Wildfires burn inexhaustibly, and spring breezes blow and regenerate.

In both San Nouvai and Guineapoli, the weeds are still green in early winter.

When the last rays of the setting sun fade and the temperature plummets as night falls, people realize that it is winter after all.

At 2 o'clock in the morning the next morning, the officers and men of the Civil Defence Force had already put away their tents.

They spent half an hour having breakfast, and at 3 o'clock the troops of the first five companies, led by Deputy Commander Wells, set out.

The cavalry company made a detour from the downstream at 4 o'clock to outflank the rear of the town of Morillo.

The engineer and artillery companies of the baggage company, as well as several other companies, began preparing materials for the construction of the bridge yesterday evening, and there were ready-made bamboos on the nearby hills.

When Wells set out, it was still dark, and in order to prevent anyone from getting lost or getting lost, he had his soldiers tie them with ropes. Led by Arthur Young's scouts, they made it to the ferry.

This is the upper reaches of the river, located between mountain streams, and the channel is extremely narrow. By this time it was already dark, and Wells ordered the soldiers to use the bamboo rafts they had brought with them as a bridge to allow the troops to reach the opposite shore without any problems.

Then down the river, at 5 o'clock in the morning, when it was still dark, the town of Morillo was already ahead.

At this time, Sean led most of the movement to the back of a hill, and in the other direction was the mouth of the Three Forks, and on the other side of the river was the town of Morillo.

With the vanguard of Wells set off with Arthur Young's scouts, Arthur personally stepped out and quietly took out a few patrolling rebels with three nimble guys, and touched the edge of the town.

Suddenly, a guy jumped out of a haystack with his pants in his hand, and almost collided with Arthur.

In the astonished look of the other, Arthur stabbed a dagger into his mouth and threw him down in the haystack, and the man quickly stopped moving.

This guy is estimated to be a sentry, but he was too lazy to sleep in the haystack, and jumped out because of the urgency of urinating, which almost exposed Arthur and the others.

Hearing the sound of cooing birds, Wells immediately ordered his troops to attack from the west side of the town with bayonets, and did not react until they had cleared a rebel barn on the west side of the town.

Hearing the gunshots, Sean led most of his men to the mouth of the river, and the sappers, with the assistance of some infantry, took advantage of the piers destroyed by the rebels and immediately built a bamboo bridge.

Everyone is aware of their role, like a tightly knit machine, busy in an orderly manner.

The rebels were helped by the chaotic architecture of Murray, who fired from the buildings, Wells met stubborn resistance, and street fighting resulted in a small number of casualties among the CDF.

This was the scenario that had been anticipated at yesterday's military meeting, and Wells immediately decided to divide the five companies he brought with him into two parts, and three companies surrounded the whole town and were responsible for surveillance.

The remaining 2 companies, each sergeant led 10 soldiers, cleared the outer buildings first, covered each other and approached each building, first threw grenades into the house, and then rushed in to deal with the opponent.

Wells's troops advanced layer by layer, and after half an hour they had squeezed the rebels into a chapel.

By this time it was already dawn, and Sean crossed the river with most of his men, including artillery.

The cannon blasted directly at the chapel's walls, which were as fragile as papier-mâché, often falling off a single wall.

And 6 howitzers were also pushed. This howitzer has a curved trajectory and can fire not only blasting shells, but also shotguns, the latter being extremely effective against enemies hiding behind buildings.

Amid the roar of the cannons, the terrified wails of the rebels were heard.

The Civil Defence had a lot of money, and the artillery bombarded the last stronghold of the rebels for half an hour before the infantry broke in, and the rebel leader named Graham had already been cut in half by a solid bullet.

To Sean's surprise, the rebels in Morillo had a lot of wealth, and they captured two large chests of gold and silver coins alone. Although the town is remote, it is also a modest trade route, and the southern province of Javia often passes through it over the Ott Mountains, making it a rather wealthy town.

Frank observes the military discipline of the soldiers after the war, and to his "disappointment" is that the military discipline of the soldiers is excellent, without his preconceived judgments. He attributed this to the generous treatment of the Genoese soldiers.

However, the reaction of some of the local residents frightened Frank, who were hostile to them as liberators, even though they did a good job of concealing them.

Sean stood outside the church, staring at a bulletin board that had been stubbornly fighting in the flames of war:

"We, the Free Army, are the loyal warriors of the true God of freedom and the protectors of the people. All the inhabitants of Morillo only need to provide the necessary food and drink for our army, and do not have to pay taxes and food.

All the nobles, the rich, and the land of the Church of God shall be to the commoners, and you will henceforth be free, free from slavery and oppression......"

The Genoese Civil Defence killed 208 rebels, including their leaders, in this battle, with minimal losses on their own, thanks to careful planning and complete execution, as well as careful preparation before the battle.

Not to fight unprepared battles is a philosophy that Sean constantly instills in his subordinates.

Almost one-third of the 208 rebels were from the town, and Perosa had come to ask for advice on how to treat the local population.

This is a rather awkward situation, and Sean did not expect in advance that the rebels have shown signs of uniting with the people.

The 300 families who lost their sons or brothers are also a potential concern for the CDF who want to establish a forward base here. Sean didn't want to create a tragedy with his own hands.

So, the mayor of the town was brought to Sean.

"Hats off, General!"

The mayor hunched over with a flattering smile on his face, trying to show his submission and humility. It's just that Sean's youth surprised him slightly.

"Mr. Hess, how many years have you been Mayor Mare?" asked Sean.

"General, it's been about twenty years. Mayor Hess replied.

"Then you know everything about this town?"

"Of course. General, our inhabitants are poor, the Free Army, oh no, the rebels are outsiders, and we don't really accept them. Mayor Hess called Qu.

"Poor people, I think the town of Morillo is quite rich, and lo and behold, we have seized so much gold. Sean sat down on the cash box.

Mayor Hess wept and said, "That's the wealth of the church and the rich people of this town. ”

"You mean to say that the clergy and the rich deserve to die?"

"No, no, at least old Pope was a hard-working and kind man, a fur merchant, who had amassed most of his life's wealth, and was raided by Graham, and himself hanged himself under a big tree in front of the church. Mayor Hess said.

"But I've heard that many of your sons are serving as soldiers under the bandits. Sean said.

"General!" said Mayor Hess, who fell to his knees suddenly, "for God's sake, please spare us, General." We were also forced to send young people to join them, they would plague the townspeople, and several girls had already been humiliated and hanged themselves. ”

When Sean heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart:

"But I see that the notice of the rebels says that they have given you all the land of the church and the nobility, and are you not supporters of the rebels when you receive such benefits?"

"General, those notices were just for Graham to use perfunctory to his superiors, Graham was actually born in our town, I grew up watching him, he was a bastard and a villain since he was a child, the latter was kicked out of town, he simply killed the sheriff and ran into the mountains to become a bandit. How could he be so kind?" said Mayor Hess eagerly.

"In this way, we are your liberators, but what I feel among you is indifference and hatred. Mayor Hess, you need to explain it to me, mind you, and the future of your 300 households is at stake. As a field commander, I also had to give some orders. Sean hinted.

Hess felt the threat and murderous intent in it, which made him break out in a cold sweat:

"General, except for rich people like Old Pop, almost all of our townspeople are tenants of the church and landlords, and in the past, when the wind and rain were good, our life was okay, and when we were tight, we could go into the mountains to hunt or gather for money. In the past ten years, our life has become more and more embarrassing, we do not own land, but we have more and more heavy taxes, and what is more terrible is labor, if there is only one strong laborer in the family, he must devote a lot of time to coping with labor, if there is no strong labor in the family, then we have to pay for exemption from labor. ”

Mayor Hess continued: "This is how our land is dwindling little by little, turning into the property of the church and the nobility, as well as the local landowners. ”

"Who is this nobleman?" Sean chimed in.

"The René family, they live in Moore City. "When the war broke out, I heard that they had fled to the provincial capital, Daguerre. ”

You continue. Sean nodded.

The René family Sean had also heard that it was a wealthy family in Guineapoli, and this family had the title of earl, and they actually owned land in this remote provincial border town, but Sean did not expect it.

"The Free Army, no, the rebels came to our town, they killed the old priests, hanged all the rich people, and took their wealth. Probably Graham was born in this town, so he didn't bother us civilians too much. But most of his men are bandits or hooligans, and these people have hurt us, especially the women of the town......"

Mayor Hess recounts all the terrible things that happened in the past, and Sean can probably guess the cause and effect.

When the rebels arrived, they destroyed the old rich class and power structure, as well as the heavy tax burden that weighed on the civilian population. These poor civilians would rather accept humiliation than be shackled to pay taxes.

There are also considerable civilians who have hopes for the rebels and are eager to acquire land. Not to mention the commoners, even the nobles and the merchants of the cities also had a terrible attachment to the land.

These two reasons were the indifference and hostility of the local population towards the intrusion of Genoa.

As for fighting the local tyrants and dividing the land, this is the proposition of the rebels' upper echelons, but at the executive level, it is clearly contrary to their upper echelons, and the war and chaos provide excellent facilities for careerists to acquire wealth.

In this way, the rebels have not firmly held the hearts and minds of the people, and their limited civilian policy in Lalong has not been universally and resolutely implemented, and has even been confined to slogans and propaganda.

The empire is terminally ill but still alive.

And those civilians, like the weeds outside the town, are extremely enduring, silently withstanding the wind and rain, and growing tenaciously.