lerbook #176 - First Blackbone Swamp War
#176 - First Blackbone Swamp War
"What? The entire Black Bone Swamp is at war?"
Upon hearing these words from Bosak, Horn almost fell off his horse.
"Yes, Your Grace." Bosak, who had rushed ahead to Great Marsh Township and returned, shook his head with a wry smile, "It was originally just a small-scale conflict between two kingdoms, but now it has spread throughout the entire Black Bone Swamp."
Under the gloomy light of the sky, dense metasequoia trees intertwined with the endless water puddles, making the forest like a maze. Both water snakes and water voles were gradually falling into hibernation.
The various sizes of slimes no longer had the desire to go out, sinking to the bottom of the puddles to hibernate.
This brought great trouble to the Savior Army soldiers who were out searching for food and logging, as they frequently slipped on the slimes.
On the road between the metasequoia trees and the puddles was a long line stretching for four to five miles.
The refugees were moving forward with numb steps. At the very front of the line, the Savior Army's people were slowly entering the designated campsite.
In this desolate swamp, there was an open area surrounded by low bushes and mounds.
The first group of people who passed through left behind tents and grass houses, as well as some firewood, so Horn didn't have to build them again, saving a lot of time.
In fact, Horn was planning to build outposts on these natural campsites.
It was possible that knights might rush into the Wild Spider Forest, although it was unlikely.
But considering that he always had unexpected accidents, Horn still felt that everything had to be done carefully.
The Savior Army's 25,000 people set off in four groups. The first group, led by Bosak, totaled 5,000 people and entered the Wild Spider Forest to clear the way.
The second group was led by Madelaine with 8,000 people, the third group by Thomas with 8,000 people, and the fourth group was personally led by Horn with 4,000 people.
However, after ensuring that everyone had shaken off the Edict Company, Horn handed over the fourth team to Armand.
He himself went ahead alone, hoping to reach the front as soon as possible and discuss the resettlement of these 25,000 people with the Beastkin kings.
After three days of rushing, he finally caught up with the second team led by Madelaine today.
But as soon as Horn arrived and entered the campsite, he saw the figure of Bosak, the leader of the first team.
Horn was wondering why he wasn't in the front team and what he was doing here. Was he injured?
But as soon as he got closer, Bosak told him a piece of news that made his head spin.
"No way, I've only been gone for a month, right? Where did this hundred-kingdom war come from?" Horn really couldn't understand it. How could such a small place have a hundred-kingdom war?
And beside him, the refugees from Jeanne d'Arc were following forward, sinking deep with each step. Some of the old, weak, sick, and disabled were placed on wagons, leaning wearily against the side of the wagon.
"Tell me in detail, what exactly happened?"
Bosak recalled and explained to Horn, "Actually, this war has something to do with you."
"How does this have anything to do with me?"
"It's like this. The Queen of the Osha Kingdom and the Hela Kingdom are from the same dynasty. When you arrived, the Queen of the Hela Kingdom happened to die during the attack on the Edict Company, and had no children to inherit the throne.
With the legitimate throne conferred by you, Queen Jilarieme of the Osha Kingdom returned first and united the Hela Kingdom with this prestige.
But in fact, the Hela Kingdom and the Hith Kingdom belong to the same Swamp Core Continent. The two were originally one kingdom, which split in the hands of the queen of the previous generation and changed dynasties.
The Hith people wanted to take advantage of the Hith Queen's return to the El Empire to take back the Hela Kingdom, so that the twenty nations of Hith would be unified, but Jilarieme stole the show.
A Hith female warrior, burning with anger, ambushed and shot her with a slingshot, hiding in the crowd with two divisions while the Osha Queen was touring the Hela Kingdom in a carriage.
Seeing that the matter could not be undone, the Hith Kingdom simply launched a blitzkrieg, taking the Hela Kingdom in one hour and twenty minutes, completing the unification of the 1.5 million square meters of territory in the Swamp Core Continent.
This move quickly aroused dissatisfaction from the dynastic family behind Queen Jilarieme of the Osha Kingdom. They demanded that the Hith Kingdom return the Hela Kingdom, but were ignored by the Hith Queen.
The two sides' envoys continued diplomatic games, and the major powers around them continued to intervene. In addition, the outbreak of geopolitical and resource conflicts led to the formation of alliances by both sides.
These were the Congo Alliance, led by the Hith Kingdom, and the Mongo Alliance, led by the Joge Kingdom.
The Congo Alliance had 85 divisions, and the Mongo Alliance had 122 divisions. The two sides have been fighting until today, and the entire Great Marsh Township has become a river of blood."
"Where is our first team now?" Horn asked, rubbing his forehead.
Bosak shook his head, "Your Grace, the first team has stopped advancing. The Beastkin said that the area further ahead is a war zone and we are not allowed to advance."
"Two hundred people are fighting in a group, and they've created a war zone?"
Horn thought that after the Battle of Jeanne d'Arc, he would be able to stay away from these vermin affairs.
But he never expected that there would be a phoenix chick within ten meters of a sleeping dragon. It's really one mountain higher than another.
But now he was faced with another problem. Before the swamp lowlands were taken, he needed to disperse the Savior Army's 25,000 people into the Beastkin villages.
They couldn't just stay encamped in the Wild Spider Forest, could they?
Even if the bone flute could be played in turns by the Blessed, the line was too long, and even if new bone flutes were found in the church, they couldn't cope.
In the four or five days it took to walk here, dozens of people had already been killed by monsters and giant spiders.
As for the long-haired monsters on the lowland swamp side, since Horn was still taking the Blueblood Orphanage route this time, he hadn't encountered them yet.
After all, he was carrying more than 20,000 people. If they hadn't been properly settled and rushed straight into the territory of the long-haired monsters, wouldn't that be asking these refugees to feed the long-haired monsters?
Thinking of this, Horn looked around. A new batch of chariots picked up from Jeanne d'Arc surrounded the entire open area to guard against monsters that might appear at night.
Many of the refugees still had sad expressions on their faces. After all, taking this road would inevitably pass by the Blueblood Monastery, which was a good opportunity to educate them about hatred.
Horn didn't go when he came, but he would go. If there was such a day, he would go again.
Piles of bonfires were being set up one after another. Rice cakes and bread from the carts were being brought out. A dozen or so farm wives from the logistics team were constantly stirring rice cake porridge of indiscernible color in large pots.
Setting out from Jeanne d'Arc this time, due to the problem of carrying capacity, Horn had only carried enough basic rations for nearly two months.
In other words, the remaining month's rations and the extra food for training soldiers would have to be provided by the Beastkin Kingdom.
To this end, Horn also brought a large number of jewelry, brown sugar cubes, and dyes, hoping to exchange them for supplies.
But now the Beastkin were at war, and probably didn't have the energy or spare food to give Horn.
He was also planning to take a thousand cuirassier pikemen and twenty holy gunners, as well as Jeanne, Pasrik, and others, to Autumn Dusk Island in the lowlands before the entire army arrived, and spend about three days clearing an area.
After all, Jeanne's lightning was invincible against unarmored units. Not to mention the long-haired monsters, what level were those barbarians that the Beastkin called barbarians? There was no need to say more.
Everything was planned so well, why did things always happen at the last minute?
"Alright then." Opening his tightly closed eyes, Horn tapped his forehead with his knuckles, "I'll go with you tomorrow and see if we can get them to reconcile. Where is their front line?"
"It's a place called Sormu River, at the junction of Upper North Marsh and Middle North Marsh. It's not far from here. I'll take you there tomorrow."