Leaving the matter of popularizing supernatural powers to Emerson, Todd began to focus on the war in the east.
According to feedback from the Muxi Knights, the church coalition forces have completed their assembly on the border and plan to launch an attack in late autumn.
There are two things about this war that concern Todd.
First, after Muxi City issued "Justification by Faith" to attack the church and completely broke up with it, in just six months, the church integrated the crusade armies of twenty kingdoms. This speed of army formation
And scope, looking at the entire history of the church's foreign operations, it is unique. The only explanation is that the church has been secretly planning a crusade against Muxi City a long time ago, and this time it was able to integrate a huge army so quickly
.
Second, the attack time launched by the church coalition forces was chosen in late autumn and early winter. From the perspective of war science, it was not a wise choice to launch an attack at such a time. The cold weather, the snow on the road,
It will be greatly detrimental to the morale and logistics of the attacker. Regarding the second point, after thinking and analyzing, Todd believes that the reason why the church took the risk and chose to launch the offensive at this time is entirely because it was disrupted by the incident of the Holy Acropolis throne.
.
In the church's original plan, after Sinclair gained the throne, the church regained control of the Holy Acropolis and included it in the encirclement of Muxi City. This plan should have been a sure thing.
However, the intervention of the Presbyterian Church, Leoric's ambition and the appearance of the fake Fairchild completely disrupted the church's overall plan and sent a person they had never thought of - Mary to the Queen.
's throne.
Therefore, after some weighing, the church decided to take advantage of the fact that the new king had just emerged and the foundation was not yet stable, to capture the Holy Guard City as soon as possible and re-establish the siege of Muxi City, which became the only option.
Wanting to understand these things, Todd began to focus on the war.
In terms of military strength comparison, the Muxi Knights have 300 heavily armored knights, all of which are equipped with top-notch equipment.
In addition, there are scout successors, sniper successors and elemental successors. These military forces can play a great role in defending the city.
But the crux of the problem lies in the soldiers of the Holy Guard City. Those armies that originally belonged to different families. Although the patriarchs of the families they belonged to have basically been killed or injured in the turmoil, there is no guarantee that other members of these families will not give up and defend the city.
There are snakes and rats in the battle.
Therefore, in Todd's view, Queen Mary has just succeeded to the throne, and whether she can hold these military forces tightly in her hands may be the key to the outcome of the Battle of the Holy Acropolis.
Todd, who returned to the audience room, finished the work at hand one by one, looked at the darkening sky outside the window, called Huggins, and asked him: "According to the results of the last meeting, the church coalition troops,
It should be the battlefield arriving at the Holy Acropolis today."
Huggins nodded and replied: "Yes, Your Majesty."
Todd tapped his finger on the table: "There will be a meeting with the Holy Acropolis after dinner."
After a simple dinner, Todd dug out the city defense map of the Holy Acropolis and the surrounding maps. After checking it carefully, he opened the soul space and summoned Cumberland and Mary in first.
Cumberland was wearing a knight's armor, and his helmet was held in his arms. When he saw the king, he first bowed, then looked around the room, and finally remained silent.
Mary put on a women's chainmail, and when she saw Todd, she just nodded coldly.
Todd sat on a chair in the research institute's conference room, motioned for the two of them to sit down, then pulled Huggins into the soul space, and asked: "How is the battlefield situation?"
Cumberland did not speak, but turned on the 3D projection and played his memory fragments.
In the 3D holographic movie, the sky over Yuexi Plain is gloomy, and the cold wind in late autumn blows the grass leaves and branches in all directions.
A distant drum sound came from a distant place.
At first, only dozens of fully armed knights appeared in sight; soon, thousands of knights climbed over the mounds and arrived on the plain near the Holy Acropolis.
Todd looked at the cavalry with various banners in the picture and said solemnly: "Are these all troops of the Church Alliance?"
"The Kingdom of Shilka, the Principality of Fenton, the Kingdom of Slobi, the Kingdom of Moro Eric..." Cumberland looked at the flags on the screen, counting them one by one, and finally sighed: "I forgot all about them.
I haven't seen such a big battle in many years."
As the cavalry began to explore the battlefield, the enemy's infantry regiment slowly appeared in front of the defenders.
Nearly a hundred phalanxes, carrying the flags of different kingdoms, entered the battlefield one after another.
Looking at the past, the mountains and plains were full of enemies, the swaying heads had completely covered the grass, and the fierce drumming had drowned out the whistling wind.
Todd looked at the enemy's army in surprise and said hesitantly: "Originally, I thought that the enemy's troop strength figures would be somewhat exaggerated. It seems that I may be wrong."
Cumberland pointed to the formation in the picture and said to Todd: "This square formation is Adlan's spearmen, and this one is Milanco's longbow regiment... Although the enemy's total strength is claimed to be fifteen thousand
There are quite a lot of people, but if you look closely at the flags and equipment of the military formation, you can find that a large number of them are farmers and soldiers responsible for logistics and miscellaneous tasks."
Todd said to Cumberland: "Excluding peasants, soldiers and other non-combatants, how much strength does the enemy have left?"
"There are about ten thousand people." Cumberland shrugged: "I admit, this number still sounds huge, but the enemy's weakness is also reflected in the military formation."
Todd wondered: "The enemy's weakness?"
Cumberland's two-hand telescopic model changes the entire 3D battlefield into a bird's-eye view mode.
Todd saw some clues at this time.
The enemy's military formation seemed to be compact, but it looked like it was faintly divided into three group formations.
Two group squares are in front and one is in the back.
"This is……?"
"The enemy forces are not monolithic. The two phalanxes in front are both armies of the secular kingdom, coming from the Central Diocese and the Eastern Diocese respectively. The phalanx behind is the troops directly under the church."
Todd looked at the battlefield diagram carefully, and after a while he said: "The church's direct army is at the rear, and it looks a bit like a war team."
"That's right." Cumberland enlarged the image to the back half of the battlefield, pointed at the church phalanx and said: "The Knights of the Stigma, the Knights of the Baptist, the Mardelin Order, etc., these troops
Their combat effectiveness is the strongest, but in my opinion, their main purpose is not to participate in the war, but to monitor."
"Supervision?"
Cumberland touched his chin and said to Todd: "Your Majesty, think about it, in just a few short years, the three kingdoms of Silver Ring City, Muxi City, Holy Acropolis, and West Diocese have turned against each other and left one after another.
For the church, this battle is not only to regain the lost territory, but more importantly, to detect whether there are disloyal people in the remaining kingdoms."
Todd somewhat understood the meaning of the other person's words.
"So, it can be seen from the military formation that there is a contradiction between the secular kingdom and the church in the coalition, and according to my guess, the contradiction is not small. The specific reason should be related to the religious reform initiated by your Majesty.
Abolition of religious taxes and protection of royal power. These two items alone will make these kings re-examine their relationship with the church." Cumberland raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "If this contradiction can be magnified
, or completely break the balance point of the contradiction, we can win this battle with minimal losses."
When Cumberland said this, he suddenly remembered something. He frowned and asked Todd: "Your Majesty, although the enemy has weaknesses, our army, as the defender of the city, also has weaknesses. You know that our weaknesses are
Where?"
"We also have weaknesses?"
Todd was stunned for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Are you referring to the army of the Holy Acropolis?"
Cumberland nodded happily. The king's gradual maturity and wise insights gave him the feeling of watching his disciple grow up.
"Your Majesty, you are right. Our weakness is the unstable troops in the Holy Guard City. If I were the commander of the church coalition, I would do everything possible to contact the nobles in the city, ambush internal agents, and prepare for the war.
Rebellion in the middle of battle."
Todd asked with a solemn expression: "So do we have any solution?"
Cumberland nodded: "There are several ways. First, after the battle begins, I will divide and isolate the Holy Guards and ensure that their combat positions will not affect the battle situation; second, Queen Mary persuades
As the lord of White River City, the latter has a high reputation among the nobles. He can help us monitor the restless people in the city at all times; as for the third..."
Seeing Cumberland's hesitant look, Todd was a little anxious: "What's third?"
"Although I don't want to admit it, Rachel, the leader of the Alien Association, is indeed a resourceful commander. Under her command, all the aliens in the city can even know which brick has a mouse hidden under it.
…”
Todd was a little surprised by Cumberland's slightly mocking tone: "Isn't it a good thing that Rachel can launch the Alien Association to collect intelligence in the city?"
Cumberland sighed softly: "Your Majesty, you can regard this as an old man's stubbornness and prejudice, but I always feel that that woman is hiding something. To be honest, I don't believe her."
Todd shook his head helplessly and said: "The war in the Holy Acropolis is of vital importance to the kingdom, and any force that can provide help should not be ignored. I know that Rachel did show some signs at certain times.
"Mystery", but her loyalty to the kingdom can be trusted. However, Cumberland, you are the commander of the battlefield, and I respect your judgment and opinions. If you feel that Rachel's men cannot be trusted,
Then use this power as an aid and use it carefully."
Cumberland chewed on Todd's words. After a while, he nodded solemnly: "Your Majesty, I understand what you said. I will now return to the Holy Acropolis to prepare a battle plan. After the war begins, every night
At this time, I will report the results of the day to you."
Todd nodded, then ordered Huggins to copy down some of the supplies Cumberland needed, and watched the two of them leave the soul space.
"Your Majesty, do you have time?"
The sweet female voice that reached his ears shocked Todd. He turned his head with difficulty and saw the beautiful face of Queen Mary.