The breath of war is approaching, but for the current Cecil Empire, it is really not the best time for war.
Changfeng Fortress, the majestic city wall stands between the hills and the plains. The bastion walls stretching for tens of kilometers face the increasingly cold autumn wind, and glow with a layer of pale gold in the bright sunlight cast by the giant sun. The city wall The runestone bricks inlaid on the top shone with magical halos, covering the entire fortress in a faint energy shield. The vigilant soldiers stood on the city walls and sentry towers, staring at the Typhon Empire. direction.
Inside the fortress, a group of soldiers newly stationed in the fortress are walking through the barracks in a loose formation. The instructor of the Cecil Legion who is in charge of training these recruits is standing by the road with a meticulous expression, but the city wall not far away On the way, a fortress veteran who noticed the recruit team couldn't help but shook his head: "These soldiers can't fight at all... It's okay to deal with bandits in the country, but here to fight Typhon people? Seven or eight people tied together are all worth it Not dead enough."
"The drills of the Cecil Legion can quickly make these recruits come in handy—at least let them understand the order." Another veteran said beside him.
"It will take some time for training. I'm afraid these conscripts were still holding hoes and pitchforks the day before yesterday..."
Maryland in military uniform walked across the city wall with his sword in hand, the conversations of the veterans fell into his ears, and the performance of those recruits fell into his eyes.
After completing his inspection tour, the fortress commander returned to the command post in the castle area, where his adjutant—a shrewd young man with black hair and brown eyes—was already waiting.
"General," the adjutant stepped forward to salute, "The scouts have sent back information."
"Well," Maryland nodded, "the Typhons are making another move?"
"A group of engineering mages are building additional walls, stables, and barracks on the hills to the west of Winter Wolf Castle. The scale is not small. It is not clear how many people they can accommodate, but it is certain that they have opened at least four new wells."
"...The Black Steel Knights or the Iron River Knights are coming soon. They are troops that are good at attacking fortresses with heavy armor," Maryland said in a deep voice. "The Typhons won't be able to wait too long."
The young adjutant did not speak, neither fear nor wavering, his face was calm.
Maryland secretly approved of the young adjutant's reaction, then turned around and went behind the table, picked up the report on the table and glanced at it.
"...the last group of private soldiers that can be gathered nearby has also arrived on the defense line..." The fortress commander sighed softly, "After them, the entire eastern border may not even be able to gather a thousand-man team. "
The current situation is worrisome, but the facts are the facts - the soldiers are stretched short, and there are only so many defensive forces in the Changfeng Fortress.
The empire has just experienced a year-long civil war and a disaster that swept across half of the Holy Spirit Plain. The original main force of the kingdom was exhausted in successive battles. Now only a few surviving elites can be used. There is only the Cecil Legion in the southern border. However, at least half of these troops must stay in the country to maintain order after the war. The most powerful weapons were sent, but Maryland knew they were not enough.
The Typhons are also constantly increasing their troops, and they are constantly increasing in the form of a mixed army of magicians, knights, and supernatural beings. These troops cannot be defeated by ordinary heat ray guns and a few medium-caliber fortress guns. Ordinary people who are easily defeated, to deal with them, they must either double the elite defenders of Longfeng Fortress, or transport the Iron Throne to the defense line.
But neither of these things—Maryland mobilized the aristocratic private soldiers in the east as much as it could, plus a small number of mountain corps supported by the north, which can barely fill the loopholes in the defense line, but as long as they are hit hard, these I'm afraid the loophole will be broken within two days.
He had to find a way to strengthen the defense of the fortress.
Maryland's eyes moved on the combat map next to her, slowly sweeping across the buffer zone on the border between the two countries, the Typhon's Winter Wolf Fort and several outposts that have been identified so far.
The first standard of defense is to protect yourself, and there are many ways to protect yourself, either by making yourself invulnerable, by eliminating threats before you take damage, or... by keeping the enemy from attacking.
The garrison of Longwind Fortress may not be able to increase, but he can try to make the Typhon people think that the garrison of this fortress is still increasing.
After some contemplation, a bold idea gradually took shape. Maryland raised her head and looked at her adjutant: "Let the reserve corps of the Mountain Corps disguise themselves as businessmen and civilian husbands, secretly bring their flags and equipment, and distribute them in batches within two days. Go out of the city and gather at Karon Valley in the northwest."
The adjutant froze for a moment, and was a little dazed for a moment: "And then?"
"Then change back to the equipment of the Mountain Corps, and enter the city from the north gate of the fortress—make a little more noise when entering the city, just don't make it too exaggerated."
Two seconds later, the adjutant realized Maryland's intentions. The young man showed an expression of enlightenment, and then looked at the general with admiration: "Yes—you are such a good idea! I will arrange it right away!"
"That's not enough, we have to do a full set of plays," Maryland immediately added, "Didn't the Typhons build barracks near Winter Wolf Castle? We also built camps—set up camps in the north and south of the fortress, dug wells, and recruited some of them. Move the soldiers to the new camp and let them cook there. In addition, send someone to Earl Robert's territory and borrow his carriage to transport 'grain and grass'."
"Yes!" The adjutant stood up straight and gave a military salute, but before he left, he suddenly became a little worried, "But general, can this really hide the Typhon people?"
"It can be intimidating for a while, and they will definitely react later, but it doesn't matter, as long as it can delay their attack is enough," Maryland said unhurriedly, but his eyes fell on the map next to him, "The engineering team in the rear is working overtime Temporary railways are being laid more and more, and the Iron Throne is about to be repaired, as long as the Typhons hesitate for a while...they won't be able to chew on Longwind Fortress."
…
Cecil Empire, San Sunil City.
Preparations for the large-scale relocation had already begun, and more and more work reports on the relocation of the capital were piled up on Gao Wen's desk.
The coronation ceremony has ended, the signing ceremony of the nobles and the handover of the command of the old royal knights, guards, royal shadow guards and other troops have also been completed. After a period of running-in and adaptation, the newly established government office has Initially on the right track, the situation in Saint-Sunil was under control, and the mission of the interim government came to an end. According to Gao Wen's plan at the beginning, the relocation work should start next.
Saint-Sunil is magnificent on the surface, but in fact the infrastructure is backward, the influence of the old forces is deep, and more importantly, the communication system is weak, and the command of the Cecil Legion is slow. It is really not a good place to control the operation of the empire. However, moving the capital is after all. This is a major event, not just packing up the relevant personnel and materials and bringing them to the new place. Even if it is implemented from now on, it may take a whole year to completely complete the transfer and reconstruction of the ruling function.
Moreover, during this process, Gao Wen had to take into account the short-term chaos caused by the transfer of the ruling function. To prevent the chain reaction of this chaos, Typhon had an opportunity to take advantage of it.
In the velvet study of Silver Castle, Gao Wen was putting the finished report on the desk, and besides him, there were also his three big consuls sitting in this study.
"Aiden Alfred rejected the position in the government affairs department, didn't he?" Gawain raised his head and looked at Victoria Wilder who was sitting across from him.
"Yes, he has also resigned his court duties and his honorary vanity titles," replied Victoria. "He said he appreciated your recruitment, but he is old and wishes to go home to recuperate."
Aiden Alfred, once the former prime minister of Francis II, a loyal veteran of the Kingdom of Ansu, his family has been loyal to the Moen royal family since the first dynasty, and has diligently served the country for hundreds of years. Year.
The talent of the former Prime Minister made Gao Wen want to recruit him exceptionally, but his choice of refusing to take office was not beyond Gao Wen's expectations.
"Respect his choice," Gawain nodded slightly, "Also, ask him if he would like to be the curator of the Saint-Sunil Library—this is not a position in the Department of Government Affairs, and he can still guard the original royal collection. If you still don't want to... let the old man go home, and the government affairs department will give him a monthly pension."
Victoria nodded: "You are very considerate, he will definitely not refuse this position."
"Let's talk about the transfer of the capital." Gao Wen adjusted his sitting posture, "After I return to Cecil City, the affairs of Saint-Sunil will be temporarily managed by Victoria and Baldwin, and you will be responsible for completing the follow-up work, especially It is to complete the laying of the magic net from San Sunil to the north and west to ensure the establishment of communication. In addition, all royal nobles, depending on the size of the family, need to send a certain percentage of family members to settle in the south. This should not be the case. Is there a problem?"
"Yes, they were mentally prepared when the order to move the capital was issued." Baldwin Franklin nodded, and then chuckled, "Using hostages in exchange for survival is also the survival rule of traditional aristocrats." one of them."
"This is not just a 'hostage', it is a necessary part of the dismantling and transformation of the old aristocratic forces... Of course they still don't understand it, it's normal," Gao Wen shook his head, "It doesn't matter, take it step by step. Hetty, How are the preparations for the renovation of Kingdom Avenue going?"
"Gordon has brought people to Pompeii, and the preliminary materials and personnel are in place. The construction will start after the soil survey is completed."
"Very good—this part of the work is important, securing funding as a priority." "Yes."
Gao Wen breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that another job was on the right track.
Enfeoffed kingdoms can be separated by lords, but the empire does not allow isolated regions. For a centralized empire, ensuring transportation is a prerequisite for ensuring order, especially for the Cecil Empire, which is now in dire straits and urgently needs to be rebuilt. That's true—the reason why Gao Wen dared to move the state's governing body from the central area to the south is because the modern transportation technology can ignore this physical distance, and the construction of modern roads is the key to making the new transportation tools fully effective. one ring.
From Saint-Sunil to the southern border, there is a Gorgon River as a transportation artery, and a kingdom road as an overland artery. Since last year, Victoria and the then Ansu royal family have been working hard to repair the Kingdom Avenue, which has been abandoned for nearly a century, and initially restored its functions. However, the Kingdom Avenue repaired according to the old standards is not enough to withstand the traffic pressure of the new era. At the same time The previous crystal cluster war also caused some damage to the Kingdom Avenue on the east bank of the Gorgon River. Therefore, based on reality, Gawain decided to send an engineering team from the southern border to rebuild a road connecting the north and south of the empire on the basis of the old Kingdom Avenue. Come.
Typhon has an "Imperial Road", and Cecil will have one in the future.
At the same time as this "Empire Avenue" was being built, Gawain also planned to build a north-south railway line on the west bank of the Gorgon River, and centered on Saint-Sunil, the railway line would be branched and expanded in both east and west directions. , forming a new "cross artery".
Of course, this will be a large-scale, time-consuming and labor-intensive project, and it will take a long time to complete, but no matter how much the consumption is, the cross artery must be established-this will be the starting point of the century-old foundation of the empire.
Regardless of how long it will take to complete the new cross artery, the railway connecting the north and the south should be completed soon due to its short distance. By then, there will be rivers, roads, and railways from the south to the "old capital". The three major transportation lines, from Saint-Sunil to the northern border, will also be connected by roads and railways. The transportation between the north and the south of the empire will become extremely convenient. On the one hand, national security and stability will be ensured, and on the other hand, the rich Mineral veins can also be quickly transported out to meet the growing needs of the hungry industrial behemoths of the Cecil Empire.
As for now, although there are no railways or roads between the southern border and San Sunil, due to the convenience of the Gorgon River and the efficiency of new mechanical boats, there is no need to worry too much about traffic problems—the development of the Gorgon River transportation also makes Gao Wen One of the reasons for daring to start moving the capital at this time.
"One more thing," Hetty said again after reporting the progress of the road construction project, "Ancestor, the Iron Throne has been restored."
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