South of the Imperial Capital, on the banks of the Jewel River in the blockade area, on the Imperial Boulevard.

Only after trying it for yourself can you understand how horrible and troublesome it is to manage a large territory and an army of tens of thousands.

Although he was given the power by the elven prince, this did not mean that the chief wizard of the imperial court, Anson Zade, could immediately command the army of tens of thousands of elven warriors - on the contrary, it was a beginning at best.

He had to meet with each of the samurai chieftains in person, reorganize them after receiving the oath of allegiance, assign tasks, give instructions by hand, send messengers to deliver letters and monitor the progress of the mission, and... Repeat the above almost a thousand times.

Basically, that's what he's been doing day and night for the past few days.

And what he did was only such a seemingly trivial thing as "take all the baggage and prisoners, meet according to the designated route, and then advance", which did not even involve any part of the battle, and gave the samurai leaders a great deal of freedom, but still kept him busy and unable to find the north.

Holding a wand snatched from a noble manor, the sweaty Anson Zade raised his tired gaze and looked around at the dense Azorean elven warriors who were marching around him.

In the past he would have felt proud, or at least secure, for such an army, but now he could only feel trouble, trouble, countless troubles.

It sucks, it just sucks... Why does His Highness Rodria Azores always look relaxed and comfortable when he commands the army, but when he changes himself, he becomes a mess?

Taking a deep breath, Anson Zade sighed helplessly.

The blindfolded elf girl who followed closely behind Anson Zade, with a long knife like a cane, walked with some difficulty: "The baggage team is completely dragged at the end of the line, and there are also prisoners - just now a samurai leader said that there are about two or three thousand captives at the back of the line, and there are signs of escape. ”

"It seems that our plan is still too ideal, with so many troops retreating on a large scale, there are more problems than imagined. ”

"It's not idealistic at all, not at all!"

Anson Zade retorted weakly: "This army and these warriors, they used to cross the Imperial defense line in just five days, and in three days, they fought two Imperial armies and occupied most of the territory of West Sacland!"

"If they can accomplish so much in ten days, then there's no reason why they can't retreat to the designated area in four days to assemble and regroup the defense line - so there must be something wrong, something is wrong, things shouldn't be like this!"

"So it's not the samurai's fault, it's Anson's lack of ability?"

"I... I...... Shh

Speechless, Anson Zadeh opened his mouth and found that he could not refute it, so he stomped his foot vigorously and quickened his pace.

"Anson... I'm still unwilling to admit my mistakes and shortcomings. ”

The blindfolded elf girl with an unchanged face muttered to herself: "If this continues, when will the only eldest son of the Zad family grow up?"

As she spoke, Lori Zade followed behind her angry brother.

In the next second, the blindfolded elf girl suddenly stopped her steps, and turned behind her with the knife in her right hand.

"Anson!"

The crisp angry shout made the elven wizard who had not yet recovered from his shame instinctively turn around, and saw the elf girl standing in place, as if facing a great enemy.

"Sister-sama......"

"There are voices... Approaching from the rear of the line. Lori Zade's face sank, and even though she was blindfolded, she could still see her serious expression: "It's not easy to judge if it's far away, but... It was supposed to be the cavalry of the Imperials. ”

Cavalry... Byrne Knight?!

Anson, whose face changed in shock, did not have the slightest suspicion, raised his right hand wand, and a beam of "Bright Light Sword" exploded in the air.

"The whole army... Set up a ——! in situ"

The moment the order was given, the entire marching procession fell silent.

"The front team becomes the rear team, spread out the formation on the spot, close the line, and prepare to defend against the enemy!" The hurried Anson did not wait for the last sentence to finish, and immediately issued another order:

"Send a herald to contact the rear and figure out the situation!"

Before he could finish speaking, dozens of elven warriors were already rushing towards the rear of the entire marching procession.

At the same time, the entire army of elven warriors began to gather their lines at the same time—even so, in fact, only the thousands of people at the front could actually get orders from Anson, and the ranks in the back row were still marching unhurriedly, until the horn of an eagle roared before picking up their pace.

Unlike the close formations of the Imperials, the way the Azorean elves fought caused their lines to be very loose, so the length of the entire marching force was about one and a half times that of the same number of Imperial troops, and the most direct consequence was that the speed of news was very slow.

After nearly a quarter of an hour, Anson Zadeh, who had already gathered a third of his forces, finally received accurate information from the rear.

And the worst, the last thing he wants to see is the outcome.

"Loren Turin, Duke of Byrne, raided the baggage caravan at the back of the march, and after defeating the elven warriors guarding the baggage, took more than a thousand captives, and is now organizing an army... He's still on the offend?"

"The army in the rear is organizing a defense, and for the time being it has not been broken through by them, but ......"

Looking at Anson Zade, who was shocked and angry, there was also a trace of unwillingness on the face of the elven warrior who was out of breath: "There are many enemy cavalry, and the damage that leather armor, spears and knives can do to them... It's minimal!"

Anson, whose face was sinking like water, raised his right hand and signaled that the other party did not need to continue.

"Loren Turin... He came for you, or more accurately, for us, more than 20,000 elven warriors. ”

The blindfolded elf girl on the side said softly: "If he breaks through like this, it's only a matter of time before he rushes here... Do you want to fight?"

Anson gritted his teeth, his clenched wand trembling slightly.

The situation is completely different from what was expected.

He guessed that the other party would definitely launch a surprise attack while he was retreating, but he didn't expect that the other party would attack from the back of the line not at the time of his departure, nor at the time of his journey, but when he was about to join His Highness Rodria, and caught himself off guard.

If the judgment is correct, there should be about a day between himself and His Highness.

But the current battle situation is very unfavorable to him.

The wide avenue is a natural and excellent battlefield for heavy cavalry, and the Byrne knights can charge with all their might, crushing the elven warriors who intercept them layer by layer, and killing them all the way in front of them.

At that point, we will have to face the same situation again as we did at Ebolden... No, even more terrifying than that time, this time he was no longer facing the exhausted wizard, but the Duke of Byrne, who was heavily armed and surrounded by countless guards.

So... Do you have to fight?!

Myself... Do you really have the courage to make up your mind and fight Loren Turin to the death?!

The elven boy who was trembling couldn't stop, the cold sweat on his forehead kept sliding down like raindrops, wetting his clothes.

"Smack. ”

The little white hand pressed his already soaked shoulder.

"Sister-sama?"

"There's nothing to be afraid of, I'm right behind you. Lori Zade lowered her voice and whispered, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself, Anson." ”

"I didn't ......," the elf boy wanted to defend something.

"Leave it to me here. ”

Before he could finish speaking, the blindfolded elf girl had already stepped forward to block Anson behind: "Give me the command of the army, and then you rush to the siege camp as soon as possible, and let His Highness Rhodría send troops to encircle Loren Turin." ”

"At Anson's speed, if it's just me, I shouldn't even need half a day to get there - before that, I'll drag Duke Byrne as much as I can, block him here, and leave the rest to Anson, you can deal with it, please!"

"Go ahead, don't worry and don't feel guilty, this is the best option right now. ”

As the words fell, Lori Zade's face was a little more determined.

But Anson didn't have the slightest idea of backing down.

"No... No, I can't leave this monster to my sister alone. ”

Lori Zade, who was slightly stunned, looked back slightly: "Anson, it's not your ...... to be awkward and angry now."

"I'm not angry!" the grumpy elf boy snapped:

"I'm just fed up with it!"

"I'm fed up with being calculated by the other party at every step, I'm fed up with being played with by that hateful guy like a brainless fool again and again, I'm fed up falling into his trap again and again!"

"What about this time, will it be the same this time?Did he guess that I wouldn't dare to confront him head-on, so he provoked me in this way?!"

"Or did he guess my plan a long time ago, so he arrogantly felt that as long as I realized that I was seen through by him, I would immediately run away?!"

"Ridiculous, simply ridiculous, there are only more than a thousand cavalry, but there are more than 20,000 elven warriors on my side, and the combat power ratio is twenty to one, why am I the one who ran away in the wilderness, shouldn't he be the guy who ran away because he was afraid?!"

Listening to Anson's restless self-talk, the blindfolded elf girl opened her mouth and stopped talking.

"So I'm not going to run this time, and I'm not going to let that monster get my way anymore—I'm going to fight him head-on, no matter how much it takes!" Anson Zade roared.

"The whole army - array, prepare for battle!"

"It is here that we take on Loren Turin, the Duke of the Empire who once humiliated the Azorean elves at Eberden!"

"In the name of the Eagle King, in the name of the Azores, I assure you that next year today will be the day of sacrifice for Loren Turin!"

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

Imperial Boulevard, rear line of the Azorean army.

The wide Imperial Avenue was strewn with corpses, both Imperial and Azorean, and the ranger knights, who had just routed the Azorean elven rear, had put down their saddles and cleaned up the battlefield with the help of a handful of survivors, clearing the corpses to make way for their horses.

"With all due respect, Duke, it's not time to clean up the battlefield. Regrel, the Earl of White Horse Peak, who hurried back, followed closely behind Loren, his eyes always on the knights who were cleaning the battlefield:

"What we have just defeated is only the army that the Azorean elves escorted and dragged to the rear is less than one-twentieth at best, and if we continue to waste time on cleaning up the battlefield, nineteen out of twenty elves will run away!"

"Nineteen out of twenty?"

The black-haired wizard who stopped looked at Regrell behind him with some surprise and amusement: "Are you saying that after they get the news that they have been raided by us, they will choose to run away instead of turning around and fighting us-we are facing an army of about 20,000 elven warriors." ”

"Numbers don't tell the whole story. Rigrel frowned: "We have more than a thousand elite knights, in front of us is the open Imperial Avenue, no amount of troops can stop the Byrne knights' wall charge - time is the battle, is the key to whether we can win or not." ”

"If we continue to consume like this, when the enemy and the siege camp headquarters converge, or completely organize the defensive front, we really won't have the slightest chance!"

"That's right, time is the warplane. Loren nodded: "That's why we have to wait." ”

Rigrel's brow furrowed even more: "I don't understand, you mean ......"

"If it were the little prince who commanded this army, I would probably take your advice... No, if it were him, I would have taken advantage of this gap to go to the imperial capital a long time ago. ”

Loren shrugged: "But now the enemy's reaction tells me - no matter who the commander in command of this army on the other side is, he is certainly not the Rodria Azores who fought us at Ebolden!"

"I've been fighting this elf for about seven or eight days in the last few days, and this is a guy who is easily agitated, but sometimes very stubborn, so if he knows that he is the one who attacked him, he will never run away, but turn around and fight me. ”

"So I'm trying to get a little time to judge if he's really going to be so desperately crazy — and if so, heh... Not only will we be able to defeat him, but we may have a chance to annihilate him completely!"

Rigrel was completely stunned.

For the first time, he realized that he didn't know the Duke in front of him at all - God knows how many bold plans were stuffed into his head?!

More than a thousand knights, and reinforcements who don't know when they will arrive, he plans to rely on these to annihilate 20,000 elves?!

Asking himself, Rigrel thinks that if he encounters such a battle, he must first consider retreating - this is the normal thinking of a commander, and the victory or defeat of the moment is not important at all, and the preservation of the army's structure and combat effectiveness is the most important......

"Duke, the Azorean elves are attacking!" a witcher who rushed back to report the news interrupted Rigrel's thoughts.

"Herald assemble!" Loren smiled with delight:

"The goal is in front of you, and the whole army is charging ——!"