Garmic Fort.

The Salander soldiers received the order and quietly opened the gates of the city during the night, welcoming a messenger from Weyeha. The man was dressed as an ordinary Salander merchant: wrapped in a clean turban, riding a mule, and tied to the other end of the two boxes with a rope behind him. At first glance, these people are desert vendors that can be found in markets everywhere: they usually bring high-quality spices, dates and olives from desert oases to other countries, and then buy cheap local products and transfer them to the next place.

The Salander people are indeed the best merchants, and since ancient times, the harsh living environment and special social organization of the Salander region have made the merchant group very important among the Salander people. There is a story that at the end of the desert, in the home country of Salander, a caliph was besieged by a barbarian from the east, who had to ask for help from a merchant who brought 12,000 sacks of wheat and 700 soldiers by water to the besieged city during the second week of the siege.

Salander merchants are powerful and focus on developing business skills for future generations. Every Salander parent sends their children to the local imam's house during the day to learn doctrine, math and writing, and in the evening when the children return home, they teach them some basic business knowledge. 'Drought is a boat, water is a car', the essence of the merchant summed up by a certain ethnic group in the East has been thoroughly implemented by the Salander people in the education of future generations. After dozens of generations of disdainful accumulation, the business literacy of the Salander people has been fully integrated into their genes. There is a proverb that says, 'Throw a Salander into the desert and as long as Allah can see him, he will be able to do business with Allah'.

To get back to the point, the Salander who had crept into the city was not a businessman. He was an emissary to the Admiral Salander, who, having heard of Fort Garmich's recent poor performance, sent an emissary to see what was going on. Of course, the reason that stimulated the admiral to contact the Kamich officer directly, bypassing the Sultan, was because the marshal heard that the Salanders had captured a man named Marrion Jr., and the point was not on this, but that the man named Maron Jr. revealed that in Rhodok's army, there was an old man of the marshal.

It came to pass that when the marshal of Salander set out from Sharitz, he received a report from Gamic. Garmic's defenders made a report on Rhodok's strength by interrogating a number of prisoners and gathering information from the spies. The marshal carefully reviewed the report on the Rhodok officers, and the Salander report was very good, and the composition of the Rhodok army had been detailed to the basic information of each non-commissioned officer.

The marshal saw Li Lan Jia Slo at first sight. The name of General Garcia, which made the marshal inexplicably excited. Over the years, the marshal has been silently observing the rise of the general. In many cases, the marshal would secretly sigh that if he was not Prince Salander, would he be able to do as well as Garcia. Garcia's story is legendary, and in just over two decades, he rose from a civilian soldier to one of the most important military leaders in Rhodoc. More than a decade ago, the marshal had fought General Garcia, who was still a non-commissioned officer, and on that occasion he was captured by a night raid by one of Garcia's comrades, and since then, the marshal has been eager to fight Garcia.

The second son of the Sultan of Salander, the marshal was born thirty-seven years ago on the edge of a lotus pond in the palace, disobeyed his father and secretly ran into the army more than ten years ago, was captured and disappeared at the border guard tower before the Battle of Garmic, and then miraculously escaped, supposedly because of the mercy of an enemy lord. After that, the prince was no longer willful, and his experience in the army made the prince abandon the flashy aristocratic style and become pragmatic and steady, which made him well received by the people in the army. Over the years he became increasingly relied upon by the aging Sultan Salander. Rumor has it that the Sultan of Salander has been considering whether to change his heir to this prince, and this rumor has made the Grand Prince of Salander, the future Sultan of Salander, extremely resentful.

Of course, although the elderly Sultan Salander favored his young son, he did not easily change his heir--- which would inevitably cause turmoil in the country. However, due to the incomparably excellent ability of this marshal prince, when it comes to national affairs, the Sultan of Salander will not deliberately abandon it. On this occasion of joining forces with Kujit, the Sultan ordered the prince to go to Shariz to stand by, and it was not until Rhodok began to attack the Sultanate at sea that the people understood the wisdom of the old Sultan. The prince naturally integrated the naval forces, actively prepared for war, and was soon officially appointed as the marshal of the navy.

As a naval marshal, Prince Salander had personally boarded the ship many times to investigate, and since a long time ago he had been actively cultivating party members among the middle and lower rank officers of the navy, and now after officially ascending the throne, he has carried out many personnel appointments and dismissals overnight. Many young generals were suddenly promoted, and some old naval officers received an official letter while they were still at home preparing to go to sea: "The state is sympathetic to your loyalty, and the old man does not need to go out on the expedition after exhaustion, but live at home for the rest of his life." When this great move reached the capital, it was downplayed by the followers of the second prince as 'the prince had made some simple personnel changes in the navy', and it was finally reported to the sultan.

The old Sultan was now in his twilight years, but his eyes were getting brighter and brighter. Hearing this, the old Sultan's white beard trembled slightly, and then gathered the reports together.

"Give it to the eldest prince and let him watch and deal with it", this was the last word from the old sultan to the eldest prince.

When the messenger delivered the materials collected by the old sultan to the drunken prince who was busy attending the banquet, the future sultan looked hastily at a few lines: "Oh, that's it. I know. Come, drink with us. ”

The messenger told the old Sultan about the Prince's performance, and the Sultan had just finished praying to the shrine when he folded his hands, closed the scriptures, touched his knees, and stood up.

"It's fine, it's fine," said the old sultan as he walked to the door, bowed slightly, and walked out through the small door. Outside the door, the sun was shining from among the dense palm trees, and the Sultan's daughters were frolicking by the pool, full of flowers, and the Sultan looked at the garden quietly, with anticipation and worry in his eyes. That expression is like that of a farmer when a storm is coming: he is worried that the rainstorm will destroy his farmland, and he hopes that the land will be more fertile when the rain comes.

Prince Salander, having supported a series of young officers, set sail with a fleet that had greatly increased his loyalty. Before this, the Rhodok people had always thought that the Salander fleet would not dare to fight, but in fact, it was not, and the war of the Salander navy was raging in countless venues and secret rooms during that time. When the Rhodok navy met the Salander fleet at sea, the fleet had been fully integrated, and their leader was the second prince of the Sultan world.

The prince and marshal of the Salander had a hint of excitement when he learned that his opponent was General Garcia. And when this prince saw 'Ho. Arcadio second', his excitement even turned into the joy of seeing an old friend reunited after a long absence.

"Arcadio II", the marshal muttered to himself, standing on the flagship deck of Salander's fleet, "I wonder if the son is just as noble as his father."

The name the prince had silently recited in his mind countless times, but the name was nowhere near as loud as Garcia's, and soon it was lost in the sea and could not be found again. Now Allah has sent this man's Son, and whatever happens, follow Allah's will. Prince Salander sent his aide-de-camp, Abdul Aziz, to Fort Gammich to assist in the interrogation of the Rhodok captives. The prince did not want to fight unprepared battles, and he wanted to know as much as he could about the enemies before meeting them.

Abdul. Aziz was a friend of the prince's childhood when he was studying at the mosque, whose name means 'great servant, the power of Allah', and was born into a family of criminal lawyers, following his father in the trial of cases from an early age. Years of interrogation experience taught him that "as long as the whip is hard enough and the honey is sweet enough, there is no secret in the world".

When the prince sent Aziz to Gamic to interrogate the Rhodok captives, he said to Aziz with a playful smile: "Allah, those Rhodok captives are pitiful. ”

Aziz said solemnly: "Your Highness, this joke is not funny. But I'll get you back with the information you wanted. ”

"By the way," said Prince Salander, "there is a guy here named Little Marion who is disguised as a man, and she inadvertently says a young man whom I am interested in, and you should not interrogate her, but just bring her to me."

"Yes, Your Highness the Prince," said Aziz withdrew, and that night sailed out of the fleet in a small boat, and headed for the shore, where the Salander soldiers of Weiyeha had prepared his outfit for him, and after dressing up, he could go to the fortress of Garmic.

When Aziz rode into the deep gate of Garmic on a mule without saying a word, he couldn't help but look up at the towering gable behind Garmic, and he couldn't help but look at it.

A Salander officer walked over, his leather boots rattling the ground, but with a humble attitude, "Your Excellency, is there anything wrong?" ”

"No," Aziz said, "I just seem to see a flash of fire on the mountain, is there anyone on it?" ”

The saddler-backed Salander grinned, "You must be tired, there is no grass on it, and snow all year round." There won't be anyone. I'll lead you to the general, he's already prepared a dinner for you. ”

"Well, lead the way." Aziz looked up at the mountain for the last time: nothing.

In fact, Aziz was not mistaken, Garcia also saw the fire on the mountain.

This was the signal that Garcia had agreed with his father: when all the soldiers were in position, a torch would be lit at midnight that night, only for a quarter of an hour, and only once from midnight. If you hadn't prepared in advance and looked at the mountains carefully, you wouldn't have noticed the dim point of light. When Garcia learned that all the soldiers were behind the fortress of Garmic, he knew that the general assault was about to begin.

Garcia also knew that most of the 200 men would end up empty-handed, but since there was a 1 in 10,000 chance of a surprise victory, he should take it.

Garcia immediately ordered the herald to summon a few generals to his camp to discuss the matter. The siege equipment was ready, the soldiers were ready, the supply of food and grass was sufficient, and supplies were still being transferred from the rear to Fort Amera, and from there to the front.

"General", Garcia muttered in his mind, "we left you behind many years ago, and now we are here to take you home". Garcia stared silently at a pot of fire burning in the tent, his eyes shining.

Garmicchi Peak.

My father looked at the tents dotted at the bottom of the mountain, a torch beside him that had just been extinguished, and smoke was still billowing. The stars in the sky were bright and far away, and the faint moonlight soothed the faint sound of the tide in the distance. The soldiers huddled together in groups of three or five, silently enduring the test of the bitter cold. Throughout the day, except for the fact that the soldiers were allowed to move a little every two hours to warm their bodies, the rest of the time they were only allowed to crouch together, rub their hands, and breathe, cautiously fearing that they would be discovered by the enemy below.

Today, my father increased the search area, but he still couldn't find his way down the mountain. Some of the trails that Marion remembered were also missing, and an adjutant approached my father and said that if the way back was counted, if the way down the mountain could not be found within two days, he would have to return.

Father, Sabel, and Marion carefully inspected the surrounding mountains today, but found nothing. My father was very curious about the fact that there were still people living in the mountains.

"How can anyone live here, and there are still some ruins." The father asked Maryan puzzled.

"Oh, it's a temporary home for the well diggers," Marion said.

"Well diggers?"

"Well," Marion explained, "there is no water source around Garmic, and you can see that the terrain of the Garmici Basin is low in the east and high in the west, and the water cannot flow. It would be too time-consuming and laborious to use water from the lakes and rivers in the past. Therefore, when the Kamichi Fort was built, people considered using the snow water from the mountain to supply the fort. After searching, some crevices were found that led to some of the caves in the interior of the Garmic Mountains. The caves were winding and twisting, and people tried to find them many times, but to no avail, none of them could connect the top of the hill with the caves around the fortress of Kamage. However, an accident revealed that part of the mountain behind the Garmici was empty, and it is said that someone had chiseled the rock wall, but there was no drinking water in it, and the new technology allowed the Garmici to dig up the groundwater, and the plan to bring snow water from the mountain was ignored. The craftsmen who had come up to the mountains in search of the water system had built these huts in the summer, but when the plan proved to be unsuccessful, they were completely abandoned, and those people were called 'well diggers.'"

"Oh, that's right," replied the father. "If that cave can go straight to the back of Garmic Fort, wait! The water can't pass, we can go over! Father suddenly shouted.

Marion shook his head, he knew that he had to dispel this young man's crazy thoughts immediately, the last time he didn't stop this crazy plan in time, hundreds of people had run to the mountains and froze, this time he had to put out Arcadio's stupid thoughts in the bud, "Impossible, there is no one to climb at the top of the cave, you can imagine the dome of the church, after crossing the shallow surface, you will fall dozens of meters and fall directly to the ground, even worse than this: the stalactite pillars in the cave are the same as spears, Dense as a forest, once it falls, it will be pierced; Secondly, even if you can go down, you will not be able to find the one that can reach the rear of Garmic. I've ventured into a nearby natural cave in Aaron, and believe me, you don't want to get lost in it; And, crucially, the existence of the cave is uncertain, and it is not impossible for the craftsmen who advocated the use of snow water to avoid punishment by making up the story of the discovery of the cave. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so I can't believe it. Let's dispel this idea. ”

Marion looked at my father's face and said that the cave plan was something that could not be believed. Sabel trotted back and forth tightly wrapped in a small blanket, whispering 'It's cold, it's cold' as she ran. Marion and Arcadio were attracted to him by the second attraction, thinking about something with a serious expression.

My father took a breath and seemed to figure out something. Marion felt that this kid should have figured out that there shouldn't be such fantasies. I only heard Arcadio say after the second thought, "Where is the cave in the record?" ”

Marion: "'''''