In the city of Kamok (formerly Crane City), the snow is heavy and the whole city is white from the inside out.

The first and second groups of emigrants (just after the end of the Klan War, when the three orc clans had signed an agreement together) cheered in the snow for their second New Year in the new city.

The castle in the center of the city has been completely changed from its original appearance after a long period of restoration by orc laborers. The towers were demolished and replaced with more practical bunkers and staggered walls, except for a few caveats.

Shikan-Silver Axe has renamed this massive military fortress the Modan Bunker!

At the beginning of the new year, in the open space of the bunker surrounded by the city walls, in the steel buildings surrounded by thorns and vines, hordes of orc warriors dance around the piles of bonfires and dance unknown steps to celebrate the arrival of the new year.

Inside the Chief's Hall,

Shikan-Silveraxe and his chief of staff, Feiduo, with wooden beer mugs, stood under the huge cowhide map on the wall facing the door in the hall, discussing.

"Andy Barrett's army is advancing at a rapid pace towards Sharptown. Feiduo's old, withered hands grasped the hard purple wood striped horsewhip, pointing to the location of Sharp Town on the map, "In Sharp Town, there are only five thousand human defenders, and they can't stop Andy Barrett's advance at all. ”

"How could Nishizawa Devin be so stupid, he was simply stupid to death by himself!" Shikan Silver Axe poured the beer from the wine glass and mocked Nishizawa Devin's failure in an indifferent and low tone, after saying this, he put Nishizawa Devin behind him, looked at Feiduo and asked, "What do you have a good opinion about Andy Barrett?"

"The Empire now has an armistice with us. Feiduo's old face was serious, "Nishizawa Devon was just a shield at the beginning of our war against the Empire, in fact, his role has been lost since the outbreak of the civil war in the Empire... Although it is a pity to lose more than half of the territory of the Dwak Territory, for now, we can only abandon this land, after all, the most important thing we should do at this stage is to unify the entire orc tribe. ”

"Same as I thought. Shikan-Silveraxe always spoke with confidence, and as he spoke, he tore off a large leg of lamb from the roasted whole lamb on the table next to him and took a bite of it, and when the meat was down, he continued, "But why should we give up Sharp Town to Andy Barrett?" he pointed to the Far North Mountains on the map, "Send my personal messenger to the northern wilderness mountains to tell Saktor of the Baru Kingdom that I am willing to give him the fortress of Coron and the town of Sharp!"

"Your wisdom is unsurpassed, great Sheikh Shikan. Feiduo bowed tremblingly, and after a pause, he continued, "But we have to make sure that Sharptown doesn't fall into Andy Barrett's hands. ”

"It's easy..."Shi Kan swallowed the leg of mutton in his hand and pointed to the east of Sharp Town with his greasy fingers, "Andy Barrett's army could have swept through the entire Sharp Town area in five days, but he didn't..."

"He's afraid of your army, Great Chief. Fei Duo added.

The Chief of Staff's words made Shi Kan very happy, and he grinned, "Yes, he is afraid of fighting us head-on and breaking the truce between us..."He looked at Fei Duo with a smile, "Don't we have several C-level flag regiments in our hands? ”

Fei Duo nodded and said, "If this can stop Andy Barrett, then why don't we hold Sharp Town in our own hands?"

"What's the benefit of Sharp Town in our hands?" Shi Kan said disapprerovitously, "A plain town that has no natural dangers to rely on, and the supplies in our hands every month are enough for us to fight a small encounter!" He stared at the Western Continent, "When we unify the entire orc clan, Sharp Town can take it back at any time." ”

Shikan-Silveraxe's self-confidence made Fei Duo, who was the chief of staff, frown imperceptibly, and the words that wanted to continue to persuade were swallowed back into his stomach under that irresistible gaze.

"So, I'll arrange it now?" asked Fei Duo tentatively.

"Go ahead, get things done as soon as possible, we can't spread our limited energy to the Twak Territory. ”

...

The situation on the entire continent has changed dramatically in the past few days of the New Year.

The dwarven army of the Lordan Mountains suddenly stopped attacking cities and villages in the Western Continent, and reduced their forces to devote themselves to managing a large territory in the southern part of the original Ice Maple Clan. Bunker fortresses in countless mountain ranges have risen seemingly overnight, connecting the dwarven armies to connect the bunkers between the mountains, and the foundation of the city walls can be seen everywhere, announcing the dwarves' determination to defend this land!

The war between the Cullens, the Grand Duke of Trofeld and the supporters of Madame Ferrola was resumed a few months later as the children born to Madame Ferrola grew older.

The Grand Canyon of Manweis, the never-ending war between Duke Eric and Rue-Eze, suddenly stopped!

Outside the town of Tyre, the battle of nearly 400,000 troops continued, and in the past half a month, the two sides won and lost each other on this narrow defense line of nearly 100 miles. After entering the New Year, the armies of both sides suffered huge losses due to command errors caused by their own internal affairs.

January 25, the end of the first month of the new year,

The newly built fortress of Coron was breached by Perus, who proclaimed himself the 'King of Light'. The next morning, the town of Sharp, a few hundred miles away, immediately announced that it would accept the rule of the 'King of Light'.

Twak, who was stationed in the eastern part of Sharp Town, led a legion and quickly moved westward when he got the news.

On the morning of the 27th, the army of the 'King of Light' Perus and the allied forces of the northern kingdom of Balu encountered the army led by Twak in the plain east of Sharp Town, and after a short battle, the two sides retreated ten miles back and set up camp.

Andy Barrett, who was working on the city in Twak City, was disrupted by the sudden news.

After a brief silence, young Andy Barrett was enraged by the news, and he immediately ordered the assembly of his other two legions.

He intends to give that so-called 'King of Light' a taste of the wrath of the ruler of the Twak Plateau!

Half an hour after the order to assemble the troops was issued, Sir Claire, who was inspecting the construction of the trade zone on the outskirts of Twak City, hurried back to Fort Flowerstone as fast as he could.

Claire, who is in the dusty room, meets Andy Barrett in an angry state in the lounge of the castle wing.

"You're here to persuade me, too. Andy Barrett's tone was tinged with murderous intent, reminding Claire of the bloody human heads she had seen when she passed by the castle gate just now.

"I just wanted to tell you that Sharp Town has at least 50,000 garrisons at the moment!"

"Do you think I'm going to fail?"

"So, are you confident that you can defeat them within a month?" Claire asked rhetorically, then added, "I have to remind you that the kingdom of Balu was truly unified last year, and at the same time, they opened up an ocean trade with Crewe with the help of refugees in the mountains. He spread his hands and said helplessly: "And we have experienced countless wars in the past two years, and now we can finally breathe a sigh of relief." ”

Andy Barrett said coldly: "You still think I'm going to fail!"

"No, we're not going to lose, at most we're going to lose both. Claire said in a hard-nosed tone, "We will lose our chance to rise, and we will either end up under the power of the old empire, or we will be loyal to the new rising power, or we will be swallowed up by the returning orcs, or you can go to your cousin Pedy Reagan." ”

"Is this your advice to me?"

"I suggest you go to the attic and blow the cold air, that might help you think and calm down. Claire dropped the sentence and ended the conversation.

Andy Barrett didn't keep it,

His rising anger was half doused by Claire's basin of cold water.

Half an hour later, Adjutant Listin came to the break room to inform Andy Barrett that the army had been assembled, but received no orders.

Outside Huashi Fort, the assembled army of 30,000 waited for a whole night in the heavy snow,

The next morning an order was given to disband.

At the same time, Claire, who had left in a hurry yesterday, received an order from the Duke to summon him, but when he came to the lounge in the castle wing again, Andy Barrett gave him a warm reception.

"You're right. Andy Barrett personally poured Claire a glass of red wine, "We can't get bogged down in war now, we have to use our limited resources for Twak Territory's infrastructure." He walked over to a desk in the room with his glass in hand, and picked up a piece of fine parchment on the table, "The 'King of Light' has sent an invitation to negotiate. ”

"As I thought, the barbarians and the so-called 'King of Light' don't want war. Claire nodded and put down her glass, stepped forward to take the parchment from Andy Barrett's hand, and began to watch it seriously.

"They just offered the conditions?" Claire was stunned, looking at his lord with some surprise.

Andy Barrett shrugged, "I think this 'King of Light' likes to go straight... What do you think of his idea that the three parties should jointly govern the Sharptown area?"

In his letter, Perus proposed that the town of Sharp be established as a common area of town trade, with the Sanctuary, the Kingdom of Baru, and the Twak Territory jointly administering the common area.

"Whimsical idea, but in our interest!" Claire squinted.

"It's not a whimsical idea," Andy Barrett put down his glass and grabbed a thick roll of parchment from his desk, and when a rough map appeared, he pointed to the place above Sharp Town and said, "Look at the location of this town, what can you think of?"

Claire followed Andy Barrett's finger to the map of Sharp, and Andy Barrett continued: "To the north of Sharptown, there are the vast hills and dense forests of the Fortress of Coron, where the barbarians from the north and the remnants of the Klan Territory led by Perus have occupied it, to the northwest of Sharp Town is the Crane Territory, which is now the base camp of Shikan-Silveraxe, and in the southwest, the Tefellowo Prairie Corridor leads directly to the Karen Territory and the Suke Plain!"

Andy Barrett's voice seemed to have magical power, making Claire's eyes sink into the map, and when Andy Barrett lagged behind, he added, "Twak City connects us to the east!"

"Not bad!" Andy Barrett put down the map and spread his hands, "Do you still think it's a whimsical idea?" he looked at the invitation in Claire's hand, "There's a sentence on it that is very well written... Absolutely neutral zone!"

"Absolute neutrality?" Claire whispered, and it was a whisper that kept repeating itself. After a long while, he suddenly became enlightened, "With the current situation in the Eastern Continent, both the orcs and the empire will acquiesce to the existence of this neutral zone, and they can only acquiesce to its existence... They will even send a large number of caravans into the station, which will be much more clever than the intelligence nest of the trade zone in Kwyn Town!"

"It's good for all of us... With Sharp Town as a buffer zone, I don't have to worry about conflict with the orcs right now. Andy Barrett smiled and nodded, "I can't help but want to accede to their request right away." ”

"It's a genius idea. Claire began to face up to the 'King of Light' he ridiculed from the bottom of her heart, "The Central Empire will definitely not be able to resist wanting a piece of the pie from this 'absolute neutral zone', and it is very likely that they will exchange an ethereal title for the allegiance of Peruth." ”

"Do you think Perus is stupid?" Andy Barrett smiled noncommittally, "and according to what I've learned, Pelus is not interested in the current ruling class of the Empire. ”