"Fifty, not five," someone who didn't laugh finally asked the officer who provided the information.

"Fifty people, but I've heard that they are all gunners. The man continued. The laughter immediately stopped.

"Fifty gunners...... So how many cannons are there?" someone asked. Previously, because of the weapon support of the Ryan people, the number of cannons of the Hama tribe was quite considerable. In the final battle, all the cannons fell intact into the hands of the vampires.

"Herein lies the problem, the vampires had the Hama send fifty gunners, but they didn't carry the cannons. ”

"Interesting......" Leto whispered to himself. "A gunner without a cannon...... What do vampires want to do?"

"Your Royal Highness, in my opinion, this should be the rumor we set up before. A staff member spoke.

"Oh, for what?" Leto looked at the other with interest.

"As we all know, the operation of a cannon is actually relatively complex, and it is not a concept at all like a musket. It only takes half a day for a person to master the use of a musket, while a qualified gunner can only be trained after at least half a year of training. It is difficult for an untrained novice to even aim the muzzle at the target. ”

That's right. Although Leto had never actually operated a cannon himself, he knew that the elevation angle of the muzzle was adjusted by hammering a wedge-shaped piece of wood. Let's not talk about anything else, this matter alone has a lot of knowledge, and a little improper force, or even uneven force, will be excessive. It is difficult for an unskilled gunner to adjust the muzzle to shoot at targets at long distances. For an unskilled gunner, let alone an enemy army, it was difficult to hit such a large and fixed target as the walls of the city.

"Therefore, this matter can be understood as the vampire took away all the skilled gunners in the Bin, in order to weaken the combat power of the Binzu and prevent the Binzu from rebelling at a critical moment. In other words, it was an important outcome of our rumor strategy. The vampires are indeed worried about the Hama rebellion. So in future battles, we don't have to worry about the army of the Hama clan secretly ambushing the undead legion. ”

After listening to this analysis, everyone nodded in agreement. Bringing a gunner without a cannon, such illogical things can only be explained in this way.

With this topic over, everyone immediately began to discuss other, more practical issues.

"Your Highness, although the construction of a 'lone peak' is effective, I am worried...... Vampires may spot our cannons and launch a surprise attack using troops like bats or ghosts. We had to place a small squad of melee troops to keep the cannon safe, and we had to have a magician......"

"It doesn't matter, we have plenty of troops, and we have a lot of leeway to deal with this problem. Leto replied with a little impatience. He could now feel that he had quite a few opponents in his plan to fight in Purple Stone. Many people, especially the older officers, almost unanimously agreed that it was the right choice to follow Bayer's advice, choose to stay out of the battle, and send reinforcements to support Bayor. Fortunately, he directly used the authority of the commander to order the retreat to the purple stone, otherwise if he held a military meeting to solicit opinions in the normal way, I don't know how long it would take to argue. And the matter of the decisive battle of the Purple Stone was also opposed by enough people, who all thought that the battlefield was too small, and it was very disadvantageous to force the whole army to fight in formation.

"The battlefield is too small for knights to move. "One more person made an opinion. Cavalry requires more space than infantry, and it is difficult for cavalry to fully utilize their combat power in a battle with Purple Stone.

"That's true, but it's equal on both sides and not a disadvantage. Don't vampires also have cavalry units? These cavalry are also very difficult to use. Leto replied reluctantly.

"But......" The man had meant to say that the black knights of the vampires were not only few in number, but could dismount and fight at any time. And it would be a loss to let the knights dismount and fight on foot. Without a war horse, the knight would not be able to exert a powerful charge, and his combat effectiveness would at least be discounted. But looking at Leto's face, he swallowed the sentence back.

"Your Highness, our formation is too close, and once an army collapses, there will be a chain reaction, and other nearby troops will fall into chaos. "One more person objected.

"It's because of the tight formation that they don't break down. Leto replied. His impatience was evident not only in his expression, but also in his voice. "There is simply no room for the soldiers to retreat. And I'm not going to give the vampires time to line up, I'm going to let the musketeers take the initiative and harass the vampire strikers. ”

"My lord, since this time it was the vampires who took the initiative to approach our army to fight, then we don't need to fight on a battlefield as small as Purple Stone. We might as well retreat all the way and find a plain where we can fully deploy our army after exiting the valley......"

Exiting this valley as a big road, then finding a suitable battlefield is no longer a problem. But there is a good chance that the vampires will give up the pursuit, and Leto's plan to seek a decisive battle will be completely frustrated.

"This is already a battlefield with enough room for our entire army, so why should we look for another one?" Leto bluntly declined. "Let's discuss how to make the most of the opportunity for our army to arrange the battlefield in advance. And once we leave this valley, the vampires are empowered...... Regardless of everything else, go straight to our homeland. If that happens, can you afford the responsibility?!"

He stared sternly at the guy who made the suggestion, and finally silenced the other party.

No, it would be a waste of time to continue to discuss it like this!Leto suddenly realized that he didn't need to convene this military conference at all, because he was a general. Originally, the purpose of such meetings was to carry out the will of the general, and to have the subordinates add details of the specific battle plan, especially some things that the general had not thought through, and not to question the battle plan itself. And now, the meeting is a little out of hand.

Sure enough, it was because of his lack of prestige and achievements in military affairs that caused his subordinates to be generally in a state of "dissatisfaction". In addition, in order to increase the combat effectiveness of the army, the previous search for outstanding middle and high-level officers was carried out as much as possible, which further contributed to this unfavorable atmosphere. Having said that, it is strange that the decision of the chief general is not questioned in this case, since one side is a chief general who has never had military experience, and on the other hand, a middle and high-level general who is familiar with military affairs and has great prestige among soldiers.

Leto realized that he could not continue like this, and he immediately made a decision.

"If you don't have any other opinions, let's go back to our respective units right away. He looked at the others. If he were to continue the military conference, I am afraid that there would be many more people who would have to speak and make comments - stupid ones, of course. The last thing Leto needs right now is these opinions. What he needs is a victory, a real victory under his own command.

"Your Royal Highness," said an old officer with gray hair who looked to be over sixty years old. "In any case, please avoid this battle. Vampires may not be as powerful as we might think. I was once ordered to go on an expedition to Callean......"

"But the vampires and the Hama are at war for themselves. This time it wasn't Leto who answered, but one of his staff. He directly interrupted the other party, "All this is undeniable. And it's a different situation than Kalean. You must know that it is the entire Blood Knights who are entrenched in Callean, and its combat power cannot be ignored, but after all, this time only the Scarlet Duke is alone. ”

"In any case, please don't underestimate the ferocity and cunning of the vampires! At that time, he already had an absolute advantage, and he had the strength to hide a part of his combat power. So in the next suggestion......"

"Do you mean ......" This time it was Leto who spoke, his voice more than the previous impatience, but a new level. "It took us more than a year to send out countless spies, scouts, and repeated inquiries...... All of them have been deceived by vampires. All the information they conveyed about the vampire's military power was false. All of these people combined are not as smart and wise as you...... Is that what it means?"

"No, but ......" The old officer did not expect Leto to show such an attitude.

"The reason why we were able to deduce the combat power of the vampire's undead legion was based on the countless pieces of information that had been repeatedly confirmed, plus the battle between the vampire and the Hama clan. And when you say these things, you close your eyes and guess at random. Am I right?" Leto's voice became slow and soft, and the murderous aura in his voice was stronger than one word.

"Are you planning to disturb the morale of our army?" and now anyone else present could see that something was wrong, and Leto's last sentence was a typical rebuke.

"What kind of crime is it to confuse the army with rumors?" Leto turned his head and asked one of his cronies.

"Punished as an enemy espionage. Death penalty!" the cronie replied immediately.

Because Leto spoke loudly just now, at this moment, the soldiers in charge of guarding outside the big tent had already entered, ready to listen to orders. These guards were Leto's personal guards, and they were not only skilled in battle, but also loyal and reliable to him.

Leto immediately made a gesture to the guards. Several guards immediately rushed up and grabbed the old man. The latter tried to fight back, but one of the guards struck him in the back of the neck with a powerful knife. The blow was so hard and heavy that the old officer immediately collapsed and was dragged out by the guards.

The incident was in a hurry, and the others were completely unprepared and could only watch everything happen. When everyone came back to their senses, they saw Leto standing in the middle of the big tent, the gloomy killing intent on his face lingering.

Through the curtain door of the tent, there seemed to be a scream. This voice, combined with Leto's face, turned the warmth of spring in the tent into the bitter cold of winter.

"Do you have any opinions? If you don't have any opinions, please go back to your respective armies and hurry up to set up the battlefield. ”

Now like this, who would dare to say anything. The meeting ended, and everyone left the tent in trespass, and went back to their respective units. Soon, the big tent was empty, and only the last few Leto cronies remained.

"How's it going?" Leto's face quickly returned to normal, and he asked one of his cronies. This one was only rushed back in the middle of the meeting just now.

"Your Highness, very good, Lord Bernando is right. ”

"Oh, is there really such a path?" Leto's eyes narrowed, "tell me more about it." ”

"Your Highness, here. The man came to the improvised purple stone map and pointed to a place. "This is it, on the surface it looks like a grove with a natural path in the woods. However, at the end of the trail there is a cliff that is difficult to climb, so on the surface it is just a worthless dead end. But in reality, this cliff can be climbed. Because there is a small gap in this cliff. This position is only about three people high, and it can be climbed with the help of a rope. Then you can drill through a gap between the rock faces, and after that, there is a mountain path that leads to the city of Mir. I have confirmed this myself. ”

"Okay, great. Leto replied happily. With this path, he was given a chance to retreat just in case. Even if you are defeated, you have a good chance of escaping. I don't know how those church guys know about such a thing.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Now, everything is ready, just waiting for the vampires to come.