Directly saving the Fran Imperial Army is an emotional idea, but reason has been dissuading Duke from attacking the position of the Black Hawk Army of 60,000 with 5,000 Storm Army, which is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. More importantly, even if he leads the First Army of the French Empire to break through, he will have to face the infinite pursuit of Hans's army.

From here, it would take at least ten days to return to the northern defense line of the French Empire, and even a forced march would take five days. In the past five days, with the transportation capacity of the Storm Army, Duke is no exaggeration to say that the Black Eagle Army of the Hans Empire should not want to catch up with the Storm Carriage, unless they give up supplies and only use cavalry to chase after them.

However, once the Frans Imperial Army is brought in, the marching speed will be greatly slowed down, and it is likely to face endless harassment and pursuit from the Hans Imperial Army. For the Storm Army, this means constant casualty statistics.

Now Duke is no longer the idler who only thinks about himself and waiting for death, he shoulders the fate of the entire Storm Castle of more than 300,000 people, these Storm Army soldiers are willing to fight bloodily, and they also believe that they can lead them to defeat their opponents and live, and Duke should be responsible for their lives as a lord.

So reason told Duke that the best way now was to withdraw directly back to the northern defense line, and then gather the 1,000 logistics troops stationed in the fortress of Alakou, and return to Storm Fort as quickly as possible. As long as the speed at which the Storm Army withdraws is higher than the speed at which Emperor Fran gets the news, then the Storm Army will basically have no problem along the way.

Taking a step back, even if it was slow, Duke still didn't pay much attention, because at such a time, Henry VII's first choice would definitely be to stabilize the northern defense line, and it would be impossible to send a large army to trouble him.

At most, in order to maintain the dignity of Emperor Fran, he ordered the lords along the way to punish the "deserters" of the Storm Army. But along the way, the Duchy of Berry itself is difficult to protect, the territory of Marseille, will the Prince of Andorra choose to fight with him?

Duke didn't dare to say ten percent, but at least nine percent sure that these lords would not choose to fight with their storm army when they learned that the troubled times were coming, but would accumulate strength to deal with the next mutation.

It can be said that the retreat of the storm army can perfectly preserve itself, but it will sell the entire northern defense line, especially the Alakou Fortress, which is the first major fortress of the French Empire to defend against the Hans Empire.

"My lord, what should we do now?"

Carl, the third commander of the Storm Army, who was standing on the side, also asked, and he couldn't help but ask when he saw that Duke hadn't answered Allen's question for a long time. Now the time is urgent, it takes a day for the storm army to rush to the battlefield of the imperial army from here, this is still a case of rapid marching, and generally before the battle, at least two hours of repair time must be given to the soldiers, so that they can recover their strength, otherwise it is very disadvantageous to fight directly.

That is to say, now the Storm Army only has two days to break the breakthrough of the Black Eagle Army of the Hans Empire, if there is no way to rescue the French Imperial Army in two days, then the next situation will be critical, once the 40,000 reinforcements of the Hans Empire arrive, then even the Storm Army itself is at risk of being surrounded.

"Carl, if I let you fight a strong enemy because of selfishness, will you be willing?"

Duke asked Karl, who still couldn't get past his level.

"My lord, what kind of selfishness is this, we were originally a member of the Imperial Northern Legion, and there is no problem in saving friendly forces. ”

Carl helped Duke find a reason to stand on the moral high ground, even if he had hated the actions of the Fran royal family for planning to storm the army.

"Lord Lord, the Storm Army is your sharpest spear and the strongest shield, as long as you give an order, there is nothing selfish or unselfish, and the Storm Army will not retreat!"

Alan also supported Duke with firm words, in his opinion, the Storm Army was built by Duke, and what he asked the Storm Army to do was normal and natural.

"And Lord Lord, if you go to support, it is not just because of selfishness, but for the sake of millions of people in the entire Duchy of Berry, and even for the twenty million citizens of the entire French Empire. The Duchy of Berry is also your hometown, and I want you to make the decision to fight a war, which is also my selfishness. ”

Hearing Allen's straightforward words, Carl also said with a look of war: "That's right, Allen's knight is right, the Storm Army is an army that lives for war, we are not afraid of death, we are afraid of no war! Didn't you say the word war machine before, we are war machines!"

Picking up the desire for war on this continent, the Storm Army can definitely be ranked, the reason is very simple, the Storm Army's military exploits and fiefdoms are almost all taken back from the battlefield by themselves. This is quite a bit like the military merit system of the Qin State after the Shang Dynasty reform, only by fighting and killing the enemy will you make yourself go to the next level and let your relatives enjoy a better life.

The Storm Army's fear of death is also the lowest, because they believe in the Storm Medic's treatment, and believe in Duke's care for their families after their death. This is not due to Duke's brainwashing, but after one war after another, Duke truthfully paid out pensions and financial subsidies to fallen soldiers even in the most difficult times of Stormcastle's finances.

Hearing that his subordinate generals could do this, Duke felt very relieved, in fact, Duke still had a hurdle in his heart, that is, the siege of the Imperial Army and the Lion Army, seriously speaking, was caused by Duke. If it weren't for him betraying the march route of the Imperial Army and the Lion Army to the Barbarians and the Hans Empire, this situation might not have happened at all, at least the Imperial Northern Army would not have been directly encircled, and there would still be a chance to escape.

Of course, Duke can make an excuse that it was because the Emperor Fran and the Marquis of Patton had betrayed his route map, and it was just his counterattack. But there is a wrong, there is a debtor, and if he really wants to find someone to take revenge, he should go directly to Emperor Fran, instead of pulling in two completely unaware armies, including Princess Jina.

What is the difference between Duke and Emperor Fran in what he does now, will people eventually become what they hated at the beginning?

After thinking about it so much, Duke also understood that he couldn't hesitate any longer, two days were actually very tense, including opening the defensive line and preventing the Imperial Army from breaking through, etc., and if he delayed a little time, he might not be able to escape.

So Duke stood up, this time his eyes were not confused, but said firmly: "Prepare for the Storm Army, let them see what a war machine is!" 8)