Chapter 348 Insa’s secret hand
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"Joshua, I think you owe me an explanation."
Xue Yan sat behind the table, staring at the lizard man and said slowly.
He is 44 years old. His many years as a horse thief did not make him look particularly old, but it only left him with a bronzed skin.
There is a red eye patch on his head, covering his right eye; while his left eye is a very common brown.
Seeing Joshua's silence, Meng Ngar showed a trace of dissatisfaction in his eyes.
His right thumb pursed his plump lips:
"Joshua, how can we cooperate if you continue like this?"
Joshua is a lizard man who is now over 110 years old.
Based on the lizard man's lifespan of 200 years, Joshua has just reached middle age.
Like its kind, its body was covered with green scales, and a thick tail pierced through the armor and swayed behind its back.
The tricorn hat he wears on his head symbolizes his status as a "pirate general".
The most eye-catching thing is the center of his eyebrows. Among the green scales, there is a cluster of white mixed scales.
Black vertical pupils fell on Menggar's face, and his slender black tongue hissed:
"What do you want me to explain?"
"Why did today's siege still fail in vain?" Meng Engar whispered:
"We already agreed when formulating the tactics yesterday that today we want your Lizardman Legion to be the main force and transport the siege equipment there!"
Joshua glanced at Mongar:
"But the premise is that your horse thief must firmly attract the other party's attention."
"What's the result?"
"You dispatched 10,000 people. In a whole day, you only erected 14 pontoon bridges. They were built faster than others could demolish them. In this case, if you want my people to take over, are you asking for help? Did they freeze to death in the river in vain? ”
Meng Ngar looked a little ugly when he heard this, because what Joshua said was all the truth.
There is no other way, after all, Meng Ngar's men are all horse thieves, and it can be said that bullying the weak and fearing the strong is engraved in their bones.
If he asked the horse thieves to burn, kill, and plunder, the horse thieves would definitely listen; but if he asked them to abide by military disciplines and follow orders and prohibitions, their swords would not necessarily face which way.
Thinking of this, Menggal's attitude softened:
"I know it's my fault. Let's do this. Tomorrow I will mobilize more of those untouchables who have taken over and try to build more floating bridges..."
"You humans are really cold-blooded in how you treat your compatriots." Joshua snorted coldly:
"But it's your business what you want to do."
"Anyway, I will judge the situation myself. If it is not safe enough, my Holy Blood Legion will not be dispatched again."
Meng Engal's face was a little gloomy: "Joshua, don't go too far!"
"Am I going too far?" Joshua's cold eyes revealed an angry sneer: "I have restrained myself enough."
"Have you forgotten what happened when we invaded Eagle Town?"
Mongar was suffocated once again.
Trust does not break down in a day.
On the day they invaded Eagle Town, the "Holy Blood Legion" composed of lizardmen finally captured the three-layer perimeter defense line. His horse thieves could no longer sit still and rushed into Eagle Town regardless.
In the process, many lizardmen were impacted, and he also suffered a lot of losses.
Afterwards, rough statistics showed that more than 70 lizard men died at the hands of the horse thieves that day, and the number of vicious horse thieves who died at the hands of the lizard men was no less than several hundred.
What makes Menggar even more worried is that the people in Eagle Town evacuated too quickly, leaving not many valuable things at all. If they were divided up by his subordinates, not much would be left, and only a few would be left in his hands. One hundred gold coins were not enough to compensate Joshua.
He even posted a lot of money himself!
"But this is not the way to go." Menggal said:
"Don't forget the real purpose of our visit this time."
"If we can't take Eagle City, all the sacrifices we made before will really be wasted!"
Joshua took a deep breath, stood up and walked out:
"I know."
"But that goal is not worth the infinite sacrifices of my people to achieve."
"As I said before, let your people play their role!
Otherwise, I would rather withdraw to Slaver's Bay! ”
Watching Joshua's tail dragging long traces on the ground, and waiting for Joshua to leave the room, Mongar hit the table hard, with murderous intent bursting out of his eyes:
"Damn reptile!"
Joshua returned to his camp.
Entering the room, a rather old-looking lizard man with grayish scales walked up, took the three-cornered hat from Joshua, and hung it on the shelf next to him.
"You look unhappy?" the old lizard man asked.
"Uncle Rousseau, it has been almost half a month since we arrived at Eagle Territory today." Joshua's tail rested weakly on the ground:
"Not only has there been no progress at all, but 319 of our tribesmen have been killed or injured. All of this is due to Meng'ar's incompetence. How can I be happy?"
"Now, every night, those dead tribesmen will come to my dream. They do nothing but look at me quietly."
Rousseau stretched out his right hand, whose scales had begun to peel off, and held Joshua's arm tightly:
"My child, they are eagerly looking forward to it. You can lead the remaining tribesmen to complete their unfinished business."
The reason why Menggar wanted to attack the Eagle Territory and why Joshua, a pirate, appeared inland were all for similar reasons.
Revan's offensive in Eivor made the Insa Empire feel threatened.
Their proposal to send troops to help Eivor was also rejected by the Feton city-states.
Therefore, Insa found Monngar and contacted Joshua.
Hopefully, they can capture Eagle City to distract Raven from having to evacuate Eivor.
If he can achieve his goal, Mongar can clear his identity and become a noble of the Insa Empire.
And Joshua will also get a territory of his own in Insa.
For Joshua, the title of noble is not important. What he wants is a land where his people can freely reproduce and live.
Even though the lizard people are more robust than the human race, due to the fact that their historical inheritance is basically cut off and reproduction is relatively difficult, they have always been at the bottom of the slave bay where they are enslaved and discriminated against.
It wasn't until Joshua gained extraordinary power, established his own pirate power, and grew bigger step by step that the lizards found an initial place to stay.
But this is not a long-term solution.
If the lizard people want to awaken to become extraordinary, the process is much more complicated than that of humans. God-given medicine has no effect on them at all.
Even Joshua himself was at a loss as to how he awakened the extraordinary power - after a certain dream, he suddenly gained power.
That is the awakening from the bloodline.
This is not stable, at least none of Joshua's own three children have successfully awakened.
Once Joshua dies one day, the tribe will inevitably fall apart under external pressure. That's why Joshua accepted Insa's conditions, which would allow his people to leave the dangerous environment of Slaver's Bay and go to an independent paradise to thrive in peace.
"I've been thinking lately whether my decision this time was wrong." Joshua sighed: "If I fail, how will I face the people who have high expectations for me? Their families, but Still waiting for them to go back.”
"Don't think so much." Rousseau patted the back of Joshua's hand: "What you need now is to have a good sleep."
"Believe in yourself."
"After all, in the past hundred years, you have never made a wrong decision!"
Joshua nodded, took off his armor, returned to the bed and lay down.
Rousseau put out the brazier in the tent, wrapped himself in a blanket and exited the tent.
But Joshua did not sleep.
He sat up, his eyes glowing blue in the dark night.
After thinking for a long time, he got up and got out of bed, took out a piece of paper and pen, and wrote a letter. After carefully checking and reviewing it, he took off a white scale on his forehead and stuck it inside, and then stuffed the letter into his body. under the pillow.
……
This book was recently updated in ##六@@九@@书@@!! Updated!
On the same night, a meeting was also held in Eagle City.
In addition to Nancy and Denise, Old Gordon, Judra, Broca, Wessassin, Mrs. Doreen, and other Snow Maple County nobles including Sereva were all present.
Judra was still sitting at the far end of the long table.
Fiona is responsible for recording the meeting.
But now she was so free that she kept turning her pen, and there were only two lines of text on the parchment in front of her.
The atmosphere was as oppressive as a funeral.
Nancy only needs to think about strategies to retreat from the enemy, but these nobles have a lot to think about.
A considerable number of nobles, led by Israel Wa, after resisting the horse thieves' offensive, hoped that Nancy would contact Raven as soon as possible and let Raven lead his army to return for reinforcements.
Otherwise, once the city is destroyed, they will all be buried with it.
But Nancy insisted on her own opinion and refused all requests for help from Raven.
Nobles like Sereva had other thoughts, such as quietly sending people out of the city, or publicizing the situation through the Sky Eagle platform.
But there are hippogryphs hovering and patrolling in the sky above Eagle City all the time, making it impossible for people to get out.
As for the Skyhawk platform, it is completely controlled by the Griffith family. Nancy has the final say on what content can be put on it.
This makes Sereva and others very desperate - Nancy and Raven maintain communication. As long as Nancy and others kill Eagle City and remain safe, Raven will not be able to listen to the news spread among the people.
And if they really wanted to break up with Nancy, they wouldn't have the guts.
Not to mention, things haven't reached that critical moment yet.
Regardless, Nancy herself is a level 3 magician, so they may not be able to defeat her.
Even if it succeeds, when Raven turns around and comes back, it won't just be the horse thieves who will be killed - Raven dares to even attack Eivor, is it possible that he can spare them?
Therefore, every time Nancy held a meeting and wanted them to make suggestions and formulate a plan to retreat from the enemy, the atmosphere would become so deserted.
"Eh..."
Nancy sighed inwardly.
Just when she thought that today's meeting was going to end in vain, someone came in and reported:
"Mrs. Nancy, my lords, Viscount John has led his army to support us!"
Nancy's eyes lit up: "Invite Viscount John in quickly!"
Soon, Viscount John came to the conference room.
This old knight seemed to have arrived all night and night. His armor was even covered with a layer of frost, which slowly melted away when he arrived in Eagle City, leaving circles of water stains as he walked.
"I'm sorry, Viscount John." Nancy stood up and performed a skirt-raising ceremony in a serious manner:
"You have just arrived. I really shouldn't invite you so hastily, but..."
Viscount John exhaled: "Ms. Nancy, you don't have to be so polite."
"The reason why I came here is to relieve the predicament of Eagle City. I even thought that I came too late. I didn't come as soon as I got the news. How could I refuse a meeting?"
"What's going on now?"
Nancy was relieved to get to the point this time.
Viscount John was well-known and a veteran general. He participated in the "Frontier Campaign" when he was young.
There was no one with more military experience than him.
When the nobles, especially Sereva and others, saw the arrival of Viscount John, they suddenly became angry and began to complain.
Both inside and outside the words, there is an implication that Nancy does not understand military affairs but is giving random orders.
They all wanted Viscount John to take the lead in making the proposal and tell Raven the seriousness of the matter.
"Quiet!" Nancy frowned: "How can Viscount John hear clearly with such a busy chatter?"
After this period of time, Nancy also accumulated some dignity. As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately became quiet.
"Hey, shut up, just shut up." Seleva thought to himself: "Anyway, if John wasn't a fool, he would definitely agree with us!"
Next, under the auspices of Nancy, messages were placed in front of Viscount John.
This includes, but is not limited to, the opponent's troop configuration, camp situation, the battle situation and results during this period, and so on.
After reading and digesting these messages one by one, Viscount John fell into deep thought while looking at the map in Nancy's expectant eyes.
First, he took action and adjusted a few small flags with incorrect information. Viscount John pointed at the map and asked, "Is this the enemy's food station?"
"Now that you have found the place to store grain, and you have a lot of hippogryph cavalry, why don't you throw tinder from the air and burn it directly?"
Nancy immediately said: "We have also considered this, but although the other party's grain and grass are densely stocked, they are covered with large pieces of stone cloth to prevent fire, and there are archers guarding them."
"Throwing objects from high altitude has no effect, and if you want to get close and set fire, you can't break through the opponent's long-range defense."
Stone cloth, also called asbestos and asbestos, is indeed a commonly used fire prevention measure in the military.
Viscount John nodded, his eyes wandered on the map for a while, then walked to the window and looked at the opponent's camp in the distance:
"I read the previous battle reports. It seems that there is no harmony between the horse thieves and the pirates?"
Nancy walked to John: "Yes, on the first day, when they invaded Eagle Town, a small-scale internal strife broke out."
"After that, the cooperation between the two sides was very unfamiliar. Sometimes, they would even intentionally beggar their neighbors and hold each other back. Otherwise, it would not be so easy to defend the city."
Viscount John did not doubt this, because it could be seen from how the other party set up camp.
Although the camps of both sides are far apart, they share the same food storage point. It is obvious that they do not trust each other and are not confident that the food is in the hands of the other party.
And this is exactly the gap worth taking advantage of.
……
(End of chapter)