The magic cannon cart pulled by pack horses creaked and creaked forward on the dirt and rocky road, and the heavily armed Cecil combat soldiers formed a guard formation around the cannon cart, always on guard against everything on the wasteland There was movement, the young knight Philip rode at the front of the team, and at the end of his line of sight were the mountains at the northernmost end of the southern border.
The Rock Fortress is between the mountains, locking the mountains firmly like a prison door, locking the Cecil family on 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: now the team has arrived at the area between the Rock Fortress and the southern border. The buffer zone must be more vigilant.
Knight Philip knew very well that this would be a completely different battle from the bombardment of Crushed Stone Ridge. In front of Crushed Stone Ridge, he fought a defensive battle. The attackers were the coalition forces of nobles. He only needed to set up artillery positions on the spot and wait. Just let the enemy throw himself into the net, and this time he becomes the attacker, then everything will be completely different.
If one follows the traditional aristocratic rules and war etiquette, both the attacker and the defender must act according to the rules. Even if one of the parties finds out the opponent's course of action, he must wait patiently on the agreed battlefield, waiting for the opponent to enter the battlefield, An attack can only be launched after the formation is set up and the signal to start the war is issued. This "combat process" that is more symbolic than practical is highly respected by the nobles, because it can ensure the safety of the nobles participating in the war as much as possible during the entire war, and it is not enough. Elegant and decent, but the bombardment on Gravel Ridge had shattered it all.
There was a cannon shot on the gravel ridge, and the noble coalition forces who had not had time to organize their formation were scattered all over the field by the sudden attack of the Cecils. After that, the traditional war etiquette disappeared. It has already suffered a loss. It is impossible for the nobles to continue to stick to those old rules pedantically. Philip Knight must always be ready to deal with the enemy's surprise attack. Although the magic crystal rail gun is powerful, it is its most vulnerable stage before the shelling position is launched.
While Knight Philip was thinking, a small commotion suddenly came from not far away. He raised his head and saw several soldiers escorting two people who were heavily tied up and came forward.
Philip stopped his horse and saw that the two tied up men were wearing traditional or old-fashioned iron chain armor. No identification marks could be seen outside the chain armor. One of them was wounded in the arm by a heat ray gun, and the wound was blackened. One piece, but no obvious trauma can be seen on the other person.
The team leader escorting the two men saluted and reported loudly: "Sir! We caught the spies from the Rock Fortress. They were sneaking around in the nearby woods, and they were spotted by the troops patrolling outside."
The two bound captives looked terrified and nervous, as if those nearby Cecil soldiers who wore strange equipment and had a bad reputation would eat people. Philip looked down at the two men from a high position, and asked after a long time: "You guys?" People from Rock Fortress?"
In this case, if you don't admit it, you are looking for death. The two prisoners hesitated for a moment and then nodded one after another.
"Very well, don't worry, I won't execute you," Knight Philip nodded slightly, "I will let you go back. Our lord has a letter to deliver to the commander of Rock Fortress."
…
The Cecils really came.
Two patrolling soldiers who went to the south of the fortress brought back the news of the massive attack of the Cecilians, and also brought back the "letter" they had given to the Rock Fortress.
The defenders of the Rock Fortress immediately summoned all the army commanders, as well as 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 chief:
"General, there are three to five thousand people coming to the north, and they have a large convoy with all kinds of strange things on their cars, maybe it's the spell-casting device of 'Skyfire Explosion'. They have entered now The hilly land south of the fortress will enter the plains in about three days... "
The nobles in the south were a little agitated, but generally calm, while other knight officers discussed in a low voice. A middle-ranking knight commander stood up from his seat and looked at Sir Maryland: "General, those Cecilians What is written on the 'war letter'?"
Sir Maryland nodded, and casually took out the "Letter from Duke Gawain Cecil" that had just been delivered to him. Everyone's eyes were immediately attracted by the letter, especially the southern nobles in the hall. Even his breathing slowed down for an instant.
Sir Maryland already knew the contents of the letter. He glanced at the southern nobles first, and then said unhurriedly, "I'll read the contents to you."
The content of the letter is not long. It is not as complicated and gorgeous as most noble letters, full of words and phrases. Instead, it is as simple and straightforward as a note
"... More than forty nobles in the southern border have collectively declared war on the Cecil family. After their defeat, the surviving culprits have fled into the Rock Fortress. In view of the above-mentioned nobles' unwarranted infringement of Cecil's land and people, they have been declared war criminals by just law. Now Cecil's army is going to your place to receive prisoners of war, I hope you can distinguish right from wrong, hand over the war criminals, and accept our personnel to enter the city to search."
Sir Maryland read the letter in less than a minute, and then the hall fell into silence.
It wasn't until two minutes later that a knight officer broke the silence with an exclamation: "What is this?! How can there be such a negotiation document?!"
"That's right, of course this is not a negotiation," Sir Maryland said, looking at the knight officer, angrily, "This is an order from above, more arrogant than the king's order to his attendants! It seems that ours A founding hero who came back from the dead is not even ready to negotiate with us."
The southern nobles became uneasy after hearing the content of the letter, as if they were really afraid that the Sir Maryland in front of them would hand them all over in exchange for the safety of the fortress. Now that they saw the Sir's reaction, they felt a little relieved , Viscount Mariolan seized the time and said: "Sir, you are right, the Cecilians will not negotiate with us in accordance with tradition. Their lords have always ignored all virtues and rules, and they only negotiate with us." It could be a waste of time and fall into a trap!"
Sir Maryland nodded slightly. Seeing this scene, Viscount Consco stood up and said, "Sir, the Cecils will arrive in three days. We can take advantage of this time to make more preparations..."
"Make more preparations?" Sir Maryland looked at this tall and thin man who was depressed and drunk not long ago. He knew that although Viscount Consco's family inheritance was not long ago, he himself was a resourceful and flexible person, so Don't mind listening to the other person's opinion, "What do you mean?"
Viscount Consco gritted his teeth and said, "We can dig more traps on the plain in advance, and send druids to cast poison on the hilly land. In addition, we can throw the dead livestock corpses into the Baishui River. You can even let the druids spread the plague directly in the river. We have already buried all the wells on the plain in advance. The Cecilians can only rely on the Whitewater River to get water. No matter how powerful their weapons are, people will always get sick... "
"Don't say any more," Sir Maryland suddenly interrupted Consco before he finished speaking, "Viscount, how did you... come up with such sinister ideas? If we did this, wouldn't there be any His aristocratic spirit can be spoken of!"
"Sir, these tricks may be insidious, but they are really effective," Viscount Consco argued, "the Cecilians don't respect virtue and rules, and their lord is even the one who takes the lead in destroying the aristocratic dignity. What aristocratic spirit do they talk about..."
Sir Maryland looked at Viscount Consco with surprised eyes, as if it was the first day he knew each other. He didn't expect that these insidious schemes would come from a nobleman, but he also agreed with Viscount Consco in his heart. These tricks are indeed effective, but after thinking about it for a while, he still couldn't help saying: "Do you know that the Cecil army is not the only one in the lower reaches of the White Water River? This river continues to go down, and countless people rely on it Survive."
"What does the life and death of those common people have to do with us? When we were sleeping and eating in the wasteland, those common people probably forgot their lord long ago, and were busy welcoming their new master Cecil!" Viscount Consco He said a little excitedly, as if the pressure accumulated for so many days finally broke out on him, "Sir, I know what you are worried about. The White Water River flows south, and there is still part of your territory in the hilly land, but don't Forget, there are my manor and castle below! What we need to do now is to sacrifice civilians full of glory, just like wheat. This batch is cut off, and it will grow again in the next year, but once we die, who will Can you still maintain order in the land in the south?"
Viscount Consco waved his arms, and at the end of the speech, there was a bit of impassioned meaning. What surprised Sir Maryland the most was that the southern nobles at the scene responded one by one. They all nodded in agreement with Consco. These proposals of the Viscount, just because of the "sacrifice full of glory" in the latter's words, this strategy that was originally completely contrary to the spirit of the nobility turned out to be a noble plan.
But at this moment, Countess Luo Penny suddenly said in a cold voice: "Gentlemen, I'm afraid your thinking is too simple."
At this moment, Ropeni Grant has a great say among the southern nobles. As soon as she spoke, the agitated nobles fell silent. Even Sir Maryland showed an expression of watching the show, waiting for Ropeini to take over. If you come down.
"I'm afraid you have forgotten how the Cecilians made their fortunes."
Ropeni Grant threw out a word coldly, and more than half of the people present immediately looked thoughtful.
"Alchemy potions They have so many alchemy potions that they can be used as water. Is the disease-dispelling potion something very valuable?" Ropeni Glenn glanced around, "Even if you use druid spells to drain all the water in the Whitewater River I'm afraid the Cecilians won't care about turning it into a toxin, but you will waste a lot of energy in vain!"
The southern nobles looked at each other in blank dismay, Viscount Consco was speechless, and Sir Maryland said at the right time: "Indeed, Viscount Consco, that is not a good idea of yours."
Immediately afterwards he said: "But we really need to respond, before the Cecils have a firm foothold..."