In a burned farm eight miles west of the Vaal City, the Western Army, which was chased by the Eastern Army for ** miles, was temporarily stationed here, and the open space around the farm was full of retreating soldiers, who were in groups of three or five around a pile of choking smoke campfires in a depressed mood, and it was roughly estimated that there were less than 400 Western soldiers in the farm. ∵ Eight ∵ Eight ∵ Read ∵ Books, .↗.▲o

In the center of the farm, more than a dozen Western Army commanders sat in the "hall" of the farmer's mansion, which had been burned to ruins.

Looking up at the eaves water dripping from the broken roof from time to time, a Western Army commander wiped a handful of rain from his head and muttered: "I knew that I had to escape to this ghost place, I shouldn't have put that fire, so I don't even have a place to shelter from the rain now~"

An accomplice with a blood-soaked linen wrapped around his arm next to the chattering officer was crouching in front of a bonfire that could not be lit at all, fiddling with a piece of rain-soaked wood, snorting and sneering: "Okay, you are lucky enough not to be hacked to death by the enemy, and you still want to take shelter from the rain!" Or should this be the comfortable barracks of your palace guards? Do you want me to grab a few more maids for you to come over and warm your bed? ”

The chattering officer was not happy, and he was immediately angry when he was ridiculed by his accomplices, "You monkey of the Western Army should be hacked to death on the battlefield, lest you spray feces everywhere with a stinky mouth!" ”

The companion of the Western Frontier Army stopped hearing this, threw the wet wood and fire stick in his hand, and stood up with a gesture to fight with the chattering officer.

"Enough! If you quarrel again, you'll be dragged out and cut down! The Supreme Commander of the Western Army lifted the guard beside him who bandaged his head, and yelled loudly at the two cockfighting men.

Only then did the two "fighting cocks" die down, and each turned his head and ignored the other.

There was silence again in the ruins, except for the occasional cough from the thick smoke of the wet wood.

The sluggish atmosphere in the ruins was interrupted by the sound of horses' hooves, and two soaking wet cavalrymen galloped from outside the farm, bypassing the crooked pile of soldiers and entering the "hall" without doors, windows, and walls.

"How? Are the rebels ready to attack? The commander of the Western Army jumped up from the fire and walked a few steps to the cavalry.

The cavalryman shook his rain-soaked sleeves, his face was very embarrassed, he turned slightly to avoid the attention of the officers, and said in a low voice: "Lord Viscount, the enemy army has withdrawn to Vaal City~"

"Huh? Why was it withdrawn? Did they give up the pursuit? The commander of the Western Army looked puzzled.

The cavalry turned his head to look at the officers who were eavesdropping, and lowered his voice again, "The rebels didn't have many ambushes, the number of ambushes that suddenly appeared was only more than a hundred, and the soldiers we left behind also confirmed that the enemy soldiers who crossed the large army camp were indeed less than two hundred~ We were fooled~"

Although the cavalry's voice was already very low, a sharp-eared officer of the Western Army heard it, and he burst into his feet and shouted: "What? Less than two hundred ambushes? ”

The ruins of the farm immediately exploded, and the commanders of the Western Army beat their chests one after another, and humiliation and anger filled the sky. ⊕ Eight ⊕ Eight ⊕ Read ⊕ Books, .◇≮

"Don't believe me! I said a long time ago that the rebels simply bluffed with intrigues, how about it? I was right. I said that there was no army sneaking out of the enemy camp that night, which of you believed me? An officer stood up and spread his hands, jumped to the campfire, and pointed at the crowd.

This person was the baron who was in charge of monitoring the movements of the Welsh Legion camp that night, and he was scolded for "letting go" of the rebels early that morning, and now that the truth was revealed, he immediately jumped out to clear his name.

"If you had followed my advice from the beginning and directly attacked the rebels' unformed formation, we would have been lying in Vaal City drinking wine and eating barbecue!" The baron glanced in the direction of the commander, consciously or unconsciously, and the meaning could not have been more obvious.

"**, you have the face to say, if you hadn't taken the lead in escaping with the team today, how could we have lost so badly? It was you, a bastard, who led the way and ran away, and my soldiers were swept away! Another officer of the Western Army also jumped out and pointed at the baron who led the soldier and scolded him.

"What does it have to do with me that your soldiers are fleeing? Who said I fled! I was planning to return with the rear army to the enemy army that was sneaking up on the back! The baron of the lead soldier squinted his lips.

"**, then you are really brave enough, the enemy soldiers rushed from the northwest, and you led your soldiers to the southwest to meet you~ And finally rushed back to the camp in one breath and snatched all the military salaries, tsk~ You are really powerful!" Another officer sneered at the "valiant" baron leader.

Seeing that the officers of the two Praetorian Guard Legions were mocking him, the leading baron became even more angry, "You old soldiers of the Praetorian Legion, your mouth is harder than a shield, and your teeth are sharper than a spearhead. If you have the ability, you will use your mouth to retake the Vaal City, and bite the throats of your enemies with your fangs. Spray horse manure with me here! ”

"I think you miscellaneous border soldiers like to squirt feces the most!" One of the Praetorian Legion officers immediately counterattacked.

"Say it again? Believe it or not, I can tear your rotten mouth with one hand! The Frontier Legion, with one arm hanging, slapped the Praetorian Officer on the head......

Definitely, it was originally just a matter of facts, but now it has become a brawl between the Western Frontier Army and the Praetorian Guard......

Warehouse ~ Bang!

A heavy sword slashed through a long table in the ruins, and the loud noise caused the scuffling officers to stop their movements and turn their heads to look at the commander of the Western Army, who had blushed faces.

"Whoever dares to move again, I will cut off his head with a sword!"

The commander of the Western Army put down a cruel word, dragged the heavy sword that was still trembling, kicked away the two officers who fell to the ground and scuffled, and walked straight out of the ruins.

The older advisor who stood in the corner of the ruins and never said a word looked around at the officers, shook his head and followed the pace of the Western Army commander......

............

"You slackers keep up with the pace, don't fall behind. It's not a quiet time, and even though we're still some distance from the war zone, it's hard to tell when the Eastern Army will come over. ”

Outside the Black Iron Fort, three days north of Besançon, four patrolling castle defenders under the leadership of a small officer patrolled to the north, the war between the east and the west has begun, as an important defensive fortress in the north of Besançon, although the Black Iron Fort has not yet become a war zone, but the local garrison is more and more aware that the crisis is approaching, so the patrol team has also gone further.

There was a low hill in front of the patrol, and the hill that was climbed was an endless wasteland, and the patrol would climb to the top of the hill and look around, and then return home.

When he was about to climb to the top of the hill, the little officer stopped to take a breath, took off the wine bag from his waist and poured a sip of inferior beer, and the little officer's interest was aroused, and he climbed up hard, humming a country tune of yín dàng, thinking that he would have to find a "high mountain" to climb after returning to the city.

The higher you climbed, the slower the little officer's speed became, and his chubby, round head appeared in sight on the other side of the hill.

“...... The girl's lips were like flames, igniting my parched heart. I lifted the girl's long skirt and touched the girl's—"

The singing came to an abrupt end.

"Captain, what did you touch the girl? Keep singing! The soldiers following behind the junior officer were still beating the beat, urging the junior officer to continue singing.

"Captain? Captain! Why don't you keep going? ”

The soldier glanced up at the little officer, who was pinned to the spot and motionless, and climbed half a step around the past—

The patrol soldier's scalp was numb, "My God~"

............

"Oh my God, my legs are broken."

"God can't walk for you, and if you don't keep up, you'll wait for the Overseers to carry your corpse on the march, and those Overseers won't care if you're a servant or not."

On the other side of the hill line a mile and a half north of the Black Iron Fort, an army of more than 1,000 men was advancing towards the Black Iron Castle at great speed.

The leader of this army rode a high war horse and was escorted by the Hundred Guards was none other than the commander of the Longxia Legion, the Lord of Longsummer of the Duchy of Burgundy, and the Prince of Burgundy, Flanders? Otto.

Flender personally led the best 1,000 mercenaries and 500 servants of the Midsummer Legion on a month-long march around the border between the Duchy of Burgundy and the Palazzo.

Although the Duchy of Burgundy is suzerainty with the Earl of Burgundy, the borders will not be open to the army, and Flender, as the lord of the Duchy of Burgundy, will neither be restricted by the Duchy nor have to worry about the obstruction of the Earl of Burgundy.

Of course, the village settlements and large and small military forts along the way were all ordered by Flender to be "sealed", otherwise the news of the army's southward movement would have already reached the Black Iron Fort.

Flender raised his hand to signal the army to halt its advance, and then took the reins and led his personal guards and a few lieutenants of the regiment to climb the gentle slope of the hill from the north side.

The corpses of several patrol soldiers of the Black Iron Fort defenders lay on the other side of the hill, and the outpost of the Midsummer Legion, which had just finished culling the patrols, was groping and searching for the corpses.

An adjutant sat on horseback and pointed to the castle to the south that was still smoking in the setting sun, "Lord Marquis, less than two miles ahead is the Black Iron Castle, and the castle is only one hundred and seventy defenders. Our men have infiltrated the city in disguise, and they will rise up from within the city as soon as the army arrives. ”

"Creti, until I restore the title of marquis, you should still call me Lord Count." Flender immediately corrected the flaws in the title of Adjutant Creti, but there was not the slightest hint of reproach in his tone.

"Yes, Lord Count. Did I take advantage of the defenders' lack of time to react and launch an attack? "This is called Kriti? Ika's viscount lieutenant asked.

Flender glanced up at the sky, it was late in the summer, and the Midsummer Legion still had a lot of time to move.

"Order the legion to charge quickly, and take the Black Iron Fort immediately before the defense has time to set up defenses."

Flender immediately added, "Order the soldiers, after the city is breached, no one is allowed to loot and kill the blacksmiths and craftsmen in the city." These are things more precious than gold......11