"Report!" The Windswept Marksman has been ordered to pursue Chief Abdul, and the two captains, Roger and Letoz, have returned with their troops!" The voice of his own soldiers came from outside the tent.

Orlando immediately replied, "Please let them in." At the same time, all the commanders above the level were immediately summoned. Also, please come over with Ryan. ”

Soon, everyone got the order to be summoned by Orlando, and quickly left what they were doing and gathered in Orlando's military tent, and when Ryan was the last to arrive, everyone was already sitting in front of the military map with Orlando. It's not that Ryan is late, it's that he has a special identity, and because he has some new understanding of magic these days, he deliberately chose a more secluded place to rest, and naturally came later than other officers near Orlando.

Orlando smiled and nodded at Ryan, and said, "Okay, everyone is here, you two talk about the situation of the pursuit." ”

Roger and Lettoz looked at each other with ashamed faces, not knowing where to start, Roger thought about it, and still opened his mouth and said: "This time our pursuit can be said to be very unsuccessful. Although the White Frost Legion, which fled after Chief Abdul, and a small group of other Klee cavalry, numbered less than 500 men, their whereabouts were extremely strange. ”

"We pursued all the way north, and at first we were able to find the traces left by the other party, but the next day when we entered the large dense mountain forest, the tracks became much more hidden, but fortunately Letoz and they were good at hunting, so they hung firmly behind each other. ”

"Damn!" said Roger, scolding hatefully, as if to vent his frustration, while Letotz continued: "I was careless, I didn't expect them to lay a trap and lead us to a very dangerous place, but fortunately a grizzly bear suddenly rushed out, and then I realized the enemy's arrangement." ”

"Later, Abdul and the others ran out of the mountains and forests, and when we chased them, they encountered a large number of wolves, but fortunately we were all riding in one person and two horses, and the horses were abundant, so we slowly escaped from the battle by relying on horse shooting, but the trail of Chief Abdul and them could no longer keep up. ”

Although this ending is not very perfect, but it is already very good for Orlando, so Orlando didn't say anything, but first cared about the losses of the popular shooters, after learning that there were only a dozen casualties, Orlando nodded slowly, and then continued: "Our expedition is almost over, and the results are very ideal, it can be said that it has exceeded the previous estimate." ”

"In about ten days, a new legion will come over from the Imperial Capital, and then our expeditionary force this time will be able to rotate back step by step. It's just the order of this rotation......" Orlando said this, a little hesitant, because at present, the easiest combat power on the prairie is Cassano's popular archer army, but they are a guest army after all, which makes it difficult for Orlando to speak.

Ryan naturally guessed what Orlando meant, and he said directly: "It's very simple, the Windrun Marksman Legion stays, after all, their mobility is still relatively strong, and it is a bit advantageous to fight on the grassland." There shouldn't be any big Clay camps around here, but they can't relax. I suggest that the Windrun Marksman take turns attacking in a team of 500 men and scatter all the Clay people within a radius of a few hundred miles. ”

Speaking of this, Ryan pointed to the military map and said, "The largest water source in the vicinity is Mirror Lake, and further west, not only is there no large water source, but even the quality of the pastures is much worse. Since the Klee people are unwilling to stay, it means that they agree with the rule of Chief Abdul in their hearts, and simply expel them to the west, so that they do not have to stay here and gather to create a new threat. ”

Orlando trembled slightly when he heard this, he knew what Ryan's words of understatement meant, but let him refuse, but Orlando couldn't open his mouth. Since the establishment of this huge imperial capital 200 years ago, in fact, the entire empire has not really been unified at all, and the reason is because it is too tolerant of those who have different intentions.

If Fernando I had completely abandoned the honor of the Holy Knights, forcibly drove the Clay Clan, and forcibly attacked the Southern Lords, I am afraid that no one would be able to resist the war spears of the Royal Knights and the magic of the Imperial Capital Magic Guild, right? However, Fernando chose to appease, he thought that he could solve the problem slowly, but after his son succeeded to the throne, the policy of the entire empire deviated from the predetermined trajectory.

"Let me give this order, General Orlando. Ryan said calmly: "Since we are here, we have to think about future generations, maybe this is cruel, but it is the best means for our enemies, as for those so-called infamy, anyway, the blood on my hands is already hundreds of thousands, hehe." ”

Orlando sighed, as a believer in the god of war, he could fight to protect his people, but he couldn't give such a cruel order after the war, it wasn't that he shirked his responsibility, but as a holy knight, the consequence of his order like this was basically equivalent to being abandoned by the god of war, because it was contrary to his beliefs.

Orlando slowly left the tent with his hands behind his back, but the seal of the commander of the expeditionary force was left on the table by him, intentionally or unintentionally. Ryan smiled slightly, stepped forward a few steps forward and grabbed the military seal that symbolized power in his hand, and then he faced Jonas and the others present, and said firmly: "I, Ryan, as an ally of the imperial capital, Lord Cassano, and the temporary commander of this expeditionary force, issue the following military order......"

In this battle of Mirror Lake, tens of thousands of people died directly at the hands of Ryan, and the Clay people who died because of the death order issued by Ryan and the banishment order issued later cannot be counted. In Lane's banishment order, which made countless Clay people weep, Ryan ordered the Jonas Legion and the Windswept Archers to begin sweeping through the Clay settlements within a radius of hundreds of miles, killing all their cattle and sheep, burning their supplies, and driving them to the more desolate and barren west.

According to the statistics of some scholars in later generations, at least 300,000 people died in the westward migration of the entire Clay people, and less than 100,000 died at the hands of the expeditionary force in the entire imperial capital expedition.

The entire Clay clan suffered a great loss of vitality after this battle, and it took more than a hundred years to barely recover, and before that, they could only appear on the mainland as a small mercenary group. Because the road of the Clay tribe to the west was covered with fallen corpses, the later generations of the Clay people called this westward migration the "Scarlet Road".