News of the Norscans heading south again soon reached Rhodes. As the captain of the rangers, Lawrence led the forest sentinels to roam the dark forest for a long time, and while the large army was still in the land of trolls, Rhodes was able to grasp their movements and numbers.

According to the totems on the banner, you can tell which ones are the tribes you have never met before, and which ones are the ones who have invaded Blackhammer Keep.

On the banner is a thunderbolt battle axe, the Thunder Axe Clan, a tribe that has little to no contact with Blackhammer Castle, but Rhodes has heard from Celta that they are a clan of bullies, armed with wide black battle axes, who live by plundering and never producing. Plunder is their only target, and women, including them, are plundered. If there are not enough women in the tribe, brothers can even share ...... to give birth to more Norsca children and train them to become new warriors.

The banner is an ice wolf, the Snow Wolf Clan, which has not had direct contact with Blackhammer Keep, but it is just as famous. This clan is adept at catching wild beasts to fight for them, and most of them are ice wolves. It is said that almost every man of the tribe has one. Cultivating a bond with these wolves from an early age, they grow up together and hunt together. The relationship is like that of brothers and comrades-in-arms.

And among them, the spear of thunder and lightning is painted red, and the one who pierces the prey is the blood spear tribe. This clan is very familiar, and Rhodes remembered that three years ago, he had led the combined forces of Blackhammer, Ring, and Heidelberg to defeat this tribe and slash their chieftain. Three years later, the northern forces made a comeback, and I don't know if it was to avenge the revenge of the year.

But this time, there were more troops going south. According to Lawrence's information, there were tens of thousands. There is also a mammoth in the legion. With Blackhammer's existing fortifications, Rhodes knew that it was still possible to keep the enemy out. However, Black Hammer Fort is now ushering in a period of great development, and there are even more residents outside the city than inside the city, and since there are no three-level walls, most of them actually live outside the city. Including an entire new town, it was not protected by walls.

In this case, if you are cowering in the city, it will inevitably cause a massacre. This is absolutely inadmissible.

The only thing Rhodes could think of was to ask for help. The North is not an independent entity, it was a unified whole at the beginning of its existence. It's just that after a hundred years, there was no war, and people lived a comfortable life. Now, darkness is coming, and chaos is rising. The northern barbarians are ready to move. Sooner or later, Rhodes thought, he had to awaken the sense of crisis throughout the North. A rough plan of operations has already taken shape in my mind.

As before, send the letter to the nearest castle and hope that the other lords will send reinforcements. Three years ago, troops from Heidelberg and Hoop arrived. Three years later, Heidelberg and Blackhammer have become a single unit, and Caroline is bound to come with her troops, regardless of you and me. It's just that the Ring Castle is gone, and there is one less powerful ally. However, during the rebellion of Erengrad, he befriended several other lords, and Rhodes only hoped that they would come.

Another important point is the Ugor Cavalry Regiment. It was a semi-nomadic army, under the direct authority of the Tsar Kislev. Somewhat similar to the Griffin Legion, it was not part of the regular army of Kislev, had freedom of movement, and only appeared when the kingdom was in crisis, helping the Tsar defend himself against foreign enemies. That is, the cavalry regiment did not have to be allowed by Caterina to go out. Plus, it's fast. Because all the men are light cavalry and have excellent quality, they are several times faster than the marching speed of ordinary regiments.

Rhodes knew that the ability to obtain the support of the Ugor cavalry would be crucial to the whole battle. Again, the letter was sent out as soon as it could. Search

There is also the south, to the new city of Erlengrad, to ask for help from the regular army in Kislev. It was too late to call for help from Katarina, the Norsca army had already entered the troll country north of Kislev, and at this time the news went south, to the capital, and then the capital sent troops, and by the time Kislev's standing army arrived at Blackhammer Fort, it would be at least a month and a half later. At this time, the castle had already been besieged by the combined forces of the Norsca tribe.

Only the troops of the new port of Erlengrad could support. But Rhodes didn't expect much support from them. There's no doubt that Disney is the queen's lackey. It is impossible for him to support the North on a large scale, unless he has the Queen's approval. But again, time does not allow, the news reaches Kislev, and then through the hands of Caterina back to Erlengrad, and finally sends troops, and Blackhammer Castle is probably already in deep trouble. Rhodes was counting on the admiral to send one or two warships to the mouth of the Winter Springs River, in case the Norska tribe outflanked them from the sea.

After arranging these letters for help, Rod and Caroline worked out how to stop the attack.

On the winter march, it can be seen that the new commander of the Norscans is definitely also a madman. In winter, it is most taboo to send troops, heavy snow closes the roads, and supplies are all problems. But that's what the gang did. Crucially, they also managed to travel from their territory to the land of trolls in the north of Kislev.

The Black Forest is a natural line of defense that can block the advance of large armies, and when they reach the forest, the large armies cannot spread out their formations, but can only divide into small detachments and advance slowly. For the tribes that went south, it was very troublesome. Therefore, Rhodes has at least half a month to prepare.

This precious time must be put to good use. How to use it, Rod also probably had an idea in his heart.

The so-called surprise victory, only in the enemy's unexpected place, can get the best effect. At the beginning, the first wave of the Norsca tribe army marching south did not expect that they would set up an ambush in the forest, so they were carelessly defeated. And this time, Rhodes has a new approach. It's just that it's no longer as simple as setting up an ambush.

......

A week later, reinforcements arrived at Blackhammer Castle. First of all, the Ugor cavalry, under the leadership of the commander Palunbel, the eight hundred Ugor light cavalry wandering in the north rushed to the Black Hammer Fort as soon as possible. Then Lord Edmund of Ice Castle led two hundred veterans of the Great Wall to arrive at Blackhammer Castle.

Finally, there was the army of the Watchtower, and Lord Cyril sent an expedition of five hundred men to the front line of Blackhammer. Five hundred men is a lot for Blackhammer Castle, however, as the largest castle in the North, this force is only the tip of the iceberg for Watch. Edmund guessed that Earl Cyril was willing to send troops this time, perhaps because he also claimed to be the king of the north, and it seemed inappropriate not to send troops, so it meant something.

However, when everyone arrived at Blackhammer Castle, they found that the most important person in the entire battle, Rod, was gone!