The generals exchanged glances, offering thanks that was clearly perfunctory, as they all understood it was merely Karur's stalling tactic, leaving them dispirited.
Seeing their insincere nods and downcast expressions, Karur grew a little uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and announced loudly, "Gentlemen, Saint Romansi attacks our Northwest, leaving devastation and scorched earth in its wake. To alleviate the suffering of our people, I have brought refugees into the city. However, countless more are still pouring in, enduring hardship, displaced from their homes, robbed of their wealth, their wives and daughters violated."
"Soldiers, can you turn a blind eye to this? You must understand! Today's sufferers could be us tomorrow! I, Karur, as a ruler of this land, cannot bear to see our people suffer. I have taken up arms to resist the enemy. If you soldiers are willing to lend me a hand, I will thank you on behalf of our fathers and mothers! Of course, if you wish to leave, I, Karur, will not stop you. But I must tell you, the three cities of the Northwest are interdependent; in these trying times, we must stand united!"
Karur's impassioned speech clearly stirred the blood of these valiant men, and the atmosphere immediately became animated.
Someone shouted loudly.
"We swear to never let the Saint Romansi dogs into our Northwest!"
"Let's fight them to the death!"
"We are willing to fight the Saint Romansi army with our King!"
...
A general said,
"Your Majesty, those who left earlier were Gisde's kin, and it was unavoidable. But we are all men of spirit. My unit is willing to stay and resist the strong enemy with you, to preserve peace in our Northwest!"
This general's speech was clearly highly inspiring. Karur nodded emotionally, his face alight with excitement, and bowed his head in gratitude.
"I thank you, soldiers, on behalf of the people of the Northwest!"
Seeing Karur's care for his soldiers, they were all filled with righteous indignation, which immediately dispelled their resentment towards their former lord.
Observing the expressions of his generals, Karur was confident that this force had been stabilized under his command.
Unfortunately, the news of Gisde's death spread too quickly. While Karur's reaction was not slow, Gisde's kin clearly reacted far faster.
They fled with their troops immediately after Gisde's death, without even notifying the other divisions. Their swiftness was truly commendable.
Although Karur knew that Gisde's kin had led their contingent to escape and would be difficult to catch, he also knew that these people would not give up easily. He dispatched a unit to hunt down the remnants of Gisde's faction.
The Saint Romansi army did not receive precise intelligence, but Karur's military movements drew the attention of the Saint Romansi high command. Soon, the Saint Romansi army discovered the situation: Gisde's unit was now led by Tulai, a general in Karur's army.
Combined with intelligence from the rebels indicating internal conflict and the death of a senior rebel general, Xiao Xun had already concluded that Gisde was the one who died. Now, the Saint Romansi high command was almost certain that the deceased was indeed Gisde.
All the Saint Romansi generals praised Lord Svein for his foresight, and even the usually steady Aaron and Tordesen could not help but marvel at Lord Svein's uncanny ability to predict events.
However, Xiao Xun was not overly pleased, as Gisde's death would inevitably disrupt the plan to draw the main rebel force to this location. Karur would likely receive no reinforcements.
After all, if the commander of the reinforcement troops died in the territory he was to reinforce, and at the hands of those being reinforced, who would dare to reinforce such a cruel and ruthless individual?
Xiao Xun knew that the decisive battle with the rebels was imminent. He immediately began to prepare, and the situation was on the verge of eruption.
The Gley division arrived at Kasa City, but did not pose a significant threat to the city walls.
Karur had expected the Saint Romansi army to surround and annihilate him. To his surprise, there were so few troops. He immediately cursed his subordinates for their incompetence, mistaking a few thousand soldiers for tens of thousands, forcing him to consolidate his forces at Kasa City to prepare for a hard battle.
Now that the forces were evenly matched, for the Saint Romansi to attack a fortified city with such a small contingent was akin to a pipe dream. Even more amusing and frustrating for Karur was that the Saint Romansi's main commander was only about thirty years old, not even fully grown. It was laughable that he had been so frightened by such a child.
Karur furiously summoned the border scout commander, grabbed him by the collar, and roared, "Tell me, where are the tens of thousands of Saint Romansi troops?"
The border scout commander broke out in a cold sweat. While this lord was usually approachable, when he flew into a rage, he was a ruthless killer.
The Saint Romansi army was indeed cunning. They had initially claimed to have tens of thousands of troops, but it wasn't until they infiltrated the territory of Sidya that they discovered they were less than ten thousand. Karur could only await his lord's judgment.
The border scout commander stammered, "My... My Lord, the Saint Romansi army is indeed attacking with tens of thousands of troops. They must have... must have split their forces on the way?"
By this time, the Saint Romansi army had already reached the city. Karur had no time to adjust his strategy. Hearing someone challenging him from below the city, he roughly threw the border scout commander to the ground and ascended the city wall.
He saw an enemy general below the city pointing his long spear at him and shouting, "Karur on the wall, do you dare to fight the Saint Romansi's Autris!"
Karur's副将 (fùjiàng - adjutant/lieutenant) said, "Your Majesty, our city is well-defended. There is no need to descend and engage in a duel."
Karur sneered, "Mere petty thieves! What is there to fear?"
The adjutant, having stumbled upon bad luck, retreated to the side sheepishly. Another general stepped forward and requested, "Your Majesty, your humble servant is willing to fight him!"
Karur nodded with great approval. "Go ahead!"
To Karur's surprise, his own subordinate proved to be so inept that he was unhorsed by Autris in less than sixty rounds.
Cheers erupted from the Saint Romansi army, roaring like thunder. Karur cursed in frustration, "Useless!"
He prepared his horse and sword and led his troops out of the city.
Karur had clearly seen from the wall that this Autris was no match for him.
Seeing a dark-skinned giant wielding a steel saber taller than a man, standing before the formation like an iron tower, Autris couldn't help but gasp. To think such a mighty person existed in this world; even on horseback, he was only as tall as this man.
Before the battle even began, he felt a flicker of fear.
Autris, being a veteran of many battles, gathered his spirits and shouted, "Who goes there? State your name quickly! This general never kills nameless rats!"
Karur let out a wild, booming laugh. This laughter, filling the sky, was even more powerful than the cheers of thousands of Saint Romansi soldiers just moments before, causing everyone in the Saint Romansi army to change their expressions.
The Saint Romansi army had infiltrated the barbarian territory in three routes. Xiao Xun was not worried about the Gley route; his greatest concern was Augath. To this day, he had received no news of Augath. After this force penetrated deep into the Northwest, they seemed to have vanished into thin air. No matter how he calculated, Xiao Xun could only foresee chaos.
Xiao Xun even began to doubt Heccaster's abilities. Was this title of "number one in the world" merely an empty boast?
This conclusion was clearly illogical. Xiao Xun shook his head and dismissed the thought. For now, he could only take things one step at a time. First, he would deal with Karur, and then he would address the issues with Augath's side.
The border scouts soon obtained accurate intelligence, confirming Xiao Xun's suspicions: Karur's general Bijies had engaged in a conflict with Gisde, resulting in one death and one injury, with Gisde being the one killed.
Xiao Xun wasted no further time and ordered the three routes to attack Karur simultaneously. The western route, led by Aaron, would directly target Karur. The central route, led by Giret, would attack Bijies' forces. The eastern route, led by Tordesen, would attack Tulai's unit.
The remaining forces were held as reserves, to be personally commanded by Xiao Xun.