Realm of Power

The situation suddenly changed. Duke Simon listened to the report of the attendant with a solemn face. His old and depressed eyes began to widen. He was silent for a while and looked at the attendant. "Are you sure the information is correct? The other party's target is Antura?"

"Yes, absolutely sure!" The resolute face of the middle-aged aide, who was over forty years old, showed firmness. Before he served as an aide to the northern army, he was once well-known in the Gallic military circles and was very famous. It is certain that "according to the report from the most forward post, the enemy's 5,000 forward troops are below." We entered the narrow Xingguang Gorge at noon and drove out of the canyon after resting. The target was the direction of Baishan Mountain. There were more troops behind the canyon. The number was definitely more than 20,000. The total number of troops of the Falcon North Marching Legion was 30,000. So it’s certain that it’s definitely a main force-level advance.”

"White Mountain!"

Simon's body trembled slightly, his face became more and more gloomy, and he said, "Baishan is the main route from Xingguang Gorge to Antura. If the Falcon Army's attack direction is Baishan, then it is basically certain that the opponent's target is Antura, because Baishan, which is just a small hill, is not yet qualified to attract the opponent's main force."

"Although we are still unable to determine the reason for the opponent's attack, we should immediately send reinforcements to Baishan! If the Falcon Army passes through Starlight Gorge and then captures Baishan! Antura's door will be completely opened." The attendant's face was heavy with emotion. Wanting to drip water, he said eagerly,

He is the attendant of the Northern Army. He knows very well that once the important road of Baishan is lost, the Falcon Army entering Antura will reach a bottleneck that can be restricted. It can attack when advancing and defend when retreating. This step of the opponent is inevitable. This winter, which I thought would bring peace to the war, suddenly took on the luster of iron and blood!

"Liar, you immediately lead the First Infantry Regiment of the Bidan Army to Baishan. I will then lead the troops there."

The situation was urgent, and Duke Simon also felt the seriousness of the situation. He hurried to the desk to issue a reinforcement order. Although nominally a dragnet was laid out in Antura, in fact Duke Simon knew it very well. The cold winter has severely damaged the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Except for the 30,000 Bidan Army under his command, the other northern troops were unreliable. The previous blocking battles also proved this. The dragon of the Falcon Army really entered Antura. It would definitely be a tragic disaster to stop it from approaching Antura.

"Sir, I think it is unwise to support Baishan at this time!" Just when Duke Simon picked up the quill on the table and stored it in the ink bottle, and was about to write, a man stood up and said,

It was Lial who went to White Mountain for reinforcements at Bi's request. As one of the few generals who has fought against both Falcons on the Western Front, he was highly regarded by Duke Simon when he was in Kyoto. He has blond hair, is about thirty years old, has a strong back and strong posture, and has a strong military air. temperament.

Just before arriving, he had sworn to Duke Simon, who was preparing to meet with Kyoto reinforcements, that the Falcon Army on the opposite side would not have a chance to see the walls of Antura throughout the winter, and was already planning a strategy leading to Antura. Heavy troops are deployed at key points. This is only possible unless the Falcon Army is taken as prisoners!

"Bluffing?" Duke Simon looked at his first confidant, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and his pen stopped in the air, waiting for his explanation.

"Yes, sir, the opponent's attack is completely illogical!"

Lial, who was wearing a neat dark blue general uniform, respectfully gave a military salute to Duke Simon. He walked forward, scratched the map on the table with his hand, and said solemnly, "If the opponent wanted to attack, they should have started advancing in ten days. At that time, our army had just been beaten back. The foothold was not stable, and the morale of the army was weakened." , the peripheral defense line is also After destroying most of them in the battle with the Slavs, our army has now established a firm foothold in the Antura area. The city walls and peripheral forts have also been repaired and reinforced. The battle line deployed outside the mouth of the Starlight Gorge has become very large. It's obvious,

"The other party is not a fool, but is very cunning. My subordinates believe that the other party knows that our reinforcements have arrived and is under pressure to take the initiative to attack, which will help confuse us!" Lial looked respectful and showed good general qualities. , said firmly, “And I think the opponent’s attack The attack on Baishan was fake. Their purpose was to draw the main force of our army out of Antula and expose us to the harsh icy snow outside. We fought against each other several times, and the opponent was like this every time. Make a provocation, and then choose to set up a tight and orderly military formation on a favorable terrain."

"Relying on the excellent and outrageous long-range weapons and the thick winter-proof cotton clothes on our bodies, we are slowly advancing like a hedgehog that no one can bite, constantly crushing our attack line. Although we have the advantage in strength, we are not able to do anything. There is no chance to perform, this is already a despicable tactic used by the opponent many times."

"But if you decide not to rescue, I'm afraid it will be troublesome if Baishan is lost!" Duke Simon fell into deep thought.

"My subordinates believe that it is impossible to reinforce Baishan in terms of time!" Lial paused, glanced in the direction of the Kyoto Army on the other side, and said in a solemn voice, "My Bidan Army's First Infantry Regiment is two feet away from Baishan." Ten miles, if the enemy's forward is in the afternoon After crossing the Starlight Gorge, at this moment, the enemy has already arrived under the Baishan Mountain. We have about 5,000 troops in the Baishan Mountain. We can hold on for half a night at most, so if we can rescue quickly, unless we have high mobility Cavalry troops!"

"Cavalry! Lial, have you lost your mind?"

Duke Simon was trembling with anger and said sharply, "You should know that there are no cavalry in the northern army. The scarce materials such as war horses are all supplied to the direction of Kyoto. Even the Bidan Army only has less than a hundred people." The light cavalry is mainly used to convey information!"

"We don't have cavalry, but..." Lial hesitated with an ugly look on his face, and glanced in the direction of the Kyoto Army General. Among the Kyoto Army troops coming to the north this time, he just happened to be... There are Tie Lan’s five thousand blue holy beast cavalry regiment,

"If only the cavalry can rescue, my blue holy beast cavalry can help!" Tielan's face was cold, and he was forced to this point. He could no longer pretend to be deaf and mute, and clenched his hands into fists in front of the table, sinking. "And my troops also brought three hundred horse-drawn sleighs. Enough to transport five thousand soldiers at a time!"

"How can this be done? Lord Tielan is a distinguished guest from the north. He has just arrived in Antura less than a day ago. He has already prepared a sumptuous banquet to welcome you. How can you let him go to the rescue in the wind and snow again?" Duke Simon suddenly stood up from his seat. He said with an embarrassed look on his face

"The military situation is urgent. As an imperial soldier, war should be your top priority!" Tielan smiled and stood up from his seat. "I won't delay here. I just hope that Lord Simon can provide timely support. As for Baishan, we will definitely make an order." There are mountains of Falcon Corps corpses!”

"Okay. There are so many people. Lord Tielan is indeed a role model for the imperial nobles and a soldier. It is really a blessing to the country! With Lord sitting in the White Mountain, it will inevitably prevent the Falcon Army from taking a step beyond my Antura. I will write an order right now. Book. Logistics of your army. The absolute first guarantee!" Duke Simon said excitedly, and immediately wrote down the order document to ensure the logistics at all costs, and said that he would immediately issue an order to support Baishan, and all the troops deployed would be under Lord Tielan's jurisdiction.

After getting the logistics support document, Tie Lan's cold expression finally relaxed a little. He seemed to be really worried about the deterioration of Antura's situation due to the fall of Baishan Mountain. He nodded, "Thank you, Lord Simon!" and led the generals under his command. Go in a hurry. Seeing Tie Lan's back disappearing into the distance, Duke Simon, who had looked bitter just now, took a deep breath and felt relieved. He looked at Liar below and suddenly laughed, and the other generals also He laughed, which was completely different from the tense atmosphere of war preparation just now.

"Lial, well done"

Duke Simon came down and patted Lial on the shoulder happily.

"With one sentence, Tielan, a bastard who was bent on controlling the Northern Army, was sent to the White Mountains where the wind was freezing to death. I wanted to take a look. I had the entire army logistics in my hands, the Kyoto Tielan Army. , What tricks can you do in a place like Baishan! "

"No, the main reason is that the attendant is so clever that he can come up with such a solution!"

"Actually, the Falcon Army has already arrived at Baishan Mountain at noon, but I don't know why. They have been standing still." Lial's eyes flickered and he said respectfully, "It's just time to let Tielan's Kyoto Army help us test the water. If the Falcon The army is really bluffing, our army can use this to make a comeback If we attack and take back Starlight Gorge in one fell swoop, you will definitely become famous in Kyoto. If the Falcon Army's target is really Antura, and the Kyoto Army is blocking it in front, we can join them when both sides are exhausted from fighting. We can also achieve great victory and solve our northern crisis in one fell swoop!"

"But what about the troops who were sent to Baishan for reinforcements? Are they really just sent to the Kyoto army like this?" the attendant said with some worry.

"So what if you give him those miscellaneous troops that don't even have cotton-padded clothes for winter and have suffered a large number of attrition? I don't believe that the Kyoto Army would take off their cotton-padded clothes and give them to these second-line troops!" Lial flashed a deep look. A glimmer of memory,

Thinking of the Kyoto faction's style in the Battle of Rusty, he gritted his teeth and said, "These Kyoto troops are much better behaved than us. Just wait and see, it won't take long for them to arouse the wrath of the people and become the whole north. Popular people can only go back in despair and can’t go anywhere else!”

Coming out of the Antura Council Hall, seven pairs of pointed iron-clad riding boots walked neatly along the dark red corridor. Tie Lan was walking at the front, followed closely by six generals of the Kyoto Army. In the cold wind, Behind the seven people, the red legion capes fluttered neatly in the wind, and their steps were neat and unified, just like one person.

"Sir, you are not really going to rescue Baishan, are you! The other party obviously arranged it deliberately! I can guarantee that when we arrive, it will be the time when the Falcon Army launches a full-scale attack." Biao from the rear left with an eyepatch on his left eye. The fierce officer shouted with an exaggerated expression,

"Yes, sir, we can't help others make wedding dresses!" Another general said. The footsteps of the iron fence suddenly stopped, and the footsteps of the others stopped immediately. The atmosphere was a little tense. Tie Lan looked around. , confirmed that this place was out of sight of the guards, and gave a cold smile: "Bai Mountain? Are you kidding me? Antura is lost, what does it have to do with us!" Tielan's eyes flashed with a sly light, and he took out the order signed by Simon and said with a disdainful smile, "What I want is Well, as for rescue, we only said we were going to rescue, but we didn’t say that we were going to rescue Baishan.”

"But I can also see that Simon, an old fox, heard the news somewhere and is very guarded against us. He deliberately wrote and staged this farce just to get us to leave Antura. He thought he had control Antura is equivalent to controlling the entire Northern Army Everyone, including us, must listen to him. We must be very proud now. This is our opportunity. When you go down to assemble the troops, take this order and collect the supplies. Prepare a month's supply. The others were loaded onto horse-drawn sleighs as much as possible,

Tielan whispered to a middle-aged general with short flaxen hair on the right rear, "Fida. You must assemble the troops immediately, let's leave Antura! Three hundred carriages are fully loaded, which is enough to make Simon heartbroken. Let’s go to Bialis, northwest of Antura, where my Tillandsia With the supplies in our fiefdom, we can just sit back and watch Simon fight to the death with the Falcon Army! If Simon the old fox wants us to fight the Falcon Army and enjoy the results, we will return it to him without any hesitation! Look, without supplies, will the Northern Army listen to him or me? "

"Haha, you are still smart!" The Kyoto Army generals behind him all laughed, and the generals went to assemble their troops. Taking the documents to pick up supplies, three hundred carriages lined up in front of the supplies warehouse. Three hours later, Tielan troops loaded with supplies left Antura and drove away.

Looking at the empty warehouse, Antula's material logistics officer had a sad look on his face and was about to cry.

He was not from the Bidan Army, but from the Northern Army. Because he couldn't stand Duke Simon's behavior, he was demoted from a senior officer to the one responsible for guarding the warehouse. In the cold winter, he saw his colleagues starving, but Duke Simon distributed large quantities to others with just a swipe of his hand.

With three hundred carriages and rations for 50,000 soldiers, these bastards directly removed six-tenths of Antura's supplies and food. The furious material logistics officer went to the meeting hall. Before he could go up the steps, he was stopped by the captain of Simon's personal guard at the moon gate below.

"Who are you?"

The captain of the guard looked at him up and down. After learning that he was just a viscount, his tone seemed a little disdainful, "Sorry, a grand banquet is being held inside. Only people above the baron are eligible to enter. Go back, you won't see me." your!"

The captain of the Guards looked at the low-ranking logistics officer Viscount Bolandot with a sideways gaze, as if he was a drowned dog.

"I have urgent military affairs..." Logistics officer Viscount Blanche's lips trembled with anger, and he had nowhere to vent his grief and anger, showing a rare toughness.

"If it's military affairs, it should be during working hours. It's rest time now!" the guard captain reprimanded unceremoniously. The guard captain was a baron, so he had no pressure to deal with Bolando and said in a contemptuous tone. Don’t keep thinking about how to curry favor with me, you are currently receiving distinguished guests from Kyoto and you don’t have time to attend to such an hour. As you are, you can only wait at the door!”

"You..." the logistics officer's face turned red angrily.

Stomping, the sound of rapid horse hooves came in the dark night, and an embarrassed messenger cavalry galloped into the city gate of Antura. The rapid sound of horse hooves that broke out in the night woke up many people. The messenger cavalry was in The horse stopped outside the meeting hall, jumped down, and trotted over.

The captain of the guard stretched out his hand to stop the messenger cavalry at the door.

"Stop, what's going on? Didn't you see that your Excellency is holding a banquet?" the guard captain said impatiently to the dirty look of the messenger cavalry.

"I'm in a hurry... Urgent military report, Baishan has fallen!" The cavalryman was panting, his voice was unclear, and his chapped lips were like a kind of purple ham sausage in the cold night. This was the sequelae of being frozen for several hours. The thick northern accent is like humming,

"What is he talking about?" The guard captain couldn't understand the spoken language of the northerners, so he asked the material logistics officer next to him.

"My lord, he said that Baishan has been lost!" Viscount Bolandot, the material logistics officer, repeated it.

"Baishan... has fallen!" The guard captain was startled by the news. He turned around and left as if he was burning with eyebrows. Soon, the attendant in charge of affairs appeared outside the meeting hall. He took a look and squatted on the ground. The resting messenger cavalry asked angrily, "Are you sure Baishan has fallen? Haven't reinforcements been sent?"

"Baishan reinforcements? I didn't see it!"

The messenger stood up with difficulty. He ran for most of the night in the cold and windy night, and received such treatment. He didn't even have a mouthful of hot water. Two thousand of the five thousand defenders died in the battle, and the others died because the battle line collapsed. All captured! "The cavalryman replied with a strange expression," and I didn't see any sign of reinforcements on the way back! "

"You are talking nonsense! It must be dark at night and you cannot see clearly!" Like a thunderbolt from the blue, the attendant shuddered when he heard it, his eyes were bulging, there were no reinforcements in Baishan! Baishan fell! Where are Tielan's 50,000 Kyoto troops? The attendant's head was in a mess and he said to himself, "They should have set off three hours ago!"

At this moment, Viscount Borlando, who was in charge of logistics supplies, said coldly, "If you are talking about three hours ago, then I only know that just three hours ago, a troop took Lord Simon's warrant and took him away. Sixty percent of Antura's food and supplies went in another direction!"