The wind blowing from the Mirror Lake was a slight winter chill on his face, but it was nothing to Juan, who was born and raised in the Eastern Territory. In winter, the wind from Richuk Bay carved a cold mark on the face of Vodahara, like a dagger, and the people of the city would crack if they exposed their skin to the wind for too long, compared to the wind in Mirror Lake, which was quite mild and pleasant.

Even Juan, who was the last son of Duke Erren and was born with a golden soup spoon in his mouth, was not afraid of this cold wind, let alone the soldiers of the Eastern Territory led by him. These soldiers were born sailors, and the men who had lived by the sea since they were children were accustomed to seeing wind and waves, and the inland, with almost no waves, seemed to them to be similar to the pond in front of their homes, and there was no risk at all.

Looking at the lake, Juan sighed.

"Sure enough, I'm still not used to this kind of rural place. ”

Juan, who grew up in the city of Vodahara, has long been accustomed to the prosperity of the metropolis, for him, even the imperial capital is only barely enough, and now in a rural place like Azure Harbor by the Mirror Lake, his pampered temper naturally can't adapt for a while.

He was tired of the two days of uncomfortable shelter, bumpy roads, and boring food, but the Northway tutor told him to continue to be patient and not to leave his post without Arnold's orders.

The dull and boring life gradually made Juan anxious, and even the arrival of the New Year did not improve his mood. Juan was eager to send Arnold a letter right away, telling him that the damned whitelanders would never sneak up on him from Mirror Lake, and that he would return to the imperial capital as soon as possible.

This urge appeared in his heart several times, but each time he suppressed it.

Although he is not as good as his brother Duke Æthelwolf, Juan is not a mindless person, he knows what his current responsibilities are, if the people of Baidi really smuggled across the Mirror Lake and attacked the imperial capital, then even if he can get out for a while, how can he return to the Eastern Territory through the chaotic Wangji later?

In a depressed mood, he had to spend his days fishing for his day.

There is no one who lives in the city of Vodahara, and Juan has a lot of catches every day, but he himself has no interest in the freshwater fish of these mirror lakes, and sends them all to his subordinates.

The fish drift shook slightly, feeling the force coming from the fishing rod, Juan knew from experience that this guy was not small.

Juan smoothly reeled the rod and easily caught the fish.

"Rainbow trout......" Juan looked at the fish he caught, and his excitement immediately dissipated again, "this kind of lake without wind and waves is just right for these guys, forget it, let's stop here today." ”

Throwing the fish into the basket, Juan walked into the lakeside annex where he lived with only a fishing rod, and the other fishing gear was naturally cleaned up by attendants.

Although Juan has always complained about the uncomfortable life in the Blue Harbor, in fact, even for most nobles, Juan's daily food, clothing, housing and transportation have become an unbearable luxury, such as the lakeside annex where he now lives, except for a few big nobles in the imperial capital, ordinary nobles are not qualified to own.

But even so, he still disliked the simplicity of this annex, if it weren't for the fact that it was built on the edge of Mirror Lake and the view of the lookout was good, he probably wouldn't want to live in this kind of place.

"Is there any movement on the water?" Seeing Croft, the squire officer who greeted him, Juan asked lazily out of a sense of responsibility.

"Nope. Croft shook his head and said, "Although this weather is only 'a little chilly' for us people in the Eastern Territory, it can be regarded as biting cold for the people here in the imperial capital." And considering that there are no decent lakes on the snowy fields where the whites live, and only rivers that freeze for half of the year, I don't think it's even more likely that they sail in this weather. ”

Of course, Juan thought so in his heart, but he also knew the importance of caution, and the reason why Arnold sent him here was not because he was worried about the extremely low possibility?

"Don't slack off, step up your guards. If we think about it the other way, the enemy is likely to use this psychology of ours to surprise us, just like the elves did back then. Juan crossed his hands on his waist and turned his head to look at the lake again, "Moreover, it is also approaching the New Year, and the soldiers are most likely to slack off at this time, not to mention that we are people who have left our homeland on an expedition, once the people of the White Land really sneak attack, it will be dangerous." ”

Croft nodded, and although he didn't think that the White Guys might sneak up at this time, he completely agreed with Juan's consideration.

"Tonight, then, is the most likely time for the White Ground to sneak attack. I would personally organize patrols and cruise the lake all night. ”

"Well, thank you. Although it is very dangerous to engage the white people on land, even if there are 10,000 or 20,000 people on the water, we will not be our opponent. Their soldiers could not swim and even get seasick, and the navy was nothing more than a convoy for them at best. Once you find them on the lake, you don't have to be polite, just knock them over. ”

"Yes, I see. Croft solemnly accepted the order and turned away from the fishing platform.

"Alas, I really wish I could return to the imperial capital as soon as possible. ”

————————————————

The Empire's knowledge of other countries and peoples has always been very limited, just as it was accidentally attacked by the elven navy, and the Empire also lacks understanding of the people of the White Lands. Even though they have been fighting each other for hundreds of years, to this day, the empire does not know how many clans the White Diren have, and where the limits of their territory are.

The Haishan clan is a clan of the White People unknown to the Empire, this clan roams the depths of the snow fields, managing the navigation of the Snow River, from the dragon bone mountain system in the south to the snow sea in the extreme north of the snow field, known as "Suo Renjia" by the White Land people, their ships and ferrymen connect the countless clans between the mountains and the sea.

Although the Haishan clan is not as good at fighting as other clans, it is one of the few clans on the snow field that is good at sailing boats, and even the snow river, which can freeze horses to death in winter, is just an ordinary test on the snow field in their eyes.

Under the orders of the Great Chief, the Haishan clan gathered all the adult males in the clan who could handle the sails, plus the land cavalry supported by other clans, to form a naval army of 15,000 men. The ships of the navy were all temporarily recruited from the Tiamat Territory, and it can be said that this navy led by the Haishan clan was a motley army that was completely patchwork, and its main task was not to fight the Imperial Navy on the Mirror Lake, but to transport the cavalry that the White Lands were proud of to the enemy's rear.

But even the motley armies and convoys, as long as they are given the name of the White Diren, can still make the enemy feel uneasy.

"The Southerners seem to have expected us to sneak up on their rear by water. ”

The chief of the Haishan clan, Haysol, has a pair of particularly striking eagle eyes, and even in the vast snow, he can see through the snowflakes on the snowy river. Therefore, even though the winter night with light snow made the vision on the Mirror Lake very difficult, he was still able to detect the traces of the Imperial Navy with the faint light and his excellent eyesight.

"Deal with them, the southerners are not worth mentioning at all, even on the water, we can also overthrow them!"

Hythor glanced at the man who spoke, one of the leaders of the other clans' reinforcements, who apparently didn't know how to fight on the water, and thought that with a surge of courage he could overcome the vagaries of the waters.

The leader didn't have the same eyesight as Hythor, and he didn't even notice that he was being stared at by the captain, and he still talked nonsense.

"As long as we pass through this damn lake, we can drive straight to the capital of the southerners, and when the time comes, we can catch their emperor, and the whole south will be ours!"

Most of the whitelanders are such simple-minded rough men, so this is a popular remark, but Haythor knows that they are in the most dangerous situation.

"Shut up!" Haythor roared, not loud, but the powerful penetration kept everyone shut.

"Deal with them?" Haythor glared at the leader who had just spoken, "what are we going to do with the Southerners' navy? Are you going to use our cavalry to assault their ships? We can't beat the southerners on the water, just as they can't defeat us on land, so we have to put the battle on land, their ships can't go ashore, as long as we can avoid these southerners' water and land successfully, then it will be our victory. But if you fools still want to fight them on this lake, then I can tell you very clearly that the men of the Haishan clan don't care about the cold, we can swim across the lake and return to the shore, and your only choice is to decide whether to freeze yourself or drown. If you want to try the water temperature, please do it, because our clan doesn't care anyway. ”

After Hethor finished speaking, everyone fell silent, and some stunned young people went to the side of the boat, looked at the lake below, where only sporadic sparkling waves could be seen, and stopped talking.

The people of the White Lands are not afraid of wind and snow, but they also don't know how to conquer the realm of Ambery, the Tidelord, and few of them can swim, let alone swim for a day.

"And what are we going to do?" asked a sane voice, "the southerners patrol the lake so closely, how are we going to avoid them and find a place to land?"

Haythor also frowned, he was good at begging for a living on the water, but he was not good at fighting on the water, after all, even if the clans fought on the snowy field, it was impossible to fight on the river.

"The New Year of the Southerners is coming, isn't it?" After thinking for a long time, he thought that the coldest day of the year in the snowfield was coming soon, which also meant that the New Year of the Southerners should also be coming.

"That's right, the Great Chief has instructed me to remember the day, either today or tomorrow. ”

The people of the White Land are not very good at arithmetic, and their records of the date are still stuck in the knotted knot, so there are always some errors.

"Then let's rush to the ferry tomorrow night. "If it's the New Year, the southerners should be more or less lax and take this opportunity to break through their blockade." If it is still discovered, then it will be resolved quickly, and the main forces of the southerners' water army on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve should be celebrated in the port, and the response may not be timely, as long as we can solve the patrol as soon as possible, we will have the opportunity to rush to the shore. ”

Hythor's plan was well received by everyone, and it was the best way to do it at the moment.

"However, even if we don't attack the capital of the Southerners, they will lose to us sooner or later. ”

When the plan was made and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, someone talked about the current situation.

"It's impossible for the Southerners to defeat us on land, the Great Chief only took three days to break through the city of Tiamat, even if the Southerners gathered more than 200,000 troops, it wasn't just for the Great Chief to make a little more effort, could they really hold it?"

The current white people generally have blind trust in the Great Chief, and the identity of the Dragonborn combined with the amazing exploits has completely convinced the tribe.

However, Haythor couldn't help frowning when he heard such remarks, it wasn't that he didn't trust the Great Chief, he was just worried about such blind optimism.

However, this worry was only fleeting, and when he looked at the dark lake again, he could not help but think of what it would be like when he defeated the southerners and stormed the enemy's capital.