chsdbacks #168 - That place is called Black Bone Swamp
#168 - That place is called Black Bone Swamp
The Black Bone Swamp is located northeast of Jeanne d'Arc Castle, at the junction of the Mountain County and the Plains County.
As a mountain swamp, it is surrounded on three sides by mountains, with its only exit concealed by the Wild Spider Forest. Two-thirds of it is swamp.
The swamp is dotted with various lakes, underground rivers, pools, and marshes of all sizes.
It must be said that such a small place has gathered the three terrains most hated by cavalry: mountains, swamps, and forests.
Back then, even at the height of the Empire's military power after the Hundred Years' War, it failed to conquer this small Black Bone Swamp, let alone now, with the giant spiders of the Wild Spider Forest guarding its gates.
According to Horn's rough calculation of the area, if the units of measurement in this world are correct, the entire Black Bone Swamp is approximately 7,000 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to a Yang City.
This area is equivalent to 1.5 Hedge Towns, while its population is only 0.3 Hedge Towns—around 20,000 people.
Geographically, it is indeed within the Duchy of Kush, although it has never been under the Duke's actual control.
The streams and canals near Jeanne d'Arc Castle are mostly sourced from the Dragon's Rest Mountains, passing through the Black Bone Swamp before flowing into the castle.
"I actually forgot about this place," Yeshka exclaimed, slapping his head.
"The terrain of the Black Bone Swamp is indeed suitable for defending against cavalry. To enter, you either have to climb over high mountains or force your way through the Wild Spider Forest."
Taking a map down from a nearby cabinet, Jeanne blew off the dust and spread it out on the table.
"Even if they can enter the Black Bone Swamp, they will still face a challenge: the underground rivers, pools, and lakes within the swamp.
Even with the 'Light as a Feather' and 'Swift Hooves' blessings, those knights still cannot run on water."
The Church's response is that walking on water is Misaila's prerogative, and mortals cannot overstep it.
But the knights know in their hearts that it's just an excuse. In the end, it's because the Church is conservative and unwilling to do more research on the blessing system, even refusing the monks from developing new blessings.
"During this time, if we lack supplies, we can even trade with the nearby Jeanne d'Arc Castle through some smuggling waterways or secretly exiting the Wild Spider Forest."
"And the beastmen native to the Black Bone Swamp are on good terms with us. The beastmen kings even regard our Holy Grandson Pope as the Emperor of the Third El Empire?"
The old camp veterans who have traversed the Black Bone Swamp and are familiar with it immediately began to discuss it. The more they discussed, the more feasible it seemed.
The new members of the Salvation Army, who were initially sitting with worried faces, gradually brightened up as they listened to these old-timers talk about elders, emperors, and kings.
You know, even though they didn't say it, they realized they had no way back after Horn actually chopped off the Duke's head.
Some Salvation Army members even felt that they had been tricked onto Horn's pirate ship after their initial excitement.
It's not that they're unwilling to follow Horn, but this group of refugees and farmers really can't see a future.
But now, hearing this, wow, the Papal State's rewards are so generous. Who else can casually bestow titles of generals and lieutenants?
Listening carefully, Horn actually has hundreds of powerful beastmen kingdoms as his subordinates in the Black Bone Swamp.
Even if the population of each kingdom is relatively small, there must be thousands of people, otherwise, how dare they call themselves kingdoms?
Then, not to mention anything else, giving them a duke's position wouldn't be too much, right?
We, the Salvation Army, are so awesome!
"Actually, although the Black Bone Swamp is good, it has a very big flaw," Horn said slowly, who had been silent all along. "You all know that, according to the agreement, we still have to leave after three months.
Patrick, who is now using the alias Chrispa, has already said that after three months, the Duchess's letter will expire, and it is likely that Duchess Herma Stone is preparing to rebel.
At that time, the Edict Legion will definitely march north to attack Duchess Herma Stone's North Munde County, and we can take the opportunity to strike.
This means that we have to train a new army in the Black Bone Swamp and aim to defeat at least 3 Edict Legions."
"Yeah, what's the problem with that?" Thomas asked curiously.
"The problem is huge," Yeshka helped Horn reply, apparently, he also thought of this problem. "According to His Holiness's plan, the number of newly trained troops should be between 4,000 and 6,000.
Only with this number can we barely fight the enemy's infantry while also resisting the impact of transcendent knights."
During the Battle of Windmill Land, the famous Frankish general, Marshal Otto Dungar, in the retraining of mercenaries, formed an elite infantry phalanx of 4,000 men.
The Kingdom of Francia was in the throes of centralization reform, with constant internal strife, and a large number of Frankish knights defected to the Kingdom of Leia.
But Marshal Dungar relied on the mercenary's super-long spear phalanx and a small number of transcendent knights to hold back the knights of the Kingdom of Leia.
Because the infantry lacked offensive means, the knights did not lose, but they could not win either, and were bled dry by the vast wealth of the Kingdom of Francia.
The Dungar Phalanx became the Empire's recognized remedy for dealing with cavalry.
"Do you know what this means? 4,000 to 6,000 people, plus their families, the total number is estimated to be 20,000 to 30,000," Yeshka spread his hands, with an expression of what else can I say to explain.
"With so many people, where is there room for us to station and train the new army?"
A large part of the reason why Horn and the others were in the dark was because of this.
As long as they can bring their own food, the entire Black Bone Swamp can barely accommodate 30,000 people.
But the problem is that the terrain of the Black Bone Swamp is a piece of solid ground on a piece of pool underground river. Where is there so much space for Horn to station and train troops?
The entire council hall fell silent again until a rough, hoarse female voice with a heavy accent said:
"Your Majesty, can I say something?"
It was Horn's Varangian Guard captain, Gelgo, the daughter of the Queen of Hiddin.
"Speak," Horn beckoned to her. "Come forward and speak, don't be afraid."
"Actually, there are places in the Black Bone Swamp that can be used for stationing and training," Gelgo's pure nasal voice made many people frown. Except for those familiar with Gelgo's accent, most of the refugee representatives could not understand.
"Where?" Horn was a little surprised.
"That is our beastmen's ancestral land, the former capital of the beastmen empire, Autumn Dusk Island. It is a lake island with lush water and grass flowing with milk and honey."
"There's such a place? We almost crossed the Black Bone Swamp. How come we didn't..." Horn stopped suddenly.
He suddenly realized that they had not completely walked the Path of Blood and Sweat, but had bypassed the swamp lowlands through the side path of the Blue Blood Orphanage.
In other words, the swamp lowlands and the long-haired monsters recorded in Homer's mercenary notes were all bypassed by them.
"The Autumn Dusk Island you mentioned, is it in the southern lowlands of the swamp?"
"Yes," Gelgo nodded with a serious face. "In the past, our great beastmen empire did not live in the north of the swamp, but on Autumn Dusk Island.
Autumn Dusk Island was given to us beastmen by the El Empire. The island's population at its peak was as high as 100,000, which can definitely accommodate you."
"Then how did you move to the north?" Sisi seemed to have thought of something. "Is it those long-haired monsters?"
"No," Gelgo shook her head. "Those long-haired monsters appeared later. We moved away because the population was too large and an epidemic broke out.
After that doomsday epidemic, the beastmen empire completely split into two, the East Empire and the West Empire.
The West Empire was later divided by barbarian warlords, while the East Empire was forced to move to the northern archipelago.
Due to the scattered territories and the extinction of the royal family, it gradually split into hundreds of kingdoms.
After the epidemic ended, we were originally planning to move back to our hometown, but the dams near Autumn Dusk Island were in disrepair for a long time, and the roads were flooded by lake water.
The island was occupied by long-haired demons and barbarians. We launched four Crussades to the south and won a great victory.
But because we are a peace-loving civilized kingdom, we don't care about those barbarian monsters, so we didn't move back."
Twitching the corner of his mouth, Horn did not expose Gelgo's words, but coughed: "Ah, is that so."
"In that case, as long as we can wipe out those barbarians and long-haired monsters, we will have a place to station?" Jeanne asked Gelgo in surprise.
"We no longer regard that place as our home," Gelgo looked at Horn. "If Your Majesty can take it down, as long as you don't mind us trading on the island and recognize our beastmen kingdom, we are willing to imitate the barbarian king Gobbo's dedication of land and donate it to you as a new Holy See city!"