plumnovel #671 - God's Punishment
#671 - God's Punishment
Although the battle reports from the front lines continue to exaggerate, claiming minor victories, moderate victories, and major victories every day, as if Horn only needs to provide enough weapons and armor, and they can launch a counter-offensive all the way to Flower Hill City.
But Horn knows very well in his heart that this is not the case.
Judging from Ottadira's letters and the intelligence from the Salvation Army officers on the front lines, the battle situation is tilting in an unfavorable direction.
The area of Black Serpent Bay is almost twice that of Thousand River Valley, but it only has five counties in total.
The Eastern County is the territory of snake people, monsters, and wildlings; the Western County is mostly controlled by the Church; the Central County barely maintains its own protection with the natural barrier of the Iber River; and the Southern County is completely divided and surrounded.
The Southern County itself has one-third of its area controlled by the Church. At this moment, only Sola Fortress, this important stronghold, remains in the hands of the Secret Party. The remaining strongholds have either been cleared or are under siege.
Even so, several witches led by Aethelna and Serromis still disagree with Horn going south.
Or, more precisely, they are unwilling to actively invite Horn, but they do not reject Horn taking the initiative to go south himself.
Aethelna represents the interests of the border trade Secret Party in the Southern County and refuses to accept the tariff treaty.
Serromis is worried about Horn's Messianic identity and even more afraid of Black Serpent Bay becoming a territory of the "Messianic Church", unwilling to join the Holy Axis and even more unwilling to accept garrison troops.
Horn is not worried about this.
He knows that when the battle situation gradually intensifies and endangers the core survival interests of the Secret Party, even if the witches don't bow their heads, the people below will force them to bow their heads.
At that time, the newly formed Northern County New Army will have its use.
Horn has been busy building this new army in Northern County during this period.
This new army battle group will have 8 infantry regiments, each infantry regiment with 500 men divided into 10 fifty-man teams (formerly the division teams), with a total strength of 4,000 to 5,000 men.
In terms of Holy Power configuration, it is still 200 Holy Riflemen and 300 Pikemen per regiment. The battle group's directly subordinate infantry regiment has 300 Holy Riflemen and 200 Pikemen.
When necessary, the battle group commander can transfer Holy Riflemen to support the cavalry or his subordinate infantry regiments.
Each infantry regiment is equipped with 3 Falcon Cannons that fire 3-pound cannonballs or grapeshot. Each Falcon Cannon is manned by one gunner and two service soldiers.
As for the original hand cannon teams and leather cannon teams, they have all been replaced by clockwork Falcon Cannons, and only the Guards still retain the spiral rifle and heavy rifle formations.
In addition to the ordinary soldiers, there is also an officer corps, consisting of 80 sergeants (division captains) leading the fifty-man teams, 8 regimental commanders, 1 battle group commander, 1 quartermaster, 2 chaplains, 2 scribes, 2 provosts, and 3 barbers/surgeons.
Of course, there are also 300 to 400 service soldiers, led by a service chief with semi-officer status. The service soldiers also include positions such as flag bearers, drummers, and ordnance masters.
Such an army constitutes a standardized new army battle group.
Of course, in the process of combat and development, these new army battle groups have developed different tactical styles due to the different founders, commanders, customs, and groups.
For example, the Guards retain a portion of heavy armored infantry, which is the First Infantry Regiment of the Guard Battle Group, known to outsiders as the Holy Armor Guard.
And the Black Champions, in addition to the black feathers on their helmets, often equip their troops with weapons such as halberds, bows and arrows, and chain hammers, because many of the Black Champions are mountain people, mercenaries, and armored sergeants.
I wonder what kind of style this new legion in Black Serpent Bay will show... Thinking of this, Horn's originally calm face stiffened slightly.
He has already vaguely seen a clue about the style of this new Black Serpent Bay army from the name of its battle group.
Horn saw several good names for the new battle group, such as the Ember Battle Group, representing the rebirth of Black Serpent Bay, and the Midnight Battle Group, representing the opposite of the Church.
But he racked his brains and never expected that the battle group name chosen by these Northern County people would actually be the [Divine Punishment Battle Group], with an inverted triple crown as its emblem and "Those who were once slaves are now judges" as its motto.
A battle group composed of anti-Church people is actually called the Divine Punishment Battle Group? Although it is full of irony, aren't they afraid that outsiders will think they are Messianic fanatics?
I really can't understand the thought processes of these Black Serpent Bay people.
Shaking his head, he picked up the recruitment roster and regulations and began to read them page by page.
The Northern County Council recruited about 1,600 people and began training, while Horn provided two-thirds of the officers and riflemen (ten-man squad leaders) and 500 Holy Riflemen.
It is expected that by the end of March, they will be able to form 4 infantry regiments, coupled with the Guard Battle Group personally led by Horn and that prototype Griffin Cannon, which is enough to go south and counterattack the Church.
It's just that the timing of the counterattack is worth considering.
"Knock, knock!" Raphael poked half his head in from the door, "Your Excellency, Droba, the envoy of the Dawn Sun, is here to see you again. Do you need me to drive him away?"
"No, he's come at just the right time. Tell him to come in." Snapping his fingers, Horn beckoned.
Within a few minutes, a thin man wearing a silk robe walked into the office. He had the smooth chin and coarse, upturned mustache characteristic of Black Serpent Bay people.
He quickly walked to Horn's desk, bent down, and gave a rough and casual salute.
The attendant brought a cup of blue pulp coffee, but this Mr. Droba didn't even look at it and directly pushed it away, asking, "Lord Horn, it's already the end of February. Aren't you going south yet?"
"The battle situation on the front lines isn't urgent. None of the witch lords have written letters asking for help." Horn leaned lazily in his chair, staring playfully at the attendant in front of him, "Are you in a hurry?"
"But if you go to the front lines a day earlier, countless of our people will die less."
"The ones dying aren't people of my Holy Axis. What does it have to do with me?"
"The Black Serpent Bay people have helped you before."
"Aren't I helping the Black Serpent Bay people now? Haven't you seen the ships on the river outside?"
Taking a deep breath, Droba rubbed his fingers and finally gritted his teeth and asked, "What do you want? Money, women, or rare items? We can provide anything."
"What I want is very simple, the same old three things." Narrowing his eyes, Horn held up three fingers, "Join the Black Serpent Bay Federation, hand over diplomatic power and tariffs, and accept the Holy Axis's garrison."
"You, you're taking advantage of the situation!" Droba stood up abruptly, roaring in uncontrollable anger, "We, Black Serpent Bay, have aided you."
"Was it Black Serpent Bay that aided me, or was it a few Black Serpent Bay Secret Parties that aided me?" Horn's voice was calm and slow, but it directly suppressed the words that Droba had just uttered.
"The Roan Party contributed the most, so I gave them the best conditions." Horn stood up and slowly walked around the long table. "I'm helping them train their troops for free, I'm giving them weapons, equipment, and Holy Rifles for free, I'm transporting as much grain and cloth as they need, and I'm sending my soldiers to personally help them remove the Church strongholds in Northern County.
Regarding the Central County, Sky Maiden City gave us Red Dragon Breath and Green Dragon Breath. Although it involved using Lady Luruth's favor, I am still grateful.
I'm providing no less than the same amount of farming tools, grain, cloth, and weapons. Not only that, but I'm also going to install the Griffin Cannon on the ships to help them bombard the Church bridgeheads across the Iber River, because they helped me.
So I ask you, what did you, the Dawn Sun and the Golden Cross Society, do when Thousand River Valley was in trouble?"
Picking up the blue pulp coffee on the table, Horn took a light sip, facing him while sitting on the edge of the table.
From the envoy's perspective, he could only see the position of Horn's navel, where there was a simple black cloth button, which looked like an eye staring at him intently.
"But even so, I still provided the front lines of Southern County with tens of thousands of tons of grain and thousands of weapons. Who is taking advantage of the situation?"
"Okay, I admit I was too harsh, but Black Serpent Bay is a whole."
"The so-called 'Black Serpent Bay is a whole,' it's not up to you to say that!" Blowing on the mist floating on the cup, Horn said in a seemingly casual and deep voice, "Isn't it you few Secret Parties who have plunged Black Serpent Bay into division?
The Northern County agreed to my conditions, the Central County agreed, the Western County also agreed, everyone thinks there's no problem, only you disagree."
"Black Serpent Bay people will never be slaves. Your conditions are too harsh. If you can relax a little, Lady Serromis will definitely..." Droba had to continue to make amends.
"The Holy Axis cannot support you without restrictions, reasons, or compensation. I know that my requirements will take away some of your sovereignty, but without external force, Black Serpent Bay cannot be united.
I am not giving you charity, and you are not giving me charity. We are united out of common interests. The people of Black Serpent Bay and the people of Thousand River Valley are one family.
If you think that compensated aid is harming the interests of the Black Serpent Bay people, then isn't uncompensated aid harming the interests of the Thousand River Valley people?
The Black Serpent Bay people have always prided themselves on equality. Do they think they are superior to the people of Thousand River Valley? It is impossible to want everything without paying anything."
Standing up again, Horn took a sip of blue pulp coffee to moisten his throat: "I'll say it again, I'll only give you two choices!"
Droba raised his head, looking at Horn's calm, even smiling face, but the chill in his heart kept rising.
"Either open the door and become a part of us, inviting me to go south to help, or wait for the Church to kill you all before I lead my troops to drive out the Church." Tapping the table with his knuckles, Horn turned and walked back to his original position with his coffee. "Don't think that what I say won't come true... Raphael, see the guest out!"