Chapter 2457: My Lord, the Times Have Changed

Around Rongsha Fortress, the armies of the Shayan Kingdom and the Kingdom of Peru had fought until they were a chaotic mess. The dwarf troops had completely blockaded the surrounding area, and Grand Commander Nieposuo's army was besieged.

Rongsha Fortress had already been captured by the Peruvian dwarves. It was very difficult to retake this fortress. Grand Commander Nieposuo made a decisive decision and ordered all his troops to charge out of the encirclement.

Unfortunately, his opponent this time was very difficult to deal with—it was the famous Spring Tieyang, known in both countries. The surname Spring had extraordinary significance in Peru. Although the monarchy in Peru was not hereditary, the current King of Peru was named Spring Steel Sheep.

Spring Steel Sheep, Spring Tieyang—the relationship between these two could be guessed just from their names.

Spring Tieyang commanded 470,000 dwarf soldiers and was an old rival of Grand Commander Nieposuo. Judging by the current momentum, both sides were about to have a decisive battle in the area around 'Rongsha Fortress.'

Regardless of the outcome of the battlefield around 'Rongsha Fortress,' after this battle ended, the situation of the two countries would inevitably change. The long-term pseudo-ceasefire was about to be broken today.

The Kingdom of Peru had already accumulated enough power. The ambition of the King of Peru was completely revealed. Of course, he didn't want the territory of the Shayan Kingdom; he wanted the resources hidden under the desert and the numerous extraordinary creatures on the desert.

Ignoring the chaotic Rongsha Fortress battlefield for now, the soldiers under Su Xiao's command rushed toward the station after breaking through the encirclement.

Being able to break out this time was somewhat due to luck. Spring Tieyang and Nieposuo were fighting fiercely, and Spring Tieyang didn't care about this group of defeated troops under Su Xiao at all, so naturally, he wouldn't send elites to intercept them.

This gave Su Xiao the opportunity to break out. Under the dual reconnaissance of Bubu Wang and Baha, they found the weakest point of the encirclement.

After marching for 40 minutes, Su Xiao returned to the station. As soon as he returned, he immediately summoned all the squad leaders and thousand-man commanders under his command to assemble.

After a simple interaction with these officers, including Aus, all the officers under Su Xiao went to settle the soldiers.

The soldiers assembled in the open space. The 12,000 soldiers Su Xiao originally had formed a circle, leaving hundreds of gaps, and began to classify the defeated troops according to their armor and weapons.

All ordinary defeated troops were turned out of the circle. Those who remained were the officers of the defeated troops, including low-level officers like squad leaders.

Su Xiao's handling method was to use the power of a Grand Commander to temporarily postpone the wartime desertion crimes of these low-level officers. All centurions and squad leaders were demoted to ordinary soldiers. As for the thousand-man commanders and the military guard commanders who had the authority to command 10,000 soldiers, they were all detained.

Su Xiao drew out a unit of 100 men and met the centurion of this unit personally, ordering the other party to escort all the thousand-man commanders and military guard commanders of the defeated troops back to the Sand Capital and hand them over to Grand Priest Uno.

These high- and mid-level officers of the defeated troops couldn't be kept. Sending them back to the Sand Capital was the best choice. After marching for ten or so days along the way, by the time they reached the Sand Capital, it would be too late for Uno to do anything.

Su Xiao sat in the tent. The high- and mid-level officers of the defeated troops had already been sent away, and the low-level officers had also been demoted to ordinary soldiers. In this way, the organization of the defeated troops was completely disrupted.

The second thing Su Xiao did was to promote all ordinary soldiers who performed excellently in the first battle according to the number of enemies they killed. That's right, the reward and punishment system Su Xiao set was just that simple and crude.

Kill 5 enemies, be promoted to squad leader, reward 5 gold shields.

Kill 10 enemies, be promoted to centurion, reward 10 gold shields.

Kill 50 enemies, be promoted to thousand-man commander, reward 50 gold shields.

Kill 200 enemies, be promoted to military guard commander, reward 200 gold shields.

After this promotion system was passed down, their soldiers' eyes turned red. The enemies on the battlefield were simply walking gold coins. Status and wealth could be obtained on the battlefield—if they didn't fight for their lives now, when would they?

The intense promotions began. Most of the soldiers who followed Su Xiao were promoted. The soldiers who weren't promoted looked on with envy. Only with a gap was there motivation.

Four hours later, the soldiers stood in square formations. Su Xiao forcibly organized these soldiers together through somewhat crude methods. Under normal circumstances, this would cause big problems, but Su Xiao didn't need the soldiers to form battle formations, so there were no problems at all.

【Hint: The War Lord title has been activated to its maximum effect.】

【Currently commanding soldier-type units: 59,620.】

Seeing this hint, Su Xiao felt relieved in his heart. He had finally developed a bit. What he was most worried about before was having the War Lord title but no soldiers under his command.

The soldiers under his command had indeed increased, but supplies like food and fresh water were only enough for about six days, and there were only over 10,000 gold coins. The rewards promised to the soldiers had to be fulfilled.

What to do if supplies were lacking? Naturally, go to war. The battlefield around Rongsha Fortress was still continuing. If he didn't go to make a profit now, he would be sorry for the fine tradition of the Extinction-level.

Su Xiao walked out of the tent, and the breeze blew the black velvet cloak behind him. Other things aside, this cloak was very comfortable to sleep on; it was worthy of being the fur of an extraordinary creature.

"Set off."

After Su Xiao gave the order, nearly 60,000 soldiers marched toward the battlefield in a mighty force.

Crack!

A thunderclap sounded in the sky, and dark clouds churned overhead. A Night Raven landed on Su Xiao's arm. After spitting out a sand pouch, a line of text was outlined by fine sand.

"30,000 war beasts in 6 days, huh."

Su Xiao raised his hand, and the Night Raven flew away. 30,000 war beasts were a very precious resource. Once the war beasts arrived, there would be beast cavalry. If all the soldiers under his command rode war beasts, that scene...

Not thinking about these for now, Su Xiao sat on the war chariot, looking into the distance. After finishing this round of war, the 'things' Caesar ordered would be arriving soon. If that matter went smoothly, he would obtain a war weapon.

Under the blessing of the War Lord, the marching speed of Su Xiao's soldiers was extremely fast, only slower than cavalry.

Half an hour later, the battlefield appeared ahead. Because Su Xiao's position was on higher ground, he could just see the situation of a small part of the battlefield.

With Rongsha Fortress as the center, the soldiers of the two countries were fighting in this large area. Rongsha Fortress had been retaken, and Grand Commander Nieposuo was inside the fortress.

Don't think this was a good thing. Rongsha Fortress was retaken because Peru's main force had been besieging the Shayan army, and the Shayan army had no choice but to retreat toward Rongsha Fortress, retaking this fortress with collapsed walls after paying a tragic price.

The current situation was that the troops under Grand Commander Nieposuo were besieged. Because there were too many soldiers, they could only set up defenses near Rongsha Fortress.

The surroundings were full of dwarf troops. Spring Tieyang wanted to wipe out all of Nieposuo's troops. Nieposuo had nearly 500,000 soldiers under his command. If they were wiped out, it would be an incomparably painful blow to the Shayan Kingdom, and things might even reach the point where they would have to withdraw from the central battlefield and set up a new defense line in the desert area behind.

Rongsha Fortress, inside a two-story stone house.

Grand Commander Nieposuo sat leaning on a wooden chair, gently rubbing his forehead with one hand, and said: "How much longer until the reinforcements arrive?"

"They might not arrive."

"?"

Grand Commander Nieposuo looked at his deputy commander. After staring at the other party for a few seconds, a smile appeared on Nieposuo's somewhat thin face.

"How many gold shields did the King of Peru give you?"

Nieposuo suddenly felt that his words were somewhat ridiculous. If gold coins could buy off Shayan's deputy commander, then Shayan was really not far from destruction.

Shayan was not a kingdom on the verge of destruction. The Sand Emperor, Uno, Carola, and other power holders, although they all had shortcomings, had never been stingy with the front line. Supplies, weapons, war beasts, etc., were all the best in the country, and military spending had never been lacking.

"..."

The deputy commander lowered his head, his eyes filled with mockery, and more so, disdain.

"A fake king is always a fake king. The glory of the Penier family will bathe Shayan again. My lord, the times have changed."

The deputy commander drew the curved blade from his waist, and several guards in the stone house also drew the sharp swords from their waists. ===== CHAPTER 2458 =====