May 8, 363 Continental Gregorian Calendar, Hitaros, Galatasaray. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Renoske army had occupied the area for several days, but Nathaniels had left them with nothing of value. Only the old servants and panicked side chambers were left in the prince's mansion, and as for the original owner of the city, he had long since fled to the skies. The army that captured it was commanded by a general on the same level as Suvorov, General Mikhail Alekseevich Kutuzov.

"Have you found out what the Hitaros are doing?" General Reynolds asked.

"I would like to inform your Excellency, according to the testimony of many people, that Prince Nathaniels led his personal guard, numbering about 300 horses, through the Spring Pass to the west." The general's chief of staff, Andrei Vasilyevich Chabaev, reported.

"The mountains to the west?" The Renoskes were lost in thought.

At this moment, a dusty herald walked in.

"I have brought the order of the Tsar, I want to see Lord Kutuzov." He said aloud.

"I'm Kutuzov." The general replied.

"Your Excellency, it's rude, this is a personal letter from His Majesty the Tsar." The herald respectfully handed over a roll of parchment.

Kutuzov took the scroll, opened it and read it carefully.

"What did Your Majesty say?" The chief of staff asked.

"Dear Andrei Vasilyevich, Your Majesty will summon you and me back to prepare for an even more important battle. The military affairs here will be handled by General Bazaev, so let's get ready to leave as soon as possible. Kutuzov closed the scroll.

"Dear Mikhail Alekseevich, it sounds like the tsar will bring us greater honor, but you seem to be a little worried about the situation here. As far as I know, General Bazaev is not a mediocre general, what are you waiting for? Chabaev, who was born in the same Heilman as Bazaev, asked.

"Because of this, if it were a mediocre person to replace me in this position, I would be relieved." Kutuzov said as he walked to the balcony and looked out at the mountains to the west.

The western part of Hitaros was cut off from the rest of the country by the northern branch of the Silves, and the only narrow pass on either side of the mountain range was Chunquan Pass, making it difficult for the army to find a flat and safe supply line unless they were detoured further into Renolsk.

In antiquity, the civilization of the western part of Hitarus was also quite successful, and it was not lost to the central and southern city-states. But since the invasion of the Artikat Empire, the west has gradually declined. There are five ancient city-states, each of which has a longer history than the current capital, Haiswa. The five city-states were Anedan, Argos, Thrace, Menia, Itak, and the port of Argos was the strongest. During the invasion of the Articut Empire, the alliance formed by these five city-states was also the most tenacious resistance of Hitarus. Even if the Empire eventually conquered it, it felt that it was difficult to govern. After destroying the city to ruins, the Imperial Legions evacuated the mountainous area and left it to fend for themselves by setting up checkpoints outside the Spring Spring Pass.

During the Landner dynasty, this region also did not receive enough attention from the king. This is not least due to the long period of isolation, and the economy of this region is insignificant compared to the rest of the kingdom. The king also did not expect to receive military service from there, because by its very nature it was difficult to reconcile the customs of Haiswa with the western region, which still retained the customs of the ancient Hitaros period. The five city-states offered to fight on behalf of the king, but their armies were not subject to the king's control. In the words of the Orientals, it is called -- listen to the tune and not listen to the proclamation. Thus, the Khaiswa, having politely accepted the allegiance of the other side, simply left the five city-states that still practiced the ancient democracy behind.

Later generations always commented that Prince Nathaniels' decisive abandonment of Galatasaray and his deep penetration into the western five city-states was a strategic move. But as far as the situation at that time is concerned, the person concerned simply rushed to the doctor after being desperate. None of Nathaniels and his entourage knew what awaited them after crossing the Spring Spring Pass. But he was sure that since he had only heard of it himself, the Renoxians probably didn't know anything about it. Human beings are always afraid of the unknown, especially for military commanders, any general with a little brain will not rashly lead the army over the mountains and mountains.

Now Nathaniels is leading his 300 soldiers into this strange land, and even the map in their hands is old from 50 years ago. When the prince looked down halfway up the mountain, he saw that some of the roads and maps were completely different.

"We can't rely on this map to find the way, but I don't think they're going to move the whole city, so the location of the city should be correct, and we can only follow the general direction." Nathaniels said to his men.

This is also a sign of the difficulties they are about to encounter, due to the unfamiliarity of the roads and the mountainous nature of the place. Nathaniels and his men have taken a lot of wrong paths, but fortunately, the roads here seem to have been repaired, and they are not difficult to walk.

By the evening of the third day, they had at last seen a town surrounded by earthen enclosures, and they thought they were not far from Menia, the easternmost part.

The inhabitants of the area were wary of the sudden appearance of a group of heavily armed knights, and the town's guardians warned them to stay at a safe distance and wait for their commander to take care of the matter. Much to the displeasure of Nathaniels' entourage, one of them yelled at the guard, "Do you know who this Lord in front of you is? ”

The guard replied without humility or arrogance: "Whoever he is, in Menia he must obey the rules of Menia, even the king. ”

After a while, a middle-aged man dressed plainly came to the entrance to the town.

"May I ask the distinguished guests on the other side, what are you doing here?"

"Are you the governor of this town?" Nathaniels asked.

"Ah, I'm one of the consuls of this town, at least until the end of the year." The middle-aged man replied.

"I am Prince Nathaniels." The prince introduced himself, "These are my men, we are going to Menia first, so I hope to be able to buy some supplies from you, we will only stay for one night, and we will leave tomorrow morning." I hope you will allow me to send some people in to buy supplies. ”

Nathaniels' humility seemed to have made a good impression on the other party, and the middle-aged man gave a few words to the guard, and then said with a smile: "Your Royal Highness, welcome to stop at Menia tonight, I am one of the consuls here this year, Touclus, and I am willing to serve you." ”

Nathaniels' group was taken aback by Thoclos's words, they had no idea that the earthen enclosure in front of them was actually the main city of a city-state, and they had thought that it was just a small town on the outskirts of the city-state. The soldiers began to whisper, to the effect that if a city-state was such a walled area, it would be too bad for His Highness to expect to gather the forces here to fight against the Renoskes.

Clos saw the suspicion, but he didn't immediately make any excuses, he just smiled and posed with Nathaniels as he invited.

Nathaniels did not refuse, he ordered his men to camp outside the city, and then took only a few of his staff, dismounted and walked in with Thocleus.

Walking into Menia, the prince's staff felt more and more that something was wrong. Speaking of which, Clos is also a magistrate, and he actually walks on the street like this, and no one specially salutes or greets him. The inhabitants only chatted with him as usual and then left to go about their business, and occasionally the more curious people would inquire about the identity of the guests around him, and when Clos told him the truth, they did not react in particular, but only saluted the prince reservedly.

"The people here are really too casual, is it really because they have been away from Wang Hua for too long?" Some of the staff complained, and it was evident that they all thought that a prince should not be so neglected.

"Oh, stop your grumbling, my dear sir, don't you think such a place would be very interesting?" Nathaniels was in high spirits.

The group followed Thoclos to a two-story building in the center of town, a very ordinary house. Because of its mountainous location, most of Menia's buildings are made of stone, which is in stark contrast to her only earthen walls.

"This is our town hall," said Thoclos, "and I invite you to rest here for a moment, and I will go and arrange dinner for you, and when the meal is finished, I will invite the other two consuls and the senate to meet with His Royal Highness." ”

The food for dinner was quite simple but very generous, showing the hospitality of the hosts.

At this point, Nathaniels asked Thoclos a question: "If you have built so many stone houses, why don't you build a stone wall?" ”

"Because we need a strong house, not a strong wall." "What's more, the money and manpower required to build the stone walls are too great, and the inhabitants do not think it is necessary, nor do they agree with the consul to do so," said Thoclos, who replied to the prince in a tone of course. ”

Thoclos then explained that since the five city-states had formed an alliance with each other, there was no military threat between them; Coupled with the fact that the city was safe and there were no bandits threatening the city, the inhabitants of Menia thought that building a stone wall was a wasteful and worthless task.

After dinner, Thoclus led the group to an open-air amphitheater, just like the amphitheaters throughout Hitarus, only in a more quaint style. The other two consuls and senators were already waiting there, and Thoclos introduced them to the prince one by one. Of the two consuls, the older was Penthos, and the younger was Mentor.

"Your Highness Nathaniels, what is the wind that has brought you to this remote western town?" Penthos asked.

"You are right, honorable consul, our homeland, Hitaros, is being invaded by the enemy, and I have come here on the orders of the king to gather all available forces to resist the invasion, and the Renoskes are ravaging our people everywhere, and I trust that the five western city-states, which have always been resolute in their struggle against the invaders, can provide me with the necessary help." The prince replied.

"If the situation outside is really as you say, Your Highness, we are willing to fight for Hitaros!" Mentor was clearly a man of blood, confident in his ability to be a good fighter, but not in a peaceful environment.

"Think carefully before you decide, my dear Mentor." The elder archon reminded.

"Shouldn't we fight the invaders? Shouldn't we follow the example of our ancestors? Dear Penthos, please tell me if cowardice can be equated with prudence. Mentor shot back fiercely.

"Alright, you two, I don't think this matter can be decided now." "I think His Highness Nathaniels also knows that if you really want to fight against the Renoskes, Menia alone will not be effective. Not to mention that we have an alliance with other city-states, and we need to be consistent in our military operations, so I think it would be better to make the whole situation clear to everyone and let everyone make a unified decision. ”

Everyone present agreed with the idea. So Nathaniels drafted the paperwork and sent it to Menia's envoys to visit the other four city-states. At the suggestion of Thoclus, Nathaniels was to meet with representatives of the various city-states in the temple of Ares in Thrace to discuss the matter.

May 9, 363 Gregorian Calendar, France, France.

After more than a decade of development, the port city, named after the Lanfonte family, is now the largest and most prosperous port on the Kaffa Sea. Through this area, the Kingdom of Phalency actively traded with various countries in the known world. Since goods transiting through France can be refunded, many caravans choose to travel from France to the markets in the middle of the continent. What's more, the canal connecting the two major river systems, the Farenas and the Alke, has already completed 80% of the waterway, and it may only take another two or three years to complete the east-west waterway. Among them, the navigable part of the canal has also occupied 60% of the mileage of the entire line, which can save almost one-third of the original time.

The future of Ranfonte is limitless, and Queen Margaret has clearly not forgotten the origin of the name "Lambonte". In 355, she issued a decree declaring that the heirs of the House of Lanfonte had natural rights to the city. 5% of the annual tax revenue of this harbour will go to the heirs of the House of Lanfonte. As for the queen herself, she left herself another privilege - the King of Falency had the right to requisition any position on the city's tallest building to view the sea. This privilege will not bother the people for the next 1,000 years, because the tallest building in the city will always be a lighthouse for the next 1,000 years.

This generation of people who enjoyed the privileges of the Lanfonte family was the eldest daughter of Saugland and Chenna, Éclaire Lanfonte, a girl who could be regarded as a true "pride of the sky", who inherited two things from her elders that made her proud: the surname Lanfonte, and the other was the "Fire Meteor" of the former dragoon Cingalde's wife, Arudina. As a descendant of Admiral Masaler, the current commander of the Dragoons, Eclaire's abilities as a dragon knight were universally recognized, and she was given the nickname "Burning Clouds" because of her penchant for red armor and the fact that her mounts were also red.

"It would be nice if Sister Eco could come too, this is her city, what a beautiful sea." A young woman in a long white dress and long silver hair combed into a thick braid sat on the revetment on the side of the port boulevard.

"Aha, although you talk about Eco, you actually think about others in your heart." Another woman in a black dress stood aside and laughed.

"Sister Natasha is making fun of people again." The silver-haired girl slipped into the other's arms and said coquettishly.

"Then explain to me why you suddenly thought of rushing here from Caiunescu? Isn't it someone who has traveled thousands of miles to send you here? ”

While the two girls were talking and laughing, another woman came running over with a bag of things.

"Your Highness, Miss Rhine, I bought the special pancakes you wanted."

"Ah, thank you, Sister Floris." The silver-haired girl immediately jumped off the barge wall and ran over to meet Lavis.

Our readers naturally guessed that the woman in black was the black swan of Reynolds, and that the silver-haired girl with a pair of clear and charming amethyst eyes was naturally the second daughter of Sogrerd and Chenna, Reinhardt Leus. This young lady is twenty-eight years old this year, except for silver hair and purple eyes, her facial features are delicate and delicate, and she can be said to be a stunning beauty. But little is known about the young lady, the main reason being that her father never brought her into the social world. Only a few people have been talking about her, and of course everyone has speculated that Miss Luce should be a wonderful beauty, but so far people have heard more praise for her business talents.

Gradio Leus, Saugland's father, died in July 360 after a severe stroke left him unable to care for himself. In the old Luce's will, the only granddaughter, Reinhardt, received the lion's share of the estate, a staggering amount. According to the calculations of some people who dealt with him, the size of the entire estate is probably 30 million solari at the price of the year, and Reinhardt obtained at least 25 million solari of them; Eclair gets the rest. This scheme of distribution of property is so strange that a considerable number of people believe that it was Sogree himself who proposed it - their hero, Field Marshal Luce, did not care about money at all. Whether this is the case remains to be studied.

Initially, the middle managers of the Luce family were pessimistic about whether they would be able to stay with the Luce family. Because they knew that it was impossible for Sogrand to give up public office to run his own business; The nominal official heir is still a 13-year-old child, so it is most plausible for the Luce family to cash in most of these estates. However, they miscalculated the situation, and not only did they continue their old work, but their wages were greatly increased compared to when the elder Luce was alive. While everyone thanked the new owner for his generosity, they found that the business was no worse than before. At first, they thought it was the result of Sogrande's time, but after months of silence from the Visiting Justices, they deduced a shocking situation - Reinhardt was in charge of all the business.

Those who were really familiar with the situation later revealed that the 13-year-old Reinhardt showed a very rare talent for management, and that she had learned the ropes of management from her father and at the same time had a good foundation in mathematics taught by Miss Rabelais. By the end of 362, the Good Deeds had once again calculated the fortunes of the Leuss family, and found that there had been no significant change in the number. But in the past two years, Miss Luce has been able to spend a huge amount of nearly 3 million solari on the poor and academics.

To paraphrase the commander of the Praetorian Guard, Admiral Ernest Sauer: "If it weren't for the fact that our good little Rhine had been helping her profligate father, His Excellency the Parade Justice would have starved to death in the streets of a certain city." Of course, anyone knows this is an exaggeration.

"Hey, it's the last ship to enter the port today?" Reinhardt said disappointedly.

The young clerk of the port authority really couldn't bear to let this beautiful lady down again, she had come here for the third day to check the list of people who had arrived in Hong Kong, and hurriedly looked through the records again.

"I'm sorry, but there isn't a record of the person you mentioned on board."

"Please look up the name 'Mazik' again, as well as the name 'Lan Feng'." Nastasya also asked a little anxiously.

The clerk flipped through the record again, "Sorry, not really." ”

"Well, forget it, maybe they'll be there tomorrow." Reinhardt comforted himself.

"Ah, I'm so sorry." The clerk blushed and apologized again.

"It's not your fault, it's our own mistime." Nastasya replied.

"Well, let's go back today." Reinhardt said, "Goodbye, Mr. Clerk. ”

The clerk hurriedly said goodbye, and he hoped in his heart that the ship carrying Mr. Mazik and Mr. Lan Feng would never arrive in port, so that he could see the beautiful silver-haired lady every day. When he suddenly realized his vicious thoughts, the clerk hurriedly shook his head, and when he came back to his senses, he couldn't see the three slender shadows.