Chapter 5 The Princess’s Decision
The territory in the northeast of the Kingdom of Aldo is adjacent to the Rocky Mountains, the highest mountain range in the known world. Between this majestic mountain range and the hinterland of the kingdom, there is a vast expanse of land. Plateau, people are used to call it the Eastern Highlands.
De jure, this area also belongs to the kingdom, but it is dotted with large and small uncivilized barbarian tribes. Some of these tribes nominally submit to the kingdom, but some are rebellious and often attack at the border. Make trouble.
However, due to the complex terrain, difficulty in supply, and altitude sickness, the kingdom has been unable to do anything to them.
Fortunately, these tribes do not belong to each other and are scattered. Relying on the mutual restraint of the tribes who submitted to them, no big problems have arisen.
But this year is different from usual. At the time of spring plowing, tribes of all sizes, all those who have never dealt with the kingdom, actually started to attack together.
The troops stationed in the border areas were caught off guard. When the news reached Jingyao Castle, the situation in the highlands was already very corrupt.
After urgent discussions, the senior officials decided that the eldest princess would personally lead the army to drive them away. Although everyone can see that there is something obviously wrong with this. I have never seen the barbarians working together like this, but it is too late to check carefully. With the spring plowing coming, it will be terrible if the barbarians swarm into the hinterland of the kingdom. Now The right thing to do is to cut through the mess quickly.
The temporarily united barbarian tribes are obviously no match for the well-trained regular army of the kingdom. After the war has been going on for more than a month, it seems that the barbarians will be driven back to the plateau. Who would expect that the situation will be good? At that time, the worst thing happened - "Greedy Wolf" Giles rebelled.
Where the kingdom's army is stationed, a military meeting is taking place in the central tent under tight security.
"Your Highness the Princess, generals, this is the information I have. I believe you all have a general understanding of the situation in the capital."
A man with a mustache, a hooked nose, and thin cheeks Man, I just finished introducing the latest information about Jingyao Castle.
After that, everyone was silent for a long time, and the only sound in the camp was the breathing of everyone.
After a long time, a voice broke the deadlock, "Fortunately, His Majesty the King did not fall into the hands of the rebels. Is he safe now? Where is he?"
The speaker was a young general. The brown hair stood on top of his head like steel needles. Even if he neglected to take care of it because he was busy with the war, he could not hide his heroic spirit.
"Please rest assured that His Majesty the King is safe now. The palace physician and the royal priest are also at his service."
Viscount Klein, the young general who just asked the question, nodded, without delving into the second question just raised. Two questions, even the Royal Capital City Guards, who always show their loyalty to others, have been instigated to rebel. Who can guarantee that there are not one or two undercover agents in this camp.
After the silence was broken, others also started talking.
"Please allocate me a force immediately. I will cut these rebels into pieces and recover the royal capital."
"We cannot act rashly, the war with the barbarians is not over yet. , must not disperse the troops.”
"What? Are you just going to let those bastards do whatever they want? Don't forget, there is a large amount of military supplies stored in the royal capital, and they were all emptied out by the rebels when they returned home."
"Oh, you guys don't understand. A strategic idiot."
"What did you say? Lester, do you dare to duel with us?"
......
The person sitting at the top is a A woman wearing knight armor, with dazzling bright golden wavy hair, and a face that can make people intoxicated even without makeup, Catherine Rodney, the eldest princess of the Kingdom of Aldo, at this time her A pair of sword-shaped eyebrows were frowned together, and his blue eyes were fixed on the map in front of him.
The quarrel among the generals did not seem to affect her. After a long time, she raised her head and straightened up.
"Everyone!" As soon as she opened her mouth, the surrounding area immediately fell silent.
“I think it’s better to listen to the reactions from other places in the kingdom first. Sir Merlin, tell me everything you know.”
Merlin with a mustache The count nodded to the princess and continued.
“At present, except for those who have colluded with him before, no other nobles and forces have come forward to respond to Giles. This is also the most surprising thing. Considering Giles’ apparent strength, , even with a sneak attack like this, the odds of winning are only 50-50 compared to ours. Moreover, Duke Dodge has clearly declared that he will be loyal to the royal family and fight to the end with Giles."
"Great." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. The territory of the Dodge family is located on the only way from Giles' territory to the royal capital. With such a nail, Giles' main army will not go smoothly. Support the rebels in the royal capital.
“But what’s not good is that with Giles’ rebellion, many dark forces have become restless. Pirates on the northwest coast and bandits in the southern mountains suddenly started to wreak havoc. The entire kingdom’s The public security has begun to become chaotic. Many lords are currently busy with their own affairs and cannot leave King Qin for the time being. In addition, many people are obviously in a wait-and-see state, neither expressing their support for Giles nor clearly stating that they will follow the royal family." A general gave him a hard blow. The table in front of me: "These bastards are on both ends of the spectrum! We must not let them go."
The princess in military uniform asked the generals: "Do you have any good opinions on the next move? "
Klein pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness, I think the first priority is to regain the capital. If the capital is not in our hands, it will have a huge impact on the morale of the military and the people. Fortunately, Duke Dodge. Blocking Giles’ main force, this is a good opportunity for us.”
Everyone agreed with Klein's opinion.
Katherine also nodded, and then she stood up slowly. All the generals focused their attention on the princess. They knew that the commander had made a decision in his heart.
One order after another was issued to the generals.
"Lester, you immediately lead 1,000 cavalry and travel day and night to the Dodge Territory. You must help the old Duke defend the fortress." ! ”
"Homan, lead your people to the royal capital to investigate the rebel situation, and report the situation immediately."
"Yes!"
"Dorne, inform the leader Zherov It's time to take action. Once the matter is completed, he will be officially recognized as the Earl of the Highlands by the Kingdom."
"I will do it immediately."
"The remaining people will act according to the previously decided plan. ! The war here must be ended within ten days.”
"Yes." The rest of the people responded in unison.
Then the meeting came to an end, and everyone went back to assign their tasks.
Only Earl Merlin was left. After everyone dispersed, he immediately knelt down on one knee to the princess.
"My incompetence failed to detect the information of the rebellion in time, which led to the fall of the royal capital and His Majesty's suffering. It is really hard to escape the blame."
"You do have an unshirkable responsibility. ." The princess's eyes suddenly turned cold when she looked at him.
"My father entrusted you with an important task and entrusted the kingdom's intelligence system to you, but you actually allowed the rebellion to happen under your nose. The fall of the royal capital, not to mention the impact on other aspects, how many families of generals and soldiers lived in Jingyao, do you know how big a blow it will be to the morale of the military?"
Earl Merlin buried his head lower, and he could feel the anger in the princess's eyes without looking, "Your Highness, please execute me. "
"Enough, now is not the time to discuss whether to punish or not. From now on, the focus of the intelligence system will be focused on the Giles rebels, and no clues about their actions can be left. Yes."
"Yes, I will definitely atone for my sins, and I will never make such a big mistake again."
"You also need to keep an eye on those idiots. I don’t want another group of rebels to appear out of nowhere behind us.”
"That's for sure, and I have some suggestions about the local lords."
"Oh? Let's talk about it."
"For those local lords who have unclear attitudes, we can We will work both openly and secretly. In the dark, I will allocate manpower to strengthen surveillance. In the open, we can send royal commissioners to their territory. On the one hand, we will publicize Giles's crimes along the way. On the other hand, we will urge them to step up the dispatch of troops to serve the king. First, we will suppress them morally. "
"This is a good plan, let's do it. It just so happens that a large number of nobles from the royal capital have arrived in the army in the past few days. Let the royal commissioner choose from them. You will be fully responsible for this matter. ”
“Yes, I will make arrangements right away”
This Princess Catherine will be one of the heroines, but she will not meet the protagonist directly for the time being.
(End of this chapter)