A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

"What did you say? Prince?!"

The man who was leisurely drinking tea in the room and looking at the drizzle outside the window suddenly stood up.

The teacup in his hand hit the table with a loud bang.

The pleasure of having everything under his control a moment ago was suddenly slapped away, and the man's face became quite ugly.

Not only did he fail, but many of the people he had bribed to lurk in the crowd suddenly disappeared, which was a disaster.

The man had a gloomy face.

It was clear that everything was within reach, but just one step away, the city would be completely destroyed. Unexpectedly, when it came to the end, the prince suddenly appeared and messed up everything.

He obviously has a distinguished status, but he wants to stay in this dangerous city.

That prince must be mentally ill.

he thought unhappily.

Wait for me! I must solve this city.

The man said cruelly in his heart.

No matter how bad the man's mood was, the matter was a foregone conclusion, and everyone gathered in the square had left one after another and returned to their homes.

Before leaving, many people turned around and apologized to the soldiers they had just torn apart and scolded.

They remembered what the prince had said just now, about the soldiers who were unwilling to flee with the consul and stayed to live or die with the city of Tozes, as well as their crazy behavior just now. Their faces showed a bit of shame, and their words were a bit embarrassing. Yeah.

The soldiers guarding the gate of the ruling government were all scolded until their faces were livid, and they were torn apart by everyone and were in a state of embarrassment. Now, their expressions have softened.

They nodded to the citizens who apologized to them, and then continued to stand at the gate in the drizzle, guarding the executive government.

In the dark night, the soldiers' backs were straight.

As long as they think of what His Highness the Prince just said, they feel infinite energy in their bodies and feel proud from the bottom of their hearts.

…………

On the coast outside the city, the pirate leader Basha, who had been paying attention to the situation in the city, saw a faint message in the dark night sky.

His originally lazy expression turned gloomy in an instant, and there was a ruthless look in the small slits of his eyes, and he let out a heavy snort from his nose.

Useless things.

He thought in his mind, stood up, and impatiently kicked away the subordinates who were noisy around him.

"Okay, let me go back and lie down."

he said, sounding very unhappy.

"Tomorrow morning, we will continue to attack the city."

After saying that, he walked away.

The pirates who were still waiting for the boss to say a surprise attack at night looked left and right, then dispersed and went back to lie down.

…………

The city of Tozes finally returned to calm in the dark night. Garlan did not return to the guest room in the tall tower next to the executive government. Instead, he randomly found a room in the executive government office near the government affairs hall and stayed there.

In this case, it would be more convenient for Seth's generals to report their affairs to him.

Not long after he arrived in the room, there was a knock on the door.

Then, the blond knight stepped in.

Garlan looked at his guardian knight, feeling a little guilty for no reason.

He asked, "Are you angry? Kehos."

Caihos raised his eyes and met Garlan's eyes.

The young man who was still calm and composed when facing thousands of excited citizens in the square just now looked like a child who had gotten into trouble, tilting his head slightly to look at him.

Just seeing the look in the boy's eyes made Caihos feel so soft.

He raised his hand and rubbed the soft blond hair.

"Your Highness, as I said, I am your knight."

He looked at his prince with soft eyes.

"So, please don't have any scruples and continue to implement your will."

"And I will always be by your side."

Even death.

Swallowing the last words back in his throat, Caihos smiled at his prince, and then began to talk about the dozen people who were captured.

Because time was tight, he only conducted a hurried interrogation.

"It has been clearly learned that they were indeed instructed by others, but they couldn't tell who it was. Most of them just accepted the other party's property and did things for the other party."

"I sent people to search for the place they mentioned, and it was already empty. It may have been moved."

"The only thing we know now is that they don't have many members, and now more than half of them are in our hands. And they don't have much loyalty to that person. It's okay to just spread rumors, but they really want to do something fatal. ...won’t do it.”

"As long as the city residents calm down and are not deceived by them, they will not be able to cause trouble."

Kayhos finished his report and then continued.

"Your Highness, what are you going to do about what you told Seth and the others that there will be reinforcements in four days? It's not always good to deceive them like this."

"It's not cheating."

"However, no matter what, it is absolutely impossible for the reinforcements from the royal city to arrive within four days."

"Kayhos, didn't you notice that there's someone missing from my side?"

"Um?"

When Garlan said this, Kayhos reacted immediately.

By the way, where did Tal go?

He usually hangs around His Highness, but he disappeared all afternoon?

Because one thing happened one after another, and the little fat man didn't have much sense of existence in the first place, he actually forgot about him.

Tarr is indeed very timid, but it is unbelievable to say that he abandoned Garlan and fled Caihos.

Over the years, he knew very well how devoted the little fat man was to Garlan.

That guy simply worshiped Garlan as his own god. Even if he died, he would definitely hold on to the prince's thigh with his face filled with snot and tears.

"It depends on him whether he can wait for reinforcements in four days."

"You mean...?"

"I asked a few personal guards to protect him, and he broke out of the city in the afternoon before the pirates encircled him." Garlan said, "He took the token and went to the Elson Kingdom for help."

"Token? Are they the earrings that the little princess gave you?"

"Yes." Garlan nodded, "They are the only ones who are close, can contact us as soon as possible, can rescue us within four days, and have a navy strong enough to fight against pirates. And not long ago, we It can be considered a good relationship with them."

He said: "As long as the Aielson Navy can come to rescue Tozes City, we can hold on until the reinforcements from the Royal City arrive."

Kayhos frowned as he thought of the way that little fat guy used to go around Garlan and flatter him.

"Your Highness, for such an important matter... it is too reluctant to let Tal serve as an envoy to a country. Besides, although Elson is not recognized, it is a country after all. Even if there is a little kindness, it is too reluctant to let a country send troops to rescue. This is a very difficult thing in other countries' cities. With Tal's ability, I'm afraid he simply won't be able to complete your mission..."

"No."

Garlan interrupted Kehos and said, "He can do it."

The prince's bright golden eyes looked at his knight.

"I believe in Tal, just like I trust you."

There was silence for a while.

Then the one-eyed knight bowed his head and bowed to his prince.

"I understand, Your Highness."

He said,

"Now, it's late at night, please have a good rest."

Starting tomorrow, Tozes City will be in the most difficult situation.

…………

One night passed, and countless people in Tozes city could not sleep all night.

I don’t know how many people are praying that the night will never pass and the sun will never rise.

However, no matter how they prayed, the sun still slowly rose from the horizon.

Almost in the early morning, fierce shouts of killing rang out from the city walls.

The tall and spacious city wall was already filled with people, and Tozes' soldiers were already waiting on the wall.

Under the command of their respective captains, they firmly guarded the city walls they were responsible for.

Pushing open the wooden ladder, the pirate climbing the wooden ladder screamed and fell from the sky.

Pour oil on the climbing pirates, drop torches, and burn those pirates into fireballs.

They tried their best to hold the city wall, but compared to the pirates who were several times their number, their numbers were really not enough. Especially the pirates are supported by warships.

Countless arrows poured from the warships, forcing the soldiers to squat and hide under the city wall.

Some pirate ships also have small trebuchets, which constantly throw stones and hit them on the city walls, creating holes. If the soldiers are too late to avoid them, they will be knocked unconscious by the stones.

In this case, pirates soon boarded the city wall and slashed at them with their swords.

The soldiers began to fight hard on the city wall with the pirates who climbed up the wall. However, this would lead to more pirates climbing up the wall.

The battlefield on this city wall near the sea is in danger everywhere.

Nearly a thousand soldiers, led by Sethi, the commander of this war, were roaming on the city wall, rushing to see where there was danger.

Under the bloody fighting of all the soldiers, although they encountered several dangers, they managed to survive the day.

Seeing that the sun was about to sink to the horizon, although the pirates were unwilling to give up, they had to pay the money and withdraw their troops and withdrew again.

As soon as the pirates retreated, many soldiers collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.

Sweat, blood mixed with dust made them look miserable.

They sat next to the corpse of their companion, with sad expressions on their faces, but they were too tired to speak.

After a long time, they supported each other and managed to walk down the city wall.

In the evening, Seth and several other generals, who had not eaten all day, looked very ugly.

"Your Highness, the casualty statistics have been released."

He said with a heavy expression, "The number of soldiers' casualties has reached almost 15%."

Originally, all the city guards in the city, plus the navy under his command, and even the reserves, totaled only seven or eight thousand soldiers. On the first day of the battle, nearly a thousand people were lost.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but we are incompetent. The pirates are covered by warships, which is really disadvantageous to us."

Seth gritted his teeth.

Kayhos, who had finished flipping through the information, spoke.

"Based on today's situation, if this continues, let alone another three days, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on tomorrow."

He frowned.

"Even if I go up with all my personal guards, the number is too small and it won't help at all."

For a moment, everyone fell into silence.

Make bricks without straw.

No matter how powerful a general is, if he doesn't have soldiers at hand, he can't do anything.

"Seth."

Garlan suddenly spoke.

"yes?"

"You said there should be eight thousand soldiers, but I don't see that many on the battlefield today."

"Yes, Your Highness, there are more than a thousand city guards who are responsible for guarding the slaves in the wood factory in the west of the city."

"Slaves?" Garlan was startled, "Didn't you say last time that you had eliminated all the rioting slaves in the upper city?"

"The rioting slaves have indeed been dealt with, but, Your Highness, the slaves in the upper city who did not participate in the riot and all the slaves in the lower city total tens of thousands of people." Seth said, "We must send troops to guard it. Those slaves, otherwise, if those tens of thousands of slaves cause chaos again when the pirates attack the city, we will be completely finished."

Garlan stopped talking. He sat there, lowered his eyes, and pondered for a long time.

After a long time, he pursed his lips, as if he had made up his mind.

Looking up, he stood up.

"Seth, take me to where those slaves are kept."

"Huh? Why are you at this time..."

"Going right now."

Garlan said firmly.

…………

There is a large area in the west of the city of Tozes that is a large wood factory. It is always bustling with people coming and going.

Of course, work has now ceased.

Yesterday afternoon, Seth transformed this place into a simple large open-air cell, drove most of the slaves in Tozes here, and sent nearly a thousand city guards to guard them outside.

He ordered that any slave who dared to step out here would be killed on the spot.

Many slaves were completely unaware of what was going on in the upper city, and were driven to the wooden fence for no apparent reason. They also saw pirates attacking the city from a distance, with smoke rising everywhere, and they all couldn't help but feel uneasy.

The slaves stayed here for two days and one night. No one gave them food, and they were all very hungry. Fortunately, it rained last night and they were able to open their mouths and drink a few mouthfuls of rainwater.

During the day today, listening to the sounds of fighting in the distance and looking at the unkind eyes of the city guards, they huddled together and became more and more nervous.

They were really hungry.

News began to secretly spread among them, saying that the citizens of Tozes City were worried that they would riot again and wanted to gather them all and kill them all.

A few people were encouraging, saying that they would all die anyway, and it was better to fight than to starve to death or be killed.

One day passed, and by evening, the slaves, who had not eaten for two days, were already dizzy with hunger.

Hunger brought out the panic in the slaves' hearts little by little.

Are those people going to let them starve to death?

The few people who secretly pretended to be slaves and sneaked in became more and more active when they saw that it was effective. They encouraged them, saying that there were tens of thousands of them and the city guards only had more than a thousand people. Everyone should come together, otherwise they would have to wait to die and so on. if.

However, no matter how they persuaded them, the habit of being slaves long ago and the recent suppression of the upper city area made these slaves dare not do anything for the time being and continued to endure it as a matter of course.

However, the dissatisfaction inevitably gradually fermented.

No one knows how big this dissatisfaction will brew and when it will burst out.

It was not dark yet. Suddenly, these hungry slaves smelled the fragrance of rice porridge. They all raised their heads, sniffed hard, and looked towards the place where the fragrance was wafting.

The wooden gate that had been closed for two days was opened, and several cars were pushed in. The smell of porridge wafted out from the huge tanks on the wooden carts.

They subconsciously swarmed forward, but before they could squeeze in, they were pushed back by the city guards.

The city guards shouted to them to line up, and then distributed the porridge to them with inferior gourd gourds. Each person could also receive a rough buckwheat cake.

The extremely hungry slaves almost devoured the food. As soon as they had something to eat, their dissatisfaction dissipated a lot, and they paid no attention to those provocative guys.

The slaves who were patronizing the food didn't see it. Not far away, behind the city guards, there was a group of people watching them.

Seth smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, how long has it been? Do you still have time to worry about whether these slaves have enough to eat?"

Garlan glanced at him.

"Didn't you say there aren't enough people to defend the city?"

"It's not enough, but what does this have to do with these slaves..."

The words stopped abruptly in mid-sentence, and Seth was stunned for a moment, as if he understood something.

"No! Not possible, Your Highness!"

He objected vehemently.

"This group of slaves are not worthy of trust! You know, the slaves in the upper city rioted not long ago! Although the slaves here did not participate, they are still slaves and may have the same thoughts. How can you—— "

"The purpose of those slave rebellions was to be free, wasn't it?"

Garlan's eyes lightly swept over the tens of thousands of slaves.

He said, "Okay, I'll give them their freedom."

The author has something to say: I wanted to bring a rhythm among the slaves again, but this time it was over before it even started. A certain man said: "mmp!"