King
Chapter 588 - 588 137 Bounced Check_2

588: Chapter 137, Bounced Check_2 588: Chapter 137, Bounced Check_2 The Orc tribes along the way had miserably low productivity.

Even if everything they had were seized, it would barely provide much supplies for the large army.

In a twist of events, the more brutally the Allied Forces killed, the happier the enemy might become.

The loss of a large number of vassal tribes seemed to weaken the power of the Orc Empire, but at the same time, it also eradicated risks to the rule of the Five Royal Clans.

Under the pressure of the human allied army, the remaining Orc tribes, no matter how reluctant they were internally, had no choice but to join forces with the Five Royal Clans.

The enemy planned to exchange space for time, a clear and obvious strategy.

Yet, despite identifying it, Hudson was powerless to stop it.

No matter how the Orcs responded, this war had to continue.

Without noteworthy military achievements, the Human Alliance could not bring the war to an end.

“Where has Duke Pias’ army reached?”

…

At the front line, Duke Pias, who was charged with the surprise attack on Moonwind Port, angrily questioned, “What’s going on here?

Didn’t those from the Clergy say that the Orc main force has already withdrawn?

Why are there so many enemies stationed in an unimportant port?”

A series of three baffled questions left unanswered.

The enemy was more formidable than expected, and the task of luring the enemy out was accomplished quite satisfactorily.

The only issue was: the enemy was too strong and delivered a brutal beating to his vanguard troops as soon as they were lured out.

“Quickly send someone to notify Duke Cavadia, we need reinforcements!”

Recovering from the momentary chaos, Duke Pias decisively issued an order.

Retreat was impossible.

Retreating at this juncture meant exposing one’s back to the enemy, which could easily trigger a major defeat.

The most effective measure was to form a defensive line and hold out for reinforcements.

The thick smoke suddenly appearing in front was a thorn to Duke Pias’ eyes.

Moonwind Port was on fire!

“The enemy is destroying Moonwind Port!”

Once he realized this, Duke Pias was equally helpless.

The failure of the surprise attack meant that he had lost the initiative on the battlefield.

Instantly, he thought of the “Clergy”.

This mission was still relatively covert, and aside from the Kingdom’s Army, the Allies hadn’t been informed.

However, there have always been secret links between the Nobles of the North and the Clergy.

In order to make the operation go more smoothly, Duke Pias had sought assistance from the Clergy.

Among the Kingdom’s Army, aside from the Nobles of the North who are mandated to maintain ties with Orcs due to their vested interests, the nobles of other regions can’t participate in the smuggling trade and naturally wouldn’t go out of their way to form alliances with the Orcs.

Even if anyone intended to leak information, it was hard to pass intelligence to the Orc High Levels in such a short period of time.

This mission was a sudden raid.

Now that an unexpected situation had arisen, Duke Pias’ prime suspect was the Clergy.

Almost instantly, Duke Pias understood that this trouble was brought upon by the unsuccessful negotiations with Bishop Simon last time.

The strategy of “delay” made the Clergy realize that it was only possible for the two sides to collaborate if they were pushed into dire straits.

Burning down Moonwind Port was a minor issue.

The critical issue was the enemy’s destruction of the port and the shipping lanes, which was on threat level.

Restoring the port would not only involve a lot of money and manpower but more importantly, consume a lot of time.

Unable to utilize the strategic value of the port on time lessens the merits of this mission significantly.

To the other Northland Nobles, less merit means having a smaller portion of the cake during the post-war division feast.

But it was different for Duke Pias.

Now, the Commander-in-Chief was his house’s mortal enemy.

The failure to capture Moonwind Port intact was likely to be blamed on him.

Don’t expect anyone to speak up for him.

Someone must take responsibility for strategic failures.

Either it was him, or it would be collectively borne by all the Northland nobles.

With this new charge on him, it becomes reasonable to exclude the Rocknard family during the post-war distribution of spoils.

Realizing this, it was already too late.

When making the cake, everyone complains about having too few people; during the division of the cake, everyone complains about having too many people.

It’s always a good choice for all parties involved to dismiss one participant from the cake-division process.

They surely can’t hope for everyone else to sacrifice their interests to help them?

Even the best past connections would prove useless.

The Rocknards were not at the brink of ruin and facing extinction, it was just a missed opportunity to divide the cake, not nearly severe enough to invoke everyone’s sympathy.

“Dammit!”

After cursing in rage, Duke Pias had to gulp down the rest of his words.

As for the Clergy, the matter involved the “regicide” conspiracy; it couldn’t be revealed to his subordinates.

However, deep down, he had cursed the entire family of the Clergy’s High Levels.

It was truly a pitfall.

To get the Rocknard family on board, they actually forced him so ruthlessly.

Unfortunately, the more they acted this way, the less confident Duke Pias felt.

The Clergy was such untrustworthy allies that cooperating with them could end in disaster if he wasn’t careful.

No matter how the King suppressed the Rocknard family, they were still a leading family in the Kingdom.

At most, they would find it hard to grow stronger, but their extermination was still a long way off.

Yet if the “regicide” was leaked, regardless of the ultimate success or failure, the Noble Consortium wouldn’t be able to tolerate them.

With so much at stake, it was indeed hard for him to make up his mind to participate in this high-risk, high-reward gambit.

…

In the Orc Empire, faced with continuous battlefield reports pouring in from the front lines, the Five Emperors were under tremendous pressure.

“We can’t go on like this; the enemy is advancing too swiftly.

The tribes need time to relocate, and we must slow down the enemy first!”