In the camp of the Liberation Army, Art's baggage team was hurrying to move the fifty carts of grain and grass that had just been sent from the Welsh Legion garrison into the tent where the grain and grass were stored, and five of the carts of grain and grass were drawn from the Welsh Legion's grain and grass by Art.

"Brothers, the movements are a little sharper, hurry up and return to the station after unloading the car." Spencer, who was standing next to the carriage and commanding, commanded. The cavalry of the Liberation Army escorted the Welsh Regiment to the Liberation Army camp before returning to the camp.

In the tent of the command camp of the Liberation Army, Art, who came with the baggage team, was talking to Flender in the tent about his plans after the annihilation of the enemy's cavalry.

“…… Cousin Art, now that there is food and grass, and the morale of the Liberation Army is stable, I think it's time to attack Thorne. Flender revealed his thoughts to Art.

"Lord Marquis, do you mean there should be news in the city?"

Flender raised his hand and motioned for Art to step closer and speak.

"That's right, last night they sent a secret message that they had already planted their own men at the northeast gate, where the defenders were relatively few. At that time, we will feint with some men and horses to attack the east and south gates, and the other part of the people will ambush outside the northeast gate at night, and after the people inside open the city gate and lower the drawbridge, they will immediately rush in! Once they had stabilized their position, the rest of the army immediately went to the northeast gate to support and annihilate the defenders of Thorne in one fell swoop. Flender was so emotional that he slammed his clenched fist into the wooden table.

"Lord Marquis. If all goes well, the city of Thorne is in your hands. ”

"You bring your core officers to the command camp of our army early tomorrow morning to discuss the strategy of breaking the enemy, and we must take Thorne City this time."

"Yes, Lord Marquis!"

…………

Three miles outside the southern gate of Thorne, Art, who had just returned to his garrison with his baggage troops, had no time to rest and summoned the high-ranking officers above the flag captain of the Wells Regiment to the Chinese command camp to prepare them for the siege that was about to begin.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have received an order from the Marquis to go to the command camp of the Liberation Army early tomorrow morning to participate in important military meetings and discuss the upcoming siege battle."

When the officers heard that the attack on Thorne was about to begin, they were very excited. But in the face of this ironclad city of Thorne, the confidence in my heart is slightly insufficient. Art knew in his heart the thoughts of his men.

"Everyone, be quiet." Art gestured with his hand. "I know exactly what's going on in your hearts. The assault on the city of Saône is not as simple as our capture of Fort Marci. The city of Saône is not only surrounded by high walls, but also surrounded by moats, which is indeed difficult to approach. Art slowly got up, circled around the officers, and returned to his seat.

"But if we had our inner hand in the city, things would be much easier." Yate changed his words and gave some hints to the officers present.

"Your Excellency, do you mean that there are our people in the city?" Otto immediately got up and asked eagerly.

"No, not our people." As soon as Art finished speaking, the officers looked left and right, their eyes full of doubt.

"My lord, don't go around in circles, brothers will wait for your words." Otto said anxiously.

"Everybody come closer......" After Art informed the officers present of the situation, everyone was stunned for a moment, and then whispered.

Angus was the first to speak: "My lord, it should be Bernard's people, can we trust them easily?" ”

"yes, that's right." The crowd whispered in agreement.

"Sergeant Major, do you have a better way now?" Art asked rhetorically.

"I~" Angus was speechless.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we should not doubt the Marquis's plans, the only thing we should do is to obey his orders, unconditionally." Art looked serious, his eyes fixed on the officers present. If these people can't do exactly what they are ordered and have too many concerns, then this siege will definitely be greatly compromised.

"Did you hear it all?" Art asked aloud.

"I am willing to serve my lord!" The crowd stood up and bent over and beat their chests.

"This is the end of today's military discussion. Odo, Sergeant Major, you two will come with me tomorrow morning to the Liberation Barracks tent for a military council. ”

"Yes, sir!" The two of them led in unison.

…………

At this time, it is early autumn. At night, the air around the city of Thorne slowly becomes slightly cooler. A gust of wind blew, and I saw the soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the Wells legion garrison trembling~

After dinner, Art sat alone on a stone among a few trees on the west side of the camp, watching the soldiers of the legion move from tent to tent. For this siege battle, Art himself is not very sure, and it can even be said that he is not sure at all. The city of Thorne may not be large, but it is definitely the strongest fortress that Art has ever seen. Moreover, the army defending the city inside was close to two thousand men, not counting the peasants and miscellaneous servants. Even if the Liberation Army and the Wells Army combined exceeded 10,000 people, only 5,000 or 6,000 people really had combat capability. If it really attacks, it will definitely suffer heavy casualties.

Although there is an internal response in the city, it is not yet certain what the chances of success will be. He was understandably suspicious of his officers, but he couldn't let these thoughts reach Flender's ears, or the consequences would be devastating. For such a powerful and ambitious ruler, any suspicion could be seen as contempt and betrayal. Art himself had seen how terrible Flender's eyes were when he questioned him, and that kind of power was enough to make him frightened, it was the innate arrogance in his blood!

…………

After breakfast early the next morning, Art took Angus and Otto and Ron to the headquarters of the Liberation Army.

On the way, Art told Angus and Otto again: don't question Flender's ideas and decisions to your face. As the senior commanders of the Legion, the two quickly understood Arte's intentions. For a ruler who was afraid of three points, the two naturally did not dare to have any objections.

Soon, the group came to the camp of the Liberation Army. When several people rode into the camp, they saw that the soldiers were busy under the command of the officer. It is clear that Flender is already beginning to prepare for the upcoming siege battle......

After entering the gate of the barracks, turn right into a path lined with tents on both sides, pass a sentry post guarded by two soldiers armed with spears, and then pass through a clearing, the largest tent in front of you with two guards with short swords at the gate is the command tent of the Liberation Army.

"Dismount."

There were still about fifty paces from the command tent, and Art ordered the men to dismount. After handing over the horses to Ron and his accompanying guards, Art straightened his clothes and headed for the command tent with Angus and Otto.

"Good morning, Lord Arte!" When Art and the others walked to the gate of the command camp, the guards at the door bowed and saluted, greeted each other with a smile, and then lifted the curtain to let Art and the others in. Art looked at the guard, then nodded to Otto before leading Angus into the tent. After taking out a few Finneys from his pocket and throwing them to the two guards, Odo also strode towards the tent.

In the command camp of the Liberation Army, all the senior officers under Flender were present. Art felt a little embarrassed by the people in front of him, and the only one he knew was Viscount Leonde, who was talking loudly to several officers.

When Leonde saw Art walk in, he said a few words to the people around him and walked towards them with a glass of wine.

"Lord Art, you're here." Leonde asked enthusiastically, beckoning his servants to pour wine for a few people.

"Come, Lord Art, everyone, let's have a toast for the next battle." After the servant had delivered the wine to several people, Leond raised his glass and said.

"!"

"!"

A few people drank it all and felt comfortable.

"Great, Lord Marquis is finally going to do something to Thorne." After wiping the juice from the corners of his mouth with his hands, Leonde spoke, his expression a little excited. As a professional soldier who lived off his sword, he had an almost paranoid fascination with fighting. It is only in the process of fighting the enemy that he can feel as if he is still alive. It is precisely because of this that the soldiers of the Midsummer Legion make the enemy so frightened.

Art only nodded slightly in agreement, and did not open his mouth to agree. Because he still had doubts about whether he would be able to win this siege at this time.

"Lord Marquis has arrived~" With the voice of the guards outside the door, everyone in the camp immediately put down the wine glasses in their hands. I saw two guards open the curtain, and Flender, dressed in military uniform, strode in.

"Good morning, Lord Marquis!" The crowd bowed and beat their chests and saluted.

Flender glanced at the people present, nodded, and walked straight to the large leather chair at the table.

"Sit down!"

"Lord Marquis Xie~"

Once everyone was seated, Flender motioned for his personal guards to spread out a parchment map of the city of Thorne on a long wooden table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have ordered them to be prepared overnight according to the information that should be provided in the city, and it clearly marks the defense of the various gates in the city of Thorne."

Seeing that Flender's actions were so decisive and efficient, everyone present was full of admiration.

"Now, let's discuss the distribution of troops and the formulation of the battle plan."

Sitting slightly in the front, Art looked at the sheepskin map, and the strongest defenses were the East Gate and the South City Gate. In addition, except for the gate in the northeast corner, the other gates are water gates, and the number of defenders is small.

"According to the information provided by Nei Ying, the forces of the city of Thorne were mainly concentrated at the east and south gates, and together there were at least 1,200 men, and the most heavily defended was the east gate. The city gate in the northeast corner and several other water gates were less heavily defended. Flender pointed at the map with a smooth stick, and the rest of the people's eyes followed the stick.

"Therefore, the East Gate and the South Gate are not suitable as targets for this breakthrough of the Thorne, and the rest of the water gates are all erected on the river, and the surrounding areas are muddy areas, which are difficult to move." Flender then swung the stick, and the end landed at the northeast corner gate.

"Northeast Gate?" One of the officers spoke.

"Yes, it's the Northeast Gate!" With that, Flender put the stick on the table, took a long sip of the wine on the table. I saw that the officers were talking a lot.

After a while, Flender asked, "Didn't anyone tell me why I chose the Northeast Gate?" ”

Seeing that no one in the room said anything, Art first glanced at the guys in front of him, and after making sure that no one answered, he got up and bent down to Flender to salute him.

"Honorable Marquis, allow me to share my opinion."

"Art, say it." Flender nodded in satisfaction.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there are two reasons why the North City Gate was chosen as the breakthrough. First, the river enters through the North Gate and divides into three sections, the two sides converge at the southwest corner of the city after circling the city in half a circle along the outer wall moat, and the other flows into the Thorne along the North City Water Gate. The northeast gate is just between the river to the north and the moat to the east, forming a narrow corner. As a result, most of the men and horses and siege equipment could not be deployed outside the northeast gate. Bernard also knew in his heart that our army would not attack the city from there. So there were a lot fewer defenders there than at the East Gate and the South Gate. ”

"Second, once the northeast gate is successfully broken, the reinforcements outside the east gate can quickly move to the northeast gate, reinforce our soldiers who have stabilized their positions, and finally break through Thorne City in one fell swoop and annihilate the defenders in the city."

After Art finished speaking, the officers present talked a lot. Their understanding of the guy in front of them only stayed at the level of the son-in-law of Viscount Galvin, the deputy finance minister of the court. But he didn't expect him to know so clearly about the inside of the city of Thorne.

Angus and Otto, who were standing behind Art, glanced at each other, and compared to the officers of the Liberation Army in front of them, Art's understanding of Thorne City was incomparable to theirs. In the process of assassinating Assasin, the group had already figured out the situation in the city of Saône, and successfully brought several of Assasin's leaders to Paris to be tried by the church. Due to the extreme concealment of the operation, Bernard only learned who was behind the scenes after the pagans had already arrived in Paris.

"I heard you all." Seeing that the officers were talking, Flender finally spoke. "Art's analysis is exactly the same as what I think."

At this time, the corners of Art's mouth curled slightly, and he glanced at the officers present with the corner of his eye. I thought to myself, these arrogant guys in front of me will definitely remember themselves now~

"Next, I'll announce the operational deployment." As soon as Flender spoke, everyone at the long table immediately stood up and stood up straight, with serious expressions.

"The Liberation Army is responsible for attacking the East Gate, and the Wells Army is responsible for attacking the South Gate. In addition, select 200 soldiers with rich combat experience in the army, and after opening the northeast gate, they should immediately rush up to deal with the defenders in the city gate, occupy the northeast gate, and wait for the arrival of the army. The main task of the armies of the East Gate and South Gate was to attract the majority of the enemy's forces and cover the soldiers attacking the Northeast Gate. Once the city was breached, the Wells army continued to attack the south gate, half of the men and horses of the recovery army stayed behind to guard the east gate, and the other half immediately went to the northeast gate to support the two hundred soldiers who broke the city. ”

"All the troops immediately go back and hurry up to prepare, and launch a full-scale attack on the city of Thorne on time at dawn the day after tomorrow, and this time we must take the city of Thorne in one fell swoop!" Flender drew his broadsword from his waist and swung it into the air, extremely emotional.

"I am willing to serve the Marquis!"

"I am willing to serve the Marquis!"

After the military meeting, Art hurriedly took Angus and the others to ride towards the garrison of the Wells legion to make final preparations for the upcoming siege......