Chapter 45 Funeral and Army Expansion

On the second day after obtaining Ansai, bah, the drum of war song, Garin summoned the few team leaders under his command.

He planned to give a grand military funeral to the soldiers who had died in the previous few days.

On the training ground, the soldiers lined up in rows, with a white cloth strip tied on their foreheads, staring solemnly at the open space in front of them.

There, there were nearly two hundred funeral pyres, on which lay one hundred and eighty-two soldiers from the base, and eight of them were members of Varokal's cavalry.

Four priests from the Church of Holy Light are praying for the soldiers on the crematorium, wishing they will return to the embrace of Holy Light.

Four priests were brought by Garin to the church in Three Forks Town, and were teleported over by Gandalf to preside over today's funeral.

Garin stood on the martial arts stage, looking at the soldiers below, some standing and some lying down, and felt a different emotion in his heart.

"Warriors of the Red Flame, do you still remember the oath we swore when we formed the army?"

Without waiting for the soldiers to respond, Garin shouted out an oath with all his might.

"The tide of darkness is coming. I will watch from now on until I die. I will remember mercy, bravery, and honor. I will not wear a crown, I will not seek honor, and I will not fear sacrifice. I will be loyal to my duty, and live and die here. I am a sword in the darkness and a defender of the people. I am the red flame that burns the enemy, the red cloud at the dawn, the horn that calls on courage, and the shield that protects the kingdom. I dedicate my life and honor to the red torrent, today and every day."

"The two hundred brothers lying in front of us died in the invasion of the trolls. They once swore an oath with us. They were the strong shield of the kingdom and sacrificed their lives to defend the kingdom. Facing the trolls, they took on the most dangerous mission and did not retreat a single step. They died gloriously and noblely!"

"We will always remember them and their names will be etched in our hearts forever!"

After Garin finished speaking, under the command of Gandalf, two huge water elementals slowly walked into the arena carrying a long stone tablet and placed the tablet on the side of the martial arts stage.

This is a stone tablet that has been polished into the shape of a sharp sword, with the tip of the sword pointing directly to the sky, and the sword is engraved with "The Red Flame Heroic Spirit, Live Forever in My Heart".

The sides of the sword are engraved with the names of the soldiers who died in this battle.

Off the field, the soldiers clenched their fists, and Omar led a shout:

"The Red Flame Heroic Spirit will live in my heart forever!"

"The Red Flame Heroic Spirit will live in my heart forever!"

The soldiers followed with a deafening roar.

"Let us send our brothers off for the last time!"

After saying this, Garin walked towards the funeral pyre with a torch in his hand. Omar, Varokal and Fadil also followed Garin with torches in their hands.

Special fuel was sprinkled on the pile of flames, and after it was ignited, a burst of flames rose into the sky and burned fiercely. The fallen Red Flame Warriors were soon swallowed by the flames.

Soon, all the funeral pyres were ignited, and thick black smoke gathered together to form a huge column of smoke that rushed straight into the sky.

Two hundred funeral pyres emitted a dazzling light, illuminating all the members of the Red Flame Army present even though it was still daytime.

"Burn my remaining body, blazing red flames, with the will of red flames, I will bravely move forward and burn all the enemies!"

"Go forward bravely and burn all the enemies!"

The warriors of Chiyan once again gave a huge shout, using this way to vent their inner emotions and bid farewell to their fallen comrades.

........................

After the funeral, Jialin summoned the squad leaders of the Red Flame Army.

Garin still looked a little lonely. He looked at the three team leaders in front of him and said in a low voice: "We defeated the trolls, but they still live in Arathi Highlands and harm the people of the highlands."

Garin clenched his fists and spoke in a more stern tone.

"Our next military plan is to wipe the Deadwood Village off the map!"

"Your Highness, what do you think we should do next?" Carlocar said excitedly. As soon as he heard that there was a war, he fell into inexplicable excitement.

Garin looked around and noticed the expressions of Omar and Fadil. They both looked eager to try.

"You all performed well in this battle, especially Omar, who stood out in this battle, blocking the trolls at the mouth of the canyon and fighting to the death. Fadil, you commanded the battle on the city wall well, effectively killing the trolls who climbed up the city wall. Varokal, your cavalry was like a sharp knife, piercing the back of the trolls. You have made great contributions in the war, so you should be rewarded. I will apply to the kingdom for your promotion."

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

The three of them had delighted looks on their faces, and Varokal's mouth was grinning almost to his ears.

Garin glanced at Varokal with disdain. This guy was not reserved at all, unlike Omar's restraint and Fadil's aristocratic demeanor.

"Promotion in military rank is a reward from the kingdom. I will promote you to captain of the Thousand-Man Squad of the Red Flame Army. All of your men who have outstanding performance will be promoted one level higher."

"Use the members of your team as the backbone and go to various parts of the kingdom to recruit soldiers. Gather at Stromgarde in one month."

"You can ask Harmon for all the necessary expenses and equipment. Okay, adjourn the meeting and go about your business."

After the battle a few days ago, Harmon Kaven was retained by Garin and appointed as the chief of his logistics department, responsible for the logistical operations of the Red Flame Army, while the caravan was handed over to the original deputy.

He stayed in the base for more than half a month. During this time, Garin stayed in the base during the day and trained with the soldiers. At night, he teleported back to his branch mine with the archmage to process some documents in the town hall.

For the sake of his own feelings, Garen officially named the branch mine: Minas Tirith.

At the same time, the name Minas Tirith was engraved in human characters on the towering city walls, above the main gate.

One day, thanks to Garen's efforts, this city will become famous in Azeroth and become the city of kings in his mind.

Garin also renamed the initial base to the Land of Origin, which means the initial place of the heart of origin and the location of Garin's first building.

During this period, Garin recharged the contract money of the northern mining area by another 30,000 gold coins, and left 20,000 gold coins to Harmon as military expenses for recruiting soldiers.

After a recharge of 30,000 gold coins, the base's gold reserves increased by 60,000 units of gold.

Garin built another town hall, which is currently located in the most core location, which is the first ring area divided in the plan. There are now three town halls side by side.

Including the first town hall that was initially converted from the Heart of Origin, there are currently four town halls in operation, training farmers non-stop.

There are nearly two thousand farmers working in the mining area, and the logging team currently has more than one thousand people. The largest number of farmers works on the farms. In order to increase the population of his base to over ten thousand as soon as possible, Garin has built more than two thousand farms.

The second ring area, the southern part is the military area. Using the recharged gold, two new barracks were deployed. Together with the previously built ones, there are now four barracks in Minas Tirith and two barracks in the Land of Origin.

With the six barracks recruiting soldiers together, the number of new soldiers completing training every day reached nearly one hundred.

Garin silently counted the population he had, there were about 5,000 farmers, the number of soldiers was 2,320 before the troll invasion, 180 were killed, 1,440 were added in half a month, and the current number of combatants was 3,500 and 78.

If Omar and his team's recruitment work goes smoothly, with their three thousand-man teams, the Red Flame Army will have as many as 6,500 combat soldiers.

The time is ripe.

It's time to return to Stromgarde.