The magic artillery carriage pulled by packhorses creaked forward on the bumpy and difficult dirt road. The heavily armed Cecil combat soldiers formed a guard formation in front of, behind and left of the artillery carriage, always alert to the wasteland. In all the movements on the mountain, the young knight Philip rode at the front of the team. At the end of his sight were the mountains at the northernmost tip of the southern border.
The Rock Fortress is located between those mountains, locking the mountains tightly like a prison door, locking the Cecil family in this land for a hundred years.
Today, he was going to open that door.
Scouts riding fast horses in groups of three are constantly being sent out from the team to investigate the surrounding situation in all directions, and report the situation to the team at any time: the team has now arrived We must be more vigilant in the buffer zone between Rock Fortress and the southern border.
Knight Philip knew very well that this would be a completely different battle from the shelling of Gravel Ridge - in front of Gravel Ridge, he was fighting a defensive battle, and the attackers were a coalition of nobles. You need to set up artillery positions on the spot and wait for the enemy to fall into the trap. But this time he becomes the attacker, so everything will be completely different.
If traditional noble codes and war etiquette are followed, both the attacking and defending parties must act according to the rules. Even if one of the parties discovers the opponent's course of action, he must wait patiently on the agreed battlefield. , waiting for the opponent to enter the battlefield, set up their formation, and give the signal to start the war before launching an attack. This "combat process" with greater symbolic meaning than practical significance is highly praised by the nobles because it can ensure that the nobles participating in the war are as safe as possible during the entire war. They were safe and elegant enough—but the shelling on the gravel ridge had shattered everything.
There was a sound of artillery on the gravel ridge, and the aristocratic coalition forces that had not had time to organize their formation were suddenly attacked by the Cecil people and their bodies were scattered all over the field. After that, the traditional war etiquette disappeared. Now, the nobles who have already suffered a loss cannot continue to stick to the old rules pedantically. Knight Philip must always be prepared to deal with the enemy's surprise attack. Although the magic crystal rail gun is powerful, it cannot be used before the bombardment position is deployed. is its most vulnerable stage.
While Knight Philip was thinking, a small commotion suddenly came from not far away. He raised his head and saw several soldiers escorting two tied people forward.
Philip stopped his horse and saw that the two tied people were wearing traditional - or old-fashioned iron chain mail. No identification marks could be seen outside the chain mail. One of the people's arms He was injured by a thermal ray gun, and the wound was scorched black. There was no obvious external injury on the other person.
The squad leader escorting the two men saluted and reported loudly: "Sir! We caught the spies from Rock Fortress - they were sneaking around in the nearby woods and were discovered by the troops patrolling the outside. "
The two tied prisoners looked scared and nervous, just like the Cecil soldiers with strange equipment and notorious reputations around them.As if they were cannibals, Philip looked down at the two men and asked after a long time: "Are you from Rock Fortress?"
Not admitting it in this case would be seeking death. The two prisoners hesitated for a moment. They nodded one after another.
"Very good, don't worry, I won't execute you," Knight Philip nodded slightly and said, "I will let you go back - our lord has a letter to hand to the commander of Rock Fortress On hand."
......
The Cecil people are really here.
Two patrol soldiers who went to the south of the fortress brought back news of the Cecil people's massive attack, and also brought back the "letter" they gave to the Rock Fortress.
The defenders of Rock Fortress immediately summoned all the army commanders and also summoned the southern nobles who had taken refuge in the fortress.
In the main hall of the castle area, a knight captain was relaying the news from the front to his commander:
"General, there are three to five thousand people heading north. Come, they also have a large convoy - the cars are equipped with all kinds of strange things, perhaps the 'Sky Fire Explosion' casting device. They have now entered the hilly area south of the fortress, and will arrive in about three days. Will enter the plains..."
The southern nobles were slightly commotion, but overall they were still calm, while other knight officers discussed in low voices, and a mid-level knight commander stood up from his seat. Looking at Sir Maryland: "General, what is written in the 'letter of war' of those Cecil people?"
Sir Maryland nodded and took out the letter that had just been sent to him. "Letter written by Duke Gawain Cecil", everyone's attention was immediately attracted by the letter, especially the southern nobles in the hall, their breathing slowed down for a moment.
Sir Maryland already knew the content of the letter. He first glanced at the southern nobles, and then said unhurriedly: "I will read the content to you."
< p>The content of the letter is not long - it is not as complicated and gorgeous as most letters from nobles, with lots of words, but is as simple and straightforward as a note -"...Southern Territory Four More than a dozen nobles collectively declared war on the Cecil family. After their defeat, the remaining culprits fled into the Rock Fortress. In view of the above-mentioned nobles' unprovoked violations of Cecil's land and people, they have been designated as war criminals by just laws. Now Cecil The army went to you to receive prisoners of war, hoping that you would distinguish between right and wrong, hand over the war criminals, and allow our personnel to search the city."
It took Sir Maryland less than a minute to read the contents of the letter. , and then the entire hall fell into silence.
It was not until two minutes later that a knight officer broke the silence by exclaiming: "What is this?! How can there be such a negotiation document?!"
"Yes, This is certainly not negotiation," Sir Maryland looked at the knight officer and said with an angry smile, "This is an order from above, more arrogant than a king giving an order to his own attendants!It seems that our founding hero who came back from the dead is not prepared to negotiate with us at all. ”
After hearing the contents of the letter, the southern nobles became uneasy. They seemed to be really afraid that Sir Maryland would hand them over in exchange for the safety of the fortress. Now seeing Sir After their reaction, they felt a little relieved. Viscount Mari Oran took the time to say: "Sir, you are right. The Cecil people will not negotiate with us according to tradition at all. Their lords have always ignored All virtues and rules, negotiating with them will only be a waste of time and will lead to falling into a trap! "
Sir Maryland nodded slightly. Seeing this scene, Viscount Consisco stood up and said: "Sir, it will take three days for the Cecil people to arrive. We can take advantage of this. It's time to make more preparations..."
"Make more preparations? "Sir Maryland looked at this tall, thin man who was depressed and drunken not long ago. He knew that although the family inheritance was not long ago, Viscount Consco was a resourceful and flexible person, so he didn't mind listening to the other party. comments, “What do you mean?
Viscount Consco gritted his teeth and said: "We can dig more traps on the plains in advance and send druids to drop poison on the hilly areas. In addition, we can kill the sick people." Throwing livestock carcasses into the Whitewater River can even directly allow druids to spread plague in the river - we have filled in all the wells on the plains in advance, and the Cecil people can only rely on the Whitewater River if they want to get water. No matter how powerful the weapons are, people will always get sick..."
"Stop talking," before Consco finished speaking, Sir Maryland suddenly interrupted him loudly, "Viscount, you guys... Where did the sinister idea come from? If we do this, there will be no aristocratic spirit at all! "
"Sir, these strategies may be insidious, but they are really effective," Viscount Conscico defended. "The Cecil people do not respect virtues and rules, and their lord is the leader in destroying aristocratic decency. There is no need for us to tell them about the spirit of nobility..."
Sir Maryland looked at Viscount Consisco with surprised eyes, as if it was the first day he met him. He did not expect that these could be called The insidious strategy would come from the mouth of a noble, but he also agreed in his heart that these strategies of Viscount Consisco were indeed effective, but after some thinking, he couldn't help but said: "Do you know that the lower reaches of the White Water River The Cecil troops were not alone—the river continued downward, with countless people relying on it for survival. "
"What does the life and death of those civilians have to do with us? While we were having trouble sleeping and eating in the wilderness, those civilians might have forgotten their lords and were busy welcoming their new master Cecil! Viscount Consecutive said excitedly, as if the pressure accumulated over so many days finally broke out on him, "Sir, I know what you are worried about - the Whitewater River flows to the south, and you are there on the hilly side. part of the territory, but don’t forget, and further down there are my manor and castle! What we have to do now is a sacrifice full of glory - civilians are like wheat. Once this batch is cut, it will grow again next year. But once we die, who can maintain order in the land in the south? ”
Viscount Consisco waved his arms, and at the end he was somewhat impassioned. What stunned Sir Maryland the most was that the southern nobles at the scene responded one after another. , they all nodded in agreement with Viscount Consisco's proposals, just because of the latter's words "full of glorious sacrifice", this strategy that was completely contrary to the spirit of nobility turned out to be a noble plan.
But at this moment, Baroness Luo Penni suddenly spoke in a cold voice: "Gentlemen, I'm afraid you are thinking too simply. ”
At this moment, Luo Penni Grant has a considerable say in the southern nobles. As soon as she opened her mouth, the nobles who had already agitated fell silent. Even Lord Maryland showed his face. The expression on his face as he watched the show, waiting for Luo Penni’s next words.
“I’m afraid you have forgotten how the Cecil people made their fortune. "
Luo Penni Grant said something coldly, and most of the people present quickly looked thoughtful.
"Alchemical potion-their There are so many alchemical potions that you can almost drink them as water. Is the anti-disease mixture something very expensive? "Luo Penni Grant glanced around, "Even if you use druid magic to turn all the water in the White Water River into poison, the Cecil people probably won't care. Instead, you will waste a lot of energy! "
The southern nobles looked at each other, Viscount Consecutive was speechless, and Sir Maryland said at the right time: "That's true, Viscount Consecutive, that's not a good idea. "
Then he said: "But we do need to respond before the Cecil people have a firm foothold..."