Chapter 80 Playing Hard to Get

Grand Duke Fernandez reorganized the army under the Birch Castle while quietly setting up sentries along the way and building spare granaries.

He sent people to sweep the nearby villages and towns and declare his rule.

He brought many nobles from the former Saint Mile Province with him on this trip, and the latter tried to atone for their sins and worked very hard.

After half a month of delay, when the Birch Castle was completely under surveillance, he sent an army to slowly attack Plan City.

And he himself, with the assistance of a group of veterans, began to march towards Augusta Territory.

Occupying this area can at least add 200,000 more people, and squeezing can add tens of thousands of cannon fodder.

As for the loss issue, those who survived the war were reorganized into the army on the spot, and the population was supplemented by the church. What is there to worry about?

In contrast, Grand Duke Fernandez has all the excellent qualities of aristocrats, including not taking human life seriously.

The royal blood that has been high and mighty since childhood naturally lacks sympathy for the lower class.

He was too lazy to even pretend. In his world, the lower class was just a tool, a stepping stone to decorate his great achievements.

In the eyes of the nobles, the world was small, and there were not many people who met the standard of being human.

This was the world of the nobles.

When the first town appeared in front of them, the generals under Archduke Fernandez quickly captured more than 2,000 civilians from nearby villages.

Then, under the gaze of the army, these civilians, who were labeled as criminals, began to be driven to climb the city wall.

Crying, shouting, begging.

But the army would not show mercy, and there was blood under the sword.

Retreating meant death.

Going forward, there was still a chance of survival.

Archduke Fernandez stood on a special chariot, and in order to prevent the bows and arrows of the Rockers, he even erected a wooden board to prevent stray arrows.

He just watched, watching the blood and flesh pile up on a road.

Then more serfs, under the deception of the priests, shouted the glory of God and rushed to the city wall in waves.

The noble officers of the Holy Cross Kingdom still know some military common sense.

It's just that the serfs who have not been strictly trained seem very amateur.

They can't control the rhythm well, and often excessive crowding will delay the offensive.

Sometimes they are sparse and waste opportunities.

However, there are enough serfs, and they forcibly opened up the town in half a day.

After an officer inspected inside and out, Archduke Fernandez came to this nameless town.

Then, under the command of a group of generals, the army sat in the center and divided into several small-scale armies to clear the resistance.

According to Archduke Fernandez's request, take steady steps and don't be greedy for merit and advance rashly. Can you still lose?

Now that the Holy Cross Kingdom has an advantage in numbers, it only needs to use the majority to bully the minority. If it encounters an equal number of people, it will hold on and wait for help. Spend a little more time and it will definitely be able to expel all the Rock people.

...

"Damn, these lunatics, beasts, I will hang them all sooner or later."

Simon was furious when he heard about the atrocities of the Holy Cross Kingdom.

Although he had a knighthood, he was born as an ordinary freeman after all. He was not as cold as the traditional nobles, let alone as ruthless as Archduke Fernandez.

Even with empathy, he wanted to hang them all.

"If you want to hang them, restrain your anger," Derek was also very angry. The war was started on his own territory: "Let's teach Archduke Fernandez a lesson first."

"Everyone, strictly follow the order, only defeat is allowed."

"How many heavy cavalry can be mobilized now?"

"Sacrifice, remember it, I will let the Holy Cross Kingdom return all."

"How angry you are now, how violent you hope to be on the battlefield."

Derrick calmly arranged the plan. He had seen that Archduke Fernandez's army was a rookie.

There are many ways to deal with inexperienced rookies.

Steady and steady?

It also depends on the control of the army. As the saying goes, a general is not subject to the orders of the king when he is away from home.

The officers on the front line of the battlefield are the most direct commanders.

Any message will be delayed when it reaches Fernandez.

He may have experienced generals to assist him, but he does not have qualified officers.

He only needs to suffer a few losses to force Fernandez to change his multi-pronged attack strategy.

Then... wait for the right time.

The terrain and people are now in hand, just waiting for the right time.

…

A Holy Cross army with a baron's flag is advancing slowly, and several pennants are also mixed in the middle. If we look at the number of people, there are about five or six hundred people.

This size of army is enough to complete some independent tasks.

If they encounter an attack, they can also hold out for a while.

And there are other armies within ten miles nearby.

Archduke Fernandez's strategy is indeed being resolutely implemented, at least for now.

However, if you look carefully, you can find that the swallowtail of the pennant has not been cut off. This is an army led by a group of court nobles.

A noble without a fiefdom is not a real noble.

This saying is widely spread, so they are more eager to make achievements.

Soon, the opportunity came.

The village in front appeared in front of them, and the two sides started a chicken-pecking battle.

The militia in the village seemed to have been trained for a period of time and were equipped with weapons, but unfortunately there were too few of them.

The Holy Crusaders, who were worse than them but had more people, won.

A group of defeated soldiers fled in a panic dragging their weapons. The noble officers of the Holy Cross Kingdom hesitated for a moment before deciding to pursue them.

Every head counted, but it was a military achievement.

Moreover, these Rockmen soldiers seemed to have undergone certain training, and they were not cannon fodder deliberately sent out to die. This was also consistent with the intelligence that they had only trained for half a year to a year.

And there were friendly troops nearby, so what was there to be afraid of?

Similar examples kept happening.

These militiamen who were temporarily recruited for one or two months were dispersed to various places after simple training.

The quality was still acceptable and did not arouse the suspicion of the Holy Cross Kingdom.

They thought they were all regular Rockmen troops, so they naturally wanted to pursue them more.

Moreover, the number of people who escaped was not large, and the risk was very small.

Every time they wanted to retreat, they were seduced by the defeated soldiers at the right time.

They could even meet friendly troops halfway, and the originally scattered troops gathered together.

With more people, they became bolder and less afraid.

As for the delayed mopping-up mission, they would talk about it after they won the military achievement.

Derek had been observing in the dark. When four or five waves of the Holy Cross Kingdom's troops gathered, he ordered the heavy cavalry to attack.

"The number is enough. We can't handle more, and the other side will soon react."

The Holy Cross Kingdom's command was not a pushover. They would soon order these troops to complete the task separately.

Compared to some heads, they wanted to clear the obstacles quickly.

And defeating them one by one was not advisable. Similar tricks would become ineffective after a few uses. Of course, we must do our best to reap the results.