The magic gun carriage, which was pulled by a pack horse, creaked as it moved forward on the bumpy dirt road. The fully-armed Cecil soldiers were guarding the front, back, left, and right of the gun carriage, constantly vigilant of any movement in the wilderness. The young Knight Philip rode at the front of the team. At the end of his line of sight was the northernmost mountains of the Southern Territory.
The Firmrock Stronghold was located in the middle of the mountains. It was like a prison gate that locked the Cecil Family in this land for a hundred years.
Today, he was going to open that gate.
Scouts were constantly sent out in groups of three, riding fast horses, to investigate the surrounding situation in all directions, and to report the situation back to the team at any time. Now that the team had reached the buffer zone between Firmrock Stronghold and the Southern Border, they had to be vigilant.
Knight Philip knew very well that this would be a completely different battle from the bombardment at Gravel Ridge. In front of Gravel Ridge, he fought a defensive battle. The attackers were the allied nobles. He only needed to set up the artillery position and wait for the enemy to walk into the trap. But this time, he became the attacker, so everything was different.
If they followed the traditional rules and war etiquette of the nobles, both the attacker and the defender had to act according to the rules. Even if one of them had found out the enemy's route, he had to wait patiently on the agreed battlefield until the enemy entered the battlefield, set up the array, and sent out the signal to start the battle. This symbolic rather than practical "battle procedure" was highly respected by the nobles because it could ensure the safety of the participating nobles throughout the war as much as possible. It was also elegant and decent enough. But the bombardment at Gravel Ridge had destroyed all of this.
After the sound of the cannon on Gravel Ridge, the allied nobles, who had not had time to reorganize their formation, were suddenly attacked by Cecil soldiers. After that, the traditional war etiquette was gone. The nobles who had suffered a loss could not continue to adhere to the old rules. Knight Philip had to be ready to deal with the enemy's surprise attack at any time. Although the Magic Crystal Railgun was powerful, it was at its weakest stage before the bombardment.
While Knight Philip was deep in thought, a small commotion suddenly came from not far away. He looked up and saw a few soldiers escorting two people who were tied up.
Philip stopped his horse and saw that the two tied up men were wearing traditional, or rather, old-style, iron chain mail. There was no identification on the outside of the mail. One of the men's arm was injured by a heat ray gun, and the wound was charred black. The other man did not have any obvious external injuries.
The captain who escorted the two men saluted and reported loudly, "Sir! We caught the spies from Rock Fortress. They were sneaking around in the woods nearby and were discovered by the patrolling troops. "
The two tied captives had fear and nervousness written all over their faces. It was as if the Cecil soldiers around them would eat them alive. Philip looked down at the two captives from above. After a long while, he asked, "Are you from Firmrock Fort?"
Under such circumstances, if they did not admit it, they would be courting death. The two captives hesitated for a moment and nodded.
"Very good. Don't worry, I won't execute you." Knight Philip nodded slightly and said, "I will let you go. Our lord has a letter to deliver to the commander of Firmrock Fort."
...
Cecil's men really came.
Two patrolling soldiers who went to the south of Firmrock Fort brought back news of Cecil's large-scale attack and the "letter" they were going to deliver to Firmrock Fort.
The defenders of Firmrock Fort immediately summoned all the commanders of the army and the southern nobles who took refuge in Firmrock Fort.
In the main hall of the fort, a captain Knight was relaying the news from the frontline to his superior.
"General, there are 3,000 to 5,000 people coming north. They have a large convoy with them. There are all kinds of strange things in the carriages. Perhaps they are the casting devices for 'Skyfire Explosion'. They have now entered the hills to the south of Firmrock Fort and will enter the plains in about three days... "
There was a slight commotion among the southern nobles, but it was generally stable. The other Knight officers were discussing in low voices. A middle-rank Knight commander stood up from his seat and looked at Sir Maryland. "General, what is written in the 'letter of challenge' of Cecil's men?"
Sir Maryland nodded and took out the 'letter written by Duke Gwen Cecil' that had just been delivered to him. Everyone's eyes were immediately attracted by the letter, especially the southern nobles in the hall. They even slowed down their breathing for a moment.
Sir Maryland already knew the content of the letter. He first glanced at the southern nobles and then said slowly, "I'll read the content to you."
The content of the letter was not long. It was not as complicated and flowery as most noble letters. Instead, it was as simple and straightforward as a note.
"... More than 40 nobles in the Southern Territory have collectively declared war on the Cecil family. After their defeat, the remaining culprits have fled to Firmrock Fort. In view of the above nobles' unwarranted invasion of Cecil's land and people, they have been declared as war criminals by the just law. Now, the Cecil army is heading to your place to receive prisoners of war. We hope that you can distinguish right from wrong, hand over the war criminals, and allow our personnel to enter the city for a search."
It took Sir Maryland less than a minute to finish reading the letter. After that, the whole hall fell into silence.
It was not until two minutes later that a Knight officer broke the silence. "What is this?! How can there be such a negotiation document?! "
"Yes, of course, this is not a negotiation." Sir Maryland looked at the Knight officer and said with a smile. "This is a superior order, more arrogant than the king's order to his own attendants! It seems that our hero who came back from the dead has no intention of negotiating with us at all. "
After hearing the contents of the letter, the southern nobles became uneasy, as if they were really afraid that Sir Maryland would hand them over in exchange for the safety of Firmrock Fort. Now that they saw Sir Maryland's reaction, they were slightly relieved. Viscount Marion Orland seized the opportunity and said, "Sir, you're right. Cecil will not negotiate with us according to tradition. Their lord has always disregarded all virtues and rules. Negotiating with them will only be a waste of time and we will fall into a trap!"
Sir Maryland nodded slightly. Seeing this, Viscount Consecco stood up and said, "Sir, Cecil will arrive in three days. We can take advantage of this time to make more preparations..."
"Make more preparations?" Sir Maryland looked at the tall and thin man who was depressed and drunk not long ago. He knew that although Viscount Consecco's family heritage was not long, he was a resourceful and quick-witted person, so he did not mind listening to his opinion. "What do you mean?"
Viscount Consecco gritted his teeth and said, "We can dig more traps on the plains in advance and send Druil to release poison in the hills. In addition, we can throw the corpses of the livestock that died of illness into the Whitewater River. We can even let the Druil spread the plague in the river. We have already filled all the wells on the plains in advance. If Cecil wants to get water, they can only rely on the Whitewater River. No matter how powerful their weapons are, people will always fall sick..."
"Stop talking." Before Conisco could finish his sentence, Sir Maryland suddenly interrupted him loudly. "Viscount, where did you get these … sinister ideas? If we do this, we won't have the slightest bit of noble spirit left! "
"Sir, these schemes may be insidious, but they are really effective," Viscount Consecco defended himself. "Cecil's people don't care about virtue and rules. Their liege is a person who takes the lead in destroying the noble's decorum. We don't have to talk about noble spirit with them..."
Sir Maryland looked at Viscount Consecco in surprise as if this was the first day he knew him. He did not expect that these insidious schemes would come from the mouth of a noble, but he also agreed that Viscount Consecco's schemes were effective. However, after thinking for a while, he could not help but say, "Do you know that Cecil's army is not the only army downstream of the Whitewater River? There are countless people who rely on this river for survival."
"What do the lives of those civilians have to do with us? While we're having trouble sleeping and eating in the Wilderness, those civilians have probably forgotten about their liege and are busy welcoming their new master, Cecil! " Viscount Consecco said with some agitation, as if the pressure that had accumulated over the past few days had finally exploded on him. "Sir, I know what you're worried about. The Whitewater River flows to the south, and there's still a part of your territory in the hills. But don't forget, there's still my manor and castle further down the river! What we need to do now is to make a glorious sacrifice. Civilians are like wheat. Once this batch is cut, they'll grow again in the next year. But once we're dead, who can maintain the order of the land in the south? "
Viscount Consecco waved his arms, and when he reached the end of his speech, he actually sounded rather impassioned. But what made Sir Maryland the most dumbfounded was that the southern nobles at the scene actually responded one after another. They nodded and agreed with Viscount Consecco's proposal. Just because the latter said "glorious sacrifice", this scheme that was originally completely against the nobles' spirit seemed to have become a noble plan.
But at this moment, Viscount Ropenny suddenly spoke in a cold voice, "Gentlemen, I'm afraid you're thinking too simply."
At this moment, Ropenny Gilen had a rather large right to speak among the southern nobles. As soon as she spoke, the nobles who were already agitated quieted down one after another. Even Sir Maryland revealed an expression of a bystander, waiting for Ropenny's next words.
"Perhaps you've forgotten what Cecil relied on to make his fortune."
Ropenny Gilen coldly threw out these words. More than half of the nobles at the scene quickly revealed a thoughtful look.
"Alchemy potions. They have so many alchemy potions that they can practically drink them like water. What's so precious about dispelling potions?" Ropenny Gilen glanced around. "Even if you use Druil spells to poison the water of the Whitewater River, I'm afraid Cecil's people won't care. Instead, you'll be wasting a lot of energy!"
The southern nobles looked at each other. Viscount Consecco was speechless. Then, Sir Maryland spoke at the right time. "Indeed, Viscount Consecco. That's not a good idea."
Then, he continued, "But we do need to make a response. We need to take advantage of the fact that Cecil's people have yet to gain a foothold …"
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