The breath of war is approaching, but for the current Cecil Empire, it is really not the best time to conduct war.

The fortress of Changfeng, the majestic city wall towers between the hills and the plains, the fortress wall that stretches for dozens of kilometers faces the colder and colder autumn wind, and the bright sunlight cast by the giant sun shines with a layer of pale golden light, and the rune stone bricks inlaid on the city wall shimmer with a slight halo of magic, so that the entire fortress is shrouded in a layer of energy shield, and the vigilant soldiers stand on the city wall and watchtower, keeping an eye on the direction of Typhon's empire.

Inside the fortress, a group of newly stationed soldiers in the fortress were walking between the barracks in a loose formation, and the instructor of the Cecil Legion, who was responsible for training this group of recruits, stood on the side of the road with a meticulous expression, but on the city wall not far away, a veteran of the fortress who noticed the recruit team couldn't help but shake his head: "These soldiers can't fight at all...... It's okay to deal with the bandits at home, and fight with the Typhonians here? Seven or eight people tied together is not enough to die. ”

"Those drills of Cecil's regiment can quickly put these recruits to good use - at least let them know the commands." Another veteran said from the side.

"Then it will take some training time, these levies are afraid that they are still holding hoes and pitchforks the day before yesterday......"

Maryland, dressed in military uniform, walked across the city wall with his sword, and the conversations of the veterans fell into his ears, and the performances of the recruits fell into his eyes.

After completing his rounds, the fortress commander returned to the command post in the castle district, where his lieutenant, a shrewd and capable young man with black hair and brown eyes, was already waiting.

"General," the adjutant saluted, "the scout has sent back information. ”

"Well," Maryland nodded, "the Typhonians are moving again?" ”

"A group of engineering mages are building additional fortifications, stables, and barracks on the hilly terrain west of Winterwolf Castle, and the scale is not small, and it is unclear how many people they can hold, but it is certain that they have opened at least four new wells."

“…… The Knights of Black Steel or the Knights of the Iron River are coming, and they are both troops who are good at assaulting fortresses with heavy loads," Maryland said in a deep voice, "The Typhonians should not be waiting too long. ”

The young adjutant did not speak, neither feared nor wavered, and his face was calm.

Maryland secretly applauded the young lieutenant's reaction, then turned to the back of the table and picked up the report on the table to glance at it.

“…… The last group of private soldiers who could be put together nearby were also on the defensive line......" The fortress commander sighed softly, "After them, I'm afraid the entire eastern border won't be able to make up even a thousand-man team." ”

The status quo is worrying, but facts are facts - the troops are overstretched, and there is only so much garrison for the fortress of Long Wind.

The empire has just experienced a year-long civil war and a catastrophe that has swept half of the plains of the Holy Spirit, the original main force of the kingdom has been exhausted in successive battles, and now the only thing that can be used is the Cecil Legion in the south, but at least half of these troops must stay in the country to maintain post-war order, and the number of soldiers who can be sent to the fortress of the wind is limited - the superiors have sent the most elite troops and the most powerful weapons that can be mobilized at the moment, but Maryland knows, That's not enough.

The Typhons are also growing in the form of a mixed legion of mages, knights, and transcendents, which are not ordinary people who can be easily defeated by the usual thermal ray guns and a few medium-caliber fortress cannons, and to deal with them, they will either have to double the elite defenders of the Strongwind Fortress, or they will have to transport the Iron Throne to the defensive line.

But there were no of these - Maryland did his best to mobilize the noble private troops in the east, and the small number of mountain troops in the north were enough to fill the holes in the upper line, but as long as they were hit hard, these holes would probably be broken in two days.

He must find a way to strengthen the garrison of the fortress.

Maryland's gaze wandered over the nearby battle map, his gaze slowly sweeping over the buffer zone on the border between the two countries, sweeping over the Typhon's Winterwolf Castle and the several outposts that had been identified so far.

The first criterion of defense is to protect oneself, and there are many ways to protect oneself, either by making oneself invulnerable, by eliminating the threat before it can be harmed, or by ...... so that the enemy does not dare to attack.

The garrison of the Fortress of the Wind may not be able to increase, but he can try to convince the Typhonians that the garrison of the fortress is still growing.

After some contemplation, a bold idea gradually took shape, and Maryland raised his head and looked at his adjutant: "Let the reserve regiment of the mountain legion disguise themselves as merchants and people, secretly take their banners and equipment, and leave the city in two days in batches, and assemble in the Karon Valley in the northwest." ”

The adjutant was stunned for a moment, and was a little dazed for a while: "And then?" ”

"Then change back to the equipment of the mountain corps, and enter the city through the north gate of the fortress - when you enter the city, make the movement bigger, don't make too much of an exaggeration."

Two seconds later, the adjutant realized Maryland's intentions, and the young man looked at the general with admiration: "Yes—you're doing that!" I'll arrange it! ”

"That's not enough, you have to do the whole show," Maryland added, "Didn't the Typhonians build a barracks near Winterwolf?" We also built - set up camps in the north and south of the fort, dug wells, and moved some of the levies to new camps where they could fire and cook. In addition, he sent someone to Count Robert's domain, and borrowed his wagon to transport 'grain and grass'. ”

"Yes!" The adjutant stood up straight and gave a military salute, but before leaving, he was suddenly a little worried, "But General, can you really hide the people of Typhon from you?" ”

"It can scare them for a while, and then they will definitely react, but it doesn't matter, as long as you can delay their attack," Maryland said unhurriedly, but his eyes fell on the map next to him, "The engineering team in the rear is working overtime to lay the temporary railway, and the Iron Throne is about to be repaired, as long as the Typhonians hesitate for a while...... They won't be able to gnaw on the Wind Fortress. ”

……

Cecil Empire, Saint-Sunil.

Preparations for a large-scale relocation have begun, and Gawain's desk is increasingly filled with reports on the relocation of the capital.

The coronation ceremony has ended, the signing ceremony of the nobles and the transfer of command of the old royal knights, the guards, the royal shadow guard and other forces have also been completed, and the newly established government office has been initially on the right track after a period of running-in and adaptation, and the situation in Saint-Sunil has been controlled.

Saint-Sunil is magnificent on the surface, but in fact, the infrastructure is backward, the influence of the old forces is deep, and more importantly, the communication system is weak, and the command of Cecil's legion is slow, it is really not a good place to control the operation of the empire, but moving the capital is a big deal after all, and it is not enough to pack the relevant personnel and materials to the new place and finish it - even if it is implemented from now on, it will probably take a whole year to completely complete the transfer and reconstruction of the ruling function.

And in the process, Gawain also had to take into account the temporary chaos caused by the transfer of dominance, and to prevent this chaos from having a chain reaction, which gave Typhon an opportunity to take advantage of.

In the velvet study of Silver Castle, Gawain was placing the finished report on his desk, and in addition to him, his three archons were seated in this study.

"Aiden? Alfred turned down a position in the government department, right? Gawain looked up at Victoria, who was sitting across from him? Wilder.

"Yes, he also resigned from his court office and his honorary title of false office," replied Victoria, "and he said that he appreciated your solicitation, but that he was old and wished to return home to recuperate." ”

Aiden? Alfred, former Prime Minister of Francis II and a loyal veteran of the Ansu Kingdom, his family has been loyal to the Moen royal family since the days of the First Dynasty and has served the country diligently for hundreds of years.

The former prime minister's talents made Gawain want to make an exception, but his choice of refusing to take office was not what Gawain expected.

"Respect his choice," Gawain nodded slightly, "Also, ask him if he'd like to be the director of the St. Sunil Library—it's not a government office, and he can still guard the original royal collection." If you still don't want to...... Just let the old gentleman go home, and the government department will pay him a pension on a monthly basis. ”

Victoria nodded: "You are very thoughtful, he will not refuse this position." ”

"Let's talk about moving the capital again," Gawain adjusted his seat, "after I return to Cecil City, the affairs of St. Sunil's side will be managed by Victoria and Patrickin for the time being, and you will be responsible for completing the follow-up work, especially completing the laying of the magic net from St. Sunil to the north and west, and ensuring that communication is established." In addition, all the nobles of the royal capital, depending on the size of the family, need to send a certain percentage of the family members to settle in the south, which should be no problem, right? ”

"Yes, they were mentally prepared when the order to move the capital was given," Bai Dewen? Franklin nodded, then chuckled, "Trading hostages for survival is one of the survival rules of traditional nobles. ”

"This is not simply a 'hostage', it is a necessary part of the dismantling and transformation of the old aristocratic forces...... Of course, they don't understand it now, it's normal," Gawain shook his head, "It's okay, take it one step at a time." Hety, how are preparations for the renovation of the Kingdom Drive? ”

"Gordon has already arrived in Pompeii, the materials and personnel are in place, and work will begin when the soil survey is completed."

"It's good – this part of the work is important, and it's a priority to secure funding." "Yes."

Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that another job was on the right track.

For a centralized empire, ensuring transportation is a prerequisite for ensuring ruling order, especially for the Cecil Empire, which is now in ruins and in urgent need of re-establishing order.

From Saint-Sunil to the south, there is a Gurgon River that serves as a transport artery, and a Kingdom Road that serves as an overland artery. Since last year, Victoria and the then Ansu royal family have been working hard to repair the Kingdom Road, so that this road that has been abandoned for nearly a hundred years has been initially restored, but the Kingdom Road repaired according to the old standards is not enough to withstand the traffic pressure of the new era, and the previous crystal cluster war has also caused some damage to the Kingdom Road located on the east bank of the Gorgon River, so from a practical point of view, Gawain decided to send an engineering team from the south to rebuild a road connecting the north and south of the empire on the basis of the old Kingdom Road.

Typhon had an "Imperial Boulevard", and Cecil would have one in the future.

At the same time as the construction of this "Imperial Road", Gawain also planned to build a railway line connecting the north and south on the west bank of the Gorgon River, and with Saint-Sunil as the center, the railway line would branch out and expand in the east and west directions to form a new "cross artery".

Of course, it will be a large-scale, time-consuming and labor-intensive project, and it will take a long time to complete, but no matter how costly, the cross artery will have to be built - it will be the starting point of the Empire's century-old foundation.

Regardless of how long it will take for the new cross artery to be completed, the railway connecting the north and south should be completed soon due to the short distance, and when the time comes, there will be three major lines of communication from the south to the "old capital", and there will be three major lines of communication from the south to the "old capital" at the same time, and there will also be roads and railways from Saint-Sunil to the north, and the transportation between the north and south of the empire will become extremely convenient, on the one hand, national security and stability will be ensured, and on the other hand, the rich mineral veins from the northern mountains can also be quickly transported. Meet the needs of the hungry industrial behemoths of the Cecil Empire.

As for now, although there is no railway or road between the south and St. Sunil, due to the convenience of the Gorgon River and the efficiency of the new mechanical boats, there is no need to worry too much about transportation problems - the development of the Gurgon River transportation is also one of the reasons why Gawain dared to start moving the capital at this time.

"One more thing," Hetty said again after reporting on the progress of the road construction, "Ancestor, the Iron Throne has been repaired. ”

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