The "clean up" order from the lord spread among Cecil soldiers, and this pursuit battle has entered a stage of almost mechanized operation - at least for the Cecil Combat Corps.
Every day, forward scouts and spies embedded in the noble coalition will send the latest information to the commanders of the combat corps. Even without this information, the noble coalition has completely lost order and is fleeing. It was almost impossible to hide its whereabouts. The Cecil Corps locked the huge enemy army at a distance that was neither far nor close. As long as the opponent stopped, the artillery bombardment would begin immediately. There was no normal eating or sleeping. , there is almost no time to stop - in fact, this is a test of willpower for both parties in pursuit, but it is obvious that the test of the noble coalition will be more difficult.
Cecil's soldiers had the opportunity to rest in shifts. After the victory, the surging fighting spirit of pursuing the victory also inspired them to move forward. Along the way, they continued to destroy the garrison points in various noble territories, which brought them enough resources. After Cecil's homeland was secured, several successive reinforcements were sent from the territorial direction, which further reduced the pressure on the pursuing troops.
Looking at the noble coalition... they are quickly being pushed to their limit.
In fact, they have reached their limit long ago. Judging from the aristocratic private soldiers in this era who have almost no cohesion and discipline, when the heavy magic crystal shells destroyed the entire forward force and the nobles with extraordinary power. When the master, knights, and mages died on the battlefield like ordinary infantry, most of the ordinary people in this coalition lost the slightest will to fight.
One of the reasons why they continue to flee today is that the knights and nobles in the coalition are still trying to maintain their last dignity. Although the "Skyfire Explosion" of the Cecil people is terrifying, it is close to The intimidation of ordinary soldiers by the extraordinary strong men who are close at hand is even more powerful. The coercion accumulated by these "upper-class people" has been deeply imprinted in the minds of those serf soldiers, private soldiers, and young soldiers, and it is still there to this day. Barely maintaining the team's situation.
Another reason is the propaganda made by Count Horsman before the war began, and the rumors that are still circulating among the remaining soldiers of the coalition - many people firmly believe that the Cecil people relied on execution The rise of evil magic and blasphemy will be worse than death in the hands of Cecil people. The land of Cecil is full of lies, sin, blasphemy and crazy chaos. Such unfounded rumors should be dismissed Rational people laughed it off, but it was deeply rooted in the minds of those superstitious and ignorant private soldiers. With the relentless pursuit and terrifying force of the Cecil people, the power of these prejudices even made it impossible to cohere. Yan's aristocratic private soldiers have persisted to this day.
But no matter how long they persisted, their physical strength and will finally reached their limit.
The cold night wind blew across the plains, carrying the sweetness of spring bells. Bartel, a knight from Creteland, sat in a cold pit.Counting the time silently with his two knight companions and nine retinues, beside them were dozens of scattered people, dozens of private soldiers, archers, coolies and serfs from the Balter area. soldiers.
These are all the people who set out from Baltel and survived. Their lord is dead, and more than a hundred of their brothers and sisters are separated on the way to escape. Even they themselves are also at night. I lost contact with the army before. In the night, no one dared to light up the lights to look for their companions, and no one even dared to call out to other noble regiments who might be walking nearby. The dozens of people who finally reunited after being separated could only gather in this dark and cold night. Waiting quietly for tomorrow.
Waiting for tomorrow that may not come.
No one spoke, and even though the ray of the morning sun had appeared on the horizon, no one raised their heads and glanced at the horizon. Baltel lowered his head, his bloodshot eyes staring closely at the ground beneath his feet. Hunger and sleepiness were tearing at his nerves at the same time, making him not want to say one more word or make one more action.
He has not slept for several days and nights. Everyone here has not slept for several days and nights. Even extraordinary people will be on the verge of reaching their limit in this situation, let alone ordinary people. Now Baltel just wants to lie down, just want to sleep, just want to go back to his warm manor, drink a sip of delicious ginger wine, and then sleep for three to five days, but he knows that he has no chance - he It was impossible to return to his own manor, because just yesterday, his team had passed by that manor and was driven out by shells falling from the sky in a very short period of time.
Bartel put his hand into his arms and silently took out his last piece of food: a small piece of black bread as rough as wood. With his movements, the people around him also took out their last food. I found the last bits of food - small pieces of bread, dry cheese, slices of bread, or nothing at all.
These things are not their army rations, but they are snatched from the farms or villages along the way on their way to escape, but in most cases they will not even have a chance to grab a bite of food—— The Cecils had been hard at work driving them across the desolate wilderness, like wolves driving sheep.
There is no grill or cooking pot, and the rising smoke will attract the "sky fire" of the Cecil people. This is one of the few useful experiences everyone summarized during the escape days. This small group of escapers brought the last food to their mouths. Before the first ray of the rising sun hit their faces, they began to eat silently. Baltel bit hard, which he would never have eaten in the past. Bad brown bread, bloodshot eyes full of tiredness.
He wanted to sleep, no matter what the cost, he just wanted to sleep now, he wanted to eat and then lie down without anything, nothing to stop him.
A sharp whistling sound came from a distance, flying high in the sky.
This sharp whistling sound is the language of the devil, death, disaster, and curses of the gods.At the moment when the whistling sound sounded, Baltel felt that every pore in his body was subconsciously tightening, but before his muscles were about to subconsciously lift him up from the ground, his movements were blocked by other factors. A stronger, more irrational reason stopped.
He doesn’t want to get up, he just wants to rest, he just wants to stay here quietly and save his mother’s life and dignity! He couldn't help but think about it!
Bartel's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked at the ground under his feet with almost gritted teeth. Around him, two knight companions, nine followers, and dozens of private soldiers were all trembling and shaking briefly. After getting nervous, they all stayed where they were.
No one stood up, only a few pairs of numb eyes raised their eyes and glanced around with lifeless eyes.
A sharp whistling sound pierced the sky, and a frightening explosion came from a distance. The ground beneath you was shaking slightly in the explosion. It was enough to make high-level knights and mages panic. With the terrifying power of corpses everywhere, Baltel listened to the explosion that didn't seem to be very far away, silently picked up the food in his hand and brought it to his mouth.
The companions beside him also made the same move: after a brief hesitation, they continued to eat.
The second round of howling sound came from the air, and a moment later, the second round of explosion resounded throughout the world.
The shock of the explosion and the weakness of his body caused the dry and hard bread in Baltel's hand to fall to the ground. He looked at the dirt-covered bread almost numbly, and expressionlessly reached out to pick it up. Get up and continue to stuff it between your teeth, biting it viciously as if chewing wood.
The third round of howling sound came, and this time the explosion seemed to be a little closer.
Even if the "sky fire explosion" fell on his head, he didn't want to get up! They don't want to get up either!
They tore into the remaining bread and pancakes. The human spirit of sharing even emerged from the minds of some people. Those who still had food divided the food into two portions and delivered them to them. In front of the mouths of their hungry companions, amidst the deafening roar of the skyfire explosion, the knights from Cretland and the soldiers they led ate the last food in silence until the explosion subsided, until the unique feeling after the magic explosion A pungent smell wafted around them.
Then they sat and lay quietly between the pit and stones, thinking and doing nothing.
When one of Cecil's "recycling teams" discovered this team, the team leader was shocked.
A few noble knights and dozens of private soldiers were sitting just a few hundred meters away from the last bombardment. Half of them had fallen asleep, while those who remained awake were numb. Looking at the Cecil combat soldier appearing in front of them, the dead-like eyes left a deep impression on the captain of the recovery team. Many years later, the captain of the recovery team described the scene he saw like this:
"...After crossing that limit, their (noble coalition) will completelyDestroyed, they moved across the plains like zombies. When their strength was exhausted, they stopped and sat anywhere. Our shells fell beside them, and they were completely unmoved. They would eat The last of the food and just waiting like that. surrender? No, they didn't want to surrender. They didn't think about it at all. They just stayed there. But when we arrived, they threw out their weapons very cooperatively. The only thing they asked for was to sleep. ...It seems that as long as it allows them to rest peacefully, they can do anything. ”
On the eighth day after the Battle of Gravel Ridge, the fleeing coalition of nobles began to surrender in large numbers—or rather, they stopped where they were, quietly waiting for the Cecils to “collect them.” ”.
Philippe Knight and Walder Peric saw the most incredible sight they had ever seen since joining the army: people who had completely lost their fighting spirit wandered in groups on the plains like zombies, Capturing prisoners no longer requires any fighting, just shoot a few random shots at the feet of those people, or throw a crystal grenade in the distance
They will naturally stop, even if you give them a rope. If so, they would tie their hands themselves.
On the tenth day after the Battle of Gravel Ridge, the Cecil Combat Corps entered the western area of the southern border. Through a series of detours, they entered the southern border. The Carroll-Consko area bypassed a long arc and continued to "pursue" toward the Horseman Territory. In the afternoon of this day, the Byron Knights led a thousand supports from the Cecil mainland. The troops and a large amount of supplies completed the rendezvous with Philip's Corps.