After taking more than ten thousand ears to report back, Divarak ignores everything else and leads three legions north.
He wants to return to his own territory as quickly as possible.
On one hand, he does not want to step into this war mire again.
On the other hand, he feels that Henwell will be angry and may co and beat him up.
How does Ogiro view this?
Of course they know sothing is off, but they have no way to investigate the specific situation.
The two royal regular legions following behind Divarak face the already fortified foothold zone and dare not attack rashly.
In that case, was it stupid for Elia and the others to cut off their own ears?
Of course not.
For Divarak to get away, he needs an excuse. He needs to give Diversion Bay an explanation.
Everyone knows that the rise of the Divarak brothers in recent years has Peace Haven's shadow behind them.
Unless Divarak directly defects to Peace Haven, he must do sothing in the current war between the two sides to prove his position.
The rebellion-suppression campaign is Divarak's way of stating that he will not betray Ogiro Kingdom.
The Battle of Ironwood Fort is Divarak proving that he is still willing to fight for Ogiro's interests.
This Battle of the Left Ears is Divarak needing to reassure Diversion Bay that when it truly cos ti to choose sides, he is still an Ogiro man.
As for Diversion Bay, since it clearly knows that there is sothing very suspicious about the Battle of the Left Ears, why does it still let Divarak leave?
Of course they have to let Divarak leave.
What else can they do?
Divarak and the others have already made enough contributions. The people inside the country know that.
At the sa ti, continuous fighting has also caused Divarak heavy losses.
What else does Diversion Bay want?
Force a ritorious official of the country to his death of the country, a count and general with real authority, and even a prince along with him?
Divarak has already gone this far. If Diversion Bay continues pressing him, public opinion will not accept it.
Other neutral nobles will also feel worried.
More importantly, Diversion Bay understands that Divarak is not a diehard loyalist who would rather be wronged to death than betray the interests of the country.
If they truly push him too hard, what if Divarak rebels outright?
At that ti, whether he drags his own territory into defecting to Peace Haven's eastern region or joins Elia's foothold zone on the spot, it will be a bolt from the blue for Ogiro Kingdom. It will be a disastrous political mistake.
If that really happens, Henwell of Peace Haven and King Semson of Lumir may wake up laughing from their dreams.
At that ti, Divarak's three legions, together with the two legions in the foothold zone, will head directly north and seal off the rear of the Ogiro expeditionary army.
Lumir's army will push forward, while Henwell leads six elite legions all the way south to strike the flank of the Ogiro expeditionary army.
Then the expeditionary army, more than fifteen legions and nearly two hundred thousand people, will be directly encircled and eaten whole.
At the sa ti, this also ans that in the two wars launched within a little more than a year, Ogiro Kingdom will have lost a full twenty-five legions.
These are all regular legions.
That is more than half of the kingdom's elite ard forces, and among them are ace legions and super legions such as knight orders.
Of the remaining half of Ogiro's ard forces, a considerable portion is also navy.
Put another way, Ogiro's land defenses will effectively be empty.
When that ti cos, the result it faces will be far more terrible than what Lumir is facing now.
That lion of Vorry will absolutely not let that opportunity pass.
The young wolves of Billie fighting for the throne will even less let pass such an opportunity to expand their territory and influence.
And that is without ntioning nearby Peace Haven, and Henwell, that greedy beast.
So, the art of politics is probing and compromise.
It is finding, amid all kinds of contradictions, the most stable and safest option that still gives oneself the greatest possible benefit.
A country cannot be ruled by whim.
One wrong move, and the whole board is lost.
Therefore, although Diversion Bay knows that Divarak is putting on a show, it cannot continue pressing him.
Moreover, it does not have the energy to continue attacking the foothold zone.
According to the army commanders' discussions, breaking through the foothold zone's defensive line would require at least five legions.
Ogiro is short of troops right now, so it can only temporarily give up on dealing with this trouble.
Diversion Bay knows this is raising a tiger for future trouble, but again, this is a political compromise of interests.
They cannot anger Henwell again. If Henwell reaches an agreent with Lumir and sends troops south, the trouble will be great.
In fact, they have already angered Henwell.
Now, Henwell is preparing to turn up the pressure on Ogiro and let them know that provoking him like this is not a good thing.
First, Henwell summons the surrendered general Clifford.
Henwell does not waste words. "I know you have been observing our training model recently."
"You do not need to steal lessons from . I will give you the opportunity now."
"Send soone to Holy Lake City and ask for five million gold coins!"
"For the next period, you will no longer be captives. I will train you properly."
"At the sa ti, I will provide weapons and equipnt for four legions, guaranteed to be much better than your junk!"
Clifford's heart jolts. Then he understands. Ogiro must have provoked this bastard.
As for Henwell's price, Clifford does not think it is too much at all.
However, he still asks tentatively, "My lord, may I report the amount as seven million gold coins?"
Henwell raises an eyebrow. "You old rascal. You want to skim the difference?"
"Do as you like! How much you can get is your ability. I only take five million gold coins!"
Clifford runs out in delight and imdiately writes a letter to Holy Lake City explaining the current situation.
Three days later, Holy Lake City replies, agreeing to Henwell's terms.
However, it is not seven million gold coins, only 5.8 million gold coins.
Holy Lake City has, of course, already received news of the Battle of the Left Ears and imdiately understands what Henwell wants to do.
To be fair, Peace Haven's conventional equipnt level is indeed above that of the other countries.
Equipnt for more than forty thousand people for five million gold coins is naturally not cheap.
But it is not absurdly overpriced either, especially when Lumir urgently needs equipnt right now.
When is the arms trade most profitable?
Before a war begins, and while it is ongoing.
Henwell follows the agreent and sends batches of arms and equipnt from Peace Haven.
For the next period, the training of Clifford's four legions is fully taken over by Peace Haven.
Clifford is very decisive. According to Henwell's requirents, he directly removes all noble officers and lets them stay in the city and be well fed.
Following the drill instructors' suggestions, he promotes many frontline officers with excellent training results.
Of course, if nobles are willing to start from the lowest rank as ordinary soldiers, Clifford will also keep them.
With the knowledge reserves and understanding that nobles possess, as long as they are willing to learn, they can very quickly beco officers again.
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