Early the morning of the second day after the funeral, Edward immediately ordered the legion to march through the Tallinn Pass towards the Red Horse Gorge - only more than 500 seriously wounded soldiers remained in the camp and waited for the legion to return to the fortress of the Green Valley when the legion crossed the pass again.

In order to speed up the march, all the soldiers threw away most of their baggage and light equipment, and marched through the Tallinn Pass in two columns, and in order to save their strength, Edward even ordered the carriage carrying the soldiers' salaries to be thrown down, and even then the soldiers did not complain, and their faces were full of excitement and joy.

Now even the recruits know that this war of conquest of the Red Horse Clan has come to an end, and that only a group of old and weak women and children are left in the enemy's settlements to guard their pitiful possessions, and there are few barbarian warriors left who can fight them - the hardest bloody battle has been over, and the time has come to reap the fruits of victory!

Naturally, these soldiers were so enthusiastic, and it was also because Edward had never given them credit before, and all the rewards and salaries were very in place - the recognition of the credibility of the chief flag officer, coupled with the tempting trophies, made these soldiers extremely strong, carrying weapons and bags on the mountain roads to march quickly, enduring the cold wind and **, nibbling on dry and hard black bread in their mouths, and even began to crack and have no complaints.

In order to protect morale, no extra food was brought except for the most basic dry rations, even among the officers and Edward himself. looked at Alan, who was lying on horseback next to him, trying his best to swallow the dry food. Edward casually handed over a hydration bag.

"What is this?"

"You'll know if you taste it. Edward smiled playfully. Deliberately said, "Don't you dare?"

The blonde girl snorted softly. Without hesitation, he snatched it and took a sip, and the sweet liquid flowed down the thin red lips into his mouth, and a touch of drunkenness melted away from the girl's face.

"Sweet, or lukewarm. Alan smiled, but then there was a wave of confusion: "But where did you get the mead?"

"Don't ask any more questions. Edward's face was slightly embarrassed, but he quickly returned to normal - of course it was given to him by Shrell, and there was no better energy drink than mead in such cold weather. This kind of experience, as a mercenary, Shirrell is far more abundant than Edward.

Although he felt that this kind of thing would be fine even if he said it, Edward felt that it was better not to say it.

"Lord Witwood!" Running wildly, Repin rushed from the front of the line to Edward's horse - since the official oath of allegiance, he had changed his address to Edward from the original Chief Flag Officer to "Lord Witwood", and this small change did not make the Legion soldiers notice any difference.

But at this time, Repinus didn't care much about anything, and pointed to the front of the queue with his right hand, his face was quite ugly: "The road ahead is blocked by heavy snow!"

"Stop the march of the whole army, let everyone wait for the order!" Edward, who heard this, did not hesitate too much, and immediately gave the order to Ludwig behind him, and then galloped in the direction pointed by Repinus. Leaving the entire army behind.

The howling north wind was like a sharp blade blowing from all directions, and the snowflakes flying in the sky obscured the view. But when Edward, who stopped at the horse, saw the white glacial snow-capped mountains, he couldn't help but grit his teeth - after passing through the pass, in front of the Red Horse Canyon was the snow-capped mountains that could not see the edge at all, and there was only a trail at his foot that was more difficult to walk than a steep cliff!

"How can this be?" I don't know when, Allen, Little Goodwin and the others were already standing behind him, and the little attendant holding the map looked at the big snow mountain not far away: "If you turn over here, you can reach the Red Horse Canyon!"

"This snow must have fallen recently. Lebinus, who was standing behind gasping for breath, had an extremely ugly expression, and pointed to the snow under his feet and the mountains in the distance: "There must indeed be a road, otherwise it would be impossible for the army of tens of thousands of people of the Red Horse Clan and their trolls to pass through here and reach the Tallinn Pass - but I'm afraid we will have to find a way to get around." ”

At this point, Liberus turned his gaze to Edward, who was still silent, waiting for the lord to make a final decision, even little Goodwin and Allen, the little squire holding the map still had a little helplessness in his expression - but he also had to admit that the chief flag officer had a point.

"Is it the Red Horse Canyon over the snowy mountains?" asked Edward, as if he hadn't heard at all, turning back to little Goodwin.

"Uh...... Yes!" The panicked little squire quickly opened the map, pointed to it, and said, "It's on the back side of this mountain—or more precisely, on the side, we're very close to the settlement!"

"Then we'll turn over from here!" Edward shook off the snowflakes on his body and rolled down from his warhorse, "Let all the soldiers rest and get ready, we will climb this snowy mountain overnight today!"

"The hardest battle has been over, and we can't afford to stall in a place like this - we have to do it as soon as possible!" said Edward in a deep voice, "As long as we climb over this snowy mountain, the settlement will be ours!"

"But ......"

"It's nothing, Chief Centurion of Repinus!" Edward directly intercepted his words, his black pupils staring at that face almost indifferently: "If you still want revenge, and you don't want to see the enemy of your father fleeing in front of your eyes, hurry back and order the whole army to be put in order, and then prepare to climb over the snowy mountains - this is the order." ”

“...... Yes, sir. Hearing this, Rebinus was equally silent - if there was one thing that could most arouse his fighting spirit, it was revenge.

Watching the chief centurion leave, Edward, who was still standing in place, set his eyes on the snow-capped mountains in the distance, and the cold wind howled through the sky - the weather was getting colder and colder, and it had been a month since the departure from the fortress, and even the city of Turin had reached the end of summer at this time, and the autumn leaves had fallen.

The deepest of the harsh winter was already at hand--which meant that there was less and less time left for Edward, and he knew from before setting out that it was impossible for the entire legion to return in time, but he did not expect this situation to come so quickly, so that he was a little scrambled.

Repcinus's advice was actually very sensible, and it was impossible for the enemy to flee en masse in such a cold winter - even if they did know that they had annihilated the army, they would surely have decided that they would stay in Tallinn for the winter, or simply return to the fortress.

The real fatal point is that the legion is not prepared at all - if there is a detour, the supplies consumed along the way alone can make the soldiers starve to death and freeze to death on the road, and the legion that sets off on a hurried march does not bring much supplies at all, and I am afraid that before they reach the settlement, the entire legion will only be left with bones!

And if they retreated to the Tallinn fortress to rest, as the weather became colder and colder, the morale of the soldiers would become lower and lower, and in the end they would forget what the battle was for, and Edward had no other way but to withdraw.

"Distribute all the dry food and olives, as well as the rest of the clothing, to everyone, throw away everything that is not necessary, bring as many torches and branches as you can, and try to have a cloak for each person!"

As the sun set, Edward, with his torch in his hand, stood at the foot of the mountain - in order to scrape together the supplies that would allow the soldiers to survive the snowy mountains, the entire regiment had to be reduced again, leaving down the wounded 1,500 men and letting them return to the barracks the same way.

Looking at the severely attrition of the legion, Edward raised the sword in his hand: "Let's go, let's completely conquer that barbarian tribe and plant the battle flag of the legion on the top of the mountain peak of the Red Horse Canyon!" (To be continued.) )