Chapter 424: The Decision of the Two Grand Dukes

The wooden rafts that had been inserted into the trench as a partition had been pulled up and erected over the trench before the water came, making it a solid wooden bridge. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info If the generals of the Duchy of Forrendo who defended knew that the idea of using wooden rafts to cut off the trench was nothing more than the inspiration of a heavy armored soldier, I don't know if they would vomit blood in anger. The Second Highness ordered the soldiers who occupied the forward position to transport these wooden rafts up only to let them build a simple camp to garrison at night, and also to wait for the water to flood the trench to demolish the camp and quickly use these wooden rafts to build a wooden bridge across the trench.

The captain of a White Lion Legion who had been ordered to garrison had a headache looking at the trenches that were spreading in all directions, and the situation at that time was that the attackers belonged to the attackers during the day and the defenders at night. The captain thought that if these trenches were not blocked, even if a temporary camp was built with wooden rafts, it would still be impossible to avoid being attacked by the earth rats of those principalities at night, and by pouring some fire oil and rockets, everyone could spend a sleepless night of burning fire. But the order of the Second Highness was very clear, not to make any move to block the traffic in the trenches.

Although the captain was unaware of the Second Highness's imminent plan to flood the trenches, he did not want his soldiers to lose their lives in the night's attack. In distress, he summoned his squadron leaders and squad leaders to discuss how to deal with the night raids and sneak attacks of the wealthy sons of the principality. Just when a large group of people scratched their ears and cheeks and had no solution, a vigilant soldier standing next to him interjected, the width of these wooden rows is about the same as the width of the trench, why not insert the wooden rafts in the trench as a partition?

The captain was overjoyed, and after rewarding him, he asked the soldier how he had come up with the idea? The soldier was embarrassed to say that he had gone wrong while carrying the wooden rafts, and that he had startled the pack horses that were hauling the wooden rafts, and as a result, the wooden rafts all fell into the trench, and it took a long time to pull them up again. So the squad leader punished him and told him to stand guard here. Just now, the captain brought so many squadron leaders and squad leaders to inspect the position to discuss how to deal with the night attack of the rats of the principality, and he remembered the difficulty of pulling the wooden platoons up the trench, and some of the wooden platoons were stuck in the trench, so he interjected such a sentence.

This was the platoon tactic that caused headaches and stress on the defending principality of Forrendo, so much so that they neglected the water attack that posed the greatest threat to the trench defensive positions. If they weren't fooled, as long as they strengthened the scout's reconnaissance, they would find out what His Royal Highness was thinking, after all, whether it was Lorist recruiting poor people to build a small reservoir or digging a trench four or five miles long, this was not a small action, no matter how strict the precautions were, they could detect some movements. It's a pity that they were all misguided by this wooden platoon tactic.

It was already dawn, and the soldiers of the White Lion Legion had successfully arrived at the place where the Second Garrison Legion of the Duchy of Forrendo was ready to launch a counterattack last night, where they captured more than 10,000 soldiers of the Second Garrison who had survived the death of the lost souls and soaked bodies, these soldiers were almost bare-handed, even with weapons they had lost the heart to resist, they had been frightened by the sudden flood in the early hours of the morning, especially the bodies of those comrades who were drowned in the trench were presented in front of them, the boundary between life and death was above and below, the difference was only half a meter......

The Second Highness, Lorist and Grand Duke Fisabrun, who had received the report, had already arrived here, and everyone was taken aback in the face of the large trench full of dead bodies. Even if the trench was flooded, they only thought that they would drive the defending duce to the ground, but the drowning of nearly 10,000 soldiers was an unexpected result.

However, when they heard the report that the Second Garrison Corps of the Duchy of Volendor was preparing to launch a big counterattack in the early hours of the morning last night, everyone suddenly realized that this was really a mistake, and they could only blame the enemy for pointing their backs and releasing water on their own side. Of the nearly 20,000 soldiers who were guarding the eight trench squares that were now like ponds, nearly half of the soldiers were drowned, except for one trench square that was slightly higher and all the soldiers escaped. The worst was the trench square where Viscount Sanscoro was located, and only 524 of the 3,000 soldiers escaped.

The body of Viscount Sanscoro, who committed suicide and fell into the water, has been recovered, and as a sign of mourning and respect, His Royal Highness ordered that the enemy commander be prepared with a good coffin to be returned to his relatives in the future. The soldiers of the White Lion Legion were still searching for survivors in those trenches and squares, and were preparing to organize the captured garrisons to recover the bodies of the drowned.

On the other side of the camp, four-wheeled carriages full of wooden rafts staggered along a wooden road made of two wooden rafts side by side, and there were many soldiers holding wooden planks to repair the gaps in the wooden raft road, so as not to sink the wheels of the carriages carrying heavy loads. These rafts will be sent to the front to continue the raft into the distance......

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty......" A thousand commanders of the White Lion Legion hurriedly came and gave a knightly salute: "The water in front of you has stopped......"

"Well, what's going on?" asked His Highness the Two.

"Back to Your Majesty, the ditch in front of me has come to an end, the water has stopped flowing forward, and some low-lying places have begun to overflow. According to the scouts' reconnaissance, the front of this trench area was an open flat field, more than three miles wide, but after passing it was a large trench defensive position. The commander replied.

Oh, you see, this trench defense area set up by the Duchy of Forlandor is not connected to each other or has not had the time and energy to dig communication trenches. It is also possible that the flat land was used for training or troop build-up.

"Let's go check it out. The Second Highness waved the horse in his hand and spurred the horse to gallop forward along the wooden road, and Lorlist, Grand Duke Fisabrun, and others followed.

"What should we do?" asked His Highness after reading the position.

"Hehe, we will dig trenches to connect them, but we will have to block the small reservoir first, so that the position we occupy will not become a swamp. We will continue to attack the positions in front, and when the trenches are dug and the water is released, the positions will fall into our hands. Only now that the enemy is on guard, it is impossible to have the scene of nearly 10,000 people drowned like last night. Lorist replied with a smile.

"Haha......" said Grand Duke Fisabrun, "they used to dig trenches and build so many earthen walls, but now they are busy tearing down the earthen walls and filling in the trenches to prevent us from flooding." I believe that now they also regret it...... Haha......"

Everyone present laughed, the world has changed really strangely, it was the side of the attack that was desperately filling the trench, and the defending side of the Principality of Forrendo desperately digging the trench. Now it's all the other way around, the attacking side digs a trench to divert water, while the defender has to fill in the trench and set up a water retaining line, and the switch between attack and defense is really ridiculous.

His Royal Highness nodded: "Okay, that's it." Duke Kenmaz, let your family's two heavy armored regiments continue to cooperate with the White Lion Legion to attack the trench defense positions in front this afternoon, and force the dozen trenches in front first. By the way, the tactic of cutting the trench with a wooden platoon came up with by the soldiers of your family's heavy armor regiment is very effective against those ducal rats scurrying around in the trenches, and it deserves a lot of rewards......"

Duke Kenmeth's face bloomed with a smile: "Of course, I have already ordered to go down and give credit to that soldier, and the family will promote and reuse him." ”

His Royal Highness nodded and continued to order the guards beside him: "Order the logistics to speed up the delivery of supplies and wooden platoons, and establish a temporary camp in this open space while the soldiers attack the trench defense area in front, so that the White Lion Legion and the Heavy Armor Corps can take turns to rest." At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen our defenses in case the enemy mobilizes forces to carry out a dying counterattack against us. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. ”

......

Archduke Volendor stared for a long time at the palace-like castle in front of him, which was full of centuries-old vicissitudes and moss-covered corners, which was the family castle that his ancestors spent seventeen years building, named the Summer Palace, which was one of the ten most famous palaces in the Empire in the pre-Krisian Empire. He has lived here since he was a child, and his figure and laughter have been left in every nook and secret place of the summer palace and its attached castles and gardens......

"Your Highness, it's time for us to go......," the chief guard reminded him.

Grand Duke Volendor retracted his reluctant gaze and sighed: "I must be the most unworthy descendant of the Forrendo family, and I would give up my family territory and glory for two or three hundred years and take refuge in the Duchy of Handla. If my ancestors had known, they would have spat and roar at me in the kingdom of the god of war. ”

"No, Your Highness, it's not your fault, but the king of the Kingdom of Antinac is too cunning to bring in water to flood the trench defense line we have set up, so that the trenches we have dug with the strength of the country have lost their ability to block the enemy......" The chief of the guard felt that he was really clumsy, obviously trying to comfort the Archduke of Forundo, but he didn't know where to go.

Grand Duke Volendor smiled bitterly: "Rickel, don't say it, now everyone knows that it has become a big joke that we spent three months to recruit all the lords of the Duchy and dig so many trenches for defense. Why didn't we think that a simple plan of water attack would cost us all our efforts? It's a pity that Sanscoro, he should have understood that I didn't blame him for digging a trench, that he shouldn't have killed himself. ”

"Your Highness......"

Grand Duke Volendor waved his hand, signaled his chief of guard not to speak, turned to look at the summer palace that had become empty and silent, and had no bustling scenes of people coming and going, sighed again, withdrew his nostalgic gaze, and said to his chief of guard: "Let's go, Rickel, I don't know if I will be able to return to this summer palace built by my ancestors in my lifetime......"

Walking out of the gate of the summer palace and stepping on the white steed that had been waiting at the door, he heard the sound of galloping hooves, and a guard Pegasus arrived, jumped off the horse and knelt down on one knee in front of the horse of the Grand Duke of Forendo: "Your Highness, Lord Noori refuses to lead the mountain legions to retreat to the Duchy of Handla, and he wants me to tell His Highness that in the hills and mountains of Pedrona, the army of the Kingdom of Antinac cannot help the mountain legions. He stated that he was determined to continue his resistance and guerrilla attacks in the hills and mountains of Pedrona, so that all the subjects of the Duchy would know that His Highness had not given up on them, and that the legions of the Duchy were still resisting the enemy's invasion......"

Grand Duke Volendor seemed to wave his hand unexpectedly, signaling the guards who came to report to him: "I'm not surprised that Noori has such a heart, forget it, it will be winter in another ten days, and it will be impossible for His Royal Highness to attack the mountain legion guarding the hills and mountains of Pedrona, even if it is next year, Noori will have enough space for him to maneuver, and the mountain legion has sufficient armaments and materials, let him withdraw to the Duchy of Handla without a few battles He is not convinced, let him go." ”

"Rickel, are the others gone?" said Archduke Volendor, turning to his chief of guard.

"Yes, Your Highness. The chief of the guard replied respectfully, "The eldest prince was the first to set off seven days ago with his family to escort supplies and garrison the First Legion. The Second Prince and the Great Swordsman, Lord Limad, with the garrison of the Third Legion, were waiting to join His Highness in the town of Kud in front. Now there is only one brigade of guards left in the city. ”

"Okay, let's go. By the way, is there a messenger from Berias?"

"No, didn't Lord Beryas send a messenger yesterday, he said that he could only hold out for two more days at most, the troops of the Kingdom of Andinac were unstoppable, and the Fifth Garrison Legion, formed by the garrisons of various towns, could not resist the enemy's attack at all, and suffered heavy casualties. Lord Beras used the military method of overseers and harsh sittings to suppress the soldiers' attempts to flee. That's why he wants you to leave Pedro City and go to the Duchy of Handla......"

Archduke Volendor smiled wryly and shook his head: "Alright, Rickle, let's go." I just hope that Beryas can come back safe and sound......"

Beyond the gates of the castle is the central street of Pedro City, the capital of the principality. As the sound of horses' hooves echoed, more and more city dwellers began to gather on both sides of the central street, and everyone now knew that the army of the Kingdom of Andinac was about to enter the city, and the trench defense that had cost the people of the Duchy of Volendo three months to dig and proudly could not stop the enemy's attack. In the past 20 days, almost every day, urgent envoys have sent letters asking for help. In order to avoid harming the people of Pedro City, the Grand Duke of Forrendo decided to abandon the city and flee to the Duchy of Handla.

Some of the residents gathered on both sides of the street began to wipe away tears, and the atmosphere in the crowd was extremely oppressive and sad, and more residents just silently watched the departure of the Grand Duke of Volendo and his guards......

As he approached the southern gates of Pedro City, Archduke Forrendo finally grabbed the reins and stopped his mount. A fat figure stepped out of the crowd on the right side of the street and came to the mount of the Grand Duke of Forrendo.

Archduke Volendor smiled and nodded at the fat man in his fifties: "Marit, my friend, this city will be handed over to you after I leave." I hope you keep the people of this city safe and hope to see you again in the near future. ”

"Your Highness, I will definitely do my best. The fat man, named Marit, bowed and replied. He was a merchant who had dealt with the Snow Salt Chamber and had visited Duke Kenmeth. The Grand Duke of Forendo asked him to surrender to the army of the Kingdom of Antinac on behalf of the inhabitants of the city, hoping to maintain military discipline and not harm the inhabitants of the city.

"Marite, two-thirds of the grain and grass reserves are left in the warehouse area behind the summer palace, and you can take the army of the Kingdom of Antinac to receive it. Archduke Forrendo said.

Marit was stunned: "His Royal Highness, ...... are you?"

Archduke Volundo smiled bitterly and said, "Marit, the strength of the Andinac Kingdom this attack is as high as 300,000 people, and if they don't get enough food and grass, they will plunder the peasants of the principality. With these reserves of grain and grass, they will not cause great harm to the subjects of our principality......"

Marit bowed again: "Thank you, Your Highness. ”

......

At the same time, in the southern suburbs of Faleimohi City, the capital of the Duchy of Fakel, the eyes of the Grand Duke of Fakel were full of blood: "People have already driven out, why don't you do it, hurry up and set fire to this place! I will never allow that damn Second Highness to enter my city and my palace! Burn, hurry up and set it on fire!"

The wind fueled the fire, and soon the entire city of Falemerch was in flames, and the tens of thousands of residents who had been driven out of the city looked at the burning homes and cried out......

But the Grand Duke of Falkel turned his horse indifferently and ordered: "Depart, go to the Duchy of Handla." We still have a large army in hand, and when we get to the Duchy of Handla, we will slowly compete with that hateful Second Highness, and it will not be so easy to destroy our four principalities in the central part of the country!"

......