The entire Northern Army was making final preparations, and Duke, in order to make up for the lack of military strength, did not divide his forces to stay in the camp like the Imperial Army and the Lion Army, but mobilized all the Storm Army, including the 2,000 Logistics Army, to attack.

Because no matter whether this battle is successful or lost, the storm camp has no meaning for Duke's storm army, but in the Alakou Fortress, Duke still put a thousand logistics troops to defend, because this is the retreat of the Storm Army's expedition route, once the Hans Empire turns around and occupies the Alakou Fortress, then the retreat of the Storm Army will be completely blocked once it is defeated.

At the same time, in order to prevent the Hans Empire from turning around, Duke sent out all the few hundred or so storm cavalry to serve as sentry horses. Their main task was to scout whether there was an ambush from the Hans Empire on the Storm Army's marching route.

After all, now the two sides are cooperating purely for the sake of interests, and if the risk is too large or the benefits are not enough, it is normal for the Hans Empire to turn around. Duke had never believed in the promises of the Hans Empire, just as he had never believed in the barbarians, who were his enemies!

The entire Northern Army, including the Duke Storm Army, held a swearing-in meeting before leaving, as the nominal commander of this offensive operation, Princess Gina stood on the platform with a radiant face, and it was obvious that Gina was very excited and excited in her heart, after all, this was the largest military operation she had ever led, and as long as she succeeded, she would be able to wash away the shame outside Andorra and become a real female commander.

Looking at Princess Kina's confident appearance, Duke suddenly had a cruel feeling, she was the supreme commander, but in fact, the generals and soldiers under her command only respected her in name, and she didn't know what was going on behind all the war plans. Only this time, even Duke himself was included.

Therefore, it is very likely that the victory imagined by Princess Gina is just a copy of the military operation outside Andorra. Of course, if you're lucky, the Imperial Army and the Lion Army shouldn't collapse, at most they'll be defeated. If the luck is bad, or the situation is beyond Duke's control, then there is a good chance that this time the leader should be the last time Princess Gina will lead the army, and her dream of becoming the Joan of Arc will be difficult to achieve.

After the war mobilization was over, the three-way army advanced to the barbarian settlements on the left, center, and right respectively. In fact, this attack plan is not simply to destroy Duke's storm army, if you can, take advantage of the barbarians, which is also one of Marquis Patton's previous plans.

So this time the Marquis of Patton's attack points are all important water sources for the barbarians, after a winter of ice, this world is just the season for the breeding of war horses and livestock, the importance of the water source is naturally self-evident, if the Marquis of Patton plans to lose, maybe it can really hit the barbarians hard.

It's just that Duke knows that this idea is always just a luxury, or rather, like winning the lottery, it is possible for the goddess of victory to favor Marquis Barton. Because of the attack on the vast prairie, you must be prepared to pursue for thousands of miles, otherwise it will only be some painless blows, on the contrary, the loss of yourself will be greater.

But the pursuit of thousands of miles requires the support of a strong empire behind it, and the current situation of the French Empire is obviously impossible, and even according to Duke's knowledge, the reason why it has been delayed for more than a month to send troops is because of too much pressure on the logistics of the French Empire.

More than a month of preparation time, in fact, has given the barbarians an early warning, there is no logistics for a protracted war, not to mention the victory of the decisive battle, if the barbarians grit their teeth and endure the loss and do not give a chance to fight a decisive battle, in the end the French Empire can only withdraw in disgrace, and then the barbarians will attack and harass again, and the situation on the northern border of the empire will be even worse than now.

Of course, none of Duke will say anything about them, because this is a matter for Henry VII.

As a large army of infantry, the Northern Legion marched very slowly, and it only took three days to walk more than 60 kilometers, but it was already close to the boundary where Duke had met with the barbarian great shaman Alatan, which was already considered the territory of the barbarians.

Duke was not worried about the presence of the barbarians, but was preoccupied with where the Hans Empire's encircling army would set up an ambush. Duke doesn't know the ambush location, because this is the march route of the Hans Empire, and they will also leave a hand on Duke, in case Duke knows their ambush location and marching route, and have a counter-encirclement with the French Empire, this is simply stealing chickens and rice.

So these things are tacit, Duke in order to ensure that the Hans Empire does not turn its face against himself, he will only rest assured if he finds the main force of the Hans Empire. However, there are too few storm sentry riders, and in addition to rotating and dealing with the heralds of the storm army itself, the hundreds of people can really find only a few dozen horses.

Although Duke didn't know how big the barbarian steppe was, from the records and the mouths of some veterans, he could probably know that it was not much smaller than the entire Mongolian steppe, that is, on millions of square kilometers of land, it was simply unrealistic to rely on dozens of horsemen to find the main army of the Hans Empire.

What Duke can do is to send as many experienced veterans as possible to see if he can find some clues from the borders of the Hans Empire, and finally find the traces of the Black Hawk Army of the Hans Empire.

On the fifth day, the Franco-Imperial Army had arrived at the place where Duke had met with the barbarians, but found that there was no trace of the barbarians. Neither the Marquis of Barton nor the Duke of Otto were surprised by this situation, because it was impossible for the barbarians not to know about the attack of the French Empire, unless the barbarians had a great advantage, otherwise they would not have fought a head-on battle with the French army so early.

After all, the grassland is the home of the barbarians, and they are fully capable of allowing the French army to stretch the battle line, as well as the logistics supply line, and finally launch a counterattack in one fell swoop when they are exhausted. Therefore, it is an advantage for the barbarians to drag on time, and without half a month and a month of searching and preparation, they will not fight a decisive battle with the French army.

Not to mention that they have already obtained Duke's situation, and they know the attack line of the Imperial Army and the Lion Army well, if this can still be surrounded by the Imperial Army, then Duke doesn't know how to describe the stupidity of the barbarians.

In addition to these, the most worrying thing for Duke is the Hans Empire, because it has been five days, and he still has not found any traces of the Black Hawk Army of the Hans Empire, and as the Storm Army deepens down, it is very likely that he will also fall into the encirclement of others, after all, Duke's own marching route is also exposed.