The Sun King's Evidence

The vampire's drastic changes made Ryan lose his interest in celebrating the festival. On the contrary, the Baron had to spend the Winter Veil hastily and immediately devoted his energy to preparing for the war.

A few days after the Winter Veil Festival, at the end of December, heavy snow fell in the Baron Jean of Britannia. The heavy snow not only heralded a bumper harvest after the New Year, but also announced that the baron's army preparations for war would need to be temporarily suspended. Stop, the serfs' bodies are not strong enough to train in heavy snow.

Paladin Alfred, Holy Grail Knight Ryan, and butler Katzenberg were sitting on the balcony admiring the snow. There was a pot of delicious beef stew among several large armchairs.

"Now there is good news, Afu. The vampires are gathering their troops much slower than we thought. According to the scout reports, the Red Duke's actions to awaken the undead have failed many times. Many barren graves were washed away in the flood summoned by the lady. "Ryan picked up the wine glass, and he was thinking about this problem: "Even using the most radical calculation, it will take three months for the Red Duke to assemble a large army, but I don't understand why he is still so willing to do it regardless of the cost. Want to raise an army... Katzenberg?"

"My Baron." The butler was still dressed as a bald man. He wore a leather jacket and held the wood elf's fruit wine in his hand. When Ryan called him, Katzenberg signaled that he was listening.

"If I give you three months, how strong a defense can you build?" Ryan asked, "To be honest, do what you can."

"In three months, we can only build a wooden wall and wooden sentries at most, and then we can build some defensive facilities, such as pits and trenches." Katzenberg did some calculations and said the expected results: "Such a short time The time to build the stone wall is too tight, my baron, and the cost of the stone wall is very staggering, which will affect the spring plowing."

"Yes, I understand." After thinking for a while, Ryan gave up the plan to build the wall urgently. The army of the undead was different from other armies. A mere wooden wall could not stop these creatures.

"Good friend, are you ready to fight vampires?" Alfred picked up the wooden bowl, which was filled with beef stew. He prayed sincerely, and then ate the meat.

The life of the paladins is relatively poor. They need a lot of meat but often do not have enough money. Therefore, the paladins tend to hunt by themselves to obtain meat. For high-grade meat such as beef, Alfred can eat it. There were not many opportunities, and all the money he earned was used to build churches in the town.

Thanks to Alfred's efforts in preaching, the Church of Justice began to have a place in Lane's territory. Some serfs were baptized by Alfred, and with Alfred's help, several children have been converted. Became a paladin.

"Yes, this war may not be so easy." Ryan nodded.

"Since you are fighting against undead creatures, please let me help you!" Alfred nodded seriously: "Justice is the nemesis of the undead. The holy water blessed by our Lord can cause considerable damage to undead creatures. I There are quite a few in the chapel, and I have kept them all.”

"I won't say anything else, Alfred, let's fight side by side!" Ryan didn't refuse. Alfred and him didn't need those empty words.

Outside the balcony, heavy snow fell from the sky, and dark clouds as thick as cotton wool covered every corner of the sky. Baron Jean turned into a world covered in silver. The buildings and streets of Jean Town There were piles of snow, many serfs were clearing the snow, and groups of patrols walked on the town walls.

"Good friend, I have to say that the archer company is already in a good shape under Estelle's training." Alfred said casually: "Normally, it takes at least one to two years for a qualified archer to become a qualified archer. It takes a lot of training to take shape, but you found the easiest way."

"I never planned to train archers, Afu. As you know, it takes at least one or two years for a qualified archer to ensure a certain accuracy beyond fifty steps. And like the Bastogne longbowmen, That kind of thing will take five to eight years to take shape." Ryan nodded and said softly: "But... the crossbow is different."

Yes, Ryan deeply understands that it takes a long time for the serf archers to form an army with sufficient combat effectiveness. The longbowmen in Bastogne start training from the age of 8-11, and their whole lives are training time. The Duke of Berhemond stipulated that qualified serfs aged 12-65 in the territory must practice bow and arrow skills on Sundays after praising the Fairy of the Lake.

Ryan can't raise an excellent longbowman in a short time, but he can raise an excellent crossbowman army in a short time.

The dwarf hand crossbow made by the dwarf craftsman Deron Feinson is a weapon that satisfies Ryan. This dwarf hand crossbow requires very little operating skills. Ryan knows that what the serfs need is this kind of brain-dead hand-on-hand tutorial. , loading, aiming, and shooting all at once, simple and crude.

Sure enough, under Estelle's training, in just over a month, all the serfs in the Jean Archer Company were able to load, aim, and shoot very skillfully.

Ryan felt great after watching it. It was enough to have this kind of fighting power.

The Baron of Jean now has 1 Holy Grail Knight, 4 Ranger Knights, 13 Knight Retinues, 85 Swordsmen, 201 Spearmen and 120 Crossbowmen. Compared to the ordinary Baron, Ryan The size of the army it possesses can be called huge.

Well, there are also two wizards accompanying the army.

"My Baron, His Excellency François sent someone to ask you if you need reinforcements?" Butler Katzenberg said softly: "He is worried that your place may become a front line. Also, according to the scout's report, Perhemon Duke De has also learned about the vampire's strange behavior, and he is also preparing for war."

"What about them? Apart from Duke Berhemond and Duke Francois, are there any other Dukes who have reacted?" Ryan suddenly remembered something and asked full of doubts.

"Based on the current situation...no, the Dukes must have received the information that the vampires are gathering an army, but the only ones who reacted are these two Dukes. They are gathering an army. The others include Lian and Mu Silon's closest wave. His Excellency Duke Bodrick of Dro has only begun to mobilize the army, and there is no sign of recruiting the whole people or intending to clear the country." Katzenberg held the parchment in his hand: "The king has no new orders at the moment. This was three days ago. information."

Ryan sighed lightly. He probably knew why, except for the Duke of Winford and the Duke of Bastogne, the other Dukes had no specific actions.

This has nothing to do with whether he is hostile to vampires, but has something to do with Ryan.

Because of the chivalry war in the Arden Forest more than a year ago, almost all the principalities lost thousands of troops in this war, although the loss of a few thousand people was not considered by the principalities. It hurt their muscles and bones, but it also made their original troops stretched thin. Castles and territories everywhere needed enough troops to garrison. Under this situation, the Dukes were hesitant about whether to recruit more troops to affect spring plowing.

Only the Principality of Bastogne and the Principality of Winford not only suffered very small losses because they were the right-wing army led by Ryan, but also captured a large amount of loot. These armies that had experienced the baptism of blood and fire have become elites.

Only these two principalities still have the ability to gather troops immediately.

"My Baron? How did you plan it?" Seeing that Ryan did not answer, Katzenberg continued to ask.

"What do you think? Katzenberg?" Ryan intended to test his butler.

Katzenberg lowered his head and thought for a moment: "My Baron, I don't think it's time to ask for reinforcements yet. The movements on Musilon's side are unknown. Are the vampires really planning to go to war? Is the Red Duke's target us? , judging from the current situation, it is not clear. My Baron, you are already feared by the king, and you must be careful in what you do. Unless Her Highness Morgiana or the king has explicitly asked you to lead the army, you should be more careful."

"Well, very good. What we have to do now is to assemble the army and prepare for war, but we must also keep a low profile and don't follow the facts." Ryan nodded repeatedly: "Let's wait and see where our Majesty the King or His Highness Morgiana has it. How to react."

"Understood, my baron!"

The barony's preparations for war were in progress, and under the command of Ryan, the soldiers gradually put on breastplates and more sophisticated dwarf equipment.

These armies have begun to become semi-professional.

In Ryan's vision, the separation of soldiers and farmers is the first step to promote his military reform, but now he does not have the financial resources to support so many professional soldiers. What he needs to do now is to semi-professionalize these soldiers. Their career as soldiers will gradually become greater than their main job as serfs, which is mainly responsible for the training of the army, training two or three days a week, and farming the rest of the time.

The baron's soldiers enjoy better food and higher status. More importantly, Ryan is the Holy Grail Knight, the lady's divinely chosen champion. The serfs in his territory are extremely eager to devote their loyalty to the Holy Grail Knight. In this knight In the country, serfs were prohibited from believing in the Lake Fairy, so if they wanted to attract the attention of the Lake Fairy, they had to use some special means.

The serfs were willing to believe that becoming a Holy Grail pilgrim or fighting alongside a Holy Grail knight was an effective method. Therefore, in order to have a better life and be favored by the goddess, countless people signed up to join the army.

The baron encouraged the serfs to have religious beliefs.

Time passed quietly in preparation for the war. Musilon's vampire army slowly but resolutely gathered. Under the powerful undead magic of the Blood Red Duke, the corpses in the graves gradually revived. The powerful Blood Knights and Dark Holy Grail Knights each attacked and severely damaged Watch the sentries along the way and the vigilance force of the Knight Kingdom.

The Duke of Bordeaux, Bodric, who is only more than a hundred kilometers away from Mousilon, first felt something was wrong. The prince and the chosen champion of Poseidon Mannann had begun to fully mobilize the principality's army to prepare for possible vampire threats. , but he is still a little undecided. The best way to fight against vampires is to clear the field, burn all the tombs, and clean up all the bones. The vampires will not be replenished with blood and soldiers, and it will be a huge consumption to control the undead army.

The Duke has difficulty making up his mind. If he really wants to stand firm and clear the country, he and his principality may not be able to recover for several years.

And just when Musilon's vampire army was gathering more and more, a positive signal finally came from the Knight Kingdom.

Morgiana, the Lake God Witch, left her tower. She appeared with a group of Holy Grail Knights in the Lake Fairy Cathedral in the Principality of Carcassonne. The Lake God Witch announced that vampires are our common enemy, the knights of the kingdom. Evil must be destroyed, for the sake of the lady!

So, just as the snow melted in March of the following year, war seemed inevitable.

At this time, Morgiana, who was on the road, received a strange magical communication signal.

This is the second update, please vote!