Chapter 65: No Return Road

  Maro had twice attempted to conquer Elan, a land of peril in the eyes of all nations of Zhongyuan, to demonstrate his mighty power to other countries. But in the end, he could only leave behind the bodies of failure and receive ridicule from other countries. The special situation of Elan and its complex terrain led to the defeat of Maro twice. Even after occupying the Council City of Sarte for a period of time, they were eventually forced to withdraw from Elan.

  Erlan has no roads leading to the outside world, only towering mountains and deep forests. The supply of a large army requires many materials, and there is no smooth supply line. This made the Maro Legion, which had penetrated into Erlan, after eating up all the food they carried, unable to find anything edible. The grain in the Council City was already burned by the Sart people when the city was breached.

  The Maro legion, having lost its supplies, had to withdraw from Eran, declaring the failure of this conquest. This war caused the Maro people to lose nearly 70,000 men and expend countless resources and manpower. It led a powerful empire to decline from then on. Meanwhile, Carthage in the south grew increasingly powerful, eventually occupying large tracts of land that had belonged to the Maro Empire, not being recovered until seven hundred years later.

  Caesar, who considered himself to be the greatest emperor of the Maro Empire, thought about this region that led to the decline of Maro while continuously attacking Carthage. As the greatest emperor on the continent, Caesar believed he had the ability to conquer a place where his ancestors had failed several times.

  Caesar believed that his national strength, although not the strongest in Marlo's history, was still quite powerful. However, historical failures also made Caesar understand that Eran was not a good place to conquer. The council system of the Sart people in Eran allowed the Sart people to unite as one. Attacking Eran would be a declaration of war against the entire Sart people, which would cause Marlo unnecessary losses.

  Caesar then thought of his dagger in the dark, the specially trained Shadow Troops. He instructed them to weaken Sault's forces as much as possible before Marlo's attack on Eran. If possible, it would be best to let them split. So that he can more easily conquer Eran and make Sault surrender under the Maro Empire.

  Shadow received Caesar's command and began to plan how to split Eran. Before Maro recovered the territory occupied by Carthage, Shadow had already been active in Carthage. For Eran, a region adjacent to Carthage, they also conducted some simple investigations to find places that could be exploited.

  The Sallentians were different from the Carthaginians and the Maure, they did not have a unified government. Almost every city, even village, was acting on its own, whether it was military or financial, everything was separate, historically why all Sallentians fought against the Maure, mainly because there was a place called Council City, which existed as a link between these cities.

  All major events in Erland take place here, and the geographical location of Parliament City is extremely important. As the central city of Erland, it has roads leading to various cities, and occupying Erland by attacking Parliament City is the key to the key. This is also why Marlo has always taken Parliament City as the main target of attack in history.

  During the first attack, Ma Luo failed to break through the solid Parliament City. Moreover, he was sandwiched by the legions gathered from other cities and the legions in Parliament City, which led to the failure of the first attack. In the second attack a thousand years ago, Ma Luo mobilized nearly 200,000 troops.

  Although the Saulte people were brave and good at fighting, they could not withstand the large number of Maro people. The city was eventually captured, with 50,000 civilians killed, and Maro fully controlled the city. However, due to the constant harassment of the supply lines, the Maro people ultimately failed to hold on, and 120,000 people were forced to withdraw from Eran.

  A thousand years have passed and the Sartans still maintain this political way, with each city responsible for its own region. When major events occur, they gather in the Council City to hold a full El'goran referendum to decide how to handle the event. The current Council City is no longer the small town it was a thousand years ago, and today it is as prosperous as the city of Maro.

  For a thousand years without any war disturbances, the number of Salter people has grown dramatically. The city, which originally had only 50,000 people, has now doubled in size. Perhaps this is almost slow to the limit in the Central Plains cities, but in Eran where monsters are everywhere, this is already a significant progress.

  But as the city prospered, like the Central Plains states, many wealthy families and dignitaries emerged. They colluded with each other to control the council, providing convenience for their own interests. The members of parliament elected by the people were mostly kept in the dark or colluded with the dignitaries, hoping to gain consecutive terms.

  No matter what kind of politics, it will eventually breed corruption and conspiracy. The Sart people have reached their strongest period, but at the same time, they are also in their most vulnerable period. Although the Sart people have also begun to realize this, there is currently no way to do anything about it, and some things are not simply believed by being said.

  The shadows learned through investigation that the Speaker of the Parliament of Will was how he obtained the position of Speaker and had an extremely strong desire for power. So they dispatched a person skilled in persuasion to this solid parliament. Under the banner of cutting off Carthage's weapon supply, contact was made with the Speaker called Azella. And successfully stirred up the Speaker's desire to declare war on that city built by demons.

  But contrary to the man's expectations, the parliament city was defeated in that battle. The people in the city were outraged and the members of parliament could only calm down the public anger by dismissing the speaker. The man who was dispatched made a decisive decision, changed the plan that had been planned, and took a more dangerous path.

  The Speaker, reluctant to relinquish his authority, uses the power at his disposal to launch a coup and crown himself Emperor, completely controlling the Council City. Although this would push the Council City entirely into Elen's camp, it is exactly what Maro wants to see - Elen's internal strife will greatly weaken the Sartans' strength.

  The man, under the dispatch, while contacting other ambitious houses in Erland that he valued, was also reporting to Maro domestically and preparing necessary war supplies for both sides of Sart, so as to let them kill each other better.

  "Other city representatives of Eran have already gathered in Ankude, Your Majesty, aren't you worried at all?" The man said to Azera who was sitting on the throne: "Perhaps the allied forces of Eran are gathering."

  "With a war of this scale, they would need at least half a month to confirm everything." Azera said with some disdain: "They will only keep opposing, keep opposing. Even for just a few gold coins, it takes a whole day to discuss."

  And the City of Parliament is the most fortified city in Eran, to capture the City of Parliament at least fifteen times the strength is needed to make it possible. One thousand years ago, less than ten thousand Sart people in the City of Parliament, twenty million Malo people were blocked outside the City of Parliament for a whole month. Now we have 15,000 Sart warriors, and they can only gather more than 200,000 people at most."

  "In fact, they can't even gather 20,000 people." The man chuckled and said: "This morning I received several letters. Cities in the northwest coast of Eransi support your ascension to the throne. Two days ago, they also dissolved their own council. As long as you appoint them as local lords, they will support your cause."

  "You really are everywhere." Azella said coldly to the man, "However, this is a good thing for now. Although they won't be able to send troops to support us, at least the number of coalition forces will be reduced. Those foolish opponents won't understand that the true threat lies in that monster."

  Everything I have done is for Erland, and after the destruction of Thundercliff, I will also step down. Being crowned as Emperor was just an inevitable thing, and the City Council would dismiss me due to defeat in battle."

  For Azella, men were just a fleeting smile, no matter how hard she tried to deceive herself, dressing up her ambition for power. Initially, attacking Thunder Cliff was only about seeking glory and the 3,000 gold coins Maro had promised.

  After the defeat, he was crowned emperor, also out of his own desire for power, and unwilling to be dismissed, he launched a coup. Now that Azera has realized his mistake, he is powerless to turn back and can only move forward. From the moment he declared himself emperor, he had already walked to the opposing side of the entire Eran.

  Now he can only do his best to stabilize the situation in the city, and hope that Maro will give him support. The man believes that it won't be long before Eland becomes a chaotic battlefield. After all, there are not many ambitious people who want power in Eland, and if Azella can become emperor, then there will be a second and third one.

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  The recommended speed has come down... why is that?