Thirty-five conspiracies

After Phil left, Ashruphat turned his head to look at the darkness behind him.

"Leo, what are you doing here?" he asked softly. Ordinary people may not be able to see Leo hiding in the dark, but Ashruphat has the power of dark vision.

"You've found out. Eshurufat, you're really alert, no wonder you don't even need guards. Leo walked out and came all the way to Ashrufat. "But as for Miss Phil, let's stop here. ”

Ashrufat looked at Leo and didn't speak.

"Our Miss Phil is no ordinary prophetess, I just found out today that she is actually a candidate for the Holy Maiden!" Leo shrugged. "In fairy tales, it is true that some prophetess married some brave knight. But the saint is a different story. The saint is the darling of the god of nature, and cannot be combined with ordinary people. ”

"What do you say, there's no way Fei'er likes me. Ashrufat replied. "She's just a little interested in me. I was just...... Respond to her ......"

"There's no reason to fall in love with someone. Leo replied. "Ashrufat, I'm more and more sure of one thing. ”

"What's the matter?"

"Although you are an earl, it will be difficult for you to marry a wife without me as a matchmaker for you. Leo walked past Eshurufat and patted him the back.

"When we finish the war, the first thing I will do is find a good wife for myself, and the second thing is to introduce you to the most suitable one. We can have Thomas as the wedding celebrant, and there will be many people who will be envious. ”

A few days later, in the early morning, a small group appeared on the misty grassland. It's a very small team, just five or six people. All of them rode war horses, and the one in the lead even sat in a strange saddle. The saddle was oddly shaped, with the left and right stirrups not the same length, and it was clearly made for people with disabled legs and feet.

The traces of the battlefield are still very clear. Although the corpses were mostly cleaned up, there were still many fragments of weapons and armor on the battlefield, as well as some uncleaned stumps and flesh. All of this is clear proof of what happened here.

The bodies of the dead were disposed of separately. The corpses of the Paro were hastily buried in several large pits, and a stone tablet was placed next to it, recording the great martial arts of the Allied commander Thomas in defeating the enemy here. As for the fallen warriors of Cassilos and St. Jean, they were carefully buried separately, and each tombstone was engraved with the name and origin of the fallen in battle.

In this situation, as long as you are not a fool, you can know who will win and who will lose this battle.

The small group stopped at the edge of a large pit where the bodies of the Paro people were buried. The man in the lead rolled over and dismounted, and through the sunlight, he could see Rook's thin, pale face. Riding a horse was obviously an extremely strenuous task for Luke. After he dismounted, he gasped violently for a long time.

"So, our Count Ashruphat really went straight to the Wolf's Mouth Castle?" Rook pushed his glasses and asked his men as he read the stone tablet showing off his martial prowess.

"That's right, I guess we've already walked half the way now. But as long as they don't force their march, then we can definitely catch up with the army before they reach the Wolf's Mouth Castle. We're much faster. One of the subordinates said.

"What are you still forcibly marching for?" Rook muttered under his breath. Indeed, there is no point anymore. Since last winter, Thomas has annihilated nearly 100,000 Paros in a series of battles, and made the Paro army stationed at the border castle of Cassilos a turtle in Mengzhong. Not to mention that he also killed two generals of Paro on the battlefield in a row.

The current Paro people no longer have an army to use to reinforce the Wolf's Mouth Castle. Ashruphat can pass slowly and have a siege without any worries. Of course, in terms of the situation, Ashruphat must be the kind of person who is ambitious and has a long life. He would not have resorted to a long-term siege strategy to take the castle.

Time is running out, and in two or three months, the Paros on the border between Cassilos and San Jean will be deprived of food and grass. They had no choice but to surrender to the army of St. Jean beneath the city.

It doesn't even have to be so much trouble. Now the news of Thomas's victory has spread everywhere, and everyone in Cassilos knows about it. Perhaps those Paros were already preparing to surrender. In any case, the main force of St. Jean would cross the border without any losses, sweeping all the way up, and finally joining up with the allied forces led by Thomas at the foot of the Wolf's Mouth.

If that happens, then Ryan's position becomes extremely sinister. If he stopped St. Jean's army, then he would have to fight against Princess Irina, and with his troops he would never be able to defeat St. Jean's army, he was doomed to defeat. If he doesn't stop it, then his weak nature will be seen through, and then the status of the duke will be in danger, let alone marrying a princess.

Ideally, he would be able to take over the army under the command of Ashrufat. If Ryan can get this force, then he will not only greatly increase his strength, but more importantly, he will have a solid rear where he can sit on the ground and negotiate with Princess Irina.

That guy from Ashrufat has to be gone.

Luke didn't stay on this battlefield for long, and after a little inspection of the battlefield and mentally analyzing the situation at that time, he hurriedly set out on the journey.

His subordinate was not wrong at all, and by dusk the next day, he had already caught up with the army. Two groups of scouting horsemen came up in a row, but Rook had a certificate of identity issued by Princess Irina and Thomas to prove that he was a clerk in the army, so he didn't run into any unnecessary trouble.

It was getting dark, and the coalition camp was not far ahead. Judging from the size of the camp, aside from the logistics troops, the strength of the coalition army is about 30,000 or 40,000. This is also in line with Rook's previous estimate.

"Your Excellency, aren't you going in yet?" asked the subordinate next to him in a low voice, and Rook realized that he had waited here too long. He tried his best to keep his face calm, and when he realized that his feet were shaking violently, he pressed them down.

No, he shouldn't be afraid. Except for Eshurufat, Leo, and William Daley, no one in the entire army knew about the betrayal! Not to mention that William Daly had already been killed, and now there were only two of them. And he had in his hand a personal identification card issued by Thomas......

Rook mustered up his courage. It won't be so unlucky, it's getting dark, and now Ashruphat and Leo are definitely resting, or dealing with something. And even if he was discovered by Eshuruphat or Leo, it would not be a big deal. They focused on Ryan, not on a tiny clerk like him. They don't know that he is Ryan's uncle, and it is impossible for them to know that he is the driving force behind him.

"You wait here. If it's okay, I'll come out to you. ”

Rook was not wrong at all, and inside the camp, Ashrufat and Leo were discussing their next steps.

"According to the information we have, the Paro people used the tactics of a long-term siege to capture the Wolf's Mouth Castle, so the castle itself is basically intact. However, the Paros were too hasty to improve the castle's defenses, and there were only a few heavy cannons. Using our detachable siege towers, raiding in the dead ends of the cannons is indeed a good chance of success. ”

"But even with siege towers, we don't have an advantage in numbers. This was Leo's judgment. Although it seems that the coalition army has 30,000 people (after the battle, many scattered Cassilos knights and militiamen have joined the army, so that the strength of the coalition army has increased instead of decreasing), but the defenders of the wolf's mouth castle are conservatively estimated to be no less than 20,000. After the Battle of the Misty Steppes, almost all of the defeated Paro army retreated into the castle. For siege warfare, this advantage is simply not enough.

According to military common sense, the army trapped in the castle will inevitably resist desperately, and the will to fight is much higher than under normal circumstances, because they have no way to retreat. Therefore, in siege warfare, it is necessary to rely on overwhelming superiority in forces to crush the enemy's resistance. In addition, on the city walls, shooting weapons such as muskets and bows and arrows naturally have good angles and longer ranges, and are bound to inflict far greater casualties than normal. Attacking a castle garrisoned by more than 20,000 men with an army of 30,000 men is a battle with little chance of victory, even if it has sufficient siege equipment.

The normal course of action is to dig trenches, build fortifications, build fortifications, trap castles, and then rely on long sieges, using starvation as a weapon, and finally force the defenders to choose between starvation and surrender. In fact, on the border line of Cassilos and St. Jean, the main forces of St. Jean did just that.

It's just that neither Eshurufat nor Leo have considered this much safer approach at all, and Thomas's injury is already very critical. In fact, even if you can get "myrrh" now, there is no guarantee that it will be saved.

"Three days later, at noon, we will be able to reach the castle under the wolf's mouth, and then arrange the camp and secretly assemble the siege tower at night. The next day, as soon as it dawned, they immediately attacked, and there was no other way. Ashrufat said anxiously. There was no time, and the brief awakening of Thomas a few days ago was not a sign of his recovery, on the contrary, he fell into a coma and a high fever again, and the situation was far worse than before.

Fei'er had previously deduced that it was twenty days, but in fact, I am afraid that there is no such time.

"We've wasted too much time on the road! If we had forced our march, we might have taken the castle by now!" Ashruphat hammered the corners of the table, denting the corners of the table. The strength of the fist made Leo stunned. Of course, Leo knew that Ashrufat was just whining. Both of them knew very well that a forced march was not a good idea.

"We should arrange a concrete plan for the siege. If you can, it's best to lure some of your enemies out of the city...... If we hadn't set up a strong camp, we might have been able to save time to build a city breaker. Leo pondered. "When the time comes, we should be able to pin down the enemy a little and share the pressure on the siege towers. ”

"I don't know if it's too late...... And the siege tower has not been assembled for a long time, and it may need to be repaired by then......"

"By the way, Ashrufat, I got a message from the rear, about that kid from Ryan. Leo said suddenly.

"The last time we heard from him, he took possession of Drake, which we had abandoned, and seemed to call himself a duke...... What tricks did he play this time?" Ashrufat asked coldly. Every time Ryan was mentioned, his voice was as cold as a block of ice.

"It's not what's wrong, it's that I'm getting some more specific news. Leo replied. "That kid didn't just call himself a duke, but he raised the banner of the scorching sun sword that only the Cassilos royal family had. He did not make the knights swear allegiance to Princess Irina, as Thomas had planned, but the knights of Cassilos to him personally. This is a clear betrayal. ”