Chapter 1327 - 1245: Konyaz
"Why, after we capture Branded City, does our North Route Army get nothing?"
"Why are you shouting so loudly? Go and see His Majesty."
"At the beginning, it was your South Route Army that couldn’t handle the black army, so we intervened, and now we get nothing?"
As a Duke-level vampire of the South Route Army, Peregrin slammed his hands on the table and stood up: "You have Thorn Garden!"
Burkins also slammed the table and stood up: "That was originally meant for us!"
"Then you should be content. Thorn Garden can produce gold and silver mines, superior timber, and honey. Such a vast and fertile territory is enough to share!"
"Does this match our efforts? Besides, hasn’t Thorn Garden yet to be conquered?" Burkins snarled, showcasing a vampire’s expression of sorrow and anger, "I just don’t get it—why is it that those who do the most end up suffering the most?!"
"Alright, alright." The Vampire Prince of the Central Army, Vladislav, tapped the ground with his staff, "Branded City hasn’t even been captured yet, what are you all fighting about?"
The tent was located at the foot of a shady mountain outside Branded City, covered with black cloth that allowed only a sliver of light through the lowest seam.
Silver candlesticks with white candles burned, illuminating the faces of dozens of vampires present.
They were impeccably dressed, wearing formal silk Gothic attire of different colors from centuries ago.
However, compared to their elegant posture, their faces were still too greedy.
"Hmph, Branded City is almost ours. If we don’t clear up these issues now, some Blood Race members will take advantage of the chaos." Burkins snorted coldly, looking at Perlingen.
Perlingen said nothing, merely glaring at Burkins with utter disdain.
Instead, it was Vladislav Prince from the Mahor Clan who coughed and said, "Why don’t we divide it by Central Avenue, with the south belonging to the South Route Army and the north to the North Route Army?"
"What about the blood nourishment?"
"Build a wall in the middle, call it the Branded Wall, and don’t allow blood nourishment to pass through, won’t that work?"
"Oh, or how about we use the Nao’an River as the boundary, north of the Nao’an River belongs to us, the North Route Army, and south belongs to you, the South Route Army, okay?" Perlingen spoke sarcastically.
"Alright." Burkins agreed.
Vladislav Prince first nodded, then suddenly realized: "What about us, the Central Army?"
"The Nao’an River goes to you."
"[Expletive], are you speaking nonsense?"
"Then that settles it, there’s no such way to divide it!"
After this exclamation, as if to take a breather, the entire tent fell silent.
From summer to late autumn, the siege of Branded City by the black army had already lasted for a full four months.
With the assistance of 10,000 vampires from the Royal Palace Guards, 5,000 vampires from the North Route Army, and numerous human Servant Armies, they initially achieved continuous victories, repeatedly breaking the black army’s sphere of influence.
Just as they were about to seize Branded City, they were stuck there for four months.
Ultimately, it was because the black army had set up a defense system outside Branded City comparable to that of Ladan Castle.
Breastworks, bunkers, small ramparts, trenches, battle stakes, and raised earthen platforms, almost abandoning the reliance on towering walls for defense.
Faced with this defense system, vampires encountering it for the first time suffered great losses.
Even though the Holy Alliance always determined victory and defeat in field battles, the foundation of victory was built on fortress defense battles.
At this point, even vampire soldiers had to rely on lives to slowly fill the gap.
Daily losses included nearly a hundred human servant corpses and a large number of wounded vampire soldiers. They gained almost nothing.
Apart from planning siege targets every day, they just argued in the tent.
What else could they do if they didn’t argue?
Just as these vampires were still muttering curses and maintaining silence, suddenly they heard the salute of a guard outside the tent.
It turned out that it was not just anyone lifting the curtain but Samuji, who, after lifting the curtain, did not come in but respectfully moved aside.
It was a male vampire who entered. He bore the obvious appearance of a vampire, with a gaunt face and dark circles around his eyes.
However, beneath the gaunt face was a huge belly, and the plump torso carried long, thin limbs.
With legs that were like wobbly sticks, it seemed as if they could barely support him.
At first glance, he appeared like a snowman built by farmer children.
He was not wearing the usual formal vampire attire, but instead a simple linen shirt with a bear fur cloak.
It’s absurd to say, this vampire general who had followed Serafe since the era of the plains, turns out to be afraid of the cold.
Yes, a vampire is actually afraid of the cold.
However, facing such a ridiculous person, the vampires who were initially shouting insults stopped.
They all stood up, bowing their heads slightly in respect, and Prince Vladislav even gave up the seat at the head.
They all knew this person, or rather, they were all his defeated rivals.
Konyaz Bagid, head of the first delegation of the Royal Palace Guard, essentially the leader of the Royal Palace Guard.
He came from an unknown Bagid family, entered the army as a slave of Serafe.
But if you really think of him as an officer coming to power through nepotism with Serafe, you’d be gravely mistaken.
In the war to unify the Royal Court, the street battles in No Light City after Serafe seized power were led by him storming the Evernight Palace and forcing out the high-ranking vampires there.
Later, when nearby clan armies attacked, he defended No Light City until reinforcements arrived.
Then, when Serafe swept through the northern clans, he single-handedly defeated five of the seven northern clan leaders (beneath a prince) and captured three.
Later, he also led the attack on the southern clans and achieved results in a short time.
If compared to the Holy Alliance, he could be considered a combination of Jeska and Jeanne.
Even the recent Battle of Grove City was led entirely by him.
Although it seems like Serafe won the Royal Court with ease and rose rapidly,
behind this, she had accumulated potential for decades.
The vampire counts and dukes present, each shouting and hollering, still had to bow their heads before Konyaz.
After all, many of the Blood Race present were originally enemies of Serafe and only became her subordinates after being defeated by Konyaz.
"Seems like you all have discussed a lot in my absence?" Konyaz wrapped the bear fur coat around himself tightly, crossed his legs, and sat down. "What are you discussing?"
His voice wasn’t loud, nor did it have any distinctive features, like a random passerby grabbed from the roadside.
The vampires looked at each other, and finally, it was Prince Vladislav who stood up: "We were discussing the distribution of war spoils."
"Distribution of war spoils, looks like you’re confident about taking this city."
"Uh, actually..." Prince Vladislav hesitated.
Konyaz raised his hand, interrupting what he wanted to say: "Enough with the nonsense. I was originally planning in Golden Horn Bay, but Her Majesty telepathically ordered me to come and tidy things up for you."
"Her Majesty, she, what did she say?"
"It’s simple. Whoever breaches the city first, winner takes all, but no mutual interference," Konyaz shivered from the cold.
"This... this will definitely lead to, ah, forget I said anything." Prince Vladislav intended to say it would lead to sabotage among each other.
But thinking about it, since Konyaz came, he basically was Serafe’s eyes, would such things happen?
"We all agree on this point, just afraid some compatriots might sabotage us," Bokkins couldn’t help but say.
"Indeed, as if we couldn’t take it down originally, bringing this Northern Army, we definitely won’t," Pelin Gre retorted immediately.
Coughing, Konyaz acted as if he hadn’t heard, continuing on his own: "Follow my plan, whoever first reaches the enemy headquarters in Branded City will get everything."
Although these words seemed one-sided, the vampires were surprisingly unanimous in their opinion.
The next evening, while Jill was patrolling the Rampart with soldiers, he was surprised to find the servant army didn’t continue their assault.
Instead, they were constantly digging trenches, winding like snakes, relentlessly approaching the city walls.
"Sapping tactics?" Jill frowned, "Can they really pull it off?"
Sapping tactics are not just about digging tunnels; otherwise, it wouldn’t be called tactics.
In terms of sieging and blockading, the Holy Alliance and Leia have rich experience.
But to the vampires, it was something new; after all, they were proud vampires.
Like the initial clockwork guns and alchemy, they wanted to thoroughly defeat the surroundings and didn’t employ new tactics unless absolutely necessary.
Moreover, mastering this new tactic would take at least three to five months.
"Perhaps they’ve finally come to their senses." Todd optimistically commented, "Even if they learn, it’ll be winter soon, and Falan’s reinforcements will have arrived."
"Yes, this buys time for our Fourth Isle Alliance." Jill leaned against the wall, "We need to step up our efforts too."