Chapter 294: My head hurts, so let’s go there.
The military tent of the meeting was suddenly opened, and Demavi burst in angrily.
He was also dressed in battlefield attire at the moment, but he did not wear heavy armor like Queen Miwe. He only wore a full set of chain lining including a hood, and a red and purple cotton-padded coat and cloak, with a hood around the shoulders and chest. There is a circle of buttons made of metal in the style of the national emblem of Aden.
It seems to have the heroic spirit of the battlefield without losing its luxury. It should be good for boosting morale on the front line. But Lann estimated that this scrawled armor might not even be able to defend against stray arrows.
As Demavi broke in, about twenty soldiers who could easily be identified as elites followed behind him. The armor they wear is not standard, but modified according to their own fighting habits. The only thing they have in common is the three-color rosette shield of Aedirn pinned to their chests.
This is the [Adenian Special Forces], and Heilela is standing among them. She had already handed it over to the people in Aden as soon as Lan came back. Layla, who had regained her freedom at this moment, looked at Lann without much hatred in her eyes. She understood and still admired Lann and Geralt's bravery. But at this moment, my monarch has his intention, and I must follow him.
Lan briefly scanned the troops behind Demavi and found that there were many half-elves with obvious mixed-elf appearances. It is said that the purpose of Demavi's selection was to keep the members of this special force hostile to the elves, and in fact they did it.
"Lannister!" Demavi's scolding brought Lan's attention back. "You actually dare to tie up my captain like a prisoner. This is humiliating!" "Your Majesty
Demavi." Lann He nodded to the king of Aedirn without changing his expression and saluted, "Long time no see."
"I gave you my lead ring and sent my most elite soldiers as your guides, but you humiliated her like this?" Demavi said to her. Lann's greeting fell on deaf ears, "I have to think about a question - what does Cintra want to do? Lannister!"
Queen Meve's head also began to hurt. She forced her way between Demavi and Lann, stretching out her hand. Blocking the furious King of Aedirn: "Demavi, please calm down first. The enemy is now at hand. And I also believe that Lann must have a suitable reason..."
Seeing Mevi standing in the middle, Demavi's expression softened. He came down, but his voice became colder: "It is precisely because of the current enemy that we need to eliminate all unstable factors. I even started to think about whether it would be a mistake to cooperate with Cintra." The king of Aedirn
said Looking past Mewe, he asked Lan again: "What's your reason, Lannister?"
Lan still had the faint smile on his face that he had just greeted, but his eyes had become cold.
He thought for a while and said slowly in as gentle a tone as possible: "Demavi, if you had asked your soldiers beforehand, you must know that her irrational behavior not only almost put me in danger, but also may have put me in danger. The companions of Aedirn are pushed into the arms of the enemy. From this perspective, you even owe me a favor." "
With the vision and insights you usually show, I don't believe you can't see this. So I can't help but I suspect that your questioning and anger just now have ulterior motives behind it."
Lann maintained a polite smile and a calm tone: "So I should be the one to ask you - what is your reason and what do you want to do, Demavi? "
...
The atmosphere in the tent that had just been ignited by the king suddenly cooled down.
Demavi was stunned for a moment, looking at Lann in disbelief, and even forgot to react for a moment.
"You call me by my first name?"
This is the focus of the King of Aedirn.
Although the king of Aedin was stunned, the members of the special forces behind him reacted extremely quickly. They wanted to protect the dignity of the monarch they were loyal to with their lives.
With a click, long swords, daggers, machetes, short hammers, and all kinds of strange weapons were pulled out by these members of the special forces.
Cintra side also responded and pulled out the standard lion-headed long sword.
For a moment, the light of the oil lamp reflected by the steel flashed through everyone's eyes, and the tent was filled with the light of swords and shadows. If Nilfgaard's frontline commanders saw this scene, they would definitely be excited.
"That's enough!"
At the critical moment, Queen Miwe's roar overwhelmed everything else. She suddenly drew out her sword and struck it hard on the simple table in front of her, splitting it into two pieces.
The people of Sintra were in a daze again, and the shadow of the lioness on Queen Meve became heavier.
"Demavi, are you sure you know how difficult the situation we are facing now? Our swords should be aimed at Nilfgaard, not our allies!" Queen Meve roared at King Aedirn, "Also, Lann is the Duke, the Duke of Cintra! We are here to help each other, put away your petty thoughts!"
These reprimanding words made the weapons of the Aedian Special Forces slightly turn towards Miwe, But then Demavi waved his hand fiercely and asked his men to put away their weapons.
He sat down with a straight face, asked the bartender to pour him a glass of wine as usual, and then stared at Lan.
"And you, Lann." Meve turned and looked at the Lion of Cintra, wanting to make some sense.
"You also...calm down!"
Lann chuckled, shook his head softly: "Your Majesty Miwei, what would the North do without you?"
After saying that, he also waved to the guards to put away their weapons and start again. Take a seat.
Addressing Miwei as "Your Majesty" is out of respect and etiquette. But with Lan's identity, he no longer has to abide by these etiquette.
In the past, because he had to maintain a fragile alliance and accumulate strength for the half-disabled Cintra, Lann occasionally had to humble himself. This was his responsibility, otherwise he would not have to suffer this grievance based on his individual strength; but now Nefer Gad entered the country and defeated Demavi's Aedirian army. This made Demavi no longer the ally that needed to be carefully maintained. It had already changed from a "helper" to a "mutual helper", and even In the near future, they may become “seeking help”.
Aedirn has entered the game. After his own army was easily defeated by Nilfgaard, and after seeing Nilfgaard's legion numbers and combat determination with his own eyes, Demavi must devote all his strength to this battle to face Nilfgaard. Gad is in the midst of a great war—even without a covenant.
Under this situation, he still kept a straight face and put on airs, trying to maintain his previous aloof attitude, and used the topic to bluff Lann?
Naturally, Lan wouldn't spoil him.
The Lion of Cintra and the King of Aedirn looked fiercely at each other.
Queen Miwe looked at the table that she had chopped off with some embarrassment, and sighed: "Demavi, what do you want to do?"
The king of Aedirn did not look at Miwe, but looked at Lann's lion eyes intently. , secretly cursing weirdness in his heart.
"How much support do you need from Mahakam, Lannister?" he said coldly.
It turned out to be for this, Lann chuckled lightly.
This question attracted Queen Miwe's attention. This is a question that she is also concerned about.
"Three thousand fully armored heavy infantry warriors, all hundred-year-old dwarf veterans, the elite of Mahakam." This is a force that can be put on the surface. This level of intelligence sharing is needed between allies, "If necessary If it is expanded, some young dwarves who are relatively less experienced can be added, enough to form a legion."
"Very good, Lannister." Demavi nodded, "We need this force to go into battle now."
This is what Lan intends to bring back to Cintra to use against Nilfgaard's heavy cavalry in the decisive battle. One of the trump cards. And now Demavi wants to detain them immediately and put them on the frontline battlefield to stabilize the situation and reduce the loss of human soldiers.
This is why Demavi came over aggressively to hold Rann accountable at the beginning, taking the lead.
In the expectant eyes of a king and a queen, Lan slowly shook his head:
"If you, Demavi, are willing to give your full support, the soldiers of Aedirn are enough to fill the vacancies on the front line. Mahakam's heavy infantry will be there later. Dayong, we have not yet reached the point of despair." "
From a military point of view, it is too early and too wasteful to send out the Mahakam heavy infantry. You are too hasty, Demavi." "
You let it Should I put all my soldiers on top?" Demavi said fiercely, "Those are the soldiers of Aedirn. And yours, yours are just dwarves!" The King of Aedirn was obviously very angry at Lann's evasion. On the other hand
, Miwei lowered her head and started thinking. She was the most anxious person present, but with rich battlefield experience, she also knew that Lan En's words were true.
"But Livia is about to fall, and Lyria has also begun to be invaded." Queen Miwe raised her head again. At this moment, she had to agree with Demavi, "We can't wait for the 'decisive battle' later. And if there isn't As for my United Kingdom, Cintra may not be able to survive the 'decisive battle' that follows."
The vision is very long-term, but what's the use of not being able to pass the current hurdle? Even if you hold the ace in your hand and die, the result will be a total loss.
Lan lowered his head and cracked his knuckles lightly. The battlefield is far more dangerous than ordinary games. My base is Cintra, and all the aces in my hand must serve for the subsequent decisive battle; but I must also prevent Nilfgaard from entering the game early and leaving me unable to recover. status, which means that you need to uncover some second-rate cards to maintain the situation.
A second-rate card?
Lan also ordered a glass of wine and sipped it one sip after another. Although I hate to describe myself this way - it's time for the North to see the real Lion of Sintra.
"First of all, I want to reach a consensus with Your Majesty Miwe - and Demavi." Lann deliberately distinguished the names of the two. "At this stage,
we do not have the ability to [annihilate] Nefer. We just want to [defeat] Gad's troops, or [drive] them away." Lann's eyes jumped between Miwei and Demavi, "We need to restore the situation to a sufficient level. Support it to the point where it can be maintained, and then wait for the final decisive battle." "
This means that I will not put all the power in my hands into the battlefield now. This is not a shirk, you all know that Cintra and The bloody feud between Nilfgaard - but now is not the time in our plan."
"Can we reach a consensus on this?"
Lann has already made a complete war plan against Nilfgaard, trying to Achieve the goal at the minimum cost. War is not Lann's purpose, but recovering and rebuilding Cintra is. If the power to restore the country is lost in order to win a war, then what is the meaning of victory?
Therefore, even if Nilfgaard's raid on the eastern part of the North was indeed caught off guard, it did not mean that Lann would be led by their noses. We will naturally have to deal with the enemy's cards, but the overall strategy cannot be disrupted.
Demavi snorted coldly: "Do you think you can [drive away] the Nilfgaardians easily? Lannister, you have the clearest understanding of the strength of the Black Army among us. I have to think that you are You're shirking. Do you want to sacrifice Meve's kingdom to attract the black army, so as to liberate Cintra?"
Demavi's tone has begun to attach importance to Nilfgaard's soldiers, and even respect them. The previous battle really scared him. The armies of Aedirn and the United Kingdom almost collapsed when they encountered the Black Sun Empire. He couldn't help but not pay attention to it.
From this point of view, "being able to face up to the enemy's strength" is one of Demavi's few advantages. His military literacy and knowledge are worthy of recognition.
Lann didn't bother to pay attention to Demavi's cynicism. He picked up the map from the ground and looked at the enemy and enemy troop formations marked on it.
"If Aedirn sends troops to help, the United Kingdom of Leiria and Livia can also support a counterattack, a war in a local theater." Lan stretched out his hand and clicked on the map.
"In several battles with Nilfgaard, I believe both of them admitted that the soldiers from the north are not as good as the soldiers from the south in terms of individual soldier quality. Such a head-on collision would, on the surface, lead to death." "But
if , I mean if - at this moment, the opponent's commander dies suddenly, will we have any chance of winning?"
...
When tens of thousands of armies collide, the enemy directly loses its leader?
Demavi's hand holding the wine glass froze for a moment, and he fell into deep thought: "Lannister, you mean the assassin?"
Miwei shook her head after hearing this: "Not to mention that we can't accurately locate the enemy general's position, even if The spy heard the news. It is also a military camp with tens of thousands of black soldiers. No assassin can rush in." "
Do you have a suitable person under your command?"
Kolgrim, who was standing behind Lan, suddenly turned pale. I have a bad feeling.
The snake sect demon hunter took two steps forward and walked to Lann, whispering: "Lann, assassination is a very delicate job. It requires gathering intelligence and preparations long in advance. Especially in this situation, facing This kind of senior general who is heavily protected... is too dangerous!"
If it weren't for his close relationship with Lann and knowing his nature, Kolgrim almost thought Lann was going to send him out to be a dead soldier!
Lann glanced at Kolgrim in surprise, knowing that his words made him think too much.
Patting Kolgrim on the shoulder to tell him to calm down, he turned to look at Demavi and Mivi.
In the surprised and confused eyes of the king and queen, he pointed at himself:
"It's not an assassination, but a frontal battlefield. Regarding today's military strategy, you may not have heard of the concept of [killing generals and capturing the flag]... But It doesn't matter, you will probably like it soon."
"This is up to me. Of course, I also need some cooperation from the two of you to maximize the effect of this tactic..." (
End of this chapter)