Chapter 23: The Defeated Carthage

  "Your Majesty!" The knight in armor, covered in sword cuts and bloodstains, fell to the ground before the throne, anxiously addressing the young king who had just ascended to the throne, clutching his wounded waist and saying with difficulty: "Caesar's army is about to breach the castle! You must escape quickly!"

  "I am the king! If the capital is breached, then I should stay in the breached capital!" Although he was very young, the king did not intend to escape and instead blamed the knights for their incompetence: "There are only 1.5 million people, why can't you withstand the enemy's attack? We have 300,000 soldiers, if each person kills five enemies, we can defend the capital!"

  At this time, a blonde girl wearing half-body armor walked in from outside. Looking at the knights kneeling in front of the king and the new king sitting on the throne with a frown, she said, "Why haven't you packed up yet? Didn't I say we need to leave the capital?"

  The armor on the girl's body was exceptionally clean and tidy, if it weren't for the sword in her hand, which had already chopped out countless gaps, as well as the fresh blood flowing along the long sword, no one would have thought that the girl had come down from a city wall full of enemies, and had killed a large number of enemies.

  "I will not leave!" The king shouted loudly: "Even if I die, I will not leave the capital half a step! I am the King of Carthage! I will not abandon the people of the capital!"

  "Then I'll cut off your feet!" The girl walked up and grabbed the king's collar, pulling him down from his throne. With her foot on the struggling king, she raised her long sword and said expressionlessly: "Now you choose, either I cut off both your feet and take you away, or you come with me yourself."

  "I am the king! You can't treat me like this! I'm not a child anymore, sister!" Tears flowed from the king's eyes, and at only twelve years old, he didn't have the composure of an adult. And he also knew that if he really said no, the cold and ruthless sister in front of him would truly cut off his feet.

  "Answer me, your choice." The girl said to her younger brother in a forceful tone: "I don't have time to waste with you, the warriors on the city wall are using their lives to delay the enemy and buy you time to escape."

  "I...I...I." The young king stuttered, clearly not as brave as he had imagined when faced with real danger: "I'll leave."

  The girl who got the reply lifted her brother onto her shoulder and headed towards the secret passage under the castle. Thirty minutes later, she looked back at the Marlo flag fluttering on the distant castle. The girl left with two attendants, carrying the weeping king, in the direction of Eran.

  …………

  Mo Yan returned to Thunder Cliff from the underground castle, feeling a bit regretful for leaving so early. With the arrival of summer on the Hill continent, the temperature in Mo Yan's current residence was so high that it could steam buns! However, Mo Yan had no choice but to stay in this newly built concrete villa, as the only other options were the original cave that had been converted into a warehouse in Thunder Cliff and the resting caves where monsters stayed. The latter was even hotter than Mo Yan's villa due to the presence of many monsters.

  "Isn't there any magic that can cool us down?" Mo Yan asked, looking at Lirien and Vivian who didn't even sweat in the summer.

  "The temperature of hell, but it's much hotter than here." Even Lirien, who had played in the lava before, looked at Moyan, who was a bit annoyed by the heat, and smiled: "Do you think anyone would invent refrigeration magic in such a climate? Even the best magic crystal can't supply that kind of consumption, right?"

  "It would be great if we could find some saltpeter." Mo Yan sighed and said, "This way, not only can we get some ice, but also lower the temperature in the room."

  "That's a strange method indeed." Vivian sat at the table, looking at the documents in her hand and smiled: "Master, you always come up with something weird."

  Back at the Thundercliff Guild, Mo Yan fell into a state of listlessness and began designing various mechanical devices. For example, he designed a wind-powered blower for steelmaking, as well as a water-powered spinning machine. These were not difficult tasks for Mo Yan, who had obtained several degrees from MIT; even if he didn't know the specific details of how to make something, he could still design something with similar effects.

  And some small gadgets like pulleys have already been used on the construction site. Not only did it save labor, but it also accelerated the progress of the project. The cement wall that was being built had also started to slowly increase its height from the foundation. Emily apparently saw the benefits of these little things.

  After reporting to Kabinda, the village of Kabinda immediately sent people to buy. As for these small things, Mo Yan, who didn't care much, started selling them at a price that was not cheap but not too expensive either. In fact, these things that could be copied after buying back could only deceive the Sart people once.

  For these Sart people, Mo Yan thinks this is a simple-minded race. Although they are naturally warlike and worship the god of war, in reality, except for individual clever ones, others are easily deceived. This can be seen from Mo Yan's capture of Aruba and then quickly deceiving him, as well as brainwashing fifty Sart warriors.

  Moreover, this nation places great importance on honor and oaths. Once they have sworn an oath in the name of their war god, it is unlikely that there will be any major changes. Even when Mo Yan defeated the Iron Hammer Army and demonstrated extraordinary combat power, Kabinda merely sent someone to monitor him, without taking any action to tear up the treaty.

  Even more, Mo Yan also learned from Emily about the vote that took place in Parliament City. If at that time, Kabinda had not stood on Mo Yan's side and downplayed his threat, it was possible that Saintphi City would have been fooled into sending a large army to attack Mo Yan again. If such a thing really happened, Mo Yan felt that he could not withstand the attack of the entire Eran.

  Such national quality is what Mo Yan needs, and the relatively simple Sart people can balance the power around Mo Yan now. Although at the beginning, Mo Yan only set down a peaceful strategy because he thought humans looked better.

  "Now the surrounding villages are all trading iron ore and finished iron with us." Lirien looked at the report in her hand and said, "Now it's necessary to gather some skilled mining dwarves in the wild to expand production."

  "This matter is left to Leifura and the others." Mo Yan thought for a moment and said: "The training of the Demon Legion is also about to enter the next stage. When we are training in the wilderness, gathering some earth spirits should be an easy task."

  "Nothing." At this time Aruba led Emily into the room marked by Mo Yan as his office, saying "I have something to tell you."

  "Will it be another legion coming to punish me?" Mo Yan looked at Aruba, who was wearing a full set of shiny armor, and joked: "It seems that every time you come to tell me something, it's always bad news."

  "Hehe, I'm not a messenger of bad news. However, this time it's neither good nor bad news." Aruba smiled and said: "I just returned from the city with Emily, and the neighboring country of Kartag in the central plains was attacked by the Maro Empire."

  The latest news I got in the city is that Marlo has already cut off the entire country of Carthage into two segments and surrounded the royal capital in the north. If the Marlo Empire advances smoothly, the royal capital should have been captured by now. The village chief asked me to remind you to be careful of the scattered soldiers who fled to Elan."

  "Generally speaking, how many people will there be?" Mo Yan asked after listening to Aruba's words: "If there aren't many people, it shouldn't be a big problem."

  "The entire Carthage was cut off at the waist, and the defeated soldiers in the north could only escape to the south through Elan." Aruba estimated and said: "There will probably be tens of thousands of people, but they shouldn't be concentrated together. After all, they are defeated soldiers, and there won't be many people forming a military unit. Moreover, those Central Plains people have weak combat power, although their numbers are a bit troublesome, as long as we pay attention, it's not a problem."

  "Lilith." Mo Yan thought for a moment, then said to the recording Lilith: "Notify the team leader of the external training, Lefu La, to pay attention to these defeated soldiers. If the number is suitable, we can use them for practice."

  "Alright, master." Lirius nodded after finishing the record: "I will dispatch a wolfman squad on standby in Thunder Cliff to notify Commander Reforla of the army."

  "Is it a war between Carthage and Rome?" Mo Yan muttered to himself after making the arrangements, "Perhaps it's an opportunity."

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