The Central Army of the Byzantine Empire has always been regarded as a direct line of troops of the royalist faction, and the chief officers who command the various corps of the Central Army have always selected generals from the eagle family to serve as generals to ensure the loyalty of these troops to the royal family, and the Central Army is also the royal family's reliance. The biggest bargaining chip used against the warlords.
But the current situation is no longer what it used to be.
With the dramatic changes in the imperial situation in the past two years, the Central Army, which was originally labeled as a "royalist", has long ceased to be what it used to be.
The strongest and most elite Roderian cavalry have been destroyed. The Odins invaded and wiped out the 6th and 7th Corps in the north as soon as they invaded. The Osgilia defense battle has been fought for more than a year, and the warlord rebels of the Red Round Table have been swept away. The fierce battle made the last bit of vitality gradually lost.
It can be said that after the end of the defense of Osgilia, the last central army of the empire was in the imperial capital, and it was only more than 20,000 people (this was supplemented by the number after the war), and they were the veterans of the central army before the war. , most of them died in the battle of Osgilia.
After the rebellion in the south, the imperial capital had to divide its forces and let the Duke of Minas lead the south to fight the rebellion. At that time, the imperial capital's army, except for some garrison troops from the south, was the private army of the nobles, and then there were the pillars of the sky. Central Army.
The Duke of Minas went south to suppress the rebellion. Most of the troops he took away were private armies of the nobles, but he also took part of the Central Army. Although not many were taken away, the old duke was a soldier all his life, and he had many disciples, and he took away absolutely what he took. It's all essence.
There is no doubt that the troops that were taken away were all swallowed up by the old Duke of Minas as soon as they reached the south. The formed southern counter-insurgency army has no trace of the "Central Army" anymore.
It's a pity that the large corps were neat in the beginning, with hundreds of thousands of heroes, famous generals gathered, and the iron army like Rodriguez, which can be called the invincible iron army in the mainland, is now in decline!
So, where did the Central Army cavalry that suddenly appeared here now come from
Char is not surprised at all, because he has seen the front of the cavalry formation from a distance, the appearance of the leading general who is tightly surrounded by many cavalry.
Although it was only a glimpse from a distance, Xiaya had already recognized this guy.
Roddy!
The son of the Duke of Minas, the one known as the little lord.
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How did Rhodey show up in the East? This started a few months ago.
The old Duke of Minas went south to suppress the rebellion, and coaxed his son away first, and let Rody serve as the vanguard cavalry commander who went south to suppress the rebellion, and went south to sweep the rebels first.
For this move, on the one hand, the old duke knew that his son had been in the imperial capital for too long, and this son was very dissatisfied with some of his actions, so he simply sent Roddy to the south under the pretext of being a striker. He vented.
On the other hand, it is also to avoid the further expansion of the rift between the father and son. The old duke then took the army south, and along the way, he had to carry out internal cleaning, so as not to add to his dissatisfaction after watching his son by his side.
However, the old duke loved his son after all. Although Roddy was good at fighting the rebellion in the south, it was the first time this guy had led a war independently. It can be said that it was collected from the family's property!
There were not many cavalry left in Osgilia City, and many horses were added after the war.
The old man took part of the central army, selected some elites from the local garrison, and selected the backbone from his own private army, and finally made up two thousand cavalry. The men and horses were all carefully selected, and a batch of Central Army equipment was mobilized from the imperial capital's warehouse. The armor and weapons are all standard configuration of the Central Army.
In this way, the 2,000 cavalry led by Roddy changed their bodies and became the appearance of the Central Army.
And after Rhodey took these two thousand elite cavalry to the south, it was like a tiger out of its cage!
This little lord had already held back his resentment in the imperial capital!
He was strongly dissatisfied with his father's sacrifice of Daphne again, and at the same time, he couldn't accept it because of his father's implicit disobedience to the empire.
What's more, Luo Di has been suppressed by his own old man for so many years. He has a lot of talents and skills, but he can only be an idle playboy in the imperial capital, and he is even more wronged.
Now that I finally got the opportunity to lead the war alone, it is like releasing all the grievances for many years at once!
His 2,000 cavalry went south, originally only to be the vanguard of the army behind him. He opened a road and built a bridge when he encountered a small group of rebels. It cleared the way for the main force behind the rebellion.
But who would have thought that this little lord was so fierce!
His 2,000 cavalry went south happily, and a fierce boy plunged into the hinterland of the southern rebel zone. What about the main force behind the counter-insurgency? He can't wait to conquer the world all by himself!
To say that Roddy is indeed capable. Under his leadership, the two thousand cavalry, like tigers descending from the mountain, rushed into the rebel area, and immediately turned the world upside down. Wherever they went, the rebels were invincible. He is a standard fast and slow, relying on the fast mobility of the cavalry, and continuous long-distance raids in one breath, defeated several groups of rebels, and even weighed more than a dozen towns.
The rebels were frightened by the madness of the little lord. For a time, this little lord simply became an invincible momentum in the south.
The old Duke Minas at the back got the news and almost regretted his bowels!
Indeed, before his son set off, he told Roddy that it was faster to go south.
But it didn't let you get to the point of death! !
The young lord abandoned all the logistics and supplies, and drove away the rebels with cavalry. Wherever there were more rebels, he would head there. When the old duke got the news from the front line, Roddy had already penetrated into the rebel area. Baili, countless enemies have been annihilated!
If it weren't for the slow arrival of the old duke, I'm afraid that before his main army arrived, the rebellion in the south would have been quelled by his own son!
How can this work!
The rebellion in the south has the shadow of the secret manipulation of the Duke of Minas. What's more, he got this opportunity to lead the army and take power! !
Seeing that the army going south has not yet reached the place, the rebellion in the south is almost wiped out by his own son - what is the strength of his main army going south!
Originally, what the Duke of Minas saved was to fight slowly after going south, digesting all the opposing voices while fighting, and then grasped the counter-rebel army in his hand. After all, raising thieves with self-respect is an old trick that has been played for thousands of years.
If you let your son wipe out the rebellion all at once, what excuses do you have for this army to keep going south? I haven't had time to complete the internal cleaning yet!
So, just as Roddy was advancing bravely, the old duke issued more than a dozen military orders in a row, and the special envoy in the army sent an order, asking Roddy to stop the pace of the south and wait for the main force.
Although Roddy was dissatisfied, after all, the commander ordered, and more than a dozen military orders were sent to his army. If he openly resisted, the military heart would inevitably have problems. In desperation, Roddy could only stop.
After the father and son had a round, the two quarreled several times.
Rhodey is not a fool. He came to the south, fought a series of battles, and joined the main force. With his father, it was difficult to hide many secrets from him. Roddy finally learns of his father's ignominious role in the Southern rebellion. Even his father's internal purges of the southern counter-insurgents openly defied the imperial capital's orders.
All in all, the wolf's ambition is obvious.
The rift between Rhodey and the old duke widened again, this time to an intolerable level.
The father and son turned against each other. Since Roddy couldn't stop his father's behavior, he could only run away.
He took his 2,000 cavalry and left the main force in the name of a split attack.
But where to go, Rhodey fell into trouble.
Roddy's mind is actually very simple, he just wants to be loyal to the country. Now the empire is torn apart, the rebels are divided, and the Lantis people are eyeing them, calling them allies, but in fact they have the intention of encroaching. He naively believed that his father, as an important minister of the empire, should take up the important task of revitalizing the empire at this time of crisis, instead of having a bad heart. What is the difference between this and those warlords who rebelled against the country
After taking the soldiers and horses and parting ways with his father, there are not many ways out.
Back to the capital? This seems to be the "right way". Because my father wanted to be a chaotic minister and insisted on his loyalty, of course, he should return to the imperial capital to show his intentions.
But Roddy is not stupid!
Not only is he not stupid, he is also a smart guy.
He knew very well that the imperial capital had already hated his family as his father supported his troops in the south. Even if he has no intention of rebelling, he rushes back to the imperial capital—there is no way to find a way to seek death.
Once he returns to the imperial capital, he will be immediately dismissed from the military and thrown into prison for trial.
Who would believe that the son of the Duke of Minas is innocent? Maybe people thought they were running back and trying to conspire to win the imperial capital.
At that time, in case of being beheaded by a knife, there will be no place to complain!
Even if Adrick believed in himself, who would believe the officials in the imperial capital? Adrick will not mess up the military hearts of the imperial capital for himself. At that time, you can only sacrifice yourself.
Returning to the imperial capital is the way to seek death, and it will not benefit him or the country at all.
That is, he didn't want to rebel with his father, and he didn't want to go back to the imperial capital to find death.
Then Rodice thought about it, and there was only one way left.
Damn, I do it myself!
To serve the country, we must fight against the party!
My own father stands on his own in the south, and Adric of the imperial capital does not move.
Just do what he says, this little lord really has the momentum of a tiger going out of the gate.
He wasn't a fool either. He only had two thousand cavalry, and he had a falling out with his father. He also had limited luggage and armaments, so he could only support himself in two battles.
The two thousand cavalry said more or less, and if they dealt with a top warlord like Hughes, it would be courting death. But if you choose some soft persimmons to pinch...
After careful consideration for a long time, Rhodey set a course for himself: East!
The current situation of the empire, the north is the world of Char, while the central part is the core area where the rebels entrenched. Father nibbles.
Only the East!
The eastern part of the empire is not rich, because it leads to the Chaos Territory and relies on the past trade routes to make a fortune. There are no powerful warlords, only a few second- and third-rate small Tema military regions, each with only a few thousand troops, and the site is large or small. Cunningly, move back and forth in the gap between them, don't let them be surrounded to death, take the opportunity to take a few bites, stand firm, and then have the capital for development!
So, Rhodey led the army to the east...
Where can the small military regions in the east have the strength to deal with him? Two thousand cavalry, if they were put in a field battle, even if they faced several times their number of infantry, they could still win the battle, and even if they couldn't win, they could run away. Several small warlords in the east have not so strong family background, and each family can only collect seven or eight thousand soldiers at most. As for the expensive arms such as cavalry, it is impossible to equip them in large quantities.
As soon as Rhodey arrived in the east, he was like a duck in water. First, relying on the mobility of the cavalry, he fought a few beautiful raids, destroyed several towns, and got the most urgently needed supplies, and then gave full play to his mobility. Running back and forth between the military regions, fighting Dongjia today, and attacking Xijia tomorrow, for a while there was suspicion, and for a while, long-distance raids made a mess in the east. In less than a month, he destroyed three cities in a row. The governor of one of the military districts did not escape, but was directly blocked by him in the city and became a prisoner. He was then beheaded, and the head was sent to the imperial capital for merit.
This time the fun will be big!
Lord Rodi, the son of Duke Minas, actually broke away from his father and brought an army to the east to help the empire fight the rebels against the warlord party! He also chopped off the head of a governor and sent it to the imperial capital to show his loyalty! Such a thing immediately made the imperial capital shake up and down.
First, it was shocking that Duke Minas, an old traitor, had raised such a loyal son of the empire. Secondly, the imperial capital was also quite surprised. Duke Minas and his son turned against each other, and the power in the south seemed to be weakened.
The third rule is that the upper and lower parts of the imperial capital are worried about how to reward this Lord Roddy, and they are arguing endlessly. Although this little lord is not like his father, he is not a traitor to the country, but after all, the family is a father and son. God knows when the father and son are reconciled, maybe they will unite to deal with the center of the empire. If Roddy is given too thick a reward now, and he is held too high, if they turn their face away and turn it back, then the face of the imperial capital will be disgraced.
In the end, it was Adrick who ruled out the differences and made a direct decision: Reward!
Since it is military merit, it should be rewarded!
This is the beheading of the governor of a military region! Looking at the world, only the fierce and powerful man in the north, Xia Ya, killed four military districts in one go. And this little gentleman had only 2,000 soldiers in his hands, and he actually killed a military region (although this military region was very weak), but it was also a military region in name. The credit for beheading the enemy chief cannot be erased.
Soon, the imperial capital got in touch with Rodi, and the imperial capital recognized the legal status of the army led by Roddy and gave them a legal identity: the East Road Counter-Rebel Army, and Rodi was appointed as the East Road Counter-Rebel Army The president leads the general.
This, at least in terms of name, completely separated this young lord from his father, Duke Minas.
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"What? Do you recognize the commander-in-chief?"
Seeing that Xia Ya's face was different, Hastings sneered: "Meet an acquaintance? Why don't you go up and say hello. Since you are an acquaintance, go say hello and maybe let our caravan go."
Xia Ya thought about it, hesitated a little, and finally shook his head: "Forget it."
He knew his own affairs from his own family. Facing Roddy's words, he was really guilty.
At least, Roddy is Daphne's elder brother. He sent Daphne back to the imperial capital. He had already met Roddy at that time, and this guy is very delicate. He was often on the sidelines at that time, watching his queen sister. When he parted with this Northern Turtle General, his eyes seemed to be reluctant to part. His younger sister was usually frosty, and she would not add color to any man, but with this Turtle General, she clearly showed attachment and tenderness in her eyes. , How could Rhodey not see such an emotion? There must be a story between these two!
However, Roddy has always been distressed that his sister married into the royal family and became a widow.
Xia Ya's heart is very empty, he has meddled in other people's sisters, and it is still a "stealing" activity, how can he dare to go to see Rhodey
After the caravan slowly passed under the supervision of the surrounding cavalry, Roddy had already led the army to challenge.
The city has already made preparations, and the gates of the city are closed, where can they come out to fight? Roddy sent a small team of cavalry around the city, shouting and scolding for a long time, but the city just made up its mind that the turtle would not head out.
Speaking of which, Roddy is also out of luck.
He was roaming back and forth in the east, and the previous month naturally took advantage of the unpreparedness of several local military regions when he first arrived. But as people gradually got used to this kind of dismissal from Roddy, and after all, the opponent was a local snake, after a long time, Roddy gradually couldn't take advantage of it.
Several military regions have made an idea to exchange information, build beacon towers, use the wolf smoke as the name, and use the town as a stronghold to shrink the force and clear the field.
It is indeed difficult for your Roddy's cavalry to find opponents in the east, but I hide in the city and don't go out. Your cavalry can't hit the city wall with its head, right
If Roddy dared to attack the city hard, that would make the rebels smile.
Cavalry siege the city, is that not courting death
Running into this kind of thing, playing is a surprise. But people have already launched the turtle strategy, and Roddy has been getting less and less good these days.
This time, the attack came, but the opponent got the news the day before. He used the beacon to call the police, and he stepped up the city defense early, letting Roddy rush into the air. When he came to the city, the city defense was already ready.
Roddy led people outside the city to yell and curse for a while, but in desperation, he could only divide his people to go to the surrounding villages to find a way to get some supplies.
"Forget it, for Daphne's sake, help this guy once."
Seeing Rody's cavalry helpless outside the city, Xiaya could only waste their energy and yell, and sighed.
"I'm not interested in going to you." Hastings closed his eyes.
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At night, Roddy finally got discouraged. He knew that he could not break the city in front of him. After dawn, he had to leave here quickly with his men and horses, lest the other party mobilize the army and besiege him after getting the news. Cavalry, you have to fight and run around in order to survive in this place where there are enemies on all sides.
The subordinate suggested to swallow the caravan, but Roddy refused without hesitation!
He knew very well that if he ate that caravan, he would indeed be able to bring himself a little sustenance. But Luo Di, who came from a family of martial arts, knew better that the army felt that it could not do this kind of robbery. Once the army degenerates into a robber, it will degenerate completely! Completely lose the soul of the army!
Compared with this stipend, Rhodey believes that it is more important to maintain the spirit of the army at the moment. If he covets temporary benefits and develops the problem of robbery for these soldiers, it will make this army that is still united now, completely transformed into a rogue of scattered sand!
So, he just asked someone to take the caravan to the back to take care of it, and didn't mean to move them.
He has already sent two other teams to the nearby villages to collect provisions: exchange, not rob!
There is still some money in the army, which was seized from the city guard's warehouse when he broke down a city last time. Roddy knows very well that if his alone army wants to survive in the east, it must not be at a standoff with the local people.
Therefore, even if he was collecting supplies in the countryside, he would never allow his subordinates to forcibly loot the farmers' rations and livestock, but was willing to pay for them or exchange them for them.
He knew even more that he was fighting against the local warlord government here. If even these grass-roots people were offended, then there would be no place for him to survive in the east.
But those cunning warlord parties, they are strong and clear, and they use the city as a stronghold to shrink their defenses, so that they can no longer break the city, and they can't get money and trophies. If you want to maintain the style of the army, no matter how strict the order is not to rob the soldiers, I am afraid that it will not be able to restrain the troops!
After all, no matter how correct the truth is, it cannot be eaten as food. When it's time to starve to death, who cares so much
"Send the order, let's leave here at dawn." Roddy thought for a while, and his lieutenant said in a low voice, "Send two groups of people to hide behind the hillside at the back, and our group leaves from the main road. The defenders relaxed their vigilance and let the ambush behind the hillside rush out, maybe there is still a chance to rush into the city."
The lieutenant glanced at Roddy and said with a wry smile: "Sir, this method is not bad, but we have used it several times. The rebels in the east have already learned how to behave well, and I will show it again this time, I am afraid that I won't be able to deceive. Someone's here."
Roddy blushed and smiled bitterly: "But there is no other way. Is it possible to let the brothers dismount and cut down the woods to build siege equipment to attack the city hard!"
"Hey, we only have six days of rations left. The horses are seeing a loss of fat. If they don't think about it, I'm afraid they won't last long."
Roddy frowned, sighed, and looked at the city defense in front of him through the night.
Just when he was thinking about it, suddenly, he saw a red light rising into the sky under the gate of the city. The red light seemed so dazzling in the night, and there was a rumbling sound in the distance. A loud noise like thunder!
The earth was shaking violently a few times!
Roddy jumped up suddenly!
Just because, right in front of his eyes, the gate of the city defense collapsed amidst this red light and roar! In the roar of the explosion, the rocks were flying, and the large pieces of the blasted stones bounced and rolled away. A large gap more than ten meters wide suddenly appeared in the originally neat city defense! !
This scene shocked everyone inside and outside the city!
The city was already in chaos, and the defenders were crying and screaming and panicking everywhere on the city defense.
After Roddy's face changed suddenly, although he was shocked, he had already seized the opportunity. It was not time to find the reason. He immediately turned over and jumped on the horse, raised his saber and shouted loudly: "The order! Line up to charge! Enter the city. Go!! For the defenders of the broken city, the bounty is 100!!!"
In the chaos, the cavalry lined up one after another, and like a whirlwind, they rushed towards the big gap in the city defense...
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The city defense was suddenly blasted with a big gap, how could the defenders survive? Originally, there were not many defenders in this small town, but it was only relied on the strong city wall. Once the cavalry rushed into the city, there was no suspense in the battle.
The defenders in the city obviously did not intend to be loyal to their governor, and they surrendered after resisting for a while, but the gate of the city guard house was closed, and the guards inside were still standing for a while - the city guard was in the house. . But even if the city is destroyed, there is no point in defending a mansion. Roddy didn't want to waste the lives of his cavalry, and directly let the surrendering defenders shout: "Surrender to avoid death, stubbornly resist beheading. Bind the guard who surrendered One hundred bounty coins."
After a while, the defender who still wanted to resist was tied into a zongzi by his own men and threw out the door. The door opened, and the remaining defenders inside came out and surrendered.
Roddy was relieved at this time, and his men went to the warehouse in the garrison, which was quite rewarding, and there was still a lot of forage and food in the army warehouse in the city.
Roddy's heart was settled, and then he sent someone to bring several surrendered leaders of the defending army to him.
"How did the city gate collapse by itself?"
But after asking around, there was no answer, and these defenders were still wondering.
Roddy was even more puzzled.
I couldn't help but look up at the sky.
Could it be that... God saw me being loyal and brave for the country, and was moved by my loyalty. Seeing that I was in trouble, it sent a thunderbolt to help me open the city gate
Damn, is this the legendary "like divine help"?