A week later, Hestein gathered troops from all over his territory. When he went to plunder the Qiqiu Empire, the size of his army was 10,000, but he lost a lot after being defeated by the Praetorian Guards. However, influenced by the reputation of "defeating Sigurd", more tribal warriors came to respond to his call than before.
Hestein also recruited some troops from Sigurd's surrender. Before that, this group of people had been driven by Ella to saw wood, hammer nails, and repair Lorraine's burned-down house.
Ella looked at this group of barbaric tribesmen stupidly: as soon as they heard that they would no longer do carpentry work but go to the battlefield, they suddenly became more motivated - if they were placed in the Qiqiu Empire, the situation would be completely opposite.
In this way, Hestein finally gathered a force of 17,000 men. He left Ella, Amy, and even Lily behind in Zealand, leaving 2,000 men to garrison. He led an army of 15,000 men all the way north along Smoland to attack Ragnar. .Lodbrok.
"Don't cause any more trouble for me!"
Before leaving, Hestein warned Ella very fiercely.
Ella felt that she could not understand the brain circuit of this "King of Beasts":
"It was clearly said that Ragnar's troops were far greater than Hestein's, but Hestein took the initiative to attack the opponent's territory... Could he not know how to count?"
"Your Majesty... these words come out of your mouth when you lead a thousand people to attack the capital of Sigurd. It always feels a bit subtle..." Amy complained at the side.
"What I did was not called attacking, it was called luring the enemy! I only used a small force! But Hestein ran out with all his troops! How can this be the same! No general in the Seven Hills Empire would do this This kind of behavior is obviously a random beating!"
Ella shouted and spread out the map drawn by Gan on the table. Compared with the previous battle, the map this time was larger, covering the entire North Sea. She placed four flags on the map: a red flag in the northeast, placed in Upland, representing Ragnar; a blue flag in the middle, placed in Sealand, representing Hestein; and two yellow flags in the southwest, one for Scotland. and Ireland, representing Ragnar's two sons - Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan the White.
"Looking at it this way, Xilan is completely sandwiched between two sides..."
Now that Hestein has led his troops north to fight Ragnar, Sealand is completely open to Ivar and Halfdan in the southwest - two thousand defenders. This number is simply like a decoration in front of the military strength of the two kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland.
"Amy, what do you think we should do?"
"Your Majesty... I think... we'd better get on the boat and sneak away..."
"Humph, Amy, are you scared? After all, she is just a maid, and her vision is completely different from that of Baselisa!" Ella puffed up her somewhat shabby chest, with a proud smile on her face, " I have already thought of a plan to defeat the enemy!"
"Burning Zealand again?"
"How is it possible to burn Sealand!" Ella stamped her foot, "And Sigurd just suffered a loss from the attack of fire. How could his brothers be so easily fooled again? Ivar and Harv Dan is not a moth to the flames!”
"Then...what are you going to do, Your Majesty?"
"Amy, you taught me before that if things can be solved with daggers, don't use swords and magic. Hum, in my opinion now, the level of this sentence is still low - things that can be solved with diplomacy are even more There is no need to move the dagger at all!"
Ella proudly pointed to a certain place on the map: "Amy, do you know where this is?"
"The Alemannic Federation."
"That's right, the Alemannic Federation! Compared to the Seven Hills Empire, this place is much closer to the pirates. Since the Seven Hills Empire has been robbed, the Alemannic Federation must be more seriously harmed by pirates! This They are our potential allies in this war! Who is the current governor of the Alemanni Federation?"
"Yesterday, Lily Mistertin said that she was...the Count of Île-de-France."
"That pervert... feels completely unreliable."
Ella shook her head quickly and moved her fingertips to another piece of land:
"I heard them say before that Ragnar Lodbrok's sphere of influence covers Sweden, Norway, Ireland and Scotland, but I didn't hear about England. England is obviously near Ireland and Scotland. What kind of place is there now? situation?"
"England? It's an independent kingdom now."
Lily Mistertin's voice suddenly broke in. At some point, she appeared on the other side of the table.
"You...how did you get in! I obviously locked the door properly..."
Lily Mistertin ignored Amy's question and answered to herself:
"More than ten years ago, Ivar, Halfdan, and Sigurd led their troops to land in Great Britain, and then launched invasions in three directions. Halfdan and Ivar successively captured Scotland and Ireland, and then They assisted Sigurd and attacked England, the richest region in Great Britain. They won many victories and killed one of the leaders of England. But just when England was about to be completely occupied by this group of pirates, that The leader's younger brother came to power. Under his leadership, England gradually reversed its form, and finally drove the pirates completely out of England. After that, the hero became the king of Wessex, England, and during these few years Within the year, he completely unified England and became the king of England! Under his leadership, Sigurd tried to invade England again several times, but failed."
Ella suddenly became interested: "What's the name of that king?"
"Alfred. 'King of Knights' Alfred. It is said that he owns two extremely powerful magic swords, named 'Sword in the Stone' and 'Sword in the Lake'. My father was very interested and raised the idea several times. Look at these two swords, both rejected by Alfred.”
"That's him!" Ella clapped her hands, "Powerful! And dare to be enemies with the pirates! This is our potential ally! Let me write a letter to him. As long as he becomes our true ally, Ivar and Halfdan’s troops will be contained in Great Britain!”
"Your Majesty..." Amy reminded in a low voice from the side, "You said forming an alliance...did you forget...we are also...pirates...probably."
"That would be easier! Since we are also pirates, we can just declare war on Alfred!"
Amy was startled by Ella's words: "Declare... declare war?"
"Yes, declare war!"
Ella explained cheerfully.
"There is a long distance between Sealand and England, so it is difficult to have a direct conflict. But Ivar and Halfdan are very close to Alfred! Ivar and Halfdan will definitely mobilize after receiving Ragnar's summons order. Soldiers and horses. At the same time, Alfred will receive my declaration of war. In this case, the troop movements of Ivar and Halfdan, both lords of the Pirate Kingdom, will make Alfred suspicious! And once Alfred Fred mobilizes troops, and Ivar and Halfdan will also become suspicious! In this way, all three forces will be dragged into Britain! This is simply a brilliant plan!"
Ella took out a pen and paper, rolled up her sleeves and wrote on the paper:
"Alfred, your reputation is known to everyone from Ireland to Cathay..."
"Your Majesty! Stop! Your Majesty!" Amy panicked and held down Ella's pen. "As soon as Your Majesty read these words, I felt something bad!"
"What's wrong? Amy, did you find anything wrong?"
"The problem is your Majesty! Your Majesty, as soon as I heard what you just wrote, I felt that this conspiracy was unreliable!"
"Don't trust your instincts too much! I just won a battle, and this time I have absolute confidence!"
"Your Majesty! Aren't you also trusting your own intuition?"
Amy was shouting from the side.
"In this case, we should trust Valkyrie's abilities."
Lily helped Ella speak.
Ella glanced at Amy proudly, finished writing the letter in a hurry, and asked someone to send it to Alfred.
