The gate of Kuroki Pass slowly opened towards the imperial side, and an iron bridge stretched out to the other side of the moat.

At the other end of the moat, there stood more than two dozen people, one of whom held a flag with a two-legged wyvern painted on it, which also proved the identity of the person who came: Earl John of the Davis family.

Ten men stood at the head of the group, none other than Earl John and his messengers.

Since the last bombardment of the camp, the Empire has been adding troops to this side, but has not launched a real attack. However, according to the careful observation of the mages on the side of Heimu Pass, the other party has sent personnel to investigate the outpost camp many times, and must have a certain understanding of the power of the artillery here. Anyone who had seen the devastation of that outpost and knew how much time it had taken the people at Blackwood Pass to make it like this must have thought carefully about the consequences before sending out their troops.

Greeting Earl John at the other end of the iron bridge were Shi Hao, the current military chief of Heimu Pass, the commander of the Second Regiment of the Escort Army, Liu Xiang, the political commissar of the Second Regiment, Huang Zheng, the commander of the independent battalion, Xiao Chen, the administrator of Heimu Pass, and Zhang Hong, Roger, Evelyn and others, the external advisers and masters of the Escort Army. and Master Olgas, the defender of Kuroki Sekihara, who has taken refuge in the Tower of China.

Seeing Count John coming from the opposite side, Olgas whispered to Shi Hao: "Commander Shi, this is the guy who came over to see the excitement after we shelled the outpost camp, and then was blown away by us." Hehe, with personal experience, he can now be regarded as the person who has the deepest understanding of the power of cannonballs among the nobles of the empire. ”

"It's best to have an acquaintance. I don't want to waste time with people who can't figure it out. Shi Hao said.

Earl John was in his early forties, with sharp eyes and a tough bearing, and he was dressed in a fine steel armor, with a cloak behind him and his hand on a long sword, and he was very aristocratic.

He was followed by a flag-bearer holding up the family banner for him, followed by several entourages dressed as noble warriors and a mage in robes. These men seemed to be very capable and powerful, and they were clearly the elite under his command.

When the group crossed the iron bridge to the Kuroki Pass, the flag bearer reported a series of titles from Earl John. What is the guardian of the southern frontier of the empire, the inheritor of the bipedal flying dragon bloodline, the leader of the Davis family, etc., Shi Hao and Xiao Chen couldn't help but want to laugh when they heard it.

However, the locals such as Count John and Olgas are commonplace, and it is clear that this is a common way for the locals to roll call. There is such a link, which shows that the other party attaches great importance to this meeting, and the specifications are also very high.

After the flag bearer finished reporting his name, Shi Hao said simply: "I am Shi Hao, the commander here, this is Xiao Chen, the administrator of Heimu Pass, and now the two of me are in charge of this place together." ”

Count John was not impressed by this kind of understatement, and said: "Your Excellency Shi Hao, I have come to talk to you about the matter of Heimu Pass and the current war by the will of His Majesty Emperor Alfred. First of all, I want to congratulate you on winning this level in the Tower of China, you have not yet communicated with the Purple Eagle Empire, I believe that we can have a good exchange of possibilities for cooperation between the Empire and the Tower of China in a while. ”

Shi Hao was a little surprised by the other party's attitude, he originally thought that the other party would at least make a fuss about their previous bombardment of the outpost camp, but now the other party's attitude seemed to be much better than he expected, he said: "Since Mr. John is here, I would like to come and talk, and I welcome it on behalf of the Tower of China." ”

Count John nodded and looked at Olgas, "Your Excellency Olgas, I didn't expect that when I saw you again, you had lost control of Kuroki Pass, which is really a pity for me, an old opponent." ”

Olgas smiled and said, "We can't be called old rivals between us, my old rivals have always been Duke Stuart. Hehe, I hope you can bring a good one to your boss for me when I go back this time. ”

Earl John said with a smile: "That's nature. ”

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Shi Hao and his entourage walked into Heimu Pass with Count John. Earl John looked around, but he didn't see anything new in the pass, especially the "cannon" that he was very concerned about, although he didn't know what those things looked like, but through the description of those black guards, he still had a simple concept in his heart, but he didn't see anything similar along the way.

Xiao Chen smiled and asked, "Your Excellency John, what are you looking for?"

Earl John nodded in acknowledgement, "Yes, I felt that power when you shelled our outpost that day. So naturally I wanted to see what kind of stuff made me so embarrassed. ”

Xiao Chen said: "This is not a difficult matter, if the negotiation goes well, I can arrange for Your Excellency to go and see the real appearance of the pneumatic cannon." ”

"Really? I didn't expect you to be so generous. Earl John said.

"Sometimes it will be of great help to cooperate by recognizing the strength of both sides, after all, many conflicts come from misunderstandings, aren't they?" Xiao Chen pointed to the position above the wall of the checkpoint, and said, "I know that His Excellency the Earl and Olgas have been facing off here for many years, and you have always won and lost each other, but today everything is different, in the last battle, in fact, we only used two cannons, and now there are more than ten times more cannons on the city wall." Have you ever experienced that feeling of being bombarded, and imagine what it would be like if you added it tenfold?"

"Although the last shelling had a good effect, I still left safe and sound despite the explosion. In many cases, quantitative changes do not bring about essential changes. There are also many powers in the Empire that you haven't seen, but as two forces that have no old grudges, why do we need to use these powers on each other?" Count John glanced at Xiao Chen with deep meaning, and said, "Don't forget our common enemy. That arrogant little girl still occupies your royal capital. ”

Xiao Chen asked, "It seems that you are very good at putting aside disputes for the time being and looking for common enemies." ”

"The last battle, it was a despicable sneak attack and a serious provocation, and if we had been prepared, the outcome would have been very different. We never thought that the Chinese, who had no contact with us, would take the initiative to attack our camp.

Of course, we care about the sacrifice of our own soldiers, but His Majesty the Emperor is magnanimous, and as long as you can meet our demands, the Empire can not pursue these matters. ”

"What requirements?" Xiao Chen asked.

"A very simple request is to open the Blackwood Pass and allow our army to enter the hinterland of the kingdom. We will not cause you trouble, our enemies are always the royal family of the Iberian Kingdom. ”