target

A few months later, the spring bei essence ai

The winter snow melts, and the warm winds begin to revive the land

The world began to take on a colorful picture, I saw the glacier shatter by the river, I heard the first bird calls at the edge of the forest, and the existing bees crashed into my windowsill after a lunch break

The warm sun stayed above the sky for longer and longer each day, and I knew that the world was about to wake up

The moss in the forest began to become wet, the dormant wild creatures began to emerge from their caves, foraging for food, the fields were melting every minute and every second, the snow was fading from the treetops, from the roots of the grass, from the trunks of the trees, and at last, with only one or two patches of snow remaining in the shade, the world became so bright, I saw the peasant women wrapping their white turbans around their heads, I saw the soldiers begin to repair their filthy heads, I saw the gardeners begin to trim the saplings

I know spring is coming

I knew that the war was about to start

There were more than two hundred and seventy soldiers in the barracks, most of whom had undergone simple training, and a hundred of them were the most elite soldiers, who had made the barracks noisy, but outside the forest, it was still forbidden for others to approach, and those outside could not imagine the scene here: the blacksmith shop was lit all night, the weapons warehouse was crowded with people who wanted to strengthen and sharpen their weapons, and in the armor workshop there were many soldiers who asked to repair their armor and make it stronger

One or two bars of iron can be sold for a very high price in the barracks, and these bars can be quickly turned into armor leaves under the processing of the craftsmen's pliers and hanging heads, but I have a feeling that it is impossible to arm all these two hundred people into a well-equipped team like the Burkes, and these soldiers are not even able to get a set of chain mail in their hands, in fact, many hunters don't like them at all. Although they know that these things can save their lives at a critical time, they don't know whether it is out of poverty or out of the love of face, most of these people like to walk around in thick coats

The most people in the barracks were such people, wearing thick gray and black coats, deerskin boots on their feet, and maybe tight leggings, they must have countless belts on their bodies, I don't know how many belts they have, anyway, I have carefully counted the equipment of several people, but I can't count any of them

These people's main armament is spears and sabers, their spears are not very elegant, they are all made of thick and long oak, but their knives are very good, these long knives are very similar to the swords of the Salanders, but they are longer than theirs, and they are bent more than them, of course, there is no bend like the nomadic knives of the Kujits, such sabers look very powerful, almost giving people a sense of invincibility

Whoever is struck by the freedmen when they ride their horses of varying quality and waving their sabers over the woods, they like to wear big coats made of animal skins and coarse cloth, and their hats rise high like chimneys, and they like snuff and spirits, and they give a sense of beauty that is so rough at all times that I love to hear these freemen sing songs about the Iron Shield River, which, according to them, has thirty thousand brothers living there in the upper reaches of the great river." Whether they live under tents or under stone houses, it is our brothers who become our brothers, and they have bread, salt, and spirits, and they are our enemies, and they are only swords, swords, and sabers."

They are free cavalry, they are the cavalry of Vekia

When I was with them, I realized how bad my equestrian skills were, these people were unmatched in their skills in sharp turns and advancing in formation, although these people had never fought, but once they were gathered, they directly became an amazing force, which may be the power of the nomads that made many countries envious, I was superstitious about this power for a long time afterward, and I felt that the rougher the troops, the more combative, But I didn't know that those farming or trading peoples could burst out with such amazing combat effectiveness

The East Lake began to thaw, and the surface of the lake shattered into countless pieces

As long as these fine pieces of ice absorb enough heat, they will gradually disappear without a trace, but at present, the prince of Xiaodonghu City, where the battleship is still not free to sail, has ordered the craftsmen to repair those battleships in advance, and it is said that those things are moored on an island in the middle of the lake above the East Lake, and the craftsmen have stayed on the island all winter, and there are special soldiers to guard those people, imitating the enemy's invasion, and preventing the craftsmen from escaping, In fact, it is difficult for foreign enemies to approach the island, Because the only way to get past is to walk over the ice, the ice in the center of the lake is not frozen, and there are even considerable areas in the middle that are not frozen, and those places can neither get off the boat, but people will be in danger if they walk up

The army that Count Kalinin can call on does not necessarily have much advantage, and their number will not exceed five hundred at most, although such a number of soldiers is already staggering for a city like Valankov, but for the entire East Lake region, it seems to be overstretched, even if Count Kalinin can capture a city, it will be difficult to consolidate it, but I feel that Count Kalinin will use those craftsmen and servants of Valankov

Kalinin's troops, including the servants, had a size of more than a thousand, and according to the size of a squadron of two hundred people, these people could be mixed into five squadrons, although half of them were soldiers and craftsmen who had not been on the battlefield much, and these armed forces placed in the west of the snow-capped mountains may not be worth mentioning, and a casual general with a few hundred troops could defeat them, but in the east, this force was unprecedentedly powerful

Ivangorod was happy with Kalinin's attitude, they were surprised that Kalinin was able to train Valankov's troops, but they only regarded this as luck in their bones, they felt that before Kalinin went to Valankov, the three families were already ready to move, Kalinin was just a guise they were playing in their minds, Kalinin was just an opportunistic ramp and did not value him, so they felt that the Valans would be destroyed after the battle, At that time, they will be able to reap the big results, and the small East Lake City will be weakened, and Valankov will become an obedient sheep from now on

So Ivangorod made a puzzling move: they sent three hundred infantry and cavalry to help Valankov, and these people formed three squadrons of dissatisfied formations, which were nominally under the command of Count Kalinin, and in fact it was, and six or seven generals of this army were stationed in Valankov at the beginning, and it seems that since then, they have become Count Kalinin's men, and they even wrote to the parliament asking for more assistance Later, Ivangelod sent in addition the basic armor and weapons that could arm three hundred men, as well as forty cartloads of food

Varankov's army approached the west of Little East Lake after the beginning of spring, and they occupied a village with stone forts to defend it, and the arrival of this army heralded the rise of hostility towards Little East Lake in the whole of the Ivangorod region, but Little East Lake City did not say anything about it, and their merchants had long since withdrawn, and they had gone clean with their goods and gold, leaving only a few useless old clerks and some calm and resourceful diplomats in the various cities, ready to deal with all kinds of situations

It is doubtful what kind of strength the soldiers of Xiaodonghu City have

When all the people were taking advantage of the winter to start to bury their heads in preparations, the movements of Xiaodonghu City made people not see clearly, except for the two Barriye mercenaries who went north, which caused a panic, but one of the mercenaries was unlucky, they encountered the interception of the defenders of Mingke City in the south, the Barriye army of more than 170 people did not do anything to resist, and slowly withdrew from the battlefield, and stayed on the southern border to watch, while the other escaped the interception and arrived at Donghu before the end of winter, And under the leadership of the guide of Xiaodonghu City, he entered the garrison of Xiaodonghu City

It is estimated that there are more than 700 soldiers in Xiaodonghu City, plus the soldiers who are supplemented, it is only about 1,000 people, although considering that when besieging the city, Xiaodonghu City can move a large number of citizens, so as to obtain a large number of garrison troops in the short term, but another key factor is also what Xiaodonghu City has to face, that is, Xiaodonghu City may be the largest city in the entire Donghu area, so it is impossible to consider every point if these more than 1,000 people are stationed in such a large place

And once there is a little bit of a breakthrough in Xiaodonghu City, the whole city will collapse, because there are always a large number of people in Xiaodonghu City who are trying to avoid war, and these people can't see the benefits of war, so once they have the opportunity, they will choose to negotiate peace, those powerful guild organizations may agree to expand their armies for the sake of trade advantages, threaten others, and can be brave before the city walls can protect them, but once this threatens their wealth and wealth, they will immediately change their attitude

Little East Lake's only hope is to crush the enemy before the citizens become war-weary, and delay the thaw at East Lake, at which point his allies the Burkes and the Wikiassociates of Riverlands will be able to enter the city through the Lake Passage, making the entire city an impossible fortress to fall

Therefore, the commander of Xiaodonghu City is likely to choose to go out of the city to fight, and defeat a weak enemy outside the city, so that the rest of the people are afraid of it, and in two months, the Burkes will continue to flock to the city, not only the people of Xiaodonghu City think so, but the surrounding cities are also aware of this, even if the Burkes do not come, these people besieging Xiaodonghu City will be suspicious, and they will disperse, and once this rout is born, the people of Xiaodonghu City will probably become the first batch of Burkes west of Donghu

In addition to the garrison of the Valans in the west, in the northwest, the Ivangelod Council mobilized six city-states and sent a force of more than 900 people to watch and see that this force could ensure that when the city of Little East Lake fell, Ivangelod could go in and get a piece of the pie; It can also ensure that when Vrankov is defeated, the power of Little East Lake City will not spread, however, this force takes passive defensive measures, and until the outcome of the war is clear, they are only a bystander

But one force that most people probably overlook is Giovanni, who has been dormant in the forest for a winter

That's what I thought at first, but the day before we left, a call letter from Kalinin made Giovanni's brow furrow

"To His Excellency General Giovanni"

I only saw this sentence on the envelope, I knew that it was the handwriting of Count Kalinin in the letter, the count carefully discussed the significance and difficulties of this attack on the small East Lake City, and said that Giovanni was a key force, which made me a little admired Kalinin, the Ivangelod Council did not even take Giovanni into account this time, they just wrote a letter to Giovanni decently, asking Giovanni not to drag Kalinin's hind legs, that tone, as if Giovanni was still a pawn in their hands, They had everything under control, and Kalinin had already seen Giovanni's ambitions

The most shocking thing is that Count Kalinin actually made a list of Giovanni's military strength, which lists Giovanni's strength in detail, infantry, crossbowmen, cavalry, horses, free people, all the data is detailed and clear, as if Kalinin knew everything here all winter

I chuckled in my heart, thinking of the spy that Giovanni had sent to Varykov before, and since Giovanni could do this, why couldn't Varankov?

In the end, the Count's words were very polite, hoping that Giovanni would be able to attack with him, advance at both ends, and finally eliminate the traitors and maintain the peace and stability of the East Lake

The Count also threatened Giovanni that if he did not cooperate, then for Valankov, the acquisition of the small East Lake City was certainly worth celebrating, but it was also urgent to eliminate the elbow and armpit problems

"Decide, do you want a thousand well-armed allies, or the same number of enemies? If you choose the former, then, the wealth of the entire small East Lake City is waiting for us, I give my child Victor to you with confidence, you must be able to understand my sincerity; Of course, if you choose the latter, then I can only express my regret, I think, soon we will meet again either in prison or at the execution ground, regardless of your reply, please reply as soon as possible"

The Count's words made me feel a pang of disgust

I asked Giovanni, "What would you do?" ”

Giovanni didn't have any expressions, just said that he had to think about it

I had spent the afternoon saddling my horses and wiping down my armor and weapons, knowing that it would be time before I could pull them out

In the evening, Joey came to me and asked me to go to Giovanni, and I knew that Giovanni had made up his mind

"Victor," he said when he saw me, "we should make an alliance with them"

"Have you already decided?" I looked at him suspiciously, he had told me countless times before, that the Count was definitely his worst enemy, and that he would swallow him up if he had the chance

"Yes, I have already written the reply," Giovanni nodded, "and you are my messenger".

More to, address

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

┃┃

┃┃

┃ＦＸＹＯ┃

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛