Chapter 541 – Iron Wall Fortress
Even though Zhao Hai knew about these matters, he couldn’t tell it to anyone. This was because he wouldn’t be able to explain how he was able to get his hand on these information.
But Zhao Hai still prepared, this Beastman attack was an excellent opportunity. Even if the Radiant Church had a fool-proof plan, they didn’t expect Zhao Hai to be on the sidelines, looking at their entire plan clearly.
If the Beastmen didn’t attack the Human race for food, then Zhao Hai might have helped the Purcell Duchy. But since the Beastmen were doing this for survival, Zhao Hai chose to just look at the situation for now.
The Beastmen arrived on time, they had finally arrived outside Iron Wall Fortress. Before long, Beastmen tents covered the entire area outside of the Wall.
However, the Purcell Family didn’t give up. They gathered a large number of troops in the Fortress and prepared to face the Beastmen head-on.
Right now, the Purcell Family wasn’t thinking about anything else. They didn’t run away nor give up because they still had their n.o.ble honor.
n.o.bles were a very special group. They were born with a status higher than the commoners, and they can enjoy things that commoners wouldn’t be able to in their entire livers. They also held the admiration of the ma.s.ses. But at the same time, they also have a responsibility to protect the commoners.
The Purcell Family was already aware that they wouldn’t be spared this time. Even the elders who opposed going with Zhao Hai understood that the only way for them left was to stay and fight for the honor of the Purcell Family.
Fighting for honor might sound laughable, however, this wasn’t the case for n.o.bles. A n.o.ble without honor cannot be considered to be a n.o.ble. This was Ark Continent’s unwritten rule.
If a n.o.ble faces their enemy head on and dies, not only would they win respect, their families would gain reputation as well. But if a n.o.ble escapes without fighting, his whole family would be despised. Then it wouldn’t take a long time before that family declines.
Therefore, n.o.bles regarded honor the same as their own life and death. And now the Purcell Family was prepared to face the Beastmen and fight to the last man. They needed to fight for their territory until the bitter end.
For this battle, the Purcell Family had done all the preparation that they can. Although they had given the majority of their money to Ruyen, as a millenium-old clan, they still had ample money left. When they had the people in the Duchy leave, they also gave a lot of money to the families of their soldiers as settlement. In fact, one could even say that this settlement was equal to buying the lives of their soldiers.
Even if the Purcell Family wasn’t one of the strongest millenium-old families, they were still one. They had established their own princ.i.p.ality. They also treated the soldiers in their Duchy like family members. And like family, the soldiers were very loyal towards the family. Because of this, one couldn’t just underestimate the might of the Purcell Family.
The entire continent’s attention were now focused on Iron Wall Fortress. The people of the continent were no strangers to battles between the Beastmen and Humans. However, this was the first war between the two that attracted a lot of people’s attention.
The main reason for this attention was the Purcell Family. From what the people can see, the Aksu Empire had chosen to give up on the Purcell Family. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be this unsupportive.
Moreover, some rumors from the Rosen Empire and the Calci Family were also starting to spread. With the help of the Buda Clan and the Sh.e.l.ley Family, the people came to understand why the Aksu Empire chose to do this.
The n.o.bles of the continent weren’t fools. After seeing how the Radiant Church acted inside the Aksu Empire, they immediately believed the rumors. In a blink of an eye, the Great n.o.bles of the continent started to focus their sights towards the Radiant Church.
The Great n.o.bles of the other countries didn’t attach great importance to the Radiant Church. To them, it was just a church, how could it be powerful. But as soon as the rumors spread, they immediately paid careful attention. An Empire was just occupied by the Radiant Church. How did they manage to do that?
Therefore, the people paid attention to this war not only because it was a war between two races. They also wanted to see how the Radiant Church responds.
In truth, the response of the Radiant Church disappointed these Great n.o.bles. This war wasn’t between two families, it was a war between two races. No matter what the Radiant Church thinks, they should still provide help for the Purcell Family. After all, the Purcell Family were also Humans.
But instead, the Radiant Church had actually chosen to sacrifice the Purcell Family. The Great n.o.bles didn’t consider why the Radiant Church chose to do this. They only knew that the Radiant Church gave up on helping the Purcell Family.
While the people’s attention was on the Purcell Duchy, Zhao Hai actually arrived at the Cow-headed race’s main camp. In this war, the Cow-headed Race didn’t request to be on the forefront, but instead opted to stay at the rear part of the army. They became responsible for looking after the Argali as well as delivering some food to the front.
Even if the Cow-headed Race weren’t the strongest Beastmen, their strength was still not bad. In the previous wars, they even performed very well. When they suddenly asked for such a position this time, it wasn’t a mystery why the other Beastmen became surprised.
However, the other Beastmen also knew about what happened to the Cow-headed Race. Therefore, they understood this decision. Moreover, the Radiant Church’s action of s.n.a.t.c.hing some Beastmen children became known. The Radiant Church would brainwash those children before placing them inside a Beastman Tribe and had them wreck havoc inside. This finding became a great merit towards the whole Beastman Race. Because of this n.o.body looked down on the Cow-headed race. On the contrary, they held great admiration towards them. The other races also made a thorough investigation with their members to see if there were spies among them.
Not to mention the common races who found 1 or 2 spies, the Warring Races actually found a lot of them amidst their members. This made those races extremely angry. Their present goal was now to teach the Radiant Church a lesson. n.o.body got angry because of the Cow-headed Race’s retreat to the backlines. Instead, with the help of the Black Bears, the Cow-headed Race had also managed to form a relations.h.i.+p with the Tiger-headed Race.
Having a connection with such a huge Warring Clan brought huge advantages to the Cow-headed Beastmen.
So now, Wales was having a very comfortable time. He was currently part of the Rear army and was only taking care of the food and commodities. They didn’t have any fighting duties but were one of the people who ate the best. To Wales, being in the rear army was a very luxurious position.
Naturally, this is only his opinion. To the other Beastmen Races, being in the Rear Army was not a good idea. Although the Rear Army was the most relaxed in battles, they were also the ones who received the least after the war.
But Wales didn’t care about any of these, he has Zhao Hai so he was not living simply. The most important thing to the Cow-headed Race right now was to recover and gain some strength.
The fighting force of the Cow-headed Race was composed of the Herculean Bulls as well as other strong tribes. And among them, the Herculean Bulls were the most familiar with Zhao Hai. So when he came to their camp, the other Cow-headed Tribes were looking at him and became very vigilant.
However, the Herculean Bulls knew Zhao Hai, so when the other tribes were introduced to him, they instantly became very hospitable. Just a short time after Zhao Hai arrived at the camp, he was already invited into Wales’ tent.
Although the Beastmen loved drinking, they only consume small amounts of liquor when going to war. Therefore, what Wales offered to Zhao Hai this time was milk tea.
Wales looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, how can you come here at this time. This is too dangerous for you. If any Human is present, you wouldn’t be able to come back to the Human domain in the future.”
Although Wales didn’t have much contact with Humans before, he was very clear about how Humans think. If the Humans knew that Zhao Hai went to visit him, then Zhao Hai would be hated by the entire human race in the future.
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Brother doesn’t need to worry. I can guarantee that n.o.body saw me this time. Also, Brother, I came this time to tell you something about this war.
Wales nodded, he held absolute trust towards Zhao Hai. He believed that Zhao Hai wouldn’t deceive him. Therefore, he nodded and then waited for Zhao Hai’s words.
Zhao Hai told Wales about what he knew, the poisons, the Radiant Church’s plan, and so on. Then Zhao Hai said, “Brother, the war this time was completely antic.i.p.ated by the Radiant Church. Their aim was to push the Beastmen to war so that they can repel the Beastmen with their own strength, establis.h.i.+ng their might to the continent. And at the same time, they would thoroughly harm the Beastmen.
Wales cannot believe what he just heard, “So you’re telling me that the Radiant Church sacrificed the Purcell Family in order to use the poison and deal with us? That’s terrible news.”
Then Zhao Hai put out a water bag and handed it over to Wales, “Brother, have a Witch Doctor examine the water in this bag. Then have someone drink it, then you’ll be able to confirm the Radiant Church’s plan.”
Zhao Hai knew that facts speak louder than words. Before he went to visit Wales, he already had this water bag prepared. The water in this bag contained the second half of the Radiant Church’s Poison. After all, the Herculean Bulls were also one of the research subjects of the Radiant Church.