Loren sat quietly at the map table, his hands crossed against the edges, pondering and studying the current situation.

The choice of the dwarves of Silverhelm Mountain was not unexpected, but it was indeed a surprise - the dwarves of the Yunling Kingdom pledged allegiance to a Duke of Byrne, not to mention the previous dukes, even the previous knight kings had never done it.

These dwarves must have their own calculations and interests, but Loren didn't care, being able to get the allegiance of the entire Silverhelm Mountain and a strong reinforcement army was already a surefire deal.

As for how many dwarven allegiances and armies can be obtained... It doesn't really matter.

If there are not many of them, then the purpose of their bluff can be regarded as achieved;

If there really can be an army, it can also be used to confuse the real and pull up a "Silver Helmet Mountain Army" to deter and surround the centaur army of Boi's main force.

At the same time, he lost the core of the upper organization, and lost a large number of young men who could fight, even if there were dwarves who remained, he could not pose any threat to himself, and he did not have to worry about being attacked by the enemy when facing the centaurs.

This is one of the main reasons why Loren would agree to the dwarf Mihailo... No matter how devastating they were, there were still tens of thousands of dwarves left in Silverhelm Mountain, and if they were really determined to take revenge on Byrne's camp, the trouble would be unimaginable.

At this moment, Loren suddenly understood why those "historical figures" in their previous lives would rather be dragged down and endure allies with evil intentions.

Even if their combat effectiveness is negative, it can at least ensure that you can concentrate on dealing with the enemy in front of you, instead of being interrupted again and again, or even falling into the miserable situation of multi-front siege.

"Do you really believe him?"

A calm voice came from the side.

"It has nothing to do with whether I believe it or not. ”

The black-haired wizard shook his head, not glancing at the figure of the comer, his gaze always resting on the map: "We need the dwarves of Silverhelm Mountain to be on our side, isn't that what we said a long time ago, Eckert?"

"Yes, but I think they must have had some other reason, not just like the dwarf Mihailo said. The Count of Fury Castle frowned, but even then he remained respectful:

"Duke, I have absolute confidence in you, there have been dwarves in history who have been loyal to the Knight King, and even Dwarven Knight who has served the Knight King for generations, but... There are tens of thousands of dwarves in the entire Silverhelm Mountain, which is also too ......"

"Don't be so nervous, Eckert. Loren waved his hand and couldn't help laughing: "I still have self-knowledge of how many catties and taels I have." ”

Long Aotian, Wang Ba's breath, upside down, terrifying......

With these golden thighs and the halo of the protagonist, he would not have had such a miserable life in the past few years, he was called back and forth, and he almost died a few times.

Others get experience artifact gift packages after completing the mission, only they are one after another, endless conspiracy traps, evil gods with bad intentions, and time bombs that will explode at any time.

Comfortable and leisurely, full of pleasant adventures like online games, joyful and beautiful daily life... In the two years that Loren had been wandering with the old knight Leonardo Turin, he had already completely despaired of this.

Shaking his head and shaking off the cranky thoughts in his head, Loren reorganized his thoughts.

"The dwarves of Silverhelm Mountain have lost their fortress and can't afford to retake it with casualties - what will happen to them once they are subjugated by the dwarven High King?"

"It's hard to say, but ......" Eckert raised his eyebrows, a little hesitant, "At least not to help them recapture the fortress and then give it back to them - the High King will never give up such a good opportunity to strengthen the strength of Cloud Peak and control over the various fortresses in the kingdom." ”

So whatever the outcome, they will be reduced to the prisoners of the High King. Loren shrugged: "At this time, even allegiance to a Duke of Byrne becomes a good choice. ”

The Earl of Fort Fury frowned slightly.

"Maybe they're really lucky, maybe they're just trying to rely on Byrne so that the High King can't dismember them and use us through the current situation. Loren exhaled and slowly raised his gaze:

"Either way, they will have to be on our side in the next battle to ensure that the independence of the Dwarves of Silverhelm Mountain is not violated. ”

That's why I trust them – not in words and promises, but in tangible benefits, and if I can offer things that others can't or won't give, they have to pay in silence. ”

"And no matter what the cost is, if we can get an army of Dwarves from Silverhelm Mountain on the battlefield against the centaurs, it's a success... Only by grasping every opportunity can we have hope of winning. ”

Ike nodded, pursing the corners of his lips.

Of course he knew that.

It was a joint decision between himself and the Duke to unite the dwarves of Silverhelm Mountain, and questioning it was just hoping that the Duke would be rational about this matter.

The key to this war is still on the centaur.

According to the Bowi cavalry, the centaurs besieged them on the steppe for four days and four nights, and all the deserters, reinforcements, and supplies carrying the baggage were hunted down by them, and there was not a single one left.

Eckert came to the conclusion that the centaurs had besieged the main Boi forces, but the main focus was on preventing them from escaping, as well as on the reinforcements from outside.

Why?

The centaurs invaded the Great Green Sea, and their first goal should be to completely eliminate the living forces in the Great Green Sea; It's puzzling.

Don't they understand that as long as this main Boi force is eliminated at the moment, the remaining army will not be able to have any influence on their invasion and occupation of the Great Green Sea?

Of course not... The premise of encirclement and reinforcement is that the enemy must be saved, and they can destroy Boi's essence power with their hands right now, and do they still need to put the hunting target on other corners?

No, of course they knew, otherwise they would not have chosen a decisive battle with the Grand Duke of Varna - then what was the reason for the delay in destroying the Boi, the siege and not the attack?

Unless... They have other purposes.

Silent, Eckert glanced sideways, glancing at the dark-haired wizard who was contemplating the map.

Loren Turin, who had fainted in the fortress of Silverhelm Mountain four days ago, had basically recovered now, and even except for his pale face, he could not tell that he had ever been seriously injured and unconscious.

Loren Turin, the duke of his own... Does he know?

Or maybe he already knew, but for some reason he wouldn't tell anyone about it—like the Battle of Silverhelm Mountain, it's not just as it seems.

Just as he was hesitating whether to ask, a beautiful figure passed in front of him, step by step.

"Bell ——!"

The white light flashed, and the bright saber was nailed to the map table, and Loren subconsciously raised his head and looked at the person behind the knife.

Salika Jonah.

The girl who draped the braids behind her head hugged her shoulders, her expression was unprecedentedly cold, even to the point of winning or losing that day with the Thousand Tent City.

"That, that... I'm trying to stop her......"

The little wizard with a somewhat uneasy expression followed closely behind, as if he was about to admit his mistake to someone, and the black-haired wizard smiled at her and quietly gestured that it didn't matter, and Al Yin breathed a sigh of relief.

"When are you leaving?"

The boy girl's question was concise and clear, crisp and neat.

"It's expected to be early tomorrow morning. Loren frowned and looked at Salika with some hesitation: "This is just the plan of the Byrne army, I didn't make any requests to you, let alone give any orders. ”

"But... In the battle of Silver Helmet Mountain, the army under your command suffered the most serious losses, especially the Silver Armor Cavalry suffered more than half of the casualties, which has seriously affected the combat effectiveness, so ......"

This is one of the reasons why Loren specially avoided Salica, she took the lead in the process of taking over Loren's command of the battle, and the hussars under her command also took over the most critical task of luring the enemy, and suffered the greatest casualties to ensure that Eckert's tunnel offensive could be carried out smoothly.

Understandably, Loren didn't think he was qualified to ask her to do anything... Her remaining two or three thousand remnants of soldiers are unlikely to be of much use in the next battle.

"Bell ——!"

Another shrill sound caught the attention of everyone in the tent.

The dagger was nailed to the map not far from Loren's hands.

The gnashing of her teeth stared into the eyes of the black-haired wizard, her sturdy body half-crouched on the map table, her angry expression like a hungry wolf.

"When are you leaving?"

It didn't come out of his throat, but from between his teeth.

"You're not going with us. Loren said lightly, without looking at the dagger: "The enemy's strength is five times that of ours and there is still a surplus, and directly pounced on it is equivalent to death." ”

"We need reinforcements, and we need to bluff to further disperse the already small mobile forces after the siege of the main Boi forces. ”

"A Thousand Tents?" Salika's face was grim, and she immediately caught the point.

"Not only the Thousand Tent City, but also all the guerrillas on the road, you must gather them. ”

Loren looked into her eyes, and those wolf-like eyes didn't even blink: "The Byrne army will detour to the east, the dwarves of Silverhelm Mountain will go north from the south, and you will be the west... Only by creating a sense of 'surrounded' fear in the enemy can we catch their flaws. ”

"We have a chance to save 100,000 Poi. ”

The voice fell, and the air was quiet for a second.

"A Thousand Tents... Got it. ”

With a raised brow, Salika pulled out two sharp blades and turned to leave:

"Leave it to me, don't worry!"

Ackert frowned on the side, looking at the girl's departing back, hesitated for a moment and bowed slightly to Loren: "Duke... Then I'll retire for the time being. ”

The two men walked out of the tent almost one after the other.

It wasn't until they were far away that Loren's tense face relaxed slightly, and he let out a long breath.

Never mind.

"Loren, you... Promised her?"

The little wizard asked, as if tentatively.

"She's going to eat me, can you still disagree?" Unable to bear to roll his eyes, Loren flattened his mouth and glanced at Ai Yin, who was still nervous: "You told her?"

Although the negotiation with the dwarves and the planning of the army are not secrets, they are not information that everyone can know, and someone must have "informed" Salika, otherwise this smug woman would not have reacted so quickly.

Referring to the two of them one after the other, the answer is already in front of you.

"I... Overheard your conversation with Count Eckert. Ain put his hands behind his back, biting his lower lip lightly, looking aggrieved that he had made a mistake: "At first, I was just angry with you as a big liar, but then I heard that you were leaving Boi, so I ......"

"So you think I might abandon Boi and leave with Byrne's army, right?" After a slight pause, Loren couldn't help but laugh: "I'm so completely bad in your heart?"

"You're a big badass... Big liar!"

With a light snort, the little wizard's face was unusually stubborn: "But... Even if you are willing to help her, the knights and nobles of Byrne may not. ”

Looking at her serious expression, the black-haired wizard understood.

What Ain is really worried about is that the nobles of Byrne will put pressure on him - if everyone is unanimously opposed, he will not be able to force them to stay, so he can only "force" himself to agree to Salika first, so as to save face and let the nobles of Byrne have no chance to object.

That's what the little wizard thinks... Simply yes.

"Her relatives are gone, and Duke László Varna may not be gone either... Loren, she doesn't have anyone to rely on anymore but you. Ain's eyes darkened, and his expression was a little lost:

"And I... There's nothing I can do but help her in this way - I know we may not be friends with her, but... I just really wanted to help her, really. ”

"I'm not you, Loren, I'm not Isaac's megalomaniac, I—I'm probably really useless, whatever I do will only drag you down, I'm sorry......"

"No, there's nothing to be sorry for; You're just too excited!" Loren stretched out his hand to stop the little wizard who was still blaming himself, and looked at her sternly:

"Ain, I've apologized to you many times, and each time you thought I was lying to you but in fact... That's true. ”

"We've come this way... Well, in my words, I think I've met a lot of people since I crossed over. Loren sighed and looked at the slightly dull pupils of the little wizard:

"There are bandits who will stop at nothing for the sake of treasure;

There are elders who endure sacrifice for the sake of obsession;

There are cunning and black-bellied conspirators;

zealots with strong beliefs;

There are long-term rulers;

A scholar whose ideals are above all else, a clergyman whose faith is above all else;

A man of great talent who is empty-eyed, a man who punishes evil and promotes good with sincerity;

"I deal with all of them carefully, and I communicate with them in a cunning, hypocritical, and sincere way, and guess what......" Loren muttered in a low voice.

"The friendliness of all of them has prerequisites, limitations, and prerequisites. ”

"You didn't. ”

Pressing the little wizard's head, the silky smooth hair made his palm very enjoyable.

"Ain Rand... You are my heart. ”