When the news of the Gaulish vanguard's crushing defeat reached the command center, the Anglo-Saxons leader Brown and the Vikings leader Ingolvesi were secretly delighted, but the Gauls' demand that "too many of our own people have been injured and died, so the Anglo-Saxons should act as the vanguard" made Brown furious.
"Naturally, it's because too many of us Gauls have died, and the Vikings are outsiders. As a member of the English Sea, shouldn't you act as the vanguard to show your sincerity?" the sullen Bonaparte said unhappily. Anyone who lost more than twelve thousand subordinates would be unhappy.
In fact, Artoria and her people only killed a maximum of ten thousand; as for the rest, the Gauls didn't need the wounded...
With only a little over sixty thousand men, the weakest of the three factions, Bonaparte of the Gauls, began to harbor ill intentions.
Faced with such a perfect excuse, Brown was unable to refuse, at least under the scornful gazes of the two men, Brown could not utter a word of refusal.
What was even more infuriating was the news from the Gauls that the enemy had already collected everything using a scorched-earth strategy.
In other words, this advance offered no benefits other than reconnaissance, and which of the allied forces didn't see the Gauls' pathetic retreat?
The Gauls had lost face, so naturally, they wanted others to suffer some losses too.
Everyone's intelligence level was similar, so they naturally understood what Bonaparte of the Gauls was planning: his current strength of only forty-eight thousand men was too small.
In fact, as long as the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings formed an alliance and compromised, they could easily divide up the Gauls.
Brown of the Anglo-Saxons, understanding that if he didn't go, this alliance would fall apart, was extremely reluctant, while Ingolvesi of the Vikings naturally hoped that the strength of the other two would be as low as possible, so that his plan would proceed more smoothly.
As long as his interests were not infringed upon, he was happy to watch the show.
Under the watchful eyes of both sides, Brown reluctantly set off with his men.
Because of the previous lesson, like startled birds, they only traveled less than forty li in an entire afternoon.
Bonaparte and Ingolvesi were furious and sent people to threaten him, saying that if he didn't reach Red Leaf Ridge before moonrise tonight, they would make him regret it.
Brown was enraged but dared not defy the two united men.
He merely sped up, while remaining vigilant, and finally arrived at the foot of Red Leaf Ridge before moonrise.
Having been on edge the entire journey, they didn't discover any attackers, and the beauty of Red Leaf Ridge's houses and the comfort of its furniture immediately made the Barbarians cheer.
It was already moonrise, and exhausted in body and mind, they simply lay down in the homes of Red Leaf Ridge's residents and fell into a deep sleep.
Let alone them, even their leader Brown hadn't thought of sending someone back to report: "Are you kidding? My men ran for almost five hours to get here; we finally got some rest, what's wrong with that?! Do I still need to go back and report to you?! Who are you?! My superiors? Pfft!"
Well, there were no phones in this era, so Brown didn't go back to report.
The five-hour journey made Bonaparte and Ingolvesi wait and wait, and wait... until the flowers withered.
Seeing that it was almost nine o'clock (of course, their understanding was different), the two couldn't stand it anymore.
One sent a White Bear Warrior, and the other a Berserker; they teamed up and galloped away.
They had no horses; horses couldn't survive on warships, and with the scorched-earth policy here, no horses could be found.
The two super warriors could only gallop.
They came up with a very good method: piggybacking!
One carried the other for ten kilometers, then the other carried him.
Surprisingly, their method worked quite well; the five-hour journey was completed in three hours.
Seeing the Anglo-Saxons sleeping soundly in the houses, the two were furious.
They didn't even ask Brown about the situation; they believed they had already found Brown's problem, so they simply turned back.
When the sky turned white, they finally returned to the coast and reported the matter to Bonaparte and Ingolvesi.
The two were furious, and as it was morning, they immediately woke everyone up and marched towards Red Leaf Ridge...
Rewind to last night, when they had just entered the outer city of Red Leaf Ridge, the lights of Red Leaf Ridge's inner castle had already lit up.
"Your Excellency, do we need to attack?" a knight behind him asked, leaning on his sword.
A line of knights spread along the wall, and the pine tar-soaked linen, lit as torches, illuminated the entire city wall.
The knight faced Grand Duke Andrei and asked, "Your Excellency, if we go out now, we can annihilate these Barbarians at any time."
Indeed, the Barbarians' thunderous snoring could be heard even on the city wall.
If they attacked now, these foolish Barbarians would be killed in their sleep.
"No, we must let them preserve their strength." Grand Duke Andrei's eyes flickered; he was very interested in the suggestion but immediately rejected it.
"Don't forget the ultimate plan: annihilation! Not dispersal."
"Yes!" The knight had only made a suggestion.
With the ultimate plan brought up, everyone fell silent.
"Five thousand light infantry will watch them, guard the city walls, no rest all night, divided into three shifts.
Tomorrow morning will be another great battle!" Grand Duke Andrei shouted.
"Ha!" The knights struck their lances against the bluestone bricks, creating a tremor.
Standing on the city wall with long spears were naturally Kailar's infantrymen.
Since they didn't need to defend the city, only stand guard, everyone was dressed in light armor, holding eight-foot long spears, looking majestic.
"Kate, do you think these Barbarians can break in?" Kailar's soldiers had trained for ten years and fought four battles, so they were quite experienced.
The most important thing while on guard duty was to be diligent and responsible.
To stay awake, the soldiers at this embrasure began to chat.
With an embrasure every ten meters, five men per embrasure formed a small defensive squad, and these five men began to chat.
"How is that possible?" The man named Kate, who looked only twenty-five or twenty-six, was already a squad leader, which proved that he had at least ten heads from cutting down generals and seizing banners on the battlefield.
He said with a sneer, "Not to mention that these Barbarians' armor is leather, not iron, and can't withstand our thrusts, and..."
He lowered his iron spear shaft and carefully stroked the finely polished, razor-sharp Dragon Scale Spearhead, which would draw blood with just a light touch: "With this, we're not afraid even against knights."
"That's right." The others nearby immediately agreed.
"Speaking of which, our Emperor truly is a military god... Thanks to her, the Sage was able to be rescued," the young soldier added, immediately drawing a chorus of agreement.
Kailar's prestige in Red Leaf Ridge was very high.
Kailar, who had led everyone into a moderately prosperous society, enjoyed a level of popularity in Red Leaf Ridge that was absolutely beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
Therefore, the people of Red Leaf Ridge were very grateful to Artoria for "rescuing" Kailar from the dragon's hands.
Coupled with Artoria's past role as Kailar's original bodyguard, many people in Red Leaf Ridge loved Artoria even more.
This was similar to how if a country's leader came from a certain province, the entire province would feel honored.