Sixteen, Prepare for Battle

  Gun smoke is everywhere.

  The port and market, which had begun to show some signs of life after two months of rebuilding, were now littered with rubble and debris. The streets were lined with the remnants of buildings that had collapsed, smoke billowing from the ruins, and charred wooden beams still smoldering with embers. Every so often, a faint crackling sound could be heard. Ludwig, the chairman, walked slowly down the street, his feet navigating through the numerous craters of varying sizes that pockmarked the ground.

  "It's all over, we're going bankrupt!" Ludwig clutched his head, his face twisted in agony. "The 30,000 rebuilding costs are all down the drain now!"

  "Huh, didn't you go bankrupt a long time ago?" Charlotte sneered. "With 50,000 gold coins in paid aid from each state and another 50,000 gold coin loan from the Temple of Woguo, will you be able to pay it back during your term? I'm afraid it'll take until the next next term to pay it off! You borrowed so much money but didn't even repair a single cannon tower. One spirit cannon ship made Glory City go up in flames, and it was just one ship! What a waste!"

  "You..." Ludwig was at a loss for words for a moment, raised his hand to scold Charlotte, but halfway through, he still weakly put it down.

  Half a day ago, a spirit cannon warship suddenly passed through the upper reaches of the Blue River and bombarded the defenseless Glorious City for three hours, reducing the port and market to ruins before leaving.

  This was undoubtedly a loud slap in the face for Ludwig, who had just been elected Speaker of Parliament due to his military achievements. What's more, if he

  If the garrison at the mouth of the Reindeer River had not withdrawn, even if they could not completely resist the enemy, they would have been able to delay for a period of time, allowing the Glorious City to make preparations - he also made this consideration and did not prioritize strengthening the city's defenses. Today's disaster would not have occurred.

  But that's not the worst of it. Withdrawing the garrison from the Reindeer River mouth was originally intended to alleviate financial burdens, but in the end, he still yielded to the Wogin Temple, instantly making him unpopular on both sides. As soon as Ludwig thought of the shameless face of the "Middle Gold" pastor (equivalent to a regional bishop or branch manager of a certain city, with the highest leader of the Wogin Temple being the "Holy Coin", divided into three levels: gold, silver, and copper, each level further divided into upper, middle, and lower) he couldn't help but feel indignant. He first forced himself to sell large tracts of land in the Blue Castle area at a very disadvantageous price, then claimed that due to the distance being too far and rain making it difficult to travel, the temple could only pay in gold coins, and grain would have to wait for a month.

  Even if the military rations are used, the food supply in Glory City can only last for a week. How can it wait for a month? That "Zhong Jin" pastor had a considerate expression and suggested using Glory City's precise transmission magic array to transport food from the south. For this, a large number of space rings and space bags are needed to store the food, and transmission mages need to be hired. Of course, this expense is also recorded on the head of the New Enoak State Council.

  So much was spent that even with the entire proceeds of the sale of land, Ludwig could not afford it and had to take out a loan of 500,000 guilders. He had to face the anger of almost everyone: the starving allied troops and his own militia, the western civilians who lost their pastureland, the imperial central government dissatisfied with the local government's private land sale, and now also the capital city residents who lost their homes again due to the parliamentary measures. His ears were already echoing with terrifying words like "impeachment" and "resignation".

  "This is just the first one, and there may be dozens or even hundreds more to come, and maybe even a Spirit Army siege." Fili said, temporarily getting rid of his labor duty at the Woguo Temple, "I think we should either set up defenses immediately or evacuate the residents. Are we going to fight or flee?"

  Ludwig was taken aback and immediately snapped out of his daze, "Right, how could the Spirit Army have only one warship come over? And now that it's just cleared up, they would actually travel in the rain and flood?"

  "The... " The officers and members of parliament accompanying Ludwig on his inspection tour were also baffled by this situation. Due to the rainy season, Glory City had been out of touch with surrounding areas for some time, resulting in an awkward silence for a while.

  Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Three red gift flowers rose again, and the city wall rang with the ear-piercing magic bee buzzing sound, as well as the citizens' terrified cries.

  "For Pete's sake, here we go again!" was the only thought in Ludwig's mind.

  ****

  According to reports from various places and the confessions of captives, after the mutiny in Fog Town, the Elf Army broke into small groups and left by water and land. Ludwig sat in a narrow conference room, briefing the attendees on the current intelligence, "The main force should still be behind. The obstacles set up by our army at the lower reaches of the Reindeer River have been destroyed by the advance ships..."

  The Great Bear Legion and the New Enoaok State Militia officers sat around a large round table that occupied most of the conference room, studying the map of New Enoaok. In the past two days, six batches of enemy ships had attempted to enter the sea through Glorious City at the river mouth. Relying on the more than 30 large-caliber artillery pieces newly transported from New Masobray State, the defenders finally destroyed a lagging transport ship during the sixth batch of enemy ships, capturing dozens of Elf soldiers and extracting some confessions. In addition to intelligence sent by fast horses from various places, the people of Glorious City finally had a relatively accurate understanding of the situation.

  After the rout of Fog Town, there are now groups of three or five fleeing northward on the vast prairie, some directly from Fog Town itself and others who capsized halfway and had to travel by land. It is impossible to completely intercept these guys, so we can only let the militia and guerrilla troops be vigilant and eliminate as many as they can.

  The main threat to Glory City is the fleet of elven ships coming down from upstream. Although they have split up, their strength remains formidable. Even if the State Council were willing to go against public opinion and let them out to sea, these guys might still be thinking about taking Glory City again! Therefore, the defenders of Glory City must find a way to intercept the enemy fleet, even if they cannot annihilate it in the river channel, but also show off the combat power of Glory City to dispel the enemy's idea of re-occupying this place.

  It's now too late to go upstream to find a suitable terrain for defense, and everyone focuses their attention on the map around Glorious City. Near Glorious City, the Blue River is divided into two by a large sandbank. The northern waterway is wide and shallow, only allowing small boats to pass through. The southern waterway is narrow and deep, and it's the main channel for ships entering the sea. Glorious City is located on the south bank of the southern waterway. On the opposite sandbank, there used to be a fort, but it was destroyed in the war and has not been repaired yet.

  The current military strength of the Glorious City includes 2,500 members of the Giant Bear Legion, 4,000 militiamen, and 25 large-caliber artillery pieces - some of which were lost in the cannon battle. The city has a total population of approximately 30,000 people, who can be mobilized for labor service if necessary.

  "I suggest mobilizing all the residents of the city and setting up as many obstacles as possible on the riverbed in the north of the city." Charlotte suggested, the enemy is approaching, no matter how dissatisfied he was with Ludwig, he had to put it aside for the time being. "Do we still have torpedoes?"

  "We don't have even ten left in stock." Ludwig shook his head, "With the current craftsmanship of Glory City, making some explosive bottles is barely manageable, but trigger fuses are absolutely impossible to make." As he spoke, he cast his gaze at Fili.

  "Your Excellency, alchemists are not all-powerful. Without suitable materials and tools, I can do nothing." Phil shook his head, "However, I do have a suggestion."

  "Oh, let's talk about it."

  "Since you've already gone to the expense of transporting all this grain, why not continue with the weapons? While the spatial ring and bag haven't been returned yet, I and a few other mages can go to New Masobu City to bring back some military supplies."

  "But as for the price..." Ludwig hesitated, he already owed too much debt.

  "Zena, the Speaker of the House, has agreed to let us run a tab at her factory." Phil continued to persuade, "Besides, if Glory City loses, wouldn't it be ridiculous to talk about debts?"

  "Alright." Ludwig said with a somewhat reckless tone, "Don't worry about the cost, bring whatever is useful, I'll foot the bill!"