When flakes of small snowflakes fell from the gray sky, Lorist suddenly realized that he had neglected one very important thing, that is, winter had arrived.
November 11th was the single dog festival in the previous life, but in Galintia, it was just a very ordinary day. For Lorist, this was also the day when the last group of refugees arrived in Vanades City.
Lorist's face sank like water, and the arrival of winter made his plan to return the convoy north to the family territory come to naught. The top priority is to find a safe and comfortable place for the convoy and refugees to spend the cold winter first.
"It took only 25 days to get here from the border. It takes such a long time for a short distance of more than 140 miles. How long will it take to return to the family territory? One year or two years? More than ten years How much does it take to consume ten thousand horses a day? Do the math, this is not something we can afford." Lorist's voice was stern.
This is the residence of the city lord of Vanades City, but it has now become the base camp of the northbound convoy.
"It's all the fault of those refugees. They slowed down our journey. If it's just our convoy, we can drive sixty miles a day." Yuri was muttering, as the leader of the scout light cavalry who can run two hundred miles a day , he naturally looked down on the slow-moving refugees.
"You see, there is still more than a thousand li to travel from Vanades City to the Midoburo River. It will take more than two hundred days at this speed. This is absolutely impossible. Look outside, everyone is already in the next It's snowing. Although Vanades City is the largest commercial city in the Principality of Madras, and we have added a batch of food and supplies after we occupied it, it is still necessary for hundreds of thousands of people to spend the winter comfortably here. It is very difficult. We must take measures as soon as possible, and get here before the heavy snow blocks the road and the severe cold arrives, Kebo City!"
Lorist pointed to Kebo City on the map: "This is the city under the direct control of the Grand Duke of Madras, and it is also the largest granary in Dremke Province. The grain collected by the Grand Duke of Madras in this large grain-producing province is all It is stored here. From the official documents seized in Vanades City, we can see that all the grain transactions here are provided by Kebo City, and last year the Grand Duke of Madras lent 80 million catties of grain to the second prince from Kebo The city was transported."
"There is still an official document here, which should not have been sent yet. It was ordered by the Grand Duke Madras to count the grain reserves of Kebo City. It is also a reply to the second prince's request for a loan of grain, which is 150 million catties. But Madras The Grand Duke Las asked the second prince to pay off the last time he borrowed food, and it seems that the second prince is also seriously injured." Lorist picked up a document bound in thick animal skin paper and threw it on the table.
"One hundred thousand refugees, we have carried a big package, winter has come, we have to prepare winter clothes, shelter, warm wood and fill their stomachs for these one hundred thousand refugees. Today is November 11th On the 1st, we must capture Kebo City before the severe cold in December, and move all the personnel there for the winter to allow these 100,000 refugees to survive the winter."
"My lord, Kebo City is not easy to fight. At that time, the third prince led more than 60,000 soldiers of the Royal Guards to sink their halberds into the sand under Kebo City. They were defeated and returned, making the Iron Guards famous in the first battle. We occupied Vannad Sith City and Sith Castle, the news has spread throughout the province of Dremke, the defenders of Kebo City have already prepared, we can no longer launch a surprise attack strategy, I am afraid that the long-term attack will be delayed under the city for a long time, and our convoy will be damaged Arm yourself." Bodfinger looked worried.
"If we want hundreds of thousands of horses to survive the winter safely, we have to capture Kebo City. From time to time, we are not the Royal Guards of the third prince, and we are not defending the Iron Guards. According to the account of the captured officials here, now There is only one garrison in Kobo City, and I am very confident that we can capture Kebo City. But what I am worried about is that even if we capture Kebo City, it is too slow for these 100,000 refugees to travel. We must find a way to get them out as soon as possible. We can't let them drag down our itinerary." Lorist tapped his fingers on the table a little annoyed and said.
"I think the refugees can be militarized. Like the family members of the soldiers of the garrison, we can also give them the treatment of armed relatives in the convoy, and collect horse carriages from here to distribute them. In this way, at least 50,000 to 60,000 refugees can follow It's on our team's schedule." Farea stood up and made a suggestion. As the head of the newly established garrison corps, he knew very well that what the soldiers under him envied most was the care and treatment that the armed relatives of the convoy could receive.
"Yes, this is a good way." Lorist nodded.
"But my lord, we couldn't find a carriage. We only collected more than 2,000 carriages in Vanades City..." Fatty Shi was very worried.
"How about this, Shredder, try your best to collect transportation tools from Vanades City, and don't think about the goods from those merchants. What we need now is the speed of action, not the transportation of materials. During our attack on Kebo City , You are in charge here, order the artisan battalion to build more carriages, and if there are not enough pack horses, use one horse for each cart. I don't expect the refugees to have a team with a speed of sixty miles a day, but at least they must maintain a journey of thirty miles a day. "
Lorist knew about Fatty Shi's problem. This guy suffered from red eye disease as soon as he arrived in Vanades City. His idea was to use the name of recruiting armaments to get one-third of the price from the merchants in Vanades City. Confiscate all their goods and transport them to the family territory. So I had to be forewarned lest he go to collect supplies again regardless of people.
"Borg, has the Second Royal Highness's Royal Guards entered Sith Castle yet?" Lorist asked.
Bodfinger replied: "They have already arrived, 10,000 people have gone. I will rush back after I complete the handover. Ross will return here tomorrow afternoon with our armored lance brigade and cavalry archers."
"It's strange, the Grand Duke of Madras is so slow to react, how come they haven't noticed that we have cut off communication and information from West Degrad Province?" Lorist rubbed his chin in thought.
Bodfinger smiled: "My lord, the Grand Duke of Madras must have known about the occupation of Sith Castle, because when our scout light cavalry entered West Degrad Province to explore, they found that the manor castles they passed were all strengthened. I suspect that the Grand Duke of Madras is just not sure whether the enemy occupying Sith Castle will continue to attack West Degrad Province or simply defend. So he has no way to order the Seamount Army to attack, lest the lair be destroyed The enemy sneak attack..."
"That's right." Lorist nodded: "Anyway, the Sith Castle has been handed over to the Second Highness, and the Vanades City will also be handed over to him after a while, so that he can transform it into a fortress city as a way to annex Yungeshande Now the Second Highness has no excuse to let us hand over this place to him earlier, he still hopes that we can get out of here early, lest we ruin this place into a piece of white land and make him unable to collect supplies and manpower.
The reason why I want to transfer to Kebo City. Firstly, there is sufficient grain and grass reserves there, and secondly, it is closer to the Northland, so we can return to the family territory soon in the spring of next year. The third point is that I don’t want to stay here anymore. After tomorrow’s spring, this place will definitely become a battlefield again and again. If I don’t leave now, I’m worried that I will be dragged into these broken wars next year, and I won’t be able to leave even if I want to. "
"Then when are we going to attack Kebo City?" Bodfinger asked.
"Tomorrow morning, we will set off first with Yuri's scout light cavalry. Afterwards, Terman led the knights and then ordered Ross to lead the three armored lance cavalry brigades to go directly to Kebo City. The soldiers are very fast and the time is tight. We will go there again." Convergence." Lorist said.
…
Six days later, Lorist arrived in front of a castle in the center of Kebo City with a dozen guards on a carriage. The flag of the Taberley family was planted on the carriage.
The person who received Lorist was a gray-haired official in his fifties or sixties.
"Master Viscount, I am the manager of Bloom here. I am very sorry. Although Kebo City is a city directly under the direct control of the Duke of Madras, it is a military town and an important warehouse. It has never received foreign guests. If the Viscount wants to stay Please walk along the eastward road for more than ten miles, and there is the manor castle of Earl Curlock. Earl Curlock has always been hospitable, and the viscount will be satisfied with the hospitality there. We can't make decisions here, and we can't ship a grain of grain here without the Duke's approval document." The old official politely rejected Lorist's request.
"That's it, I was wrong. Manager Bloom, I'm really sorry. It's my first time to come to your Principality. I only heard that Kebo City is the grain trading center of the Principality. I thought it was as lively as those commercial cities. It was traded on the spot." Lorist was not without melancholy, fully expressing the regret of a nobleman who made a trip in vain.
"It is indeed a pity that Lord Viscount made this trip in vain. In fact, our previous grain transactions were held in Vanades City. How much grain was sold there depends on the bills. How much food will be allocated. But now I heard that the city of Vanades is occupied by refugees, so we can only deliver the food to you with the approval of the Grand Duke." The old official bowed deeply to Lorist.
"Well, it seems that I have to find a way to meet the Grand Duke, or wait for a while. Thank you for your guidance, Manager Bloom, I will take my leave first." Lorist nodded at the old official and got on the carriage again. Then left Kebo City.
Seeing Lorist's carriage going away, the old official was a little puzzled: "Why did the nobles of the Kingdom of Ridley come here to buy food, even if they bought it, he transported it back? It is impossible to collect more than half of it, and he is lucky if he can send back a third of it... "
Lorist's carriage drove eastward for a few miles, left Kebo City's warning range, turned south, and ran for more than half an hour. A large evergreen forest appeared in front of it. Continuous barracks.
Lorist entered the big tent with a gloomy face, and Bodfinger, who was looking at the map, was very surprised: "My lord, why are you back?"
"The plan doesn't work. We planned to enter Kebo City in batches to accommodate outsiders, but we didn't expect that Kebo City wouldn't accept outsiders to stay in the inner city at all, whether it's nobles or mercenaries." Lorist said gloomyly. speak.
Grabbing a piece of blank animal skin paper and an ink core pen, Lorist began to paint and draw: "Kebo City has two walls, the first wall is the same as the information said, ten meters high, and the second wall is 10 meters high. The city walls are 20 meters apart and about 12 meters high. The towers on the double walls are densely covered. I haven’t seen any defense equipment, so they should all be placed in the towers. The center of Kebo City is a five-story castle. The garrison can still retreat to the castle to fight against the fall of the two outer city walls. It really deserves the name of Kebo City, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack!"
Bodfinger looked at the city defense map drawn by Lorist and shook his head, but he couldn't think of any good way. Turning his gaze to the outside of the tent, he was stunned: "Sir, you see it's snowing again, this is the second snow this year. If we can't capture Kebo City, we have to arrange for the troops to withdraw to Vanades City..."
It was snowing again in the gray sky, watching the snowflakes outside the tent falling to the ground and turning into little water spots.
Lorist's eyes moved, and he slammed his fist on the city defense map he drew with a "bang": "Call all the silver ranks of the troops, and I will lead them to attack Kebo City at night!"
Lorist's plan was very simple. On a snowy night, there was no silver moon in the sky, and it was so dark that he couldn't see more than one meter away. The garrison defending Kebo City will definitely relax. Looking at Galintia's war history for thousands of years, there has never been a case of attacking the city on a snowy night.
Recruit the silver-level masters in the family's armed forces, touch the bottom of Kebo City in the dark, climb up the wall by yourself, put down the rope, pull up the rope ladder to meet your subordinates, and control the four towers near the city gate to open the city gate and put down the suspension bridge, allowing large troops to enter the city .
The second city wall was also built in the same way. While controlling the city gate, it led people to attack the castle in the center of the city when the enemy was unprepared. As long as the castle and the two city gates are under control, the guards on the remaining walls and towers will naturally have a chance to clean up slowly when the large troops enter the city. That's where the little breakout, the center blossoms.
However, night raids are also difficult. One is that you can’t see your fingers. If you exceed one meter in a snowy night, you will easily lose sight of your companions in front of you. You will lose your direction if you lose your companions’ whereabouts. The second is that there is a moat five or six meters wide in front of Kebo City. How to cross it? You can't get a wooden plank about ten meters long to build a bridge, besides, there is no place to find such a long wooden plank at this time. It would be fine to use a long wooden ladder, but it would be useless if one stepped into the water in such a dark night and alerted the guards on the city wall.
Lorist's solution was also very simple. The night raiders were connected with ropes. Although they moved a little slower, the enemy couldn't see them anyway. It was enough for everyone to get to the bottom of Kebo City, and they didn't have to worry about losing people.
As for crossing the moat, sheepskin rafts are used by local civilians to fish and cross the river. They are light and easy to carry. There are several boats in the manor castle we occupied yesterday, all of which were turned over by the servants There is a roof over the house. We don't need more, one is enough, as long as the first boat's people cross the moat, they can tie a rope to the sheepskin raft and pull it back and forth, and they can quickly pull everyone across the river.
After the night raiders controlled the two city gates and lowered the suspension bridge, they blew two long and one short horns, and the large troops could light the torches and march towards Kebo City.
"That's it!" Lorist resolutely said to the subordinates in the big tent: "We have to take this risk, everyone should make preparations now!"
Before departure, Lorist thought of El who was recuperating in Nadgas City. This guy has night vision ability, so he is actually the most suitable person to do such a thing. Unfortunately, he was injured and couldn't take the risk of night raids with him.
For Mr. Bloom, who lives in Kebo City, it is difficult to have a good night's sleep when he is old. He woke up after only three hours of sleep at night. He couldn't fall asleep anyway, so he got up and looked for The book lit the candles and prepared to stay up until dawn. Looking at the dark sky outside the window and the snowflakes falling on the green glass of the window, the boss muttered: "Another year is about to pass..."
At this time, the old manager seemed to hear three horns: "This must be another patrolman who has drunk too much and is going crazy. He won't be able to escape tomorrow morning after a whip."
A rumbling thunder sounded continuously.
The boss manager was a little surprised. It was snowing and thundering. It seemed that it would rain heavily tomorrow morning, so I had to check the granary for leaks. Alas...
There was a loud noise downstairs, the boss was a little angry, what's going on tonight, why is it so noisy, don't sleep now, will these servants get up to work tomorrow
The old manager put on his coat, and was about to go down and scold the servants. As soon as he opened the door, he saw three or four people coming up the castle stairs, and soon appeared in front of him.
With the light of the candle in his hand, the boss was stunned to see the young man who came to visit in the afternoon, the Viscount Taberley, who came to visit in the afternoon, appeared in front of him covered in blood and mud, but he didn't seem to be He didn't mind, but showed a standard aristocratic smile with two front teeth: "Nice to see you again, Mr. Bloom..."
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