Three days later.
Luke led the army to a stop at the dividing river in the Argent Mountains, preparing to rest briefly before crossing.
This river connected to the Conqueror's Sea and flowed down from the middle of the enormous mountain range. It was about seven or eight meters wide and long, but not very deep.
If Noxus had set up a defensive line here to block him and the army, it would have been a decent location.
However, Noxus had not chosen to do so.
Over these three days, no further fighting had broken out between the two sides. It seemed as if Noxus had chosen to turn a blind eye to Demacia driving straight in.
But that was not actually the case. In reality, they knew that the thin garrisons scattered across each region were not enough to withstand this Demacian attack.
Because anyone could see that this time, Demacia had split its forces into three routes, with the battlefront stretching across Valoran and Shurima. They had clearly made preparations for a forceful invasion.
So once the border defenses were breached, Noxus simply abandoned those unimportant cities, transferred away important supplies, and gathered with their true main forces.
That was how they could make full preparations to confront Demacia.
There would be an even wider river ahead, close to Boleham and Groft. If Luke had guessed correctly, Noxus would build their real defensive works there.
While the soldiers took the opportunity to build a bridge across the river, Luke rested and opened the Secret Key. He saw the information sent from Trevale, then revealed a thoughtful expression.
Noxus had agreed to the terms for trading prisoners of war. The exchange site had been set on an open plain after crossing the river. The terrain there was wide and open, making it impossible to set an ambush.
If Demacia broke the agreement, then Noxus would no longer pay attention to any further demands.
Naturally, Luke had no intention of breaking the agreement. After all, once the prisoners of war were traded, the side that lost out definitely would not be his.
There had been no more fighting along the way, so the number of prisoners of war had not increased. This time, as he advanced, he had brought along some prisoners "for trade" as well.
As time slowly passed, Quinn soon found Luke.
"Your Highness, the bridge is ready."
Hearing that, Luke stood up. "Keep moving!"
At the same time, on the Noxian side.
The commander personally appointed by Darkwill this time, Demir Alaus, had already led the army he had gathered and marched west, preparing to block Demacia's army with a grand display of force.
He himself had been in Groft, so he was already not far from the Demacian army.
This time, he had a total of one hundred thousand troops under his command. Having just passed thirty-five, Demir had great confidence in this expedition.
From the intelligence collected earlier, he had learned that the army Demacia had dispatched this time, even split into three routes, still numbered less than one hundred and fifty thousand in total.
And he now held one hundred thousand troops in his hands. Another fifty thousand troops would arrive later, and after that, Noxus would continue recruiting soldiers and sending reinforcements. The estimate was that there would be at least another one hundred thousand troops.
Even if there was some difference in soldier quality between the two sides, their numbers would be enough to make up for it.
Not to mention, one side was attacking and the other was defending, which involved different levels of difficulty.
The reason they could not send even more was because Noxus was not resisting only one front this time. In the north, there was also another Demacian army driving deep into their territory.
Noxus had likewise sent one hundred thousand troops there.
Demir had been born into House Alaus. In his life, he had participated in three large-scale campaigns, and in each of them, he had performed impressively. As for smaller battles, there were too many to count. He had captured thirteen cities for Noxus and destroyed a small nation.
On the map, he had made no small contribution to expanding the territory of the Noxian Empire.
It could be said that he had become famous young. Now, at only thirty-five, he was already a warlord with considerable prestige.
Before this, he had never fought Demacia, but he had learned about this country that had stood beside Noxus for centuries.
Even so, he had absolute confidence in this mission.
He had heard that Demacia's commander this time was only a young prince barely past twenty. However, he did not look down on him because of that.
For such a young prince to take charge of a war on such a large scale, he was clearly extremely capable. Otherwise, Demacia would never have sent him.
This made Demir very eager to see this prince's abilities for himself.
Riding atop his warhorse, the small amount of arrogance in his heart made Demir somewhat look forward to their coming clash.
But before that, he needed to ransom back those prisoners of war.
Another three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Both sides marched toward the same direction, but for now, they had only one objective, to exchange prisoners of war.
It was somewhat unusual. After all, exchanging prisoners right after a war had begun was something that rarely happened.
On the open plain, both sides tacitly reached a temporary non-aggression agreement.
Luke also faithfully allowed the prisoners to return to Noxus at a price of two hundred gold per person.
In Noxus's temporary military camp.
An adjutant walked into the camp and reported to Demir, "General, the prisoners exchanged this time are all old, weak, sick, disabled, children, and women. There are about seventy thousand of them."
After listening to his subordinate's report, Demir raised his head, not surprised.
Just thinking about it made the answer obvious. Naturally, Demacia would not allow anyone who could become fighting strength to return to Noxus during the war.
Then the prisoners exchanged here would inevitably be the elderly, the weak, the sick, the disabled, children, women, and others who lacked combat ability.
And yet, the Immortal Bastion had no choice but to grit its teeth and make the exchange.
Otherwise, it would only invite a wave of condemnation. Based on what he understood about Darkwill's current situation as the one in power, that man naturally could not refuse.
Because this was moral coercion placed openly on the table.
For mighty Noxus to abandon its own people would be the same as allowing the enemy to throw its dignity to the ground and trample on it. More importantly, it would chill countless hearts.
If the people were pieces that could be abandoned at will when danger came, who would dare serve such a ruler?
Although Noxus had always prided itself on having no moralism.
But after all, once a country grew large enough, it more or less had an image to maintain. Face still mattered.
At this moment, however, what Demir was thinking about was not that.
"Should these people be made to wear armor and fight Demacia..."
His gaze narrowed slightly as he murmured to himself.
This was the method of cutting losses given by the Immortal Bastion. Have these prisoners who had lost their homes put on cheap armor and fight for their country.
Their enemy, naturally, would be Demacia, which had already attacked them once.
However, even if these elderly people, children, and women with no combat ability put on armor, could they really be Demacia's opponents?
Demir naturally knew that their ending would only be as cannon fodder.
They only needed to charge at the very front. If they could make the enemy waste even one more arrow, it would be worth it.
"Arrange it that way. I have another use for them."
After a brief moment of thought, he waved his hand and gave the order.
After the prisoners were exchanged, Noxus quickly withdrew with them.
Naturally, Luke did not send troops to chase them.
After all, even if he captured those prisoners again and sold them one more time, there probably would not be anyone willing to pay.
This sort of moral coercion had to be done slowly. After all, if Noxus was pushed too hard, they might simply decide they did not need morality at all.
The army had also been traveling for many days in succession, so this was a good opportunity to rest properly.
Luke likewise led the army back a certain distance. In the temporary camp, boxes of gold coins obtained through the exchange had already been carried in one after another.
Pairs of white-armored soldiers carried the heavy boxes of gold coins with great effort.
After this exchange, the troops were indeed much lighter without those prisoners of war.
These gold coins had already been inspected as well, and there were basically no problems.
Naturally, Noxus would not fake anything here, because that would be no different from handing the initiative back to Demacia.
Do not forget that Demacia still held a portion of the prisoners of war. If even the money used to ransom prisoners was fake, would that not give them a reason to slaughter the captives?
At this moment.
Looking at the boxes of gold coins piled everywhere, Lux's eyes widened as she murmured, "How many gold coins is this?"
Luke casually answered, "Not that many. About fourteen million."
Lux froze as she listened. "Fourteen million? I've never seen this much money in my life."
Even she showed a look like someone who had never seen the world, and the greedy little part of her wanted to pour out all the gold coins and see how tall a mountain they could make.
After all, fourteen million was indeed no small amount.
These were genuine gold coins. Gold coins were the hard currency of all Runeterra.
Aside from some places in Ionia, once you took out one of these small, shiny gold things, it was guaranteed to work.
"No wonder Noxus likes fighting wars."
Lux suddenly had some realization, and many people around her agreed.
Invasion and war, aside from satisfying the ambitions of certain conquerors, showed their most direct benefit in the economy.
Because the gains obtained through this method came the easiest, and they were also the greatest.
The wealth an entire country had worked together to build could all fall into your pocket through a single campaign.
Simple, direct, and brutal.
In this way, it would only inflate the invaders' greed endlessly.
Noxus's trade and economy operated in this very manner, like a snowball rolling larger and larger.
Luke also chuckled at this moment. "Taking money from bullies who robbed other people really doesn't feel bad."
"Exactly!" Lux nodded with extreme agreement. "When I think of them being furious but unable to do anything to us, I feel so much better."
Her words made the people around them laugh.
That was right. If one did not want to be bullied by these tyrants, the only way was to become strong enough oneself, strong enough to make them furious yet helpless.
Only then could one protect oneself and protect the weak.
This trip made many people feel that Demacia's choice to launch an attack proactively had been the correct one.
"Use this money to expand our territory."
Luke decided how this money would be used.
Since Demacia had sent troops this time, the places they captured would naturally not be returned to Noxus.
This money taken from Noxus would be used to build walls to resist Noxus.
At this time, the sky had already darkened. The army set up camp here to rest and also take care of tonight's dinner.
The rest time was destined not to be too long. After all, this was a critical period of war. Around midnight, the army would set out again.
The troops had maintained their energy very well over these days, so even if they set out soon, they would not be exhausted.
In Luke's tent, he, Quinn, and the other adjutants and generals studied the marching map.
"The next city we should attack is Brue City. If nothing unexpected happens, the enemy army will retreat there. It should be about twenty to twenty-five kilometers away from us. At full speed, the attack is estimated to take at least three hours."
"The current information on the enemy's deployment is unclear, and we don't know how many troops they have assigned to defend against us. However, I estimate there are at least one hundred and fifty thousand or more."
Hearing this, Luke's gaze fell on the map, and he thought for a moment.
Time passed.
Brue City.
A large army was stationed in the city. The atmosphere was quite heavy, and a chilling murderous air surrounded the sky above the city.
This was a proper army made up of one warband after another. Every soldier had experienced plenty of killing.
Inside the war council room, Demir and a group of generals were seated.
One person reported, "General, according to the estimated time, the remaining fifty thousand troops will arrive one after another in half a day."
Because Demacia's attack had come suddenly, the troops were being dispatched from various locations.
Naturally, their arrival times differed.
At present, Demir had a one hundred thousand strong army that had always followed him.
Together with the seventy thousand cannon fodder exchanged today, their numbers were not small.
Hearing this, Demir spoke thoughtfully. "I estimate Demacia will make a move very soon. If nothing unexpected happens, they will march late at night."
One adjutant said, "We have one hundred thousand troops defending Brue City. This main Demacian army probably numbers less than fifty thousand. Is there any need for us to be this tense?"
"There is indeed no need. But passive defense has never been my style."
Demir's eyes flickered as he spoke and stood up. He walked to the map hanging on the wall and looked it over. "This time, Demacia has split its forces into three routes. One route is attacking from the north. One route is the prince's army, which is the one directly in front of us. The other route is in Shurima, with the purpose of cutting off the possibility of support from our sea routes."
"These three routes are advancing in the same direction. Our current position is Brue City. If my expectations are correct, the other Demacian army in the north has already arrived here."
He pointed at the map. It was not hard to see that the other Demacian army's location was diagonally above Brue City.
It was also directly above the prince's army.
They were attacking from above and below, and the current marching routes brought the two armies relatively close to one another.
Because of the terrain, Demir was certain that the other army would inevitably have to take a partial detour.
Everyone present was one of Demir's trusted aides, so they understood his style of warfare. He truly did not like being passive.
This man had achieved what he had today precisely because he dared to fight and dared to gamble.
"Do not forget, our mission is not only to intercept Demacia. More importantly, it is to retake the fallen territory. My idea is to take the initiative, launch a surprise attack on the other Demacian army, then circle around from the flank and rear. Together with the troops coming from the front, we will strike the prince's army from both sides."
He spoke slowly, laying out his plan.
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