VII

May 31, 1666 MDay+60 Lenny Northwest Wilderness

Every Imperial soldier knows that the Free Army's Central Staff is located in Lenny, but even the best agents of the Royal Security Department don't know where the Free Army's Western Staff is located.

The commander of the Western Army was Admiral Clad López, a man who appeared like a meteor on the stage of history and entered the ranks of the Big Three of the Free Army with the second fastest record in the history of the Free Army. He and his chain of command were too mysterious to the Imperial Staff Officers. Now, with a third of the forces of the Free Army, he disappeared into the vast wilderness behind the main force of the Empire.

When Kengal fell, he did not appear. When the Imperial soldiers pointed at Lenny, he didn't show up. When the Stillburg army began bloody battles again, he still did not appear. But everyone knows that sooner or later he will appear.

What exactly is this lieutenant general doing? What is this man fighting for? No one knows this, whether it is a northerner or a southerner.

While his comrades were fighting a bloody battle with Lenny in Kengler, Clad was buried in his desk, writing Oriental characters with a strange pen. His ink treasures were plastered all over the walls of the lieutenant general's room, and the rigid words on the shelves looked like some kind of magical rune.

"General López, the time is up. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Ayer, chief staff officer of the Western Army, pushed open the door, "The three divisions, thirty-four regiments, and three hundred and sixty-one companies of the Western Army are all ready, and a total of 47,000 soldiers are waiting for your orders. ”

Clad didn't look up, he was still writing the words. In Robert's view, the patterns on each sheet of paper are more or less the same, a bit like the work notes of a scroll maker or geometrician. "Forgive me for my curiosity, what are these, Your Excellency?"

"Oriental words. For scholars and officials there, it was a ritual to pass the time and relieve tension. Clad took the last of his strokes and stood up, "What about the order for the 'Morning Dew Project'?"

"As you ordered, they are all here, and not a single one has been handed out. The Chief Staff Officer pulled out a thick stack of orders from his jacket pocket, recited a few words of the password softly, and unwrapped the encryption on it.

The text on the order book swam and stumbled to reorganize the order, and the strategic map came into action, deploying the positions of each regiment of the Western Army. This thick stack of orders, each of which is magically encrypted, is unimaginably extravagant. Even if one or two orders "accidentally" fell into the hands of the Imperial Army, they would not be able to grasp the real position of the opponent's breakthrough, let alone deduce the entire plan of the Free Army through it.

Clad stepped closer, picked up a few and looked at them, smiling mysteriously, as if he were watching the movement of his troops. "You've finally got your plan under five days?"

Robert replied with a bitter face: "The staff complained a lot, but they did it anyway. Half of them thought that the five-day plan was too small, and the other half thought that the plan was too inflexible for the distance of up to 200 kilometers. ”

"That's good. In my experience over the years, a plan of more than five days can never be strictly enforced, and a plan that is too volatile in time will always drag on until the last day. Clad picked up the brush and signed his graffiti-like name on each one at a rapid pace, "Traditionally, the Free Army would give officers of all ranks the greatest freedom, but this time the situation is different, we don't have time. You know, the Empire has blocked the water and land routes from Fortiburg to Lenny, and reinforcements from Interre and Phates have been unable to reach the capital. ”

Hearing this urgent battle situation, Robert smiled slightly: "But aren't you waiting for the moment when 80,000 Royal Guards and Imperial Army are all gathered under Lenni City? Now there are less than 20,000 people left in front of our army, and almost all of them are second-rate soldiers from the armies of the two principalities of Soma and Noor. ”

"Saying what the chief thinks so bluntly will be hated. Clad joked, "Alright, add one to all the commands." If the combat objective cannot be accomplished within five days, the military police departments may take action under military law. Don't sign the General Staff, sign General Klad López. I take all the blame. ”

Robert, who heard this, was taken aback, and subconsciously touched the "justice" on his waist, and stopped talking.

Clad patted him lightly on the shoulder, "I know what you're thinking, don't worry." After such a long period of actual combat training, our troops will perform better than you think. Put away your sense of justice for now, we're about to kick it out. ”

"However, this kind of stern order will ......," Robert was suddenly stunned, "Pull out, but the headquarters and the general reserve should have no plan of action." ”

"Now there is. Concentrate all magical forces on the offensive, burn down all our camps, distribute all supplies, and the General Reserve, Klad Artillery Battalion, Heavy Artillery Brigade, and Magical Combat Detachment under the command will act as I order. ”

"Sir, please think again! We've invested a quarter of our magical combat budget to hide here! There's no way we're going to rebuild a central station of this size...... Besides, operations without reserves are not in accordance with the regulations! What should be done if a unit fails to complete its mission, or if the enemy's counterattack is unexpectedly fierce!"

"What should be given up must be given up, and what should be obtained must be obtained. After this offensive, all the forces of the empire will be concentrated on us. Clad pulled a plan from his bosom and threw it to Robert, "It's a determination to burn this place." We won't be calling the shots here again for the next stage. ”

Robert's gaze rested on the cover of the plan. Underneath the four-color coat of arms of the free state is written the name of this plan. He flipped through the pages and quickly read the purpose, route, and time of the battle. His mouth slowly opened wide.

"Original...... The real purpose of the Morning Dew Project is ......"

"This is my consistent view that instead of fighting a war of attrition, it is better to directly disrupt the opponent's chain of command. With a flick of his fingers, the empty headquarters behind him suddenly burst into flames. Robert turned his head and saw countless black embers flying up with the ascending cyclone, occasionally mixed in with the colorful explosions from the burning of magical items. There was a piece that seemed to have a strange flight path, and the ash seemed to be trying to escape from the cyclone created by the flames. Robert unsheathed his sword and poured his divine power into it—but his superior was quicker.

A blue sword light pierced the ashes. After a piercing scream, the ashes fell into the fire.

"Come on, Royal Department of Security. How much information did you send back to your pets? Let's have a game. Clad put on his gloves and whispered into the starry sky.

Thirty minutes later, the Freers were emptied of the largest military station in West Jullock. In front of the eyes of the Royal Security Department agents who rushed to investigate, all that remained was the smoke of the war, which declared that the war had entered a new phase. According to the naming convention of the Imperial General Staff, the battle received a lengthy name: "Battle of the Gistov-Kengal Bulge", and the Free Army Staff Council called it according to the planned code name -

"Dragon Hunting Campaign".

June 1, 1666 MDay+61 Estuary of the Metbysie River

Leonard Kakkawi, a half-elf, stood on the deck of his flagship, looking through the telescope at two things that stretched to the end of his field of vision.

The first is the coastline, and the second is the battle flag of the Imperial Army on the shore. The colourful flags of the Koman aristocracy form another stretch of coastline, densely planted on the seawall on the outer side of the esplanade. In the short distance of more than 100 kilometers from Lenny to Fortiburg, more than 80,000 Imperial soldiers were gathered, and together with the requisitioned men and mercenaries, it was estimated that more than 150,000 people were besieging the two cities.

He couldn't count how many flags were flying in the wind outside Fort Fort, let alone how many imperial flags there were on either side of the post road on the banks of the Meterbisi River. This is not a tactical need, purely a strategic show-off. Bands of soldiers in black uniforms are brazenly building a military port across the river, and it doesn't look much smaller than the harbor of Fortiburg itself. Of course, it wasn't a good place to build a port, but the Empire's large army of mages made up for it. They can work underwater, they can clean up tens of thousands of years of silt that has accumulated at the bottom of the river, they can deal with the "poor" monsters that haunt the rivers and seas, and of course they can deal with the harassment of the Free Navy.

"Sir, the enemy has set up a battery at the mouth of the Hind River this morning, and two ships of the cruising fleet have been wounded, two have been killed, and eleven have been wounded. ”

The first mate of the Interlay nationality ran over and reported to him the report of the reconnaissance fleet. Leonard is used to hearing this kind of report. The half-elf put down the binoculars and shook his head.

"The damage is not small, and it seems that it is impossible for us to prevent them from building a port with our firepower. ”

"No, this time we knocked out that battery. God forbid, we blew up their heavy artillery arsenals, and it will take at least two days to repair them. The first mate stroked his beard and smiled, which looked like a pirate.

This reminded the half-elves of their former pirate lieutenant, Kazmi. He patted the first mate on the shoulder as a sign of encouragement.

"Well done, be cautious in the future. They've suffered this loss, and it's probably not just the fleet that will greet you next time. ”

The first mate replied in a tone full of pride: "There is no word 'prudence' in the naval regulations, only 'retreat' and 'death' together, Your Excellency. Since the Great Red Fleet set sail on the sea, there has not been a failure. ”

The half-elf was about to teach a lesson, and then remembered that he was no longer the captain of the navy of the Saint Forest, and touched his chin and shook his head. He knew why the Free Navy had such nouveau riche arrogance. It has a small history, but it has a huge main fleet, the United Freedom Fleet, which is larger than the Saint-Sen Far Sea and Offshore Fleets combined. They imitated the elven fleet, dyeing all the sails of the capital ships the same color—

Not the conservative black, but the revolutionary. The people at sea referred to those ships with reverence as the "Great Red Fleet," and almost every officer of his crew had served in that fleet. These southerners have won and lost against the elves and the northerners on land, but they have not lost at sea. The southern provinces had a seafaring tradition almost as old as the elves, and after entering the age of sail warships, they took advantage of the numerical superiority of warships and sailors to seize control of almost all seas. At this moment, as far as Leonard knew, more than fifteen hundred armed ships were patrolling the Inner Interre Ocean outside the mouth of the river alone, preventing any ship flying the flag of the Empire or the principalities from entering the Metributsi.

As he pondered this, the Fleet's Chief Mage stepped out of the bilge onto the bridge, holding two rolls of parchment. "Captain, a new synchronised magic communication has arrived! ”

Leonard took the envelope and looked at the glowing crest of the magic seal.

"The letter from the headquarters and the pure gold arrived at the same time, could it be that the Imperial army has attacked Lennie?" he stretched out his right hand and opened the two letters with the two rings he had as commander of the river fleet and director of the pure gold consortium. As he read, his face tightened. Seeing his expression, the first mate on the side whistled.

"Got a mission?"

The Half-Elf Fleet Commander nodded. "According to the intelligence of the headquarters, that military port will be completed today. According to Pure Gold's intelligence, the enemy may try to dock at that port. ”

"It's just the ships of the Desa, they can't break through us. The first mate laughed, "Those Terans are still pretending to be building a port, they really think their 'Lake Army' will break through here, unless they fly in!"

"Or lurk in the Neutral Nation fleet. If my eyesight is correct, it looks like two elven merchant fleets are anchored outside the estuary?"

The Chief Mage interjected, "Yes, they just got permission to enter Lennie from the 25th Fleet. ”

"Let them wait, I'll get it identified. Leonard picked up his binoculars and looked out at the two elven fleets. After a few moments, he confidently ordered: "Lift anchor, shell the two ships on the right side of the St. Sen's fleet, and tear off the armor of the remaining five." They shouldn't dare to fight back, but if they do, kill them. ”

This bland command lifted the first mate's spirits. "They're really going to use this trick? Don't worry, Your Excellency, we'll be able to get the job done!"

The flag was raised, and the sailors who had been prepared for a long time pulled down the jackets of the broadside guns at a rapid speed, revealing the black holes in the muzzles.

The two elven fleets were in disarray, and the two ships on the far right really tried to pull up the full sails and rush into the artillery range of the military port on the north shore, which completely revealed their identities. The vigilance detachment at the mouth of the river reacted in time, and their garrison mage did not hesitate to drop two rounds of maneuvering magic, speeding up his own set sail while hindering his opponent's maneuvers. Before the two breakout ships could change their sails, their sides were almost close to the opponent's guns.

The light guns on the deck and the heavy guns on the side opened fire at the same time. Each solid shell was heavily embedded in the hulls of the "merchant ships", and the raindrops of chain bullets smashed their sails to pieces. After paying the price of more than a dozen casualties, the two fake elven ships had to raise the white flag and let Leonard's seamen go up to receive them. The remaining ships were also busy hoisting the white flag, for fear that they would be sunk as enemy ships.

Seeing this scene, everyone in the temporary port of the empire sighed in disappointment. The port is navigable today, but there is still not a single ship that can break through the blockade of Fortiburg and get up to it. The defeat of the camouflage fleet was laid bare in front of them, cruelly mocking the powerlessness of the Reich's sea power.

"Looking at the battle situation, we probably won't need our flagship anymore. The first mate sighed, "Can't you leave some for us?"

"Who said so, did you forget that we have another target?" Leonard waved his hand, "Zuo Manrudder! Rush up while the battery is still facing the open sea! See the crowd on the docks? That's our target!"

“...... Is it a welcoming ceremony?" the first mate reacted sharply, opening his mouth in surprise.

"You and your country are too young to know enough about the bureaucracy. The half-elf's tone was mixed with some face-saving pleasure and an indescribable hint of jealousy, "As a member of the oldest country in the world, I understand. With the one we've been reluctant to use, the second round. ”

"Your Highness Olya, I'm sorry to let you see this kind of scene, our navy has made a small mistake, and the situation is still under our control......"

Colonel Viscount, who represented the construction troops, stammered and tried to put all the blame on the navy. The generals of the Guards exchanged heads and smiles of schadenfreude on their lips. The representative of the navy was a small lieutenant with no family crest on his armband, and he had kept his head down since he saw that scene, probably slandering the injustice of the empire's military budget in his heart. In order to welcome the first princess Olya Hugh Kirman, who had come to inspect the construction of the port, the entire Fortiburg army was nervous, and almost all the dignitaries attended the welcoming ceremony.

"That's enough, no need to say it. Danika turned her head and glanced at the Guards officers who were whispering, "I saw it all, and I heard it." I will report the problems here to Your Majesty, but you can rest assured that it is not the responsibility of any of your departments. You've all worked hard enough. ”

All the officers agreed in awe. The princess seemed to be particularly gentle and kind today, especially compared to the guards around her. All of Olya's guards are women, most of them wear the emblems of high-level spell users on their chests, and most of them are beautiful, but all of them are not smiling. The captain of the guard, who had been guarding her all the time, was even more expressionless, her hair was shiny silver, and her skin was so white that it could almost reflect the light, looking like a silver statue.

Danica sighed helplessly: she had gradually begun to understand what a princess's job was. The Imperial Army is like a huge magic array, and it needs to be finely adjusted and arranged. The armed forces of the empire were spread throughout the southern region, and it was impossible for even the emperor to inspect every important location. Since Gustav did not marry the Empress, it was the duty of Olya Hugh Corman to appear as a doppelganger of the Emperor and represent the Corman family.

Such action is even more important when a crisis arises. She is one of the few who is qualified to know that the crisis is coming. Once this crisis leaks, it will not only shake the morale of the military, but also the entire army will fall into panic.

"Early yesterday morning, all the troops under López's command launched an attack on Kengola and Gustav at the same time. It is unrealistic to command several corps at the same time at such a long distance, but the offensive turned out to be surprisingly fierce and accurate. ”

She was also listening to Sid's report at Lennie's Imperial Headquarters this morning. The Royal Minister of Security reported the arrival of Cladé López with a blank face. Danika knew the decisive and resolute man well and knew that he would make decisive and resolute combat actions - because it was her father, a man who was always on the winning side.

"The Western Army outflanked Gistov, and the remnants of Fort Stillburg cut off the Royal Road. If we let them achieve their combat objectives, we can only last here for a week now. ”

The old Duke of Figota made a military report, and the marshal's pen scribbled on the map. On that map, the "Morning Dew" had infiltrated the flanks of the Imperial Army, cutting off everything they had little by little, but inexorably. Blue arrows and circles reappear on the military map, and gray lines are constantly painted with red crosses. There were so many gray triangles representing the Imperial Army, each representing hundreds of soldiers, but they were all thrown to the enemy without hesitation by the gray arrows that Empress Cang withdrew. On the land represented by this silent map, it is not known how many life-and-death tragedies are happening.

'It's our own fault, it's us who gave him the chance. We can't go back. There are only two paths in front of us, one is to die in battle, and the other is to completely defeat the enemy in front of us. At all costs. Sid, let's go to Gustav. ”

She remembered the emperor's expression when he said this, and she remembered it very clearly. The expression was not panic, but the silence of a difficult decision. The terrible silence, the silence that can oppress everyone into the corner, the silence that no one dares to resist.

So far, all the actions are still being calculated...... Not in the calculation, only the intensity of her father's counterattack this time.

"There are always people who are going to be unlucky, either us or you...... Or is it both of us?" muttered Danica. Before she knew it, the heel of her shoe had dug a shallow hole in the dirt.

Would it really make sense to take this place if there wasn't a navy? Her father must have chosen a strategy that would end the war once and for all? It would have minimized casualties, but then the people around her would have ......

"We can expect that after the completion of Battery Five, the rebel river fleet will be wiped out...... "Danica's gaze swept over the spokesperson of a lieutenant colonel of a certain unit who was chattering, and stayed on the enemy ship on the river.

Bright fires glowed from the side of the enemy ships, and a black mist enveloped them. She immediately identified the cannonball her opponent was using—the target was the crowd near the earthen rampart, no doubt.

"WindWall!" Danica slumped forward, raised her right hand, and built a wall of wind above the riverbank to defend against these little iron beads, "Get down, shell!!"

"Excuse me, Your Highness, what did you just instruct?" the lieutenant colonel who gave the speech paused and asked in astonishment.

Danika scolded without cultivation, "Get down, stupid!"

Several of the mages who reacted immediately added new protection between the wall of wind and the crowd. The silver statue captain of the guard beside Danika leaped to his feet, jumped onto the podium, and with a sweep of his legs, knocked out the man standing in front of the podium, and himself was between the cannonball and Danica.

Tens of thousands of small lead particles hit the wind wall, some of which were blown out of direction, and the rest hit the next wall of electricity and force field, and only a few rushed at the time of the magic reaction. The entire celebration hall was in chaos, screams came and went, but fortunately, few people were actually injured.

"Battery, what is the battery commander doing, counterattack!" said the commander of the Forte Legion, poking his head out from under a table and shouting at the lieutenant colonel, who had just been speaking.

"Yes, sir!" said the commander of the battery, scrambling to his feet, and turning to the river to give an order, only to see the fire and smoke rising from the high-speed battleships for the second time. This time it wasn't a black fog that they emitted. The second batch of shelling was only about twenty rounds, but these twenty rounds were more dangerous than the hundreds of thousands of shotguns that had been fired before.

"Purple-green light, it's a penetrating enchantment bullet!" "The Southern Yankees have lost their money!" "Defense! Plus three layers of defensive magic, anyone who doesn't have the enchantment at hand will use a ray to intercept!"

Enchanted cannonballs are expensive to build, and their materials must be made of precious magical metals. Each shot requires more than a month of work by an intermediate mage, and the production cost is comparable to that of high-level magic equipment. But the high cost doesn't stop people from using it, after all, in this day and age, making enchanted bullets is the most effective way to perform long-range magic strikes without investing in valuable mages.

Everyone knows that the small means used to block shotguns are completely ineffective against such shells. A well-crafted piercing enchanted bullet with a small anti-magic barrier that can penetrate most of the walls, inflicting staggering damage on enemies. Blocking something that combines physical speed and magical penetration requires a specially designed protective belt—it's not something that can be made in five minutes.

"Damn ......" Danika gritted her teeth and began to refocus her magic. To deal with this shell...... "Mara, stop them!"

The captain of the female guard, who was called by name, shook her shoulders and replied in a deep voice: "Yes, Your Highness." ”

Centered on her shiny silver body, a whirlwind began to blow. Mara's body seemed to grow larger in the wind, and golden and silver flashes weaved around her. Her arms formed a massive wingspan, and she spread out head-on to the enchanted bullets.

"Silver...... Silver Dragon?" more than one person cried out in surprise.

As the enchanted bullets pierced through the nets, the silver dragon roared. The earth and the river trembled, and the direction of the wind changed, manipulating the direction of the cannonballs. Dragons can control more than ten types of magic at the same time, and their concentration is far superior to that of human magicians. No one could tell what magic the dragon was using, but the cannonballs began to deflect or explode.

Five shells exploded on the embankment, four in the crowd on both sides, and one ...... It was pushed back to the shooter's main ship by the same way!

The enemy ship on the surface of the river was shocked, and a large hole visible to the naked eye was blown out, and it slowly began to tilt. Seeing that the situation was not good, the flagship of the river fleet waved the flag and ordered all ships to leave the waters with full sails.

That's the real power of the Corman family, the power that others don't have.

Danika stood up from the smoke and patted the dust off her body. Although she dodged the shells in the front, the shells that exploded on the flanks still hurt her. Her left sleeve was torn and her upper arm was dripping with blood, and she took out a bottle of healing potion from her bosom and drank it to stop the bleeding. She didn't care about worrying about future scars, and ran straight to her guards.

"How much is the loss, Mara?" asked Danica, looking at the horrific scene. Most of the young girls, who were about her age, had been blocking the shells on both flanks, and the four shells on both flanks had exploded right in the middle of them and the guards of Fortyburg. Blood spilled like paint on the ground, and human bodies burned and mixed with ashes that were hard to distinguish.

The Daughter of the Silver Dragon had changed back into her human form, and she glanced at the crowd: "More than thirty people were sacrificed, and I am afraid that a hundred people were injured." We lost nine people. ”

Danika was silent. She crouched quietly, trying to control her feelings, muttering to herself.

"We're just doing our duty...... I hate that ending. Is there any way to stop this forever? A different approach from my father, a method that belongs to me......"

"Your Highness?" Mara walked behind her and gently pressed her hand on her shoulder, "It's all over." ”

"No, not yet. Later, we will go back to His Majesty, and it will not work by sea. ”

Danika slowly stood up and commanded in the tone of Olya Hugh Kirman, "Everyone, we must stop the attack on Forteburg. We were facing a situation of fighting on two fronts, and the enemy organized an offensive in the north. ”

Several aristocratic generals looked at each other. A bold man offered to say: "Your Highness, you have overstepped your authority! Your Majesty's order is to capture Fortiburg as soon as possible to contact our navy......"

"Navy, we've seen it all. Our hope is not here, and I will report to Your Majesty. ”

Hearing this, everyone lowered their heads in shame. Danika looked at the northwest sky, stamped her foot fiercely, and said loudly, "We are going to stop the attack and leave only enough force to block the city." Here both rations and ammunition consumption must be reduced. The men who were originally used for the siege were sent to collect grain and grass to save all unnecessary expenses. Free up our strength, go to Lenny, go to the north! If we don't defeat the enemy in the north, we will lose everything!"

She had already chosen her position. What she wants is not just twenty years of peace, but a lasting peace. At least for this moment, she will not admit defeat to her father.

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