Chapter 322: Sweeping Like Bamboo

On the cold weapon battlefield, the gap in individual combat ability and the number of troops was very obvious.

A knight with high martial arts and wearing plate armor could even defeat a dozen unarmored soldiers, while a well-trained heavy cavalry could often easily crush an infantry army of ten thousand people.

This not only represented an advanced industrial foundation, capable of manufacturing a large number of armor and weapons, and raising warhorses, but also required quite rich financial resources to support such a number of professional soldiers and bottom-level officers.

In the past few decades, the Nilfgaardian Empire had annexed several surrounding countries through its military strength and became a military empire with illustrious military achievements.

By plundering the wealth of other countries, keeping slaves, and promoting military merit nobles, not only did this southern country possess military power far exceeding the North, but it also entered a high-speed development channel in commerce and industry, with signs of the sprout of capitalism.

The continuous war dividends gradually made the Usurper Emperor of the South build Nilfgaard into a powerful empire where politics and religion were integrated and the people highly obeyed the imperial power.

The bottom-level people were proud of military merit, eager to obtain glory and wealth on the battlefield, and be promoted to military merit nobles, and were not afraid of war at all.

Although this war of expedition to the North came a bit hastily, it did not affect the fanaticism and desire of the Nilfgaardians to conquer the North at all.

Time passed quickly for another half a month. By the time Wayne finished his trip to Aretuza and returned to Cintra, he heard the news of the disastrous defeat of the Aedirn army from Syanna, as expected.

The speed of Nilfgaard's black-clad army was amazing. Wherever they went, they almost crushed the local Aedirn army. In less than a month, more than 60% of the territory of the Kingdom of Aedirn had been occupied, and more than half of the cities had fallen into the hands of the black-clad army.

This made Demavend anxious. He could no longer care about the territory of Kaedwen he had just occupied, while desperately asking for help from other countries in the North, while reorganizing the army without stopping.

Finally, before Nilfgaard's black-clad army, he returned to the capital of the Kingdom of Aedirn, Vengerberg, and could not care about any rest, commanding soldiers and civilians overnight to build a large number of defensive fortifications outside the city of Vengerberg, barely blocking the marching speed of the black-clad people.

However, the strength of the Kingdom of Aedirn compared to the Nilfgaardian Empire was really too huge. Even if the equipment and combat quality of the soldiers were set aside, just looking at the numbers, the number of Nilfgaard's black-clad army was more than four times that of the Aedirn army.

In the era of cold weapons, unless the commander of the enemy was an idiot, this was already a numerical gap that could not be defeated.

As for reinforcements, unless other kings in the North were noble, selfless, and kind people, after receiving the request for help, they would immediately organize the army with all their strength and rush to rescue without stopping.

And Demavend could persist in Vengerberg for more than a month. Otherwise, the so-called reinforcements were just fantasies and fundamentally could not arrive so quickly.

However, these news were not worth paying too much attention to for Wayne. As far as he was concerned, regarding the Northern and Southern Wars, he and his Witcher Order were temporarily in a neutral state and had not decided which side to help.

After all, most of the Northern Kingdoms were bastards and scumbags, barbaric and greedy. The Nilfgaardians in the South were not as civilized and advanced as they advertised.

This southern empire advocated slavery, possessed a large number of slave-catching groups, turned the civilians of defeated countries into slaves, and provided them with cheap labor.

Perhaps the world only saw the power of Nilfgaard, but Wayne knew very well that under this seemingly prosperous country, countless bones of slaves were buried.

If it were a comparison of who was worse, although it could not be said that they were half a catty to eight taels, it could be said that they were about the same.

Unless it was a last resort, the Witcher Order would not be like the Sorcerers Brotherhood, foolishly standing on one side and then being treated as a fat sheep on the chopping board after being used up, bullied by others, and finally disappearing in the long river of history.

After returning to Cintra, Wayne learned from King Eist.

Princess Pavetta's childbirth went quite smoothly. Under the careful care of Archdruid Mousesack, the baby girl with the Elder Blood was born.

And poor Princess Pavetta, after a part of her memory was sealed, completely forgot that she had been kidnapped and then forced to give birth. After losing the Elder Blood in her body, she could finally return to being a carefree princess, without having to be involved in those dangerous and complex extraordinary worlds.

Queen Calanthe seemed to be quite disgusted with the newborn baby girl. She did not come forward to communicate with Wayne, but only sent Steward Hax to quietly send this baby in swaddling clothes over under the cover of night, and sent her to the luxurious inn where Wayne lived.

She did not give this child a name, seemingly just treating her as a burden.

After all, according to everyone's speculation, the biological father of this baby girl was very likely Vilgefortz, who was defeated and escaped by Wayne.

Although according to Archdruid Mousesack's speculation, the child in Princess Pavetta's belly was not conceived by the method of primitive reproduction, but the effect of a magic ritual.

But thinking of the dirty blood in this child's body, for the Cintra royal family, it was indeed a shame that wanted to be buried.

Speaking of Vilgefortz, this guy's days were not easy recently.

Although Queen Calanthe did not fully give all the inside story about this princess kidnapping incident, under the pressure of the two kingdoms of Cintra and Skellige.

In the situation where Vilgefortz himself was summoned many times and could never come forward to make any defense for himself, the Sorcerers Brotherhood finally kicked him out of their organization and issued a wanted order for him throughout the North, strictly forbidding other sorcerers from cooperating with him, which was considered to have cut off Vilgefortz's power in the North to a large extent.

However, compared to the negligible bounty of the Sorcerers Brotherhood, the one million gold coin bounty issued by the Wayne Chamber of Commerce throughout the North almost exploded the entire northern continent in an instant.

Whether nobles or civilians, whether farmers in villages or beggars in cities, all were stunned by this sky-high bounty.

With the two kingdoms of Cintra and Skellige guaranteeing this bonus, the vast majority of people did not doubt the authenticity of this bounty. Almost all mercenaries and gang members began to pay attention to this matter, and even many nobles could not withstand the temptation of money and participated in it.

In less than a month, Vilgefortz's reputation even exceeded that of many kings, becoming the object of discussion for the northern people after dinner.

Countless people fantasized that they could catch this wanted criminal, obtain the sky-high bounty of one million gold coins, reach the peak of life, and live a luxurious life like a king.

Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of northerners began to look for Vilgefortz driven by the bounty.

And the news of this bounty soon, under the propaganda of those travelers and merchants, spread from the northern continent to the southern kingdoms, just like a deep-water bomb, and was quickly detonated in all human kingdoms.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 323 =====