After crossing the Whiteblade River, the New Militia finally chose to go in a northeasterly direction, crossing the northern territory of Horwood City and entering the eastern part of the Northern Frontier, which was closer to the Northern Sweeper-controlled area where the Terror Fortress was stationed, and relatively far away from the White Harbor garrison's defensive line.

"Commander, neither the Iron Clan's fortress nor the nearby woods have found enemy scouts. ”

"Inform the front army and move on. ”

"Yes. ”

The army marched through the dense forest, William rode his horse in the center of the procession, surrounded by the accompanying Grex Guards, and the scouts would every once in a while to give news of the established marching route.

Only after receiving the news, the Chinese army of the New People's Legion will follow up for a while, and in the face of the enemy's deployment in the position, William remains cautious and rational.

After the army passed through the dense forest, a undulating northern grassland appeared in front of it, and the grassland was not flat, but very empty.

The grass had already turned yellow, and not far away you could see a wooden fortress built on the hillside, and on the walls of the fortress, you could vaguely see a few gray-green trimmed four black horseshoes, around the banner of a black sword, fluttering in the cold wind.

The Iron family were a small aristocracy with little notoriety in the North, who once served the Bolton family, and after the fall of the Skinners, they lived a self-sufficient life in their cramped castle.

William's horse slowed down, and so did the horses around him.

"It is hard to believe that this place is not being targeted by the army of the Essos, listen, and the front army continues to cooperate with the sentinel team, and advance in coordination, regardless of whether the enemy is found fifty miles away, and stop and camp. It was absolutely not permissible to go near the Broken Branch River Valley, which was connected to the Ram Gate estuary, and there was no reason why the Essos should not defend the Broken Limbs River.

Tomund, enter the war zone, I now appoint you as the adjutant of the operational command of the front army, and if there is an unexpected situation in the two combat battalions of the front army, you have the right to participate in the operational command together, go, catch up with the troops in front, and the two combat units are composed of the most courageous free people, and when the war comes, remind them not to forget the combat discipline of the new army corps.

And I'm going to be a guest in the castle of the Iron Family, to see if I can hear some news, and by the way, I'm going to wait for the baggage and heavy troops behind to catch up.

Herald, pass on my orders, send additional sentries, scout the situation in any woods within ten miles of the steppe, and be careful not to be detected by the enemy's secret sentinels, the Essos did not take the city of Howood, but this is the junction of the city of Howood and the area controlled by the army of the Fort of Terror, and there is no reason why the enemy should not perceive the importance of this place. ”

"Yes, Commander. ”

Tormund and the two teams of scouts turned their horses and left.

William turned his head and shouted to his own guard, "Caro, you go to the back and urge those girls, so that the rear army doesn't go as slowly as old men, leave three hundred brothers outside the castle to stand guard, and the others follow me into the Iron Family fortress to rest, waiting for the scouts to return." ”

"Yes, Commander. "One of the guards was ordered to go.

William and Kantor with a hundred guards and rangers marched towards the gate of the old Iron Family fortress in Muzhai.

However, only half an hour later, William and his guards came out of the castle again.

William's face was not very good when he left the castle, he got the news from the mouth of the Iron Clan's chief Carter Iron Clan, so that he could not rest in the castle with peace of mind, the Essos people have long been eyeing this wooden castle, and a messenger from the Essos people had sent a letter yesterday, threatening the Iron Clan to surrender and join them, otherwise the Essos army would arrive here in a day and personally demolish his homeland.

If the enemy threat was real, and they would be here in a day's time, it would mean that the enemy's army was likely to be nearby, but the outpost had apparently found nothing further east.

"Commander-in-Chief William, I guess it's just the enemy's intimidation of the Tie Clan? The outpost didn't find anything unusual, although the castle of the Tie family is not large, but an army that can easily step on this place requires at least hundreds of elites, and hundreds of people are not so easy to hide. ”

Kanter let out a sigh, his breath puffing out of his mouth and nose, dissipating into a white mist in the cold air.

William's expression was grim, and his brows were wrinkled into a river shape like the undulating hills outside, "I don't think so, this is in the middle of Horwood City and the territory of Fort Terror, the last time they attacked Horwood City, the Northern Sweepers stationed in Fort Terror were through here to reinforce Horwood City, as long as the Essos people still want to go west, then solving Horwood City is the only option, and capturing Horwood City will inevitably have to pull out this inconspicuous nail, so as to hinder the reinforcement of the Northern Sweep Army." ”

"You mean, this is a place where the enemy will fight?"

"Yes, I thought that this place had been captured by the enemy a long time ago, and I even thought that our army's first battle of the Eastern Crusade would start from the re-contest of this area, but I didn't expect that the enemy was not as smart as I thought, but they finally reacted, but it seems that the first battle of our New People's Legion will still break out here. ”

"But ......"

William saw the suspicions of the affairs officer Kanter, and chuckled: "I know what you are suspicious, you must be thinking, there is no shadow of the enemy in front of us, then the enemy can't appear from behind us, right?"

"Well, that's true, Commander, can the enemy really come from behind us?"

"No, of course not. William's voice was unusually cold under the cold wind, "However, we all know that there is a tributary of the Broken Branch River that connects to the Ram Gate that can reach the territory east of Horwood City, and the Essos transported their army there last time, so I guess they will do it this time, but they can sneak up on the north through the territory of Horwood City." ”

On a high hill outside the castle of the Iron Family, Kanter, who had joined the army, lowered his head, picked up a branch and put it on the ground, drawing a simple map of this place within a radius of fifty miles that he could remember, and gradually his face became darker and darker, his hands were frozen red in the cold wind, and not far from his arm, his war horse was gnawing on the short dead grass on the ground.

The hard mud ground was turned by the horse's mouth, and the simple map on the ground was slowly covered by the splashed dirt and slowly disappeared, Kanter slowly stood up and said: "I think your conjecture is indeed very likely to be discovered, then Commander, we should send someone to inform the front army to withdraw to reinforce here, right?"

William looked at the almost endless rolling wilderness, no woods, no rivers, not a suitable place for ambushes, but good for a big battle.

He was silent for a moment in the wind, and shook his head, "No, let the front army hide, since the enemy has not been detected in that direction, then it means that the enemy has not discovered their movements, let them hide and camp on the spot first, if the big war really breaks out here, the enemy will never think that we also have reinforcements in the east." ”