Just one day later, the lord of Insteria arrived near the port with a standing army of less than two hundred people. Ella had already set up a simple camp at the port. She deliberately expanded the size of the camp and added more
Some flags were set up to make the five thousand troops look like six or seven thousand.
The lord of Instria is named Unruok, and he is fifty-seven years old this year. The sheer force of Ella's army scared him so much that he turned around and ran away to his castle. He sent six soldiers in succession.
A messenger asked for reinforcements from his father-in-law, son-in-law, brothers and other lords, while he shivered and huddled in the castle.
In the afternoon, Onruok received reports that the pirates had not made any further moves and were simply strengthening the defenses along the coast.
"It's over! This is preparing for the landing of the follow-up troops! Are these five thousand people just the vanguard?"
Onluok trembled and got into bed. His son couldn't help but remind him: "Father, don't scare yourself. If you send five thousand people as the vanguard, the total number of troops will be one or twenty thousand!"
The Island Republic is at war with the Republic of Liguria, how can any other country around here mobilize so many troops?"
"It's the Qiqiu Empire! I heard yesterday that their fleet was burning, killing, and looting all the way!"
"Father, the Seven Hills Empire is attacking the island republic in a trade war, and it has nothing to do with us."
"Who knows if the Qiqiu Empire destroyed the Island Republic, it will also destroy us! Why is my life so miserable! I was assigned to this broken territory on the border. When I came here, there was not even a decent field.
! I have worked hard for decades so that I can drink wine every time. Now it’s great, not only will the land be taken away by others! I’m afraid our lives will be lost too!”
"Father, what you said is too exaggerated. Why can you finally drink wine every day? There are thousands of serfs in your manor. That means you feel sorry for yourself and don't want to spend money to buy it from outside. You have to grow and brew it yourself..."
The conversation between father and son made the minister who came to report wordlessly wipe the sweat from his forehead: "Well... Lord, those pirates are building fortifications... but... they are building them towards the coastline.
"
"What's going on?" Onruok's son frowned and said, "Go and ask, what do they want to do?"
"Yes, I have to ask - that...who is going?"
The minister glanced around and saw that he was the only one in the room besides Onruok.
"……I?"
The answer is yes.
The minister trembled and walked to the pirate's stronghold. He was greeted by Ella, who was sitting on a big chair and staring at him "ferociously". There were five pirates fighting on each side of Ella, and each pirate
Each carries a sharp ax on his shoulder.
The minister came to Ella fearfully. Before he could speak, Ella leaned forward, looked at his face and asked: "Are you the envoy sent by the lord?"
The minister took a few deep breaths and then plucked up the courage to ask: "Yes. The lord asked me to ask, what is your intention this time?"
"The fleet of the Qiqiu Empire is heading here, and the target is probably the Island Republic. The mercenary agreement between us and the Island Republic has been terminated, but this fight has made it impossible for us to get out of the bay, bah!"
Ella pretended to spit on the ground, and then rolled her eyes at the sky.
"So I'm here to work as a mercenary for you! I'll give you a 50% discount, and after you pay, I'll help you guard the harbor!"
The minister was a little at a loss: "This... doesn't it mean that the Qiqiu Empire is coming for the Island Republic? Why do we need to hire mercenaries to guard the harbor?"
Ella suddenly raised her voice: "Do you know if the Seven Hills Empire is really here to attack the Island Republic? Is the relationship between your Alemanni Federation and the Seven Hills Empire that good?"
"This... okay, I'll go back and report to the lord."
The minister was sweating all over and retreated.
"Your Majesty, are you blackmailing me?" Amy whispered to the side, "Is this really going to cause no conflict?"
Ayla shook his head: "What we are worried about is the coalition forces of the Alemannic Federation. As far as this lord is concerned, he is not enough to pose any threat to us. If we send him gifts and ask to be stationed here, he will be afraid
. But when we ask him for money, he will feel at ease. Because asking for money means that we are not here for his territory for the time being - this is the same as the island republic wanting to marry the Seven Hills Empire. And now this
Under these circumstances, they do need some troops to prevent the Qiqiu Empire from attacking, right?"
After a short while, the minister came back.
"The lord has decided to hire you...but the lord is not rich. He said, can you lower the extortion... employment fee price? For example, to the normal price...10%?"
Amy, who understood, also imitated the pirate's behavior and said in a rough voice, "Don't be so verbose, it's 20%! If it's any less, we won't be polite!"
"Okay, okay, two makes two percent, deal done!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the minister left Ella's camp as if running for his life.
Therefore, Ella legitimately stationed herself at the port of Insteria. While she continued to reinforce the port's defenses, she also sent spies to the capital of the island republic to grasp the real-time situation of the war.
Soon, news came back from the direction of the Island Republic: The capital of the Island Republic has begun martial law, but the navy of the Qiqiu Empire has not yet appeared near the capital, and it should be attacking other trading posts outside the capital.
Ella, Rurik, and Hezekiah analyzed the information brought by this intelligence together.
Rurik kept scratching his head: "It's okay to leave those trade wars alone. Since they took this opportunity to launch a war, they should want to quickly capture the capital of the island republic. Logically speaking, the fleet of the Seven Hills Empire
They should be attacking the capital city of the island republic by now. Why are you procrastinating so much now?"
"Rurik, you are the one leading the troops." Hezekiah mocked, "The Empire of the Seven Hills does not have magicians as powerful as you. Even if they attack with all their might, they will capture the capital before the Island Republic's fleet returns.
It is also very difficult, and you will only fall into the embarrassing situation of being attacked from both sides."
"But shouldn't we attack the city more quickly? If we do it slowly, it will only waste more time!"
"Who knows, maybe they didn't want to attack the capital of the island republic in the first place, they just wanted to demolish a few trading posts."
Ella looked at the map carefully while listening to the argument between Rurik and Hezekiah. Aulus Junius Brutus, the naval admiral of the Seven Hills Empire, was once her subordinate.
Someone who takes radical action is unlikely to do what Hezekiah said he would do.
But no matter what she thought, she couldn't think of a reason for Aulus to move so slowly.
——The action is difficult to understand, so there is a high probability that there is information that she does not have.
She suddenly pointed to a seemingly unrelated place on the map.
