On the evening of July 9, 345 in the continental Gregorian calendar, about 20 plus roads (40 kilometers) northeast of Regina. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Although it was already standard evening, the sky was still very bright at this time, and the vermilion afterglow of the setting sun stained the entire northwest sky with blood. The waters of the Mose River flow slowly to the south, the Mose River is the largest river in Mastar, and the water in the middle reaches is already very wide, almost half a road. At this time, the river glowed with red golden light, and not only the fiery clouds in the sky were reflected in the water, but also a group of soldiers who were marching.

This was the vanguard of the 15 Corps of the Eastern Army, which was subordinate to the Eastern Army of Mastar, and consisted of three brigades with a number of about 3000 people. According to the orders of the regiment commander, they had to arrive in Regina today, so they did not have time to stop and bury the pot to cook, and the soldiers and officers had to wait while munching on dry food.

The three captains in charge of leading the team were complaining about the orders from above, and at the same time determining their location according to the map at any time. Just as they had finished their dry food for dinner, a herald rode up to them.

"Report, three adults, scouts report, there are some special circumstances ahead."

"What's wrong?"

"There were a number of transport ships found in front, and there were about 12 of them."

"It won't be our stranded there, find us to be coolies as slender men." One of the group captains joked.

"No, they're enemies."

"What's going on?"

"According to the other side, they heard that our army was moving south, and felt that there was no hope of continuing to follow the rebels. So I took advantage of the darkness of yesterday to make an appointment with 12 ships to come north and surrender to us. However, it seems that he did not bring the navigator in a panic, so he is now stranded in front. The leader of the other side said that if we can confirm that we are Her Majesty's army, they will surrender directly to us, so I hope that the three adults will go to us. ”

The three of them looked at each other for a moment, asking each other with their eyes who was going. No matter who accepted the other party's surrender, it was a great credit and could lay a solid foundation for his future promotion to wing captain. But if someone really volunteered to accept the surrender, it would undoubtedly cause the other two to suffer.

"I think let's go together, after all, this is the first army of the other side to surrender since the civil war, and we should show her tolerance and mercy on behalf of Her Majesty the Empress, so as to appease the southerners in the future. What do you think about it? ”

"I think that's it."

"It's for the best."

In this way, the commanders of the vanguard of the 15 Corps reached an internal compromise and together went to the place where the other side was waiting, guided by the scouts who reported the situation. The captains are not in a hurry, and at this time they should show a victorious posture, even if victory is still some distance away from them now.

About half an hour later, the three captains arrived at the place where the ship had been stranded. At a glance, three of the 12 large-tonnage inland waterway transport ships were stranded on the side, and the others were also anchored and docked on the shore. Due to the low tide, the three boats that ran aground were almost left on the river beach.

Mastar's inland waterway shipping industry is very well developed, and in terms of the total tonnage of inland waterway ships alone, she is equivalent to half of the other countries of the entire continent of Yartikat combined; And the annual traffic volume is equivalent to one and a half times that of other countries combined. This is due to a number of reasons, first of all, the early development of the inland waterway route in Mastar; Secondly, Mastar has two golden waterways, the Turner River and the Mose River; Again, Mastar is located in the narrow Maria Peninsula, and the demand for transportation between the north and the south is relatively large; Finally, pirates are rampant in the Iswana Sea, and it is safer to go through inland rivers. By comparison, before the two Grand Canals across the country were dug up, the country's shipping volume was not worth mentioning.

Leaving aside the digression, when the three captains of the Eastern Army saw the people who were about to surrender to them, they immediately pretended to be a kind attitude. Greeting the upright knight, the other party didn't seem to appreciate their affection, and seemed to be very unhappy to express his willingness to surrender to them.

"Oh, may I ask you what is the reason for this operation?"

"Hmph, old fellow Marquis Rossi, I was just a little late to save a few fishermen who had fallen overboard, and he said that we were deliberately delaying the supply of food and grass. Deducted the salary of our brothers who escorted grain and grass this month, and later I heard that he, a layman, always overstepped his authority and interfered with the command of old Ancelotti, otherwise there would not have been so many people and so many days without beating Regina. And this time he also titheed a squadron that had retreated from the siege, and several of my relatives and friends died at his hands, and several of our fellow knights combined. Now that His Majesty has the support of the Eastern Army, and the 11th Army has landed in the south, he feels that the old fellow has little hope, and thinks that he should surrender to His Majesty Sigrani as soon as possible, and still keep the honor of the family. ”

"I see, congratulations to Your Excellency for abandoning the darkness and turning to the light in time." Although the captains said this, they still looked down on each other in their hearts.

"So, let's go with me and check the supplies that have been reported to you this time." The knight still had a foul expression.

"Perhaps, he may be feeling unworthy of having to surrender to us instead of the Centre Army and the Knights Templar." The three captains who followed the knight muttered in a low voice, and several of them laughed.

Several people went down to the cabin, and the knight introduced: "This ship mainly carries weapons and supplies, you see that these are arrows, and they are of good workmanship. Over there are the tendon keys that some catapults need. And here......" The knight said as he led several captains over, and the three officers of the Eastern Army watched, and began to measure how much of these well-made weapons could be smuggled up for their own subordinates, and then pour some of the rest into the black market to make some extra money.

"These are the best knightly daggers, so sharp that they can easily kill—kill a person." The knight drew a sharp dagger from it with a normal face, calmly stabbed it into the gap between the breastplate and the waist guard of the nearest captain, and a scream resounded throughout the cabin.

The other two reacted immediately, but when they tried to draw their swords, they found that the ship was too crowded to easily draw their swords, and of course the other party could not give them so much time. The soldiers, armed with daggers, rushed at the two officers, quickly throwing them to the ground and killing them. Blood immediately filled the small space in the cabin.

"Lord Berlusconi, all those outside have been killed, and then what will you do?"

The original knight wiped the brand-new dagger clean and pinned it to his waist, and it turned out that he was the most important knight of the Marquis of Rossi, the captain of the marquis's guard, Berlusconi.

"Immediately let all the people go ashore, each of them will be issued a crossbow, and the formation will be formed, and we will take those guys by surprise."

"Yes!"

A quarter of an hour later, the vanguard troops who had reached the edge of the stranded ship were surprised to find a well-equipped contingent waiting for them in front of them, and when they saw the bodies of the three captains who had been dragged in front of the formation by the opposing cavalry. Everyone in the Eastern Army immediately understood what was going on, but they were currently leaderless, and although several squadron leaders wanted to unify their opinions before acting, Berlusconi would not give them this opportunity.

He shouted, "Target straight ahead, all launch!" Charge as soon as you're done shooting! ”

The southerners fired a volley, and the Eastern Army, which had not yet lined up, immediately suffered numerous casualties. Except for the archers, the rest of the southerners threw down their crossbows and charged at their opponents with spears and other weapons.

"Hussars, follow me!" Berlusconi wielded his sword, the tip of which was pointed directly at his opponent's flank.

The marching team of the Eastern Army had not yet begun, and the squadron leader in the back wanted to press his subordinates up to complete the formation, but the squadron leader in front either wanted to retreat or had already died. The front and back were immediately stirred together like a pot of eight-treasure porridge, so the southerners were not polite at this time. The regular troops of the Southern Army had long since grown tired of the boring siege warfare, and one-sided field massacres like this were a good way to vent the pressure that had been building up for so long.

Berlusconi's light cavalry quickly outflanked the opponent's flanks, completely sandwiching a long serpentine team in the center, and when the Eastern Army sergeant behind saw the opposing light cavalry clearly, he quickly lost his fighting spirit. Because this is the vanguard of three light infantry, that is, there is no heavy cavalry and no phalanx army, and the formation has no chance to be completed, and then the result becomes very simple. Encirclement and pursuit became the main theme after more than ten minutes, and about half of the three brigades were killed, half escaped, or half were let go. First, Berlusconi did not have the strength to kill them all, and secondly, it was very important to let the panicked soldiers return with some versions of information, and confuse the other party's audio-visual information.

That night, the 15th Army received that the Southern Army had penetrated the area north of Regina with the help of river ships on the Mose River, so the 15th Army immediately stopped its advance, set up camp on the spot, and assigned scouts to spy on the enemy's situation. Such a decision would have been justified, and it would have been true if it had been based on accurate intelligence analysis and judgment, and it would have been in line with the operational guidelines of the Mastar army. But conforming to the rules is not necessarily the right thing to do, especially on the battlefield.

On the Regina's side, Leon did not wait for the advance force of the 15th Legion at the originally agreed time, so he immediately sent a large number of scout cavalry and sent dragon knights to search. The Dragoon and Scout Hussars quickly reported the discovery of the vanished advance force of the 15th Legion, and then, at about 10 o'clock in the evening, the Dragoon returned with the news that the 15th Legion had stopped advancing.

Leon summoned Hayes, Redknapp, and senior officers above the rank of Wing Commander in the hope that they would make some suggestions on the matter.

"His Royal Highness the Grand Duke seems to be full of energy." Redknapp whispered as he greeted Hayes.

"It seems that this is the case, I heard that His Majesty took the initiative to look for him in the study yesterday." Hayes replied.

"They haven't been out of the study all night?"

"So it seems."

"I see, men are really easy to satisfy sometimes." Rednap chuckled.

"That's it......" Hayes was clearly still worried about the man in front of him.

"Okay, guys, everyone should know something about the situation of the 15th Legion, what do you think?" Leon's question interrupted the two of them whispering.

"Annihilating more than 1,000 troops at a time, although it is a surprise attack, the other side should at least use more than 10,000 people." An officer spoke.

"But judging from the exact account obtained from the defeat of the 15th Army Corps, the advance force had already lost the three highest ranking commanders at that time, and the squadron leader alone could not integrate a team of 3,000 men to fight, and none of those squadron leaders had been authorized to take over the command before. It can be seen that the three captains of the parties are very indifferent to each other, so it is likely that the scale of the other party is not far above the advance force. Redknapp put aside all other distractions and read the report carefully.

"Even if the other side played some tricks and defeated the vanguard of the 15th Legion with considerable strength, it cannot be ruled out that this is the prelude to a series of large-scale activities of the other side. You must know that with the inland waterway shipping capacity mastered by the other side, it is not impossible to transport an army of more than 50,000 people to that position. What's more, we also know the old spicy of Count Ancelotti. Even if we are now strategically proactive, we must beware of our opponents taking advantage of our slackness and backlashing. It's not uncommon to have a strategic advantage and lose tactically......," Hayes said. Compared with the commanders of the Central Army and the Northern Army who did not participate in the invasion of France last year, his defeat can be described as unforgettable.

"Lord Hayes is too cautious too......," said the other Wing Captains.

"I had to be cautious about the opponents we were facing, and if it was forgivable to lose because we didn't know the strength of the opponent, now that we have a clearer understanding of the opponent, we can't take any risks." Hayes responded.

Leon propped his chin and considered the words of the generals, and soon the people on the spot were divided into two opinions: one was that the other side had a large-scale attempt to penetrate the flanks and rear of our army, and if the 15th Army continued to advance, it was likely to fall into the trap set by the other side, so that Count Ancelotti could break our army individually; Second, they believe that the other side's brazen attack on the vanguard of our reinforcements is most likely aimed at making our troops fearful, confusing our judgment, shaking our determination, and providing cover for their retreat to the south.

"Your Royal Highness, we have already understood what we mean, please make a decision."

Leon looked around at the surrounding generals and said, "Your two opinions are very reasonable, and now we don't have enough information to determine what the other party's true intentions are, according to Lord Hayes's opinion, we should be cautious." Therefore, on the one hand, both Reggina and the 15th Army should send scout troops as much as possible to search for the whereabouts of the opponent's interspersed troops, and if the other side really tries to detour to the rear of our army, then this possibility must be stifled as soon as possible; On the other hand, the corps of the Central Army immediately prepared for an attack, and if the main force of the opponent moved, they immediately pursued. ”

"Is there anything else you'd like to add? If not, then dismiss the meeting and immediately go down and get ready. ”

"Yes, His Royal Highness!"

Although Leon's orders were impeccable, they had to be targeted. According to Count Ancelotti's plan, Marquis Rossi commanded a corps of more than 40,000 men of the Southern Army and the Marquis's elite private soldiers, and returned on the evacuated transport ship. Berlusconi's troops were one of them, and they turned around and maneuvered to the route of the 15th Army to attack the opposing vanguard head-on, with the purpose of delaying and confusing the opponent, and then immediately turned around and followed the Marquis's troops. Because the 11th Army only came with two wings, the returning troops were enough to destroy the opponent, and Count Ancelotti still had more than 180,000 troops under his command. You can slowly fight and retreat, which has enough deterrent power against the opponent.

On July 10, after a whole night of searching, no interspersed troops of the Southern Army were found. At the same time, the frontal Southern Army began to retreat, and the retreat was in good order. On the same day, Leon ordered the 15th Legion to continue the search and advance, and he himself led the Central Army and the Knights Templar to begin the pursuit of the enemy.

In the simple and hurried departure ceremony of the morning, Leon, as he left the city of Regina, turned back to the watchtower at the head of the city and saluted, knowing full well that his beloved was there watching his movements. After one last glance at the city of Regina, Leon did not hesitate to command an army of nearly 100,000 and began the pursuit.

Sigrani was indeed in the watchtower, standing silently in the company of the two guards to see off her husband, unlike Atalanta and Cosette. Sigrani was not at all worried about Leon's expedition, for she knew that her husband would not be in much trouble, and she had clearly understood that the goddess of victory had long been on her side. And it was not any one of those distant figures who had made the haughty goddess favor her, for all the victories had already been planned by the one who was far away from Pharynsi, and even though they were thousands of miles away, they were able to grasp the situation.

Sigrani was not reconciled to this, and she pondered how to repay the "favor" of Falency and the man after that. After thinking about it for a long time, Sigrani came up with a just good excuse to tear up the peace treaty. Thorgrande, I wonder if the merchant's temperament has hurt you? Trying to please both ends often outweighs the cost.

"Your Majesty, why are you smiling, aren't you worried about His Highness Fildes at all?"

"Why worry? They will definitely win, but the two of you, both of you, have a bitter face, do you regret not giving your life last night? Sigrani immediately had the interest to laugh at her best friend, "It doesn't matter, there will be opportunities later." ”

"Your Majesty!" The two beautiful guards were not complimented.

The sound of laughter from the tower, wafting over Regina, gave the soldiers who stayed behind infinite expectations.