Chapter 8: Stalemate

There had just been a spring rain, and a few larks flew over from the sky shouting.

A small group of soldiers from the Smart Empire cautiously groped forward, they were ordered to patrol five miles away from the camp, but their camp was only ten miles away from the camp of the Silver Wolf Legion, and the edge of their patrol area happened to be the patrol range of the Silver Wolf Legion, and the two sides could come into contact at any time, how could these soldiers of the Smart Empire who were not strong enough in individual combat be afraid?

Perhaps it confirms that sentence, the more afraid of ghosts, the more ghosts will come to the door, they have just turned a small dirt bag, and they have encountered a patrol of the Van Empire in front of them. The difference between the two sides was immediately apparent, the soldiers of the Smart Empire turned around and ran behind, while the patrols of the Van Empire roared and chased after them with their swords. In particular, a particularly tall young man, roaring loudly and clutching an extra-large machete, chased very fast.

Soon, this group of Smart Empire patrols was caught up by the young man, and the last soldier was slashed with a knife. The soldiers of the Smart Empire shouted, turned around in unison, and slashed down with their swords, but the young man was agile and grabbed their swords one by one, and also took the time to cut down several of them. The soldiers of the Van Empire also caught up, and the Smart army roared in unison, turned and left, but where was there still time? They were all caught up by the soldiers of the Van Empire and cut down to the ground.

Ray carefully cut off the heads of the Smart Imperial soldiers and tied them together with a long rope. A veteran smiled and patted Lei's shoulder, and exclaimed: "Boy, that's good, in three days of hard work, you have killed more than 50 of them, hey, Lao Tzu has been a soldier for ten years, and it is the first time that a recruit like you has seen it, but don't work too hard, be careful to protect yourself." ”

Lei smiled bitterly: "Uncle Orr, I don't want to fight hard, but I can't calm down when I see them... My brothers, my brothers, they killed them. 530,000 people, uncle, 530,000 people, they killed them all in one night... Their faces are still bloody in front of me, and I have to get a little interest back for my brothers. ”

Orr sighed, hugged Lei tightly, and muttered in a low voice: "God, if you really exist, why do you let this continent have so many wars... Oh my God, such a young lad, what did you turn him into? ”

Lei grabbed the rope, pulled a dozen heads, and followed the team towards the camp, he laughed in a low voice: "Hehe, I have earned almost two hundred gold coins, even if I can't go back, my mother can live the rest of her life well." Pit, Olle... Don't worry, you die here, and I won't leave yours behind. You've never forsaken me, and I'm going to be with you no matter what. ”

In the camp of the Smart Empire, Carlin sat on the commander's throne and shouted in surprise: "Oh, how is it possible, in three days, we have lost five hundred patrols? God, the army of our Smart Empire is worthy of being called the weakest garbage force on the mainland." ”

Carlin sighed there, ignoring the embarrassed faces of the army's senior knights. He continued to shout: "When I was exercising in China, I sneak attacked at night, but I broke through the battalion of three top-rank knights in a row, but I led an army of more than 100,000 troops, and when I sneak attacked, I didn't break through the opponent's battalion of less than 100,000 people, could it be that I became stupid? Or, our commander was too incompetent? But Admiral Shalin is a good hand in the Van Empire, so our soldiers are too incompetent, isn't it?"

Carlin had a questioning look on his face, but all the officers present were full of shame and indignation. But what could they say? If it weren't for Carlin's plan that really confused the Van Empire's army, the other side would have been overwhelmed long ago. Even this time, their early battle went so smoothly because of the spies arranged by Carlin's father, that is, the first prime minister of the empire, played a great role.

Karin simply put his two thighs on the case in front of him, stroked the buttocks of the female mage next to him, grabbed an apple and nibbled it, and said vaguely: "Okay, just waste a few days with them, and then start to increase the pressure, Karoka's kid's army, so that they can set off, well, it's better to be a little louder, give me a little arrogance along the way, well, every soldier gave me a hard step, and tried to let the spies of the Van Empire see their team ten miles away." ”

Shalin nodded, and then asked, "Lord Karin, after the arrival of Karoka's army, will we join forces to attack them?"

Carlin unceremoniously spit out a piece of apple peel, almost spit on Shalin's body, he muttered: "Assault? Do you want more dead people? Admiral Shalin, you have to remember that the death of one of our soldiers is a pension of one hundred gold coins, ******, now I am distressed enough to die more than 100 patrols every day, and you still have to die more? Hmph, when Karoka's people arrive, you just wait for my order... Until then, it's forbidden to fight, you know?"

Before Shalin received the order, Carlin muttered again: "Damn, what are you doing with such a high pension, and I also clearly notified those soldiers, so that I have no chance to embezzle." ”

The officers present were dumbfounded and could no longer speak.

Ray and a group of patrolling soldiers returned to the camp, gave the heads to the officer in charge of rewards and punishments, counted the amounts, received the bounty, and then chopped the heads to pieces under the supervision of the officers, and then returned to his camp. Sitting in his tent, Ray carefully calculated the bounty in his hand, went straight out, found the quartermaster in charge of mailing the letterhead, paid the fee of three silver coins, and asked him to send the gold coins back to the village of Kari.

Along with the gold coins, there was also a letterhead, and after thinking for a long time, Lei asked the quartermaster to write a short letter, to the effect that everyone was fine in the army, and that this batch of gold coins was earned by everyone together, and that all the families of the villagers who joined the army should be divided equally. Of course, Ledo gave his mother twenty gold coins, which in a normal year would be enough for his mother to live a good life for twenty years.

Knowing that Ray was the man whom General Balu had recently admired, the quartermaster carefully sealed the gold coins and letterhead in a package and covered it with a thick layer of fire paint. After watching these things being handed to a special messenger, Lei sighed and walked out of the quartermaster's tent in a gloomy and safe place.

Behind him, the quartermaster sighed and said, "Another little guy who has seen through life and death, alas, I have been a quartermaster for thirty years, and I bet that this little guy will not live for more than a year... A good person, why did he become like this?"

Ray heard the quartermaster's words, but didn't make a sound, he clutched the hilt of the knife hanging from his waist tightly, and took a long breath. Although I was still very scared in my heart, I felt that this fear was very indifferent. At the age of seventeen, he has made a lot of efforts for his family, and now, since his mother has enough living expenses, he should work hard for his brother for the rest of his life. Objective, kill Karin.

Even if you are afraid, I'm afraid there is no way to retreat, right? Escape from the battle? The first person to order to kill yourself should be General Balu, who is strict in governing the army, right?

Looking at the field in front of him, Lei exhaled heavily, grabbed the handle of his knife, and walked quickly towards the big tent of the Chinese army. If I heard me correctly, reinforcements from several nearby lords had already arrived. It's really strange, when Duke Green was unlucky, they refused to rescue, but now Duke Green's army is completely finished, Duke Green has also fled to the imperial capital, and the army of the Smart Empire is overwhelmed, but they are running one by one, which is really strange.

Don't they know that if they join forces with Duke Green's army, they will probably have driven those invading troops away?

Lei shook his head in confusion and walked to the tallest tent. He is now General Balu's own soldier, and he is the little hero who has killed the most enemies in recent times, and the soldiers on the road respectfully get out of the way when they see him. Not because he was a personal soldier, but because he had killed so many enemies. The only thing they can respect is the real soldiers.

Balu looked at the leaders of the troops who came to help, sighed heavily in his heart, and couldn't speak at all. When Duke Green was in danger, these guys didn't send out a single soldier at all, but on the contrary, they raised the price of the urgently needed ordnance, which was completely ruined.

But now, when they knew that the army of the Smart Imperial Army had approached the province of Xili and was about to break through the last line of defense and enter the entire province, they became nervous. The three lords, hehe, actually sent a total of 180,000 reinforcements, and according to Baru's estimates, they were all elite soldiers with a certain combat effectiveness and who had been trained for time.

Balu scolded angrily in his heart: "These damn nobles, it's too much, even if the number of private armies is overnumbered, they are all such elites, what is this? ******, what is this? The three lords have 180,000 elite troops, the empire has seventeen lords, and the seventeen provinces are independent of the jurisdiction of the imperial capital, so how many troops do they have? Damn, isn't it that their strength has exceeded the strength of the legions directly under the empire?" Damn it, I must advise Your Majesty to weaken their authority, or it will be a threat to the rule of the Empire. ”

Of course, on the surface, Balu couldn't say that, he smiled at the nobles who led the army with a pleasant face: "On behalf of the empire, I thank you for coming to your aid in time, this time, as long as we intercept the opponent's army in place, we will be a great achievement." Our goal is not to destroy the opponent's men, but to contain the opponent from advancing into the hinterland of Xili Province, dragging them and waiting for our reinforcements to arrive. I've already asked the three most elite legions in the Imperial Capital to come to help, and no matter how many troops the Smart Empire dispatches, it can't be our opponent, right?"

All the knights stood up and shouted, "Yes, hold on to the end." ”

These nobles, their hearts are simply happy. With an army of more than 200,000 people, as long as they stick to their positions, who can shake such a powerful camp? Even if the Smart Empire has an army of nearly 400,000 people, it will definitely not be the opponent of so many elite Van Empire troops. Although the mages of the Smart Empire are a terrifying existence, they have brought all the powerful crossbows in the three territories that are specialized in dealing with mages, a total of more than a hundred, and the mages are not to worry about at all.

So everyone cheered, and even Balu smiled. In any case, even if the emperor doesn't send reinforcements, there is absolutely no reason to fail, right?

All the military strength of the four provinces is concentrated here, which is enough to compete with the military strength of the entire Smart Empire, which also proves that the military strength of the Van Empire is unparalleled in the world. Hehe, if it weren't for the fact that the magicians of the Smart Empire were too powerful, the Van Empire would have annexed the Smart Empire a long time ago, and who would have signed an alliance treaty with them?

It was sunrise again, and early in the morning, a group of about 5,000 soldiers of the 'Silver Wolf Legion' walked out of the camp and rushed towards the camp of the Smart Imperial Army with great momentum. At the front, a silver fifth-order knight roared loudly: "Haha, warriors of the Smart Empire, come, fight us, come on, come on, duel." ”

The camp of the Smart Empire was silent, and no one spoke, including Shalin. According to the regular rules of knighthood, the so-called duels are to send corresponding troops to fight one-on-one with the opponent. Shalin roared in a low voice, "Damn, send 5,000 Smart Imperial Army and 5,000 Van Te Army against each other? Am I ****** a madman? A madman wouldn't do such a thing." ”

Looking back at the frightened Smart soldiers, Sharin sighed, "Damn, if the army I trained has 10,000 people here, no, no, only 5,000 people are enough, I can teach this bastard a good lesson." But a silver fifth-order knight, would he dare to be so arrogant? Unless... ”

The sun's rays shone on the soldiers' armor, reflecting blinding rays of light. Shalin and the others suddenly noticed some golden reflections, and when they stared, they saw that there were about two hundred high-ranking knights, including about thirty golden knights, and the Vant's cavalry team followed behind the five thousand brigade from a distance. Balu easily waved the strange-shaped long sword in his hand and walked in the front.

Sha Lin's idea of preparing a high-level knight to give the other party a dismount was also dispelled, just kidding, more than two hundred high-ranking knights of the Vat Empire would have to be dealt with by a full six hundred high-ranking knights of the Smart Empire, where would he mobilize so many people for a while?

Carlin looked at his subordinate generals dissatisfied, and simply flew into the sky with a dozen high-level mages, and roared with enough magic power: "Knights of Vant, don't be too proud, I, Count Carlin, am here to challenge you. Come, you come to a high knight, I'll fight you... I think, you mages of the Van Empire will never dare to fight against me, right?"

Balu laughed out loud: "Carlin child, are you playing a game with me? This is a war, whoever fights you one-on-one, ******, if you are a hero, send a brigade to have a good game with Lao Tzu's people, if you are afraid, you can send a team of 10,000 people, I accept this condition... Haha, as long as you don't feel ashamed... Rest assured, I won't laugh at you cowardly knights, you don't have to worry about losing your reputation, hahaha. ”

Carlin gritted his teeth in exasperation. Balu had already stopped drinking: "Carlin child, if you insist on a one-on-one decisive battle, is Lao Tzu afraid of you again?" Come on, come on, since you are going to fight, let's start now." ”

A thick white fighting aura emerged from Balu's body, and he actually floated slowly, and the strange-shaped long sword in his hand let out a roar, emitting a dazzling black light.

Carlin was so angry that he was about to rush forward, but several high-level mages desperately grabbed him, and a mage who was old enough to be Carlin's grandfather shouted angrily: "Master Carlin, you have to pay attention, your life is even more precious than the entire army, is your noble body used to fight against such a reckless man?"

Carlin froze, and just as he was about to speak, Baru rumbled, and the wind was raging around his body. He yelled, "Carlin, why don't you go back if you don't dare to fight?"

With a loud roar, Carlin rushed back to the camp in a fit of rage, angrily punching and kicking the soldiers on the road, and then slammed into the tent.

The army of the Van Empire roared: "Ha, ha, ha. The sound was so loud that it shook the entire camp of the Smart Imperial Army.

Sha Lin bit his lip angrily, but Balu's eyes were already fixed on him: "Sha Lin, my old friend, do you want to fight me? Emperor Capital for a while, I broke your two ribs, ha, do you still want to fight me? I formally challenge you, use your blood to protect your honor, do you dare?"

Shalin roared in exasperation, tears almost welling up in his eyes, and he stared at Balu as he rushed into the tent.

The morale of the Smart Empire's army was so weak that it could no longer hold its head up.

Lei in the queue looked at Balu like a god of war, and was speechless with admiration, one person forced the other two commanders not to dare to fight in a big way, it should be enough pride and pride, right? The more Lei thought about it, the more excited he became, and he followed the soldiers around him and roared loudly. Ray vaguely felt in his heart that if he wanted to become a full-fledged soldier, he should be like Balu anyway, right?

Balu snorted coldly, fell back on his horse, and shouted, "Archer, three volleys, and then retreat." His order was so loud that the Smart Army heard it clearly. As a result, the Smart army all held up their shields. Sure enough, after three showers of arrows, the Van army slowly retreated. This time, although no one was injured in the Smart army, the morale of the Smart army was reduced to the extreme.

The Van army slowly retreated, and the Smart army stared at them blankly, unable to speak anymore. Although they had taken advantage of the battle a while ago, what kind of army had they defeated? Now that they had encountered the truly elite Van army, Smart's soldiers realized that they were so vulnerable.

Balu sighed on his horse: "Alas, if the other party hadn't had more than 10,000 magicians accompanying the army, I would have dared to order the charge now, what a pity... If we had such a strong team of magicians in the Van Empire ... Alas. ”

A day passed, and the next day, the Van army continued to challenge, but the Smart army still did not dare to fight... Three days, four days, five days...

Carlin stood inside the tent, listening to the howls of the Van army outside, and cursed in a low voice: "Rejoice, rejoice, damn the Vant, damn Smart... Hmph, rejoice, how long can you be happy? The lords of the three provinces should have let their guard down by now, right? It should be time to call Karoka and them over. ”