Former Prime Minister Elio sat on the back of a red and brown horse, his eyes almost closed. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info He was born in Silver Eagle, the middle of the empire, and has never led troops to war, at most he has been in the territory of minor princes.

He was a good knight and swordsman, but he was not good at trekking through mountains and rivers.

This is the basin of the middle of the empire, a long, wide river that flows from the Iron Mountains to the rich plains. The name of the river is the Drinking Horse River, and the tenth king of the Poppy Dynasty put down the rebellion and once rested at the mouth of the river.

Elio led his army across the plains and toward the foothills of Iron Mountain, where the road to the southern part of the empire grew from flat to narrow.

Theoretically, he commanded the Empire's 8,000 armies, but these armies were actually scattered and divided into six or seven legions (a smaller number than in real history), with about 3,000 cavalry, 4,000 infantry, and 1,000 crossbowmen, as well as ten huge siege engines on standby in the vassals bordering Silver Eagle and Paliva. The commanders of the legions had their own thoughts.

The great nobles everywhere were conscripted into the army, and the young men of each family, eager to get merit, led the knights of their own domains. Among these 8,000 people, there are also many mercenaries - Bailin City and Deep Valley City claim to be sparse and inexperienced, and would rather spend some money to send the royal family.

Of course, none of these Elios cared - this was a war that must be won, the Eight Thousand Iron Army attacked the border city-states that didn't even have the Knights, and unless Carter Larson could awaken the undead of the entire empire to fight him, so many well-armed soldiers, one man and one sword, could leave Paliva City without a single person.

Not to mention, in order to demonstrate its authority, the Sanctuary also sent two hundred and ten god-attendants to participate in the war. In doing so, he was confident that he would raze the entire Paliva to the ground.

Elio looked back at the team of acolytes who were far behind, hundreds of meters away from the Imperial army, and did not pay any attention to the eight thousand centaurs, but used the art of riding, chanting and meditating, and moving slowly, as if disdaining to be in the company of mortals.

"God bless, these guys are just asking for more gold coins to sacrifice to the gods. You can't expect them to do anything when the time comes. The Prime Minister scoffed.

Elio wears a red cape, gilded armor, and a silver eagle badge on his chest. He flicked his whip, and the red-brown horse, wrapped in silver armor and silver horseshoe, leaped up and ran to the front of the troops, and a carrier pigeon landed on his shoulder.

He unfolded the secret letter as if no one was around, and he didn't even mind that the people around him knew about his ambitions. It was a letter to him from a minor prince subordinate to Bailey-Sieri.

"Five thousand rebels have gathered in the imperial capital. The inscription was a small nobleman he couldn't remember, as if he were the director of a small town on the western border.

Compared to the battlefield in Paliva, he cared more about the situation in the imperial capital. Now most of the troops supporting the royal family have been called to conquer the south, and they have been marching for ten days, just waiting for a little farther and the rebels are more prepared, even if the royal family calls for help, they can't rush back, and it is better to happen to be stuck in the southern battlefield under the pretext of not being able to return - then the Golden Throne is at your fingertips.

Of course, he kept an eye out for it, and deployed enough Silver Eagle Knights to restrain the rebels in the west - in case the General Staff took the opportunity to usurp the throne. They are just allies of interest, and no one knows when the other side will stab them in the back.

Accompanying him was the second son of the Lord of Chenxing, Cassel Duna, who recommended himself to be the lieutenant commander of this march, and was also an ambitious young man, anxious for a passable merit so that he could get a real job in the court. The Duna family has always been tactful, wanting to curry favor with the royal family and get a piece of the pie in the rebellion.

Although they look down on them, the ancient Duna family has a good reputation within the empire, and it is well worth the money to invest in them.

Elio Parton is already planning for the future. In his mind, a month's long march was just a very boring trip across the empire.

"Boss, there's civilians blocking the way ahead. At this time, Scout Pegasus came to report.

"Probably the villagers who protested against the royal ****, I have seen a lot along the way. Now even civilians know how to get the benefits. Elio didn't care.

"Tell them that this is the Empire's Southern Expeditionary Army, either get some money and make trouble elsewhere, or wait to lose their heads. ”

The scout takes the command and disappears into the forest. After a long time, there was no reply from him.

Elio was a little displeased, but he didn't realize that something was wrong, and led the team slowly.

"Boss, there seems to be movement in the jungle. "Cassel Duna's first trip was obviously much more nervous than Elio. He heard the rustling of the trees in front of him, like countless wild mice scurrying around.

"You've never been to the south, have you? Listen, the south is still woods and woods, wild beasts and wild beasts, and when you enter this jungle, there will be no plains, don't be frightened by little wild things. Even the Southerners can only shoot arrows naked, they are very savage, but they have no armor or shields. Northerners are not used to this, after all, we are more civilized, but there is no need to make a fuss. ”

Elio said something he thought he had a sense of humor, and the soldiers around him laughed along, and Cassel thought he was ridiculous because he wasn't used to the jungle.

After all, the rebels would not be stupid enough to clash with the Southern Expeditionary Army, and the rioting civilians were no match for the ironclad cavalry at all, so the nerves that people had just raised were relaxed again. But the rustling sound did not weaken, but grew stronger, sounding like 10,000 rats gnawing on a piece of wood.

But no one believed that anything could damage a large, well-equipped army, so the men continued on their horses.

As the shade grew thicker, Elio saw a phantom figure in the bushes that looked like a hunched white-haired monkey, standing motionless.

"It's strange, after entering the Iron Mountain, I am not even afraid of wild things. Cassel-Duna said, but drew his sword suspiciously, the rustling of the louder and louder around him straining his nerves.

Elio rode over several rotting tree trunks, followed by the lieutenant marshal, two regimental commanders, and several lieutenants.

As the phantom became clearer and clearer, they gasped.

I saw that the phantom was a person standing in a strange form. They continued to look forward, but found that - this man was not standing, but naked, pierced by a spear from ***, all the way to the throat, standing in the middle of the bushes!

The blood around them had not yet coagulated, the leaves were covered with sprays of blood, and several army commanders choked on the thick smell of blood.