Blue Sword

Time enters May.

The warm sea breeze from the Mediterranean Sea has blown to the Apennine Peninsula.

The total distance from Verona to Bologna is 128 kilometers. The Emperor's coalition forces could only advance a small distance almost every day, and often had to pay an extremely heavy price.

Imperial soldiers continued to be killed in frequent attacks by synth forces, so that the morale of the army almost fell to the bottom.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Holy See is fighting a technologically asymmetric war with the Empire. The latter is losing real human lives, while the former is just spending money.

If it weren't for the fact that after killing the synthetics, their remains could be sold for a very high price in the army market, I'm afraid soldiers from various principalities would have rioted long ago.

The emperor and the dukes held high-level meetings one after another to discuss the next battle plan. The Dukes said that the odds of winning were now very low, and it was better to retreat to the foothills of the Alps before the Holy See had cut off the retreat and completed the siege of the Emperor's coalition forces.

However, the emperor refused.

Because the result of this is obvious. Once they retreat (whether it is a strategic shift or a rout), the soldiers will inevitably lose all confidence in advancing, and it will be extremely difficult to drive them south to attack the Holy See.

Not to mention that launching this battle itself has overdrawn too much of the political prestige of the royal Saxon family. If you retreat and regain strength at this time, it means that all the early efforts have been wasted.

As long as they enter the foothills of the Alps, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, then "leading troops back home" will become another optional plan, placed in front of the Dukes together with "continuing the attack".

The emperor didn't even have to think about it, he knew which dukes would delay, and which dukes would immediately propose returning home... or even instigate the knights to launch a riot, forcing the emperor to submit.

Therefore, it is impossible to retreat. At most, it is like being nailed here. If anyone dares to cause civil strife to rebel against me, the Holy See army will attack the camp and everyone will die together!

Faced with the emperor's old man's stubbornness, the dukes were helpless.

Everyone knows what is the only belief that supports the emperor to persist:

The third demon tide.

The first magic wave was in July last year, and the second magic wave was in January this year. Calculated, the interval is about half a year. But this thing is just like my aunt, it may be earlier or later, and even the Holy See cannot predict it a few months in advance.

Maybe until June, the demonic tide will come? Maybe it will come next week? After all, it is already May.

As soon as the demonic tide comes, not only the synthetics and drones, but also the Templar Knights equipped with prosthetics will lose their combat effectiveness. At that time, the Emperor's coalition forces can move south like a broken bamboo, and win the victory in one fell swoop before the Holy See can react.

The emperor was gambling heavily, using the reputation of the Saxon family and the lives of everyone in the coalition, betting that the evil tide would suddenly come early.

Just when the situation was at a stalemate, news from a Blade Warrior spy reached the ears of the emperor who was presiding over the meeting, which immediately made the old Frank man furious.

"Bring me that damn market!" Emperor Otto overturned the entire desk.

The emperor followed the sword warrior and left in a hurry, while the dukes looked at each other and quickly called their attendants to inquire.

Soon everyone learned the whole story:

It turns out that Milanese traders in the military market bought the remains of synths/drones captured on the battlefield from soldiers at high prices, and then sold them back to the Holy See at higher prices to use them as raw materials for processing. Recycled and put back into the production line.

This back and forth is equivalent to saying that the Holy See saved raw materials by spending money, and the Milan merchants earned the middle price difference. Only the Emperor's Allied Forces exchanged the lives of their men for money, and the money was still in the hands of the soldiers, who continued to enjoy pleasure with drinks/women, etc. channel and flow back to the vendors.

It's no wonder that His Majesty the Emperor couldn't bear it and planned to deploy troops and generals to destroy the cancer of the army market.

The Blade Warriors quickly dressed up and rushed toward the market with the Emperor surrounded. The dukes quickly informed their subordinates, for example, whose knight was currently wandering around the market, and quickly slipped out in the other direction.

Otherwise, if he is caught and killed by the angry emperor, there will be no place to redress his grievances.

At this time, Ask was walking around the market with Mia and Mi'er. The two little girls were running around with roasted chicken legs in one hand and ice cream cones in the other.

Children are still easy to coax, Asik sighed. Much easier to deal with than some mind-reading sister duo.

Suddenly there was a noise in front of them. The three of them looked in the direction of the crowd and saw that the heavily armed Blade Warriors had blocked the entrance to the market. Many soldiers who came out of the tents tried to leave and started fighting with the blocking Blade Warriors. Pushing and fighting,

"Wow, captain, let's run away quickly!" Mia subconsciously wanted to take the two of them away from the shadow world, but she heard Asik say:

"Don't worry yet, let me see what happened."

Soon, a sword warrior stood up and read the emperor's edict to the uninformed soldiers and traders;

From now on, Suijun Market will be permanently closed and will not be reopened. Any traders who try to station themselves near the military camp will be regarded as agents sent by the Holy See; any soldiers who deal privately with traders will be regarded as treason and arrested.

This order quickly aroused the anger of the people. After all, everyone's usual fighting was already very difficult, and there was a danger of death at any time. Now, the little opportunity to exchange loot for money has to be ruthlessly deprived by His Majesty the Emperor...

I don't know who screamed unbearably, and then blood actually appeared!

The people present didn't even realize whether it was the blade samurai or the soldier who made the move first. In short, the conflict suddenly escalated in a lightning-like and unprepared manner. By the time the remaining people came to their senses, they were already involuntarily being coerced into joining. In turmoil!

Mia and Mi'er were shocked and tried to pull Asike back, but in vain.

I don’t know when Aske disappeared! Did he go back to Fire Island, or did he leave suddenly?

The two little girls looked at each other. Mia immediately pulled out the short knife tied to her forearm, while Mi'er reached for the pistol on her thigh (her sniper rifle was too conspicuous and she didn't bring it with her). The two of them cautiously retreated to the nearest place. Next to the tent, people stood back to back and glanced around, watching with cold eyes as the rebels drew out their swords or firearms and frantically attacked the blade warriors who were blocking the entrance to the camp.

The remaining limbs were dancing wildly, flesh and blood were flying everywhere, and the gunshots and roars were dense and loud.

Suddenly, Asik teleported out of Hearth Island with Nora, Medea and Paige.

"Quickly search the nearby subconscious ocean to find out who is instigating this incident!"

Nora and Medea immediately nodded and quickly opened their spiritual vision. Peggy also activated the salvage skill of the Law of Death. Countless concrete death tadpoles emerged from the void and then concealed themselves in the subconscious ocean, and began to search for nearby living people. and thoughts of the dead come.

Thanks to eloper_Hai Heyu for his 500 coins, thanks to Damocles52 for his 1100 coins, and thanks to book friend 20180605230417596 for his 2000 coins~