Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence-Chapter 270 - 132: The Third Spirit Tree and the Possibility of a 500-Strong Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order
Thus, Su Li declared ambitiously, "Let’s go then. Let’s have a simple meal and then find Marshal Oerstein to discuss the situation of each Knight Order, Infantry Corps, and Free People’s Corps."
Shortly after Su Li and Freya prepared everything and left the room, Commander Oerstein arrived at the castle’s conference hall together with Lord Rong’en.
The Rong’en Priest, who once possessed Divine Chosen Level strength as a Knight, had consumed Light-Scaled Fish numerous times. His progress in the Knight’s path is advancing by leaps and bounds.
He now possesses the strength of a High Tier Elite Knight, and breaking through to Champion Knight is just a matter of time. After all, bottlenecks and thresholds are non-existent for him.
Thus, he also serves as the Territorial Free People’s Corps instructor, organizing and leading the Free People’s Corps of the territory.
After sitting in the conference room, Su Li straightforwardly said, "As we expected, the Two-legged Flying Dragon King Sandarion, commanding the Vanguard Legion, will first break out from the forest. We cannot remain passive in our defense and allow them to gather and march at their leisure. Otherwise, their orderly deployment and large scale will overwhelm us."
"The West High Merchant Guild has sponsored our first line of defense on the west side of the Blood Pine Forest, constructing a series of continuous border posts. This is a position we must not easily lose. I plan to proactively engage Sandarion’s legion here. My commanders, for this battle, how many troops can we mobilize?"
The worshippers of the Sun Goddess advance in military operations methodically, even if they undergo a scorched earth strategy, they never abandon all outlying positions at the onset to confront the enemy’s main forces directly with the capital’s defenses.
Furthermore, there is tremendous wealth and opportunity still untapped in the wilderness of the Hesse Territory. Su Li’s army cannot simply give up all the outlying defenses to turtle inside the castle.
The border post sponsored by the West High Merchant Guild is precisely the site Su Li chose to first engage the Green Dragon Followers’ Legion.
The defensive structures built here are far more than a simple post; this is the most rugged terrain on the west side of the Blood Pine Forest. In the vast plains, it has a section of Stone Mountain and hills, becoming the strategic high ground for miles around.
So the merchants and territorial army constructed various defense facilities here. At the base of Stone Mountain, near a water source, humans set up a four-mile continuous wall made of wooden stakes, establishing a military encampment with numerous tents, wooden houses, warehouses, and even a makeshift ironworks for repairing mining tools in peacetime and weapons, swords, and armor in wartime.
Even in peacetime, a squadron of Armed Attendants and three teams of Half-Elves and Dwarves are garrisoned here.
They patrol the border and maintain the wells, watchtowers, arrow towers, and lookout towers of the camp.
Moreover, atop Stone Mountain, three military camps and four defense towers are set at each critical pass location, with a well-maintained descent road protected by fences and wooden stakes, and a small defensive fortress is built from stones. This forms the core of the defensive system, ensuring that if the enemy army besieges the camp below, the mountain’s defenders can launch flank and rear attacks from here at any time, and the enemy cannot feign an assault up this narrow path.
After all, this small fortress has two arrow towers with Half-Elf Archers and Dwarf Musketeers behind the shooting apertures who shoot with ease almost without harm. Their precise aiming hits targets on the familiar, meticulously pre-set shooting routes along the narrow mountain path, making nearly every shot count.
Since the Green Dragon is about to awaken, the Hesse Territory has been reinforcing here, expanding the army size from a squadron to over 600 soldiers. The Knights have been commanding the Armed Attendants to comprehensively strengthen all the defense facilities beyond cost, expanding, heightening, and solidifying them.
What once was a mere thin wooden fence of a defensive wall has been thickened to two layers, with massive amounts of lime, plaster, and clay tamped in between them. The over two-meter-high wall swiftly raised to more than four meters high, such that even a Giant could not directly attack the archers atop the wall.
More than ten additional defense and lookout towers were quickly erected. Territorial finances funded them to rapidly procure a large amount of wood, never short of raw materials.
Meanwhile, numerous Adventurers, Mercenaries, and Bounty Hunters have also gathered here. They take on the tasks assigned by officers and Knights, assisting in constructing castle defenses, resolving logistical issues to earn bounties, and supplying substantial amounts of food, tools, and adventure goods to the territorial army.
Among them are strange items found from the evil Wizard Towers in the Blood Pine Forest, ancient ruins, and monster lairs.
For example, today’s intelligence report mentioned the Spirit Tree Star Dew Sweet Orange.
The Rong’en Priest brought this important item too. He handed over the earth-wrapped shrub to Su Li and solemnly said, "I was about to report to you on this matter. As the great territorial war is approaching, a large number of Adventurers have come to our territory seeking opportunities for prosperity."
"Not only have they brought rare items found in ruins and perilous places, but they also come with a sizeable Free People’s Corps."
In the broad sense of the Empire, the Free People’s Corps consists not only of the citizens and peasants stepping forward to protect homes and families from vicious monsters and demons. They usually include mercenaries, bandits, and pirates who risk their lives for gold, selling their strength and combat skills.
