Sword of Dawn

Page 285

The troops ordered to set off were divided into two groups, one was the royal knights loyal to the king, and the other was a mixed knights composed of the children and private soldiers of the nobles in the capital. Passing through the city gate, it looks completely different in style——

The number of the royal knights is very small, and only [-]% of the original number of survivors still have combat power. They wear scarred armor, and the blood on their weapons has not even had time to wipe off. They are like a group of rust-colored war sculptures , silently crossed the city gate, murderous introverted but orderly.

Compared with them, the other team seemed noisy and ostentatious. All kinds of colorful flags fluttered over this team, and knights from nobles who wore bright armor and had ruddy faces rode on tall horses. The theatrical troupe, blowing and beating all the way, is very lively, and among the teams with different flags, you can also see the heraldic flags with colorful lace flying high, which is a means of showing off the nobles' personal conquests——

Of course they want to show off, because the next "battle" will be a performance with almost no risk, just like the hunting in autumn and winter every year, people with prominent backgrounds hold enchanted bows and arrows, under the strict guard of knights Go down and hunt down a group of beasts that have been driven to a desperate situation. No matter what the process is, as long as the arrow is finally inserted into the beast, the person who draws the bow and shoots the arrow can win the title of "brave". Now, they are going to get it This brave name.

After all, speculators also know their own stains, especially those who were ready to transfer property, and finally rushed to the king's coronation before swearing allegiance. They urgently need some "war results" to decorate their appearance.

This victory was not for the king, but for Grand Duke Gawain Cecil.

That is a duke with great military exploits, and at this moment he is using force to turn the tide. After entering the capital, such a duke will inevitably pay attention to the performance of all parties in the previous battle of defending the city, so accumulating some military exploits for himself in time is to continue Accumulate resources from the political investment that has come down—anyone with a vision can see that the situation in Ansu will be completely reshuffled after the end of this war. Both the east and the north will decline, and even the west has already suffered To the bone, only the southern border is the real winner, just like the Wilder family who took control of Ansu in the name of "Regent" after the end of the Brumaire civil strife 100 years ago.

And as for the king... Poor king, his royal authority will probably come to an end the moment Duke Gawain Cecil enters the city.

Earl Uriel, a royal aristocrat dressed in costume, raised his head and glanced back. Looking at the king's flag fluttering on the tall city wall of Saint-Sunil, he couldn't help shaking his head, sighing with an aria full of northern high society characteristics. : "It's a pity that the king has only been free for eight days."

Another person echoed from the side: "Yeah, we got rid of Wilder and ushered in Cecil... Who would have thought of this a few years ago?"

Earl Uriel smiled reservedly: "I have bought a large number of alchemy potions and magical weapons in the southern region. As his important customer, I must have some impression of Grand Duke Gawain Cecil."

"Of course, my friend, your investment vision has always been admirable..."

……

Wales stood on the city wall, watching the well-dressed procession marching towards the direction of "Crow Mesa", without saying a word for a long time.

Duke Baldwin's voice sounded from the side: "Your Majesty."

"Look, what a glamorous team." Welsh raised his head and pointed at the advancing team with his chin. "The armor is brand new, the horses have no scars, and the flags seem to have just been taken out of the warehouse." Sir Baldwin, where did you say they were hiding before?"

"...in the filthy bowels of those people."

Wales turned his head and glanced in surprise: "...you actually know how to curse."

"Only when necessary," Grand Duke Baldwin said flatly, "Compared to this, Your Majesty, are you sure that your choice is necessary?"

"I have seen with my own eyes the efforts of you and the Grand Duke of Victoria. I have seen with my own eyes the confrontation and division between reformers and conservatives. I have seen how the lords increase their wealth and erode free people's arable land. I have also seen how the so-called 'factory reform' is. It becomes a new excuse for enclosing land and occupying land, and makes civilians more displaced. I am familiar with all the rules of the operation of the upper class of this kingdom, and in this rule, I discovered a truth..."

Baldwin quietly looked at the king in front of him.

"Our reforms have not been successful because we haven't done enough. The prosperity Ansu wants is not on the negotiating table."

After saying this, Wales suddenly laughed: "And I'm really curious about what choice the founding hero would make in the face of such a difficult problem. I have set up such a stage, and can he also make the same choice?" At a loss for once..."

……

The sound of artillery fire from the No. [-] high ground gradually subsided, and in the command post, information about the battle situation on the front line was constantly being collected in front of Gao Wen.

Overall, the battle situation is developing according to the predetermined plan. When those cluster giants turned into frenzied monsters, things to consider for the Cecil Legion became a little easier—monsters that lacked command and tactics naturally lacked change. As long as there are no major mistakes, the formulated tactics can basically conform to the deduction, and as commanders at all levels and soldiers become more and more adapted to this battlefield, it can be said that the situation will not change significantly.

Over the magic net terminal next to the map table, Philip's bust is floating on the holographic projection: "...already approaching the corridor of the valley, we can reach the San Sunil area as soon as tomorrow..."

"Very good," Gao Wen nodded with satisfaction, and his tone was full of approval—the original meeting time was actually three days later, but the main force on the ground led by Philip abruptly moved two days earlier, which further ensured the battle situation. The balance is tilted to his side, "But how can you be so fast?"

"The enemy's counterattack was weaker than expected. It seems that a large number of monsters that were wandering in the middle of the plain have been attracted to the San Sunil area," Philip explained, "However, we still have enough firepower blockade points along the way. You can rest assured on that."

Gao Wen nodded, and then exchanged a few words of information about the battle situation with Philip, and then ended the communication.

The north-south blockade is finally closing.

He breathed a little, feeling a little relaxed in his heart, then turned his head, wanting to discuss with Victoria next to him about the arrangements for entering the capital, but before he could speak, he heard Amber's voice not far away :

"You said that you are a messenger, and you are a messenger—you still hide when you deliver a letter, and you still hide with your ability?!"

Gawain raised his head curiously, and saw Amber dragging a person towards this side, and the one who was dragged by her arm with a face full of embarrassment was a young man in black light leather armor with a somewhat familiar face. man.

Victoria, who was standing next to him, recognized the man's identity at first sight: "Raven?"

It was only then that Gao Wen suddenly remembered the identity of the other party - this is an old friend.

A royal shadow guard who doesn't know how to whirlwind with a two-handed sword.

"I caught him outside the camp, and he sneaked over, and I kicked him out of the shadow world," Amber pushed the raven towards Gawain, and said with her head on her hips, "he Said he was here to deliver a letter."

"Raven, what letter are you here to deliver?" Victoria immediately frowned and asked the Royal Shadow Guard in front of her.

Raven first glanced at Victoria, then at Amber helplessly, and finally bowed his head in front of Gawain, and said respectfully: "I have a letter from the king, and I will give it to Duke Gawain Cecil. "

While speaking, the Royal Shadow Guard took out a letter from his closet and handed it to Gao Wen in front of him.

Gao Wen took the letter with the seal of Ansu royal family's wax paint, curious about what was inside - although the southern battlefield of San Sunil was basically cleared at this moment, a royal shadow guard came across the battlefield alone Cecil's camp is still not a simple matter. What kind of emergency situation requires Ansu's new king to contact him in this way?

He opened the letter and saw that there was only a simple sentence on it:

"The Crow Mesa has been corrupted and polluted. Please help Duke Cecil to clean it up—Wales Moen."

Gao Wen's eyes froze. After a few seconds of silence, he slowly put down the letter and looked at the Royal Shadow Guard in front of him: "Besides, what else did your king tell you?"

"He has something to tell you," Raven repeated what Wales Moen said. "He said he put a ball of thread there."

"..."

Victoria saw the contents of the letter and heard Raven's words. She didn't know what the so-called "ball of thread" meant, but based on guesswork and intuition, she already vaguely realized what Wales was doing.

She looked at Gawain suddenly: "Duke Cecil..."

"Your king, you have given me a problem." Gawain sighed softly, and glanced at the letter in his hand again.

This letter did not have any "burn after reading" seal, it was still lying intact in Gao Wen's hand, every word on it was clear and sharp.

This is a difficult problem, and perhaps it is also an observation. Gawain seemed to see the eyes of Welsh Moen behind this thin letter paper.

Those eyes were full of scrutiny.

Amber also saw the content of the letter, and after a moment of reaction, the goose let out an exclamation: "...Oh my god."

Immediately afterwards she said: "Be careful, this might be a conspiracy, he lied to you, what do you call it... borrow a knife or something..."

"Actually, I don't mind if this is a conspiracy or not," Gawain looked at Amber, "but I do need to confirm the situation at the Crow Terrace—to inform Jinna and let her take off."

Then he looked at Victoria with a complicated expression: "Let's wait here."

They didn't have to wait long, and the aerial reconnaissance footage from the Griffin Knight was quickly transmitted to the command post.

Armored griffins flit over the Crow Mesa, and a field of brightly colored flags and emblems dances in the wind.

Gawain and Victoria stood in front of the magic net terminal, looking at the holographic image displayed on it, Gawain asked softly, "Do you know each other?"

In a trance, Victoria seemed to have returned to her girlhood again, and once again felt the tension and fear that she had when she stood beside her father. Even a short question from Gawain made her feel heavy pressure, and she couldn't bear it. Zhu took a light breath before replying, "I know."

"What's your evaluation?"

"...Duke Cecil, you are making a terrible decision, it will..."

Gao Wen just calmly repeated his question: "What is your evaluation?"

The scene she recalled not long ago suddenly reappeared in Victoria's mind, recalling the question her father once asked herself:

"...if pruning, fertilizing, watering, and pesticides don't work, what do you do?"

She closed her eyes slightly, and when she opened them again, the icy Grand Duke of Ice and Snow seemed to have returned.

"It should all be removed."

"very good."

Gawain nodded, and turned to the commander nearby.

"The Crow Mesa is polluted, cleanse it."

Chapter 0643 The King's Price

When the armored griffins of the Cecilians flitted across the sky, Count Uriel still had time to enjoy the view of the Crow Mesa - this highland once housed several sentry towers and a small fortress was the garrison stronghold of Saint-Sunil One of them, but it has been destroyed by the flames of war at this moment. Among the scattered ruins, only the flag equipment left by the defenders after their hasty retreat and the torn corpses of the crystal cluster giants can be seen. A brand new flag is flying among these dilapidated ruins at this moment. , with a wonderful contrasting beauty.

The cool wind blew over, and there was some strange smell from the battlefield in the wind. Count Uriel took a deep breath and said with a smile: "The past few days were really difficult—but fortunately, those difficult days are finally over .”

"We didn't encounter any resistance. There are only a few seriously injured and dying monsters in this place," said a viscount next to him. "I'm afraid these achievements are not enough?"

"It doesn't matter, we can gather up these ready-made wrecks," Earl Uriel said casually, "Our king should be very busy in the future, and he probably won't have time to distinguish these trivial matters."

"Our new king..." The viscount next to him said with a chuckle, and then looked up at the sky curiously, "It's strange, why are those griffins wandering around here all the time?"

"That should be the griffin of Cecil." Count Uriel looked up at the sky. "Are they here to say hello to us?"

The armored griffin hovered over the crow platform for a while, then suddenly flapped its wings and flew obliquely into the distance.

Count Uriel narrowed his eyes, and after a while, a feeling of uneasiness finally emerged from the bottom of his heart.

He thought of Earl Lucre, who was executed by the king.

"It's a trap—"

Earl Uriel roared in shock, but a sharp howling sound came from afar...

The Crow Mesa was shrouded in an explosion like a sky-shattering earth-shattering, flashes of light continued, and clouds and mist rose into the sky.

Wales stood on the city wall of Saint-Sunil, watched all this calmly, and said softly after a long time: "He is really decisive."

And the people other than him, those who stood on the city wall and knew what was on the Crow Terrace, those noble children who supported the king, the soldiers who defended the city, and other people who were left behind by Wales for various reasons, all of them Watching the terrifying scene in the distance with shock and fear.

The crowd exclaimed, and there was chaos on the city wall. Some people rushed towards the king, wanting to ask for further orders, but Wales raised his long sword, and a magical voice resounded through the city wall: "Quiet—nobles of the inner court, stay behind!" Guards, follow me out of the city to meet Duke Cecil."

"Your Majesty!" an inner court nobleman exclaimed, "Absolutely not! They just bombarded the Crow Mesa, they just killed..."

"Do they know that there are noble knights on the Crow Mesa?" Wales asked calmly, "Do they know the order I gave in Silver Castle?"

"Your Majesty, this..."

"This may be a terrible misunderstanding, so it needs to be clarified in person," Wales said in an unquestionable tone. "In any case, the Cecilians saved the king's capital and wiped out the monsters on the plain. Their legion is on the Outside the city, we must meet."

The last words of the king woke up all the people present, and those inner court nobles who were in shock and fear realized who had the real initiative - and those who were smarter suddenly fainted from Welsh's abnormal attitude. After noticing some facts and smelling a terrible, bloody truth that happened in the sun, after a short period of confusion, they found that they had no more choices.

Whatever the truth behind the bombardment on Raven Mesa, they must now go out of town to meet Cecil's army, as ordered by the king.

……

"The meeting place is in Mill Town, which is already in ruins," Victoria said after finishing the magical communication with Duke Baldwin, turning to look at Gao Wen, "Wales and the nobles of the inner court have already set off."

Gawain nodded: "Let's go too."

His calm attitude even made Victoria feel an unspeakable fear, and the latter couldn't help but said, "Aren't you worried that it's a trap?"

"Worried, so I'll take a battalion of tanks—but I don't think it's likely to be needed. Wells is a smart man, and Baldwin Franklin even more so."

Victoria was taken aback for a moment, and then glanced at Raven standing not far away.

This terrible incident that happened in the sun was completed by a letter sent by the royal shadow guard. At first, Victoria thought why he didn't contact her directly through the magic message. After all, she had already arrived in Sansuan. The Neil region was within the reach of magic communication, but she soon figured it out—the guardian of the western border knew her very well, and Baldwin knew that she would definitely not agree to this bold and extreme "conspiracy". Contact only allows her to intervene to prevent this from happening.

The Duke of Baldwin, who is in charge of Ansu's business, may act like a businessman... Precisely calculate the greatest benefit for the country, and then do everything to achieve it... This has always been stuck in Ansu. Victoria in Sue's old aristocratic fence will probably never be imitated.

Gao Wen had already stepped out of the command post, and Victoria quickly regained her spirits and followed, but before getting into the car, the Duchess of the North suddenly noticed that there was someone missing at the scene: "Where is that Miss Amber going?" gone?"

Gawain walked towards the magic vehicle parked in the camp, and said casually, "She's going to investigate something."

In the depths of the camp, in a barracks tightly guarded by soldiers, a magic net terminal is humming, and the printing device connected to the terminal is constantly spitting out sheets of white paper, with a lot of words printed on the paper , as well as black and white pictures and detailed hand-painted emblems.

Amber was sitting next to the magic net terminal, flipping through the printed paper and showing a weird smile—the smile was full of satisfaction and mockery.

"It's really a lot... It's really thanks to that Welsh can defend the city until today when it is held back by such a group of people..."

……

The Cecil Legion sent a guard to go to the ruins of the mill town outside Saint-Sunil according to the agreed time and place, and before they arrived, Wales had already arrived here.

There is no need to occupy and repair the ruins, which are almost only ruined walls. The legion of the cluster giants trampled it down and demolished almost all its buildings and walls. It seems that the only way to deal with it is to completely bulldoze and rebuild. Its the best means.

The Royal Knights sent here almost effortlessly cleared away the sporadic monsters wandering around the ruins, and then planted the Ansu flag on a piece of broken bricks and tiles.

When the rumbling cannon came from the direction of the Crow Terrace, the Knights stationed here silently. They had received orders not to leave this place no matter what happened, and if nothing happened to the Crow Terrace...

Their task is to intercept and kill the returning nobles here.

Ansu's flag fluttered on the edge of the ruined town. The broken bricks and collapsed walls gave off a desolate atmosphere in the sun. A silent knights guarded this piece of broken bricks and tiles. Welsh Moore En led the surviving nobles and soldiers loyal to him to stand outside the town, watching those ferocious and weird steel war machines drive into this open land.

When he saw those rotating tracks, the shining steel armor with floating shields, and the rail muzzle gleaming coldly in the sun, Wales could clearly feel that everyone around him tensed up, and heard several voices of throat drumming .

In fact, even he himself was inevitably emotionally shaken when he saw those chariots.

The door of the magic vehicle guarded by the chariot opened, and Gawain stepped out, followed by Victoria, the Duchess of the North, wearing a long white dress with an indifferent and distant face.

The nobles and knights beside Welsh were slightly agitated, but no one made any more movement. Victoria just stood quietly behind Gawain, even though she knew very well that she was still standing after Gawain bombarded the Crow Mesa. What does it mean to be around the other side.

She was fulfilling her promise to Gao Wen in this way.

The atmosphere at the scene was delicate and tense, and an unspeakable awkward silence enveloped everyone. Of course Gao Wen could feel this special atmosphere, but he just showed a faint smile and calmly walked towards the new King Ansu in front of him: "We We finally met safely, Your Majesty—but the atmosphere here doesn't seem to be very good?"