"Lord Earl, the person you are looking for is here."

At night, in the inner room of the Count's Palace, the chief of the mansion reported to Bernard, who was reading the battle reports of the front line by candlelight. Bernard glanced up and did not speak. The head of the mansion withdrew with interest.

After Bernard had finished his business, he shook the bell on the table, and the housekeeper heard the sound and carefully pushed open the wooden door of the inner room, bringing in the people who had been waiting outside the door for a long time.

"Lord Count." The head of the mansion greeted and motioned for the person behind him to step forward and obey the order. I saw an officer wearing long-sleeved chain mail, cowhide boots, and a broadsword at his waist stepped forward.

"Sit down." Bernard motioned for the officer to sit on the bench to the side, and ordered the housekeeper to bring in two glasses of wine.

"In a hurry to transfer you back from the front for one thing." Bernard spoke directly.

The officer hurriedly withdrew his hand, which had just touched the wall of the cup, and immediately stood up, his eyes straight at Bernard.

"Loyal to the Earl."

"Excellent! The reason why I have called you here is because I have always treated you as a confidant, and in the current critical situation, it is most appropriate for you to leave this matter to you. ”

"Thank you, Lord Earl, for your trust."

"Sit down." Bernard nodded his fingertip hand and motioned for the officer to sit down.

"As you can see, the situation is not in our favor right now. The strongholds in the east were pulled out one by one by the Liberation Army like teeth, and Thorne's army retreated step by step. Moreover, the sentinels reported yesterday that the Welsh regiment to the south had swallowed the troops I had sent to attack in one gulp, and that it was less than two days' journey from the city of Thorn. It won't be long before the city of Thorne will be surrounded by them like an iron barrel, and it will be difficult to get out. I saw Bernard slap his hand on the table, his face embarrassed.

"The Earl means that I should take people to stay on the periphery and cooperate with the defenders in the city to defend Thorne?"

"Charlie, I really didn't misread you, as soon as I said it, you understood my plan." Bernard nodded in satisfaction, and his face was no longer so ugly. Compared to the bravery of other officers, he admired the brains of the guy in front of him more.

The officer, too, was full of pride, secretly glad that he had guessed Bernard's intentions, and quickly stood up and bowed.

Bernard took a sip of wine and stood up, pacing back and forth in the inner room.

"Charlie, your mission is to lead three hundred cavalry to secretly hide outside the city of Thorne while the army on the front line is slowly retreating, waiting for an opportunity to burn the enemy's grain and grass. And when they were attacking the city, they went around to the rear to attack and disturb, disperse their forces, and cooperate with the defenders of the city to defend against the enemy. When the time comes, we should work together to wipe out those bastards under Thorne. Bernard laid out his detailed plans and plans.

"Lord Earl is clever!" The officers were full of praise for Bernard's plan.

"There is plenty of food and grass in Thorne, enough to last more than a year, and we can afford it, but they may not be able to wait. Remember, take the opportunity to burn their food, grass and siege equipment. As soon as there is a shortage of food, they will naturally retreat, and then it will be our turn to fight back. Bernard clenched his fists so creaking that he wanted to smash the bones of the Averadians.

"Rest assured, Lord Earl, I will definitely make those traitors pay the price of blood."

"Good!" With that, Bernard instructed the governor of the Inner House to deliver a bag of small gold coins to the officer.

"You take this money and tell your people that after the deed is done, there will be more shiny gold coins in their pockets~"

Seeing that Bernard was so generous, the officer took the money bag and thanked him repeatedly.

"Alright, you go back and get ready. Remember, you must retreat secretly and never be exposed. ”

"Yes, Lord Count." The officer slowly exited the inner chamber with a heavy money bag.

On the second day, Bernard summoned all the officers in charge of defending the city of Thorne and all the lords from all over the country to his hall of the Earl's Palace, and arranged the internal and external defenses of the city.

According to the current battle report, the enemy will arrive outside Thorne in two days at most. After that, the mode of warfare will change from positional warfare to defensive warfare, and the key to the victory or defeat of defense lies in the solidity of the city's defense and the abundance of grain, grass, baggage, and water in the city.

As the residence of the Thorne court, after the battle for the successor began, Bernard ordered people to repair and strengthen the city of Thorne, in case the situation was unfavorable to him in the future, he could retreat to the city of Thorne to hold on.

The fortified walls of the city of Saône were sixty feet high and nine feet thick. The moat outside the city was cleared twelve feet deep and eighteen feet wide, and there were sharpened wooden stakes inserted inside, so that if a man or a horse fell into the river, there was no chance of survival. The moat was connected to the city gate by a large wooden drawbridge, which was covered with a thick layer of iron sheets, and the hinges connecting the drawbridge were slowly lowered by several guards at the gate through a winch fixed to the city wall. Two square holes were opened next to the winch, which were guarded by four soldiers armed with crossbow arrows to prevent the enemy from breaking the drawbridge and approaching the city gates. Several gates had been reinforced again, and the heavy oak gates had been firmly fixed together with iron bars on the inside and outside, and seven or eight thick logs had long since clung to the beams above the oak gates. There were several carriages full of boulders parked under the walls on both sides of the inner side of the gate, and when the gate was about to fall, they pushed the wagons full of boulders directly to block the gate. In addition, the half-mile area outside the moat was already covered with various traps in advance, and at intervals there were stakes to prevent the advance of the large group of people.

At this stage, many counties and fortresses to the east of the city of Thorne have been uprooted by the recovery army one by one, clearing the way for the march into the city of Thorne. The estates and forts in the south were also controlled by the Welsh Legion all the way north. At present, in addition to the strategic location of the city of Saône, which is still in Bernard's hands, there is also a castle on the road to the principality to the west of the city of Saône, which has become the last card in Bernard's hand.

In order to prevent the city of Thorne from being isolated in its defenses, Bernard sent three hundred of its soldiers to Tantingburg, fifteen miles west of the city. As the most important castle in the west of the city, the walls of Tancienburg are slightly lower than those of the city, but they are no less fortified than the city of the city.

The castle was built by the former Marquis Ireyaf when he was defending against the principality. As an outpost of the western frontier against foreign enemies, the Marquis of Ireyaf spent a lot of money on this castle. With Tancienburg as the core, two medium-sized stone forts were built three miles apart on the north and south sides. A fortress could hold fifty soldiers, plus thirty miscellaneous servants and servants. The four forts could garrison more than 300 soldiers. Together with the 300 soldiers and more than 100 miscellaneous servants in Tandom, the regular army of 500 men on the front line of Tandom was 500 men. The weapons in it have sufficient food and grass sources, enough for more than half a year.

This was Bernard's last move, and he would never give up on the city of Thorne, which he had worked so hard to run for many years, until he had to. Once the city of Thorne falls, Tandimobel will serve as a lifesaver for Bernard and his son Robert to seek political asylum in the Duchy as they travel west.

“…… Ladies and gentlemen, once the city of Thorne is besieged, the supply of food and grass and water will be a top priority. Therefore, while the group of mongrels has not yet surrounded us, we must immediately send people to collect all the grain and grass in the surrounding area into the city, and never leave a grain of grain for them. In the halls of the Earls' Court, Bernard gushed his point of view.

"In addition, all the water sources around the city of Thorne have been secretly destroyed by me, so that they will never be able to get up again after drinking!" Bernard slapped the table hard, his eyes full of murderous intent.

"Lord Earl, do you mean to poison the water source?" An officer asked.

"That's right."

"If the surrounding water source is destroyed, it will have some impact on the city." The officers were worried.

"Then you don't have to worry, I have ordered someone to increase the number of *** in the city, which is enough for us." Bernard said calmly.

"Okay~" Everyone expressed their admiration for Bernard's precautions.

"How's the craftsman's large crossbow ready to go?" Bernard asked.

"Lord Hui, according to your orders, we have already prepared twenty pairs of large crossbow arrows, which are arranged around the city wall." An officer in charge of armaments replied.

"How's it powering?"

"Back to Lord Earl, after our testing, large crossbow bolts are enough to kill and wound the enemy's light and heavy cavalry and heavy infantry at a distance of fifteen hundred feet."

"Good! As long as they dare to come, you will use what you have in your hands to make the outside of the city a graveyard for those bastards! After saying that, Bernard took a sip of the wine he had at hand, wiped the residual juice from the corner of his mouth, and continued to ask.

"How is the trebuchet being built?" As a defensive battle, Bernard did not stop at the literal word, he had already ordered his men to build eight large trebuchets and more than a dozen small trebuchets to deal with the besieging army outside the city.

"Back to Lord Earl, all the trebuchets have been built. According to your instructions, the focus is placed in the east and south directions, ready to be put into use. ”

"Good." Bernard was very pleased with the performance of the armed officers. "It's up to you this time."

"I want to serve the Earl."

"Has the main army of the front withdrawn?"

"Back to Lord Earl," said one of the officers, standing up, "according to your orders, the main forces of the front line have returned to the city one after another. At present, there are less than 100 regular troops on the front line, and they are leading the farmers and displaced people who had been recruited a few days ago to resist the Guangfu army on the front line, buying time for the rest of the troops to retreat. ”

"Good!" For those farmers and displaced people who took their lives to stop the Liberation Army on the front line, Bernard will not be heartbroken at all. To him, those people were worthless.

"Now, I order," Bernard suddenly said with a serious expression, "all the garrison troops have arrived at their designated positions according to their previous deployment, ready to resist the enemy's attack at any time!" ”

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The people took the command and departed.