The next day after returning to Border Town's castle, Iron Axe brought all the information he had obtained from the interrogation.

"These people are just Tiefeike's vanguard?" Roland asked with a frown.

"Indeed, Your Highness," Iron Axe nodded, "Just as you guessed, Tiefeike Wimbledon's strategy is to send waves of militia to attack the Western Region. In addition to the Western Region, he is using the same method against Garcia Wimbledon in Clearwater Port."

"They are all civilians?"

"Not all. There are criminals, rats, and mostly refugees collected from various places," he replied, "According to the enemy knight, Tiefeike first stabilizes these people with some verbal promises after forcibly conscripting them, and then they take the first batch of pills. In this way, they have no choice but to be controlled by Tiefeike, wanting more pills to relieve the pain and cravings."

"But they don't know that once they swallow the pills, there is no possibility of treatment," Roland sighed deeply, "More pills are just delaying death."

"Yes, Your Highness. Tiefeike did not tell the militia about the side effects of the drugs. They thought they would get the identity and rewards he promised after fighting for the 'New King'."

"What is the destination of this team?" Roland asked.

"Border Town," Iron Axe quickly replied, "Because the already deceased Sir Vincent believed that the town had no walls, making it easier to achieve the goal of attrition warfare. He estimated that a thousand pill-swallowing militia could exchange for about three thousand casualties, which would be a heavy blow to Border Town. But..."

"But what?"

"Snak also confessed that Tiefeike had given them another task, which was to divide the militia into several groups to attack the town, ensuring their own safety while observing your response and combat effectiveness. I think... he should have noticed that no leading knight returned from the last attack."

"This time still no one returned," the Prince shrugged, "Since it is a vanguard force for attrition, do these two know Tiefeike's follow-up offensive plans?"

"Not much, but the scale will be much larger than the previous two attacks."

Roland felt a burst of resentment in his heart. These are all living labor, used as cannon fodder wave after wave? Even if he wins the enemy unscathed, it will be a pyrrhic victory. More important than resisting Tiefeike's invasion is stopping this meaningless war—otherwise, after unifying Graycastle, how long will he have to wait for the population to flourish again?

"After the Demon Month arrives, the entire land route of the Western Region will be covered by heavy snow, making it difficult for large troops to move. If relying on shipping, the queue will be very long, costing a lot, and it is also easy to be intercepted halfway," he said, "So if he wants to launch this offensive, he must act before the winter snow comes. Scouring for population must be even earlier, at least to complete the recruitment of the militia before winter."

"You plan to..."

Roland closed his eyes, pondered for a moment before continuing, "I want to delay this war."

"Send envoys or diplomatic letters to him? Tiefeike Wimbledon probably won't do as you wish," Iron Axe said in a deep voice.

"No, that won't be of much use," he said slowly, "To make the other party give up the idea of attacking, one is to reduce the population he can scour, and the other is to make him realize that attrition warfare is meaningless and to be wary of the Western Region. I originally planned to have Barov arrange for his men to spread the news of pioneering in the Western Region, attracting the poor population outside the city to go there voluntarily, but now it seems to take effect too slowly and the measures are too conservative. If we want to take the population away before Tiefeike, we must take the initiative to contact and recruit them, just like the last trip to the King's City. The most important thing is the Southern Territory, which has been repeatedly devastated by war, followed by the Northern Territory of the Kingdom. This will probably require the First Army to execute."

"If it's just recruitment, a small team of fifty people is enough," Iron Axe said without hesitation, "After all, we are not operating near the city, and we don't need to worry about confronting the enemy head-on."

"The specific plan will be discussed in detail with you after I have considered it," Roland nodded.

There must be a main force stationed in Border Town, and the dispatched team must also return to the town before the Demon Month. In addition, there are the gold dragon and grain problems: a more active recruitment policy will naturally attract more people, but the cost will also increase exponentially. The previous plan was more cost-effective, but now it has a strong purpose. How to implement it must be carefully considered.

"But what you said about the second point... how to do it?"

"First, release the news that the captured civilians will be sent back to the King's City, so Tiefeike can roughly know the course of the battle—he shouldn't try things that are futile like this repeatedly."

"But our artillery combat methods will also be exposed at the same time," Iron Axe worried.

"Not much will be exposed," Roland tapped the table lightly, "In addition to long-range strikes and amazing power, he cannot know the principle, let alone manufacture it." As long as the production level remains in this era, even if he knows it, he cannot resist. This is the overwhelming advantage of hot weapons over cold weapons, which will not be reversed due to will, tactics, and numbers. "Moreover, these people will also send him a warning letter."

"A warning letter?"

"That's right, I will predict the date of the attack in the letter in advance, and then raid the King's City on that day," the Prince said word by word.

"..." Iron Axe couldn't help but open his mouth wide. After a while, he came back to his senses, stood at attention solemnly, and saluted, "As long as it is your order, I will definitely complete it with my life!"

"Relax, I'm not thinking of sending you to your death," Roland smiled, "This plan does not require the participation of the First Army, but will be carried out by the witches."

How can Tiefeike be made wary of the Western Region? He estimated that nothing could be more shocking to the other party than directly attacking the palace. As long as Tiefeike realizes that he is not safe, any military plan will probably be reduced by a third.

Roland's conceived plan came from leaflets dropped from the air in later generations, and in addition to dropping leaflets, he also planned to send Tiefeike two hangkongzhàdàn—the so-called raid is an attack from the sky. The possibility of directly bombing the new king to death is slim, but as long as it can have a deterrent effect, it is a successful operation.

In this way, it is difficult to determine whether the other party will insist on launching a large-scale offensive.

Roland clearly realized that the pattern of this war for the throne had changed. He was no longer as weak as he was when he first arrived, needing to disguise and hide himself. Now is the time to reveal his cards, step by step onto the political stage of Graycastle, and let the people of the Kingdom notice his existence—this has nothing to do with a desire to show off, but is a kind of publicity for his territory and power.

It is useless to get a kingdom full of corpses and ruins. He hopes that through this declaration, more people will go to the Western Region and stand by his side.

As the sun fell into the mountains, Roland opened the window of his office. The evening breeze that brushed his face was no longer hot, but had a hint of coolness.

Autumn has arrived.