Trenches, Guns, and Magic

Meanwhile, at the other end of Ploiești, in a small machine factory that had ceased operations, a scene of intense activity was unfolding.

Hundreds of female workers were gathered there, working busily.

When the Saxon army first marched into this city, the elderly, the weak, women, and children left behind in Ploiești were filled with fear.

They hid in their homes, peering nervously through door cracks and curtains at the foreign soldiers in gray uniforms passing through the streets, terrified that the pillaging and atrocities brought by defeat would befall them.

But the development of events completely exceeded their expectations.

The discipline of these Saxon soldiers was surprisingly good. Their officers seemed to be restraining them with some kind of "iron-fisted" methods.

After disarming the small number of garrison troops and police in the city, they didn't burn, kill, or loot. They merely posted sentries at key traffic arteries and factories, and the main force soon marched out, continuing their advance toward the capital.

And now, these Saxons had returned.

They didn't bring swords or guns; instead, they brought a large amount of Lei and food, hiring them—the idle female workers—to help with the work.

Although at first, many were afraid it was a trap and didn't dare to go out.

But as the female workers who summoned the courage to work on the first day actually received the promised compensation from the Saxons—crisp Lei and heavy loaves of bread—the rest completely laid down their guard and began signing up enthusiastically.

It’s just that the work these Saxons had them doing was truly quite strange...

In the factory courtyard, a massive cast-iron crucible was set atop a brick kiln, with roaring coal fires burning beneath it.

A middle-aged woman who looked like a forewoman was loudly directing the other female workers.

"Hurry up! Pour in those silver plates, silver candlesticks, and silver coins! Pry off the wooden bases, I only want silver thrown in!"

In addition to industrial silver and silver coins, baskets of silverware "requisitioned" from the estates of large landowners and merchants were poured into the crucible, ultimately melting into a glowing red fluid at high temperatures.

"Skim the dross! Quick, skim all the ash and impurities off the surface!"

The female workers used special long-handled iron ladles to carefully skim off the layer of impurities floating on the surface of the molten silver.

Since the war broke out and most men were conscripted to the front lines, these women had taken over many production tasks in the rear; they could be considered to have some experience in dealing with these high-temperature furnaces.

They knew to wait until a thin film began to form on the surface of the molten silver while the underside was still rolling slightly before pouring it quickly into the sand molds nearby, which could minimize air bubbles within the castings to the greatest extent.

When the Saxons assigned the tasks, they also provided some finely drawn blueprints.

Those blueprints were filled with strange diamond-shaped and square grooves.

The female workers made the sand molds strictly according to the dimensions on the blueprints.

However, they didn't know what these grooved silver plates were actually for...

But they knew that as long as they delivered these completed silver plates to the Saxon officers, they could exchange them for more food and Lei.

In the current environment, nothing was more concrete than that.

Thus, inside the entire factory, only the busy figures of the female workers and the sound of clashing metal remained.

No one complained, no one chatted; everyone was silently contributing their strength for the sake of survival.

Early the next morning, the citizens of Bucharest, who had been unsettled by the riots of the previous night, hadn't yet fully recovered from their terror before they were awakened by a massive noise coming from the sky.

People pushed open their windows one after another, or ran out to the streets, looking up at the sky.

They saw three strange-looking "big birds" whistling through the high altitude above the city center from the left, right, and middle directions.

The bold black cross emblem of the Saxon Empire was painted on their wings. The engines emitted a deafening roar, echoing over the city for a long time.

Having learned the lesson from being hit by eerie rifle fire from the ground while conducting low-altitude reconnaissance the previous time, Richthofen had learned his lesson this time.

He, his partner Immelmann, and another pilot from the aviation corps all pulled their flight altitudes above six hundred meters.

At this altitude, the ground rifle fire could no longer pose a threat to them, and they could also clearly overlook the layout of the entire city.

Soon, amidst the discussions of the soldiers and civilians on the ground, thousands of sheets of paper drifted down from the sky, fluttering like heavy snow in winter.

These leaflets were rushed out overnight by the Kampfgruppe's field map printing office under the personal supervision of several officers.

To ensure the leaflets could cover the entire city, the Kampfgruppe's aviation corps executed three such dropping missions this morning.

The three aircraft shuttled back and forth, dropping over five thousand leaflets over Bucharest.

In an instant, every street and alley in Bucharest was filled with these "letters" that had fallen from the sky.

At first, the citizens and garrison soldiers thought it was some kind of new weapon from the Saxons and fled in panic.

But very quickly, they discovered these were just sheets of paper and had no lethality at all.

Curiosity drove people to walk out from their hiding places and pick up the leaflets on the ground.

The leaflets were printed in clear Romanian. The titles were written in bold, thick letters, and the content was enough to shock anyone who saw it.

"A Letter to All Citizens and Soldiers of Bucharest—Your King, Ferdinand I, is a Vampire!"

The content of the leaflet was even more sensational.

It exaggeratedly described the evil ritual through which Ferdinand I transformed himself into a vampire and secretly mass-produced blood-sucking monsters that fed on humans.

The riots and disappearances that occurred in the city the previous night were exactly these monsters coming out to hunt for humans under the King's direction.

"His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of the Saxon Empire, cannot bear to see the Romanian people reduced to blood-food for evil creatures, and has specifically dispatched a great army to exterminate the vampire nest entrenched in Bucharest!"

"All Romanian soldiers, your gun barrels should not be aimed at the Saxon army coming to save you, but at that vampire King hiding in the royal palace who treats you as livestock!"

"All citizens of Bucharest, for the safety of yourselves and your families, please evacuate this city that is about to become a battlefield immediately! The Saxon army will carve out a safe evacuation corridor for you outside the city!"

At the bottom of the leaflet, a sketch was attached, its image quality slightly rough but still recognizable in outline.

The drawing depicted a vicious monster with fangs, sucking the neck of a soldier who had fallen to the ground.

And next to the monster, the name Ferdinand I was labeled.

These leaflets were like heavy bombs, throwing Bucharest into turmoil.

Panic and suspicion spread rapidly among the citizens and garrison soldiers like a plague.

Inside the Old Royal Palace, Ferdinand I's complexion was so gloomy he looked even more hideous.

He slapped a leaflet he had just confiscated from outside heavily onto the desk, causing the black-robed old man and several core members of the secret society standing opposite him to shrink their necks involuntarily.

"Saxons... how did they know so much?!"

Ferdinand I's voice was suppressed with monstrous rage.

The secret of the "Original Blood" and the conversion ritual was the highest secret Wallachia had protected for over four hundred years.

Aside from the core members of the Society and each successive heir, it was absolutely impossible for any outsider to know.

Even if the Saxons were incredibly resourceful, it was impossible for them to have penetrated all this in such a short time.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. The Saxons may not actually know anything; this is more like their psychological warfare..."

The leading black-robed old man bowed, his voice hoarse. "They likely discovered anomalies in the city through that infiltration the other night, and then, borrowing the vampire legends circulating among our locals, fabricated these lies in an attempt to shake our morale and the hearts of the people."

Ferdinand I had naturally thought of this too.

But the problem was, this lie from the Saxons was "too true."

Especially the previous night, to pursue that Saxon officer who infiltrated the royal palace, he had indeed ordered a large portion of the Blood Thralls to mobilize.

And those starving Blood Thralls, in the process of pursuit, had indeed attacked many garrison troops and civilians in the city.

Although he tried his best to seal the news afterward and publicly declared it was the work of disguised Saxon infiltration units, there were too many witnesses; it was fundamentally impossible to cover it up completely.

Now that the Saxons had scattered these leaflets, it was equivalent to tearing a massive hole in the lie he and the Society had meticulously woven.

Those citizens and soldiers who were already suspicious would likely believe the claims on the leaflets even more.

"Order immediately! Have the City Defense Command dispatch all military police to search the entire city. Collect every single leaflet for me; not a single one can be left behind! Anyone found hoarding or spreading these leaflets will be charged with treason!"

A hint of resolve flashed in Ferdinand I's eyes.

"Additionally, arrange it immediately: I want to address all the citizens in the city via the municipal broadcasting system!"

"I will personally expose the Saxons' conspiracy!"

Half an hour later, the calm voice of Ferdinand I rang out from the broadcasting speakers on every street in Bucharest.

He denounced the shamelessness and baseness of the Saxon invaders, accusing them of using these sleazy tactics to create panic and shake the morale of the people in order to capture this great city.

To further prove he was not the "vampire" described in the leaflets, Ferdinand I even appeared personally at noon on a sun-drenched balcony of the Old Royal Palace.

The brilliant sunshine shone on him without obstruction. He wore a crisp military uniform, waving to the crowds gathered outside the royal palace with a gentle smile.

This move did indeed have an immediate effect.

When the people saw with their own eyes their King standing safely in the sunlight, not turning to ash like the vampires in legends, many of the doubts that had just arisen in their hearts were indeed dispelled.

The crowd even erupted in cheers of "Long live the King!"

However, sunshine can disperse shadows, but it cannot disperse the seeds of suspicion once they have been planted in people's hearts...

In the corners of the crowd, behind windows that couldn't be seen, many people, after combining the monster attacks that occurred over the past few days with the situation of civilians mysteriously disappearing in the city, felt a deep sense of distrust toward this King standing in the sunlight.

The fanatical atmosphere of "united hatred against the common enemy" that originally existed in the city had already begun to show cracks under this truth-and-lie-mixed propaganda offensive from the Saxons.

After nightfall, the black-robed old man came to Ferdinand I's study once more.

"Your Majesty, the situation is not looking good. Although your appearance during the day played some role, the panic in the city has not completely subsided."

The old man's voice was hoarser than during the day. Although he had been converted into a High-Tier Vampire, he had clearly expended a massive amount of energy dealing with affairs these past few days.

"According to reports from the eyes the Society has planted everywhere, quite a few citizens are attempting to flee Bucharest through various channels... The morale of the city defense troops has also shown obvious fluctuations, and even..."

The old man paused, seemingly weighing his words.

"...even inside the City Defense Command, Major General Van and some officers under him have become suspicious... They are secretly investigating those attacked sentry posts and disappeared soldiers."

Ferdinand I's fist clenched quietly beneath the desk.

Major General Van was the City Defense Commander he had personally promoted under the critical situation in the capital, and one of the military generals he trusted most in this city.

If even he began to be suspicious, then the problem was truly serious.

"Your Majesty, we cannot hesitate any longer."

The black-robed old man stepped forward. His blood-red eyes shimmered with fanatical light in the dim lamp light.

"If the Saxons continue to incite the people like this, our defense line will collapse from within! You must take action as soon as possible and bring those senior military figures completely under your control!"

"Completely control?"

Ferdinand I repeated the term. He naturally understood the meaning behind the old man's words.

That meant using coercive or non-coercive means to convert officers like Van into Blood Thralls as well...

"Correct!"

The black-robed old man's tone grew even more agitated.

"Only by turning them into one of us can you ensure their absolute loyalty! Only then can you truly control this city and mobilize all our power to meet the Saxons outside the city!"

The old man walked even closer, his voice filled with temptation.

"Your Majesty, activating the 'Blood River' is now a matter of urgency! As long as you are determined, all of Bucharest will become your domain! When that time comes, no human force will be able to shake your rule!"

"You... will become the greatest King Wallachia has ever known!!!"

Hearing the term "Blood River," Ferdinand I's brow furrowed even more deeply.

In his mind, an image involuntarily surfaced of the deepest part of the secret chamber beneath the Old Royal Palace—

A massive magic array, intricately drawn and covering the entire underground space, and around the magic array, colloidal flesh tissues constantly proliferating like tumors.

That was the foundation of the so-called "Blood River"...

A ritual that used the entire city as a sacrifice, drawing upon the power of all life to bestow supreme authority upon the successor.

It was also the power Vlad III used back then to fight head-on against the pagans' massive army while at a troop disadvantage...

He remained silent for a long time, so long that the black-robed old man thought he had already made a decision.

"...I will consider it further."

However, Ferdinand I ultimately squeezed these few words out from between his teeth.