Realm of Power

722 The South’s Decision (11)

Central Salander, Beren Stone Bridge

In the great plains of central Salander, there is a huge river called the Beleng River. It originates from the Yunwei Snow Mountain near the northern mountains of Salander. This river passes through the Yema Plain, the mouth of the Siti Wetland, and finally extends to the south to Ku. Longze, and then flows into the sea from the East Sient estuary

.Because it flows through a wide area and receives many tributaries, the Beleng River has a very large flow in the southern rainy season that has just ended. The rapid river passes through many lowland canyons, so the river is not urgent, so you can use bo The turbulent white waves hit the abrupt rock walls from time to time.

Even in this hot and rainless summer, the average depth of the river is more than six meters, and the average width of the river is more than 100 meters. Facing the wide river with rolling rapids, ordinary swimming and floating bridges are unrealistic. , only a solid stone arch bridge can conquer such a torrent.

It took the Salander people 70 years to build a famous stone arch bridge across the river, the Beleng Bridge across the Beleng River.

It is the crystallization of the wisdom and sweat of the Salander people. It was built in the middle of the narrowest canyon in the riverland, with a total length of 140 meters and a river width of 120 meters.

The seven huge bridge piers use nearly 400 tons of huge stones. It has a history of 130 years. It can be said that it has gone through rain, snow, wind, frost, and years of ravages. It is still as strong as ever, and the rolling river below is surging. Make a majestic roaring sound.

The Beleng Bridge is an important hub connecting the central and northwest mountains of Salander. It is the route from the interior of Kyoto in Salander to the Noga Valley in the western mountains.

This is now the defense line of Salander's Northern Army. At the beginning, the Northern Army went all the way south and reached the outskirts of Salander's Kyoto. The role of the Belang Bridge in the middle section seemed to be very average. [This chapter is provided for you]

There are only one or two hundred troops guarding the bridge. They are only responsible for daily patrols and inspections. Until the end of last year, only one squadron was added here. This squadron belongs to the Northern Territory and is the army commanded by Ni Lai. Such an important strategy In such an important place, it was impossible for Fatty to let him fall into the hands of the incompetent southern nobles.

As Nilai withdrew the real Northern Army from the front lines of the Civil War, the Beleng Bridge became the dividing line between the north and the center. The number of troops accumulated at the bridge gradually increased to 12,000, almost accounting for 12,000 people in Nilai. A third of Rai's army,

The commander is an old general named Tedshi, who was originally the defender of Lhasa City. Since this new squadron is mainly composed of Lhasa people, he naturally became the supreme commander.

Tedesch is an old man who is close to sixty years old. He is old-fashioned and rigorous, and has the demeanor of the old Mamunuk. However, his fate is very bad. As a senior Mamunuk, he is the head coach of Lhasa University. When the Duke died in the battle, he had to withdraw to Lhasa with his remaining troops, which seriously affected his reputation.

If it hadn't been for Nilai's partiality when he was the city lord, he would have been executed at the request of the nobles in the city. The Norman wolf Hou Salis' army was pressing down on the border, so he had no choice but to use this experienced veteran as the city defender. As the Northern Territory rises from Salander, the old Mamunuk feels like he has found his youth again.

Every day from morning to night, the troops stationed on the Beileng Bridge need to check a large number of passing people and carriages. They basically withdraw from several nearby fighting areas to the north, and most of them are members of the original Northern Army who fled. Soldier,

Due to the lack of unified leadership and the struggle and strife among the southern nobles for power, although they have an army of about 60,000, they are completely unable to compete with the Salander Kyoto Army, which has less than 30,000 people.

The situation from Kyoto was very dire, as the scattered southern nobles were beaten to pieces under the fierce counterattack of the Kyoto army. This resulted in that as the war in Kyoto became more and more intense, the situation in nearby Monsa, Tokadi and other areas became increasingly tense, which indirectly affected the atmosphere in Beleng.

There is news that the main forces in Kyoto are gathered in the nearby areas such as Mengge and Tokadi, and are storming the last stronghold of the southern nobles, Moendad. This means that the Kyoto army is about to gain control of the south. With the nobles' complete victory, they may launch an attack on Beleng Bridge at any time.

Ted Shi's nerves suddenly began to become tense. In the past few days, the defeated southern nobles continued to withdraw from the nearby area with their people. When passing the Beleng Bridge, according to regulations, they must hand over themselves. Weapons and expressed willingness to become a member of the Northern Territory, this was Nilai's stipulation for these southern nobles to defeat the army.

But when most of the defeated troops reached the Beleng Bridge, they were often beaten badly by the Kyoto army. Not to mention their weapons, even their armor and flags were discarded.

Many squadrons were broken up during battles, and dozens of soldiers walking together were often from different units, making it very difficult to identify them.

On the bridgehead of Beleng Bridge, there are announcements about the contact and assembly points.

When the breeze blows, from time to time, the sticky announcements are blown into the rushing Beleng River under the bridge. There are quite a few defeated troops who gather at the bridgehead every day to watch the announcements.

At the beginning, Tedesch carefully asked them about the battle situation ahead and learned that they were attacked by a group of Mamunuk knights from Kyoto, so the troops were beaten badly.

However, the Mamunuk cavalry is still far away from here and cannot reach it in a short period of time. The remaining defeated generals are envious of the garrison of Beileng Bridge. These soldiers wearing sophisticated armor and high fighting spirit make them feel ashamed.

After all, they were all once part of the same army, enjoying the same glorious title "Northern Army"

Many soldiers had heard about the southern nobles' attempt to seduce Grand Duke Nilai, but they didn't expect that much at the time. They only thought that the adults of the southern nobles could always come up with ideas that catered to their revengeful desires, so they had always claimed that they wanted revenge. Grand Duke Nilai, who was restrained towards the people of Kyoto, was very disappointed.

At that time, the Northern Army was said to be powerful. An army of 100,000 troops defeated Laiming City, an important town outside Kyoto, and overwhelmed the city of Salettek, known as a household in Kyoto. Even Salande Kyoto, in the face of such a powerful army, could not survive Seems so vulnerable,

According to convention, Salander Kyoto, which has fallen into despair, should soon be captured by the northern army in this siege.

But no one expected that in less than half a year, the whole situation would be reversed. Those adults from the south were shouting loud slogans about killing all the people in Kyoto and launching a jihad for liberation. But when they arrived on the battlefield, they were just a bunch of people. You idiot, not only did the Kyoto Army, which you looked down upon earlier, suffer a complete defeat, but there are even situations where they even attack friendly forces blocking the road in order to escape for their lives.

After hearing these situations, Tedesch was already used to it. For such defeated soldiers, he did not bother to ask about the battle situation at the front. He just secretly increased the manpower and frequency of inspections on the rock walls on both sides of the Beleng Bridge. A row of wooden watchtowers were built on each bridge to keep an eye on the eastward movement near the bridge.

With the Kyoto Army ready to attack the northern plains at any time, the importance of the Beleng Bridge was immediately revealed, and the situation became increasingly tense. Tedeschi found that the number of troops he could mobilize was still small compared to the 30,000 Kyoto Army on the opposite side. It's a little weaker. The report asking for reinforcements has been submitted, but there has been no reply from Grand Duke Nilai who is in charge of Vic Territory.

In fact, Tedesch needs to know that apart from the 10,000 troops defending the northwest mountains and the 10,000 troops stationed in the stronghold of Kurongze, Grand Duke Nilai has very few troops at his disposal. The 12,000 troops allocated to him Thousands of people is already the limit of the Northern Territory

That afternoon, Tedesch was taking a lunch break, but the weather was very hot, and he was so sleepy that he couldn't fall asleep. So he grabbed a bottle of wine on the bed and went out to patrol in a drunken state.

This is his old habit, and his subordinates are also used to it. However, the southern nobles who had just retreated from the front line were very surprised.

▽¤; In their impression, the military in the northern region seems to be very strict. If you drink before the war, you are likely to be severely whipped.

Tedesch ignored the contemptuous looks of the defeated generals and continued to perform his duties there, which was to watch his subordinates and check others from a distance.

In fact, with his face flushed, he couldn't see any details at all. He could just vaguely see many figures wandering around, all of them looking downcast. From a distance, he saw another defeated army approaching. Yes, we are now accepting inquiries from the bridge guarding troops there.

Tedesch placed the wine bottle in his hand on a rock on the side of the road. This was the worst-beating unit he had seen in the past few days. Perhaps it had suffered particularly heavy losses from the cavalry.

Each of these defeated soldiers had their heads wrapped in white cloth, which was stained with blood. They also dragged several dilapidated carriages, and injured soldiers were also lying on the carriages. They were all wrapped in dense bandages, like mummies. Even the commander who took the lead was covered in scars and bloodstains all over his body, which looked particularly shocking.

Tedesch is not a commander who has never been on the battlefield. In fact, as a senior Mamunuk, the battlefield and the smell of blood are too familiar.

He was used to seeing injuries and death, and he couldn't help but admire how difficult it was for these wounded soldiers to survive. Being able to survive the attack of a group of cavalry was enough to show their luck, but the other party's injuries made him feel a little doubtful.

There were so many wounded soldiers, but none of them had their hands or legs broken. Only a few were lame and needed crutches to walk. They were lucky. In fact, the most feared thing in this era was disability, if an arm or leg was broken. Living half a lifetime is a problem.

"You are from that unit." Tedesch waddled over from the side and waved to stop a squadron leader who was about to let him go.

The pale commander opposite looked at Taideshi suspiciously and hesitated for a moment before bending down to salute. His expression seemed to find Taideshi's behavior a bit surprising.

In fact, Tedesch came up with a team of well-equipped cavalry. They were not many in number, and they were all very skilled. They held shields and sharp knight swords in their hands, and had Mamunuks on their heads. The iconic red tassel of the knight, they are the bodyguards of Tedesch,

These Mamunuks on horseback surrounded them like a semi-arc, and the leader was also an energetic young man. The starter has a pair of shining eyes with a hint of murderous intent. His name is Tedresa, and he is Tedesch’s eldest son.

"Sir, we are the third squadron of Lord Sliksu's legion." The leader of this group of defeated soldiers was a thin and small guy. He was only about 25 or 26 years old. There was basically no scar on his body. .But the blood stains on his face were so heavy that one had to wonder if someone had disfigured him.

His eyes flickered as he looked at the cavalry gathering around him, and said in an unnatural voice, "We were attacked by the Mamunuk knights during the battle. The entire legion was left to us because we didn't want to fight anymore. Now there is a severe drought everywhere, and even food is a problem. I heard that as long as you are willing to submit to the Northern Territory, you can get food, so the brothers decided to come to the Northern Territory together."

"Really? That's really weird." Ted Shi looked up and down with drunken and distant eyes, and said with a mysterious smile on his lips.

"I heard that the cavalry of the Kyoto Army are all made up of real Mamunuk knights, and not the fake Mamunuks who pretended to be knights.

The number of people has also been reduced from the previously bloated more than 7,000 people to only more than 3,000 people, but the combat effectiveness has become stronger. It is the sharpest sword of the Salander Kyoto Army. I heard that they often fight against tens of thousands of people. The enemy still dared to launch a desperate charge. Most of the defeats of the southern noble faction in several battles were caused by the powerful impact of these Mamunuk knights, which eventually caused the flanks to collapse.

I have been guarding here for so long, and this is the first time I have seen the infantrymen who encountered the Mamunuk knights being so intact. Isn’t it too strange?”

"Sir, you misunderstood." Hearing Tedesch's question, the young officer said with a relieved expression, "We were attacked by Mamunuks, but those Mamunuks were eager to chase the escaping adults. , so they just forced their way through us. Some brothers with broken arms and legs died on the way because they did not receive treatment. We are the only ones who can survive."

"Hey, they are really poor people." Tedeschi looked like he was drunk. His steps were so staggering that he couldn't help but stumble, and his body suddenly fell forward.

"Sir, you have to pay attention." The young officer quickly held Tedesch's hand. The rough spiral pattern in the center of his palm and the strong grasping force made Tedesch, who was pretending to fall, frown slightly. Taking a deep breath, a faint smell of blood drifted into the young officer's nose from his clothes.

"Thank you. If it weren't for your help, I would be so embarrassed." Ted Shi got up with an embarrassed look on his face and patted the dirt on his body with his hand.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to turn around, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the remaining defeated generals seeming to be moving quietly, and the position of their movement was a bit strange. They were barely 10 meters away from the soldiers at the bridge entrance, and the dozen or so wounded soldiers were holding hands. Why is it always placed under the thatch in the carriage field?

"Thank you very much, young man. What's your name?" Taideshi endured the horror in his heart and patted the young officer's shoulder hard. There was a slight solid bulge on the other's shoulder, which confirmed his suspicion. It is a descendant disease left by the Mamunuk knights who wore heavy armor and slings all year round.

"Hessgen," the tall and thin young officer said cautiously.

"Let them pass, they are all poor people." Tedesch waved to the patrolling soldiers nearby and burped loudly. He left the bridge entrance unsteadily and staggered into the nearby ground. In an arrow tower, it seems to be very casual,

But suddenly, Tedshi picked up the weapon leaning against the wall like a rabbit, and at the same time shouted loudly, "Get ready to fight, they are fake Kyoto troops."

The atmosphere on the bridge seemed to have suddenly condensed.

The soldiers guarding the bridge haven't reacted yet. They haven't had time to react. Some of them even don't know who "they" Tedsch is referring to.

"Pfft!" The two soldiers near the bridge were still stunned when their throats were slit by a short dagger that suddenly appeared in the hands of the young officer. Then they fell down without saying a word. Their eyes were still wide open, as if nothing happened. I don't understand why I died.

Shouts of "enemy attack" echoed on the bridge.

From the military camp closest to the bridge entrance on both sides, hundreds of soldiers holding spears quickly rushed out, "killing" the sharp infantry spears and the Mamunuk knights dressed as wounded soldiers.

Although the number of these Mamunuks is not large, they all have extraordinary skills. The long swords in their hands bring out a pale white luster, and the collision with the spears creates sparks. Because the bridge entrance is too narrow, there are hundreds of them. The pikemen were stunned and were blocked by several Mamunuk knights at the mouth of the bridge, unable to move forward.

"Fire arrows." A row of archers quickly lined up on the riverside. They raised their bows and fired a burst of rapid fire. The black arrows drew eye-catching and fast white lines in the air, landing on the entangled two sides. Above, amid screams, corpses rolled from the bridge entrance into the turbulent river below.

"Send the signal!" The tall and thin young officer separated the spear from the thrust with his sword and shouted at the top of his lungs to a slightly frightened wounded soldier behind him. The wounded soldier took out a bow and arrow from under the thatch of the carriage and quickly pulled it. He shot an arrow cluster into the air with a sharp sound.

"**, just rely on your nose to smell it. I also know that you are all senior Mamunuks who invested hundreds of people at a time. Kyoto is really willing to spend a lot of money." Standing on the arrow tower, Ted Shi looked at the tragic scene in front of him and felt a little. Said with emotion,

At this time, his expression suddenly changed,

A rumbling rolling sound came quickly. On the small slope at the bridge entrance opposite, a black and powerful black line slowly appeared and gradually enlarged.

There were thousands of Mamunuk knights in heavy armor, like a huge rolling iron stream, rushing up from the bridge on the opposite side. The flying horse hooves stepped over their own people without hesitation, and met those on the opposite side. Hundreds of gunmen who had no time to evacuate collided heavily with each other.

On the left side of the opposite slope, the Kyoto Army, a mixture of infantry and cavalry, continuously came out of the forest at the foot of the mountain on the left. The rumble of hooves and footsteps resounded through the foot of the mountain. The soldiers and horses kicked up a yellow dust mist, and black The head of the formation and the flying flag were looming in the dust and mist in the sky. People and horses flowed over the high slope in front of the bridge entrance like a tide and then slowly came down.

"Woo!" As a sharp and rapid sound came from the air, countless arrow clusters were like swarms of locusts rising from the horizon, shooting out like a sky-covering sun.

"Immediately bring the guards to Vic Land to report to Grand Duke Nile. The Kyoto army has attacked. Please tell the lady that I, Ted Shi, is a person who should have died long ago. Please don't be sad." Ted Shi said deeply. He took a breath of air-conditioning, took out the report he had already written in his arms, and handed it to the captain of the guard behind him, his eldest son Tedressa.