Chapter 126: The Girl Charges Forward

  Anthony gazed out at the rain-soaked streets and pedestrians, feeling uncharacteristically irritable. As a ceramicist, he hated the rainy season most of all - three months of constant downpour made it impossible for him to work on his craft, traditional Abani pottery requiring sunlight to achieve an ideal hardness.

  Of course, to his wife, the propaganda officer's daughter, this was just an excuse for laziness. Nowadays, other potters in the city use kilns to dry their finished pottery, which not only makes it more durable than sun-dried ones but also less prone to deformation.

  Only Anthony still adheres to this ancient tradition, not only does he need a courtyard for displaying pottery, but also almost no products are produced during the rainy season. The goods made before the start of the rainy season have long been bought out by the city's troops, and now Anthony's store only has some weirdly shaped and expensive things that Anthony calls art pieces.

  A small squad of dark-skinned warriors, patrolling past the entrance to Anthony's shop, had been set up to prevent trouble in the newly captured city where many rascals would come out to cause trouble. It was unclear whether it was due to the loud sound of rain hitting the ground or because most of these warriors were mute, but there was not a single noise coming from the patrol team. Even the Malians, who were known for their discipline at one time, could not achieve such silence.

  Looking at these rumors, Anthony thought of the chaos of the siege some time ago. He never thought that a city occupied by Maro for so long would welcome another siege, after all, it's already quite far from the front line. Moreover, it's still the rainy season with a large number of demons, I really don't know how these people who are not even Carthaginians, Carthage warriors came here.

  As for the war, Anthony didn't have much feeling. According to his father, who used to be a soldier and later became an ironworker after losing one ear due to slipping on blood in the army, if human history is a book, then eighty percent of its content is about blood and corpses, because humans have never stopped waging war and causing chaos.

  Another eighteen percent is spent on sex, because those interesting things are always attractive to people, and most people spend a lot of time on that. And only two percent is spent on building civilization, because labor is the most boring and tiring thing. As an indispensable pottery craftsman, Anthony thinks he is the one who creates that two percent thing.

  When he was thirteen, his father placed a sword and a hammer in front of him, letting him choose whether to join the army or become a blacksmith. However, he chose neither; he didn't want to fight to the death with monsters or other people, nor did he want to be smoked like charcoal beside the furnace, so he chose pottery, which was more artistic, and became a potter.

  As someone who considers himself an artist, he doesn't care about whoever occupies the city. Whether it's Maro or Carthage, either way there will be taxes to pay and arrogant nobles everywhere, making no difference to commoners. As a middle-class resident of the city, Antony only cares about whether he can make money and eat his fill, oh...and that eighteen percent is also important.

  However, even if Anthony wasn't interested in the war, there were some things that piqued his interest. For example, the Carthaginian legion that had captured this small city yesterday was said to be led by a country girl who hadn't attended knight school but was leading her troops deep into enemy territory.

  Those slaves who were bought or rescued, most of them willingly fought for her. Such a situation has led to many rumors circulating in the city, with most people saying that the girl had an extremely strong talent in that regard, able to satisfy these slave soldiers and make them die for her. Even those who have been to the barracks loudly proclaimed in the taverns, claiming they saw the girl walking into each of the slaves' tents at night.

  Another group of people believed that these slaves were moved by the girl and followed her into danger. Some elderly people said that they saw only purity and sincerity in the girl's eyes, such a pure child they had never seen before, and a small number of people even believed what the girl said, she was sent by God to save Carthage.

  As for these rumors, Anthony consistently believes that they are all purely nonsense. Neither the goddess Carthage who came to save, nor the girl's extraordinary talent and all slaves going to bed, can be true. The goddess of wealth in Carthage only recognizes gold coins, offering sacrifices with gold coins will only bless your business prosperity, war is not something that the goddess governs.

  Even the weakest of all gods, the chosen warrior, how can there be a substitute to help Carthage fight? As for sleeping with slaves, that's even more absurd. You know these slaves have over 2,000 people, even if you're made of iron, you'll still be overwhelmed!

  "Antoine! Help me!" Just as Antoine was indulging in idle fancies, his wife's loud and shrill voice came from upstairs: "Damn it! Who would come to buy your junk? You'd better get up here and help me clean this big fish. Do you still want to eat lunch?"

  "If you call these things junk, I'll smash your mouth!" An angry Anthony flipped the sign on the door from "Open" to "Closed", and ran upstairs shouting: "That's art! How many times do I have to tell you? That's art! One day someone will appreciate my talent!"

  "Alright, alright," his wife said, unafraid of her husband's authority. Although Anthony yelled loudly, she knew he was actually a softie. Even before the Marauders arrived, the city had gathered all able-bodied adults to help defend it, but this coward hid in the cellar for three whole days until the city fell.

  In the midst of a bustling city, in a military camp, armored female knight Joanna stood pointing at a map, explaining the surrounding situation to a young girl. Although she had been with the girl for some time, Joanna was well aware that the girl had no experience commanding battles, yet strangely, every time before a fight, she would come up with some very good suggestions, as if someone was guiding her.

  The siege the other day was also due to the girl's suggestion, and the city of Malo's garrison was eliminated without much effort. Of course, this is also related to the fact that this small town has no shield and not many defenders, otherwise, even if the warriors in the army are united and have excellent tactics, it would be impossible to capture a city within two days with just over 2,000 soldiers.

  "The nearest large city from here should have already received the news of this place being attacked. However, due to the rainy season, it will take them at least three days to organize an army and come over." Joanna pointed to a point on the map: "Since we've already launched a surprise attack on this city, it's almost impossible for us to take down the next one without any effort. The Maro people who received the news must have taken precautions."

  However, we still have two options to choose from. One is York Town, which is three days' journey from here, and the other is Leon City, which is five days' journey from us. Neither of these places is important, so there shouldn't be too many defenders, and we can resupply there.

  "We'll rest here for another day, then head to liberate Leon City. By the way, how many of those slaves freed from the farm are willing to follow us into battle?" The girl replied after hearing Joana's words: "We need to gather enough warriors before we reach our destination."

  "We've recruited another five hundred, but we already have nearly three thousand slave warriors." A knight standing nearby said: "Now that we're far from Carthage's supply lines, our supplies are barely sufficient. If we continue to increase the number of soldiers, we won't be able to provide them with food and wearable armor."

  "These problems the Maro people will solve for us." The girl's low voice said: "Before the end of the rainy season, we must completely break through to the rear of the Maro people's lines, constantly harassing their supply lines and some cities that are not heavily guarded. Our people are more familiar with the terrain than the Maro people, they want to catch us, they must dispatch a large number of warriors, in this way, the pressure on the front line will also become lighter."

  "What tactics did the Malo people use to capture the Macedonian fortress at first?" All the knights who were having a meeting in the room heard the girl's words and nodded one after another. If they relied on raiding the supply lines, it was indeed a good strategy, and the Malo people on the front line had lost some important strategic materials, which would also lead to fatigue in their attack.

  After the future strategy was decided, these knights appointed by the regent princess bowed to the girl and left the room. For a while, only the girl remained in the room, silently looking at the strategic map brought out by Joanna. This girl from the countryside led an army composed of slaves to fight against the enemy who invaded her home in the most dangerous place, everything seemed so incredible.

  "God will bring us victory, God will save Carthage." The girl clasped her hands together on her chest, her eyes slightly closed in prayer, and some silver light seeped out from the narrow slit of her eyelids...

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