Old Snow Bear looked at the figure hanging in the cold wind with bitterness, and denounced the wishful thinking of the steppe people, the arrogance and backbone of the imperial soldiers would never allow him to do this.

However, this southeastern city, which is famous for its textile industry, does not have the tall and well-defended city walls of Gaokan City, nor the narrow and dangerous terrain of Hongyue Pass, and the grassland people who really showed their desire to attack made Ferretti City, which had lost two-thirds of its main force, embattled, and also made the old snow bear Cummins watch the black and oppressive grassland people under the city walls, but there are not enough troops to deploy.

In the middle of the night, seeing the tragic battle of heavy casualties and the loss of more than a dozen sections of the city wall, Dino Bundchen, the lord of Ferretti City, took advantage of the night to secretly open the city gate with his family and personal soldiers, and fled to the city of Carros.

The steppe people, who had already discovered the clues, drove straight into the open city gate and crushed Dino Bundchen's family into pulp.

At noon on December 15, the industrial town of Ferretti City, an important industrial town in the southeastern province, fell and the Snow Bear Division of the Hurricane Regiment was completely annihilated.

Before leaving, the steppe people lit a fire in the city, and the entire 350,000 people of Ferretti City were reduced to ashes in wails and screams, and the bad news spread throughout the continent.

On the same day, the city of Nopua, 500 kilometers away from Ferretti City, was also lost, and the Golden Eagle Division of the Hurricane Legion and the 300,000 people of the city who remained here returned to the arms of Gaia, the goddess of the earth, even an hour before Ferretti City.

Peterson, the commander of the 1st Division of the Hurricane Corps, who arrived a day late, looked at the smoke and flames of Nopua City, and immediately retreated to the southeastern capital of Galoster, but was blocked by the remaining 10,000 Nopua City soldiers.

A fire between their own people unfolded without accident, one side was weak and fearless, and the other side was so angry that he had lost his mind, and finally both sides lost.

With 10,000 remnants of his defeated army, Peterson would continue to retreat to Calost thousands of miles away, while the remnants of the soldiers on the other side were calling in vain the names of their loved ones in the ruined city.

Marquis Levinson, the commander of the Hurricane Legion, vomited blood and fainted on the spot, and the 20,000 Knights of the Templars led by Augustine also got off the train 100 kilometers away from the city of Nopua, and the railroad was destroyed, leaving them with the rest of the way.

When Philip learned the news, he couldn't believe his eyes.

Yes, Ferretti City is not a high city, it is not a military city in terms of defense level or design concept, but there are 350,000 people, even if there are only 100,000 adult men in it, and they will never face a tragic slaughter under desperate resistance.

At this point, just look at Gaokan City, at the critical moment, not to mention the men, even those women and older children picked up the sword and killed a lot of steppe wolves.

He really couldn't understand why this was going on, and where did the two elite divisions that disappeared into the vast wilderness go?

The three major military cities, including all the nearby towns, frantically sent scout troops, desperately trying to find the whereabouts of the steppe army, regardless of cost and sacrifice.

Especially in the recovered city of Brando, Anne is constantly repairing the defenses day and night, and everyone knows that these steppe people must not be allowed to return to the outside of the pass, not even a single soldier, otherwise it will be a shame for the southeast and a shame for the empire.

A few days later, before the commander of Michael's division could decide whether to confess the secrets of the Levinson family as his name, he was beheaded by Anne, the youngest granddaughter of the Duke of La Mande, who was furious.

As soon as the two guards beside him wanted to rush up, the giant man standing behind Anne, who was two and a half meters tall and wrapped in heavy armor, reached out and grabbed his neck, and he lost his breath with a slight pinch.

Treat **, as it should be.

Whatever your reasons and grievances, first ask the hundreds of thousands of unjust souls floating over the cities of Ferretti and Nopua if they can agree.

All the officers and men of the Hurricane Legion were surrounded by murderous female knights, and they disarmed without bloodshed.

When the servants from Ferretti City learned of the massacre in Ferretti City, they all fell to their knees and wept, then tore Michael's body to pieces with their hands and teeth, swallowing his flesh.

If Michael's intercom was still there, I'm afraid he wouldn't have traveled thousands of miles to send his head over.

Back after the tragedy, no one cared about the outcome of the Marquis Levinson's fainting, and millions of people in the entire southeast were now expecting him to die like this.

The troops that had been sent out after learning of Ferretti City's request for help shrank back, and they deployed along the line of Green Ridge, Andes Pass, Mohe River Bay, Rufa Town, and Moonlight Canyon, tightened the bag mouth, and put a full 3,000 scouts into the middle area, including 1,500 led by Bruce and Chuck.

All the small towns and towns in the central theater were frightened, and on the one hand, they petitioned the cities of Gaokan and Veradi, and on the other hand, they were on high alert to prevent the last madness of the steppe people who had once again disappeared into the vast land.

Philip was given the order to go all out to find the traces of the steppe people who had been slaughtered in Ferretti City, and to find a way to figure out their next tactical plan to show the Templar Knights.

He didn't say a word, just kissed Sophia goodbye in a hurry, and flew towards the central part of the southeast region with Afu.

Although it is much faster to fly in the sky than to run on the ground on horseback, it is too cold in the sky this season, and even with Philip's extraordinary physique, if he flies for more than three hours in a row, his whole body will freeze.

In addition to a bow and a quiver, Philip and Aphra took off their armor and put on several layers of warm leather jackets and fleece jackets, and then covered them with a huge cloak to wrap their whole bodies inside.

Anyway, this time the two of them traveled only for reconnaissance, and there was no combat mission.

Even so, Philip flew and stopped along the way, crossing thousands of mountains and rivers, and struggling to find traces of the steppe people in the southeastern lands of the empire.

There were a few times in between, but upon closer inspection, it was only a small group of stragglers, and Philip ignored them, continuing to search along the river or mountain range, little by little.

It was not until the next morning that he finally found signs of a large group of steppe people, about a hundred thousand people, 260 kilometers southeast of the city of Ferretti, still continuing to march eastward.

Soon, he found more than 100,000 people in another direction, but these people were headed south.

Philip spent most of the day in the air, for he was a little confused, just like the steppe men below.

It seems that the steppe people were carried away by that great victory, and he found a total of three groups of steppe people, each with a number ranging from seventy or eighty thousand to a hundred thousand, but in a completely different direction.

He reported the messages to the military headquarters of Gaokan City through the intercom he carried with him, and although the effect of the call was greatly disturbed, it was enough to deliver a simple message.

And the news fed back by the military department made him even more confused, and the scouts sent by Viradi City also found traces of the steppe people less than 200 kilometers away from the defense line of Green Ridge, and there were also only more than 100,000 people.

A town 150 kilometers northwest of Ferretti City has also been reported to be being attacked by tens of thousands of steppe people, asking for help.

This confusing information completely confused Philip, and it seemed that he had not understood what the steppe people's tactical thinking was from the beginning.

Even if the raid on Gaokan City failed, with their strength of more than 6 million, what was the reason for them to give up continuing to open the passage of Vera Di City and turn to fight with Ferretti City.

Although he didn't know what the steppe people got from there, even the resources were not enough for them to abandon their roots.

And what made them suddenly decide to attack the Brandocity Temple after so many days under the premise of the temple's ambiguous attitude, knowing that the combat effectiveness of the 500 Templars in the Temple of Gaokan City left a deep impression on him.

If you add the 20,000 or 30,000 wounded soldiers who are getting better and better, as well as the residents trapped in the castle, it is conceivable that they will not lose less than a few hundred thousand troops in that battle.

Not only is it costly, but it also gives up the way home with his own hands.

All of this is logically unreasonable, as if the commander of the steppe people was a madman who was trying in vain to consume the lives of his soldiers and the soldiers and civilians of the Wardersmann Empire.

Nibbling on the cold and hard jerky in his hand, he kept looking for clues on the map, and he couldn't figure it out.

Philip couldn't help but think of the words that Dang Sen, who had been captured outside the Red Moon Pass, had confessed to him, which seemed to reveal why the steppe people were so attached to the territory of the Empire.

From very early times, there was a forbidden land of several hundred square kilometers in the east-central part of the steppe, where there were no plants, no animals, and black sandy soil everywhere.

Every time the wind rises, you will hear the wailing of ghosts and wolves brought by the strange rocky landscape, and there is a pungent stench all the time.

Legend has it that the center of it was originally a majestic ancient city, which once gave birth to a splendid and powerful civilization, and was the center and overlord of the entire steppe.

But I don't know when and for what reason, this ancient city disappeared, and even the original majestic city walls gradually turned into low hills in the wind and sand.

There are many speculations and legends about what happened here, some say that the place suffered a great plague, some say that the people here began to kill each other in a military disaster, and some say that a huge meteorite fell from the sky and destroyed this place, but there are many theories, but none of them have been scientifically verified.

Because no one can really enter the core area, any animal or human will lose their sense of direction when they get here, and then die inexplicably, and they can't even see the bones of the black sand tunmo, which has been called the city of death by the steppe people since ancient times.

And this land of death seems to be alive, its area is slowly expanding imperceptibly, and the edge will extend outward about a few hundred meters on average every year, and the originally lush grassland is also covered with black sand, as if a huge poisonous insect is devouring the earth.