From Witcher to Lord of the Empire

"Have you heard?"

"What did you hear?"

"The person we are waiting for is the lion of Cintra."

In the camp, soldiers wearing the black eagle and red ridged coat of arms were talking in low voices. There is a wind blowing from the Mahakam Mountains in the distance, attracting bursts of birdsong and crowing.

The man dressed as the captain kicked the nonsense soldier violently, and reprimanded loudly: "Who doesn't know this, don't you know what you are for when you come out in armor? Ah!"

The sentry who had been beaten and reprimanded straightened his helmet and said angrily, "I thought I was wearing armor to go to the front line, but I ended up being assigned to this rear."

"Do you have any objection to the queen's order?!"

The captain was furious after hearing what the sentinel said.

The sentinel shrank his neck, but suddenly stopped at the captain: "It's for the queen, we should be on the front line now! The Nilfgaardians crossed the Yaruga River! Damn it, they actually did it! We should dispatch everyone and collect every sword now!"

"Instead, instead of staying here, staring at this dumb mountain!" The voice of the sentinel grew louder and louder until it became a yell, "Is that our enemy? How are we going to deal with it, chopping down those trees and stones with our swords?"

With a "bang", the sentry was kicked to the ground again, the captain was so angry that his neck was red, and none of the other sentries dared to provoke him at this time.

The sentinel who fell on the ground looked very young, with light fluff on his mouth instead of a beard, which was why he had the unique stubbornness of a stunned young man. The captain didn't pursue him anymore, he just pointed at him with a heavy breath, and then heaved a long sigh.

"Don't talk nonsense in the barracks, beware of the plague on your tongue!"

The young sentinel poked his neck: "For Queen Mi Wei!"

"For Queen Miwei, that's why we have to wait for the lion of Cintra to come back!" the captain said viciously.

"We have no way to resist Nilfgaard on our own, even with the help of Aden... And Sintra promised to bring us Skellige's help, and they went deep into Mahakam to ask for another reinforcement army. If they come out at this time, they can just solve our urgent need..."

"The people of Cintra have long said that the pirates of Skellige will come to help, but we have not seen a single ship!" the young sentinel shouted. "And dwarves...dwarves...we shouldn't put our hopes of saving our country on others!"

"It's good to have momentum, young man." The captain said fiercely, "but what do you think we're doing? We're in a war! We can't just rely on blood, we need a lot of things...Damn it, what do I tell you, you're just a big soldier, what do you know!"

The captain's voice became low: "And Nilfgaard's armored army... Before facing them, no one expected to be so powerful. They fight us like a standing army fighting a conscript army... Only the lion of Cintra has made them fear. If he appears on the battlefield, at least it can boost morale..."

"We don't need morale. In order to defend the country, each of us will not spare our blood!" The young sentinel seemed to have made up his mind today that he must be beaten by the captain. "As long as we..."

His mouth was covered suddenly, but it wasn't because the captain was angry and didn't want to hear any more crazy words.

All the sentries turned their heads slightly, and the ground shook slightly, which was the familiar sound of horseshoes.

With a bang, the young sentinel got up from the ground, and all the soldiers drew out their weapons to form an formation. Beware of the army that suddenly arrives in the middle of the night.

In their nervous eyes, there was a horn sounding from the darkness far away, which was the signal of the friendly army.

"Woo--"

But they still didn't dare to relax, until the sound of galloping horses' hoofs slowed down not far away, and then a fire light illuminated their vision, allowing them to see a flag.

The three lions flag of Sintra.

——

Even in the middle of the night, the soldiers guarding the city still hurriedly opened the city gate and welcomed the Sintra troops in.

When it was daylight, Queen Mi Wei had already hurried over.

Compared with the meeting before entering Mahakam, Queen Meewi has visibly become haggard. Her face was barely tidy, but her hair had obviously been neglected for a long time, her skin was no longer shiny, and her golden armor was covered with dust.

And all these just added to her the heroic spirit of fighting immediately, and the Sintra people even saw a bit of Queen Calanthe in the person in front of them, and they couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

"Your Majesty Mi Wei, you just retreated from the battlefield?"

Mi Wei shook her head and didn't have time to chat with Lan En: "I'll make a long story short, Lan En. I need help now."

"I was in Mahakam and heard the brief introduction of the current battle from the Great Elder Brovar." Mi Wei's eagerness made Lan En involuntarily serious, "But I want to hear you explain in detail. I need to know what kind of situation we are facing."

Lann paused: "How bad is it?"

A guard behind the queen stepped forward and was about to speak for the queen. But Mi Wei slightly raised her hand to stop her subordinates. She took a deep breath and said in person:

"I'm about to lose Livia, Lane."

...

What the Great Elder Broval said at the beginning was:

"You're about to lose Meeve, Duke Lannister."

And that seems to be the case.

After failing to attack Cintra, Nilfgaard suffered a major defeat at Mount Sodden. Then they were divided into several armies and stationed in the south of Sintra, Lower Soden, and the other side of the Yaruga River just across the river from Livia.

In fact, according to the normal historical trajectory, Sintra should have been abandoned by the northern border at this time. After the king of the northern border signed a peace agreement with the Nilfgaardians, Sintra was ceded to Nilfgaard in exchange for the retreat of the Black Sun Army.

But now, with the efforts of Lane, the northern border has reached a consistent strategic goal of resisting Nilfgaard. Although everyone has different attitudes towards this, the war has continued. Aedirn's coalition forces and King Mivi have been guarding against Nilfgaard's covetous eyes on the northern border, and frictions, large and small, have never stopped.

——Under the cover of these daily frictions, Nilfgaard's surprise attack caught Queen Mivi off guard.

Seven days ago the Nilfgaardians forcibly crossed the Yaruga, invaded Livia, and routed all the five thousand Livian soldiers stationed on the banks of the river.

Five days ago the Nilfgaardians took the castles of Skala and Spala on the border of Livia. On the same day, Queen Mivi, who had reacted, led an army of 10,000 to fight Nilfgaard in the Anglin area.

Anglin is bounded by the Mahakam Mountains to the north, the Yaruga River to the south, Lower Sodden to the west and Livia to the east. The area is renowned for its fine timbers, especially the native cedar, sycamore and pine known as the 'Anglin Gold'.

The Nilfgaardians stationed in Lower Soden sent a division of cavalry to Anglin at this moment to provide logistical supplies to the imperial compatriots who had just ended a big battle in Livia, and the soldiers joined together.

Queen Mivi suffered an unprecedented defeat, and the troops of Leiria and the United Kingdom of Livia collapsed at the touch of Nilfgaard's Black House Army. Fortunately, the Mahakam Mountains were densely forested and the mountain roads were rugged. The United Kingdom troops, mainly light cavalry and light infantry, were able to escape and returned to Livia smoothly.

Two days ago, Queen Mivi gathered the remnants of the army and joined the 4,000 Aedirn allied forces that rushed over to face the Nilfgaardian army again in Livia, and was defeated again. Three-fifths of Livia's border fell, and the Nilfgaardians occupied many trading cities, and even established a temporary camp in Leiria.

Yesterday, Queen Meeve retreated north to the borders of Aedirn, and Lord Lannister of Cintra returned from the mountains of Mahakam.

...

Lan rubbed his brows with a headache, everything happened too fast.

In his original plan, the nearly 20,000 reinforcements from Queen Mivi and Aedirn should be used to contain Nilfgaard's legion stationed in Lower Soden, so that he can free his hands and feet to eliminate the black army in Sintra. After the entire territory of Sintra was recovered, Sintra, the United Kingdom, and Aden joined forces again, and drove all the Black Sun troops of Lower Soden and Anglin into the Yaruga River.

I didn't expect Livia to be gone now.

Queen Miwei is actually a rare wise monarch in the north, but the monarch is wise, and the overall quality of the army is still not as good as that in the south. Compared with the Nilfgaard Black Army, which is fully armored and has a high proportion of professional soldiers, the Northern Army, which is mixed with three-quarters of the temporary conscript army, can really be said to be defeated at the first touch.

"Lan." Others dare not speak too much during the conversation between the leaders of the two countries, but Geralt has no scruples.

The white wolf stepped forward worriedly and whispered in Lan's ear: "Nifgaard has launched a surprise attack on Livia, so will Cintra also..."

Lan frowned, he thought of this the first time he heard the news in Mahakam. But he still shook his head: "If there is a problem with Sintra, Uncle Mossack, Triss, and the lion pride members I stayed there have countless ways to contact me. Since they don't have any, it means the situation is good."

It's not that Lan didn't want to rush back to Sintra immediately, but that Queen Mivi, or the land where Livia is located is too important, and they directly guard the Yaruga River!

The Yaruga River is the widest river in the north, and the upper half can be said to directly divide the border between the north and the south. The second half of the river flows through Anglin, Mahakam, Sodden, Brugge, Verdon, and behind Sintra.

This is where Skellige's ships can sail freely, and if the Nilfgaardians replace Livia, then the imperial army can go down the river and hit Brokiron where Ran and the others are, completely separating them from the front line.

In the original history, Nilfgaard also sent the already well-established Scoia'tael along this route. With the help of the dryad queen Esna who was full of hatred for humans at that time, she passed through the Brokiron Forest and struck Temeria directly like lightning!

From a strategic point of view, Lann absolutely cannot lose Livia; from an emotional point of view, he cannot lose Queen Mivi, an ally who has always supported him and is also the first line of defense in the northern border.

But now that the black sun army is pressing down on the country, what can I do? The legions of Mahakam, Skellige, Sintra, and Kovir have no way to cross thousands of miles and descend to Livia, unless the senior warlocks of the entire Northern Warlock Brotherhood take action together, but it is impossible to think about it.

I do have a few trump cards in my hand that can reverse local battlefield victories, such as the ice giant, Saskia's dragon body and the red dragon Kerturis. But not to mention that I still want to keep them as a secret weapon when recovering Sintra, these powerful advanced combat units do not mean that they can form an army by themselves. They can indeed turn the tide of the battle with the help of a large army and appropriate strategies, but if they go upstream when the troops are defeated, it is just a few more people who can run away when the troops are defeated, and even they themselves may be folded in.

That is a serious group army, with mixed and coordinated multi-armies, complete large-scale siege equipment, and according to Nilfgaard's urine, there will definitely be warlock troops to coordinate.

Lann took a deep breath, went through his thoughts quickly a few times, and felt that he still needed to know more information.

"Your Majesty Mi Wei, how much do you know about our current enemy?" Lan looked at Queen Mi Wei, "The most important thing is—I don't mean to offend—I want to know how Nilfgaard defeated the front line so quickly?"

Visible to the naked eye, the knights and officers behind Queen Mi Wei blushed.

"I need to fully understand the enemy in order to make future plans." Lane said sincerely.

Queen Mi Wei shook her head, signaling to her subordinates to be calm: "Failure is a shame, but we need to face our shame. Simply put..."

Queen Meewe took a deep breath: "They crossed the Yaruga River."

Lan turned his head to indicate that he was listening.

But Queen Mi Wei didn't continue, even the proud girl lowered her head slightly at this moment.

"They crossed the Yaruga River...and then?" Lan was taken aback for a moment.

"No then, that's it." Queen Mi Wei gritted her teeth, "We never thought they would be able to do this, but they did, so we were caught off guard and retreated steadily—this led to everything that followed."

...

Lane felt a pain in his temple.

The Yaruga River is a super-big river that can pass through sea boats, and the current is turbulent. Even the Livians themselves couldn't cross the river without big boats and bridges, let alone group-level swimming. All the defensive strategies of the Livians have no plans after "Niflgaardians can easily cross the river".

But the Nilfgaardians just did it, so the Livians were beaten to the ground.

"So what about the enemies, how many enemies are we facing?"

Queen Miwei calmed down: "It was Nilfgaard's Eastern Army that forcibly crossed the Yaruga River, and it was their [Black Infantry Regiment] that was fighting us. There are still about 13,000 people in the battle now; the one stationed in Lower Soden seems to be their third army regiment. At that time, it was a cavalry team that rushed towards us. They had the banner of the Great Silver Sun, and they probably belonged to [Ad Finn's Division]."

Although the Livians were attacked by surprise, they had been in a stalemate with the Nilfgaardians for a long time, and the intelligence collection was still in place.

Lane frowned.

"Where is His Majesty Demavi? What does he say?"

"Demavi should be rushing over, he..."

Before Queen Mi Wei could finish speaking, there was a sudden roar from outside the tent——

"Lannister! How dare you imprison my soldiers! How dare you imprison Layla!" (End of this chapter)