rushing to Buyulin to find Alina and listen to her instructions..."
Li Ang began to explain the plan to his brothers one by one.
…
On the other side, Alina has appeared in Buyulin Village.
"Miss Alina, Sigismund has already led away the Maritim troops coming this way according to the instructions of His Majesty Leon and you. The number of the enemy is about one thousand, and they were led to the north by Sigismund two hours ago."
Sir Loris of the Glorious Cross Knights explained the current situation: "The scouts they sent to Dilingang to deliver the message have been intercepted by us. There should be no one missed."
The one thousand Maritines were part of the troops that Kaspers sent out to "pursue Leon". He sent out a total of three thousand people, divided into three directions to pursue.
In the previous Battle of Buyulin, there were too many wounded soldiers in the Free Corps, and Sigismund had originally stayed in the village of Buyulin to treat the wounded.
Before Kaspars met Leon, Sammer had already gone to Buyulin village to pass on a message to Sigismund, asking him and the Knights of the Radiant Cross to be on the lookout at all times, and if they encountered any Maritine troops approaching, to use Leon's flag to lead them away.
If the Maritim people would send someone back to Dilingang to deliver a message, we would let the Glorious Cross Knights, who are familiar with the terrain, intercept and kill them.
Now it seems that the job has been done.
"There should be five hundred Maliteen cavalry coming as well. How many people did Sigismund take with him? Will he be caught up by those Maliteen people?"
Alina was a little worried, after all, the troops here were basically all wounded.
"Sigismund only brought more than a hundred scouts, but I don't think the cavalry of Maritim can catch up with him. The scouts under that guy run faster than the cavalry..."
Loris said with admiration on his face.
Indeed, Sigismund has now become a professional at luring enemies. His subordinates, especially the scouts who lured the Fallen in the past, have all become sprinters.
"Then forget about him. Let the thousand Maliteins go to the Noldor Forest to slowly search for Leon..."
Alina nodded: "Organize the wounded and gather those who can move... I have to return to Dilingang quickly."
At present, there are about 800 lightly wounded soldiers who are able to move in Buyulin Village, and more than 200 seriously injured. Basically all of them are Li Ang's subordinates, and most of them are members of the Free Corps.
The seriously injured are not suitable for movement and of course have to stay in the village.
The brothers who were slightly injured have already stopped bleeding and bandaged their wounds. This is enough for normal marches, but it is definitely not suitable for combat.
"Most of the wounded are still unable to fight..."
Loris probably thought that Alina was going to use the wounded to fight.
"No, I don't want them to fight. I just want them to transfer these wounded soldiers to Dilingang. I just want them to bring the equipment here to Dilingang."
Alina shook her head: "We have to set off immediately. We have to arrive at Dilingang in the middle of the night... Li Ang can probably only buy us one day, from midnight to tomorrow night."
The Battle of Buyulin killed several thousand Snake Worshipers, and together with the members of the Shadow Legion who died with Agasson, a large number of horses, weapons, armor and other equipment were left behind.
But Loris still didn't understand: "We only have more than a hundred knights capable of fighting now, and the plague repellents are all in Siyuan City... You want to use more than a hundred knights to take back Dilingang?"
"Of course not... We still have the Silver Hand and nearly 10,000 residents in Imperial Harbor..."
Alina shook her head. "You are the Knights of Glory. Your appeal is much greater than mine, probably second only to His Majesty Marius... All you need to do is show up in the residential area of Imperial Port and let the residents follow you."
Loris frowned and was silent for a while: "Alina, you bring the equipment back, do you want civilians to fight? Untrained civilians..."
"No, don't get me wrong, Loris. I won't be planning any more civilian uprisings... I just want the residents to put on their equipment and stand with you on the walls of Dilingang."
Alina shook her head and smiled: "Sometimes victory doesn't require fighting."
…
After nightfall.
Emperor Lingang, Governor's Office.
Caspers, who was hanging around Elena, began to receive various good news one after another.
"Your Majesty, the troops chasing west have found Leon's trail. He is now in a deserted village called Serindir, 200 miles to the west, with more than 300 people around him. But his guards are very powerful. We only have 1,000 people there, so we may not be able to surround him... We don't know where the troops in other directions are now. For the sake of safety, please send reinforcements."
A leading lieutenant came to report.
"He really caught up with me? Hahahaha... Do you know what Thrindir is, Alina?"
Caspers was in a good mood because Elena had always been gentle and even a little ambiguous towards him.
"That's a deserted fishing port... Li Ang is probably trying to escape by boat! Your Majesty, don't let him get away!"
Elena looked a little resentful, as if she was determined to put Leon to death...
"Hahaha... Fishing port? If he tries to escape on a boat, my fleet will make him feed the fish!"
Caspars took out the map and looked at it. "Go and send a message, have the fleet go to Serindir... Wait a minute, Alina, do you want to see that bastard captured by me?"
"Why? Your Majesty, I don't know how to fight..."
Elena is a little panicked now.
"No, there is no war. I just want you to accompany me on the ship - we will sail to Thrindir."
Kaspars smiled and said, "Don't you want to see my flagship?"
"But it's night time now... I can imagine how the men on the warship will stare at me at night... Your Majesty, fighting is a man's job. I'm waiting here for you to capture Li Ang."
Elena frowned slightly and shook her head in rejection.
"That's true..."
Caspar sighed with some regret. Elena's reason was very sufficient for a man - the army was full of men, and they were all men who had just finished a long voyage and had not seen women for a long time...
"Don't worry, I will catch him and make him repent at your feet... I will be back tomorrow night."
Caspers picked up his mask and helmet and went out: "Gather the fleet and prepare to set off!"
Elena let out a long breath.
Soon after, the Maritine fleet headed west, and Kaspars left only 500 men to guard the Imperial Port.
And 'Elena', also known as Alina, returned to the north gate of Dilingang with more than a hundred 'farmers' and dozens of carts of 'supplies'.
