Realm of Power

Through the narrow high windows of the Red Fort in the main hall of Antura, the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the ground and painted dark red stripes on the walls. Now, although the stone walls here used to be green and brown, but I wanted to The Slavs who founded their country here re-decorated the entire hall, and painted images of the Slavs who once founded their country in colorful paintings on the walls.

That is the proud history of the Slavs. Decades ago, they also stood on this land as a unified country and occupied the northern region of Gaul. The ambitious Slavs believed that they would never return. To that cold area where people are as casual as cold animals, but they don't want their descendants to forget this,

The furnishings of the meeting hall are extremely gorgeous. The floors were covered with mil carpets instead of rush mats. In the corner of the room is a wooden screen from Salander, carved with hundreds of lifelike and colorful rare birds and animals. The walls are covered with exquisite tapestries from Novos, Qohor and Lys.

On both sides of the door are a pair of bronze sphinx statues, with round rhodolite eyes shining brightly on the black marble face. The Slavs claimed to be warriors from the land of the North Sun. They overcame obstacles and obstacles. Under the siege of the ferocious enemy (Falcon Empire), under the guidance of the God of Winter Snow (crossing the glacier), under the starlight of the long night (cold winter night) The wind rustled, and the starry eyes of hungry people), and finally came to this land filled with flowers and milk (the Slavs naturally ignored the fact that they were the intruders!)

In order to show that all this has not come easily, a huge tapestry of narrative scenes covers the wall from the top of the meeting hall to the main entrance of the hall, shining with red light under the setting sun.

Rule, commander of the 12th Infantry Regiment of the Gallic Northern Army, hurried up the steps leading to the hall. On both sides were guards in full armor holding shields and spears. The spikes of their calfskin riding boots stepped on the hard stone of the steps, making a clicking sound, rapid and powerful.

At the end of the steps. There were also two Gallic generals who arrived first, standing there chatting in a low voice. One had a shiny bald head, about forty years old, with a Chinese character face, and a centipede-like trace left by an old injury on the corner of his eyebrow. He held the cross helmet with red tassel hanging down in his arms. Wearing red and blue armor, the handle of the knight's epee on his waist is inlaid with seven huge sapphires arranged in the shape of the North Star. Another Gallic general is about thirty years old, and his arm armor is marked with a lion's head. He turns his head His eyes were narrow and long, giving people an unnatural sense of coldness.

Hearing the sound coming from the direction of the steps, the two looked down the steps and saw Ruel wearing the crowned stag-marked armor. The bald general first raised his hand to Ruel and shouted loudly, "Lord Ruel, You came really quickly!”

This man's name is Pat, the commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment of the Gallic Northern Army. The relationship with Ruhl is very good.

"I should have thought that as long as there are good things, you, Pat, will definitely be the fastest!" A wry smile appeared on the corner of Ruel's mouth, and he seemed unwilling to say to the proud bald head above,

Stopping at the top of the steps, Ruhr gave a slight salute to Adelin, another commander of the 11th Infantry Regiment of the Northern Army. "I didn't expect Lord Adelin to arrive so quickly. This place is far away from the headquarters of the 11th Infantry Regiment." Grosso is probably ten miles away! I came from the Moton Forest three miles away, and it’s really embarrassing that I didn’t arrive before you. "

"Lord Ruhr! I didn't come from the station. I arrived last night. It's just a coincidence that the soldiers suffered severe frostbite!"

Adelin smiled awkwardly and returned a salute. "You also know that the recent troop attrition has been serious. I think it is necessary to ask Sir Simon to ask Kyoto for more supplies to keep out the cold! And I happened to hear that some reinforcements from Kyoto have arrived. , if Simon University can come forward to coordinate, maybe we can get a batch of cold-proof materials."

"Haha, it turns out that everyone has thought of it together!" Ruhr touched his chin with his hand in astonishment and said, "I heard that there are 50,000 troops arriving in Kyoto this time. If we can get some supplies for the winter, The soldiers below can suffer less! "

"That's right, that's right, the equipment of the Kyoto Army has always been better than ours. I don't know what the Ministry of Military Affairs thought. When everyone received the order to enter the north from Kyoto, it was still in the scorching heat of August. Most of the soldiers were wearing relatively thin clothing. , now that it is the bitterly cold winter, it is very difficult for the soldiers to still wear such thin clothes, let alone fight, it is difficult to stand for a long time!

Bald Pat looked particularly angry and said angrily, "I also specifically advised Lord Simon to gather all the troops in Antura. At least this is a city with ready-made houses. There is a forest outside the city, so it won't be cold. We can't be hungry. Unlike the area we are in now, there are only a dozen or so houses. Most of the soldiers sleep in tents. If they want to cut wood, they have to go to the forest area eleven miles away, otherwise they will just tremble and wait to die. "

"What you said is too exaggerated! Don't think that I don't know what you are thinking. Do you want to win Lord Simon's sympathy with this?" Ruel rolled his eyes at the familiar Pat.

"Exaggeration? I can swear on my honor as a soldier!" Bald Pat became anxious. He slapped his chest heavily with his right hand, his face as angry as if he had been injected with chicken blood, and said, "Do you know, the number of people with frostbite in my place has already The number reached more than 1,300 people, of which more than 150 people were unable to We are fighting, what do you think this is? I am an imperial infantry regiment, but I can't even bring out a thousand cotton-padded clothes. In broad daylight, the camp is like a ghost town. Everyone is hiding in their tents and dare not come out. Who can If he came out, he might fall on the road. In less than three hours, he would be an ice sculpture."

"The situation is indeed very serious. It is not much different where I am. I have also made similar suggestions to Lord Simon. Assembling troops to Antura can effectively preserve our strength." "But Lord Simon refused. He said that our military strength is several times greater." For the Falcon Army, what should be considered Use this advantage to lure the enemy into Antura to encircle and annihilate it, instead of gathering the army in Antura, so that the Falcon Army on the opposite side does not dare to attack Antura. But now it seems that the opponent is obviously much more cunning, but it's just that! "Wandering outside Antura means not entering Antura"

Adelin, who has slender eyes, is the kind of general who thinks deeply. Although he seemed dissatisfied, he still restrained his anger, shook his head and said, "The well-equipped main force of the Northern Army of Gaul had already moved westward in August, and the troops currently stationed in the north were only dispatched from Kyoto in August. The equipment of the new troops cannot be compared with the elites of the former Northern Army. The soldiers are thinly dressed, and the weapons are obsolete second-line weapons. The meager cold-proof supplies that have been shipped recently have been given to Sir Simon's own army."

Adelin's voice paused, took a deep breath, and said with regret, "Kyoto will put all its efforts into dealing with the Falcon Army on the front. There are still people there who are thinking about us. As winter comes, the severe cold wind Snow is coming, and the army is trapped in the embarrassment of lack of winter supplies. In order to resist the The Anti-Salon Army marched northward with great momentum. Our soldiers only wore thin linen clothes and fought in the wind and snow. After several battles, more people suffered from frostbite than died in the battle. If it continues to worsen like this, it will last for a month at most. , my troops have lost their combat capabilities without fighting!"

"Hey, it's better when Lord Ard is here. At least Lord Ard won't let everyone suffer like this. There is no benefit at all, and we have to fight the Falcon Army desperately!" Ruel glanced at the steps at his feet. Sighing deeply, the other two people suddenly acquiesced.

Ever since Yarde was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Kyoto Front and entered the capital of Gaul, the situation of the troops in northern Gaul began to go downhill.

The new person in charge sent by the Gallic Ministry of Military Affairs was Duke Simon, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Military Affairs, a sophisticated nobleman. Due to several major reshuffles in the Gallic military circles, many outstanding generals died on the Western Front. Under the general situation of overwhelming the country to war. , the current Gallic Ministry of Military Affairs has become a place used by Kyoto nobles to divide power, and there are almost no real combat capabilities.

Just like Duke Simon, who took over the affairs of the Northern Army, the most he did was to place a large number of noble children from Kyoto into his own troops. Showing indifference to the situation of other units of the Northern Army, most of the weapons, equipment and military pay shipped from Kyoto were distributed to the so-called Bidan New Army of 15,000 people formed under his own command. According to this old nobleman's instructions, In other words, Yarde's approach is outdated, as evidenced by the poor performance of the 100,000 New North Army troops in the Battle of Daniel. He wants to build a truly powerful Gallic army. What does the Falcon Army on the opposite side know? He is the Gallic warrior! To restore the honor of Gaul that swept north of Eubarro three hundred years ago

It sounds great in words, but in reality it is another matter

The several battles that Duke Simon once commanded caused heavy losses to other units of the Northern Army. He was the one who blocked the Slavs from moving south. Although he had superior troops, he was old-fashioned, stubborn, and did not understand the changes in the battlefield. He blindly required the soldiers to fight bravely. Although the Slavs paid a heavy price, they still managed to break through. Facing the Falcon Salon Legion's rapid northward advance, they only knew how to engage in frontal battles and forceful blocking tactics.

On the battlefield, he ordered other units of the Northern Army to attack, but the Bidan Army, the most powerful force under his command, never moved out in the rear. He completely ignored the inferior equipment of other units of the Northern Army and the difficult fighting conditions in the cold winter. As a result, nearly 100,000 people died. Before the Northern Army could rush in front of the enemy, it was defeated by Salon's Northward Army, which only had 30,000 men, and was completely defeated!

"Attention, Lord Simon is here!"

Ruel suddenly lowered his head and whispered to the other two grasshoppers who were not dealing with him but were standing on the same boat.

At the bottom of the steps, a vigorous and grey-haired old man walked up surrounded by more than a dozen generals. He had a Chinese character face and a dignified appearance. He was wearing a dark blue military uniform and a wind collar. He looked like the kind of righteous man. The old scholar whose harsh words are enough to put his enemies to shame,

The old man tilted his head and was talking about something with a Gallic general behind him. He had never seen him before. He was wearing a blue army commander's uniform, and his chest was covered with colorful medals that no one knew what they represented. They should be those who were supporting the north this time. The person in charge of the Kyoto Army realized that he did not recognize him. Ruhr's eyes continued to glance behind Duke Simon. The three generals of the Bidan Army were all from Kyoto aristocrats. , "These guys are here too!" Ruhr frowned slightly, and withdrew his gaze. He didn't like these guys from the bottom of his heart. Their chins were always held high. Outside of Kyoto, they used to look at anyone with their eyes. He looked down at them, and his tone of voice was more like talking to himself than a conversation. It seemed that anyone who was not a Kyoto noble should look at them with some kind of admiration.

"What three disgusting guys!" Rule heard the rough-looking bald man say sarcastically as usual. "I bet these guys are better at sleeping with women than they are at fighting! The effect of their swords, more To show off to those mistresses"

"Watch your mouth and don't talk nonsense. I know that Lial among them fought with the Falcon Army on the Western Front!" Adelin said in a dull tone.

"Yes. Will Rusty fight? I've heard that hundreds of thousands of the empire's troops were destroyed in one battle. If he hadn't run so fast, he would have been captured alive by the Falcon Army for ransom like the others! He was really If you have the nerve to come back, I will commit suicide to apologize." Pat rolled his eyes disdainfully.

"Are you okay?" The old man stopped. He raised his head and saw the three people standing on the steps waiting for a long time. There was a trace of obvious disgust in their eyes and their tone was unusually cold.

He has always been lukewarm towards these second-line troops left by Yarde. After all, they are Yarde's subordinates, and Yarde is also the person in charge of the Kyoto front. There may still be a chance to be promoted to Imperial Marshal. There is no need for him to offend others. He has always planned to let these lazy guys fend for themselves, but it is different now. News came from Kyoto. The head of the Kyoto line, Yalde, just He was found guilty and imprisoned for sixty years. It is impossible to come out in this life,

In this case, he no longer needs to be timid. He is the person in charge of the north, and he can use whoever he wants!

"We heard that reinforcements from Kyoto have arrived, so we want to apply for some supplies to keep out the cold...!" Ruel hesitated and said boldly.

"Reinforcements from Kyoto? Does this have anything to do with you? Your absence from duty without orders is a serious violation of military discipline, and it is in front of distinguished guests from Kyoto. You want to embarrass me." As for the supplies to keep out the cold, I don’t have any extra here. If you don’t want to be arrested for this, go back immediately!” The old man waved his words indifferently and shouted to the guards on both sides of the steps.

"You have left your post without permission. You should be executed! Your Majesty is so kind to you!" Someone among the three generals of the Bidan Army said, his eyes full of disdain, as if he was looking at a beggar on the street.

"Sir, we are just..." Ruel tried hard to hold on, clasping his hands together, thinking of the soldiers who were trapped in the cold winter. His face was pale and he wanted to speak, but was held by a hand next to him. It was Adeline, who whispered to Ruhl "That's enough, there's no point in saying more!"

"I'm sorry, our recklessness has embarrassed you, we will go back immediately!" Adeline stood upright and saluted Duke Simon, dragging Ruel and Baldy Bert away. When the three people's backs disappeared, Duke Simon With an apologetic look on his face, he said to the Kyoto Army General beside him, "Master Tielan, I really made you laugh. These ignorant lower-class nobles are always so self-righteous."

"Haha, it's nothing. I've seen more rude people like them in Rusty! Sometimes I can't sleep just thinking about the fate of the empire being controlled by such people." The Kyoto general showed a smile. The sad expression on my face seems to be full of pity for this world.

It was during the Battle of Rusty that Tie Lan, the commander of the Blue Sacred Beast Cavalry, who retreated astutely and escaped death.

Although the Battle of Rusty failed, it was a strong capital for Tie Lan, one of the leaders of the Young Strong Faction in Kyoto. Not everyone can escape from the mercury-like offensive of the Falcon Army. The reason for the failure of the Battle of Rusty was finally determined to be Ha Senlanbo's misjudgment, but Tielan was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Kyoto Guards due to his outstanding performance in the Battle of Rusty. He is still an important minister in the military. This time it is Tielan's blue holy beast who rushes to the north to help. Cavalry and three Kyoto infantry regiments, with a total strength of 57,000 men,

"Lord Tielan is indeed an upright man! Those who disrupt this country regardless of class hierarchy should be born in dark dungeons." Duke Simon pointedly showed a satisfied smile. This time Tielan brought 50,000 troops, and They were all well-equipped soldiers. He had already foreseen the miserable appearance of the Falcon Army of only 30,000 men surrounded by his Bidan Army and Tielan's army. He would stabilize northern Gaul and then go south to defeat the Falcon Army approaching Kyoto. , the revival of Gaul is expected

"Let's talk about the situation in the north!" Tie Lan tilted his head and said happily.

"Of course, with the help of Lord Tielan this time, I believe everything will go well!" Duke Simon waved his hand and asked someone to spread the map of the north on the long table in the conference hall, pointing to the map and said, "Our army now occupies this place, with a total of 80,000 people, has opened a huge net in Antura. Across this net is the prey called Salon. The two armies have been at loggerheads for ten days. The enemy corps that should have entered Antura a long time ago unexpectedly stopped, which caused my painstakingly planned Antura counterattack plan to fail."

"So, we just need to lead this "wild boar" to Antura, right!" Tielan looked at the map, raised his head and said (in the Gaulish dialect, the pronunciation of Salon is similar to wild boar)

"Wild boar ? Haha, it can be said that this guy is a troublesome wild boar! "Duke Simon was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted and laughed, "The bastard's soldiers were all wearing thick cotton clothes, which made us suffer a lot. Now I am more looking forward to how his bloated soldiers climb up the tall walls of Antura like turtles! "

"Sir, urgent news from the front line!" An attendant suddenly walked in from outside the meeting room in a hurry

"What's going on? Have you forgotten even the basic etiquette? "Duke Simon asked with anger in his eyes

"I'm sorry, sir, but it's too urgent. The Falcon Army Salon Corps has moved. At noon today, they drove towards Antura! "The attendant panted heavily