Sword of Dawn

Page 153

The last sentence seemed humorous, and the two soldiers at the scene couldn't help laughing.

Wright silently glanced at the pastor in front of him, and then at the two soldiers next to him. He could tell that these two soldiers were not the Templars of the church, but the private soldiers of the local lord—these soldiers would Following the pastor to arrest people, the local lord must have benefited a lot from the ransom money.

"You have arrested a lot of people like this." He looked at the pastor wearing a white gold-rimmed soft hat, and his tone was unprecedentedly calm. "How many gold coins can a poor commoner like this make you?"

The pastor couldn't help but frowned, and suddenly showed a trace of vigilance: "Brother, you shouldn't care about this—this is the place of Raelwen Church."

"Oh," Wright nodded, and looked at the positions of the two soldiers next to him, "Shengguang asked me to tell you a word."

The two soldiers looked at each other inexplicably, and the priest wearing a soft hat subconsciously sensed a hint of danger, and couldn't help but put his hand on the holy emblem on his chest: "What do you want to do?"

Wright said lightly: "The Holy Light tells us that we must stand up to the evil—"

As the words fell, he twisted his body suddenly, raised his arms, and his huge fist caused a whistling sound in the air, hitting the head of the soldier closest to him like a stone bomb!

The soldier seemed to be stunned. He had been in the Holy Spirit Plain without war for many years, and he could only brandish a sword to frighten the civilians. He didn't even react to the sudden attack. He only heard a loud bang. The casserole-sized fist hit the soldier's helmet—the steel helmet exploded around the soldier's head like an upside-down bell, and then he flew out in a horizontal motion.

Before flying out, the soldier passed out completely, and a large piece of his helmet was deflated, as if hit by a war hammer.

After punching, Wright didn't take back his strength, but took advantage of the inertia and directly turned half a circle, sweeping his legs and sweeping towards the other soldier. Pulled out a one-handed sword from his waist and stabbed at Wright!

Wright had no fear of the sharp steel sword. His hands were suddenly filled with holy white light, and then he reached out and grabbed the steel blade with his flesh and blood hands. The holy light was in his palms. Surging and turning into a solid barrier, the soldier was horrified to find that the sword he stabbed with all his strength was caught by the priest in robes—the sword seemed to be stuck in the gap of the city wall Same, no matter how hard he exerted his whole body, he couldn't get it out!

Wright once swore not to use holy light for damage, but that doesn't mean he can't use holy light to defend against enemies.

At this moment, a wave of magic power suddenly came from behind, and Wright didn't turn his head, but just grasped the blade in his hand, and the steel weapon was covered with cracks, and then he pulled and pulled hard, holding the sword He pulled the soldier in front of him, swung the other hand over and smashed the shield in the soldier's hand, and grabbed the opponent's neck—like a chicken, he threw the soldier to the other Priest's direction.

The priest wearing a white gold-rimmed soft hat stared at him, and in shock, he condensed a holy impact at a fast speed, but the hot light only hit the soldier who was thrown over, and the latter was killed by the powerful Holy Spirit. The power of light bombarded his chest, and he screamed suddenly, and passed out in mid-air, while the priest who released the magic spell could only dodge to the side in embarrassment.

Before he could get his footing, Wright charged forward.

"The Holy Light tells us that bullying the weak should be cast aside!"

Accompanied by these words, a huge fist slammed into the priest's chest, but a shield emitting a faint golden light appeared out of thin air, helping the priest block the heavy blow, and his body flew backwards, The disintegrated holy shield flew all the way like blood.

Wright didn't give the priest a chance to get up, he rushed up again, directly took advantage of his huge size advantage to hold him down in the mud, and then raised his fist high.

"The Holy Light tells us that slander and framing are more serious than robbers!"

Slamming his fist down heavily, the terrified priest used the fastest speed in his life to recondense a layer of shield, and in the next second, he saw countless fine cracks in that layer of shield, Countless light spots splashed out from the shield.

The priest wanted to yell, and he wanted to curse and release any possible counterspells, but a huge sense of oppression frightened his thinking, making him unable to speak a complete sentence - Wright was too familiar with the priest's battle process , he will not give this pastor any chance to resist.

The heavy fist raised again, and smashed on the layer of holy light shield with the sound of howling wind——

"The holy light tells us that greed and money-gathering are the closest to beasts!" "Bang——"

"Holy light tells us that it is better to do evil things with a holy name than to do evil things with a bad name!" "Boom—"

"The Holy Light tells us that if unjust actions are not punished, they are no different from doing evil!" "Bang!"

The heavy fist smashed the crumbling holy light shield, and the holy light could no longer protect the priest lying in the mud. Wright punched the terrified face, and the latter immediately overflowed with blood.

Wright grabbed the priest by the collar, pulled him in front of him, stared into the other's eyes and asked word by word: "Holy Light told you so much, do you remember?"

The pastor's face was covered with blood, his frightened eyes seemed to be looking at a lunatic, and the words came out of his throat: "Remember...remember..."

"No, you didn't remember," Wright shook his head, and pushed the priest back into the soil again. He raised his right fist high and then dropped it suddenly, "You were just scared by me."

Accompanied by a muffled sound, blood gushed from the mouth and nose of this priest in a white robe and a white gold-rimmed soft hat, and finally passed out completely.

"The Holy Light tells us to exercise moderation."

Wright sighed softly, and slowly stood up.

The layer of holy light around him and on his fists to protect himself had disappeared at some point.

He walked towards the commoner couple and bent down to check their situation, but the first thing he heard was a woman's low exclamation—the silent spell on this woman had finally failed.

"Don't be afraid, you are safe." Wright whispered, and carefully checked the man's injuries - the young farmer's face was covered with bruises and blood, apparently he had been beaten before he was dragged out , but his heaviest injury was apparently kicked by a soldier with an iron boot. He breathed in pain and put his hands on his chest: his ribs were indeed broken.

Wright knew how to set the bone. He dealt with the man's injury, told him not to move, and then prayed for the Holy Light's response in a low voice.

Only a dim light emerged in front of him, and it was almost fleeting.

Wright froze for a moment, as if he understood something.

But he didn't say anything, just took out the prepared holy water and healing amulet from his arms, and with the power of these magic items, he finally healed the man's wounds.

"Thank you... thank you..." The young farmer got up from the ground and thanked him with a pale face. Although he still couldn't figure out what happened, he at least knew that the man in front of him who looked like a priest was trying to save him.

"You'd better leave this village," Wright accepted the thank you, and reminded the other party, "You can't live here anymore."

He knew that what happened here would soon spread to the church and the lord, and those villagers who saw the fight in the distance would definitely run to report it. Although he was the one who did it, the lord and the priests in the church It doesn't matter so much-and even if this conflict did not break out, Wright knew that it was impossible for the couple in front of him to survive in this place.

They have been charged with unwarranted charges, and have been treated as heresies by the Church of the Holy Light. There are only two results they can face, either they are burned to death in a fire, or they repent and convert in the church, and then hand over half of them. However, for poor people like them, is there any way out after handing over half of their property?

Their land will be confiscated and become the property of the church or the lord, and their houses are no exception. At best, they will become serfs after this, and continue to cultivate those fields that no longer belong to them-worse As a result, they died of hunger and cold when winter came.

All of this was doomed before Wright's arrival.

"But where can we go..." The woman in a coarse skirt twisted her clothes in pain. She had never left the village in her life, and she couldn't think of any way to survive at this moment, "Where can we survive..."

"I have learned carpentry," said the young farmer, "but the lord will surely bring us back..."

"Go to Cecil, to the south," Wright said suddenly, "There is a way for you to survive."

"Cecile?" The husband and wife glanced at each other. They were ignorant and ignorant of information, and they didn't know the existence of the Frontier Territory at all.

Wright took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. He looked at the two people in front of him and said solemnly, "I'll take you there."

Chapter 0368 Changes in the situation

The ruler of Ansu Kingdom and the longest reigning king since the establishment of the Second Dynasty, Francis II stood on the high terrace of Silver Castle, overlooking this ancient city that has been ruled by the Moen royal family for 700 years, The magical radiance of the giant sun shone on the old king, and cast a layer of hazy radiance on his gorgeous golden-red coat. One piece, the old king who is known for his wisdom and forbearance seems to be integrated with the entire castle, even the entire city, and the entire kingdom.

After standing and staring for a long time, there was a sound of light footsteps coming from behind. The old king's hearing was still keen. He turned around and looked at the person who was already standing behind him.

It was a middle-aged man wearing a long black coat with gold trim, short light golden curly hair, and an ordinary appearance without outstanding temperament. He stood in front of Francis II with submissive and gentle eyes, and a hint of awe.

"Wales, have you met Aiden?" Francis II looked at the middle-aged man in front of him indifferently. Although he was his eldest son, his tone was indifferent and calm, as if he was talking to the most ordinary of his subordinates. Followers speak.

Welsh Moen, this is the name of the middle-aged man, he is the first son of Francis II, and he was also the sole legal heir of the kingdom before the appearance of Prince Edmund, but on the entire Ansu top stage , the former heir is even less active than Veronica Moen, who entered the church early and left Ansu's ruling class. This prince with mediocre qualifications and weak personality is like the shadow of the Moen royal family. Hidden from all sight.

The "Aiden" mentioned by Francis II was the king's former prime minister, Aiden Alfred.

"Yes, Father," the middle-aged Prince of Wales lowered his head slightly, and said in a calm tone, "The former Prime Minister and I explained some precautions for living in Silver Castle."

"Very good," Francis II said lightly, "After Edmund and I leave, Silver Castle still needs a Moen heir to sit in the town. Veronica has converted to the Lord of the Holy Light, so this position can only be reserved." Here you are. Do you understand?"

Wales was silent for a moment, then whispered, "I understand."

"Don't worry, you just need to stay in Silver Castle, there is nothing you need to do," Francis II looked at his mediocre son, and shook his head imperceptibly, "The Dukes of the North and West will take care of it. everything."

Wales Moen bowed his head deeply: "...Yes."

The door connecting the terrace and the castle was pushed open, and Edmund Moen, who had already changed into a light knight outfit, stepped onto the terrace. The young heir to the kingdom came to Francis II and bent slightly: "Father ,Already prepared."

The old king took one last look at Wales, then turned his head and walked to the balcony door: "Let's go."

Francis II and Edmund left the terrace. They walked down the stairs and walked through the long corridors in the castle. When they passed the front hall, two people in fine clothes came forward to meet them.

One is the Duke of the West, Baldwin Franklin, who is wearing a dark blue duke cloak, with a refined temperament and a bit of a bookish look, and the other is Victoria, the Duchess of the North, who is wearing a white dress and a silver fox shawl. Wilder.

The two powerful nobles who were second only to the king in name in the kingdom came to Francis II and bowed slightly. Baldwin Franklin spoke first: "I wish you a smooth trip."

"I will work hard for peace," Francis II said solemnly, and then his eyes fell on the cold and distant female archduchess who was as cold as ice and snow. He looked at her quietly for two seconds before continuing to speak meaningfully , "May Ansu live in peace forever."

Victoria Wilde nodded slightly: "Ansu will be at peace for a long time."

Then they passed each other.

When the royal convoy with the emblem of the Morn royal family and escorted by a large number of cavalry and battle mages left Silver Castle, Wales still stood on the terrace blown by the cold wind, quietly looking down at the people who were coming from the castle. The gorgeous convoy passing by the square had a slight sense of desolation on their faces.

A strange cold wind blew from behind, and the former heir trembled slightly, then turned around and looked at Duchess Victoria Wilde standing in front of him without any surprise.

It's really cold, this woman is as cold as the mountains in the north, Wales inhales the cold breath that suddenly floats in the air, and what emerges in his mind is 20 years ago, when he was the sole heir of the kingdom, he saw the girlhood for the first time The scene of Victoria Wilde, who was also standing on this high terrace at that time, and Victoria in a white princess dress suddenly ran up, pointed to his nose and said, "You are a prince, right—I am The future Duchess of Wilder! I'll watch over you!"

A snowflake of condensed magic power floated on Wales Moen's face, and the middle-aged prince woke up immediately. He nodded to the Duchess of the North in front of him: "Duke Victoria, I will trouble you for a while."

Victoria nodded expressionlessly: "You don't need to worry about the affairs of the kingdom, Duke Baldwin and I will take care of everything for you, you just need to live in peace in Silver Castle - don't worry, I will watch over you .”

The last sentence suddenly overlapped with the memory, and Wales Moen's face trembled slightly, but he still lowered his head as usual, and said without any change in tone: "Okay."

Victoria Wilde frowned slightly and looked at the prince in front of her, and then said nothing. A sudden snowflake enveloped her figure, and with the swirling cold wind and snow, her figure had disappeared on the castle terrace.

In the middle of this month of recovery, a piece of news quickly blew through the entire Anzu like a warm wind that suddenly turned in this season—at least, among those well-informed nobles who had their own intelligence channels, this news was like the wind. Usually spreads rapidly.

King Anzu, Francis II and Prince Edmund led the envoys to leave Silver Castle.

Of course, "spread like the wind" is only relative to the spread speed of general news in this era. Without the use of griffin messengers and magic transmissions, the speed of receiving news in remote areas still depends on the speed of the messenger. The Cecil Territory is obviously not yet capable of establishing an intelligence line with Griffin messengers and magic communication towers from the extreme southern border to San Sunil - this requires crossing countless large and small southern borders to separate nobles, across the rock fortress, across The high cost of the Holy Spirit Plain, where the traditional aristocrats are powerful, is only one aspect, and the intricate power structure is even more troublesome-so when Gao Wen received the news, it was already ten days later.

This was the result of the quick work of the Cecil Merchant Group nodes along the way and the dispatched officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and he received the information faster than most nobles in the southern border—even faster than Viscount Andrew in Tanzania Town.

After getting the information, he immediately summoned Hetty, who was in charge of internal affairs, Amber, who was in charge of intelligence, and Byron, Philip, and Soldering, who were in charge of military affairs, and called them all to the living room of the Lord's Mansion.

"The royal envoys set off by caravan. In order to synchronize with Typhon, they will not be too fast. At this time, they should have just left the Plain of the Holy Spirit and have not yet entered the Eastern Territory," Gao Wenyang read the secret letter in his hand— This secret letter was sent by the operatives of the Military Intelligence Bureau in the Holy Spirit Plain, sent all the way through the commercial route, and finally handed over to him by Amber, "If all goes well, the formal contact and negotiation will be in the recovery month At the end of the month, or the beginning of the fire month, according to intelligence, Ansu and Typhon jointly built a 'Contract Fort' at the border to carry out this negotiation."

Byron looked at the information in Gawain's hands, and muttered in surprise, "Has our intelligence line reached Saint-Sunil?"

"Not last year, but since the beginning of spring this year, our pharmacy merchants have entered the Holy Spirit Plain - this should be thanks to Mr. Patrick's efforts and the assistance of Lady Roperney Grant," Gawain nodded, and then continued , "Edmund Moen, who traveled with Francis II, is currently staying in Silver Castle and is Welsh Moen."

"The eldest son of the prince?" Heti was stunned for a moment, feeling a little strange, "It is said that he has mediocre qualifications, is not good at politics, and has been away from the affairs of the kingdom for many years. Currently, he is just a prince with little real power...Why did the king let him Stay in the royal capital instead of Prince Edmund?"

"Francis II may not feel at ease letting his overly talented heir out of his sight—especially when he leaves the capital," Gawain shook his head with a smile, "I have seen that Aye Prince Demon, he is a very insightful young man, but he is also too insightful. As for Wales who stayed in Silver Castle... It doesn't matter whether he can manage this country well, because Victoria Wilde, the Duke of the North, and the Duke of the West Baldwin Franklin has arrived at Silver Castle ahead of schedule, and with the king's former Prime Minister Aiden as the pillar of the royal family, Silver Castle is still stable."

"...Then Wales is really a poor prince," Soldering shrugged. This high-ranking ranger who witnessed Ansu's 700-year history didn't seem to be very interested in the current "bastard royal family", let alone Respect can be said, "He is only a symbol in the castle."

"It doesn't matter to Francis II. The entire second dynasty was established with the support of the Duke of the North. Whether the Wilder family is in Silver Castle or not, the surname Moen is just a symbol— In this case, Wales, which is easier to control, can save him a lot of trouble," Gawain waved his hand indifferently, "It has nothing to do with us."

Amber was a little strange: "Then why did you call us here?"

Gawain ignored the half-elf lady beside him, but looked at Byron: "How is the progress of the combat corps' spring expansion and new weapons?"

As soon as this question was raised, everyone at the scene was stunned.

They smelled a disturbing message from Gao Wen's attitude.

Chapter 0369 Cecil's Preparation

Although the atmosphere on the scene was a bit serious after hearing Gao Wen's words, Byron still answered the question calmly with a blank face: "After two rounds of expansion in winter and spring, the number of fighters in the Cecil Combat Corps has reached 1000. , 3000 of them received artillery training. But although we have [-] soldiers, more than [-] of them are complete recruits—only basic drills, know how to use heat ray guns, grenades, and landmines, and have zero actual combat experience. "

Gao Wen nodded slightly, the result was roughly within his expected range, and he was quite satisfied with it.

Today's Cecil Territory has expanded again, especially after the Kant area was officially incorporated into Cecil, the population within the territory has exceeded 3—[-] of them are in the main city of Cecil, and the rest are in the main city of Cecil. Distributed in the surrounding villages and towns and the vast Kant area, considering the development model of the magic industrial society, he is still concentrating more people towards the main city and continuing to recruit refugees.

On the basis of this population, the exaggerated military-to-civilian ratio of nearly eight civilians and one soldier in the early pioneering period has finally been alleviated, and due to the existence of the construction army system and the support of the territory's productivity, the current size of the Cecil Combat Corps is relatively large. In terms of territory, it is quite reasonable and balanced.

And more than half of the soldiers in this corps are recruits, which cannot be changed.

In addition to actual combat tests and time accumulation, it is impossible for recruits in the army to become veterans out of thin air. Although the combat corps has always had high-intensity intensive training, and regularly goes to the surrounding areas of the territory to suppress bandits and monsters to increase "seeing blood experience", veterans are used as seeds The tradition of leading the recruit class, the training efficiency is much higher than the traditional private soldiers of this era, but no matter how efficient it is, it is impossible to train those recruits in place in more than two months.

But Gao Wen knew that even though the ratio of recruits was high, the soldiers of the Combat Corps still had a huge advantage over the traditional private soldiers of this era, and this advantage was enough to offset many problems caused by the high ratio of recruits—— particularity.

Traditional soldiers in this era mainly rely on cold weapons to fight. Magic power is often just an embellishment used by a few battle mages in the army to enhance the battlefield and counter opponents. Soldiers who use cold weapons to fight are extraordinarily long and difficult to train. The fighting, offensive and defensive skills need years of tempering, and the courage needed to kill face to face at close range cannot be honed overnight, but what about magic soldiers?

It only takes one month of practice for them to go from being exposed to heat ray guns to being able to roughly hit a person's torso tens of meters away. Cold weapon fighting...

The performance of the melting sword is enough to make up for many shortcomings.

What's more, for Cecil combat soldiers, cold weapon melee combat itself is not the main item: the melting sword is just a secondary weapon.

As the main commander and one of the founders of the combat corps, Byron certainly knew the situation of the soldiers under his opponent, so after reporting the ratio of recruits, he said: "A magic infantry who has received two months of training is It can kill several traditional soldiers who have been trained for many years and have even experienced several battles tens of meters away, so even our new recruits have strong combat effectiveness—provided there is enough shooting space.”

"In comparison, artillery training is more complicated and slower," he said later, "Squad coordination, quick lookup of shooting table data, memorization of various battlefield instructions, and use and maintenance of orbital accelerators are all better than heat rays. Guns are much more difficult."

"This is normal. The formation speed of advanced units has always been like this," Gawain nodded. "As long as they can master those small artillery as soon as possible."

"You can rest assured in this regard," Byron said confidently. "The miniaturized 'Persuader' orbital accelerator can be operated by two people. The firing table is simple and the sights are simpler. It has been well trained so far."

After Byron finished his report, Philip went on to speak: "I am integrating and reorganizing the old regiments from the Kant area. After the Kant knights swore their allegiance, Knight Walder Peric led the knights and their subordinates, militia Merged into the Cecil Territory, there are about [-] people in this group. They are all old-fashioned private soldiers of the nobles, and their combat effectiveness and discipline are very poor. There are twelve regular knights, and with the cooperation of these Kant knights, the integration and reorganization of the old regiment went smoothly."

"Intensify training, especially the work of ideological transformation must be in place," Gao Wen, who knows the situation of noble private soldiers in this era, especially emphasized the ideological transformation of those old regiments, but fortunately, the previous Kant Territory was still relatively institutional. In an enlightened and well-ordered territory, the old local regiment has not been corrupted to the point of hopelessness. He is still somewhat optimistic about this, "After training, this regiment will serve as the second regiment, and it will still be led by Walder Perry. Commander of the Strange Knight. I have had contact and understanding with Walder Peric, as long as he changes his mind, he is a reliable and loyal person."

"The first batch of trainees of the Iron Rangers and the preliminary training plan have been put in place, but the training has just started, and there is nothing to report at present," said Soldering the third. I have thought about some equipment design plans based on my combat experience and the characteristics of the 'magic weapon', and I plan to discuss it with Mr. Egg in the near future."

After these reports were all over, Gao Wen nodded in satisfaction, and Hetty, who had long wanted to speak, finally couldn't help but speak: "Ancestor, are we... ready for war?"

"Yes, preparation, but it's just preparation at the moment." Gawain looked into Hetty's eyes, "Frankly speaking, I don't want to involve the developing territory in the flames of war right now, but we must be prepared for the situation to change. "

"The situation has changed..." Hetilo thought for a while, and understood Gao Wen's meaning, "You mean, this peace negotiation between Typhon and Ansu will lead to chaos instead? It will lead to war instead?"

"I just have some uneasy premonition," Gao Wen affirmed Hetty's statement from the side, "I want to believe that the leaders of the two countries are aware of the common threat from the wasteland, and they can also understand the inevitability of the two countries going to war at this time." Reasonable, but I doubt whether everything will develop so smoothly... The Eternal Sleeper, the End of All Things, the nobles of the two countries' respective battles, and the rumored "madness" of Emperor Typhon, there are too many factors at play Threatening this negotiation, once there is a problem in the negotiation process, it will be too late to prepare after the war breaks out."

"I understand," Hetty nodded slowly, "The government affairs department will also start to take action—in fact, the work of hoarding supplies has not stopped since the opening of various business routes, but now I will increase the hoarding of supplies according to the standards for war preparations Strength."