At 7 p.m. on May 13, the early summer days in the southern part of the Alan Continent were very long, but the sky was still getting darker at the moment.

Eric Londora was ordered to lead two hundred heavily armed cavalry and two brigades of regular cavalry to search along the route of the retreating orc army on the banks of the Sushui River, and by the way, to find fighters. Gray authorized him to direct the attack if he spotted the fighters, but also warned him not to fight hard, just to entangle the enemy and wait for the arrival of the main army.

Eric had been a farmer a few days before, and although he was indeed a knight who had been baptized by the previous king, that was more than a decade ago.

He was born into a military family in the royal capital, unfortunately - he was an illegitimate child, but his noble blood gave him a good future, if according to normal circumstances, he could work in the royal capital city guard to the top level, and then retire with a good pension.

But the boring life of a guard was unbearable for the young Eric to bear, and when he received a letter from his friend El, he made a decision to leave the imperial capital and go to the territories of the country lords in the eyes of his colleagues.

He didn't make a casual decision, the thought of leaving the city guard had been lingering in his heart for years, El's letter was just a fuse, and the decaying and numb life of the imperial capital had made the idealistic knight despair.

And the main reason is that he can always see the people of his father's family in the imperial capital, which makes him uncomfortable, he feels that those people are like an invisible mountain pressing on him, and that breathless feeling makes him lose sleep as an adult.

Although the life of a farmer is not as good as it should be, the simple farmer and kind neighbors make Eric feel a trace of warmth that he has never felt in the imperial capital, and his perennial suppressed emotions are completely relaxed. And his friend Al uses his aristocratic status to buy a village and a hunting area, which makes Eric's life even more interesting.

Although such a life was far from Eric's ideals, he felt that it was enough.

If it weren't for the sudden outbreak of war, Eric would have planned to marry a woman from a neighboring village next year, and then slowly grow old in that small village.

The strange and familiar smell of metal and leather armor was familiar to Eric, who had no knight's armor and wore a set of ordinary soldier's chain mail, and next to him stood a freshly prepared battle flag, and a strong smell of dye could be heard in the breeze.

From time to time, the soldiers around him swept at him with strange glances, and occasionally let out a burst of laughter.

Eric ignored their ridicule, he was almost forty years old, he had long since lost the impetuosity of a young man, and he knew very well the place of a general who had no merit in battle in the hearts of the soldiers.

When Rena told him about his appointment yesterday, he was going to turn it down, but it didn't come out of his mouth, because it was an opportunity he had been dreaming of for decades, and he didn't want to miss it.

When he accepted the appointment, Baron Rena told him coldly: "There are not many people that Lord Viscount trusts now, and you don't need Lord Viscount's trust. ”

She was warning Eric to just obey orders and not to think about anything else.

"My lord, the orcs have set up camp twenty miles away, and at their current speed, it can be done in two hours at most!" the scout told Eric what he had discovered.

Eric stayed in the ranks of the hoplites, who were not involved in the reconnaissance mission because of their limited physical strength, and if it wasn't for the lack of time, Eric even wanted the cavalrymen to take off their heavy equipment and rest in place.

"So fast?" Eric was a little incredulous, because according to the intelligence, the orcs had just landed two hours ago at most, and a camp that could accommodate nearly three corps of troops could not be completed in a few hours, and the orcs had no extra labor at all.

"With the help of the goblins, you know, their engineers are great at building. The scout said.

"Oh?" Eric was stunned for a moment, then stopped dwelling on the issue, he pointed to one of the legions left behind by the orcs and said, "I need you to keep an eye on the specific distance between this orc legion and their main force, and report to me in less than ten minutes, no, in less than five minutes." ”

This request is not difficult, it can be done as a professional scout, but it is very troublesome, the scout feels that there is no need to report in five minutes, he wants to refute a few words but after thinking about it, he still takes the order to leave.

Eric looked at the departing scouts and said to himself: It seems that the viscount has trained his soldiers well.

Half an hour later...

The scout brought back the latest intelligence - five kilometers away.

Eric's eyes lit up, he looked at the starry sky that was about to go completely dark, and hurriedly asked his deputy, "Where is our main force?"

"It was half an hour away from us. The deputy obviously guessed Eric's plan, and he said: "My lord, I advise you to give up, after the arrival of the main force, it will be completely dark, and after dark, the vision of our cavalry will be limited, and it is very likely that we will accidentally injure our own people, and we don't even know how to deal with a counter-charge of the orcs at that time!"

Eric gave his deputy a serious look, and the other party was Viscount Cage's family knight, named Llorian, the commander of two squadrons of hoplites.

After Lorian finished speaking, he added: "Of course, it is you who make the final decision, my lord, I am only doing my duty as an adjutant, after all, I am obligated to remind you. ”

The sky is getting darker and darker.

While Eric was struggling, a fast horse arrived, Gray's herald.

"Knight Eric, Lord Viscount has ordered you to send scouts to find a suitable place to camp. ”

"Camp around here?" asked Eric, who had to make sure that this was no child's play.

The herald shrugged, "I think I made it clear. ”

Eric was stunned, but the herald turned around and left.

"Then, do as Lord Viscount wishes, send half of the scouts of the reconnaissance squadron to monitor the movements of the orcs, and the other half to reconnoiter the nearby terrain. Eric sighed to himself and said to Lorian next to him.

Lorian tapped Eric on the shoulder in understanding, then tapped his horse away.

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Under the clear night sky, the camps of the two armies on the banks of the Sushui River were dotted with bonfires, and the flickering fires met with the stars in the starry sky, and if it weren't for the occasional whole patrol of soldiers passing by, such a beautiful scenery would definitely be fascinating.

Gray mobilized nearly 50,000 laborers for this war, and in less than an hour, a camp of several miles was erected.

The battle a few hours earlier had cost Gray nearly five hundred men, and the number of corpses left behind by the orcs was about the same. There was no winner in the brief temptation, but the commanders on both sides declared to the soldiers that it was a great victory.

Gray, the unit involved in the operation, ordered the logistics service to give special attention.

In the southwest of the camp, the smell of wine and food wafts through the air – the steaming pot is filled with the charming aroma of mushrooms, onions and a dash of venison, and the hot brown bread baked next to the pot is piled on top of each other.

When the officers took a spoon and tasted the thick and thick stewed broth, they shouted to the soldiers: "Enjoy!"

Suddenly, the soldiers rushed to the piece of food they had loved for a long time as fast as they could, and stuffed him into their mouths regardless of the image.

Hanks silently watched the soldiers' revelry, his left arm badly fractured, but the magician who treated him told him not to worry, his one would be back to its best in a few months.

Knight Robert didn't know when he walked up to Hanks, "Lord Viscount's herald told us to go to his tent. ”