lerbook #762 - Very water
#762 - Very water
The Silver Bay City Cathedral reflected a faint glow under the moonlight, but its back door was shrouded in the shadows of the tower, exceptionally dark.
In the pitch-black alley, a horse snorted, slowly pulling a black wooden carriage adorned with copper bells.
This carriage was quite luxurious, with intricate Gothic gold-plated patterns decorating its edges and surface.
However, a simply dressed monk emerged from it, greeted by the highly esteemed Silver Bay Archbishop, Goldwiss.
The Archbishop was nearly eighty, with snow-white hair hanging from his eyebrows and lips, while the monk was just thirty, serious and robust.
"Has our Duke made the right choice?"
"Yes," the simply dressed monk replied concisely and forcefully. "I have not failed in my mission. Except for Count Lattes, everyone agrees."
"Lattes is capable, but his soldiers are too poor. When he goes to Dawn Island, His Highness might give him a general's position," the Archbishop's cane tapped out rhythmic beats on the ground.
"I've always wanted to ask, what should we do afterward?"
"When His Highness Ginigis has time, he will naturally take care of it. If His Highness Ginigis fails, then let the French or the Norsemen worry about it."
"I understand." The simply dressed monk took two more steps forward before whispering, "Is all this worth it?"
"The road to the kingdom of heaven is full of thorns, if everyone is afraid of blood," the Archbishop paused his ascent of the steps, "then who can attain final salvation?"
"Hallelujah!" The monk made a sign of the cross on his chest.
…………
"Hallelujah!" Under the moonlight, hundreds of kilometers away from Silver Bay City, Duke Winged Nest made a sign of the cross on his chest.
"What hallelujah? The Holy Father and the ancestors in heaven will not forgive you." In the flickering candlelight, Count Lattes spoke eloquently.
Duke Winged Nest ignored him, simply asking the attendant, "Have those tributaries been repaired?"
Count Lattes grabbed his arm: "What exactly are you thinking? This is, after all, our homeland."
"The Gravel Plains are our homeland, but that doesn't mean it's a good place."
"Do you really believe that King Gigi's words?"
"Why shouldn't I believe them?" Duke Winged Nest picked up a copy of 'Art Forest' and handed it to Count Lattes. "Look for yourself, His Majesty has stripped the noble titles from top to bottom on Dawn Island.
He even directly sells them to ordinary people based on knight manors and even baronies; that's using money to buy noble titles.
At least we were nobles to begin with. As long as we do well in this battle, I'll still be a Duke when I go to Dawn Island. Can a Duke of Dawn Island be the same as a Duke of Gravel Plains?"
"This… isn't he afraid of the nobles' resistance? Does the O'Sla family have no objections?" Burying his head in the newspaper, Lattes' eyes widened.
"It is said," Duke Winged Nest hesitated, "that the O'Sla family once tried to send manpower to support Duke Naderbach, but His Majesty blocked them, and the two sides fought a battle on the border.
After that, the O'Sla family completely canceled their support for Naderbach.
I guess that the head of the O'Sla family chose to yield."
Duke Winged Nest looked at his cousin, reaching out to pat his shoulder, but ultimately withdrew his hand: "The situation is like this; we couldn't have repaired the Inosson Dam anyway. If it doesn't collapse now, it will collapse later."
"Is Moriaty a fool?"
"My cousin, am I expecting the flood to drown Moriaty's army?" Duke Winged Nest used the tongs to stoke the fire in the fireplace.
"Otherwise?"
"What do you think scorched earth tactics are for?"
Count Lattes was stunned, and only spoke after a long while: "When did you understand these things?"
"Obviously, I do."
"Which courtesan is more succulent, which noble lady is more slutty, you understand, I know, but war?"
Duke Winged Nest's face darkened: "It was the envoy from the Holy See who came up with the idea. Tomorrow or the day after, you will lead the Red Feather Arrows to attack."
Count Lattes was stunned for a long time, bowing and kissing his hand: "As you command."
Scorched earth tactics are firstly to disperse the crowd and reduce losses, secondly to force the Thousand River Valley army to take fixed routes, and thirdly to prevent Moriaty from obtaining supplies.
From the discovery of the flood to its release, there is at least an hour of buffer time in between.
Infantry can at least use this time to escape to higher ground, but transport ships can't go ashore.
Without supplies, how much resistance can the Thousand River Valley army, facing the Red Feather Arrow Knights who have retained their most elite strength, put up?
…………
"Is everything ready?" Tarkan, as the Duke's confidant, looked left and right.
Under the moonlight, many laborers were gathered at the Inosson Dam.
They used ropes to pull wooden frames, iron chains sliding between their shoulders and the rocks, and stone-filled wooden cages were lifted from the water in this way.
On both sides of the towering dam, statues of priest-kings holding scepters and swords quietly watched everything before them.
Hearing Tarkan's words, the engineer, with a protruding belly and a worried face, glanced at him: "It's ready, it will start in two quarters of an hour at the latest."
"It's about to start?" Looking at the calm water surface, Tarkan couldn't help but doubt.
"The Inosson Dam was already in disrepair," hydraulic engineer Dab'o'do looked at the dam before him. "Even if it doesn't collapse this time, it will collapse in seven or eight years."
Raising his head and craning his neck, Tarkan looked at the towering dam and the statues on both sides: "Doesn't feel like it."
"You don't understand." The engineer from the Holy See fixed his gaze on the dam. "Water is both weak and strong. Give it a hole the size of a needle tip, and it will dare to tear it into a chasm!"
For hundreds of years, this dam, built from the reign of the Joan female pope to the Inosson pope, was a gem of hydraulic engineering.
Now, he was about to end it.
Moonlit night, all was silent, as if there was only the sound of wind and rustling grass leaves.
"Did you hear that?"
"What?" Tarkan looked at the neurotic engineer. "What sound?"
"The dam is crying."
As soon as Dab'o'do finished speaking, a column of water suddenly spurted out of a crack in the dam.
The majestic water vapor rose, as if some giant beast was roaring underwater, and the faces of the people on the edge of the dam turned pale.
In the blink of an eye, two, three… five, six… countless columns of water emerged from the cracks in the dam.
The mountains and the ground shook, and the bishop-king statues on both sides of the dam trembled along with it.
These columns of water finally converged into a large column of water, and the original solid dam shattered into countless stones, even washing away the statues.
Mountain and valley river water washed, spreading to both sides of the river valley.
In the rumbling sound, the statues followed the collapse and fell headlong into the water.
…………
Dark clouds surged, and flocks of water thrushes fluttered their wings and glided over everyone's heads.
Standing by the Nauan River, the wind carrying moisture blew across Moriaty's face.
She wore her hair loose, stood barefoot on the mud, but the Nauan River in front of her was no longer as clear as before.
Mud and sand churned, fish and shrimp jumped, the river water flooded the river bank, and the water flow became more and more turbid.
Countless bubbles and whirlpools appeared in the heart of the river, also wrapped in fishing nets, soil blocks, and even grass and shrubs on top.
The barges docked in the port could hardly untie their anchors, otherwise, in the next second, they would lose control and capsize or run aground on the shore.
In the distance, the laborers' camp was in an uproar.
"Look, the water thrushes from the upper reaches of the Nauan River!"
"The sheep god is coming on the water thrushes!"
"Your Highness, Your Highness!" Lannes, also dressed in pajamas, shuffled over quickly. "The Gravel Plains people, they dug up the Joan Dam!"
"I know." The morning drizzle fell on Moriaty's body, and her voice actually trembled a little. "I know…"