As Li Tianhao had predicted, Gernas's proposal to contact the Duchy of Palci to send troops to flank the thieves was rejected by Count Jacob.

Although Jacob listed a long list of reasons for rejecting the offer, Gernas knew very well that Jacob had only rejected it because of the aristocracy's reserve, and therefore did not say a word of rebuttal, which was useless. Gernas had not expected this proposal to pass, but unfortunately it could have reduced the casualties of the soldiers.

He now has 53,000 soldiers, the largest force he has ever commanded in his life. Of course, he himself was not very satisfied with this army: out of these 50,000 men there were only eighteen thousand regular troops of Yaqui - this was already the limit of the regular army that could be mobilized in the mountains of Dils, and now there were less than 5,000 of the regular army left on the eastern front to defend Palchi; The rest were all private armies, slave soldiers, and mercenary units cobbled together by various slave owners, and among these people, only Noyuda's troops were relatively sophisticated, and the rest could be said to be a rabble. Although the combat effectiveness of the mercenaries is strong, there is no discipline, most of the private armed forces are ** ruffians, and they are useless when they go out to equip themselves, and the morale of the slave soldiers is not high, the equipment is too poor, and the combat effectiveness can only be said to be similar to the thief army. The most critical thing was that there were no charioteers and cavalry units in the mountains of Diels, and the limited number of horses could only be used for reconnaissance and liaison.

Fortunately, under his strong leadership, the troops were very well prepared, and with the help of the slave owners, the grain and grass were very abundant, and there were special slaves responsible for transporting the grain and grass to the front line, and the ability of the main generals was also trustworthy. Leo, Emmanuel and Yedarf were once his subordinates, and the respect for him is needless to say; Dara was even more grateful for his rescue, and although Noyuda had a bad temper, he also respected Gernas, but Zaran was not convinced by the fact that he was leading the army, but at least it was not revealed on the surface.

Gernas decided to divide his army into two routes, one was 3,000 regular troops and 20,000 slave-owning troops, led by Zaran, who were responsible for covering the flanks of the main force and the strategy and pacification of the cities along the way; Gernas personally commanded the main force of 30,000 troops along the avenue, and the front of the army was directed towards the city of Assras. As soon as the plan was drawn up, the army was immediately mobilized. Zaran seemed to be very satisfied with this, he was originally unwilling to be ordered by Gernas, and now he could march independently, which was naturally much better than obeying Gurnas; And Gernas is also very aware of this, and it is easier for his main force to exert his combat effectiveness without Zaran.

Zaran's forces advanced well, recapturing several small cities in less than five days. However, Dara reminds Gernus that it may be a ploy by the thieves. Gernas felt that there was some truth in Darra's statement, and after carefully studying the situation, he confirmed it even more doubtfully, because these cities had no garrisons at all, and there were not even inhabitants or food! The thieves have long since moved everything in the city without a trace.

What worries Gernas even more is that the private forces under Zaran, after the siege there are no materials to loot, these people are very dissatisfied, they desperately clamored to take the city of Asras, seize the spoils of war that match their achievements, Zaran has gradually been unable to control the emotions of these people.

Knowing this, Gernath hastened the pace of his advance, realizing that Zaran's men were likely to be greedy for merit, which would make the whole army too prominent, and his main force might be broken by a surprise attack if he could not provide a timely response.

The truth was as Gernas expected. Soon the battle report came, and the thief army attacked the part of the army that was advancing too fast, and nearly 3,000 men were completely routed, and more than 2,000 were killed in the battle. By the time Zaran arrived at the battlefield with reinforcements, the perpetrators had already fled.

Gernas looked at the battle report and frowned. Dara on the side spoke: "Don't worry too much, my lord, although this battle was lost, it also proves that the thief army does not dare to confront our army head-on. This fighter plane has obviously been waiting for a long time, which shows that the opponent's intelligence system is superior to ours, but the gap in strength is too large, as long as our army is in camp step by step and does not cause stragglers, it can march to the city of Essras safely and steadily. ”

Gernas nodded, and immediately sent an order to Zaran, telling him to take care of his subordinates, not to take the enemy lightly, and to approach Essrath steadily. Then he said to Dara, "After this defeat, it is easier for Zaran to control those disobedient private troops. It's really hard for him to take those people with them. ”

Dara smiled bitterly: "These troops are not cooperative, and they have suffered a lot at the beginning." ”

Gurnas was about to comfort Darrah. Suddenly, the herald hurriedly ran over and said, "Report to the general!" A small group of enemy cavalry attacked the city of Zarashis, which had been recaptured by our troops, and our garrison of 300 was caught off guard and almost completely annihilated! ”

"Cavalry?" Gurnas's heart tightened: "How many?" ”

"About five hundred horsemen are reported."

Hearing this, Dara said: "The last time I marched, the other side had no cavalry at all. Where did they get the horses? ”

Gurnas thought to himself: there were not many horses in the entire Dils Mountains that could be used as military horses, and it was estimated that it would be difficult for him to gather a thousand or so military horses, and it would be even more difficult to find experienced cavalrymen of this number. If the thieves were able to use five hundred cavalry to attack a small city of Zalahis, then they should have at least two or three thousand cavalry. But there were not 3,000 horses to be found in the entire Dils Mountains, let alone military horses. The thief army was able to organize and train such a large cavalry in just a few months! Although the quality will not be very high, it is incredible that they have concealed the detection of their own intelligence system after all.

Of course, he didn't know that these five hundred horses were all Li Tianhao's belongings, and he miscalculated the combat ability of this group of cavalry. Soon it was reported that the city of Kab, near Zarashis, had suffered the same fate. In response to this, Gurnas judged that the thieves were deliberately harassing the rear with small cavalry in order to disrupt their own deployment or further cut off their food supply, so he specially assigned Yedarf to lead a thousand regular troops to escort the grain caravers. Then he turned around and made a plan to march into the city of Essras. He ordered the brave general Leo to lead 5,000 regular troops as the first formation, Emmanuel and Noyuda to lead 5,000 men as the second formation, and himself led 20,000 men to follow, and ordered Zaran to march with him, remembering not to rush too forward.

After the order was given, Gernas led a mighty army towards the city of Aisras.

Soon, the scouts came with the news that the main force of the thieves was stationed on the choke point of Dodge Ruhr Hill in front of Essrath City. Gernas, who grew up in the mountains of Dils, knew the terrain there very well, and nodded secretly: This is indeed a necessary place for his two armies to march, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the commander of the thief army, Li Tianhao, really has some means.