Sword of Dawn

Chapter 0684 Information in the Mist

In the brightly lit study room, the ruler of the Typhon Empire and tonight's uninvited guest faced each other in silence.

In the past hour, Rosetta Augustus learned of the world's most daring, secret, and craziest plan—the limit of mortal ambition, which made the emperor speechless for a long time.

"In the face of a millennium-long plan, any temporary failure or setback is insignificant. From your point of view, it must not be difficult to understand," Fierna & Leierna's voices finally broke the silence, "His Majesty the Emperor , do you have any doubts about the authenticity of the 'Rebel Plan'?"

"Before discussing its authenticity, I'm more curious about why you came to me," Rosetta stared at the elf twins in front of her, "Are you eager to find a new investment target?"

"Should we go find that Gawain Cecil?" Reina laughed, "There are not many visionary leaders, and besides Gawain Cecil, you are the only suitable choice. "

Ferna followed up and said, "Your Majesty Rosetta Augustus, the heir of Augustus' bloodline, this is not the first time we have been in contact, we know what kind of situation you and your family are facing. Crazy Shadows..."

Leierna took half a step forward: "The collapse of the old imperial capital 200 years ago allowed your ancestors to witness things that mortals should not pry into. Those twisted and crazy knowledge soaked the blood of the Augustus family, but you also From it, I got a glimpse of some truths about this world..."

Fierna followed in the footsteps of Leierna: "So, as long as you think a little bit, you will realize that what we say is true, and at the same time realize that we should be natural allies."

The elf twins stopped in front of Emperor Rosetta's desk, smiling like mirror images, and said in unison: "You need to fight against the madness brought by the gods, we need new allies, and we need each other."

Rosetta looked at the twins and raised her hand slightly: "Stand back."

The elf twins immediately retreated to their original positions: "As you wish."

"According to what you said, the rebellious plan is a secret plan of the Gondor Empire, which is directly controlled by its royal family, so how did you two elves get involved with this plan?" Rosetta's face sank, as if she had no idea He was moved by the persuasion of these two elves just now, but he was still full of vigilance and doubts.

"The disobedience plan is indeed the legacy of the human empire, but humans are not the only ones involved in this plan—a considerable part of the project requires the knowledge of druids, and the silver elves are the source of most druids," Lena said frankly Response, "We were scholars who were secretly recruited by the Gondor Empire and worked for it 1000 years ago. The magic tide interrupted our work 700 years ago, and we had to return to the Silver Empire temporarily. The birth made us realize that this cause is not over - we return to our mission, which continues to this day."

"As the elves of the Silver Empire, you serve Gondor, and you haven't told your home country any secrets about the rebellious plan?"

"...Elves are not suitable for large-scale contact with rebellious plans, and we have our own reasons."

Rosetta stared at the elf twins in front of him. After staring for half a minute, he retracted his gaze a little: "The birth of the end of all things... 700 years ago, the leaders of the three dark sects were on the peak of the ancestors. What did you see?"

Fierna and Leierna looked at each other, and then said at the same time: "If what your ancestors saw in the collapse of the old imperial capital was the fragments of the puzzle, what the leaders of the three religions saw on the Ancestral Peak is the whole puzzle." jigsaw puzzle.

"They arrived in the kingdom of God, and saw the birth and destruction of the gods - and saw the end of the gods' nature and destiny.

"The scholars of Gondor 1000 years ago believed that the gods were approaching madness, and because of madness, they would destroy the mortal world in the final stage, but they actually got one thing wrong-the gods were not approaching madness .

"The moment a mortal begins to think, the gods have gone mad."

Rosetta didn't speak for a while, but thought for a moment, then he shook his head: "I've heard enough of these vague fables from ancient times, let's talk about something practical—what happened on the Plain of the Holy Spirit? What did death do, and what did those Cecilians do?"

"We left Anzu before the final battle, so I'm afraid we can't give you too detailed information, but we still know some things—" the elf twins replied, "All things die will create an artificial god, But this artificial god has been insane since its birth, and those Cecilians...they destroyed this artificial god in the White Sand Hills area."

Rosetta's eyes instantly became sharp and deep, and after a short pause, she slowly asked: "An artificial god? How strong is it? Are the Cecilians capable of destroying such an artificial god? How much did they pay?"

"The artificial gods are fakes, but their power is still stronger than any earthly creature you know, and as for the Cecils...they seem to have allies to help, but we don't know who their allies are for the time being."

After thinking briefly, Rosetta nodded, leaned back into the chair, and said in a cold voice: "I see—this conversation is over."

This time, the Elf Twins, who had always maintained a confident expression, finally couldn't help showing a look of astonishment: "You don't intend to accept our cooperation?"

"Did I say I would accept it?" Rosetta glanced at the two elves with a half-smile, "I admit that your words are indeed very deceptive, but there is one thing you got wrong—"

The elf twins looked at each other and said in unison: "What is it?"

"I don't talk about cooperation with cultists-you don't have the qualifications yet."

"Then before you..."

"That was just taking advantage," Rosetta raised her right hand slightly, "now, it's just taking advantage of it."

The elf twins finally noticed the powerful magic power secretly accumulated by the ruler of Typhon. Their expressions changed instantly, and countless poisonous vines came out from between the floor and the wall out of thin air, stabbing at the desk behind the desk like sharp arrows. Emperor Rosetta, and they themselves were shrouded in green brilliance at the same time, and instantly transformed into small nightingales in the light curtain, rushing straight to the nearby window——

A series of explosions suddenly exploded in the study, and countless winding and split electric lights spread out centered on Rosetta, burning those poisonous vines to ashes in an instant, and then he swung a wave at the two nightingales. With a wave of his hand, one after another arcane barriers condensed like crystal barriers, blocking the way for the elves to escape.

Two nightingales uttered melodious but chilling chirps at the same time, invisible ripples rippling in the air, hindering the closing of the arcane barrier, sparks sparked layer upon layer from the magic power, jumping around in this study, sparks In the splash, a slender black shadow passed through the gap between the arcane barriers, and disappeared in the busy night outside the window in an instant, while another shadow was captured by the magic cage formed by the arcane barrier, and rushed left After falling to the right, he fell to the ground.

Rosetta Augustus just stood up from behind the desk. Surrounded by jumping arcane arcs, he stepped on the study floor that was still emitting green smoke. He came to the fallen Nightingale. He lowered his head and looked down at the latter expressionlessly: "It's good to be able to catch one..."

However, as soon as he finished speaking, the nightingale suddenly twisted and trembled, and was quickly engulfed by a halo of light, turning into shimmering particles that drifted with the wind, and completely disappeared before Rosetta's eyes within a few seconds. .

Rosetta watched this scene quietly, until the nightingale's residual magical reaction completely disappeared, and he whispered to himself with a hint of thought: "The so-called 'Twins'...is it just one person? ...It's kind of interesting."

A sound of slightly messy footsteps came from the corridor, the door of the study was pushed open from the outside, and several palace guards and a court mage wearing a purple starry robe appeared in front of Rosetta. The guard saw the mess in the study, and his expression became extraordinarily exciting. After a moment of hesitation, the headed court mage sorted out his words and asked courageously, "Your Majesty, here..."

"A visitor came late at night, but unfortunately she didn't want to stay longer." Rosetta waved her hand, signaling the guards not to be nervous, "Let's clean it up, it's a trivial matter."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Rosetta Augustus nodded slightly, then scanned the nearby bookshelves and walls, and landed on the map not far away.

He stared at Typhon and the border of "Kingdom of Ansu".

Anzu's kingship is over, and it's time for this map to change.

……

On the border of Typhon, inside Winter Wolf Castle, Andersa Wendell was looking away from the battle map.

The Changfeng Fortress and the Winter Wolf Castle are facing each other far away, with only a plain in between. The "peace agreement" between the two countries is still in effect, and the Mithril copy of the agreement is still stored in the contracting fort in the center of the plain. But it is constantly brewing in this confrontation zone.

The Changfeng Fortress is increasing its troops, and the Winter Wolf Castle is also increasing its troops. The border troops of both sides have almost doubled in just one month. All kinds of intelligence agents are trying to infiltrate the towns and villages near the border. None of them broke the situation, but all of them are silently doing the same thing - a kind of ironic "tacit understanding" between the two sides of the confrontation What is even more ironic than this "tacit understanding of war" is that trade activities across borders are still going on as usual, and even expanded in scale recently.

Andersa is a military commander, but she is not a brave general. She can see a lot of information from the trade orders circulating in the levels she controls. The expansion of the order scale and the activity of merchants mean two things: First, Ansu's vitality has not been greatly damaged in the previous wars, and they still have the ability to purchase and digest a large amount of supplies. A large number of merchants with Cecil's emblem will appear in the East Territory and Typhon checkpoints.

The young wolf general couldn't help pinching the center of his brows to relieve the pressure accumulated in his head, but the knock on the door sounded from outside the room at the right time, interrupting her thoughts.

"Come in."

The door opened, and a young knight walked into the room.

"General, I have new information," the young knight came to Andersa, saluted and reported neatly, "Another troop of about 2000 people has entered Changfeng Fortress from the northwest. The emblem of the Corps, but the leading general is unknown, not someone we are familiar with."

"Another 2000 people have been added..." Andersa frowned, "...their mountain corps suffered heavy damage, where did they find so many supplementary soldiers..."

The knight's adjutant has followed Andesa for many years, and he is also an experienced officer. At this moment, he expressed his conjecture: "Maybe they are just private soldiers from the north under the banner of the Mountain Corps. The Ansu people are bluffing."

"Using private soldiers with low combat effectiveness to disguise as ace troops... Maybe this is possible, but it doesn't matter, even if they pull up those private soldiers to show off, the number is limited after all, and their supplementary soldiers should not be there anymore. There are many more," Andersa shook her head, "It's just that His Majesty's order is not to take the initiative to attack before finding out the truth, so as not to fall into a trap. We still have to wait until we understand the specific military strength of Changfeng Fortress before we can act. "

The knight's adjutant looked at his superior, hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but said: "General, do you think we will fight this year?"

Andersa glanced at the young man: "Do you want to fight?"

"Of course," the young knight raised his head immediately, "it is the duty of a knight to fight for honor on the battlefield—not to mention that we are the Winter Wolf Legion."

Looking at this enthusiastic subordinate, Andersa couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

With the deepening of His Majesty's New Deal, a large number of small nobles in the empire were affected by the New Deal, and the traditional life of the nobles who relied on the land for income and offerings became unsustainable. These small families focused on military exploits—on the battlefield Making meritorious deeds is the best way to maintain the family and gain wealth under the current imperial policy. Therefore, a large number of minor nobles from lower backgrounds like the young knight in front of him have joined the army.

Of course, the empire is now developing the magic industry, which is also a way for the small and medium-sized nobles to return to glory, but investing in emerging industries requires not only courage and vision, but also basic financial resources and connections. It's not for everyone.

"I think so too." Andersa restrained her thoughts and exhaled lightly, but her father's face flashed in her mind, "Don't worry, this battle will eventually be fought."

Chapter 0685 Defensive Tactics

The breath of war is approaching, but for the current Cecil Empire, it is really not the best time for war.

Changfeng Fortress, the majestic city wall stands between the hills and the plains. The bastion walls stretching for tens of kilometers face the increasingly cold autumn wind, and glow with a layer of pale gold in the bright sunlight cast by the giant sun. The city wall The runestone bricks inlaid on the top shone with magical halos, covering the entire fortress in a faint energy shield. The vigilant soldiers stood on the city walls and sentry towers, staring at the Typhon Empire. direction.

Inside the fortress, a group of soldiers newly stationed in the fortress are walking through the barracks in a loose formation. The instructor of the Cecil Legion who is in charge of training these recruits is standing by the road with a meticulous expression, but the city wall not far away On the road, a fortress veteran who noticed the recruit team couldn't help but shook his head: "These soldiers can't fight at all...It's okay to deal with bandits in the country, but here they are fighting with Typhon people? Seven or eight people are tied together Not dead enough."

"The drills of the Cecil Legion can quickly make these recruits come in handy—at least let them understand the order." Another veteran said beside him.

"That also needs a training time. I'm afraid these conscripts were still holding hoes and pitchforks the day before yesterday..."

Maryland in military uniform walked across the city wall with his sword in hand, the conversations of the veterans fell into his ears, and the performance of those recruits fell into his eyes.

After completing his inspection tour, the fortress commander returned to the command post in the castle area, where his adjutant—a shrewd young man with black hair and brown eyes—was already waiting here.

"General," the adjutant stepped forward to salute, "The scouts have sent back information."

"Well," Maryland nodded, "the Typhons are making another move?"

"A group of engineering mages are building additional walls, stables, and barracks on the hills to the west of Winter Wolf Castle. The scale is not small. It is not clear how many people they can accommodate, but it is certain that they have opened at least four new wells."

"...The Knights of the Black Steel or the Knights of the Iron River are coming soon. They are troops that are good at assaulting fortresses with heavy equipment," Maryland said in a deep voice. "The Typhons won't be able to wait too long."

The young adjutant did not speak, neither fear nor wavering, his face was calm.

Maryland secretly approved of the young adjutant's reaction, then turned around and went behind the table, picked up the report on the table and glanced at it.

"...the last group of private soldiers that can be gathered nearby has also arrived on the defense line..." The fortress commander sighed softly, "After them, the entire eastern region may not even be able to gather a thousand-man team gone."

The current situation is worrying, but the facts are the facts - the soldiers are stretched short, and there are only so many defensive forces in the Changfeng Fortress.

The empire has just experienced a year-long civil war and a disaster that swept across half of the Holy Spirit Plain. The original main force of the kingdom was exhausted in successive battles. Now only a few surviving elites can be used. There is only the Cecil Legion in the southern border. However, at least half of these troops must stay in the country to maintain order after the war. And the most powerful weapons were sent, but Maryland knew that these were not enough.

The Typhons are also constantly increasing their troops, and they are constantly increasing in the form of a mixed army of magicians, knights, and supernatural beings. These troops cannot be defeated by ordinary heat ray guns and a few medium-caliber fortress guns. Ordinary people who are easily defeated, to deal with them, they must either double the elite defenders of Longfeng Fortress, or transport the Iron Throne to the defense line.

But neither of these things—Maryland mobilized the noble private soldiers in the east as much as possible, together with a small number of mountain corps supported by the north, it was only enough to fill in the loopholes in the defense line, but as long as it was hit hard, I am afraid that these loopholes will be broken within two days.

He had to find a way to strengthen the defense of the fortress.

Maryland's eyes moved on the combat map next to her, slowly sweeping across the buffer zone on the border between the two countries, the Typhon's Winter Wolf Fort and several outposts that have been identified so far.

The first standard of defense is to protect oneself, and there are many ways to protect oneself, either to make oneself invulnerable, to eliminate threats before being harmed, or...to prevent the enemy from attacking.

The garrison of Longwind Fortress may not be able to increase, but he can try to make the Typhon people think that the garrison of this fortress is still increasing.

After some contemplation, a bold idea gradually took shape. Maryland raised her head and looked at her adjutant: "Let the reserve corps of the Mountain Corps disguise themselves as merchants and civilian husbands, secretly bring their flags and equipment, and distribute them in batches within two days. Go out of the city and gather at Karon Valley in the northwest."

The adjutant froze for a moment, and was a little dazed for a moment: "And then?"

"Then change back to the equipment of the Mountain Corps, and enter the city from the north gate of the fortress - just make a little noise when entering the city, and don't make it too exaggerated."

Two seconds later, the adjutant realized Maryland's intentions. The young man showed an expression of sudden realization, and then looked at the general with admiration: "Yes——you are such a good idea! I will arrange it right away!"

"That's not enough, we have to do a full set of plays," Maryland immediately added, "Didn't the Typhons build barracks near Winter Wolf Castle? We also built camps—set up camps at the north and south of the fortress, dug wells, and put some The conscripts were transferred to the new camp, where they were asked to fire and cook. In addition, they sent someone to Earl Robert's domain, and borrowed his wagon team to transport 'grain and grass'."

"Yes!" The adjutant stood up straight and gave a military salute, but before he left, he suddenly became a little worried, "But general, can this really hide the people of Typhon?"

"It can be intimidating for a while, and they will definitely react later, but it doesn't matter, as long as it can delay their attack is enough," Maryland said unhurriedly, but his eyes fell on the map next to him, "The engineering team in the rear is working overtime Temporary railways are being laid more and more, and the Iron Throne is about to be repaired, as long as the Typhons hesitate for a while...they won't be able to chew on Longwind Fortress."

……

Cecil Empire, San Sunil City.

Preparations for the large-scale relocation had already begun, and more and more work reports on the relocation of the capital were piled up on Gao Wen's desk.

The coronation ceremony has ended, the signing ceremony of the nobles and the handover of the command of the old royal knights, guards, royal shadow guards and other troops have also been completed. After a period of running-in and adaptation, the newly established government office has Initially on the right track, the situation in Saint-Sunil was under control, and the mission of the interim government came to an end. According to Gao Wen's plan at the beginning, the relocation work should start next.

Saint-Sunil is magnificent on the surface, but in fact the infrastructure is backward, the influence of the old forces is deep, and more importantly, the communication system is weak, and the command of the Cecil Legion is slow. It is really not a good place to control the operation of the empire. However, moving the capital is after all. This is a major event, not just packing up the relevant personnel and materials and bringing them to the new place. Even if it is implemented from now on, it may take a whole year to completely complete the transfer and reconstruction of the ruling function.

Moreover, during this process, Gao Wen must also take into account the temporary chaos caused by the transfer of the ruling function. To prevent the chain reaction of this chaos, Typhon can take advantage of it.

In the velvet study of Silver Castle, Gao Wen was putting the finished report on the desk, and besides him, there were also his three big consuls sitting in this study.

"Aiden Alfred rejected the position in the government affairs department, didn't he?" Gawain raised his head and looked at Victoria Wilde who was sitting across from him.

"Yes, he has also resigned his court duties and his honorary vanity titles," replied Victoria. "He said he appreciated your recruitment, but he is old and wishes to go home to recuperate."

Aiden Alfred, once the former prime minister of Francis II, a loyal veteran of the Kingdom of Ansu, his family has been loyal to the Moen royal family since the first dynasty, and has diligently served the country for hundreds of years. Year.

The talent of the former Prime Minister made Gao Wen want to recruit him exceptionally, but his choice of refusing to take office was not beyond Gao Wen's expectations.

"Respect his choice," Gawain nodded slightly, "Also, ask him if he would like to be the curator of the Saint-Sunil Library—this is not a position in the Department of Government Affairs, and he can still guard the original royal collection .If you still don't want to... let the old man go home, and the government affairs department will give him a monthly pension."

Victoria nodded: "You are very considerate, he will definitely not refuse this position."

"Let's talk about the transfer of the capital." Gao Wen adjusted his sitting posture, "After I return to Cecil City, the affairs of St. Sunil will be temporarily managed by Victoria and Baldwin. You will be responsible for completing the follow-up work, especially It is to complete the laying of the magic net from San Sunil to the north and west to ensure the establishment of communication. In addition, all royal nobles, depending on the size of the family, need to send a certain percentage of family members to settle in the south. This should not be the case. Is there a problem?"

"Yes, they were mentally prepared when the order to move the capital was issued." Baldwin Franklin nodded, and then chuckled, "Using hostages in exchange for survival is also the survival rule of traditional aristocrats." one of them."

"This is not just a 'hostage', it is a necessary part of the dismantling and transformation of the old aristocratic forces...Of course they still don't understand it, it's normal," Gao Wen shook his head, "It's okay, take it step by step. Hetty , how are the preparations for the renovation project of Kingdom Avenue?"

"Gordon has brought people to Pompeii, and the preliminary materials and personnel are in place. The construction will start after the soil survey is completed."

"Very good - this part of the work is important, securing funding as a priority." "Yes."

Gao Wen breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that another job was on the right track.

Enfeoffed kingdoms can be lords and separatists, but the empire does not allow various places to be isolated. For a centralized empire, ensuring transportation is a prerequisite for ensuring order, especially for the Cecil Empire, which is now in dire straits and urgently needs to be rebuilt. That’s right—the reason why Gao Wen dared to move the state’s governing body from the central area to the south is because the modern transportation technology can ignore this physical distance, and the construction of modern roads is to make the new transportation tools fully effective important part.

From Saint-Sunil to the southern border, there is a Gorgon River as a transportation artery, and a kingdom road as an overland artery.Since last year, Victoria and the then Ansu royal family have been working hard to repair the Kingdom Avenue, which has been abandoned for nearly a century, and initially restored its functions. However, the Kingdom Avenue repaired according to the old standards is not enough to withstand the traffic pressure of the new era. At the same time The previous crystal cluster war also caused some damage to the Kingdom Avenue on the east bank of the Gorgon River. Therefore, based on reality, Gawain decided to send an engineering team from the southern border to rebuild a road connecting the north and south of the empire on the basis of the old Kingdom Avenue. Come.

Typhon has an "Imperial Road", and Cecil will have one in the future.

At the same time as this "Empire Avenue" was being built, Gawain also planned to build a north-south railway line on the west bank of the Gorgon River, and centered on Saint-Sunil, the railway line would be branched and expanded in both east and west directions. , forming a new "cross artery".

Of course, this will be a large-scale, time-consuming and labor-intensive project, and it will take a long time to complete, but no matter how much the consumption is, the cross artery must be established-this will be the starting point of the century-old foundation of the empire.

Regardless of how long it will take to complete the new cross artery, the railway connecting the north and the south should be completed soon due to its short distance. By then, there will be rivers, roads, and railways from the south to the "old capital". The three major transportation lines, from Saint-Sunil to the northern border, will also be connected by roads and railways. The transportation between the north and the south of the empire will become extremely convenient. On the one hand, national security and stability will be ensured, and on the other hand, the rich Mineral veins can also be quickly transported out to meet the growing needs of the hungry industrial behemoths of the Cecil Empire.