Count von Ryderhoff, who had sent away the scouts, urged his 10,000 men to speed up. He wanted to win a battle before the Mars ran out of supplies and had to retire himself, and it was better to capture the thief leader Thomas Trell alive, so that he could further improve his status in the court. As a result, he again paid part of his salary that night, and let the soldiers know that a chance to receive a large amount of booty awaited them. And the Count himself had a good night's sleep in his dreams.

The next day, when the whole army was marching out, the Count rode a gallop while imagining his own soaring future. In order to reach their destination as soon as possible, they walked through a wide valley that was easiest to march, which was actually the original river course after the diversion of the Lin River, which was flat and wide in the middle, but the road was lined with forests, bushes, or low hills, which were easy to ambush and were not an ideal route for marching. It was only the Earl who thought that the Mars, who had lost their grain and grass, must have broken their morale, and that they were just lambs to the slaughter, and that there was no need to worry at all.

Count von Ryderhoff's thoughts were of course easy to calculate, especially by those who wanted to kill him.

Soon after the departure of the cavalry, the cavalry and infantry were disconnected from the Zizhong team due to their speed, and the scattered team did not slow the earl, he only ordered a small number of elite soldiers to follow him.

In this way, they reached the place of Trogen, twenty kilometers from St. Gallen, and when Count von Ryderhof finally wanted to let his horses rest for a while, there was a sudden sound of golden drums on both sides of the road, and countless arrows and buckshots flew in. Although I can't see the expression of Count von Ryderhoff, who is wearing a protruding helmet at this moment, it must not be pleasant.

At the same time, countless Mars freedom fighters in cut-out suits poured out of the bushes, and they divided and surrounded the Imperial army with overwhelming superiority.

The sudden blow threw the Aldenburg army into disarray. The soldiers, exhausted by the rapid march, could not resist the morale of the Confederate army, and they scattered and fled, and the officers could not stop it.

At this time, it is the moment when the disadvantages of the mercenaries are fully exposed, and if the battle goes smoothly and the expected gains can be obtained, these ruffians will have strong combat effectiveness, but when there is no hope of victory, they will immediately become deserters who care only for their own lives.

The army had been completely dispersed, and it was not long before only Count von Ryderhof and his few men remained. Mars's halberdiers swarmed them around the core, and one of his own soldiers fell from their horses and was immediately stabbed into a hornet's nest.

However, as a long-established knight of the King of Terror, Count von Ryderhof is a strong martial artist, and although he is deeply encircled, he is still unstoppable. I saw him let out a roar of rage, and purple flames erupted from the grille of his helmet, instantly shocking the surrounding Mars soldiers.

But just as he used his war horse to squeeze away the halberdiers blocking in front of him, and was about to go to find the other half of the centaurs, a figure as fast as lightning fell from the sky and took his vital point. As a last resort, the earl raised his spear to meet him, who knew that the spear made of stainless steel in his hand was easily cut off by the opponent's weapon like a thin bamboo pole, fortunately, the earl has rich combat experience. In an instant, he flashed sideways with the blade of his sword, but unfortunately his war horse was not so lucky. The horse's head was cut off entirely, and it fell without a word.

Count von Ryderhof withdrew his pedals with both feet, rolled on the spot, and began to fight again. He drew his sword dangling from his waist and watched his opponent's next move.

"You're Count von Ryderhoff!"

"Yes, it's me. I think whose weapon is so sharp, it turns out to be Thomas Retreat!"

"Haha, it's me!

Without speculating for more than half a sentence, Retreat immediately attacked Count von Ryderhof with his holy sword. The Earl, who was afraid of his opponent's weapon, did not dare to take it hard, he only deflected the blade of the attacking sword with a control-type secret technique. And although Retreat's strength has reached the realm of the Sword Saint and holds the holy sword in his hand, he can't succeed in his eagerness against an experienced veteran king knight.

Someone who was quietly observing the battle in the shadows they couldn't see whispered, "Hehe, now that one is in a hurry to get out, and the other is eager to take revenge, the tricks of both sides seem to be very scattered. Looks like I'm going to help the brave. ”

It turned out to be Lord von Lokeley, who was now hanging upside down in the treetops in the distance with ninjutsu to see the whole situation. In his eyes, the Mars halberds had completely defeated the Aldenburg army, and all that remained was to see how the warrior Thomas Retreat took revenge.

Seeing the soldiers around him fall one by one, Count von Ryderhof knew that his chances of escape were getting slimmer and slimmer. In a desperate gamble, he once again shook everyone away with his terrifying secret technique, and took advantage of the momentum to fly up and leap into the woodland by the roadside. Thomas the Brave let his men continue to attack the defeated army in Aldenburg, and went after the Count alone, because the large number of people in the dense forest would affect each other's judgment. He didn't want anything wrong right now.

In a small clearing in the woods, Die finally caught up with Count von Ryderhof, or rather, the count was deliberately caught up by him, and the Emperor's favorite retainer fell to the ground in a pretended to be embarrassed and had lost his strength, luring Die to let his guard down and come forward to check.

Young to inexperienced, as he approached his enemy with his sword, Count von Ryderhof suddenly burst into flames and firmly restrained the holy sword in Dyer's hand with a terrifying secret technique. The other sword stabbed at the brave.

"Hahahaha, little guy, it's a trick! As long as you take your head, losing 10,000 horses is nothing!"

But before the count's laughter could end, he noticed a red-stained tip appear on his chest. The Count no longer had the strength to look back, but he knew that it was the magic sword "Iltrosa" that pierced his body. Even Count von Ryderhoff could not figure out why Sebastian had formed an alliance with Thomas Dyer.

Since receiving the token of love given by the beauty, Sebastian can also carry his weapons and costume items with him. In order to win just now, he finally chose to use the magic sword to launch a fatal blow.

"Count von Ridlingen, thank you for your help and revenge!"

"You're welcome, I've got rid of a big henchman. Now it's just a matter of asking me to help the people who want to leave St. Gallen leave. This credit should be sufficient. ”

In the end, the battle ended with Count von Ryderhoff's light enemy, only to be miserably defeated.

Higismund V was furious, but the city of St. Gallen had long since fallen, and the heart of the Mars Mountains had been occupied by the Confederacy of the Seven States, and their northern forces had reached the city of Konstanz in Schwartenen on the south bank of the Linn River, and the eastern part had firmly controlled the mountain pass of Chur. At the same time, Viscount Manstel von Barenberg of the Southwestern Commercial Alliance wrote that the "poor Conrad" army had been supplemented by the "shoe club" army in the central and southern districts, and that the Peasant War had broken out in full swing and was in urgent need of imperial support.

On the other hand, the eastern part of the empire is not calm now, the Turde Empire Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent has completely recovered from the last defeat, he pursued the north and basically wiped out the small states in the southeast of the western continent, and the only thing left in the Flak Empire is the lonely capital city of Severus and a few small islands in the southern land sea. According to intelligence, the Sultan's next plan is to occupy the Magyar Kingdom, a feathered nation on the upper reaches of the Viren River in the east of the Divine Grace Empire. The most important thing is that the Magyar Kingdom is close to the Kingdom of Vanolia, the royal seat of the Divine Grace Empire. If the Magyars were to be subjugated by the Turde Empire, it would pose a direct threat to the Rokenhausen.

Under the pressure of these internal and external troubles, Higismund V had to sign the Treaty of Garschuen with the Mars Confederation at the suggestion of Count Sebastian von Riedlingen, the hero of the Battle of St. Gallen and the Imperial Count of Sébastian von Ridlingen, who had rescued most of the people left behind in the city.

The treaty stipulated that the Seven Mars Confederation would remain within the Divine Grace Empire as a single political entity, but would not be required to attend the Estates-General of the Empire, pay taxes, and have full jurisdiction over both high and lower jurisdictions. Conversely, the Mars Confederation could not be an enemy of the royal Rockenhausen within the empire for any reason.

With this treaty, the Mars Confederation finally gained de facto independence. Aside from being allowed to participate in the civil wars of the Divine Grace Empire, they are hardly bound by anything. From then on, these mercenaries who grew up in the mountains could be active on the battlefield at will.

And the Imperial Count von Ridlingen was also given several small territories in the Central and Southern Regions due to this exploit, but these things were not big gains for him, and the key was that Higgismund V appointed him as the commander of the 1st Mobile Division of the newly formed Imperial Central Army. Responsible for the integration of all mobile units in the South-Central Region with the Grand Duchy of Aldenburg. This title was equivalent to adding the rights that had previously belonged to Count von Ryderhof to the former Emperor Representative and Inspector of the Central and Southern Districts. That is, Sebastian has completely replaced this person in the imperial court.

"Father, despite Sebastian's merits, the whole campaign was lost, and I think it would be enough to reward some land. ”

"Max, what do you think was the reason for my reuse of the late Count von Ryderhoff?"

"I remember you saying that in order to counterbalance the power of other powerful ministers, I see that this is why Sebastian is now reused. ”

"Yes, that's right, I've heard that you have a good idea to win over the Imperial Count von Ridlingen. ”

"Haha, that's just a joke, our family's distant relatives, Duchess Sorena von Takhov, and Sebastian are not married, if we can match them, the Imperial Count can also be regarded as a royal in-law, wouldn't it be more reliable. ”

"I thought I could give it a try. ”

When Count Sebastian von Riederingen came to the Litomyšl Palace in the Kingdom of Vanolia to meet the Emperor and receive the letter of appointment from the Chancellor Lord Wether, he was also allowed to meet with Zolvik, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Imperial Magic Corps, and after negotiations his 1st Mobile Division was assisted by a magical detachment, led by the court magician Duchess Sorena von Takhov, under the control of Sebastian. Everything was a coincidence, and there was no deliberate arrangement at all. How could anyone in the world know about the relationship between these two men and their conspiracy?!