After nearly a week of scorching sun, Kenke Town finally welcomed the first rain of July.

Lightning danced wildly, piercing the dense dark clouds.

With a crackle and a clattering sound, rain came pouring down.

Residents and soldiers in the town hastily donned their hoods or ran under eaves to shelter from the rain.

Outside the town, a camp nearly as large as Kenke Town stood beside the King's Path, where pasture once lay.

The camp was built from wood, and the tallest structure was the three-story wooden building at its center.

The hazy rain transformed into fog, enveloping the whole camp, with even the rain drifting through the windows into the three-story building.

Count Alaric of Iron Forest Castle, or rather Duke Alaric, reached out to close the window that swung back and forth.

A few days ago, he had just been conferred the title of duke, and Ginijis transferred several vassals to him.

Primarily to appoint him as Legion Commander of the Kingdom Army's Second Corps, otherwise, the counts and dukes wouldn't heed a count's command.

According to the original strategic design, Alaric should now be leading the Kingdom Army's Second Corps to support Adan Castle.

Because Ginijis deemed it inappropriate to entrust the assault on such an important castle as Adan Castle to Duke Omes.

If the major corps hadn't been in a state of rest and reorganization, Omes would never have been chosen for the attack on Adan Castle.

Unfortunately, Alaric was still a step too late.

"Where is the breakthrough at? How far are we from Haji Castle?"

"What do you mean they felt unwilling to fight and just went back?"

"Why didn't your Dawn Island nobility stop them? Wasn't Duke of Rutland monitoring with a thousand men? Why did they follow and run? Why didn't they stop them?"

"Stop them? A thousand fingers can't match ten thousand thighs, can they?"

"Sophistry!"

"Then weren't the King's royal messengers also supervising? How did they let them escape?"

Facing the quarrels between the two groups of nobles, Ginijis sat quietly on a high-backed chair, saying nothing.

On his face had already appeared a kind of desperate calm.

In June, the Leia Army broke through Kenke Town.

Back then, Ginijis boasted at the celebration banquet that "this is the breakthrough of the entire Thousand River Valley war."

But soon, his attention was drawn again to internal issues within the army.

This time, however, it wasn't due to the nobles but because of the knights, military officers, and ordinary infantry at the lowest level.

Damned Jeska had left tons of propaganda materials in the town during the retreat.

Pamphlets of Ginijis' coup, pamphlets of the reconciliation with the Blood and Flesh Royal Court, pamphlets of Leia opening the gates of the Fire Prison.

All vividly portrayed with noses and eyes, the Leia soldiers couldn't read but could understand the pictures.

Since they were drawings, they couldn't help but believe them.

In the end, words lack the directness of pictures.

Especially those simple comics of only a few words, they clearly presented the methods of constructing, building, and testing the Blood Knights.

Ginijis has already made enough efforts to exclude the Blood Knights from the regular army.

He even announced to the upper echelons that these Blood Knights were alive, not zombies, they had heartbeats.

Yet, he still couldn't stop the related rumors from spreading. Throughout June, Ginijis could only send two miscellaneous brigades to attack the Adan-Haji Castle defensive line.

The rest of the time was entirely spent managing internal affairs and calming the troops.

Being away from home for too long, even the royal kingdom, even the King's Guard began to grow restless and tired of war.

Many ordinary soldiers displayed a cowardice mentality different from before, fearing the Thousand River Valley People was secondary; their greatest fear was being turned into Blood Knights.

Ginijis dared not let the Blood Knights take the field lately, afraid of affecting the morale of his forces.

He finally managed to handle the internal issues.

Just about to launch an attack, he heard the disastrous news of the complete collapse of the Border Knight Order.

The Pope and Ginijis both couldn't sleep through the night.

Now His Holiness the Pope is stationed at Xia Lvcheng because he fell ill due to the crushing defeat of the Border Knight Order and had to recuperate.

Alright, it doesn't matter, victories and defeats are routine; Ginijis still has backup plans, like the coup on the 18th.

No sooner had orders been given for the riot on the 18th than the Norn people joined in, bringing both joy and anxiety to Ginijis.

But the joyful moment didn't last long before the news came that Moliat had suppressed the riot on the 18th.

He had hoped the Norn people could distract the Thousand River Valley People's advance, but they were hit hard and defeated near the Salt Beach.

At the time, Ginijis consoled himself, saying it didn't matter, at least it could bind one division.

By the end of the month, news came that the Mountain Knights had followed Moliat to Thorn Garden and started raiding.

By the time Thorn Garden suddenly withdrew, leaving a gap in the line, allowing Adan Castle's forces to break through, forming an encirclement around Haji Castle, Ginijis had almost no emotions left.

"Stop arguing!" Alaric finally halted this chaotic scene, "You argue from morning till night, from night till morning, but can you argue the Thousand River Valley People to death?"

The two groups of nobles stopped attacking one another, sitting down in frustration.

"Now the Iron Fist Army and Mountain Knights are outside, while the enemy has six divisions within, usable forces amount to around 30,000." Seeing King's silence, Alaric had to take charge.

"30,000, do you find it too few?" Duke Barry from Eagle's Claw Bay tapped the table with his pipe, "For a territory, with Iron Fist Army and Mountain Knights, it's almost 40,000 troops, is it few?"

Originally, the Leia people only had about 60,000 troops; after sending 20,000 to Thorn Garden, only about 40,000 remained.

The Thousand River Valley Holy Alliance is both containing the Norns and confronting them directly, with only 30,000 forces available.

Duke Barry hails from Eagle's Claw Bay, though not as affluent as areas like Dawn Island, it is a region of moderate finance.

He wouldn't dare claim Eagle's Claw Bay could sustain 40,000 troops.

The Thousand River Valley was once a low-finance region but can sustain 40,000 troops. How can they afford that?

"It's certainly the Falan stirring trouble within." Alaric expressed his anger and disdain without concealment.

"How much can the Falan provide? They're the shrewdest." The speaker was the rare second Great Knight of the Leia Kingdom, old Bodeman.

Everyone remained silent; the Falan themselves need to advance on Windmill Land, where's all that money coming from?

Ever since the independence of the Thousand River Valley, they've fought against the Norns, Falan (Black Snake Bay Battle), and Leia.

Truly a tough nut, hitting them hard is simply unprofitable.

"Given the current situation…" Duke Barry spoke somberly, "It's feared we can only first pull back the troops from Haji Castle…"

Duke Barry was stating it halfway when Ginijis slowly spoke: "It can't be delayed."

After all, he was the King, and his words drew everyone's attention.

With his usual steady voice, Ginijis said: "It can't be delayed anymore, give Thousand River Valley the time of a song, and we'll have to retreat like Duke Omes."

Seeing that no one reacted yet, Ginijis let out a murky breath: "Everyone has fought too many wars, too tired, longing for home."

Indeed, the battle continued from internal conflicts within the kingdom to the Thousand River Valley War, almost without a break.

When the finances collapsed, they sold land and borrowed, when unable to borrow further, they preempted city taxes, then sought the Holy War Treasury.

The idea of continuing to grind away like before had already become untenable.

"I initially thought eliminating Prince Kongdai's Demon Monk Horn in counter-attacks already demonstrated enough seriousness." Ginijis maintained his steady voice, "But in reality, I've underestimated him."

Ginijis believed he prepared comprehensively, sent people to map the terrain early, instigated a rebellion, planted spies.

He launched a surprise attack, mobilized everyone, squeezed dry military and manpower, even used Blood Knights.

He cared about Thousand River Valley enough, planned meticulously, the initial phases went so smoothly but was stalled after the Siege of Xia Lvcheng.

He staked everything he had on the war's gambling table, yet was about to lose everything in the first bet of Thousand River Valley.

Even Ginijis could no longer achieve his previous plan of turning towards attacking Thorn Garden.

"Transfer Raffel here, both Kenke Town's Kingdom Army First and Second Corps, fully support Haji Castle's Third Corps noblemen."

"Your Majesty…" Alaric stepped quickly to Ginijis' side, seemingly with the intention to persuade.

But Ginijis resolutely shook his head, shakily stood himself.

"Haji Castle's support battle is both a siege break and a main force engagement, an attack on the Haji Castle line, and the final—decisive battle!"