Skirmishes at the mouth of the valley to the south of the valley were reported by Art the next day. In addition, he did not make too many deployments, but only told Colin and the others that everything was going according to the original plan, neither allowing the enemy to break through the Taniguchi fortress, nor taking the initiative to go out and provoke the other party. In short, in a word, the southern Taniguchi is firmly in his hands.

There are two reasons why Art arranged this way. First, the entire valley, as a legally recognized territory of Atte, has the right to send troops to garrison the southernmost valley mouth of the valley. Whoever provokes it is an encroachment on the Earldom of Wales, and the army stationed at Taniguchi has the responsibility to defend against the enemy.

Second, the main purpose of the garrison is to defend the territory and defend the territory, and it is absolutely not allowed to take the initiative to attack the troops of other countries for any reason, at least not for now, to invade and occupy the territory of other countries. Once an army is sent into another country, it is very likely that the opponent will seize the handle and keep people to be honest. This will not only be unsupported, but will become the target of public criticism, triggering a series of diplomatic dilemmas.

In addition, Art organized some of the woodcutters and hunter-turned-soldiers recruited from the old knight Christopher, and arranged for about twenty soldiers to join these people who knew the valley. They will be divided into two groups of about twenty men each, and they will explore all the way along the sides of the canyon until they reach the boundary line on both sides of the valley, and set up boundary monuments at the border.

This was a countermeasure taken by Yate to prevent other neighboring countries from encroaching on the valley on the grounds that the borders were not clear. Once the boundaries of the entire valley were determined, Yate had a legal and factual basis. If another country's army crosses the border, it can be regarded as an invasion of the Earldom of Wales. In this way, when the two armies were fighting, the Welsh Legion was fighting a just battle to defend the lord's territory, which was more able to get the support of other countries and not lose the hearts of the people.

Of course, the "small friction" between the Welsh legion and the Lombard army, Art naturally had to report it to Flanders, the monarch of the princely state of Burgundy. Although Flender would not openly send troops to support, he would not sit idly by, after all, Wales held the southern border of the Princedom of Burgundy.

After Flender received a secret message from Art, Art quickly received a reply. In the letter, Flender made it clear that the war between the Welsh and Lombard armies had to be fought within the control of Yat. Its core idea is consistent with that of Yate, and it will never take the initiative to provoke. If the Duke of Lombardy used this as an excuse to launch a large-scale war against the Princedom of Burgundy, the presence of the Kingdom of France would be a trump card in the hands of Flanders. Because the current strength of the Duchy of Lombardy is simply vulnerable to the great military and economic power of the Kingdom of France

With Flender's covert support, Art has confidence in his heart.

At the moment, it is almost impossible to continue to hide the affairs of the Nameless Valley. So, in Art's opinion, instead of letting the Duke of Lombard break the secret of the valley, it is better to spread the news in advance, so that the Duke of Lombard will be difficult to ride the tiger at that time

A few days later, news of the Duke of Lombardy's invasion of the territories of the Princedom of Burgundy began to spread in Provence and Swabia and the Duchy of Burgundy. Of course, this was again a conspiracy of the envoys, whose purpose was to force the Duke of Lombardy to withdraw with the help of external forces.

When the Duke of Lombardy, who was far away at the court of Milan, heard the news, he was greatly annoyed.

"Tell me, all of you, what you think of this," said the Duke of Lombardy, who had sat in the hall with his eyes half-closed and squinting at the ministers, pressing his forehead from time to time.

The people below were talking a lot, and they didn't know what to do for a while. In the past, it was always the Lombards who found an excuse to invade other countries, and after occupying the territory of another country, they announced that the opponent had violated the previous contract because of what he had done, so the Lombards unilaterally declared that the territory they had occupied would become part of their own territory. The other weak countries were hindered by the obscenity of the Duchy of Lombardy, and they dared not speak out, so they had to be slaughtered.

Today, the tide is turning. Not to mention that the Lombard is unknown, just the opponent's combat effectiveness should also make the Lombards awe-inspired. What's more, the opponent did not take precautions, defended according to the danger, and occupied the narrow valley mouth in the south of the valley closest to Lombardy mainland early. At this point alone, the Lombard army had already lost.

"Lord Duke, based on the current situation, I am afraid that we have no choice but to withdraw our troops temporarily. I'll look for opportunities later. The Minister of the Seals, who sat in the middle of the left side of the hall, thought for a moment before finally speaking.

As soon as the words fell, the military minister of the Lombard court immediately objected, saying: "If we don't completely eradicate that bastard while his foothold is not stable, once he really opens up the north and south sides of the valley, Lombardy will be controlled everywhere at that time."

"Right"

"Right"

The other ministers immediately chimed in, eager to annihilate the valley garrison in one fell swoop, and then quickly eliminate it.

"Everyone, please be quiet." The Duke of Lombardy said, "You have your own reasons for fighting and retreating. But have you ever thought that if you let that bastard go, he will become my Lombardy's number one enemy in the future?"

"This" Lord and some of the ministers were speechless.

"Why, what doubts do you have about my words?"

The crowd answered no more.

"Immediately give Paul, who is attacking the valley in the north, that he must conquer the fortress that has reached into our land within ten days." In the eyes of the Duke of Lombard, those places rightfully belonged to him. "Once we have the valley in our pockets, the gossip will disappear with it. Because everybody knows that if you eat meat in Lombard's mouth, you won't spit it out anyway."

There was a hint of murder on the face of the Duke of Lombardy, but more of a smug feeling that he was about to take possession of the strategically important valley.

When the Duke of Lombard thought that his army would live up to his trust, the corpses of Lombard soldiers had been left on a small battlefield at the mouth of the valley to the south of the valley

"Fast oil preparation" of the southern fortress of the valley, the Lombard army has already tried for the fifth time to approach the outer walls of the fortress. Every time the ladder was put up on the edge of the wall, the fire oil was easily poured on the fortress, and the moment it made contact with Mars, the attacking Lombard soldiers were instantly swallowed up by tongues of fire

"Newspaper"

"How's the way forward?" began to add a hint of worry to the Lombard Commander's tone.

"Lord Viscount, two of us were burned to death on the spot, and the other one was on the way back due to the lack of timely rescue, too"

"It's all rice buckets, I can't even take a small fortress, I deserve to go alive or dead, and send another team of men and horses to top it for me, I can't let those bastards in the fortress gasp. I don't believe it, my 500-strong army can't withstand a defensive front composed of a few dozen people. ”

"Yes, Lord Viscount," the soldier commanded.

A moment later, another herald ran in and handed a secret letter to the Viscount of the Leader

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Chapter 506: No Advance, No Retreat