Chapter 1099 - 166: Massive Expansion and the Peerless Strongman Luther Huss (Part 2)

Chapter 1099: Chapter 166: Massive Expansion and the Peerless Strongman Luther Huss (Part 2)

"Lord!" The speaker is Frederick, the chief judge of the Territory’s Judicial Court, and a typical representative of the Knight Clan, with his family’s descendants having participated in the Battle of Blue Mirror Lake. He stood up and bowed deeply to Su Li, speaking with a tone of respect but content filled with great boldness: "Please allow me to represent many Knight Clans present, to express our highest respect to you and congratulate the brilliant victory your warriors have achieved! The fall of the Chosen One Gorg is a heavy blow to the Chaos Forces and indeed evidence of the Goddess’s favor upon your rule! We are deeply honored to follow a Lord like you!"

He paused for a moment and looked around, seeing many knight chieftains and large landlords with private soldiers nodding slightly, faces showing joy for the victory and also a fervent desire. Frederick took a deep breath and continued: "However, behind the glory, there lies a huge crisis. Please forgive my bluntness, Lord. Although we won the final victory in the Battle of Blue Mirror Lake, the process... was also a heavy loss."

"My eldest son, along with four elite knights from his clan, fell on the path of the charge to tear open the defenses of the Blue Mirror Knights. This is not an isolated case! Many of you present, ask your colleagues beside you, how many clans have lost excellent heirs? How many loyal warriors sleep silently by the cold lakeside? The infantry phalanx was almost crushed, halberdier losses over half, and the crossbowman unit severely depleted!"

Frederick’s words caused a strong resonance. Another knight chieftain, Stern Knight, supplemented loudly: "What Lord Frederick said is absolutely right! Lord, we are not questioning your decisions or the bravery of the soldiers. On the contrary, precisely because we have witnessed the wisdom and prowess of Lord Tiberus, Lord Dietrich, and all the generals, and seen the invincible might of our Hesse Legion, it pains us even more for the previous losses! We believe one of the most important reasons for the great loss in the last battle was the insufficiency of our forces. If we had more troops, we wouldn’t have needed to fight so prolonged."

"Moreover, in this battle, nearly half of the troops from the whole Territory were withdrawn, leaving all areas of the Territory stretched thin with weak defenses. It’s frightening!"

A large landlord representative from the agricultural Province also stood up, more concerned about the Territory’s security and continuous development: "Lord, the brilliance of victory cannot conceal the scars of reality. We’ve cleared the rebels and Chaos around Flash Spear City, killed the powerful Gorg, proving the strength of our power. But the expansion of the Hesse Territory is unprecedented! Blue Mirror Lake, Flash Spear City Plain, the edges of Blood Pine Forest... These newly acquired territories all require powerful forces to guard, purify, and deter those lurking remnants or new threats! Relying solely on existing forces, we can barely maintain the defense of core regions, but ensuring absolute safety across such vast lands and deterring petty threats at all sides is indeed stretched thin and inadequate!"

"Expand the army!" A voice emerged from the crowd, with undeniable determination, from another young knight chieftain renowned for bravery, "We must expand the army! Lord! Blue Mirror Lake’s losses need replenishment! The defense of new territories needs reinforcement! Facing possibly stronger Chaos threats in the future, we need more substantial shields, sharper swords! Look at our victorious forces today, two thousand can crush a powerful Chaos Knight Order! If we had three thousand, four thousand, or even five thousand of such elites, who in the entire Province, no, the entire northern Border Prince’s Territory, would still dare to underestimate Hesse Territory? Who would dare to extend the filthy hands of Chaos towards our lands lightly?"

"Indeed so!"

"Lord Frederick speaks for us all!"

"With insufficient forces, even the fruits of victory are difficult to safeguard for long!"

"We earnestly ask the Lord to consider expanding the military!"

The hall was instantly overwhelmed with voices of earnest requests and endorsements. The representatives, knight chieftains, and landlords were unprecedentedly united in their demands: continue recruiting and expanding the army.

And in this process, it is unquestionable who the beneficiaries are! They intentionally want to place more family members into the army, becoming a ruling class with even closer ties to Su Li.

However, with Su Li’s current authority, it is entirely beyond their shouting and clamoring to influence.

Thus, Su Li raised his hand, interrupting all excited voices, turned to the Territory’s Marshal, Oerstein, and asked: "My Marshal, what do you think of the expansion of the army?"

Oerstein pondered for a moment, slowly rising from his seat, and said: "Lord, I believe everyone speaks from the heart."

"The current expansion of the Territory undoubtedly requires a larger army scale. Let me give a few examples: on the west side of Blue Mirror Plain, which is our Territory’s most western frontier, Drake’s henchmen from Dusk Mountain Range frequently descend the mountains to harass. We have already had three villages plundered by them. Fortunately, they did not destroy these villages; we’ve only lost some wealth and had some buildings damaged."

"And within Blood Pine Forest, we have found the Envoys and Walking Dead from the Night Wanderer Corpse becoming more frequent, and they are constantly approaching the Valley of Memory."

"Actually, in terms of strength growth and danger level, after the growth of our Territory’s power, it not only hasn’t become safer, opposite to this, the crisis has become even greater. Everywhere hides potential dangers that could devastate the Territory, and our anxiety far exceeds that of before."