Ansu King's capital, Saint-Sunil City, Silver Fort.
In the military hall, several royal nobles and knight lords sat at a wide long table made of heavy oak and covered with gold. Ansu's current two regent dukes and the titular prince of Wales sat on the long table. A high-level military meeting is being held.
The brilliance of the magic spar lamp illuminated the slightly dull atmosphere of the hall. The metal shield hanging on the north wall of the hall reflected the light of the magic spar lamp, and also vaguely reflected the backs of the two regent dukes and princes. , in that blurred reflection, the bright red coat of the Prince of Wales stood out like a streak of blood.
This man who returned to the position of crown prince after middle age quietly watched the nobles speaking, discussing and arguing at the long table, his eyes fluctuated occasionally, but he hardly said a word, he was like a Sitting here like someone who has nothing to do with the meeting, listening to those matters that should theoretically be decided by oneself.
An old gray-haired knight rested his hands on the table. He was short in stature, but he was extremely strong. Although he was not young, his eyes were still burning with a stern light like that of a young man. He looked at the The other knights and lords around him and the nobles of the royal capital said in a strong voice: "The battle to recapture Thoringburg has failed. Everyone, we must face up to the fact that although the number of rebels in the eastern border is small, we are the ones who are at a disadvantage."
"The good news is that we have dragged the rebels into the hilly land around Solinburg," a nobleman said. "We are backed by the Holy Spirit Plain. The land is larger and the number of people is larger. Protracted fighting is beneficial to us."
The old knight couldn't help knocking on the table: "Don't be too optimistic, Earl of Balin, the premise of a long-lasting battle is that we can really maintain this situation for a long time. The Roren family has been confronting the Typhons for many years. Their soldiers are more tenacious and more capable. We can withstand the pressure, and the morale of our army is declining every day. If we can't achieve any results, even if the food and soldiers are sufficient, we will be the first to be unable to hold on... "
The Duchess Victoria, who was sitting at the head of the long table, suddenly interrupted the old knight: "Mr Cromwell, don't get excited."
Welsh Moen glanced sideways at the Duchess Regent next to him, then looked back at Cromwell White Mountain across the table. He knew this elderly-looking knight lord, with the special surname "White Mountain" It is not common in Ansu, but it is a typical dwarven surname, because the ancestor of Cromwell White Mountain was indeed a dwarf: in the pioneering journey seven hundred years ago, the alien race who fought side by side with humans did not Only the elves, some dwarves also became the builders of the human kingdom in the process of great development, some of them finally chose to integrate into human society, and even became a member of the Ansu nobles, the Cromwell White Mountain family was formed by Here comes.
Perhaps due to the influence of his ancestral lineage, this knight lord's temperament was too upright among many nobles who pay attention to elegance and etiquette, but Welsh Moen knew that what Cromwell said was the truth, but... since Victoria The Duchess had already spoken, so there was no need for him to speak.
"Sorry, Grand Duchess, but we have to admit the facts," Cromwell Baishan apologized, but still spoke with great momentum, "The rebellion in the east is not as easy to deal with as we imagined. Drive them out of the Holy Spirit Plain before the end, they have taken root in Thorinburg. The harvest month has come, and the rebels will feed themselves with the grain we have planted for half a year. Grand Duchess Wilder, Duke Franklin, and With His Royal Highness, I would like to take the Knights out to help Earl Thorin take back the fortress. We cannot let the rebels spend the Harvest Festival in the Holy Spirit Plain..."
"I never thought that the eastern border rebels were easy to deal with," Victoria Wilde said lightly, "but the knights in the capital cannot move, Earl Crowell, our rear is not safe."
The old knight stared, while the other knight lords and martial nobles beside them exchanged glances and started talking in low voices.
The Duke of Baldwin Franklin, who was sitting on the right side of Welsh Moen, stood up at this moment: "Let me tell you, the news has just reached Saint-Sunil that the Rock Fortress has fallen."
The entire military hall fell silent in an instant.
What the Duke of the Westland said was very clear, and there was no ambiguity in the short sentence. However, perhaps the amount of information in this sentence was too amazing, or it might be that the news was too beyond everyone's expectations. None of the nobles could react. In the end, Earl Bahrain, who was sitting next to Cromwell, was the first to break the silence: "Your Excellency, you mean the... Rock Fortress in the south of the Holy Spirit Plain?"
"Is there a second Rock Fortress in Ansu?" Baldwin Franklin asked with a glance at the slightly fat Earl of Bahrain.
A royal noble in the royal capital couldn't help muttering to himself in astonishment: "It's so far away from the Eastern Realm, and there are still mountains in the south of the Holy Spirit Plain in between, how could the rebels take there..."
Perhaps the rebellion in the east has occupied this nobleman's thoughts, or maybe the idea that "all the country lords in the south are not worth mentioning" is still entrenched in his mind, this gentleman actually thought it was the rebels in the east He invaded the southern border by some means and raided the Rock Fortress by surprise. He didn't even think that there was another sleeping behemoth in the vast and remote land in the south.
But the others had already reacted. After a brief astonishment, Cromwell was the first to read a message from the gloomy and serious expressions of the two regents. He asked in disbelief: "Yes... Cecil ?”
"That's right, it's not the eastern border rebels, it's the Cecil family," Baldwin Franklin said calmly, "The founder of the country, Gawain Cecil, destroyed the defense of the Rock Fortress fifteen days ago, on the day of the Fire Moon. , occupied the fortress, and detained all the soldiers and civilians in the fortress."
Cromwell White Mountain's beard was trembling, and he seemed to want to speak, but Grand Duchess Victoria Wilde followed up with Duke Franklin and said, "I know what you want to ask, but all information has been interrupted at present. Cecil The army broke through the fortress in a very short period of time, it is said that it only took a few days, and then they blocked the entire fortress, and the defenders of the fortress had no time to spread any useful information.
"Only two Griffin messengers who risked their lives to break through sent the situation on the day the fortress fell to the capital. The information we can grasp now is that the Duke of Gawain Cecil used some unknown method to create a large number of amazingly powerful extraordinary weapons. , and established an army with extremely strong combat effectiveness in a short period of time...
"The life and death of Maryland Onal, the knight lord guarding the fortress, is currently unknown. Before the fall of the fortress, Sir Maryland led the last knights out of the city to fight, but then the barrier of the fortress was destroyed by the magic of the Cecils.
"The Earl of Pompeii also sent a magical message, confirming the fall of the fortress."
After the Duchess of Victoria finished all the known information, Cromwell Baishan finally found a chance to speak. The knight lord with part of the dwarf blood frowned: "Cecil... the Cecil family also Same as the East…”
"At present, Cecil's army has not continued to move northward. After occupying the Rock Fortress, they closed the northern gate of the fortress, and it seems that they intend to stick to it," said Duke Franklin Bedwin. "According to the news from the Earl of Pompeii, they even The granaries and manors that were readily available outside the northern walls of the fort were ignored, and not one of the undefended frontier villages was plundered."
Occupying the fort but not looting the villages and manors around the fort is obviously a very abnormal situation. The nobles at the scene couldn't help talking in a low voice, and Cromwell Baishan couldn't help coughing when he saw this: " Ahem, just because they haven't gone north now, doesn't mean they will never go north."
"That's exactly what we're worried about," Baldwin Franklin said. "The Cecil family...their current head is Gawain Cecil."
The nobles at the scene became quiet again, and they exchanged glances. At the same time, they finally recalled in their minds the several urgent letters sent by Sir Maryland, who guarded the fortress, long before the fall of the Rock Fortress.
More than forty families in the southern border united to conquer Cecil, and were quickly wiped out...
This shocking news also caused waves among them and caused another military meeting, but at that time, no one thought that the Cecil family would act so quickly, let alone that Rock Fortress would fall so easily.
They thought it would take more than a year until the situation in the south developed to the point where they had to face up to it.
Welsh Moen, who never spoke, sighed softly.
He remembered the warning Veronica gave him not long ago. He still remembered that Veronica warned him that Gawain Cecil was unleashing a beast, but now it seems... the nobles of the royal capital may have lost their future. One last chance for the beast to be back in its cage.
"We used to think that what happened in the southern border was just a lord's civil war, and it was the lords other than the Cecil family who took the initiative to provoke the war, but now it seems that everything that happened in the southern border is under the control of our founding hero He has been planning for a long time," Duke Baldwin Franklin said, "Now the fall of the Rock Fortress has become a fact, no matter how Cecil's army managed to capture a fortress in such a short period of time, they have already occupied it. There, and ready for defense. Lord Cromwell, do you think we will be able to take the fort back?"
Cromwell White Mountain shook his head almost without thinking and said: "It is impossible unless we withdraw at least half of the troops east of the Holy Spirit Plain, and even if we withdraw half of the troops, we may not be able to take down the Rock Fortress. I know Sir Maryland O'Neill , is a very powerful knight lord, his army is no worse than the knights in the capital, even he is not the opponent of the Duke of Gawain Cecil, the strength of the Cecil people can be imagined."
After finishing speaking, the old knight lord shook his head: "What I am most curious about now is how the founding hero built such an army... Less than two years, less than two years! He can actually put Rock Fortress down?"
"Every ancient family hides secrets, let alone this ancient family has an ancestor who came back from the dead," Baldwin Franklin said in a joking tone, "Perhaps as early as seven hundred years ago, Gawain Sethi The Duke of Er buried an undead army from the Gondor era in the mountains of the southern border?"
Cromwell Baishan shook his head and said in a rough voice, "This is not funny at all..."
"Ladies and gentlemen, think about the countermeasures now," Baldwin Franklin restrained his smile, and tapped his finger on the table lightly, "I'm afraid this is no less dangerous than the rebellion in the eastern border, my ancestors, this time my ancestors It really came."