Chapter 141 Containment
"That's the way it is."

Lysabelle rubbed her temples and looked at the map in front of her.

Unlike the maps drawn by professional staff such as Morarich, the map in front of her was very simple. The resistance fighters did not have any professional staff at the moment, so the maps they drew were barely readable.

But even on this crude map, Lysabel could see that the situation was not good.

The villages that usually provided them with assistance have now been occupied, and the roads leading out of the forest have been cut off. It seems that they are preparing for an unprecedented offensive.

"There's nothing to worry about. As long as we enter the forest, they won't be able to track us down."

A young man next to Lisabel was very confident and did not take the troops outside the forest seriously.

His confidence was not without reason. The surrounding nobles had organized several encirclements against them, but every time they entered the forest, the nobles' army could not even find the traces of these believers of the God of Nature. Each time they could only leave behind a pile of corpses and then flee the forest in panic.

In the eyes of most of the resistance fighters, this time would be no different from the previous encirclement and suppression. Just like the previous times, they could easily repel the encirclement and suppression this time.

"It's a pity, they haven't started attacking yet."

Lisabel had already sensed something was wrong. Normally at this time, the other party should have already sent several hundred-man teams to the forest, trying to find the location of these resistance fighters.

Those nobles could not keep their army in combat for too long, so they had to fight quickly every time. In each previous encirclement and suppression campaign, those nobles could only hold out for less than a month.

This was one of the reasons why the resistance fighters were optimistic. The food they had previously stored, plus the output of the forest itself, could easily sustain them for two or three months. As long as the nobles could no longer sustain themselves, they could return to the villages for replenishment.

“Maybe he’s scared.”

Young people remain optimistic.

"Those soldiers are also human beings. They suffered so many casualties before, so it's only natural that they don't want to just come in and be cannon fodder."

Lisabel glanced at the young man. He thought the enemy was too simple. If the enemy was really such a fool, the Windwhisper Kingdom would not have been annexed.

However, the resistance fighters probably wouldn't listen to this, and Lisabel couldn't dampen their enthusiasm at this time. She could only look at the map again and study the current situation.

The map was very simple and there wasn't much to see. Lysabel wasn't a talent for commanding troops. She spent more time studying the teachings of the God of Nature, serving as a bridge between the kingdom and the Deism.

The relationship with the gods of nature and the elves is an issue that every kingdom around the magical forest must consider.

As a member of the royal family who believes in the god of nature, Lysabel is very suitable to be this bridge.

Of course, this means that she no longer has the right of succession, and even no longer has her place in the royal family tree.

But even though she had not received a complete military education, Lisabel could still vaguely see that this encirclement would not end in a short time.

"They chose to cut off the entire forest from the outside world."

If you want to achieve a quick victory, there seems to be no need to do this.

"Sir, there is a new situation."

A messenger came in a hurry. In the relaxed atmosphere around, the somewhat panicked look on the messenger's face seemed out of place.

"The soldiers who occupied the village burned down the granary in the village."

Everyone present realized that this round of suppression seemed to be different from the previous ones. "How could this happen? A lot of that grain would be used as a crop, and the taxes would be handed over to the nobles. How could those nobles burn their own taxes?"

Border villages don't have that much gold to pay taxes. Most of the time, they use their own products to pay taxes directly.

"This means that the troops outside the forest now are not those of the nobles."

The morale of the resistance fighters around them was much lower. Without the believers who believed in the God of Nature, they were like rootless duckweed and could hardly develop.

"But as long as we are in the forest, it won't be easy for them to destroy us."

The young man was still not convinced.

"Let those observation posts at the edge of the forest work harder to find out the deployment of the enemy's blockade and see where there are weak points."

The other side probably won't rush into the forest as recklessly as they thought and get beaten to a bloody pulp in the resistance's advantageous range. It seems that they are prepared to carry out a long-term blockade until the resistance begins to become weak. Perhaps only then will they launch a real attack.

"Are you planning to attack proactively? But outside the forest, it will be difficult for us to fight against the enemy's forces."

Someone on the scene soon raised an objection. The resistance fighters were essentially just civilians who took up arms. Although their faith in the God of Nature allowed them to exert stronger strength in the forest, enough to deal with the ordinary army of the principality and cause heavy casualties to them, this was ultimately just taking advantage of the environment.

If the battle had been fought on the plains outside the forest, the outcome would have been completely different. The resistance fighters, lacking basic training, would not have been able to contend with the Principality's troops in a head-on battle. Many of the other resistance forces that had responded to Lisabel's uprising had rashly confronted the Principality's troops head-on, and they had basically not survived for long.

"Our basic strategy is to just observe the enemy's deployment and try to avoid direct confrontation with the enemy."

Of course, Lisabel would not waste the limited strength she had in a frontal battle.

"Prepare for the raid first."

Exploring the weak points of the blockade was only to prepare for the worst possible scenario. Now, Lisabel and his resistance fighters had to try to fight against the troops of these duchies.

As usual, the first step was to harass the Principality troops outside the forest, making it difficult for them to rest well.

"My Lord, as you expected, the Skitarii refused the request to hand over the elven captives."

If possible, Morarich hopes to hold the captured elves in his own hands. Only by holding the chips in his own hands can he gain greater benefits on the table.

Moralich was not surprised by the messenger's report. Although those Skitarii looked normal, they were no different from lunatics inside. They did not consider that they were in the territory of the Windwhispering Principality. Without the support of the Principality, their food supplies would only be enough for a week.

"Where is High Priest Leiming?"

Moralich was more concerned about the reaction of the church. He wanted to know the specific opinions of the church on these crusaders. This would determine how far he could go.

"Arch Priest Le Ming did not give a direct response. His original words were to let us handle it ourselves."

"Handle it yourself?"

The attitude of the church was very clear, which was equivalent to letting Moralich deal with the group of crusaders at will. They were indeed completely abandoned.

"Cut off the logistics of those Skitarii and apply pressure again."

(End of this chapter)