Page 156

However, Pelé was not in a hurry to head north and return to the capital. Instead, he planned to deal with Heinz behind him first.

In Bailey's view, although the Duke of Best exposed the major scandal of Hesse VII, which caused many "princes" to suddenly appear in the empire, those were at best illegitimate children not recognized by the royal family and did not have real inheritance rights in law.

There are only two people who truly have the ability to compete with Pele.

One is the Fifth Prince, whose whereabouts are still unknown, but the boy is young and lacks the support of powerful noble families, so in Bailey's opinion, he is not a threat at all.

The other one is Prince Heinz, who is of the same generation as Hesse VII. Although his right of succession is below Hesse and the fifth prince, he has the support of the Dragon Valley family, making him a greater threat than the fifth prince.

In light of this, Pele felt it necessary to prioritize eliminating this "major threat" before heading north to wipe out all the rebels in the capital!

According to the intelligence they currently possess, although Heinz's army has expanded, its total strength is only about 80,000 men, and there are no Saint-level experts to command the troops.

This was indeed quite strange to Bailey, but the fact was that the Dragon Sleep Valley family only provided Heinz with some military funding support, and none of the top experts kept by the family had left the mountain.

Bailey naturally assumed that the Dragon Valley family didn't want to break ties with the Black Forest royal family over a distant relative.

In this way, Pele's punitive expeditionary force would be 500,000 against 80,000... The advantage is in my hands!

Chapter 335: A king not meeting a king? You dare to say that!

The army that quelled the rebellion had a large number of troops on paper, but the composition of these more than 500,000 soldiers was also quite complex. It would not be an exaggeration to call them a motley crew.

Of this seemingly large army, no more than 50,000 were truly professional soldiers who had received rigorous training and possessed a certain level of combat capability. Less than 20,000 of them were Imperial Guards who had withdrawn from the capital with the Third Prince Bailey, and could barely be considered his direct subordinates.

The remaining 30,000 or so were local private troops assembled by the southern aristocratic groups that supported Bailey.

However, the problem is that there are also factions within the southern noble group. These 30,000 people belong to dozens of lords of varying sizes. They only nominally obey the Third Prince's command, but have not truly established an efficient and unified command system.

Therefore, once a real war breaks out, the lords will inevitably have warlord habits, and in order to preserve their own strength, they will not be willing to go all out, or they will sit idly by and watch their allies suffer.

As for the remaining troops besides these 50,000 elite soldiers, most of them were conscripted men with terrible weapons and equipment, poor training levels, and virtually no morale.

Pelé was aware of these circumstances, but under the influence of the "miracle drug," in a state of high excitement, he didn't see it as a big problem at all.

He even conceived a brilliant idea: he wanted to promote this miraculous drug he was using to the entire army, so that every soldier could take a sip before battle, which would surely turn even the most cowardly person into a fearless warrior in an instant!

Fortunately, the few Earthlings around Bailey who make pharmaceuticals have limited production capacity due to a lack of raw materials, so the current supply of the miracle drug is only enough for Bailey and a few high-ranking officials.

Bailey's plan was to deal with Heinz behind the scenes first. However, before the official start of the war, he specially asked his subordinates to write a very arrogant and forceful "letter of surrender" for him and send it to Heinz. The letter also mentioned a lot of conditions that sounded outrageous.

After sending the letter of surrender, Pelé, while inhaling his "royal special" drug, fantasized about how terrified and uneasy Heinz would be upon receiving his letter.

However, just as he was fantasizing about Heinz kneeling before him, begging for his life with tears streaming down his face, a bugle call signaling an approaching enemy suddenly sounded outside.

Upon hearing the sound, Bailey instinctively tried to get up, but he was so excited that he felt like he was floating on clouds, his feet unable to touch the ground. After taking only a few steps, he stumbled and fell to the ground, rolling around and chuckling to himself.

At that moment, a group of fully armed guards burst into the room. Seeing Bailey rolling around like a cerebral palsy patient, they quickly helped him up from the ground and dragged him outside.

In his dazed state, Pele had no idea what was happening. He even mistook the two bearded soldiers supporting him for cute little girls and let out a lewd laugh.

"Don't rush, little one!"

"Your Highness, the enemy has attacked! There's a traitor within the punitive expeditionary force; we've been tricked!"

"what?"

Soon, the guards brought the half-dead Bailey to the main building of the castle. Bailey's uncle, Marquis Leodor, was pacing back and forth anxiously. Seeing that Bailey was still in such an unconscious state, he regretted for the first time his decision to offer the "miracle drug".

That thing did indeed revive Pelé, but it also led him from one abyss to another, even deeper, unfathomable hell!

Meanwhile, outside the castle, the sounds of battle were growing ever closer.

Leodor knew that it was Heinz's Prince's Army.

Although the enemy's army was far fewer in number than the rebel army, this army was formed during the empire's conquest of the Maple Dew Kingdom. Although its strength had been reduced from over 300,000 at its peak to 80,000, these 80,000 soldiers were all carefully selected high-quality personnel and had undergone nearly half a year of training. Therefore, the quality of its soldiers was much higher than that of the hastily conscripted laborers of the rebel army.

If the two sides were to fight a fair and square battle, the anti-rebel army could indeed gain a certain advantage over Heinz's princely army with its 50,000 elite troops and a large number of cannon fodder.

However, the seemingly upright prince unexpectedly lacked martial ethics and launched a preemptive attack on the rebel army with a weaker force, catching them completely off guard.

As for the traitor within the punitive expeditionary force, this didn't surprise him, since these lords were all harboring their own ulterior motives. Many hadn't even set out on the campaign yet, and they were already shamelessly proposing to negotiate the division of spoils after the victory.

And Leodor was even more despicable, from the very beginning he wanted to monopolize all the benefits, support Bailey to ascend the throne, and then become the all-powerful "regent" himself.

The reason Leodor wasn't afraid that his side was a makeshift organization was because, for thousands of years, this messed-up world had always been dominated by various makeshift organizations.

As long as your makeshift team is big enough, you can still succeed!

However, the harsh reality tells Leodor that among this makeshift group, there are probably one or two oddballs who are not so makeshift.

Clearly, Heinz's men were an anomaly. They were able to get a large cavalry force right up to the rebel army without them noticing, and only when they were within sight of the rebels did the rebel army realize what was happening, like blind men belatedly.

This suggests that the outposts and patrols on the perimeter have either been bribed or secretly eliminated. Either way, it is enough to send chills down one's spine.

Thinking of this, Leodor's gaze couldn't help but fall on the several composed "Saint-level experts" in the hall.

As an indispensable human strategic weapon for any force attempting to dominate the world, the Anti-Rebel Army currently has eight Saint-level experts in charge, making it the force with the most Saint-level experts on the surface.

These experts usually don't directly participate in the battle. Some even make it clear before they arrive that they're just here for tea. But their strength, just by sitting there, is enough to create a suffocating pressure on forces without a Saint-level leader.

With these eight old men around, Leodor felt much more at ease.

However, just as he was thinking this, the originally noisy hall suddenly became eerily quiet, as if the entire space was shrouded by an invisible barrier.

Immediately afterwards, less than two meters in front of Leodor, space suddenly twisted and cracked, and Prince Heinz, dressed in a formal suit, walked out of the void gate with a beautiful woman with dragon horns on her head, and came to Leodor as if no one else was there.

Seeing this, the eight Saint-level experts were about to make a move when the beautiful woman raised her hand and made a "shush" gesture to them. The top experts were immediately frozen in place, unable to move, as if they had been hit by a spell.

Leodor was astonished to find that he saw a look of "fear" in the eyes of these powerful individuals...

Chapter 336: The Legitimacy of the Jingnan Campaign

While Heinz's army was brutally beating Bailey's rebel army, on the other side, in Lagug, Dick was holding a victory banquet with a group of Northern Alliance lords, and during the banquet, he solemnly introduced to his allies the Fifth Prince Roman, who had fled to the north and was kindly taken in by him.

At first, when Dick personally found Roman and revealed his true identity, the young prince almost fainted on the spot, thinking he was going to die.

After all, this great rebellion in the capital was instigated by Dick's father, Rune.

Although Dick had left the Duke's family to establish his own household long ago, and there were rumors that his relationship with the Duke was not harmonious, they were still blood-related father and son.

Moreover, after the royal scandal was exposed, many people suddenly realized that Dick, the youngest son born out of wedlock in the Duke's family, was probably not the Duke's only biological son.

To Roman's relief, although Dick recognized him, he didn't actually do anything to him. Instead, he soothed him and promised to protect him.

Although Roman was a prince of the empire and was deeply favored by the old emperor Hesse VII, he was still young.

Before the sudden death of the eldest prince and the failure of the third prince, neither the central bureaucrats nor the local nobles of the empire had much faith in the youngest prince. Therefore, although the fifth prince had some supporters, he did not form a powerful and influential faction.

The recent internal strife in the capital came so suddenly that Roman, who fled in haste, had no followers except for a loyal old servant. He was able to infiltrate the National Academy because he was indeed studying magic at the academy under a false identity.

As for why Roman used a false identity, it was mainly to prevent assassination attempts, but it also indirectly saved Roman's life during this internal turmoil.

Now that the young prince is in Dick's hands, the Northern Alliance, which had previously declared neutrality, suddenly has a legitimate excuse and a righteous claim to intervene in the internal strife in the capital.

Although the Hessian royal family has caused widespread public discontent in recent years due to its perverse actions, it is, after all, a royal family that has ruled the empire for nearly a thousand years, and its lingering influence among the people remains.

Many people are simply dissatisfied with the status quo, yet still acknowledge the legitimacy of the royal family.

If Dick were to directly declare the Northern Union's independence and send troops to march on the capital, he would inevitably be labeled a "traitor."

But now that the Fifth Prince is here, the situation is quite different. On Earth, this would be called "using the emperor to command the princes." No wonder Dick laughed like a prime minister when he learned that Roman had come to his territory.

Not long after, in the second week after dealing with the Wilderness Orcs, the Northern Alliance announced to the outside world that it would support the Fifth Prince Roman and march into the capital to quell the rebellion.

Meanwhile, the Northern Border Legion and the fortress garrison, who originally wanted to remain neutral, also chose to join forces with the Northern Alliance and support the Fifth Prince after being persuaded by Dick.

As the legion commander, August had finally come to understand that his nephew was ambitious and definitely not someone who would settle for a life of mediocrity. Since the other party was willing to acknowledge him as his third aunt's husband and share wealth with him, he couldn't be ungrateful!

Under Dick's command, the expeditionary force, which had just withdrawn from the wasteland, took over the defense from the remaining troops. Although these soldiers were in high spirits, they were ultimately a weary army and needed to rest before they could be put back into battle.

Meanwhile, the troops that were originally stationed in the rear were in good condition. The victory of the expeditionary force further fueled their desire to win, and many soldiers longed to make a name for themselves!

Therefore, the 20,000 troops left behind were immediately converted into the vanguard and marched south.

Dick's mission for the vanguard was to seize the mountain passes south of the Central Mountain Range and several strategic locations along the route to the capital, ensuring that the main force could move south unimpeded.

After the vanguard crossed the Central Mountain Range, the expected battle did not occur. Along the way, all forces surrendered without resistance. No fool dared to stand up and stop them. Instead, many opportunists came to join them.

Interestingly, in the past, the northern region was always at the bottom of the empire's regional hierarchy. Whether it was the wealthy plantation owners in the south or the nobles who held political power in the capital, they all looked down on the lords of the north, thinking that these bumpkins were either exiled losers or uncivilized, poor barbarians.

This discrimination reached its peak during the orc invasion.

These people are just arrogant, not really stupid!

They could tell that the fierce aura emanating from these northerners was something their group of scrawny men could not possibly contend with!

Seeing that these "Southerners (all south of the Central Mountains)" were sensible, the vanguard did not make things difficult for them, after all, the Northern Allied Army was known for its strict military discipline.

Although their actual level is far from comparable to a certain people's army on the other side of Earth, in the current environment of the Empire, a passing army that can refrain from burning, killing, and looting, and that can forcibly requisition food but pay for it, is already qualified to be called a "royal army"!

As the vanguard of the Northern Army marched south, Dick also received a personal letter from Prince Heinz.

In this handwritten letter, Heinz dropped all pretense and addressed Dick as "elder brother." After detailing his own situation and plans, he stated that he would defeat Bailey's rebel army as soon as possible and then personally come to visit his elder brother.

The morning after this handwritten letter was delivered to Dick, the intelligence department received an urgent communication from the Southern Group. Heinz's army launched a surprise attack on the anti-rebel army and, with the help of both inside and outside forces, quickly defeated Bailey's army, which was known as a "million-strong army".

The punitive expeditionary force has now completely collapsed, and Heinz's army is pursuing the remaining enemy troops and capturing a large number of prisoners.

Prince Bailey himself was captured by Prince Heinz.

Upon seeing this news, Dick was momentarily stunned, because he remembered that the intelligence indicated that although Bailey's anti-rebel army had uneven quality of soldiers, with most of them being conscripted, Bailey, supported by the southern noble group, had at least eight Saint-level experts by his side.

Even if Heinz is incredibly powerful, he couldn't possibly capture their commander from right under the noses of eight Saints all by himself, could he?

Unless... Heinz has a powerful figure by his side who can crush a Saint-level expert!

Chapter 337: Brothers Meet

For a long time, there has been a rumor in the empire that has never been confirmed but no one doubts its authenticity: that the Black Forest royal family is keeping a demigod-level powerhouse.

During the rebellion in the capital, Duke Rune Best, when exposing the evil deeds of King Hessen VII, specifically mentioned that this demigod-level powerhouse was not actually human, but a powerful demonic dragon. King Hessen VII's "body-snatching" path to demonic ascension was given to him by this demonic dragon!

But this demigod dragon never appeared until Rune killed Hessian VII and cut off his head.

Based on a mix of true and false rumors, as well as snippets of information mentioned in the Duke's will, Dick deduced the truth on his own.

That is, there is probably some kind of unequal relationship between this dragon and the Black Forest royal family, a contract. The dragon is unwilling to be the Black Forest royal family's dog, but is unable to escape the constraints of the contract.

The Duke, by helping the dragon break its contract, prevented the dragon from protecting the royal family, indirectly causing King Blacksin VII to lose his greatest support.

In fact, it is said that similar situations where the strong serve as servants to the weak are not uncommon among the high and mighty gods.

One type is proactive, like Lucoa, who was by Dick's side. The dignified Feathered Serpent Goddess went out of her way to enter into a slave contract with Dick, a half-elf mage who wasn't even a Saint-level mage at the time, and she herself enjoyed it.

After all, for a god with eternal life, if they don't want to just sleep all day, they have to learn to find their own fun.

The other possibility is that they were misled!

Some gods may be very powerful, but they must also be very intelligent.

When the internal strife in the capital had just broken out, Dick once thought that the dragon should have left the empire after regaining its freedom. It was even possible that it had used the inherent skills of the dragon race to cross dimensions and leave this messed-up world that made it sad and hurt its pride.

But all the signs now indicate that the silly dragon has probably gone off to hang out with his cheap brother Heinz, which makes Dick very unhappy!

It is important to know that in the future envisioned by the Duke, he hoped that his two sons could "share" the empire.

Dick and the Heinz brothers attacked from the north and south, joining forces to quell the internal strife in the empire instigated by the old duke. Under the cover of war, they legitimately wiped out the Hessian royal family and all its supporters.

Once the internal strife ends, Dick, as the eldest son of the family, will inherit the dukedom of the Best family, while Heinz, whose true identity has not been revealed, can openly usurp the throne and become the VIII of Hesse, using their Best family bloodline to replace the Hesse royal family as the new rulers of the empire.

The Duke's actions were clearly a reciprocal act of revenge against King Hessen VII, comparable to a fantasy version of Hong Chengchou!

However, Dick was not very satisfied with the Duke's plan.

Because the Duke wants him to become Heinz's subject, why should he?

So Dick was very unhappy and didn't really want to meet Heinz.

However, there was nothing they could do; the other side had a sub-god!

In contrast, although Lucoa's true form is a true god, her true form is rejected by the fundamental laws of this world and cannot come over at all. Otherwise, she would not have sent a saint-level clone to Dick's side.

So at noon on the day agreed in the letter, Dick immediately assembled all his top combat forces to be on high alert and "welcome" Heinz's arrival.

"coming!"

As Lucoa reminded him, a crack suddenly appeared in the void less than five meters in front of Dick, and Heinz and a beautiful dragon girl with two horns on her head walked out hand in hand.

Dick was slightly taken aback when he saw this, and then he heard Lucoa whisper something in his ear.

"That woman is the demigod."

The beautiful dragon girl also noticed Lucoa, and a slightly surprised expression appeared on her face. She immediately whispered a few words in Heinz's ear.

"As expected of my elder brother, I never imagined that there would be a dragon lady by your side."

"The one beside you must be a demigod-level dragon. I still don't know how to address him."