Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 239 Diplomacy

War buildings continued to be constructed, and recruitment was progressing steadily, but Isildur did not want to give them time.

Instead of repairing the tree path, Leven has stationed troops in Winterfell, guarding Frosthold. His current actions are essentially the same as Rhodes's before, as if he has replaced the Duke of the North. However, the difference in troop strength between the two is too great; even the troops defending the rear number in the tens of thousands.

After capturing Winterfell, Isildur could use the portal to transport troops at a cost, rendering the Tree Path behind them virtually useless. Therefore, Levin had no fear of their retreat being cut off; their advantage was now unprecedented.

As expected, Leven chose to advance westward, bypassing the north to enter the heartland and heading straight for Elton's capital.

Parliament grew tense, sending daily messages to the nobles, urging them to unite and jointly stop Leven's forces. They even ordered Cullen to return to defense and abandon the hill defenses.

The new commander-in-chief had only been in office for a short time when he experienced the same pain that Raven had gone through. As the Grand Marshal of the Kingdom, he had no way to deploy troops according to his own wishes, as there were too many obstacles.

He cannot easily abandon the hill defenses. Once the kingdom's army retreats, Lloyd's army will be able to enter the plains and valleys, at which point half of the kingdom will fall into enemy hands.

Regardless of whether they can win or not, resource production will be reduced by half, and Isildur can wear them down even if they have to fight.

However, he could not afford to neglect the heartland. If Leven's army were to cross the heartland, they could besiege the capital, and he could not bear such a cost.

"boom!"

Karen smashed the wooden table of the sand table with a heavy punch.

He was furious about Rhodes' loss of Winterfell and had already reported it to Parliament, demanding that Salim be stripped of his title. He argued that such a cowardly coward was not worthy of being the Duke of the North.

News of Rhodes' arrival in the Arcane Empire had reached him. Karen had initially thought that the Duke's relentless fighting, even if he couldn't hold out, was not a fault of his own. Who would have thought that Rhodes would not even hold out and would go directly to the Arcane Empire? This was essentially treason, and he would have to be severely punished.

However, Congress seems to have other ideas. It's said that Rhodes claims to have the support of the Arcane Empire and can lead the Tower's soldiers back to the North to reclaim his territory. In this difficult time, Congress is still hoping that the Arcane Empire will lend a hand, and they don't even dare to voice their opposition to Rhodes, silently enduring the situation.

"What a fool, believing his sweet talk. If Rhodes really had that kind of guts, he wouldn't have abandoned Winterfell and run away."

Even if a massive army of towers marches south, will the northern lands still belong to Eldon?

Karen saw it clearly: the Arcane Empire harbored wolfish ambitions and was utterly unreliable. Unfortunately, with the North breached, the officials of Parliament were terrified and could only place their hopes on outsiders.

"Send all the cavalry legions to Conrad, and send 10,000 Holy Shield Griffin Legions to support him. Leave only the Swordsman Legion on the hills."

Upon hearing the marshal's order, the deputy general, Tok, advised, "Without the cavalry to hold us back, Lloyd can launch an attack on us at any time without worrying about being pursued. The hill defense line will be put on the defensive."

Karen knew all this, but she had been forced into this situation and had no other choice.

"The hills are well-fortified, and even though we've lost our mobility, we can hold them off. Winterfell must be retaken; it's the lifeblood of the kingdom."

"Conrad's thousands of champion cavalrymen can take on ten men each. The Holy Shield Griffin Legion is also the most powerful force. They will cut in from the southeast and wipe out the Silver Pegasus Star."

The Church of Light dispatched its strongest legion of ascetics and contingent of nuns, a total of 5000 priests, to converge on the north. The Parliament also summoned all the noble forces in the west and south, forming a massive army of nearly 50000 to garrison the heartland.

The Sumu army on the plains, and the Swift Sir Murak who has arrived at the northern border, have both arrived to provide support.

We must annihilate Leven before he has a large teleportation army, or the kingdom will be in grave danger!

This time, Congress really went all out. Speaker Quentin went to various territories to bestow rewards and make promises, and built up a powerful army that is already stationed in the heartland and ready to march north at any time.

However, this group is currently fighting independently and is somewhat disorganized, needing a leading figure to sound the call for a counterattack. Conrad is the obvious choice, both in terms of strength and willpower.

Even knowing that a fortified army of 100,000 lay ahead, the Knight Commander still dared to launch a fearless charge, and the human race needed that kind of courage now. Therefore, Karen assigned all the cavalry to Conrad, hoping he could turn the tide.

Lieutenant Tok wanted to say something more, but ultimately swallowed his words.

This would leave the hill defenses extremely weak, and if the North were to launch an attack on the hills instead of defending, they could very well be routed.

After all, Frostholdt and Winterfell are both fortified cities, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Rhodes' inability to hold them doesn't mean that Levin and his 100,000-strong army can't hold them.

Karen clearly saw through his lieutenant Tok's thoughts, and he smiled helplessly: "At this point, the enemy is strong and we are weak, so we can only gamble."

I bet Levin won't give the credit to Lloyd. He doesn't even want to occupy the plains; he's only interested in the credit for destroying the country. He'll never be content with just defense.

This great battle will inevitably take place in the heart of the territory!

Tok nodded. Things had come to this point, and there was no other choice. Everyone wants to play it safe, but the other side is looking for your weaknesses. Since that's the case, it's better to take a risk—that's Karen's style.

"Alright, I'll go and deliver the message to the generals!"

Not long after Tok left, the magical letters transformed into birds and traveled with the speed of lightning to the territories of various nobles.

……

Su Mu received the letter just after leaving Kuraki.

Forrest has been building like crazy these days, and has naturally gained enough insight.

[By constructing numerous extraordinary buildings, Forrest has gained a deeper understanding of the use of magical power. +1 Attack, Basic Diplomacy]

[Basic Diplomacy: Wilderness units weaker than yours have a 25% chance of joining your army. Surrender costs are reduced by 20%. Access to the Library of Sages is available once all four stats reach 15.]

In this way, Forrest finally shed his title of "1-attack layman" and arrived at the luxurious "2-attack".

The most impressive skill is diplomacy. With the enhancement of governance skills, Forrest can even recruit soldiers at will in the wild and win over troops.

Unfortunately, Elton was constantly at war and simply didn't have enough field troops. But in reality, Forrest was clearly more adept at diplomacy and negotiation than Elton.

Bearsburg has been in a stable state recently. Ivan and Orlando have had several offensive and defensive battles, but Ivan has been unable to defeat his opponent.

Two heroes skilled in defensive magic led their troops to clash with each other, but instead used magic to inflict damage, so naturally they didn't achieve any great results.

Orlando had boasted that he would capture Bear Fortress within days, but he encountered fierce resistance from Ivan. During the siege, he suffered heavy losses from the relentless barrage of Orling crossbow bolts and dared not approach the south again.

If Levin hadn't sent a large army south, he wouldn't have been able to take Bear Fortress with only a force of ten thousand men.

The two sides remained deadlocked.

(End of this chapter)