Chapter 530 Our War (XII)
It took the Undead Army less than two days to penetrate the Principality of Lionel, and only half a day and one night to kill the border troops stationed in the western border of Kashmir, and also harmed half of the nobles in the earldom... The bad news reached the capital of Kashmir the next day, and the king, who was in his prime, almost died of anger on the spot like the eldest prince of Rhine.
"Thirty thousand soldiers! A twelve-man magician group! And a high-ranking priest! They were killed silently... That would be fine! But the Principality of Lionel was completely destroyed by a lone army in two days - how incompetent and useless they are!!"
His Majesty the King of Kashmir, one of the most powerful men in the Nosk Federation who sits in the front row of the Royal Council and is respectfully called King Basaro by the people of the Federation, was furious.
When the news of the destruction of the State Vanguard Army was broadcasted by the Innadelli Radio Station on August 7, King Basaro, who had lost contact with the Vanguard Army for more than 48 hours, felt something was wrong and immediately sent an airship to the eastern part of Odysseus to check the battle situation.
While the Undead Army was still running rampant in the Principality of Lionel, the Federation's airship reconnaissance force arrived at the eastern part of the Territory of Odysseus and the Vanguard Army's base, and saw the empty Allied camp from the air.
On August 8, when the Undead Army found the capital of the Principality and joyfully began to besiege it, news of the Vanguard Army's defeat and the Undead Army's entry into the Federation were simultaneously passed back to the Kashmir royal family.
King Barsaro had been on the throne of Kashmir for twenty years, but this was the first time he had encountered such a great humiliation...
"How dare the Nightmare Butcher invade our Federation border?! Who gave him the courage to provoke the Federation?!"
The furious King Barsaro immediately sent a telegram to Federal Marshal Haus Pritt Hunt, who was still reorganizing the army in the east of Cormier, ordering him to set out as soon as possible to help the Principality of Lionel fight the enemy.
The defeat of the vanguard army has brought shame to King Barsaro, who took the initiative to "take the job" and was in charge of the foreign expedition plan; if the Principality of Lionel, a younger brother that has always been loyal to the Kingdom of Kashmir, is harmed too badly by the undead army, the prestige of the Kashmir royal family will inevitably be questioned, which King Barsaro cannot tolerate.
The Federation has more than 20 states, large and small, and it is good enough if they can be united against the outside world, but it is impossible for them to be united internally... It's not that no one covets King Barsaro's authority in the Federation's highest parliament - the King's Parliament.
His Majesty the King was still angry, but he never expected that only one day later, new bad news came...
Overnight, all border troops in Mashu Territory in western Kashmir lost contact, and the nobles in half of Mashu Territory had their homes ransacked and looted, with widespread grief.
The tearful telegrams for help frightened the lord of Mashu. The old earl hastily sent two telegrams to the royal capital and the coalition forces that were gathering troops in the east for help. In the second half of the night, he fled with his family on a private airship.
King Barsaro hated the lord of the territory of Matthew for deserting the battlefield and the Principality of Lionel for not being strong enough. He also couldn't help but doubt the position of Grand Duke Lionel.
"Could it be that those idiots did it on purpose? They deliberately released the undead army into Kashmir?" It was hard for King Barsaro not to have such thoughts.
Although the Principality of Lionel is not very powerful, it can still gather together troops from all over the country and raise a garrison of more than 100,000 people; even if the number of Tarantan undead increases to an uncountable level, the garrison of more than 100,000 people with the home advantage should not be unable to hold out for a few more days, right?
Now is not the time to hold Archduke Lionel accountable; the most urgent task is to resolve the undead army that is wreaking havoc in the West as quickly as possible.
King Basaro suppressed his temper and sent telegrams requesting that the nobles of each territory send troops to the nearby territory of Mashu in the western border to meet the enemy, and urged Marshal Hunt to rush to Mashu as soon as possible to encircle the enemy.
Considering that the Nightmare Butcher might personally join the battle, King Barsalo hesitated for a moment and then made up his mind to call the Storm Church and ask the Inquisition to intervene.
King Barsalo was reluctant to ask the Inquisition to intervene... Although the Inquisition of the Church of the Storm was not as powerful as that of the Church of the Burning Sun, its greed was no less than that of the Inquisition of the Church of the Burning Sun. Once the Inquisition got involved, more of the war dividends would be distributed.
In order to ensure the recruitment of more elite troops to eradicate the Undead regime in one fell swoop, King Barsaro has given up a lot of foreseeable dividends, including the secret of Tarantan goods - anyway, given the status of the Kashmir royal family in the Federal Supreme Council, he won't lose much.
But now that the war has reached his own home, King Barcelona does not have many choices - destroying the enemy and stopping the losses as soon as possible is the best option, and everything else has to be put aside.
While King Barsaro was anxiously waiting for the Inquisition's response, the news that the Undead Army had penetrated the Principality of Lionel and invaded Kashmir, massacring the western territory of Mashu overnight spread like wildfire and quickly spread to all the territories of the kingdom.
In several towns near Maxiu's territory, those who were more informed packed up their belongings and took their families with them, hastily fleeing to the nearby countryside, the east, the royal capital, and other places.
Jeremy K. Bancroft, the younger brother of the "K Brothers", a group of well-known federal wood carving collectors, lives in the suburbs of the western port city of Narasee and runs a wood carving museum which was converted from his old house.
Early in the morning of August 9, people close to the Bancroft family called anxiously, reminding Jeremy to close the wood carving museum as soon as possible and take his family on the afternoon ferry to hide in the east.
"Why?" Jeremy was very confused.
The caller then remembered that this collector was only interested in things related to his wood carving collection, and hurriedly and solemnly introduced the "glorious deeds" of the Tarantan Undead invading the country and burning, killing and looting in the neighboring Maxiu Territory, and warned Jeremy that the Undead army could attack Narasi Port at any time -
"Impossible." Jeremy denied decisively, "My friend, the Tarantan Undead is not such a bloodthirsty monster. Perhaps you still remember that my eldest brother William died of an accident on the Rhine farm four years ago. It was the Tarantan Undead who investigated the truth behind William's death——"
The person who called was also in a hurry to pack up his belongings and escape, and when he saw that Jeremy was not interested, he hung up the phone.
"How rude." Jeremy frowned and put down the phone receiver, rolling up his sleeves and walking out of the room, ready to continue maintaining the collection.
Before the woodcarving collector could continue to indulge in his hobby, the butler who had gone out to buy things early in the morning came back in a hurry: "Master Jeremy, something bad has happened, Master Jeremy!"
"What's wrong?" Jeremy could only put down the small brush used to clean the wood carving and walked out of the workshop impatiently.
"People on the street are saying that the army of the undead is coming!" The housekeeper leaned against the wall and panted . "What do you think? Should we send the lady and the young master to the countryside first?"
"The Undead Army is coming? Has the news spread to the streets?" Jeremy asked in confusion.
"It's true. I just saw the people who escaped from Maxiu's territory overnight on the street." The butler said nervously.
Narasi Port is very close to Matthew Territory, and there is frequent traffic between the two places. Among Jeremy's customers there are also some guests from Matthew Territory.
First, a friend called to warn him, and then his own housekeeper brought back the same news in a panic. Even though Jeremy K. Bancroft firmly believed that the Tarantan ghosts were undead creatures that knew how to be friendly to humans, he couldn't help but feel nervous at this moment.
"No hurry, I'll go to the street first."
After thinking about it, Jeremy didn't jump to conclusions. He took a coat and went out, riding towards the city.
The Bancroft family's old house is about ten kilometers away from the city of Narasi Port. With Jeremy's horsemanship, it only takes ten minutes to get there.
After entering the city, Jeremy saw many more carriages with different noble family crests on the street; in front of several hotels not far from the free market, there were even more four-wheeled carriages parked, crowded with panic-stricken male and female servants and other servants of the wealthy families.
Jeremy only took his horse for a short walk around the West City when he heard several groups of frightened middle-class people who had just escaped from Matthew's territory asking around for empty houses to rent.
There are even more refugees who may think that Narasi Port is not safe either, and they are crowded near the port waiting to buy the nearest boat tickets...
Jeremy, feeling somewhat uneasy, hurriedly rode home and took out the letter he had received two years ago from Lord Innadri of the Rhine Kingdom.
The Bancroft family was a family of Lord Kashmir that originated from Jeremy's grandfather's generation. Unfortunately, Jeremy and his eldest brother William, who unfortunately died on the Rhine Farm, had an extremely prodigal father. By the time the brothers were in charge, the title of Lord, which was not hereditary, was not passed down, and there was not much wealth left in the family.
What's worse is that the only inheritance of his grandfather that had not been squandered by his father, the Red Wall Farm built in Innaderland in the Kingdom of the Rhine, was tragically destroyed after his eldest brother William personally went there to oversee its reclamation, which directly led to the death of Master William in a foreign land.
It was not until two years ago that the Tarantan Undead resolved the "Redwall Farm" incident, and the precious wood carvings taken away by his eldest brother and the transfer fee were returned by the Gold Coin Church. Only then did Jeremy, who was struggling to maintain his family business, recover.
Although the undead took away a lot of valuables after the incident was resolved...but if the incident had not been resolved, those things would not have been taken out of Redwall Farm, so Jeremy was really grateful from the bottom of his heart to those undead he had never met.
In the letter sent by the Night Watchman of Innadri, there was an investigation report written by the Undead (who wrote brilliantly) (the Night Watchman had rewritten it).
After reviewing the report, which detailed the process of resolving the incident and did not overly blame his elder brother William for causing the incident, Jeremy's heart became increasingly uncertain.
He didn't believe that a brutal person who regarded human life as worthless could write such a logical, well-organized and humane incident report, but the tense atmosphere on the street made it impossible for him to continue to insist on his opinion.
"Am I wrong? Are the Tarantan Undead just cold and ruthless dark creatures after all?"
Jeremy's mind was in a mess.
After struggling for a while, Jeremy suddenly felt something was wrong.
"Wait...why would the Tarantan Undead suddenly start a war against Kashmir?"
Realizing that he was missing too much key information, Jeremy quickly went to ask the butler.
The Bancrofts naturally had a radio, but Jeremy was usually busy organizing and maintaining his collection and rarely listened to it, but the housekeeper had a lot of free time.
"The Federation invaded the Rhine Kingdom?! When did it happen??"
After hearing the story from the housekeeper, Jeremy gasped.
"This...Innadri Radio Station just started reporting this incident a few days ago. When exactly did it start..." The butler looked embarrassed. The Bancroft family had long been kicked out of the aristocratic circle, and the only owner, Master Jeremy, devoted all his energy to collecting wood carvings. He was no more well-informed than the middle class in the city.
"Well - those idiots in the Federation will never be satisfied unless they make some noise." Jeremy raised his hand and pressed hard on his forehead.
After all, he was once the young master of a lord's family, so Jeremy still had the most basic judgment - looking at the radio made in Tarantin in his home, the Tarantin undead cloth on the dining table, the Tarantin mechanical watch on the old butler's wrist, and recalling the Tarantin spices in his own kitchen... Jeremy knew what the federal upper echelons were thinking about by interfering in the Rhine Civil War.
"Get the white flag ready. As soon as the Rhine army attacks, no matter if it's the Tarantan Ghost or not, hang the white flag in the yard." Jeremy sighed, "And find me a bigger picture frame. I want to frame the report written by the Tarantan Ghost."
On the afternoon of August 9, just as Jeremy's butler prepared the white flag, the army of the undead arrived at Narasi Port...
The people of Narasi Port had already been frightened by the fleeing Matthew and his men. As soon as the undead army appeared on the suburban streets, the locals screamed and ran away.
Players have long been accustomed to the "atmosphere group", ignoring the civilian NPCs who only make noise, and heading towards the urban area with a clear goal.
Passing by the Bancroft family's old house which was converted into a wood carving museum, the players glanced at the gate and the courtyard wall, and when they didn't see the noble family crest representing the "monster spawning point", they lost interest in the old house.
When Miaobishenghua passed by, he saw the nameplate on the door of Bancroft's house and mentioned it to his friend Yang Ying: "The NPC's last name Bancroft sounds familiar. I think I've seen it somewhere before?"
"Don't ask me. Foreigners' names and surnames are too long. I can't remember them." Yang Ying spread his hands.
