Blood Holy Scripture: True Ancestor Charlotte de Castel
Chapter 396: -144- Occupy the city and defend

Chapter 396: -144- Occupy the city and defend

Charlotte’s words finally soothed the panicked nobles of the Northern Land.

Of course, what reassured the nobles was not the so-called "reinforcements," but the overt strategy that Charlotte mentioned, that is... they could afford to wait it out, but the Third Prince couldn’t.

Having stood unyielding in the Star Moon War and through the centuries of demonic tides and pirate attacks, the Capital Mansion of the Castel family in North Port was, of course, not to be trifled with.

While being the most famous commercial and trade center in the Northern Land, this place was originally a fortress hanging alone over the sea, and the tall city walls facing the sea, the large stone-shooting cannon on the fortress, and the towering Mage Tower were the clear evidence of it.

It’s just that with the population explosion and the influx of immigrants in recent years, the districts built up in circles around North Port made her seem as if she had lost her edges.

The nobles of the Northern Land were well aware of this, and their panic was merely directed at the powerful army of the Third Prince.

After Charlotte clarified everything, though still filled with worry, the nobles at least had a glimmer of hope.

And all of this became even more apparent after Old Viscount Roman Fuer arrived at the assembly hall.

The moment this Viscount, whose reputation was not very good, made his entrance, the nobles of the Northern Land almost unanimously breathed a sigh of relief, and their furrowed brows relaxed slightly.

Clearly, although most nobles did not like this Viscount of pirate origin, everyone was well aware of the combat prowess of the Roman Fuer family.

The arrival of the Roman Fuer family at North Port undoubtedly strengthened the defensive forces of North Port a bit more.

"Count, the fleets of the Roman Fuer family have all entered the port, and all the Transcendent members of the family have set foot on land too, swearing to fight alongside you to the last moment," declared Old Viscount Roman Fuer, kneeling on one knee in his ever-black suit, respectfully.

Behind him followed several Barons of the Roman Fuer family and over a dozen Hereditary Knights.

Charlotte, glancing at the crests on their chests and comparing them with the roster she had memorized, was surprised to find that the middle and high-ranking members of the Roman Fuer family really had all arrived.

Their attitude was even more resolute than that of the Lien Castel family.

It should be known that even the Duke Lien Castel who had always followed by her side didn’t have all the noble Lords of his family arrive at North Port; not to mention that in the southern lost territories, there was even a small piece of their family’s barony that had surrendered.

"It’s good to have you back, the sea defense of North Port will need Roman Fuer’s attention from now on," Charlotte nodded slightly, speaking.

"Rest assured, Count, we have already clashed once with Bold-Violet’s fleet. Although they are very powerful, relying on the defensive fortifications of North Port, we too are not without power to resist," Viscount Roman Fuer replied with a solemn expression.

Viscount Lien Castel, appearing reflective, glanced at this "Pirate Viscount" and then looked around at the quieted nobles in the assembly hall, nodding slightly:

"It seems everyone has calmed down. Now that Viscount Roman Fuer has also returned, let us... discuss how to defend North Port thoroughly."

This time, there were no objections from the nobles.

They quickly began discussing the defense layout of North Port under the leadership of the Old Viscount.

Of course, most of the nobles were just listening, only occasionally offering their suggestions.

Really participating in the discussion were just the two Viscounts and Barons, these higher-ranking nobles on one hand held a higher status, and on the other hand, most of them had experience commanding similar battles and were of Commander origin.

Charlotte didn’t join in the discussion any further; instead, she quietly listened to the nobles’ debate.

She knew she lacked experience, so it was better to let the professionals continue to worry about it.

But that didn’t mean she was completely hands-off; listening in was also a learning process, and besides, no matter how the nobles discussed, the final decision was still up to her.

Gradually, as the nobles discussed animatedly, a defense plan, led by Viscount Roman Fuer and Viscount Lien Castel, supplemented by many other nobles, was brought forth.

The core of the entire defense plan was quite simple and brutal: abandon all territories south of North Port, fortify North Port and the North Port Bridge, control the Don River with small warships, and center the defense on North Port to delay the enemy.

Thanks to the Don River, North Port was already the gateway to the northern territories of Castel; as long as they controlled the North Port Bridge and the Don River, the Bold-Violet Alliance would not be able to continue northward or fully surround North Port.

North Port would still maintain its logistics, not becoming an isolated city, and the forces of Castel could then rely on North Port’s city defenses to engage the enemy in battle.

If successful, the enemy forces, failing to take the city after a prolonged siege, would likely retreat under intense losses and pressure from both duchies, and Castel’s troops might even have an opportunity for a counterattack.

If they failed, the city would fall, and the Castel family might well become history.

Apart from that, Charlotte also made a few suggestions, which were not about defense, but rather about bringing the poor from the slums of Shallow Water Street on the outskirts of North Port into the Inner City area or evacuating them directly northward.

The nobles didn’t object to this; they didn’t really care about these poor people and merely took Charlotte’s action as an act of kindness.

Indeed, Charlotte did have charitable considerations, but that wasn’t the whole story.

Expanding North Port was an idea that had always been in her mind since she took the throne. However, if she wanted to expand North Port, the slums of Shallow Water Street on the periphery would have to be torn down first.

Demolishing Shallow Water Street was a big project; the North Port City Hall had mentioned in past reports that there was significant resistance to this work, with many interests entangled, but this war might actually provide a good opportunity.

A siege battle would be enough to silence those opposing it.

It is worth mentioning that during the discussion of the plan, the reinforcements Charlotte mentioned were hardly mentioned by the nobles.

Or in other words, although Charlotte assured them confidently that they would have reinforcements, the nobiles actually didn’t take it seriously, or to put it another way... they didn’t really care.

What restored their confidence was the political situation in New Moon, the "evidence" of crimes unveiled by Charlotte concerning the Third Prince, and the easily defended but difficult to assault terrain of North Port, and not the reinforcements she had promised.

Many nobles believed that the girl, originally from Bold and not deeply associated with other noble families, could at best summon nothing more than some mercenaries, just to reassure everyone.

And the mercenaries they could think of were only those from the Mercenary Corps of the Black Land in Eastern Yonette.

While Eastern Yonette posessed many powerful Mercenary Corps, hiring them was exorbitantly expensive and oftentimes what those truly transcendent mercenary groups wanted wasn’t money, but corresponding transcendental materials.

Castel was wealthy but lacked the channels to obtain transcendental materials, and the only transcendental material they could offer was mithril.

But even mithril depended on reserves.

With the rebellion in the north, communication with Silver Mining City severed, and the situation in the Northern Land unclear, the nobles did not believe that Charlotte could really hire those potent transcendent mercenary corps.

With North Port’s transcendental materials possibly not sufficient even for the city’s defense, how could they even consider hiring mercenaries?

In their opinion, Charlotte could at best only add a bit to the garrison forces of the Northern Land.

The plan was set, and Charlotte eventually gave her approval.

And the nobles started to take action, making the final preparations for the impending great battle...