According to Russell's account, he walked slowly behind with a group of mercenaries and some heavy vehicles, only to meet the cavalry forward of Odin's army.
The Odins still came from the corridors of the Albact Plain. The cavalry at the front were all light cavalry, and they also cooperated with a small number of icefield hunter scouts.
At such a time, it is absolutely impossible to return with the heavy carriage and cargo. Once Odin's light cavalry striker team catches up, not only will the cargo be lost, but even the people will be lost. So Russell made a decision to simply abandon the team and run for their lives. The driver of the chariot and the attendants of some caravans without horses untied the horses that were pulling the chariot and left the road to flee into the surrounding wilderness, mountains and forests. As long as they avoided the marching route of Odin's army, they should have great confidence. survive.
Russell, on the other hand, fled towards Wildfire Town with his mercenary horses.
On the way, Russell's men and horses were discovered by Odin's forward cavalry team. The Odins sent a small group of cavalry to chase and kill them for a while, but Odin's reindeer cavalry were not as good as horses on long-distance galloping, so they were lucky by Russell and others. They escaped, but there were also a few companions who were unfortunately left behind on the road, so they had to run all the way to Wildfire Town to report to Char. Fortunately, the front cavalry of the Odins chased after them for a while, but they could not catch up, so they gave up chasing.
The arrival of Odin's army, the news came out of Russell's mouth, and immediately shocked everyone present!
Xia Ya's face changed, and he whispered: "How is it possible! The Odin army invaded, why is the empire not prepared at all?! Let the Odins all beat Wildfire Town?"
If this situation was in the past, it was indeed unimaginable.
With the long-term hostility between the two countries, the Byzantine Empire naturally has various intelligence channels scattered in the Odin Empire. Once the Odin Empire's army gathers and mobilizes for war, the Byzantine Empire's intelligence system will inevitably be hidden. So before each war, once it was known that the Odins were going to invade, the Byzantine Empire would mobilize troops early to gather on the northern border.
The most common practice is Chen Bing in Moore County, Bing Feng stationed in Yehuo Town, striving to defend the enemy outside the country, and fighting the Odin people on the Wildhuo Plain to keep the enemy out of his own border to avoid himself. The country was devastated by war.
For example, in the last war, before the Odins came, several central standing corps of the Byzantine Empire had gathered at the border to set up defense lines and set up temporary theaters to respond to the enemy.
But this time... within the empire, there was no movement at all? !
What makes Xia anxious even more is...
The Odins came from the north, and the forwards have come fifty miles away from Wildfire Town! The Empire did not have an army to deal with it. The Odins can easily occupy the wildfire town as the last stronghold of the march, and then they can march into the territory of the Byzantine Empire!
(Don't expect Wildfire Town to stop the Odins. Wildfire Town, a place that doesn't care, has never made any gesture of resistance to the occupier.)
And once you cross Wildfire Town and drive south, where is the first place to bear the brunt
It's your own county of More! ! ! !
Without the resistance of the main army of the empire, with the current military strength of More County, want to resist the army of the Odin Empire? What are you kidding? !
The current local garrison in More County is nominally a regiment of flags, but after many years of obscurity, the actual combat strength is only a few hundred people. With hundreds of miscellaneous soldiers, how to resist the sturdy and savage Odin warriors
Xia Ya stood on the spot with a cloudy face and various thoughts in his heart. He really didn't understand why all the Odins had hit the door this time, but there was no movement in the empire.
After all, he spent so many days on the wildfire plains, and ran into the deep mountains of Zaku for so many days. How could he know that such great changes had taken place in the outside world and within the empire
At this moment, warlords in various military regions have erected rebel flags, and the Central Standing Corps loyal to the imperial family has been divided into various places. The nearest military regions near the imperial capital have gathered rebel troops to attack Osgilia. The entire empire has fallen into a mess. Where is there any time to deal with the movements of the Odins
He didn't even know that the news of this massive invasion of the Odins had already been reported back to the country by the Byzantine intelligence system, but at this time, the center of the empire had been paralyzed, the royal family was on the verge of collapse, and the imperial decree could not leave the imperial capital. Desperately ordering all the troops to move towards Osgilia, where is the power to manage the Odins
"Sir! Make a quick decision!"
At this moment, it was Philip who spoke first. This guy's face was also gloomy, but a glimmer of light clearly flashed in his eyes: "Now we can't delay! Where to go, please order it immediately!!"
Xia Ya glanced at the former silver python warrior group leader. He forcibly suppressed the anxiety in his heart, took a deep breath, and glanced at the people around him, and finally his eyes fell on Russell: "Russell!"
Russell immediately stood up when he heard the words: "Sir!"
"You did a good job." Xia Ya said in a deep voice, "I don't blame you for discarding the convoy's cargo, but I want to reward you! You can earn it back if you lose it, but if you lose your brothers, you're really gone. !"
Russell heaved a sigh of relief—it seemed that he was with the right person, this lord is not the kind of person who cut his eyes off.
"Russell, the situation is urgent now, so you can't rest." Xia Ya stared at Russell, and Russell immediately raised his chest: "Sir, I'm not afraid of being tired, please tell me!"
"I'll give you all the current convoy! These golds are our military expenses, you immediately take the convoy without stopping, and immediately leave the city and head south to Denzel City, Moore County! Be sure to get to Dan as quickly as possible. Zell City! Report the matter to Green, the current garrison commander of Denzel City!" After a pause, Xia said slowly, "I don't have any extra manpower for you, I only give you twenty horses!"
Russell nodded, with no doubt on his face: "Sir, you don't need twenty cavalry, ten cavalry is enough! I guarantee my life, and I will transport the military expenses back to Denzel City!"
"Another fast horse will be dispatched to go back first, report to Greene, and prepare for battle! You should leave immediately!"
After Xiaya finished speaking, Russell immediately raised his head and responded, got on his horse, and after shouting for a while, he picked ten horses to follow his subordinates.
"Philip! Sharba!"
The two immediately stepped forward, and Xiaya looked at the two of them: "You two, bring ten cavalry troops out of town immediately to the north to inquire about the enemy's situation! When encountering an enemy scout, try not to fight the enemy, as long as you find out the enemy's army. The direction of the front, the distance, and the speed of the advance are just fine! Pay attention to safety!"
After a pause, Xia Ya's eyes fell on Philip's body, and Shen Sheng added: "Philip is in charge! If you encounter an undecided matter, listen to his ideas!"
Sharba was stunned for a moment, with a puzzled look on his face.
After all, in Sharba's heart, he is the closest direct line to Xi Ya. Both of them are generals and guards from the Rodriguez cavalry regiment, and they are brothers who were killed together from the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood. I am a veteran of the army, and I should be responsible for this kind of work that goes out to inquire about the enemy's situation...
Xiaya sighed and said quickly: "Sharba, you are too impatient, Philip is more refined. This time I just inquire about the enemy's situation, not to fight the enemy, so you have to listen to Philip!"
Philip's eyes suddenly showed a bit of moving - he was originally Char's enemy, but now he has nowhere to go. He is committed to Char's subordinates, and he has never been able to gain Char's true trust. This time, Char suddenly made such a decision, Philip was immediately moved, and immediately said: "Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely be careful!"
Although Sharba is a reckless and fierce general, he is not a person with a small stomach. After listening to it, he stopped arguing, and simply got on his horse, and took ten cavalry with Philip, and went north quickly.
At this moment, the rest are a group of mercenaries, most of them are the subordinates of the original Fire Rhino mercenary group Hawk, and some are Russell's subordinates, and there are more than 30 people, which are the Lantis warriors of the Gallens Chamber of Commerce. .
Xiaya looked at the rest of the people, smiled, and summoned the head of the Gallens Chamber of Commerce, and said calmly: "You are from Lantis, I want to fight with the Odins, you really can't go up and die, and I will too. I won't force you to come with me..."
Hearing this, the head of the Gallons Chamber of Commerce was relieved. Xia Ya's words changed: "However, I need your horses and weapons, especially your Lantis bows, I will borrow them..."
The people from the Gallens Chamber of Commerce immediately smiled when they heard it: "There is no problem with this, the adults use it, just take it."
As he spoke, he immediately ordered that all Lantis guard warriors gave up their horses and bows and arrows they carried with them.
Xia Ya immediately allocated the horses. There were 50 mercenaries left, and there were more than 80 horses. Xia Ya thought about it, and immediately called Hawke to ask him to do one. matter.
"I know it's night! But things are urgent now! You're also someone who is used to hanging out in Wildfire Town, so you naturally know what's going on here. It's night, and I don't care if you go to smash the door or take someone out of bed. No matter if you drag it down, go to the horse market, I want you to get at least thirty war horses! The price doesn't matter, I will give you ten times the price! But I only give you half an hour!"
When Hawk heard it, he didn't hesitate, and immediately rushed out with a few close mercenary warriors.
He has also lived in Wildfire Town for a long time, and he knows the situation in the town very well, so he went to the horse market, where he knew which caravans had horses and which dealers had goods. Although people quarreled, it would be to offend people, but Xiaya promised ten times the price and opened the way with a lot of gold coins, so there was no big problem in thinking.
After Xia Ya made the order, he immediately brought the others to the north of the town, and waited there for half an hour, when he saw Hawke led a group of horses and ran to meet.
As a result, there are more than fifty people under Xia Ya, but they have at least more than one hundred horses. Xiaya immediately instructed everyone to get ready to go out of the city. At this moment, there were shouts from the streets behind the town, and when I looked back, it was the Lantis people from the Galens Chamber of Commerce who went back and forth.
The head of the Gallens Chamber of Commerce brought someone to a cart, ran to Xiaya, dismounted and saluted, and said loudly, "Sir, I just went back and talked to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper has something to say, thank you, Xiaya. Your Excellency does not embarrass us on the standpoint of the two countries. However, since Lord Char is our friend, then the friend has difficulties, and we Lantis people can't do our best."
He turned back and pointed to the carriage: "Although it is inconvenient for us to come forward to help directly, but it happens that there are some items in stock in the store, so let's 'borrow' them together for adults to use!"
As soon as Xia Ya's heart moved, he saw the Lantis people remove the things from the car. This "gift" is not too light. Thirty pairs of Lantis military standard bows, sixty pots of arrows, and ten Pair with good armor.
What surprised Xia most was that there was actually a small military crossbow that could be disassembled! This is a ballista, which can be directly assembled on the carriage. After the assembly is completed, it can shoot crossbow arrows nearly two meters long, which can be fired in three bursts! This is already considered heavy ordnance. Thinking of the Gallons Chamber of Commerce, in a remote place like Wildfire Town, they still store such good things? !
Looking at Xia Ya's eyes, the leader of the Gallens Chamber of Commerce immediately understood and explained: "Our Chamber of Commerce is located in this frontier land, and the trade of some ordnance is always inevitable, so it wouldn't be too much of a fuss if you want to come to Lord Xia Ya. ."
Xia laughed, and then said sternly: "Thank you for your shop owner on my behalf! Just say this favor from the Gallens Chamber of Commerce, I, Xia Lei Ming, remember it!"
※※※
Just a few miles to the north from the town is a mountain. This mountain is the most familiar place for Xiaya. If you follow the mountain road in the mountain, you can walk for another day and you will reach the valley in the mountain, where he used to live. 's hometown.
After taking the people under him to the foot of the mountain and hiding them in the woods on the hillside, Xia Ya stood by the hillside alone, overlooking the road to the north from a distance.
After waiting for about an hour, I heard the sound of hurried horses' hooves in the distance, and more than a dozen horses came down south in the dark. Xia Ya saw from a distance that it was Philip and others, and immediately ran out to the main road. Philip and Sharba rode their horses and stopped in front of Xi Ya. At this moment, they were riding more than ten times, and everyone was sweating and their faces were covered in dust.
"How about it?"
Philip looked grim: "The situation is not very good!"
After everyone ran into the woods and sat down together, Philip took a few breaths and said, "It is indeed the Odin..."
Sharba next to him interjected: "It's the Red Snow Legion."
"Chixue?" Xia Ya was taken aback.
"Well, you can't be wrong." Sharba said in a very determined tone: "I fought many battles with the Odins when I was in the Rodriguez cavalry regiment. I am very familiar with the flags of the Odins. Army Ding is flying a red flag, and I recognized it as soon as I saw it, it was the Chixue Army."
Xia Ya is not very familiar with this "Red Snow Legion" - in fact, his days in the army were short after all, and the only ones who really fought were Ke Kelan's Legion in the last war, and Hastings' Black Flag Army. . I really don't know much about this "Red Snow Legion".
Sharba's expression is not easy: "The Red Snow Legion is Odin's strong army. Although it is not as famous as Hasting's Black Flag Army, it is still a hard bone! A few years ago, our Roderian cavalry fought with them once. The cavalry of our two flag regiments rushed nine times in turn before they broke through their army formation, which was a tragic victory."
If it can withstand the nine frontal charges of the Rodriguez cavalry regiment, it is indeed a rare strong army in the world.
"The Chixue Army is not a direct descendant of the Odin royal family, so in the Odin army, it has always been suppressed by the Black Flag Army, but I heard General Adric say that the commander of the Chixue Army is also a hard role."
After listening to Sharba's introduction, Xiaya had a solemn expression on his face, and Philip had already continued: "The other party is a mixed army, most of them are infantry, only a small number of cavalry, and most of them are reindeer cavalry, only a very small number Horses. Reindeer cavalry charge is good, but long-distance galloping is much worse than horses. We ran for dozens of miles, and sure enough, we saw the opponent's forward. The number is at least a thousand cavalry."
Char noticed that Sharba also nodded when Philip was talking—with Sharba's long experience in the army, it seems that this number is not wrong.
"... Later, I took a risk. I took someone alone and copied it from the side to the back of this Odin striker. After at least ten more miles, I saw the large army of Odin. It's not over! I think this Odin legion is all infantry, and the main legion is behind. This striker runs too fast and is too far away from the main legion..."
Although Philip is meticulous, he doesn't know much about tactics in the army after all. When Xi Ya heard what he said, he immediately shook his head: "It's not that the cavalry runs too fast... The Odins wouldn't make such a mistake."
After a pause, he said slowly: "The Odins suddenly invaded. This Qianqi striker did not run too far. It must have received an order to dash forward. I'm afraid the purpose is to..."
Philip is also a smart person, and he blurted out: "They are trying to grab the speed and occupy Wildfire Town!"
Shaya nodded.
Sharba next to him suddenly said, "Xia Ya... there is one more thing... "
"what?"
Sharba's face was a little ugly, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said solemnly: "I heard Philip say that he led someone to go around behind this Odin striker cavalry from the side, and peeped at the large troop of the Red Snow Legion. Listening to Philip's description, it seems that something is wrong..."
"wrong?"
"Yeah! Philip said that those Odin infantrymen are all marching fast, and it seems that there is no such thing as a carriage or carriage in the army. It seems that they are all traveling lightly and quickly without carrying any baggage!"
This time, Xiaya completely changed color! !
Without luggage, a regiment is all lightly armed and hurried on the road...
This practice is completely contrary to the norm! And when this happens, there are only two possibilities.
First, the commander of the Odin Legion is a military idiot - which is obviously impossible.
The second... is that the other party is forcibly marching in pursuit of speed! Reach the target area with quick-attack raids and be sure to defeat the enemy!
At the same time, it also brings up a question, that is, how to supply supplies? !
"Supply on the spot, fight with war!" Xiaya almost uttered such a sentence from between her teeth.
Obviously, the Odins came this time, and this is the idea!
Do not carry baggage, in order to pursue speed, but also make up your mind to supply on the spot!
The so-called "on-site supply", Xi Ya, who has been in the army, naturally understands the "meaning" of it!
In short, it is nothing more than one sentence: burn, kill and loot!
"More County..." Xia, Philip, and Sharba looked at each other at the same time, and the three of them were pale.
More County is the grain producing region of the north of the Empire! And the empire didn't know why this time, it didn't do any combat preparations! The northern part of the empire is almost undefended! The army of the Odins only need to bring a few days of rations to force a march into the interior of the empire. How can the local garrison be an opponent? After the defeat of the local garrison, the whole of More County is the meat of the Odins! !
For a while, the three fell silent. After looking at each other a few times, Sharba and Philip were both staring at Xi Ya, waiting for him to make up his mind.
Xia Ya took a deep breath, feeling extremely annoyed in her heart, and even felt that the heavy pressure in her heart could not be shaken away.
He stood up and walked to the side of the hill, letting the night wind blow on his face, trying to calm a beating heart.
At this moment, he is very clear in his heart!
The goal of this Odin Legion is Moore County! Once they are allowed to enter Mor County, then Mor County, which is rich in food, will become a supply area for Odin's army! The fierce and brutal Odin warriors will wave the butcher knives in their hands, slaughter the soldiers and civilians of More County, and snatch enough food! The entire county of More will be ravaged by the butcher knives of the Odins!
If it was in the past, these things have nothing to do with Char.
But now... he's the military commander of More County! More County, it's his territory! !
If you want to live, it's easy! As long as he takes these people with him, he immediately dives into the deep mountain next to him, and hides for a few months without worrying about safety.
but…
"Philip!"
Xia Ya suddenly turned his head, and there was no hesitation in his eyes at the moment! Eyes flashing, full of absolute!
"I'll give you two batches of horses! You immediately go to Denzel, County Moor! Report everything here to Green quickly! With his military strategy, he will naturally make a decision!"
Philip stayed for a while: "I, I'll go back... Sir, what about you?"
"So much nonsense! Get out! I'll cut your head off for delaying military affairs!" Xia was furious, and suddenly pulled out the fire fork, shouting, "Go!"
Philip only felt that there was a surge of blood in his heart, he roared in a low voice, turned around and got on his horse, galloping away...
Shaerba was not in a hurry, but calmed down at this moment, looking at Xiaya: "It seems that you want to vote?"
Xia Ya grinned, but there was no joy in the smile, but it was full of hideous colors!
"Always find a way to stop this Odin army! Buy some time so that Green has room to make arrangements."
Sharba also grinned, pulled out his knife and slashed at the tree trunk next to him, and laughed loudly: "Okay! Fuck it! Anyway, there's only one dead left and right! Where is the man from Rodia? Fear of death!"
Xia squinted his eyes and thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "It's impossible to fight recklessly, there are only a few dozen of us, even if we fight it all, we will face an enemy army, but it will be killed in a short time, it's useless, I have to figure out a way to…”