Muddy water stained with leather boots, sleepless, marching all day and all night.

General Dali Einfurt rubbed his sleepy-eyed eyes, and the black horse under his crotch shrugged his head, listlessly scraping the mud with his front hooves.

In front of him, several thousand soldiers of the 7th Division of the Army of the Principality of Valstad formed a column and struggled along this muddy road.

Not only the 7th Division, but all the troops available for mobilization in the principality were converging in one direction, not attacking in the direction where the enemy was located, but retreating in the direction of Fort Midknight, the capital of the principality.

General Dalí glanced down at his pocket watch, then gently closed the lid and tucked it into the neckline, the cold metal clinging to his warm chest.

He cherished the watch because it was a gift from his wife, and they hadn't seen each other for a long time because of the war.

A veteran passing by muttered:

"What the hell are the idiots up there going to do? Let us retreat before the battle is fought, and give away a large area of land to the enemy, and if this continues, my hometown will be in danger, and my beautiful blonde girl is still there waiting for me to marry her. ”

"Hey! You idiot! Didn't hear that rumor? Those who say they want to go back to their hometown to get married are more likely to be hit by bullets! No one can tell why, but I didn't believe in it until one day during the Civil War, when Lieutenant Dick Sr. committed it.

He said that he was going back to get married after the war, and the next day there was an extra hole in his head! Let's even charge a hundred people, and one of them will die, do you say evil or not? It's a fucking curse! There must be demons doing the tricks, damn the gods, bless us. ”

"Lao Tzu doesn't believe in this evil! Bullets are going to hit you! You guy, every time you pray to God, you still say a dirty word, be careful of retribution! ”

"Haha, you two are so funny, I think the people up there are idiots! Don't throw away the strong fortress, let us retreat to the level ground to defend! ”

General Dali pretended not to hear, but shook his head with a wry smile, he was tired of hearing the soldiers' complaints, and he didn't bother to punish them.

He knew that it was difficult for a unit that was always retreating to have a good opinion of its commander. But with the current situation, there seems to be little choice but to keep retreating.

Half a month ago, the newly appointed Duke of Salantos Midknight completely abandoned the peace talks.

The hard-hearted duchess swore that she would never give in and fight the four-nation alliance to the end.

"If you want to sign a contract, it's after you win the battle." She said.

Although the civil war is over, it has left terrible scars on the country, and the army of the Duchy of Valstad is no longer as strong as it once was. The current Principality's army is disorganized, many of the troops lack ammunition and food supplies, and the morale of the officers and soldiers is low.

Even the Seventh Division under General Dali is in a much worse situation.

In the past week, the Duchy of Valstad's army and the Four-Nation Coalition have clashed on a wide battlefield, and the Duchy's army has been defeated in successive battles, not only has the attack been blocked, but many strong fortresses have also been divided and surrounded, and the army has been forced to retreat, leaving the Duchy's capital, Fort Midknight, exposed to the enemy.

In order to preserve strength, the General Staff issued a new directive, all the troops of the front abandoned their existing positions, retained the living forces to retreat in the direction of the capital, and built a new line of defense along the Nord River.

The abundant Nord River is the last natural barrier to protect the security of the capital, and there is no doubt that the two sides will deploy heavy troops on both sides of the river, and the new battle will be a brutal and bloody battle to the death, and the success or failure of this battle is directly related to the future division of the power map of the continent of Ulassis.

If the last line of defense is breached, the Duchy of Valstad, which has lost its capital and army, will be slaughtered and accept unconditional surrender, and the territory will be divided among the coalition powers, and the peninsula will return to a state of division and separation.

From the moment the contract was abandoned and the war was chosen, there was no way back for the Duchy of Valstad.

Only by winning can there be a chance of survival. This populous and handicraft power is something that all the countries on the continent are on the watchful eye for, and if the Duchy of Valstad does unify the peninsula and revive the empire, the rulers of the other countries will have trouble sleeping, and will be in a state of unease.

In order to speed up the march, General Dali Ainfurt ordered the soldiers of the 7th Division to abandon all the artillery and baggage wagons, and after two days of arduous trekking, finally succeeded in crossing the Nord River and reaching the last line of defense.

The Principality's Provisional Army Headquarters was set up in an ancient castle on the high ground not far from the riverbank, where Duke Salantos Midknight was to personally oversee the battle, and she was too pregnant to go to the front. The Duke appointed Prince Orsengre as commander-in-chief of the campaign, Count Baptiste as Chief of the General Staff, and Marshal Simon Gallieni, the Duke's teacher, as chief planner and supreme military adviser to the operation.

Marshal Simon Gallieni had carefully considered every detail of the entire defensive line, and due to the attrition in the civil war, the Duchy did not have enough troops to hold the entire riverbank, so it could only quickly assemble troops to annihilate the enemy's vanguard after discovering the enemy's crossing of the river, and it was absolutely impossible to allow them to gain a foothold on the riverbank, and if the enemy army was allowed to build a strong pontoon bridge, the consequences would be devastating.

In this battle plan, the army of the Duchy of Valstad was divided into four main parts: the left flank, the center, the right flank, and the reserve.

The forces of the divisions of the front line were spread out along the long banks of the river, each with the center in the front and the two flanks in the rear, and the numerous small crescent-shaped lines of defense were joined together to form a huge final line of defense.

Reserves of the Guards, the town militia, and the National Volunteer were stationed near the headquarters in order to support the weak links at any time.

General Dali Ainfurt's 7th Division was on the left flank of the defensive line, and as a result of the continuous rapid march, the exhausted soldiers began to camp and rest as soon as they arrived at their destination.

At night, the snoring of the soldiers came and went, and the sentries on duty carried torches back and forth, talking to each other to expel the sleepiness.

The division commander's huge square tent was located in the center of the camp, and the fire inside had not yet been extinguished.

In the dim light of a kerosene lamp, General Dali Einfoot was writing to his wife:

"Dear Jane Ning, I'm sorry to reply to you so late, please rest assured, despite some tiring travel, my health is fine, but the old wound under the left flank has some faint pain, I think this damn injury is going to be with me for a lifetime, this pain reminds me all the time, reminds me of the fact that I died once. I will cherish this life and remember my responsibilities as a husband.

In recent days, my troops have been retreating, stationed by the river, and all I have to do is to protect the capital, to protect the city where you are. This is the last line of defense, and His Majesty the Duke has completely gambled the fate of our country in this war, a big gamble that will determine the world pattern for decades to come.

The Four-Nation Coalition is menacing, eager to crush us. But I'm not scared at all now, because I'm surrounded by the best people in the world, the greatest heroes and heroes of the world.

Our courageous Duke Majesty has inherited her father's ambitions, and although she is too pregnant to go into battle herself, she only needs to stand where she is, and the morale-boosting effect is enough to be worth 50,000 troops!

My mentor, Field Marshal Simon, drew up the defensive strategy with his own hands, and he knew the terrain of the various sections of the river and distributed his forces with great rationality.

My good friend Colonel Ivan commanded a regiment of lancers from the steppe, as well as my brother, the artillery genius General Leopold, the grenadier commander Baron Harrington, and the mercenary king Drhein...... Our army has produced a large number of talented people, and the list is endless.

My dear, tell the people around you, don't be afraid, tell them that the heroes of Valstad will defend this land to the death.

If the enemy wants to attack, he must first step over our corpses.

Love your husband – Dali Einfurt

April 10, 1704, in a tent on the banks of the Nord River. ”