Duke, who walked out of the camp, saw that the storm guards outside were still confronting the Imperial guards, and just waved his hand at them casually, signaling that he could leave.

Riding his horse and walking towards the storm army outside the tent, probably because the heavy rain was coming, the sky was unusually gloomy today, just like Duke's mood.

After saying it bluntly this time, Duke doesn't really care about what Princess Jina thinks of her, after all, standing in the position of Princess Jina and the empire, she is indeed the traitor and traitor, even if Duke has a good reason to do this, but the death of the king is also one of the simple concepts of many people.

Duke just hoped that Gina would listen to her words, just like Joan of Arc in the history of this world, when she organized a large army of her own during the war of the five tribes, defeated the orc army, and won the title of Joan of Arc.

If Gina wants to make a difference, then she must have an army that truly belongs to her, even if it is only a few thousand people. And Ji Na is 17 years old this year, according to the standards of this world, girls are actually considered to be adults, as long as Henry VII is willing, Princess Ji Na can also get a fief.

In the troubled times, cultivating her own power is a very important thing, her two brothers are already far ahead, and Duke hopes that Princess Jina will not be too far behind. If there is any possibility of reconciliation with the Fran Empire in the future, only Princess Jina will be the empress of the empire.

Seeing Duke come back safely, the soldiers of the Storm Army shouted excitedly, the current Storm Army has gone through two years of modern militarized training, and it is basically a new army of this era, and it is absolutely loyal to Duke. Not to mention letting them fight against the Imperial Army, even if the Holy See Army stood in front of them today, the Storm Army would not hesitate in the slightest.

Duke gathered the Storm Army this time, not only to start a war with the Imperial Army, but also to gather and leave the northern defense line in advance.

Because with the war with the barbarians and the Hans Empire, there is basically no way to trade war horses, and even the business of livestock and meat with the Hans Empire cannot be done. After all, Duke shattered the Hans Empire's dream of unifying the northern frontier at a critical time, and the Hans Empire probably thought that Duke's Storm Army would be its ally, and as a result, he stabbed the Hans Empire at a critical time.

Since there is no interest in the north, then all that remains is attrition, even if the Storm Army is on the northern defense line and has supplies provided by the Lion Army. But seriously, the consumption is still far greater than the replenishment.

Not to mention weapons and equipment, Duke doesn't need any equipment from the Lion Army. Taking the most basic food, clothing, shelter and transportation as an example, the Lion Army provides the standard rations and equipment of this world's soldiers. However, this kind of standard ration equipment cannot meet Duke's storm army at all, because the storm army, as a hoplite, needs strong physical fitness and physical fitness to be able to ensure combat effectiveness.

At most, these things can only be regarded as full, not good, and still have to draw some meat from Storm Castle and Storm Merchant to replenish it, which brings great procurement and transportation costs. Later, an agreement was reached with the Hans Empire to settle the matter, and even a large part of the surplus was transported back to Storm Castle to improve the food of the Storm Raiders.

Of course, this is only the reason for the interests, the most important point is that now Duke is basically turning against the French Empire, Henry VII will definitely find a way to target himself, and retreat before Henry VII has fully reacted, and it will be too late when he plans to do it. After all, now that the Storm Army is alone, Duke is really worried that he can't play Henry VII.

So when he came back, Duke had already written to Henry VII, and at the same time, when he turned his face just now, Duke also gave a document to Duke Otto, asking him to send troops to garrison the Alakou Fortress, because with the withdrawal of the Storm Army, the Alakou Fortress is actually an empty city now.

In case this important news is discovered by the Hans Empire or the barbarians, it is estimated that they will not let go of this piece of pie falling from the sky, which is equivalent to putting a nail on them in the territory of the French Empire.

Although it was a break with the French Empire, Duke didn't want to carry this pot for no reason, compared to giving it to the Imperial Army, Duke felt that it was better to give it to the Lion Army, and it could be regarded as a favor for Duke Otto. In case Duke Otto and Henry VII really go to war at that time, Duke believes that Duke Otto definitely does not want a nail in the imperial army to appear in the territory of the Duchy of Berry.

Everything was ready, and Duke led the Storm Army back to Storm Castle. Looking at the northern grassland that was gradually moving away, I was also full of emotion in my heart, since I left Storm Castle, almost half a year has passed, I didn't expect that when I left, it would become so bleak.

However, this time there is also something that Duke feels rewarded, not only cultivating the expeditionary combat ability of the Storm Army, but also cultivating the support system of the Storm Logistics Army. This kind of thing doesn't seem very important, but in fact, the bigger the war, the more the logistics system of both sides is fought, and whichever side can't hold out first is which side loses.

The reason why the French Empire is facing such an embarrassing situation today is that even the important northern defense line has to transfer the Second Army of the Empire back, because the logistics are really unbearable. Otherwise, in such a tense confrontation situation, there is only an increase in troops, and there is no reason to withdraw troops.

Another point is to make Duke discover the importance of muskets, although Duke knew that firearms would be epoch-making weapons, but in reality he did not attach much importance to firearms in this era. Because later generations of aircraft and artillery have seen I don't know how much, just this kind of "gun" with a range of only 100 meters, and the quasi-fate depends on fate, if compared with the real rifles of later generations, Duke feels that it is not much stronger than a burning stick.

So Duke has always wanted to wait for the appearance of a reloading rifle like Mini, at least this is fundamentally different from the detachable musket with bullets and gunpowder, closer to the rifles of later generations, and enough to crush the long-range attack force of archers in this era.

In other words, Duke has always wanted to take a big step through the stage of "walking" and directly step into the scientific and technological level of "running". But in reality, these development processes are calculated in a hundred years, and the Fort Storm Musket Laboratory, which can make a front-loading rifled musket in just one year is already the limit, and these things need metal technology, and further transformation of the gunpowder process can be successful.

So when Duke didn't have much expectations, the Storm Musket gave Duke a big surprise.