When he said this, everyone fell silent. In fact, everyone has not thought about this problem, and it is impossible to build a long defense line that can block tens of thousands of troops in two months, but this is the only way at present, so they can only force themselves to take this road.

Raymond explained: "Freddie was right. After Renard pacifies the country, he will no longer have any worries, so he will not retreat after suffering a certain loss like last time, but will completely defeat us with a thunderous force. ”

"A hastily built defensive line like this simply could not withstand the attack of the Dirk army. Moreover, Gaspard is in a bad situation and needs a lot of money to resume construction, so there is really no need to waste it on such a fruitless task. ”

"So, do you have a better idea?" Bryce asked.

"Nope. Raymond said without hesitation: "There is still a slight chance of winning with all our defense, and we will definitely lose otherwise." ”

"But you just said again—" Marcudi felt completely confused.

Raymond said: "We already have a strong line of defense, so why don't we need to build another one at the expense of the people and money." ”

As he spoke, he tapped his finger somewhere on the map: "The decisive battle with Renard, let's choose this place." ”

Everyone leaned over to take a look, and it was... Mark of the Giant!

"You want to resist the Dirk army in the Seal of the Giant. They finally understood what Raymond meant.

Raymond nodded: "That's right, the Giant's Mark is a natural and dangerous pass, and we have spent years building a defensive fortress, and there is no better place to use it as a battlefield." ”

It is true that the natural danger of using the Giant's Mark is more suitable for defense than the improvised defensive line, but this creates new problems.

"Isn't that going to let the enemy into Gaspard?" said Bryce.

The Giant's Mark is located east of Gaspard on the border with Headington. The kingdom of Dirk is located west of Gaspard, and if the battlefield is chosen in the Giant's Seal, it is safe, but it also means that the entire territory of Gaspard will be surrendered to Renard.

This made Bryce and others, who had finally liberated Gaspard and supported Sophia on the throne, feel unacceptable.

"How can this work? Makudi was the first to object: "Wouldn't this make Gaspard fall into the hands of Renard again?" Our hard work was not in vain. ”

Bryce also said: "We must keep Dirk's army out of the country. ”

For them, letting the Dirk army enter Gaspard was no different from betraying the country, and these soldiers obviously could not accept this.

"In that case, we will definitely lose. Freddie said unceremoniously, "That's what you call giving Gaspard to Renard." ”

Hermmy also said: "As long as the enemy army can be defeated, the lost land will be recovered sooner or later." There is no point in fighting the enemy with no chance of winning. ”

"Of course it's fine for you. Marcudi snorted: "Anyway, the war will not reach the territory of Headington, and it is our Gaspard land that will be abandoned." ”

"Damn, what do you mean by that!" Harlot was furious. Bang slammed the table and got up: "You mean our boss is selfish?"

"We didn't say that. Bryce said toughly: "But as Gaspard's soldiers, we will never abandon our country." ”

"That's no different from waiting to die. "When the time comes," said Cillnes, "Gaspard will also fall into the hands of Renard, and we will not even have the strength to resist at the least." ”

"That's better than fleeing without a fight and giving up territory to the enemy. The man from Gaspard's side said.

After Sophia's return, Bryce and the others returned to their homeland, and naturally regained their sense of belonging to Gaspard, while Headington's side remained loyal to Raymond. Therefore, the two sides have different perspectives on the same strategy. Inevitably, there was a big disagreement.

Bryce and Marcudi are not stupid people, but they are concerned about chaos, the glory of soldiers, the duty of defending the territory, the loyalty to Sophia, and the defense against foreign enemies. The determination to protect the people... When these factors are added together, they can no longer see the big picture, and instead stubbornly confined to Gaspard.

Therefore, it is obviously a very simple strategic concession, and it becomes unacceptable to them.

Raymond saw this very clearly, but he couldn't convince Bryce and the others. Because it's as Bryce said. The war will not burn into the territory of Headington, and they must surrender Gaspard to the enemy, Raymond's side naturally does not care, but as Gaspard's soldiers, how can they accept it?

At this point, the two sides inevitably fell into a dispute. Especially when there is only one option, no one can convince anyone, and things get troublesome.

"If Lord Raymond must choose the battlefield in the Mark of the Giants, then allow us Gaspard to defend against Renard alone. Last, Bryce said.

"Don't you understand? There's no chance of winning at all. Freddie said in a deep voice.

Makudi snorted, "At least we did our part. ”

"Is the so-called duty to die in vain, and then let the enemy occupy his country?" Hermmy dissatisfied: "It is better to retreat without a fight, at least to die less." ”

"This is our country, what do you Hydingtons know!" Bryce furious.

"Aren't we here to help you fight the enemy?" said Hilneth, not to be outdone.

Neither side is convinced, at this time, the anger of the people on both sides is about to reach its peak, only because the friendship of fighting together before is still there, so it has not completely torn its face. Once a quarrel starts, the consequences will be unimaginable.

"Lord Raymond, think of a way, we must not make a split at this time. Freddie whispered to Raymond.

Together, Hydington and Gaspard have a chance of defeating Renard. If both sides fight on their own, the only thing that awaits them is defeat.

"Don't say anything!" Raymond interrupted the crowd with a sudden voice.

"Let Sophia decide. ”

"Just do as Raymond says. ”

Everyone found Sophia, and after listening to the cause and effect of the incident, Sophia immediately expressed her attitude without hesitation.

"But Your Majesty, in that case, we will have to give up almost all the land. Bryce was shocked and said hurriedly.

"The land is not going away. As long as you defeat the enemy, you can take it back, right?" said Sophia calmly.

"But—" Bryce paused.

Makudi also advised: "Your Majesty, we have finally returned to the country, and the people expect you to do something. If you renounce your land at this time and evacuate again. I'm afraid I'll lose popularity. ”

Sophia said: "If I were to sacrifice the lives of my soldiers to fight a battle with no chance of winning, then I would rather lose the so-called popularity." But I am sure that the people will understand me. ”

Saying that, she said undoubtedly: "Needless to say, it's decided." From now on, you don't have to ask me anything about military strategy, you all have to listen to Raymond. ”

Bryce and the others glanced at each other. The most helpless bow her head and said, "Yes, we understand." ”

"Sophia, Xie Luxie. Raymond said to Sophia.

Sophia solved the problem by dividing it by two and avoided the further deterioration of the situation, especially her unreserved trust in Raymond, which moved Raymond.

"Because you're right. Sophia smiled slightly: "And I said, no matter what you do, I will listen to you." ”

"Hey..."Harlot's eyes lit up. As if he was about to say something nonsense, Hilnis's eyes were quick. Quickly covered his mouth.

"Shut up!"

Under Sophia's decision, a storm of internal division passed.

Sophia then began to make all the arrangements, and Gaspard used the two months to evacuate all the civilians west of Orat City in the direction of Headington.

In this way, they were not affected by the flames of war. It is also possible to use the "scorched earth policy" to try to create difficulties for the Dirk army.

Sophia's policy was unsurprisingly criticized by many people, and many nobles accused her of being cowardly and giving away land to the enemy.

But most of the people understood what she was doing. From the east of the city of Orat, from countless villages, small towns and cities, hundreds of thousands of people have left their homes and evacuated to the east.

However, there was little chaos along the way, because they all believed in her Majesty's Majesty, that it was only temporary, and that they would soon be able to return home.

While Sophia was busy arranging the evacuation, Raymond returned to Headington.

Bryce and Hermie and other generals are now gathered at the Giant's Seal Pass to prepare for defense, and Raymond doesn't have to worry about it for the time being. So he came back this time for two things, one was to check the development progress of the artillery, which was an important secret weapon for him to defeat Renard.

Second, it's for the decisive battle between Kress and Gru.

Last time in the battle to clear the necromancer fleet, Kress was seriously wounded, so Gru agreed with him that the two would fight a duel after Kress was healed and the winner would be decided. Now, that deadline is approaching.

This duel can be said to be the duel between two of the strongest humans in this world, and even if the decisive battle with Renard is imminent, Raymond does not want to miss this grand event.

Upon returning to Headington, Raymond made a beeline for Aliana's workshop.

Fortunately, Marie did not disappoint everyone, and as soon as she arrived, she immediately greatly accelerated the development speed. During Raymond's assistance in Sophia's recovery, she had already helped Alina stabilize the gunpowder recipe, so that there would never be any more accidental explosions of gunpowder and cannon explosions.

Now, with the joint efforts of the two generations of geniuses of mother and daughter, and the assistance of Thor, the first cannon in the true sense of the world is gradually being born.

"Boom!"

With a loud bang, flames erupted from the muzzle of the cannon, and iron projectiles erupted at high speed, hitting a raised mound of earth hundreds of meters away, immediately blasting the huge mound out of a gap.

Then, a dwarf ran forward and used a long pole to clean the barrel of gunpowder, then poured in new gunpowder, tamped it, and then filled it with a second shell.

The dwarf in charge of shooting holds a torch. Ignited the lead. At this moment, everyone's hearts were raised to their throats.

The fuse ignited the gunpowder in the barrel, and with another loud bang, the cannon fired a second time, cutting a gap in the far mound.

"It's work!" the crowd immediately cheered.

This was the first time that a cannon had been fired continuously, and today's test shows that the cannon is now being built. Both the range and power are considerable, and more importantly, the ability to shoot continuously, which is the most important point to apply to actual combat.

Raymond, who was watching from the sidelines, also sighed in his heart, and the power of the cannon just now made him firmly believe that it was the right decision for him to insist on investing in the first place. As long as you make a few more of these things, you will definitely have a surprising victory effect when fighting Renard.

"Alina, thank you and your mother, my investment finally makes sense. Raymond said happily to Alina.

"Hey, hey. You don't have to thank us, if you want to thank Uncle Saul. Alina was very happy that the test was successful.

"Mr. Sophie?" Raymond was stunned.

Alina nodded, "yes." If it weren't for Uncle Saul's suggestions for improvements, we wouldn't have been able to make them so quickly, and Uncle Saul would have been the biggest contributor to it. ”

Mary also walked over at this time: "Yes, Thor's suggestion has saved us a lot of detours, otherwise we would just be fumbling." Maybe it won't be done in a few years. ”

As soon as the two said this, Raymond also remembered. When Alina first made the prototypes of gunpowder and cannons, Thor did not hesitate to name them. After that, I have been helping Alina to tinker with this thing, but I didn't expect him to play such a big role, this person is really incredible.

So, he said to Saul, "Mr. Saul, thank you so much for your help."

Sol Ha Lang smiled: "Didn't I say it a long time ago. This stuff has been of great use to me as well, and I certainly wish it had been done sooner. ”

At this time, Marie stared at Thor with a strange expression and said, "Sometimes I can't help but wonder, did you already know that there is such a thing in the Dao, otherwise why would every suggestion you put forward be on the point." It's just incredible. ”

"Aha, it's just a coincidence. Thor hurriedly snorted.

Fortunately, no one would really pursue it, and Saul diverted the topic and quickly fooled it over.

In fact, at this time, only Sol knew that what they had made now was just a very primitive cannon.

Smoothbore, breech loading, solid bullets, the cartridge has not yet been studied, it can only be fired with bulk gunpowder, the sight is also very primitive, the caliber is unsatisfactory, there is no brake, and it can only be fired fixed... Wait, in general, in the world where Thor came, this belongs to something that has long been eliminated.

However, this can't be blamed on Saul. He was not an expert in military affairs or foundry, and had only a vague memory of the early cannons, especially the details.

As a result, he can only make vague suggestions based on his impressions, but he can't say how to improve them, so it is often decided by Marie, Alina, and the dwarves in consultation with each other.

But as Marie said, even if it was only a vague suggestion, Thor's role was enormous. Without him, even this primitive thing in front of me may have taken several years, or even more than ten years, to make.

The only consolation was that the dwarf's casting level was far beyond his expectations. These innate forging races have accumulated extremely amazing skills, and the artillery forged by them has reached a very high level of craftsmanship, so although the skills are still relatively primitive, the artillery is much ahead of its time in terms of durability, caliber ratio, and so on.

"Forget it, let it be. Thor said to himself. This thing in front of him is already the limit of his own knowledge, and if he wants to develop artillery in the future, he can only rely on the efforts of the people in this world.

"When can I go into real combat?" is the question that Raymond is most concerned about.

"We've been trying to forge it since Miss Alina invented the cannon, and we've been trying to forge it after many failures, and we've finally found some tricks. The dwarven blacksmith Ozama said: "It's just that there is a shortage of manpower, and the cost is also very large, and it has been intermittent for most of the past six months, and only more than 10 cannons have been built so far." ”

Thanks to the presence of the Lowville Chamber of Commerce, Directington's industrial capacity has been greatly enhanced, and there is no shortage of raw materials, which can support the dwarven craftsmen to continuously experiment and improve the art of cannon casting.

But even so, in the past six months, they have been making all their efforts, and they have only made more than 10 qualified guns.

"No matter how much it costs, you can go to Rickett and ask for it. Raymond said very simply: "As long as you can speed up." ”

"Another thing that is very troublesome is that these cannons can only be fired fixedly now. I'm afraid it can't be used in field warfare. Marie said again.

"It doesn't matter. "Raymond wasn't worried about that, he was going to play a defensive battle anyway.

In the end, Raymond agreed with them that in two months, no matter how many cannons were cast, they would be sent to the Giant's Seal Fortress to be installed. Right now. Raymond has pinned a large part of his hopes of victory on these new weapons.

After saying goodbye to Alina's mother and daughter, Raymond and Thor walked together towards Lowell's station.

Along the way, neither of them said anything. Since learning about his father-son relationship with Thor, every time he faces Thor alone, Raymond is always a little weird, and he can no longer find the natural feeling that the two of them got along naturally during the original escape.

Thor seemed to be the same, and the silence between the two along the way made the atmosphere quite subtle.

To break the embarrassment. Raymond simply told Thor about the events of Gaspard's Restoration War. In fact, Raymond couldn't figure out why he was doing this, it was not so much small talk as it was a bit like a son reporting what he had done to his father.

He is no longer a child who needs to be spoiled, but for Raymond, who has no father since he was a child, when he and Thor get together, the other party is his closest father. It will unconsciously affect his thinking.

At the end, Raymond said: "After Renard settles the country." He would certainly have marched eastward at once, for he would never allow the existence of a Gaspard who was not under his control, let alone sit idly by and watch Headington continue to grow. ”

"How much time do you have left?" Thor didn't ask why Raymond was telling him this. He glanced at Raymond and said.

"Two months, less than three months at most. Raymond said.

Thor snorted, "No wonder you're in such a hurry. It seems that Alina's invention came at a good time. ”

"So. Are you sure?"

"Of course. Raymond said without hesitation.

I didn't expect him to answer so simply, Saul said with some surprise: "You are so confident?"

Raymond nodded: "This is a life-and-death battle between Gaspard and Headington, and we must win." Besides, I never thought I'd lose. ”

Looking at Raymond's confident face, Thor couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It's worthy of Armada's blood. At least this kind of strong self-confidence from the bottom of his bones can't be given to him.

However, this kid's handsomeness must have been inherited from me...

Saul didn't know that Raymond already knew about the relationship between the two, and he was still worried about how to provoke Raymond, which made him always a little unnatural when facing Raymond.

Taking a breath to calm himself down, Thor decided to deal with it in his own way for the time being, that is: tomorrow's sorrow will be tomorrow's sorrow. Whatever he does, drag it first.

So, he asked Raymond, "So, what are your plans for the future?"

"What?"

"I mean, what you're going to do next when the war is over. "Sol Dao.

As he spoke, he pointed around: "Headington already has a very large territory, but it still has no official name, I don't think even you can say, what kind of form is it that Headington has gathered so many towns and so many people." In the past, there was that princess Sophia supporting the façade, and there was a big enemy outside, no one thought about it, but what about after the war?"

"Sofia has ascended the throne, Beddington and Gaspard have been completely separated, you can't continue to rule so confusedly. Are those who follow you willing to remain without any identity?"

After all, he is a person who has been fighting for so many years, and Saul can see at a glance that the biggest problem facing Raymond is not the enemy that is about to be fought, but how to deal with himself after the war.

As he said, Headington is neither a state nor a vassal of Gaspard, but it is a bit unclear that there are so many towns and people, as well as a large number of talents.

However, even if it can be united by the pressure of external enemies and Raymond's personal charm, it is not a long-term solution after all. If Raymond can't find a solution, sooner or later it will become very troublesome.

Raymond himself hadn't thought about this himself, but he didn't see it as thoroughly as Saul. At this moment, I listened to him and realized the seriousness of the matter. (To be continued......)