Chapter 170: Pain of the Empire

Chapter 170 The Pain of the Empire
In fact, Roddy really hoped to bring the army to the north of Roland Continent. It's not a good thing to wait for hundreds of thousands of troops to wait in the north.
The northern provinces of the empire have not always been fertile places. The land here is barren and does not produce much food. Moreover, for hundreds of years, every time two continents have fought a war, this is the frontline—even if it is not the frontline. The battlefield, at least the forward position.
For hundreds of years, the northern provinces have been synonymous with the empire most commonly: war zone!
The Bright Empire owns the entire continent, and its strength in any aspect far exceeds that of any country on the Roland continent. It is necessary to add up all the countries on the Roland continent to compete with the empire.
For hundreds of years, there have been countless "holy wars", both large and small, especially when Abbasid reigned and conquered the entire Bright Continent. The greatest emperor in the history of the empire set his sights on the north. That is the only piece of land he hasn't conquered yet!
It is a pity that Emperor Abbas also failed to complete the great cause of unifying the two continents. The "Thunder God's Whip" in the peak period that even the sturdy cavalry of the grassland can't stop can only sigh in the ocean facing the vast sea.
The empire’s army is strong. The four main armies add up to a million soldiers, and there are local garrisons in various local provinces. The entire Guangming Empire has nearly two million troops, not counting the reserve.
The empire has well-equipped heavy-armored infantry, powerful warriors, brave warriors under the Tulip War, and the most powerful cavalry "Thunder God's Whip" that can sweep the mainland...
However, the empire has only one major weakness-the navy.
When the sage Dandong was alive, he once lamented that if the imperial navy can have half of the "Thunder God's Whip"...No, as long as it can have one third of the "Thunder God's Whip" strength, then conquering the northern continent is definitely not a dream Up!
The navy is powerful, in addition to excellent sailors and soldiers in command, the most basic thing is of course warships-but it is a pity, and the imperial first-class cavalry infantry, the imperial navy can only be said to be third-rate... well, I am afraid that even Third-rate is not counted.
In the history of several wars that the Bright Empire invaded the Roland Continent, they were ultimately defeated by the weakness of the Imperial Navy. And this kind of failure was experienced three times in a row during the period of Abbas the Great!
For the first time, the empire formed a powerful navy-of course, this power is only the standard in the heart of Emperor Abbas. Unfortunately, the cruel reality made the great emperor very annoyed. The imperial navy was almost completely annihilated in the first battle on the Thunder Strait-and the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, who had been placed a lot of hope by Abbas the Great at that time, was very shameless and became a prisoner of the Roland people.
But the second time, a little better, Abbas the Great realized that the navy could not rely on it. The great emperor decided to rely on powerful cavalry to defeat the opponent-in that holy war, the imperial navy completely played the role of a transport team-the coastline is so long, the opponent can not blockade everywhere, there is always a landing site, right? ? After the largest maritime transport in history, after the Roland navy sank countless ships and lost several troops, 150,000 people finally landed on the northern continent. The horseshoe of the "Thunder Whip" finally Set foot on the land of Roland mainland!
But in the next situation, I was in trouble again!
The army of 150,000 people is big or small, but whether it is food or supplies, it needs to rely on sea routes. However, the Roland navy blocked the sea area where the Bright Empire army landed, leaving the 150,000 landing army in a difficult position-facing the countless heavy soldiers mobilized by the Roland continent, facing the three most powerful knights of the Roland continent With the fierce attack of the regiment, facing the dilemma of running out of supplies, ammunition and food, even the brave "Thunder God's Whip" was broken again.
The 150,000 landing army was finally annihilated, and only less than 10,000 people were finally regarded as prisoners of war and the empire was redeemed with a huge sum of money.
It lost nearly 200,000 of the most elite troops at one time. Abbas the Great was undoubtedly very angry, but the thundering strait was like a natural trench, which blocked the imperial cavalry's charge and firmly guarded it. To Roland mainland.
And for the third time, it was the Roland people who were dazzled by the victory.
In the first two failures, the Roland people seemed to think that this southern empire was nothing more than that, and finally made up their minds to go south.
Their powerful navy crossed the Thunder Strait unimpededly and sent a large number of troops to the Bright Continent. The coalition forces of more than a dozen countries went south in two directions, intending to conquer the southern continent in one fell swoop.
The sea belongs to the Roland people, but on the land, it still belongs to the people of the Bright Empire!
Although the empire had lost too many heroic soldiers and too many elite cavalry in the previous two wars. But the empire still has great power, and most importantly-the empire still has the Duke of Tulip!
In the third "holy war" during the reign of Abbas the Great, a generation of sage Dandong appeared. This great man who did not know where he came from assisted the Duke Tulip to completely defeat the enemy. During the war, he created countless various strange weapons. It seems that he has endless wisdom and strange ideas!
On land, the Roland army collapsed thousands of miles. After being defeated by the Duke of Tulip, the army finally retreated to the sea. In that battle, although the empire finally repelled the invading enemy, it could not conceal the shame of being beaten into the house.
The only gain is the emergence of a generation of sage Dandong.
The entire empire is speculating about how the great conqueror Abbas will use thunder to avenge the Roland people. After all, the emperor who conquered the entire Guangming Continent was beaten into his own home. This shame is an emperor. What cannot be tolerated-everyone is waiting for the next larger war!
But the greatness of Abbas the Great lies in his mind. After three days of contemplation in the palace, the emperor ordered to stop using troops on the northern continent!
The three failed "holy wars" have caused the empire to lose too much blood, and natural defects have prevented the imperial army from conquering. Then, before thinking of a way to remedy this defect, continue to provoke wars, undoubtedly waste the imperial warriors. Our precious lives!
Therefore, the navy is an eternal shame on the imperial army...
The imperial navy was inherently inferior to the Roland warships on the warships-Roland Continent is rich in a strange iron wood, which is different from ordinary wood, as strong as steel, but still weighs. Almost the same as ordinary wood, such a thing is undoubtedly the best material for shipbuilding. With this special material, the Roland people can build the world's most advanced warship and the most powerful sea fortress.
Regrettably, this kind of iron wood is not available on Bright Continent!
In fact, the empires have secretly wanted to introduce this precious wood from the north—unfortunately, the Roland people knew that this wood was precious to them, and used the most rigorous means to prevent almost all this wood from being transported to the south. —Of course, through disdainful efforts, the Empire still got some, including the seeds and saplings of the ironwood tree.
But what followed was disappointment.
Most of the ironwood trees transplanted to the Bright Continent could not survive. Because of the difference in climate and soil, most of the trees died within a month after being planted. Even if the vitality survives occasionally, the wood is far worse than the iron wood produced in the north, and the amount is extremely rare.
Therefore, the proud navy of the Roland people still maintains an undefeated record, running rampant on the Thunder Strait.
Of course, what Roddy knows is slightly different from these historical descriptions...
According to the record of Dandong's notebook he got, Roddy at least knew that in fact, the ironwood tree could be successfully transplanted to Guangming Continent!
Mr. Dandong seemed to mention several methods in his notes, and some very strange rankings, such as "greenhouse", "soilless planting", "temperature regulation" and other words that Roddy could not understand.
What surprised Roddy even more was that Dandong's notes had a shocking sentence: No matter how hard the wood is, it is only wood. What's so great about a wooden boat? Give Lao Tzu a while to see if I make an armored fleet!
iron?
Iron can build ships? ?
Roddy's heart was full of doubts. The iron thing fell into the water, didn't it sink immediately? That kind of thing can build ships?
But considering the series of miracles that Dandong has created, Roddy has to believe it by three points...Perhaps, if it was made by Mr. Dandong, it is really possible...
The important thing is that these words of Dandong were only recorded in the notes, but he himself did not mention these things to anyone, and he never talked about these suggestions to the Emperor Abbas!
Regarding this point, Dandong explained in his notes: The imperial navy is weak, far from being solved with a few more solid ships. The Roland’s navy is strong, based on hundreds of years of experience, and the sturdiness of the warship is only one of the reasons. Even if this method of building warships is developed, it may not be of much use.
Indeed, the topography of the Roland continent is very subtle.
The entire Roland Continent is like a piece of paper with a big hole dug in the middle, and the big hole in the middle is the Berga Inner Sea that occupies a fifth of the Roland Continent. A Berga River runs through the Inland Sea and the Thunder Strait.
Because there is such an inland sea in the middle of the mainland, the Roland people's water business is extremely developed-to be a joke, there are often wars between more than a dozen countries, and each other's navies have fought in the inland waters for hundreds of years. , Has accumulated a very rich experience in water warfare.
And once the two continents went to war, the navies of many countries on the Roland continent would unite and drive continuously from the inland sea to the Thunder Strait through the long river! In contrast, the navy of Guangming Continent simply doesn't look good enough.
An excellent army cannot be trained by training. It needs to be baptized with real swords and guns in war to show its sharp edge!
Dandong also pointed out that at that time, the Guangming Empire shouldn't start the fourth so-called holy war.
The first three holy wars have consumed too much national power, and there are still many internal problems on the conquered continent that have not been resolved. The most important thing is not to "conquer the heretics in the north", but how to make the power of this huge empire grow rapidly!
Dandong deeply understood that with the temper of Abbasid the Great, if he knew the method of building ships, he would surely rekindle his desire for war...so Dandong closed his mouth.
Roddy stood on a high tower in the castle, looking at the vast sea ahead, the waves on the thundering strait were like anger, thinking of the things in Dandong's notes.
"The time is not at that time. Now it's finally here. Someone has called. Are we just waiting for someone to call?" Roddy murmured, "Iron ship...interesting..."
After waiting for a month in the "Thunder City" near the sea in the northern provinces, the Bright Empire finally ushered in the messenger from the Roland mainland... the messenger who came to the war.
The so-called "chivalry spirit" advocated by the Roland people made them write the battle as if with an elegant atmosphere.
A war book with sharp words, but it is full of noble and elegant words, "in order to defend the dignity of the gods", "in order to spread the light of God to all directions, so that more people can be protected by the true God" "Declare war on you in the reputation of a knight" "On a certain day of the month, you will land in the sea area of ​​Thunder City. I hope that you can obey God's will and surrender decently, or just fight a fair battle with the spirit of a knight, etc..."
Roddy smiled faintly after reading the book of war, then drew out the sword guarding the soldiers beside him, then threw it at the feet of the standing messenger, and said coldly: "Go back and tell this. Your commander, this is the answer from Duke Tulip, commander of the Bright Empire!"
Standing on the city wall, watching the messenger go out of the city, through a wilderness under the city, and walked to the beach and got on a lonely boat, Roddy looked up at the sky, with a calm smile on his face. .
Standing behind him, Zige couldn't help saying: "My lord, don't the Roland people have any brains? Since they are here to invade us, they have to get a war book and tell us when and where to land... This is not a show. Is it clear that we should be prepared? The northern coastline is so long and our navy is so useless. Most of them can't stop them. They can find a place to land safely, and then they can rectify and fight with us. Isn't it better?"
"Commander of Zieg...oh, wrong, it should be the deputy commander of Zieg." The Northern Legion commander who was sneered beside him, Milo, the nephew of the Marquis of Caroline of the Lionheart family, shook his head and said coldly: "Roland People admire a kind of'chivalry spirit.' They think that only by defeating the enemy upright can they realize their knight's glory. Hidden heads and tails will only tarnish their noble knight reputation... As a samurai, I appreciate their spirit, but as A general, I can only sneer at such a rigid idea."
Roddy glanced at the Milo next to him, but Milo pretended not to see him.
In fact, these two people do not get along well these days. The two had met once in that banquet in the imperial capital. At that time, Roddy was a hairy boy who had just begun to impersonate the Duke of Tulip within a few days. He was once severely humiliated by the arrogant Milo. Milo was teased by Jojo again...
Thinking of "Jojo", Roddy felt a pain in his heart and couldn't help but glance at Miró again with a complicated look.
Human psychology is very complicated, no matter what, Roddy does not hate this Milo very much. Milo had targeted him only because of the discord between the family, and besides, he was not really a Duke of Tulip. Thinking that Mi Luo had been very obsessed with Qiao Qiao at the time, but now that the beautiful woman has disappeared, I can't help but feel a little sad. For a while, I think of Qiao Qiao's smile at that time, even the time I remembered with Mi Luo stood together, Qiao Qiao by the side, and the memory of the three people fighting between them seemed to become better.
Beautiful, because Jojo was still alive at that time, right?
Thinking of the time when he had just arrived in the north, Milo felt a deep pain in his eyes when he saw him-it was also because of Jojo? I heard that the commander of the Northern Army, holding a heavy hand, almost ran back to the imperial capital after learning about Qiaoqiao’s disappearance...
Roddy can't say that he loves Jojo, but he always has a feeling of guilt in his heart. At this moment, he is standing in front of a man who once loved Jojo. In any case, Roddy does not hate Miró in his heart.
Milo finally couldn't ignore Roddy's gaze, but he seemed to have misunderstood Roddy's meaning, and said coldly: "Master Duke, do you have any different opinions on what I said?"
Roddy took a deep breath, shook his head, tried to get rid of the emotion in his heart, and slowly said: "Master Milo, I think you are right, but my opinion is still somewhat different."
Roddy smiled, and then slowly said: "Although the Roland people admire the'chivalry spirit', they are not fools, let alone people who don't know how to work. They are also cunning, and this can be done from their secret collusion with Royantal. I can see. I think that they gave us a statement of war and told us openly that they were attacking the target, which is actually a helpless move."
Milo didn't speak, but looked at Roddy coldly.
Roddy pretended not to see his cold gaze, and said indifferently: "They came across the sea, and the most important thing after landing is to seize a foothold and a stronghold! Then they will reorganize the people in this stronghold and get supplies at the same time! Prevent our counterattack! The current military stronghold closest to the coast is here, Thunder City! At present, because of the empire’s hundreds of years of preparations, there are basically no strongholds on the mainland near the coast to allow them to stand on. They are such an army that they can’t come ashore. Let's fight...So no matter from any angle, they must capture Thunder City, because this is their only choice."