Divine Kingship

Chapter 569 A Turning Point for the Kingdom of Bolen

Rand fully understood the difficulty of conquering such a city.

Given that the enemy fleet still maintains an advantage in strength, it is practically impossible.

A siege could last for years and might not be breached.

But Rand was not in a hurry.

Those who were clearly anxious were the nobles and royal family of the Kingdom of Bolun, who at this time did not seem to have any worries about the immediate fall of the capital.

Undoubtedly, the capital city of the Kingdom of Bolun was a magnificent city.

The gray-white granite city walls are covered with salt frost, and the main gate facing the outside world, the "Emerald Gate", is made of three hundred pieces of sea-eroded bronze plates. The lintel is inlaid with a glass painting of the founding monarch beheading a sea monster - the sea monster's scales are polished with real mermaid scales, and on rainy days, it will exude a fishy and sweet mist.

The drill ground outside the east wall of the palace was covered with broken basalt, and the dull thuds of blunt swords clashing echoed in the morning mist. Apprentice knights, wearing linen shirts soaked with sweat, dragged furrows of their footprints across the sand.

The Kingdom of Bolen has never been a weak nation. Since its founding, the people of Bolen have conquered the sea and the land with courage.

To this day, the knights of the Kingdom of Bolen remain brave and skilled in battle, and the sailors of the Kingdom of Bolen are also courageous and fierce soldiers.

At least under the current circumstances, there will be knights practicing their martial arts in the training grounds.

In the center of this royal city, which stands amidst salt frost and fertile soil, lies the palace—Wave Palace—where the atmosphere is unusually somber.

Of course, the old king could no longer resign and rest. All the nobles, ministers, and influential members of the royal family from the Kingdom of Bolun came.

The Kingdom of Bolun is now facing a life-or-death crisis.

The old king and the new king sat in the head seat.

Some of the nobles were seated in the meeting room, while others stood slightly behind.

There were still many empty seats on the main conference table, with no one sitting down.

As for why these seats are empty, it's because the nobles and ministers who were supposed to be sitting here are obviously no longer able to come for the meeting.

All of this happened so suddenly.

If the allies of Rand, such as Marcus, the White Country, and the Takagi Kingdom, were merely shocked and incredulous at the state of the war...

For the Kingdom of Bolun, that was a real shadow of death.

"It's all your fault for going there, for going to deal with Rand, for plotting an assassination attempt against Marcus!" Some nobles were already panicking and blurting out incoherent words.

Although this statement wasn't said directly to the king, it was essentially a veiled criticism of the new king.

The nobleman spoke a few more words before being immediately dragged away by the guards.

Indeed, some nobles could not bear the current losses and the fate that lay ahead, and in their hearts they blamed the king and the great nobles for their decisions.

However, no major criticism of the king by the nobles was formed.

One reason is that the new king did not truly act unilaterally; the decisions were made collaboratively.

Another reason is naturally because they had no choice but to fight to the death.

Judging from the state of the Frostmoon Kingdom, it's clear that they've had designs on the Bolun Kingdom for quite some time now.

With the influx of people from the north into Rand, coupled with the growing power of the Frostmoon Kingdom.

An attack on the Kingdom of Bolun is inevitable; if we don't try now, we'll have to face it later anyway.

This time, the assassination of the King of Frostmoon Kingdom was indeed successful, but the fact that Frostmoon Kingdom did not fall into chaos as a result was completely unexpected by the Kingdom of Bolun.

If the Frostmoon Kingdom falls into chaos due to the death of its king, then the Bolen Kingdom may be able to avenge its defeat and reverse the gap between itself and the Frostmoon Kingdom.

The decision itself was not the problem; it was just that the situation developed in a way that surprised everyone.

In theory, even if the assassination failed and the Frostmoon Kingdom and the Bolen Kingdom went to war, if the Bolen Kingdom chose a conservative strategy, it would be impossible for all of its defenses to be breached in this way.

If time drags on and the Frostmoon Kingdom runs out of food and retreats, the Bolen Kingdom will not suffer much loss, and may even be able to defend and counterattack.

But once again, things took an unexpected turn.

This was not only unexpected by the people of the Kingdom of Bolun, but everyone who knew about it was utterly astonished.

"Why were our defenses breached so quickly?" the new king asked, forcing himself to speak despite his discomfort.

He had grown extremely disgusted with this country.

He had long anticipated the folly of the country's nobles and lower classes.

He hadn't expected to be so foolish as to allow Rand, that equally foolish man, to break through his defenses so easily.

Even if tens of thousands of pigs were stationed at the defensive line, it wouldn't be breached so quickly.

Calling those soldiers "mud" is an understatement to describe their stupidity and weakness.

This made him extremely disappointed in his father, who never expected that his father would allow the country to become so foolish. By the time he took over, even with his extraordinary talent, he was already powerless to reverse the situation.

How can we fight in this situation?

They so wisely and secretly gathered allies and successfully assassinated the enemy king.

Furthermore, considering the foolishness of their own nobles, they did not adopt an overly aggressive offensive approach, but instead chose to conservatively defend their lines, allowing other nations to recognize the greed and ruthlessness of the Frostmoon Kingdom, thereby gaining more allies to support them in resisting the Frostmoon Kingdom's evil invasion.

But the result has turned out like this.

"Many of our defenses failed, and the enemy did not attack us along the route we had anticipated." The person reporting was not the former Minister of War, but a commander who had fled from the front lines.

As for the former Minister of War, he was sitting silently in his seat.

He was probably the most knowledgeable about the military situation of the Kingdom of Bolen and the military capabilities of Rand among all the nobles present, but it was clear that the new king did not care much about his voice.

He didn't know what the new king was thinking, but it seemed the new king didn't want anyone to question his decisions.

As for the old king... although the old king also had such arrogance, he was generally willing to listen to advice.

But the old king now seems to have lost all his spirit. If it weren't for this critical moment when the country was on the verge of destruction, he would probably be doing his own thing in the palace or on the sea and would never come out again.

The Minister of Military Affairs had a pretty good idea of ​​what had happened after this defeat.

The enemy's elite troops were extremely powerful, far exceeding the capabilities of normal elite units. Their fighting spirit was also terrifying; they forced their way through theoretically impossible terrain, flanking our forces to the rear. Combined with their incredible ability to sustain a prolonged campaign, the inability to deploy reinforcements in time, and the chaos caused by the assassinations of many commanders, the current situation has emerged.

“Foolish!” The new king did not utter those words.

How could the enemy possibly attack in the direction we had planned? This clearly shows that our subordinates had not considered things thoroughly enough, which led to a breach in our defenses.

"Forget it, let's consider these things later." The new king looked at his father. "Father, what's your assessment of the situation ahead?"

The new king didn't actually want to listen to his father's opinions, who was brave but not very intelligent, but he couldn't show any discord between him and his father, since there were still many powerful nobles in the Kingdom of Bolen who favored his father.

I really don't know what these people are thinking. Their father is so stupid, yet there are still people willing to be loyal to him.

The old king's hair was now streaked with gray, and although his body was still quite imposing, the weariness on his face was hard to conceal: "I have no opinion."

As the previous king of the Kingdom of Bolen, the old king had suffered countless open and covert losses at the hands of Rand.

He felt that his son, his successor, although intelligent and self-righteous, was generally on the right track.

Ever since Land began to acquire a large population, the relationship between the Kingdom of Bolen and Land has been one of irreconcilable conflict; it's just that it's happening earlier than expected.

Fortunately, there is still a chance.

The capital of the Kingdom of Bolun is not an isolated city. The Kingdom of Bolun controls several islands in the sea. The navy of the Kingdom of Bolun still has a huge advantage over the navy of the Kingdom of Frostmoon. There is no need to worry about insufficient supplies in the short term. As for the possibility of no more outrageous situations, it is still very hopeful to defend the capital.

In fact, if Rand hadn't advanced from the border of the Kingdom of Bolen to the outskirts of the capital in just over a month, the old king would have even said that the capital of the Kingdom of Bolen was indestructible and could never be breached.

“My opinion is to have this…” The old king looked at the former Minister of Military Affairs sitting silently at the conference table, “…let our former Minister of Military Affairs guard the city.”

The new king had no objection to this matter. Of course, he also thought the former Minister of Military Affairs was a fool, but now it seemed that everyone in the Kingdom of Bolun except himself was a fool, and no one was even slightly smart. So it didn't really matter who was to guard the city.

He decided to devote some effort to overseeing the defense of the city. He had originally planned to delegate some tasks to his subordinates, but now it seemed he would have to work even harder, otherwise the capital city might not be able to be defended.

Fortunately, the Kingdom of Bolen still has some size and a chance to turn the tide...

"So, what are your thoughts, everyone?" The new king asked, looking at the dejected nobles in the dejected meeting room.

Their territories have mostly lost contact, and Rand won't have time to take them over. But if they can't defend the royal city, then it will truly be over forever.

"No one in the Southern Kingdom wants to see the Frostmoon Kingdom rise to power completely," the Foreign Minister said in the conference room. "When we launched our surprise attack on the Frostmoon Kingdom, many of our allies were unwilling to participate. But now, can they sit idly by and watch a Frostmoon Kingdom that has swallowed up the Bolun Kingdom be born on this land?"

The new king raised his eyelids, indicating his approval. Of course, the words spoken by the foreign minister were arranged by him. The Kingdom of Bolen may seem to be in turmoil, but compared to being slowly swallowed up by Rand, there is now a turning point that could change everything.

"The nearby Kingdom of Lunsa, as well as other southern kingdoms in the distance, and even the Lionheart Kingdom, which has a marriage alliance with the current Duke of Frostmoon Kingdom, would not want to see Frostmoon Kingdom become too powerful," the Foreign Minister said confidently.

Indeed, this is true, and many northern countries would not want to see the Frostmoon Kingdom annex the Bolun Kingdom in this way.

They would be perfectly willing to see a protracted war between the Frostmoon Kingdom and the Bolen Kingdom, resulting in mutual destruction.

Or the Frostmoon Kingdom could gain some advantage. Seizing a few more territories from the Kingdom of Bolun would be acceptable and reasonable.

But it's definitely not like this now.

The Frostmoon Kingdom seems to have achieved its current result without paying any price.

If the Frostmoon Kingdom were to annex the Bolun Kingdom, it would inevitably lead to the rapid development of the Frostmoon Kingdom in a short period of time.

A superpower will emerge, standing tall in the center of the continent.

The Kingdom of Bolun also possesses a core waterway transportation hub, and if the Kingdom of Frostmoon were to take it all away, the Southern Kingdom would certainly be in a very difficult position.

“The Foreign Minister is right,” the new king said slowly. “As long as we defend our capital during this period, other countries will soon come to our aid, and the evil deeds of the Frostmoon Kingdom will be exposed to the world.”

Many nobles still lacked confidence in this, while some were persuaded and regained some confidence.

"As for defending our capital... We have built this capital 545 years ago, and it has never been breached. We also have a powerful navy to transport supplies to us. We can definitely defend our capital."

The new king's slow, clear voice echoed in the conference room.

In truth, he had little confidence in this matter. His subordinates were far too foolish; if such outrageous things had happened before, it was possible that even more outrageous things would happen in the future.

“I have already sent letters to other countries, and they will surely come to our aid,” the new king said.

The old king had no objection to this, while the former minister of military affairs had already hurriedly left to deploy the defenses of the royal city.

The sound of boulders rolling across the sky could be heard outside; they were the solid stones thrown out by Rand's siege engines.

At this moment, Rand, outside the city, watched as the stubborn rocks crashed against the granite walls of the capital city of Bolen.

The massive stones could only leave a faint white dot on the city wall.

It must be said that this city wall is indeed magnificent and sturdy.

"We have discovered and intercepted a number of magical carrier pigeons heading to the outside world," Fenris reported to Rand.

“There’s no need to intercept them. They can send messages from the ocean, and we can’t stop them. Let’s not waste our energy,” Rand said to Fenris.

Fenris nodded.

Tanl was ordered to rest by Rand, so Fenris is now assisting Rand in commanding the army.

“Should we try to sabotage some of their fleet?” Fenris asked.

Rand gazed at the royal city of Bologna, whose doors were made of bronze.

This bridge looks really difficult to breach; if things drag on, Rand estimates the people inside the city could hold out for years.

In theory, once the fleet of the Kingdom of Bolun is dealt with, the city will truly become an isolated city and can be easily conquered.

However, Rand's fleet is currently not very strong, and it may be too late to gather fleets from other allies.

It is foreseeable that many other countries will come to mediate and prevent the Frostmoon Kingdom from further attacking the Bolen Kingdom.

“We can give it a try,” Rand said, though he wasn’t very confident about it, but given the current situation, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.

After Fenris left, Rand summoned the official in charge of diplomacy and post-war affairs and asked him to arrange a quiet place to stay.

Rand has received a letter that Marcus himself is coming to see him.

It just so happens that Rand also has a lot of work to assign him.

(End of this chapter)