362: Chapter 30, Sequel_2 362: Chapter 30, Sequel_2 “However, Your Majesty can rest assured that we did not bring shame to our royal family.
We all fought bravely on the battlefield.
If it were not for bringing this message back, I would have fought to the death, chosen to wash away…”
Claudine struggled to say.
In order to lessen his punishment, he was going all out.
He exaggerated the strength of the Layton County Legion on one hand and then shifted blame to the hawkmen on the other.
But these were far from enough, as excuses are just excuses, only the Wolf King before him has to approve them.
The Silver Moon Wolf King sitting above looked at the old man coldly, came down, and said indifferently, “That’s enough, I know everything.
Don’t say that I’m ruthless and don’t give you a chance.
You created such a big disaster, there must be an explanation for everyone.
If everyone starts to learn from you, won’t my Silver Moon Wolf clan decline from here?
As you said, humiliation can only be washed away with blood.
Rest for a few days, then go report to the Sin Camp!”
Upon hearing the words of the Silver Moon Wolf King, Claudine became stunned.
Blood cleansing the humiliation, was just empty talk.
If he really wanted to fight to the death, he wouldn’t have run back.
He would have stayed and fought to the death with the human army, dying on the battlefield with his soldiers.
Orcs advocate bravery, and dying on the battlefield is not shameful.
Those who shed blood on the battlefield are warriors, no one would hold onto the mistakes of a dead man.
“Thank, Your Majesty!”
Claudine replied in a trembling voice.
In the Silver Moon Wolf clan, there’s a saying: once in the “Sin Camp”, life and death are out of one’s hands.
Since he was going to redeem his sins with blood, he had to take on the most exhausting and dangerous tasks.
Therefore, the casualty rate of the “Sin Camp” soldiers has always been high.
Significant loss is a common occurrence.
If the situation becomes critical, and the Sin Camp is wiped out, it’s not a surprising event.
However dangerous the Sin Camp is, it’s better than being held directly accountable for the defeat.
If he is lucky enough to survive after ten major battles, he can come out.
He did not have the time to bother about his subordinate’s complicated thoughts.
The Silver Moon Wolf King felt that he had done enough by pardoning Claudine and not directly beheading him.
Losing ten or twenty thousand troops, the Silver Moon Wolf clan can afford.
The problem is that the initial plan failed.
According to the agreement, the Five Royal Families sent troops together to cross the enemy’s line, make a detour, and blitz into the capital of the Moxi Duchy.
The plan was very good, but the risk was also very significant.
No one wanted to risk their main force for this high-risk task.
The team led by Claudine was the best example.
Because they encountered the wrong people at the wrong time, they ended up with almost total annihilation.
There was more than one team that set off together.
But as the mission just began, and the Silver Moon Wolf clan losing a fifth of its strength, everyone else could only retreat passively.
Want to force the main force of the enemy out of the fortress for a decisive battle, they must first have the ability to besiege Dapes City.
Don’t be annihilated before even reaching Dapes City, that would be a tragedy.
The cannon fodder troop is also a significant force on the battlefield.
If eighty to a hundred thousand were to accompany it all at once, the Five Great Emperor Courts would also suffer.
Now, it’s gone beyond mere attrition for the sake of attrition, more importantly, it’s to achieve their strategic plan of weakening the human race and strengthening themselves.
They had been fighting hard against the Alpha Kingdom for several months, killed tens of thousands of defenders, but their own casualties were only over a hundred thousand.
Just for an uncertain plan, they lost a hundred thousand two-piece soldiers, even a robust family base can’t afford to toss around like this.
It can be said that the sudden battle had bewildered the Five Major Royal Families of the Orcs.
For a moment, a divergence reappeared in their judgment of the human race’s strength.
Since the Alpha Kingdom can draw a main army to aid its allies during a hard fight, who can guarantee that the Moxi Duchy doesn’t have a main force left in the capital?
It doesn’t need to be much, just one main army, plus a bunch of miscellaneous soldiers, could keep their army out.
If there were two main armies, plus three or four regular armies, they could organize a counterattack.
They wouldn’t even need to call for reinforcements from the frontline and could easily drive them away.
As the Silver Moon Wolf Clan, who caused the plan to fail, was suddenly thrust into the limelight, various criticisms followed suit.
Deep inside, the Silver Moon Wolf Emperor was also secretly calculating whether to risk sending out the elites.
Thanks to the sudden heavy rain which covered the traces of the army’s retreat, their strategic plan was not truly exposed.
The loss of the only Silver Moon Wolf Clan troops would merely be seen as a nuisance.
After all, a mere twenty thousand strong Orc army was not qualified to attack Dapes City.
If the risky plan succeeded, the previous failure would not be a problem.
Not only would all the criticisms disappear without a trace, but they would also gain a lot of prestige.
However, if the plan failed, the consequences could be severe.
The Silver Moon Wolf Clan’s elites were not as scarce as Bimon’s, but it wasn’t at plenty either.
If they were careless and got bitten by the enemy, losing tens of thousands of lives in one go would also hurt them.
No one knew what would happen in the future.
If they suffered heavy losses during this risky venture and were then unlucky enough to suffer heavy blows afterwards, there would be no good days ahead.
The internal affairs of the Orc Empire were never peaceful, and if too much main force was lost on the battlefield, the Silver Moon Wolf Clan’s influence in the Five Great Emperor Courts would inevitably decline dramatically.
If they were unlucky, they might even be kicked off the royal throne, losing their power to control their own fate from then on.
If they could encourage the other four royal families to send out their elites and carry out this risky plan together, it would be perfect.
Vaguely, the Silver Moon Wolf Emperor felt that he was on the right track again.
It wasn’t scary to take risks or suffer heavy losses.
The scary thing was when their family had losses while others didn’t.
Once the balance was broken as one side grew stronger and the other weakened, that was the beginning of disaster.
…
After a fiery propaganda in Dapes City, a new problem was presented to everyone.
The “Epic Victory” was blown out, the reward became a big problem.
Especially it involved a joint operation between the two countries, which required more considerations.
At this moment, Chris the Ninth suddenly understood why so many epic heroes in history received rewards that did not match their achievements.
Perhaps it was not just jealousy that deliberately lowered their rewards, but a large part of their illustrious achievements were blown out of proportion.
This wasn’t a random guess, compared to the things recorded in history books, and the current situation, there were too many similarities.
Thinking of the villainous dignitaries that had been criticized for many years, Chris the Ninth shivered.
He didn’t want his reputation to be compromised by one political propaganda.
“Chancellor, do you have any suggestions for the rewards for the meritorious?”
A king who doesn’t shift blame is definitely not a good king.
Unable to break the rules, and to reward beyond actual meritorious deeds, yet not wanting to offend the people who rewarded the meritorious, Chris the Ninth would naturally have to shift the blame.
“Your Majesty, my second son is also on the list of the meritorious.
Regarding the issue of rewards, I need to avoid any conflict of interest.”
Chancellor Helcheg said with a smile.
The reason to “avoid conflicts of interest” was indeed perfect.
Anyone who heard it could only praise the Chancellor’s high moral standing.
Without waiting for Chris the Ninth to speak, a group of nobles and royal dignitaries announced one after another that their children were on the list of the meritorious and they needed to avoid conflicts of interest.
Seeing this scene, the initially worried Chris the Ninth, suddenly had a bright idea.
Under normal operations, lowering the rewards for the meritorious would certainly cause criticism among the people.
But if it involved the offspring of a group of nobles and royal dignitaries, letting these parents and elders suppress it, the situation would be different.
“Enough said, we must reach a result for the rewards of the meritorious today.
I leave this matter to you, as long as everyone acts fairly and strictly, I believe no one will criticize it.”