"Four hundred men is not enough to fight against an army of 10,000 people on the other side of the river, and the war will start, and within an hour the Giant's Bridge will be conquered, and the town of Rotten Wood will become a sea of fire, not to mention that there are a few wizards who can use magic on the other side. Sei sat straight in the big chair, one hand holding a wine glass, a few drops of milky beer foam on his thick beard, and the pair of jade earrings swayed and reflected the fire. Ormond sat beside him, leaning against the pillar. Also seated in the hall were Billion and Gili Jans, as well as two garrison captains, one from Nishizawa and one from Basswood Fort.

"The Barbarians only have the Giant's Bridge, they can't use the boat to cross the Redstone River, and the Barbarians are not good at this kind of fighting, even if the war starts, the Barbarians can't do anything. Commander Billion swore solemnly, "Let those wizards come, we are not afraid." ”

Ormond said, "Your arrogance will not win for you. ”

"My arrogance?" said Billion, grimacing as he rose and looked down at Ormond, "I know the people of Rotten Wood, old and weak, women and children, as long as their homes are threatened. I also know my castle, I have measured the height of the walls, I have calculated the distance between the castle and the town, I know the river of red stone and the Giant's Bridge, I know my situation even better, if this is also arrogant, hmph, I should kneel before the barbarians and pray, begging them to ride back north of Deslan and never disturb the Giant's Bridge. ”

"Rotten Wood must seek support, and we can't sit here and wait for a turnaround. Ormond tried to make it clearer, "The Horkings are a nomadic people, they are skilled in archery and horsemanship, and although they restrict their movement on the Giant's Bridge, it does not limit their attacks. Not to mention that we don't know the abilities of the wizards of the north yet, but there is one thing that proves the efficiency of their battles. The Lookout Fort and the town of Bullhead were captured almost overnight, and don't forget, they also had walls and towers, moats and gates. ”

"Seahorse Town also had walls and forts, but the barbarians still failed. Geely James said.

It seemed that Say's least favorite thing was Gilly Jans, and he drank his beer in one gulp and retorted angrily, "How many people do you have one-tenth of the army in Seahorse Town? Four hundred people want to defend the Giant's Bridge, it's just whimsical." I don't know much about the Horkings, but I know how they treat wild beasts, one man against a tiger, plus two tiger cubs, and he can ride back to his tribe in a tiger skin coat, they are tall and full of blood, and if you annoy them, you will smash the gates open. ”

Billion chimed in, "I can't smash my gates, never." ”

"Who smashed your gates?" asked Say.

"Just wait and see. ”

"Hmph, you're hungry for war. ”

"As far as I know, the people in black also like to get involved in other people's wars, I heard that the battle of the Evergreen Pavilion was solved by the men in black, I'm surprised, the people of Xize don't hate you?"

Say pushed his chair away, "Come on, let's go Ormond, it's just a waste of time to talk to these people." ”

Ormond was unmoved, and in the end Say slammed the door alone. "Then you must have a new understanding of the abilities of the man in black. He looked at Billion with interest.

"You are all strong, elusive, and one against a hundred, I agree with this. More than 20 people stormed the golden temple of the people of Gaoshan, put their knives against Bailer's neck, and forced the people of Xize to withdraw their troops from the Evergreen Pavilion, but that was more than two hundred years ago, I am not sure that you still have this ability, if so, why don't you threaten those mysterious wizards. ”

Ormond answered him with a cold look.

"I can't accept that you said that this war had nothing to do with you, but you have been trying to shake the confidence of my men. ”

"Faith can indeed play a role in desperate situations, but forbearance will only bring misfortune to yourself, there is a large army in the fortress of Takisui River, the letter brought back by the letter crow has made this point, can you ensure that the reinforcements can reach Kuchigi Town within three days?"

"Then the man in black, tell me how I should defend. ”

"Your archers are in a good position, and with enough arrows, the enemy will not be able to attack the Giant's Bridge. But be sure to have the help of sand powder. Ormond glanced at the two garrison officers, "Yesterday I investigated in Rotten Wood Town, and all the people with heads and faces have accumulated a little sand powder, and if this dust is used to defend the Giant's Bridge, plus the defense of the archers, it will be more beneficial to us." But the purpose of all this is only to save our numbers, we only have more than 400 people, and the nearest city to Kuchigi Town can still be counted as the fortress of the Takishui River, but this section of the road will take two days. If you think about it, since the Erking people plan to assemble the Giant's Bridge with their whole army, they have only one purpose, they are determined to take this place, so they ....... ”

"We can't count on reinforcements from the Twin Towers. A garrison officer took over.

"We have to go it alone. Geely James said.

"Four hundred men resist ten thousand, if you add the city wall, how many people is the city wall?" Billion put his hands behind his back.

"Say a thousand less. One estimated, the other shook his head in denial, "Three thousand, if you count the Giant's Bridge, six thousand." ”

"We have 9,000 troops. "There are absolutely no tens of thousands of barbarians on the other side, and the two sides are equal in numbers, and we have hope of victory." ”

"Lord Billyon, the key to success or failure lies in our weapons and sand powder, and now that we don't have enough bows and arrows to use, and when it comes to sand powder, it will be difficult for your lords to contribute their possessions. ”

"I think they will. Billion replied in a contemptuous tone.

"One more point. Ormond said, "The castle's gates were not strong enough, and they had to be reinforced." We also have to think about what we're going to do when the Giant's Bridge falls. The gates on the other side had to be reinforced, and traps had to be laid in the open area between the town and the castle. ”

Billion nodded acquiescingly, and Gili James said, "I'll arrange to do it early tomorrow morning." ”

Early the next morning, when Ormond awoke, there was a loud noise from the window, and Sey was no longer sleepy, and he was complaining and putting on his breeches, his black cloak casually dropped on his chair, and his leather boots were replaced by brown cowhide boots with iron nails, and a piece of ill-fitting chain mail, lined with a leather armor with broad shoulders and a thin waist. "What did you tell them yesterday after I left?"

Ormond fumbled with the kettle on the table and took a drowsy gulp, "It's not alarmist, they're making the final preparations for survival." ”

"Hmph, these people were so busy at dawn that I couldn't even sleep. Sei sat awkwardly in the corner of the bed, kicked his legs, and heard the 'bang' of breeches, and a large hole was torn from his thighs to his thighs. "Damn, don't you have the right pants for me in this fortress?"

"It's not trenches, it's breeches. Ormond corrected, "Besides, I haven't seen a soldier of your size in all this time. ”

"Am I going to the blacksmith shop to get a pair of tin pants to wear?" said Sya, who was in a hurry and ripped open his breeches with his large calloused hands and threw them into the corner.

"And what did you hear yesterday that forced you to take off your black-clad costume?" Ormond said with a smile.

"If the war had begun, do you think we would still be sitting in the tavern listening to the sound of swords and arrows stabbing into our bodies, the sound of flames scorching flesh, and watching them fight for their lives and fight to the death?" said Say stood in front of Ormond with bare thighs, his legs short and thick, like a pair of steamed pork legs, and a pale green panty with a motif of a dancing mouse on it.

Ormond, who wasn't used to a rough man with his bare body standing in front of him, got up and glanced down at Say, then went to look for his sword, "It's true that we're involved in this war, the main reason is that the wizards from the north, their origin is unknown, and this is a threat south of the Redstone River. Ormond remembered what Billion had said to him at the wine table that night, and even the black and white warlocks of Screaming Bay were terrified of it, and the man in black had to be vigilant.

"You're worried again. Sai looked disdainful, "It's exactly the same as the beauty Irina." There was a crisp knock on the door, and the guard pushed the door open, "Two lords, Lord Billyon wants to see you." "The sound outside the window was getting louder, the smell of damp cooking smoke and pine grease wafted into the bedroom, the sky was gray and there was no light, but the morning was more lively than ever. After the two had breakfast, Villaon climbed the wall with Ormond, with Sye and Gilly James following behind, and their conversation was full of gunpowder.

Facing the town's gates, three groups of oxen pulled carts were piled with fresh pine and oak, and they cut off the branches, peeled the skin, and baked them with flames, and a dozen more men were responsible for stacking the stumps into the courtyard of the castle, and the carpenters and blacksmiths worked together to break the stumps, and the finger-thick branches were made into bows and arrows. The remaining bark and leaves were carried by the guards to the open grass outside the city gates. There, more than 30 people were wielding shovels and pickaxes, and a waist-deep ravine stretched across the meadow. Old women and women from the town brought piles of hay and buckets of asphalt.

The gate facing the Giant's Bridge was now open a gap that could only be passed through by one person, and several skilled guards were carrying cloth bags between the Giant's Bridge and the castle. It was a lot of dust, and Ormond was surprised, and it took Billion only an early morning to collect it from the town, and his ability was indeed not small. The guards carefully spread a layer on the bridge deck of the Giant's Bridge like sowing seeds, the sand powder was as fine as sand grains, the color was like molten silver, the spark was burning, and its momentum was violent, even if the heavy rain was pouring down, it could not stop the sand powder from spurting hot. This is a masterpiece from the deprivation of the hill dwarves, inspired by the magic of the earth elves, but by no means used in warfare.

Legend has it that the dwarves accidentally ignited the powder and started a forest fire, after which Westerners discovered its power and used it militarily. And in a short time it spread throughout Lannia. Hopefully, the Horgents don't know all this, Ormond thought to himself.

"We have laid dozens of large and small fires on the Giant's Bridge, and if even a few hundred people rush over there, if a soldier shoots an arrow at the fire, the Giant's Bridge will become a burning hell, and if you look at the gate of the Giant's Bridge, the old iron has been replaced by a new door, let them knock on it. Billyon pointed left and right at the Giant's Bridge.

"Can these be foolproof?"

Billion shook his head, "Starting from the Giant's Bridge, the walls stretch east and west to the mountains in the distance, every brick and tile is forged by warriors day and night, and the walls have stood for a hundred years without falling or being taken. That was enough to warn the barbarians. A confident smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, "Once the number of bows and arrows reaches my expectations, even if they are used as fire, they can be burned for several years." Then they waited for them to attack the Giant's Bridge with sticks and stones, and the men in black had nothing to worry about when they saw this. ”

"I'm worried about the other side of the river. Ormond shifted his gaze to the sprawling military camp on the other side of the Redstone River. The white tents huddled into a pale sea, the morning smoke formed an ethereal gray wall that floated in the air, obscuring the green fields of the north, the pulsating of the Red Rock River was replaced by the vast white hustle and bustle, and if the castle was as silent as ever, almost all the sources of sound came from the enemy.

If you look closely, you can see that some of the tents are so large that they have extended into the dense woods. In the center of the barracks, a twenty-foot-high wooden frame was erected, with a rudimentary wooden ladder spiraling to the top, and a platform enclosed by a wooden fence, but there were no guards with bows and arrows on it, and Ormond wondered. A large number of Horking people roamed along the coast, horses came and went in the narrow aisles between the tents, and the heads of people came and went, never stopping.

"These northerners are also making final preparations. "Look to the east, near the woods, Ormond, I mean there was a wood, and in less than two days the woods were a clearing, and you can imagine what they were doing, bows and arrows, battering rams, shields, spears, and enough to build another bridge on the side of the Giant's Bridge." All eyes were on the castle at the same time, and the courtyard of the castle was already busy boiling, but it was nothing compared to the other side of the river.

Sooner than I expected, Ormond thought to himself, and it seemed that the army of the Horkings had been assembled. Where is Irina and is she still in Seahorse Town, the capital of fog? I hope you are safe and sound, and I hope you can return to Rotten Wood after the Giantbridge War.

A soldier hurried up the ring wall, and he whispered something in the ear of Gilly James, which made Gilly James almost fall off the wall on his back in astonishment. "Repeat that again!" his voice suddenly raised.

"I just received a letter from the Takishui River Fortress, and the Monhard Master said that the stone people had withdrawn the reinforcements from the Takishui River Fortress, and the basswood fort had also withdrawn more than 800 troops, as well as the Takayama people, who had only left a thousand people in the Twin Towers Fortress, and the rest of them had rushed back to Nishizawa. It's because ...... It's because ....... ”

"Who taught you to speak?" said Billyon sternly as he stepped forward, "Speak clearly!"

"A day ago, the entire city of the Red Castle was killed, including King Ed and his army, and now that it has become a dead city, and the Twitans have taken over it, no one dares to take that road, the road to the Red Castle. ”

Billion was shocked when he heard this, "What kind of army did it?" The cold and wet rain fell from the sky, and the soldiers inside and outside the castle fled under the eaves or under the trees, and the calm drizzle extinguished the fire in the courtyard, and the green smoke went away with the wind, and the white mist evaporated from the surface of the redstone river, blocking the camp of the northerners on the other side of the river.

The soldier who reported the news looked downcast, "There were no crows coming out of the Red Castle at the time of the incident, and no one saw what the enemy looked like, the Twitans who took over the Red Castle only confirmed that there were no living people, after the news came out, King Alexa of Shimin was the first to tear up the alliance agreement of the City of the Gods, their army shrank from the frontier of Solis to the perimeter of the strange stone platform, the Twin Towers Fortress now has less than 2,000 reinforcements, and the reinforcements of the fortress are not controlled by us, the king of Cize, Holheller, will directly give orders." ”

"The whole city is dead?" said Geely James, still not believing the news, as the rain ran down his cheeks, and his black hair clung to his scalp, looking more embarrassed than a chicken in soup. "Lord Billyon, we should get the maester and ask him what happened. ”

Billion glanced sideways at a dejected Say, then shifted his gaze to Ormond, "The northerners did it, right?"

"The armies of the northerners are all here, it shouldn't be them. Ormond remembered the events of Dragonflytown, of going alone to Vorragon in the Black Forest. In the dark, I think Irina will find the clues. No, there is no connection between these things, how can it be such a coincidence. "I'm not sure, the Horking people don't have this ability, although the city of the Red Castle is not as strong as the Hippo Town, but the army of King Ed is not inferior to the Hippo Town, if it was done by the Horkings, it is absolutely impossible for the Crows to come out of the Red Castle. ”

Say slammed his fist into the wall, "It was the wizards from the north who did it. They deliberately turned our attention to the Giant's Bridge and carried out the raid behind their backs, and I think the tragedy of the Red Castle must have happened at night. ”

"Have Maester Monhard come to me in the halls. Billion shuddered, and then hurried down the wall with Gilly Jans, and entered the hall.

"Voragon has gone east to climb the mountains, Baruelin and they don't know where to go, and Crummond and Wicks, it is estimated that they have arrived in Etoile Bay, who do you think will be tasked with investigating the Red Castle?" said to Ormond after Billion and the others walked through the courtyard.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and Ormond could barely keep his eyes open, and he wiped the curtain of water pouring down his forehead from his face, "As far as I know, the closest to us are Amber and Edith, and Kairol, Itong, and Amanda should have left Lethe and are rushing here, and Maester Pesil may be drawing one of these people to investigate the matter." The two walked slowly down the ring wall and across the courtyard. The eaves were crowded with soldiers, several carpenters and blacksmiths still did not stop their work, and in the wooden house at the base of the wall on the left, there were guards who were agitating the wind stove to help the master blacksmith forge iron swords.

The two of them left the courtyard and approached the hall, only to see the cultists from Meiyan City talking to Billion, and Gilly James sitting on the side and smiling wryly. When they saw the man in black approaching, they stopped talking, or they were afraid that the man in black would hear what they were saying.

The cultist was an old man over half a hundred years old, his face covered with boils, and his uncombed beard, he looked like a street beggar for food. He dodged and stood aside, and Billion stepped forward, "Man in black, we're isolated, isolated." ”

"The western Patumon and Silantera are planning to wage war against Ullinburg, their armies are approaching the Mogan Wall of Eulimburg, and Holheller, the king of Cizer, is not going to support the Giant's Bridge, but to help the Outlanders. ”

Ormond knew Holheller well, and he wouldn't do that unless the West directly threatened the safety of the people of West. It is conceivable that once the two major Western countries launched a war with the town of Xize, it means that the war between the two major religions has been set off. For a moment, Ormond didn't know how to answer them, he was silent for a moment, "You are not alone, the man in black is still there. ”