Fort Turbuk changed hands almost instantly.

The fiercest battle of this offensive and defensive battle was less than a thousand men, and it was a street battle after Viscount Parminal led a few hundred guards to retreat to the northern residential area of the castle.

Even the only confrontation that could be called a battle ended hastily because of Adjutant Paminal's betrayal.

In the morning, when the citizens of the residential area north of Fort Tulbuk came out of their houses, they found that the battle flags on the top of the castle and the soldiers patrolling the streets had been replaced.

...

The original silence of the ancient forest of the Cove Woodland has been broken, and a military walled city has risen in just five days, and a defensive line extending nearly ten miles from the east and west sides with the walled city as the center has been completed.

At this moment, the battle flags of the Crewe Guards Regiment and the Third Army Corps were all over the entire defense line, and the formed army columns were stationed in the key points of the defense line in batches.

Walled City Headquarters,

Pedi stayed up all night, worried about the battle at Fort Turbuk and because of the increasingly cold weather.

The snowflakes that began to fall late at night showed no sign of stopping until dawn, and in some places it even began to accumulate snow.

Sir Bowenlet, the commander of the Guards, approached Pedi early in the morning and told him the bad news: nearly a thousand soldiers had frostbitten on their feet the previous night.

Old Sir Pierce's report made Pedy's heart sink.

Immediately afterwards, the adjutant sent by the Count of Bane reported that several hundred soldiers of the Third Army had been frostbitten and temporarily incapacitated.

Half an hour later,

Sir Bowenright, Earl Bane, Sir Glick, and Hades are summoned by Pedi to the war room of the Walled City Command.

"Let's talk about it, what to do now. "Before the battle began, the troops had already lost a tenth of their strength, and most importantly, our soldiers were now demoralized. ”

"Not to mention the soldiers, I can't stand the weather. Earl Bane shook the water droplets on his body and said: "Most of the frostbite parts of the soldiers are toes and knees, this is because of the problem of our military boots, the military boots of the Crewe collar are not waterproof enough, and the soldiers wearing it to walk in the snow is equivalent to soaking their feet in ice water, if it goes on for a long time, it is not just a reduction of one-tenth of the personnel, as for the frostbite of the knees... It's because our cotton pants simply can't adapt to the winter of the Twak collar. ”

"Where's the solution?" Pedy's mind was a little confused, and he needed everyone to sort it out for him.

"The best thing to do, of course, is to replace the soldiers' boots and reissue new cotton trousers. Count Bane gave a look of course, "We can ask the nobles of the Twak Command for these equipment." ”

"Let's be practical. Pei Di frowned, "The equipment of the two legions, even if they have the heart to support it, I am afraid that it will not be able to supply it for the time being." ”

"The problem has to be solved, because fighting can break out at any time, and I don't want my soldiers to 'step on ice water' to fight the enemy. "Sir Bowenright was not very good-looking, and seemed a little weak when he spoke.

"Keep the camps as dry as possible and don't let the snow accumulate. Hades has been in the Coron Fortress for more than two years and has a little experience in fighting in the cold winters, "We need a lot of hay, and we need to dry it all over the Corwe woodlands... Hay keeps the soldiers' resting place dry and warm"

"Set up more campfires so that the soldiers have a place to keep warm. Sir Bowenright also put forward his opinion, "It is not practical to replace the boots completely, but we can get the Twak locals to help us waterproof the boots, which is not very difficult." ”

"Well..."Pei Di's mind began to recall the combat experience of the Coron Fortress, he looked at Hades and asked: "When I was in the Coron Fortress, the military boots issued by the military department were almost completely waterproof, and they were popularized to every soldier, I think this should not be a very complicated technology. ”

"A secretion of a wild plant. Hades replied, "Many of the local merchants in Twak have cultivated this plant on their estates. ”

"That's good news. Peddy breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and turned his gaze to Sir Glick, who had not spoken beside him, "You can do this matter yourself, you must be fast." He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, "Also, let the camps double the number of bonfires, you can do it now." ”

"Understood. Sir Grek took the order and quickly left.

"It's the morale of the troops that counts. Earl Bane did not pay much attention to the frostbite of the soldiers, but he paid attention to the morale of the troops now, he looked at Pedi and said, "The soldiers did not want to fight this war from the beginning, this place is thousands of miles away from their homeland. ”

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm worried about. The wrinkles on Sir Bowenwright's face coalesced, "There were soldiers who fled the camp during the Northern Pass, and although military law was used to intimidate some, it did not solve the fundamental problem. ”

"It's an unsolvable problem. The Earl of Bane spread his hands, looking a little helpless.

"Yes, it's an unsolvable problem. Pedi repeated in a low voice, he hadn't thought about the soldiers when he gave the order to support Twak... He didn't think at all about how many families one of his orders had put in trouble.

Now, he thought about it, but it was too late.

Pedi had forgotten because he had hardly worried about the morale of his troops in the previous wars, which led him to forget that morale was the most important factor in a war.

"I don't think you need to worry too much. Hades knew the thoughts of the low-level soldiers best, he looked at the three of them and said: "The idea of ordinary soldiers is very simple, as long as we give him what he wants, they will die for us. ”

"What do they want?" said Count Bane, who suddenly became interested.

"Wealth and status!" Hades shrugged.

"Haha!" the disdain in Count Bane's eyes flashed, "if you can repel the orcs, none of this will be a problem. ”

Hades was unconcerned about Count Bane's sarcasm and contempt, "But before we can do that, we have to give the soldiers hope... For example, a hearty victory, in other words, we must first let the soldiers see the hope of survival, after all, it is to save their lives to have wealth and status. ”

Listening to Hades's words, Pedi's heart suddenly lit up, he suddenly got up from his seat, turned to stare at the huge map behind him, and said in a deep voice: "In this battle, I will personally go to the front line to supervise the battle." ”

Sir Bowenright and the Earl of Bane were stunned, and Hades stood up and bowed to Pedy, saying, "The Reagan flags are the best encouragement to the soldiers. ”

"Your Excellency, you—" Sir Bowenright tried to persuade.

"I know what I'm doing. "Soldiers need courage, so I'll give them courage, and at the same time, I'll give them the wealth and status they deserve." ”

'Whew'

Suddenly the cold poured into the house.

It was Petdy's lieutenant, Knight Otwood, who held a thumb-sized wooden messenger box in his hand.

"From the direction of Thurbuk?" asked Pedi.

"It's a message from the Blood Eagle that Knight Sila took away. The Otwood Knight replied with a straight face.

"Good news?" asked Sir Bowenwright.

"If you open it, you'll know. Pedi took the box.