ALL NOVEL
Chapter 79: Soldiers Gathered Before the Capital
“Shameless heretics dare to attack our country and sully our Lord’s glory!”
An armored Cassivia raised her sword and bellowed at the Holy Knights gathered before her.
“All Holy Knights, don your armor, wield your spears, and sharpen your blades. We shall be fighting a noble and holy battle! We shall be leading the charge in the Holy War!”
“Holy War!”
“Holy War!”
The Holy Knights chanted fervently.
“Glory to our Lord!”
Just like that, thousands of knights began rushing toward Krakow, the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They had heard that the Khitans were preparing to attack there.
“Captain, are we really going to reinforce the king?” one of Cassivia’s aides asked.
It was great news for them that Shu Yichao had ignored them and headed straight to Krakow to teach their king a lesson. In the first place, the ideal scenario in Cassivia’s scheme was for the Khitans to slay their king.
Judging from Shu Yichao’s usual pattern, it was unlikely that any nobles would be spared.
They only had to watch idly from afar, and the throne and noble seats would be emptied out for them. Then, their respected knight captain, at everyone’s earnest persuasion, would reluctantly take the throne in a bid to resuscitate the dying nation…
Such a moving story would resolve the issue of legitimacy to the throne!
“You numbskull!” Cassivia glared at the knight. “The heretics are right in front of us. Our nation is in crisis. As Holy Knights, how can we turn a blind eye at this juncture? This is a trial given to us by the Lord!”
“Indeed, indeed!” The knight wanted to slap himself.
How could I have been so dumb? I would have made a grievous mistake if not for our captain!
We can’t afford to be absent. We are flying the Crusade’s flag! We will lose the support of the people if we don’t fight back when the nation is in crisis! Besides, how can we ensure the king’s death in the hands of the Khitans if we don’t go there in person?
While the king and the Khitans are busy fighting, our Holy Knight Order will charge out and destroy the Khitans from behind to crush the Scourge of God with our devastating charge!
That will give us the prestige of saving our nation from crisis, allowing our knight captain to stand prouder when she’s crowned as king.
What? You’re asking about the original king?
He would have already died for the country!
His son?
His son would have already died for the country too!
“Captain, I see my devotion to the Lord is lacking. I have much to learn from you,” the knight complimented from the bottom of his heart.
“You dimwit. At least you know that much!” Cassivia sneered before focusing back on the road.
【Ooh, my host! You’re making pretty good progress.】
System 12345 eyed the map.
【It has only been a month, but you’re already nearing the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s capital?】
【Hm, let me see… It looks like Cassivia will be reaching soon too.】
System 12345 trembled in excitement.
【My host, this is a good opportunity! There is going to be a knight competition of unprecedented scale soon, and this is your chance to display your skills before Cassivia!】
It began to concoct a plan for Shu Yichao.
【The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth pays a heavy focus to the etiquette of knighthood. It’s common for knights who have finished their battle to rush to the audience stand and propose to a lady.】
【That might sound a bit weird, but it’s the world’s setting.】
【Things might be a bit different for Cassivia though. She will use all kinds of vulgarities to conceal her feelings, so you might be embarrassed the first time you confess to her. However, that isn’t a big deal. You have to be thick-skinned to court a lady.】
System 12345 happily envisioned the scenario.
【My host, as long as you persist in your attack, it’s only a matter of time before Cassivia opens her heart to you! She might be an accomplished knight, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s a young lady. Which young lady wouldn’t be moved by your face?】
【Guehuehuehue!】
There was a brief pause here, as System 12345 figured that it might need to offer Shu Yichao further pointers lest things go astray once more.
【My host, I think I should further elaborate on the setting.】
【Cassivia has political enemies too. You have to tread carefully lest you unknowingly find yourself standing on opposing sides with her.】
【Unlike Governor-General Giraud, Cassivia is a valiant knight. You will be in great danger if you stand against her!】
System 12345 sent the messages through the information window before staring anxiously at Shu Yichao’s face, praying that the other party would soon receive its message.
But not long after…
【Uwaa, how dashing! So dashing!】
It was distracted by beauty.
…
“Skip! There’s no point reading these notifications.”
Shu Yichao casually swiped away the information sent by System 12345.
Outside Krakow…
“The blood twin-headed eagle, the Khitan Caesar.” The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s king looked at the flag flying in the distance and took a deep breath. “You’re here.”
He hadn’t expected it to end up as a battle to defend the capital. The Khitan Caesar’s speed of advancement defied common sense.
To be honest, he didn’t want to fight this battle.
There was a Knight Captain Cassivia with dubious loyalty lurking not far away. Putting aside whether she truly had the intention to stage a rebellion or not, what was more important was that she had the ability to do so.
The fight with the Khitans, be it victory or defeat, would spell heavy losses for him. Should Cassivia exploit this moment of weakness to pull something…
In fact, he had sent envoys over in hopes of negotiating with the Khitan Caesar, but none of them returned alive.
So, he had no choice but to reluctantly fight this battle.
Damn it! Why are you going after me? All I did was be a little foul-mouthed, but even so, I was doing it on behalf of that darned holy knight!
“Fortunately, the Khitans’ army isn’t too big,” the king murmured, “There seems to be only 4000 of them…”
He didn’t think that he would lose in a 20,000 vs 4,000 battle.
And he would have been right half a month ago.
If he had ordered his winged hussars to fight to their dying breath, charging valiantly without paying heed to the casualty count, even if they couldn’t bring down Shu Yichao, they could have at least crushed his army. It would have been a hollow victory for Shu Yichao.
But now…
“Tsk tsk!” Shu Yichao looked at his gaming interface. “I love you to death, Sophia!”
Sophia had the ability to hasten culture permeation. Shortly after she returned to Constantinope, he achieved the required level of cultural permeation.