On the one hand, they are clearing land and cultivating fields, as if they are preparing for the next spring farming.
Don't Akmeiser know that this approach is too long-term, not to mention that there is no fertile land around Brother Port that can support an army of 200,000 people. Even if it is reclaimed, they will not be able to sustain the first wave of food harvest.
But they still have to do this, that is, use this method to calm the morale of the troops and tell them that they have long-term plans and can overcome the difficult situation at hand. If they themselves show too much panic, how can they make the people below them feel at ease?
Secondly, it also has the effect of distracting the attention of those soldiers. It is better to have something to do than to wander around with nothing to do.
On the other hand, Akmeiser targeted the most abundant aquatic resources in the Swamp of Despair. Most of the Kingsley family's few warships were turned into fishing boats and began to try to catch fish, hoping to delay the time of food shortage.
However, the effect is not ideal.
Fishing is also a technical activity. The Carter Army mainly focuses on mountainous areas. Most of the soldiers coming from here are landlubbers who can't even swim, let alone fish.
The leader of the Yongye Army would not sit back and let them relieve their own pressure. The assault warships of the leader of the Yongye Army and the miniature warships of the Crocodile tribe made frequent attacks.
We don't go into full-scale war with them, we just keep harassing them, making them unable to fight.
Needless to say, cutting expenditures means taking food from the mouths of your own soldiers.
The Kingsley family's Eastern Expedition has now begun to implement a comprehensive food rationing system.
All the food was collected and supervised by Akmesser's most trusted elite guards.
Even Akmeser, the supreme commander, took the lead and only received half-full food every day, let alone the people at the bottom.
"It's not an option to continue like this. Morale is already low. If we continue to have enough to eat, over time, even if we don't collapse on our own, when the enemy pushes back, we won't have the strength to resist." Sir Fox Crest told Ah
Kemesser added.
"Does Your Excellency Sir have any good ideas?" Akmater asked.
"It is indeed a temporary solution, but I don't know whether to talk about it or not." Sir Kleist hesitated a little.
"What time is it now? There are no taboos. As long as it is beneficial to us, we can say anything." In less than a month, half of Akmeser's dazzling blond hair has turned gray. It can be seen that during this period, his
The pressure is huge.
"Your Majesty, it will be difficult to get results for a while. Before that, we can only rely on ourselves. We still have to find a way from the Yongye Army Leader and the Crocodile Tribe people..." Sir Kleist analyzed clearly.
"Continue!" Akmesser looked expressionless, neither nodding nor shaking his head.
"Those Crocodile tribesmen civilians, let them negotiate with the Yongye Army leader and allow them to redeem them with a ransom. We will only accept food." Sir Kleist said, "In this way, we can kill two birds with one stone, and the food will be credited to our accounts.
, which can reduce the burden and avoid causing more disturbances."
"It is indeed a way, but I'm afraid the leader of the Yongye Army will refuse, right?" Akmesser showed a heart-beating expression.
After repeated consumption, they still have a lot of Crocodile Clan cannon fodder left in their hands, no more, no less, nearly 20,000.
The reason why cannon fodder is called cannon fodder is because they are not treated as human beings at all. They rush to the front when it comes to the most dangerous things, and the usual supplies are the worst. They can barely survive starvation.
After taking down Brother Port, it means that they have no use value. Even the pitiful normal supplies have been cancelled. After they are done, there are some leftovers from other troops. In the end, even this is gone.
Because the other troops of the Eastern Conquest Army began to receive limited food supplies. How could they be willing to waste a grain of food when they couldn't even fill their stomachs?
Pots and pans are cleaner than dogs licking them, and any bit of oil will be scavenged into the stomach.
Those civilians of the Crocodile Tribe are now at the bottom of the abyss of despair, and may have died of cold or starvation.
If it weren't for Sir Kleist's reminder, the supreme commander-in-chief, Akmesser, wouldn't even have thought of them.
"The Yongye Army Leader's appetite is bigger than ours. Not only does he want to eat the Despair Swamp, but he also wants to eat the crocodile tribesmen together. He pays great attention to the maintenance of this aspect. I'm afraid they care more about these crocodiles than the elders of the crocodile tribe.
As long as the marshal nods, they will not refuse. I am willing to serve as an envoy to the Yongye Army Leader to discuss the matter." Sir Kleist's analysis of the Yongye Army Leader was as thorough as ever.
"No." Archmathero shook his head and rejected Sir Crest's proposal.
"Why?" Sir Kleist's face was full of astonishment. He obviously did not expect that the other party would reject his proposal. "This matter is beneficial to both parties. No matter how much food is exchanged, it can effectively alleviate the current crisis. Let's
You can even use this as capital to blackmail the Yongye military leader and obtain more privileges..."
"Sir, don't be anxious, wait until I finish what I have to say." Akmesser's tense face finally showed his first smile in these days, "There is no problem with your proposal, not only is there no problem, it will even
It opens up a new situation for us, but some things need to be changed a little bit."
"What needs to be changed slightly?" Sir Crest asked with a questioning look on his face.
"No, that is a profession only for bankrupt people. Although I have been homeless, I have never worried about money." A trace of embarrassment flashed in Sir Kleist's eyes.
The displacement after being driven out of the family was the most unbearable past for Sir Kleist, and it was also the scar that he least wanted to be mentioned.
When Akmeser asked this, it was obviously a bit of a reflection.
When people lose something, they most want to make up for it.
Sir Kleist lost his inheritance rights, so he spent most of his life pursuing the title of knighthood. Even when he didn't have the title, he behaved more like a knight than a normal knight.
The profession of a businessman was even worse than that of a farmer, and he would rather starve to death than take up it.
But Akmeser's next words made him realize that he was a bit neurotic, "Those businessmen, in order to obtain more profits, will artificially affect the market. For example, when supplies are abundant and prices are low, they will eat a large amount of food."
When food and materials are scarce, they sell them at high prices. The worse the shortage, the higher the price they sell for. This is also true for negotiations. If we take the initiative to send food to our door, it will make us appear very weak and fall into passivity.
Come, allocate a sum of supplies to the Crocodile Tribe human slave barracks. The amount should be allocated one-third of that of other barracks. There must be no deductions. Starting from tomorrow, I will personally check the number of dead Crocodile Tribe human slave soldiers."
Akmeser obviously knew the virtue of the soldiers below, if he didn't show that he took this matter seriously.
Those military quartermasters dared to secretly allocate the food to the Crocodile Tribe human slave barracks, and it would be in the hands of other troops as soon as it changed hands. The Crocodile Tribe human slave barracks would not get a grain of grain, and no one would be cannon fodder for those slaves anyway.
Advise.
Of course, this substitution is not free, it requires the recipient of the grain to pay a certain price. Even if the grain is not bought and sold openly, it still has to be done in a meaningful way.
This situation will become more and more serious as the food shortage of the Eastern Expedition Army continues.
Even if he shows his concern now, the Crocodile Tribe Human Slave Barracks will not receive full food supply. At most, it will just be a show-off, so that not many people will starve to death.
Although Akmesse knew this situation well, he could only turn a blind eye.
Because it involves a wide range of things, not only the local lords and nobles led by Carter's army, but also many of his cronies are involved.
Only when someone supports you can you secure your position as commander-in-chief, right?
However, this does not mean that Akmesser will blindly condone them. If they do not know when to stop, in order to maintain the overall stability of the Eastern Conquest Army, he will not go on a killing spree to eliminate a group of people.
Being completely isolated does not bring all the disadvantages, but there are still one or two advantages.
Akmeser now has the highest power of life and death over the Eastern Conquest Army. Even if there is a message from a flying eagle, Archduke Buck would not dare to question Akmesser's order easily.
Because it was more difficult for Akmeser to bring the Eastern Conquest Army out than to bring it into the ditch. It was not only a thousand times more difficult?
Grand Duke Buck now has no way to restrain Akmesser. The only thing he can rely on is the bond of family loyalty, and he must give Akmesser 100% trust, whether it is true or pretended.
If anyone dares to make any slander about Akmesse's disloyalty to Archduke Buck at this time, Archduke Buck will chop him up with his own hands as soon as possible.
Archduke Buck knew this, and Akmesser also knew this.
Akmesser did not become domineering because of this, but instead became more cautious and cautious, not to let anyone take advantage of him.
Did he really not expect at all that he was trading cannon fodder for the Crocodile Tribe with the leader of the Yongye Army?
I'm afraid it's missing. He has been thinking about this matter all this time. There is no way he can't miss such an obvious group of people here.
But the problem is that if he takes the initiative to contact the leader of the Yongye Army, he is afraid that it will touch the hearts of a group of people.
Therefore, even if you have such considerations in mind, you must wait for someone like Sir Crest, who is specially sent by Archduke Buck, to take the initiative to propose it.
Because once they bring it up, it means that they have reached a consensus with Archduke Buck in advance, and he will then take advantage of the situation.
Of course, only Akmesser himself knows whether there is such a political consideration in this. Anyway, he is acting like a man who wakes up from a dream with Sir Kleist's words.
Sir Kleist is a smart man who understands everything. He instantly understood Akmatheir's intentions and couldn't help but raised his thumb and said: "Your Excellency, Marshal, if you have a far-sighted view, your strategies will be better. You can really master more by doing this."
Take the initiative, but how can we be sure that the leader of the Yongye Army takes the initiative? We can't afford to delay it now. If we start negotiations one day later, we will consume one more point of food if we start the negotiation one day later."
"Your Excellency Sir, didn't you just say that? Does the leader of the Yongye Army care more about the life and death of these cannon fodder than the Crocodile Tribe people? Then let the wind go out. In order to save food, we are going to slaughter all these useless civilians. If they still
If you're not in a hurry, just push part of it to the riverside and chop it up in front of Yongye Army Leader and the Crocodile Tribe people to see if they're in a hurry." Akmeser said with a cold face.
"High, really high." All Sir Kleist could do was to continue to give his thumb.
In terms of cruelty and ruthlessness, he was not even a little bit worse than Akmeser, who had been the general for many years. When the same strategy came out of the mouths of the two men, there was an immediate difference in the pattern.
Sir Kleist is more inclined to political skills, but Akhmer is an out-and-out military offensive and defensive method.
"If there are no other opinions, let's start implementing it." Archmathero ignored Sir Kleist's flattery. No matter how much of this kind of thing he eats, he will feel comfortable at most, but it won't be enough.
Just when the Kingsley family was making intensive preparations and trying every possible means to get the leader of the Yongye Army to take the initiative to negotiate with them.
The Yongye Army Leader has been arguing over this issue for several days, and the person who took the initiative to raise this issue was not the Crocodile Tribe Elders Council, but the Yongye Army Leader's Military Staff.
Just like Sir Kleist said just now, the leader of the Eternal Night Army not only wants to eat the Despair Swamp, but also wants to eat the Crocodile Tribe in one bite. As long as conditions are met, they will try every means to establish a positive image of themselves among the Crocodile Tribe.
The cannon fodder of the Crocodile tribe detained by the Kingsley family's Eastern Army is undoubtedly an opportunity.
These poor people who have endured hardship for a long time now know how precious life is and are more grateful, especially to the people who rescued them.
"Those are tens of thousands of our tribesmen, and we have the responsibility to rescue them from fire and water." The views expressed by the main chief of staff, Kelman, represent the opinions of his military staff.
"How to save? Negotiate with the Kingsley family? Order them to release unconditionally? Do you think it is possible? Once benefits are exchanged, what kind of demands do you think they will make? Let them cross the river? Or exchange for food? Or something else?
Unreasonable demands?" The person who raised the question was an elder of the Crocodile tribe. "I think the safest thing is to keep the current situation unchanged and tire them out first. Then when they take the initiative to come to us, we can start
Whatever the conditions are, they have to agree to them."
"Do you still have humanity?" Tagore, the straight-shooting general, could not hide his anger and asked loudly, "There may be members of your tribe among them. Do you think the Kingsley family will care about their life and death? We haven't waited until the general is here."
The Kingsley family is forced into a desperate situation, and those clan members are probably dead, so why talk about it? It's better to do this sooner rather than later."
"I did this for the sake of my people. For the sake of the overall situation, the interests of a small group of people must be abandoned. This is what you taught me when we were defending the city. General, how come you have forgotten it now?"
The elder named Manuel said with a smile on his face.
This elder of the Crocodile clan with white beard and hair is known to be a headache for the leader of the Yongye Army.
It seemed that he was always confronting the leader of the Yongye Army. He was there when he was on the wall of Brother Port when he questioned why Tagore didn't open the city gate to save the cannon fodder of the driven Crocodile tribe.
Now he turned around and blocked the Yongye Army leader's proposal to rescue the cannon fodder in the hands of the Kingsley family. He used the words that the Yongye Army leader taught him when he was defending the city to block the Yongye Army leader.
If you simply think that Elder Manuel is targeting the Yongye Army leader, you are totally wrong.
His territory is near Brother Port. The tribe was the first and most powerful group to be influenced by the Yongye Army. When the Crocodile Tribe civilians retreated, every one of his tribe retreated into the Yongye Army.
He didn't particularly care whether the Yongye Army leader annexed the Crocodile tribe.
In his own words, he has only a few years left to live. His children and grandchildren will have their own blessings, and he can no longer control that much.
Many times, he stands on the side that he thinks is right and righteous. He is still a donkey and stubborn. Once he decides on something, it is difficult to be convinced.
Now he firmly stands on the side of the overall situation. For the final victory in the Swamp of Despair, dragging down the Kingsley family and conquering the Eastern Army is the first priority, and everything else must give way to this.