"Let's get started." Miss Elf looked at the knight indifferently, but her pointed ears betrayed her deeply.
Calm down, calm down... Griffith took a deep breath hurriedly.
What are you afraid of? Grandmasters are also very capable, aren't they? There are four factions in the Mystic King battle - Canaan, Bajran, Orcs and Rebels. Galadia chose the Canaanite elves, while my army was the Bajran regular army.
The primary troops of the elves are mainly high-mobility rangers. Just like in reality, they have the ability to flicker and can move a certain distance regardless of terrain displacement. However, this ability cannot be reused in a short period of time, which is a threat, but it also has shortcomings. And my Beyelan army has solid infantry and artillery. As long as I build a tight defense line based on the terrain, can she still jump in and eat me? !
Griffith carefully and nervously arranged his positions and formed his army. This Extraordinary chess game requires the consumption of spiritual energy. In theory, the higher the computing power of the chess player, the higher the efficiency of organizational operations and combat.
Griffith is already an extraordinary person, and his computing power and psychic abilities are beyond the comparison of ordinary extraordinary people. Soon, he organized 50K troops, infantry battle lines to cover the artillery, and firmly defended his position.
"Griffith, I'm here~" Miss Elf suddenly said quietly, "Don't be nervous, it's just an ordinary punch from the reconnaissance team."
Griffith hurriedly deployed his troops. Then, Galadia's ranger troops appeared in the fog on the chessboard.
"Come on!" Griffith was trembling nervously, "The rangers are too fragile, our artillery won't let them down, ah——!"
Before he finished speaking, the Ranger had turned into a phantom and passed directly past Beyelan's infantry front to appear near the artillery position. He destroyed the artillery team in one activation.
Griffith almost bit his tongue and shouted:
"A ranger who has used Flash can't block the Legion's front!"
The Byerlan infantry turned around and pounced on the rangers at the rear, charging at them and threatening to overwhelm them. Suddenly, the injured ranger troops disappeared one after another, and appeared again behind Beyelan's army. Whenever Griffith wanted to eliminate a ranger force, they were evacuated and jumped to the starting point of the attack to rest.
Repeatedly, Beyelan's infantry also suffered huge losses during the attack, but barely wiped out a few rangers.
"Why can you use two blinks!? That's not fair!"
"Why? Why why?" Miss Elf knocked on the chessboard, and the shadow of a suspended warping prism appeared in the mist. "Didn't you see this tactic in Raven?"
…
Ugh, so miserable...
I was killed by a reconnaissance-scale attack. Is this the Grandmaster? So scary...my thesis, what to do...
"Is it too strong for you to bear?" Miss Elf looked at the annoyed knight with a smile and asked.
"..."
Griffith covered his face and slumped in his chair. At this time, Fiona brought Rana to the study room. As soon as she saw the mysterious king's chessboard, Rana shouted:
"Griffith, you lost to a girl!"
"..."
Before Griffith could attack, Sonia came to the study room with brisk steps.
"Good evening."
The dim study room suddenly became brighter. Griffith immediately perked up.
"Sonia, play a game of King of Mystery with me! If I win, give me the paper for reference!"
Galadia looked at him in surprise, then at Sonia, then covered her mouth and stood up, leaving the study room to the two of them. The Countess thought for a moment and nodded.
"Okay~"
Sonia chose the same Beyelan camp as Griffith. The strategy was much gentler than that of Galadia. She did not launch an attack in the early stage, but the defense was very tight.
Griffith also took a breath and deployed his troops in an orderly manner. Fiona and Lana sat side by side on the sofa not far away, pretending to read a book and glancing at the chessboard here from time to time.
The scene was very calm for a while.
"The Senate has prepared a new fief for you as a reward for the battle in Odessa. The size of the territory is equivalent to a barony." Sonia casually chatted with her knights while playing chess.
"Really?! I haven't heard of it yet," Griffith said with some surprise, "If so, that would be great!"
Since being knighted, Griffith has not been to his territory in Verona once.
According to ancient practice, each earl's territory exceeds 30 square kilometers, is home to no less than 8,000 families, and has a population of nearly 50,000. There are five to ten barons under each earl, and their respective territories and strength will not exceed one-fifth of the earl.
Ravenel is an ancient family. Before the population declined, it was once a baron family with large territory and judicial power. After the family's decline, most of the fiefdom and population had been lost. The fiefdom Griffith received was a manor with a size of 4,000 acres and more than 500 residents. Neither the population, area nor income exceeds one percent of the traditional earldom.
According to Sonia, the land grant this time will greatly expand Griffith's territory.
This practice is not common. The king and senate of Bayerland had long ago been accustomed to replace their lords' lands with annuities, compensating them with offices and seats in parliament. In this way, the nobles can live in prosperous Bayerland all year round, and the management of the territory is the responsibility of local administrators and tax officials. Finally, the central finance will allocate annuities to them.
Count Larmore has a large territory on the northern border of Odessa, but that is because successive counts, as border guards, have retained assets under special political circumstances due to mission requirements. Sonia had barely been there.
"Can I go there for the winter vacation!" Sonia suddenly sat up straight and looked at Griffith expectantly with her big blue eyes.
"Why go there? The countryside of Verona is very desolate."
The Countess didn't think so. She was extremely curious about Griffith's territory. Ever since the war subsided, she had always wanted to visit her knight's manor. To her, it was a vast wilderness, with little rabbits jumping among the flowers, starry farmhouses and waterwheels, and a small forest filled with romantic stories.
Griffith felt dizzy as soon as he heard about the countess' fantasy.
"It was really just a small village and the manors were just stone houses with yards."
"But, that's your manor, no one cares about what we do!" Sonia clapped her hands, "I have never slept in the master bedroom!"
Please stop talking. If the earl hears that her daughter wants to do something no one cares about with me and sleeps in my master bedroom, why don't you hang me! Griffith was so anxious that he almost bit his handkerchief.
"Sonia," the knight gritted his teeth and patted the Countess on the head across the chessboard, "There are no gas pipes or copper heating pipes in that place. In winter, it is so cold that water can drip into ice."
"We can light the stove, lay a carpet next to the stove, and eat there!" Sonia's blue eyes sparkled, and she outlined the scene in her heart, "Dad doesn't let me lie down by the fireplace at home. , it’s not fun anymore.”
"The rooms there are dark and have no floor-to-ceiling windows or lighting."
"I will prepare many candles and light them in the bedroom and bathroom! There must be a lot of roses there."
"There are no roses in the winter, and there are no pipes in the bathroom there. Down there is, well, a big pit for excrement. Sometimes people can fall into the old wooden boards."
"Well~" The countess tilted her head and thought seriously for a while, "I can't imagine..."
"Yeah, it's unimaginably difficult."
"So I'm curious!"
Oh no! Sonia, why are you so curious about everything? If it were known that you and I were spending a few weeks at the manor, the rumors would bring you into disrepute.
"How stingy~" Seeing the hesitation on her knight's face, Sonia puffed up her cheeks and became a little unhappy, "Then let's discuss the planning of the territory and the formation of the manor militia!"
She actually took out paper and pen to write and draw while playing chess.
The aristocratic students of Homemonworth must take military and political courses and conduct careful research on the organization and formation of the army, as well as weapons and equipment. This is also knowledge that they will definitely use in the future. In comparison, how to march and fight, how to train soldiers, and how to lead them to charge are the work of lower-level officers and knights. If it is not based on interest, the nobles do not need to care too much.
Griffith had already discussed this issue with Roland. He explained to the countess that within a controllable cost range, the territorial militia would form a phalanx, using pikes and matchlocks as weapons.
After listening to Griffith's introduction, Sonia nodded repeatedly: "Gunpowder weapons are very promising. They do not need to rely on the strength of the user. Ordinary people can pose a threat to armored knights after simple training; longbows do not have to be trained for years. It cannot threaten heavy armor."
Roland's matchlock gun has been tested by the Senate, and many military experts and generals have visited the test firing. Griffith has also carefully studied and practiced the actual combat effects of this weapon with other Shutoral. Regarding muskets, his evaluation was inferior to that of artillery:
"Yes, it is more accurate and has an armor-piercing effect. The greater power lies in rapid training. Even militiamen can severely damage the regular army through mid- and short-range volleys. However, this situation is limited to small-scale battles between mortals.
"The operation of match ropes and gunpowder is dangerous, and this limitation prevents musketeers from forming dense formations.
"Musketeers in regular combat still play an auxiliary position in combat with other troops, especially pikemen. They cannot form an independent battle line. Once a hand-to-hand combat occurs, the loose formation and shooting interval of the musketeers will expose dangerous gaps. They instantly melted under the assault of the Extraordinaries and Cavalry.
"For a long time, muskets were only auxiliary, and the combination of artillery and cavalry was the way to win."
"Really?" Sonia said she didn't believe it. "When muskets become popular, will you still find an explanation to make things right~"
"Believe me!" Griffith insisted, "Professional officers must dare to make judgments!"
The study room was quiet for a while.
Sonia smoothed the ends of her blond hair and returned her attention: "I'm going to attack~"
"bring it on!"
Griffith has assembled an army of 120K, with a complete combination of infantry, artillery and cavalry. If he had more time, he could gather more troops, but his opponent was Sonia, who was not good at tactical operations, so it was almost a win.
"How are you going to attack?" Griffith tapped his finger on the chessboard and asked curiously. The two of them were chatting and operating at the same time, and some details were definitely not perfect enough.
"I'm not very good at tactics," Sonia said honestly, "I prepared the second phase of troop attack and defense, 200K troops, for an ordinary fight."
200K! ?
Sonia, is your army made of magic bottles?
Griffith turned pale. I saw Sonia's army pushing forward like sea water, and the reinforcements behind were like rivers flowing into the sea, stretching endlessly.
I can't beat Sonia!
I can not accept!
Griffith's fingers stiffened instantly, as if he had fallen into an ice cave and lost his faith in the world.
"Griffith lost to a girl again!"
Lana didn't know what was wrong and was very excited. Hearing the noise, Galadia returned to the study room. Ophelia, Berthier, and Nona appeared from nowhere, crowded around the chessboard and watched Griffith's position being destroyed by Sony. Ya bulldozed.
"So, what should you do next?" Miss Elf asked. Everyone else looked at Griffith with hehehe expressions.
Griffith, who was already on top of his head, stood up angrily and pointed at Fiona, who was dancing the most happily:
"Let's fight!"
