Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 173 Discussion before the Emperor
The mountains in the early morning are always shrouded in thick fog, making the Dragon King Castle built on the top of a flattened mountain seem to be hidden in the clouds.

Only the melodious and deep bell sounds coming from the King's Capital in the distance at the foot of the mountain and the Dragon Temple on two adjacent mountains made everyone in the depths of the fog feel that they were still in the mortal world.

The military staff and related officials summoned by the Dragon Lord, as well as the military leaders of the major battle groups, stood in front of the tall royal castle standing majestically in the depths of the clouds, waiting quietly.

Although some lucky and talented people have been summoned to the Royal Castle by the Red Dragon Overlord of the Golden Land, they still feel awe and admiration when they see this huge castle again.

Especially Bartoli, the leader of the Dragon Legion. Although she had patrolled the sky on a dragon countless times, she had never set foot in this royal castle.

The royal castle was only three stories high, but each floor was taller and wider than the palaces carefully built by the great nobles in the secular kingdom.

Each level of the castle was built with protruding observation decks specially built for dragons to take off and land. In everyone's eyes, it looked like a dome covering the sky.

The closed door, made of a whole piece of hard white marble with countless exquisite dragon reliefs carved on it, made everyone feel as if they were standing in front of the palace of a giant god.

When the lingering sound of the melodious bell faded away, the door was slowly opened, revealing the true appearance of the castle that looked like a palace between the gods and the mortal world.

Giant white marble pillars carved and painted with countless patterns are regularly arranged to support the lofty dome. Colorful murals of dragons bar their fangs and claws above the dome, as if they could burst through the body and swoop down from the sky at any time.

Some scholars who overuse their eyes cannot even see the huge murals on the dome.

As for the throne located deep in the center of the hall on the first floor of the royal castle, even if an arrow shot by an expert elven archer from the castle gate were to reach the towering throne, it would lose its power to fly and fall from the sky.

On the two rows of black stone thrones on both sides, guarding the central throne, four majestic dragons have already been perched, looking down at the many subjects and their families who have been summoned with their scrutinizing eyes.

"Good day, the four honorable dragon lords,"

"With the highest regards, Your Excellency the Four Dragons, the loyal warriors of the dragons have been summoned!"

The staff officers and officials of the Military Affairs Department saluted the two dragon lords with aristocratic etiquette, while the gnoll Yugu, the barbarian Gib, and the centaur Chiron were more respectful. Even though they were wearing ordinary armor, they still beat their chests and bowed in greeting.

Several dragon lords nodded and responded to the etiquette of their subjects, but the bronze dragon Alina closed her mouth after responding and gave the dominance of the venue to the blue dragon Akzi.

The same is true for the foreign dragon Naxon and the copper dragon Alfred. Although they may have some military talents, Akzi is the highest decision-maker in military affairs.

Blue Dragon Akzi did not speak in a hurry. Although he was a little anxious in his heart, he still endured with rare patience and allowed these subjects who rushed to the royal castle early in the morning to spread exquisite patterned cloth on the long table prepared by the maids.

Then, cups of steaming black tea, plates of raspberry shortbread, almond diced fruit, sturgeon strips, and soft white bread were served to the seated people. However, most of these people knew some news, especially the chief officer in charge of the intelligence department, so they did not have an appetite for eating and drinking. They just ate a little food, drank refreshing black tea, and then waited for the Dragon Lord to speak.

"Tell me about the situation," Blue Dragon Akzi's patience was exhausted at this moment, and he spoke to the intelligence officer in charge of intelligence.

"According to the investigation of the merchant group and the information gathered by the spies in the Orc Kingdom, the Orc Kingdom has almost exhausted all its naval forces in this war, mobilizing all the warships and ships that can be requisitioned, and the number of soldiers recruited is no less than 80,000 soldiers."

"The Sahuagin who are allied with the Orc Kingdom are completely difficult to detect. Our spies do not have any aquatic intelligent races."

The intelligence chief stood up from his chair. He did not take out any recorded documents, but memorized the information by heart.

"The Orc Kingdom's naval forces are mainly composed of ten battleships and a hundred sailing battleships, as well as several masted gunboats as escorts. According to the estimated manpower, there are at least 250 ships."

"Ten of them were purchased and remodeled from the human Principality of Gref. They use a similar technology to the magic furnace as their power core and are made of 150-year-old oak trees. The hulls are protected by magic runes and are equipped with 30 heavy cannons and 20 enchanted dragon-hunting crossbows."

The intelligence chief had a serious look on his face. He knew very well how terrifying this fleet was. If these ships were docked on the sea and fired together, they would be enough to destroy a wall built entirely of solid stone. The walls of the City of Gold were mostly made of wood.

The atmosphere in the hall fell silent for a moment, and every official's face became solemn, even those powerful chapter leaders looked serious.

Even though they had anticipated the many dangers involved in establishing a civilization in this wilderness, they did not expect that as their territory grew, they would be attacked not by the surrounding monsters and tribes, but by the covetousness of the distant Orc Kingdom.

Especially during the period when most of the dragons fell into slumber, the red throne of the king, which was like a stabilizing force, was left vacant. It was hard for these officials to believe that the remaining dragons would cooperate with each other sincerely and unite all the forces in the territory.

Seeing the silent atmosphere and the somewhat silent blue dragon, the bronze dragon Alina laughed softly. Her voice was clear, but it carried the overlapping echoes unique to dragons.

"Before the great lord entered his deep sleep, he said that even though dragons are naturally intelligent, sometimes mortals can be as wise as dragons. You are all talents that the great lord appreciates. Why do you stand idly by when faced with such a situation?"

The bronze dragon's taunt worked, and several chapter leaders quickly jumped out.

The Centaur Chiron pounded his armor on his chest and said in a deep voice: "Let those orc bastards come. The dragon warriors will bring them fear and death."

The barbarian leader Gib also shouted: "They are just tens of thousands of orc cubs. I... my axe is thirsty for blood. I will chop them down as soon as they come. It's just a matter of a few more chops."

The commander of the Dragon Legion, Bartoli, pursed her moist lips and said nothing, but her eyes swept across the two chapter commanders who looked belligerent, as well as the officials who were about to speak.

(End of this chapter)