For Duke Norma, the question of surrender or not is just a small episode that is not worth mentioning. Although he felt a little uneasy every time he thought of Yunero, who was seriously injured and committed suicide by jumping off a cliff and finally did not know what happened, this uneasiness did not affect his handling of government affairs.

The biggest problem for him now is how to deal with the Thracian army.

There is little hope of relying on the Norma line to block the Thracian attack as they did last time. After more than a year of war, the Norma Line has long been riddled with holes. To make matters worse, he could not now have a strong army against the Thracians.

Molai is not a military power, and more than a year of war has consumed a lot of their war potential. After experiencing the last defeat, the lords of all walks of life were not optimistic about this battle of Norma, and there were few who were willing to send troops to support, and even several other dukes were not optimistic about this battle, and more than one contacted Duke Norma privately to persuade him to retreat as soon as possible, and not to lose too much manpower and material resources in the Norma area, which already had little defense.

Of course, Duke Norma knew that he couldn't hold it, but he had to do it, or at least he had to hold it for a while.

In the last Battle of Norma, he fought for fifteen months, and this time, even if it doesn't last that long, he must hold out for at least five or six months.

And it's late September, and it's almost October. As long as they hold out for a few more months, and wait until winter, they can follow the example of last winter and clothe the defense line with ice armor, and I believe that the Thracians will definitely not want to fight against the fortress covered in ice armor with their lives.

In this way, he should be able to last until February and March next year, close to half a year.

That's what Duke Norma thought about, and he planned to hold the Norma line for half a year before retreating.

Of course, the preparations for retreat must be made first, and in case of accidents, it is better to respond in time to avoid any leaks.

But all the calculations were based on the premise that he would be able to hold on to the present period, from autumn to winter.

Duke Norma really didn't have much confidence in this.

That's why when Duke Erlanz proposed a duel before, he was vague and neither agreed nor refused.

His plan was this: if he was sure, he would win the war in a duel, and if he wasn't, at least delay it for a while.

But he never imagined that Duke Erlanz did not intend to let him stall for time.

After the military council, only two days later, an envoy from the Duke of Elanz came to visit him.

"Our Duke is ready. "The messenger was an Count named Otto Spinola, who was also a famous Thracian family and was a loyal supporter of the Elanz family before the Thracian state. Later, during the establishment of Thrace, the Ellanz family became dukes, and there could only be two marquis places under their name, and the ancestors of the Spinola family voluntarily resigned from the position that should have belonged to him as a marquis and chose the status of a count.

More than 200 years have passed since then, and the Spinola family has always been just counts, with no intention of promotion. But no one doubts their place in the mind of the Duke of Elantz - the kind of true best friend, sworn friend, the kind who can trust their lives on the battlefield and their families when something happens to them.

The contemporary Count of Spinola came to be an envoy, which really gave the Duke of Norma a face.

However, Duke Norma would rather he not give himself this face!

If the status of the envoy who came was not high enough, he could still procrastinate, but in the face of Count Spinola, he was really embarrassed to play that trick - and he couldn't play either!

Don't look at him as a duke, the other party is an earl, but if you want to talk about the status of the rivers and lakes in the entire Western Continent, the "burning steel" Otto Spinola will only be much higher than him, a duke who can barely hang the title of "scholar"!

In this world, the prestige of a person can be seen from his title. Those with high prestige must have a unique and majestic title, and those without a title must have low prestige.

...... Duke Norma doesn't have a title, or rather, he doesn't have that kind of imposing and domineering title that can be impressive.

Of course, if he can win this battle again and hold Norma under the attack of Duke Elantz, then he will most likely get a resounding title.

But this is obviously impossible.

Therefore, Duke Norma did not say a word about the war, but only asked about the duel.

"Who are you going to send to the duel?" he asked, pretending to be casual.

Count Spinola said solemnly: "Our Duke has proposed three plans, if you or one of your subordinates goes to the dueling table, she will personally face the battle, if it is your subordinate count or a lower noble, then I will go up, and if it is the other helper you have found, then it will be Mr. Connelly." ”

Duke Norma didn't consider the first two possibilities at all, and just thought about the third one.

"Mr. Connery?" he said to himself, "the name...... How is it a little familiar......"

"Tomb robber Connery?" asked the Marquis of Trensu in astonishment, "is that the gentleman?"

Count Spinola smiled: "It's better not to say that this title is better, Mr. Connelly has been washing his hands for almost two hundred years." ”

Duke Norma and Marquis of Trensu glanced at each other, and each other's faces were a little ugly.

Tomb robber Connally is a well-known legendary powerhouse in the Western Continent, and a famous "legendary mercenary" - as long as the price is right, he is willing to help people, over the years, he is very active, more than once for money.

Of course, the Molai Federation also thought about wooing him, but the former tomb robber said that he was like duckweed in the wind, and he had long been accustomed to going with the flow, and had no intention of settling down.

And for Duke Norma, the bigger problem is ...... He originally planned to find this legendary powerhouse to "fight on his behalf".

He was silent for a long time, and then asked, "How many legendary powerhouses are there in your army now?"

Count Spinola smiled and said, "There are not many, there are only four in all." ”

"Which four?" asked the Marquis of Trensu.

Count Spinola said four names.

The faces of Duke Norma and Marquis of Trensu were even more ugly - the legendary powerhouses they wanted to recruit, or they could use money to get involved with them, had already been recruited in advance by Duke Elantz.

"Your duke...... How cautious it is!" sighed Duke Norma.

"It's not our duke's request, it's our teacher's request. Count Spinola replied, "He wants us to find a few legendary powerhouses to help us, so that no one will cause trouble when he uses his legendary spell to move mountains and open the way." ”

Legendary Spells?!Move Mountains to Open the Way?!

Duke Norma's face was as pale as earth, and the Marquis of Trensu was also full of panic.

They don't even remember how Count Spinola was prevaricated, their heads were in confusion, their hearts were full of panic, but they seemed empty, their stomachs were full of discomfort, and they couldn't say anything.

After a long time, when it was getting dark, Duke Norma finally came to his senses and sighed deeply.

"You can't do anything!"