The meeting lasted all the way until sunset. When the lights were lit, the management of the Firmrock Stronghold, as well as the maintenance of the stronghold, were finally settled. Among all the arrangements, the most important one was who would guard this crucial northern gate.
Gwen did not choose Philip and Byron, the two "veterans".
The two Knight's loyalty and ability were unquestionable, but they were not suitable to guard the Rock Fortress. The 1st Combat Corps they led was Cecil's main force, and they were responsible for maintaining the security of the entire Southern Territory and defending the Gloom Mountain Range. Gwen did not dare to relax on the second point, especially the second point.
In Gwen's eyes, the threat of the wasteland on the other side of the Gloom Mountain Range was far greater than the threat of the human kingdoms in the north. Although the Rock Fortress was an important gate to the Southern Territory, Gwen could not weaken Cecil's native defenses.
Byron and Philip could not be tied to the fortress, and besides them, the young commanders cultivated by Cecil still lacked experience. There was no one among them who could take on such a heavy responsibility.
In the end, Gwen chose the old Knight from the Kant region, Walter Perryman. Perryman.
With Philip's help, this veteran knight had successfully transformed an old-fashioned noble's private army into Cecil's Second Combat Regiment. Although this regiment still had many areas to be perfected, the old knight's ability had already been reflected in this process. What was even more commendable was Walter's ability. Perryman's ability to accept new things and new ideas was unexpectedly strong. As the most senior Knight in the Kant region, he was faster than the young people when it came to learning new weapons, tactics, and military rules. Even Philip had specially praised this to Gwen.
In addition to his ability, Walter Perryman was also a trustworthy person. Perryman's character was also trustworthy.
The task of guarding the Boulder Stronghold, repairing and modernizing the stronghold fell on the 2nd Battle Army.
After the meeting, Gwen stood in the deserted hall and looked at the map hanging on the wall, lost in thought.
The north gate had been taken.
Perhaps the King's City would soon receive this news, but with the current situation of the Western Region and the Northern Region's Dukes dealing with the rebel army in the Eastern Region, they would be powerless to resolve the crisis in the South. They knew the combat strength of the Boulder Fortress, so naturally, they would be able to estimate the strength of the Cecil army that broke through the Boulder Fortress in a single day. As long as they weren't fools, the two Dukes would realize that even if they were to put together an army, it would be impossible for them to take back the Boulder Fortress. On the contrary, it would only increase their consumption. Therefore, the most likely response from the King's City would be to send a messenger to contact them in order to seek temporary "stability".
Regardless of whether the Royal City sent an envoy or an army, Gawain didn't really care. All he wanted was a Cecil Duchy that wouldn't be disturbed by the outside world and would be completely under his control. He would temporarily close the door and cut off all forces that wanted to touch the Southern Territory. Then, he would quietly absorb and digest the vast territory that had just fallen into his hands. He would thoroughly stabilize his foundation and enter a healthy stage of industrial operations. This process could take several years. Even with the pressure of the Demonic Tide, he had no choice but to speed up everything, but this process couldn't be skipped.
The emergence of modern weapons would eliminate the traditional castle tactics, but this did not mean that a gate like the Rock Fortress was meaningless. At least for now, the north gate firmly guarded the land of Cecil Duchy.
The nearby air was slightly distorted, and a shadow emerged from the air. Gwen turned his head and looked in the direction of the shadow. "What's the situation outside?"
Amber picked up a cup of water from the table next to her and gulped down half of the cold tea. Then she began to report the situation outside. "Everything is in order. The main force has completed the takeover. The original defenders of the Rock Fortress have all been detained. The Steel Rangers have just found the last group of people hiding in the mill in the west of the city. They are all exiled Knight of the South. Their ability to escape and hide has improved a lot."
Gwen nodded. "What about the civilians in the city?"
Amber grabbed another piece of snack and stuffed it into her mouth. As she chewed, she said, "The inner city is under martial law and a wartime curfew is enforced. Of course, the civilians are staying in their houses. But the female Knight named Margarita has led the soldiers to read the 'notice to pacify the civilians'. She has also distributed the supplies and medicine for pacification. These two things are quite useful. At present, the civilians in the inner city are a little nervous, but the order is pretty good."
Gwen sighed. "Because we did not bomb the civilian area."
Rock Fortress was a fortress-type city. It was both a fortress and a city. Nearly ten thousand soldiers were stationed here for a long time. In order to maintain the operation of the fortress and the stability of the army, the central area of the fortress was a fully-functional town. In addition to the soldiers, there were also a large number of civilians living here.
In order to prevent accidental damage to the civilian area, Cecil's army only bombarded the southern wall and the military facilities behind the first wall. Even when Solderlin and Luo Peini carried out their destruction in the inner city, their targets were only military camps, outposts, and mage towers. Although the civilian areas were slightly affected in the process, compared to other areas, the damage was almost negligible.
It could only be said that the fragility of the noble army in this era was a huge help to Gawain. The undisciplined and undisciplined conscripted soldiers immediately lost their will to resist after the walls fell. That was why the Cecil army was able to take down the entire Firmrock Fortress with only limited bombardment. If the defenders of Firmrock Fortress were a group of soldiers with tenacious battle intent and modern experience, they would have continued to resist after the walls fell and even retreated to the inner city and relied on the intricate streets and residences to engage in street warfare with the Cecil army. Then, this battle would not have been won so easily.
The civilian casualties in the inner city would not have been so light.
After reporting the situation, Amber began to stare straight at Gwen. She was still holding the dessert in her hand, and there were crumbs on the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were very serious. Gwen knew that she had a question she could not figure out. So he said casually, "Ask whatever you want."
"What are you going to do with Sir Maryland?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course, I'll treat him like a prisoner of war." Gwen waved his hand. "Send him back to Cecil, work, educate, and instill Cecil's law into him. Then, see if he's willing to become a member of Cecil and become a law-abiding citizen. In this way, I can still keep his noble title, although the 'new nobles' basically only keep their titles and annuity …"
Amber was disappointed when she heard this answer. "Tsk, I thought you'd give him special treatment."
Gwen was silent for a moment before he asked slowly, "Do you remember what I said in front of you and Leit last time?"
Amber thought for a moment and asked, "About the landed nobles?"
Gwen nodded and said, "Yes, there are 'good' ones among the traditional landed nobles. They retain the spirit of the Knight, pursue the true noble virtues, and have admirable characters. Sir Maryland is such a noble. But this still doesn't change his nature as a landed noble, and the limitations of his' noble virtues'. He's a respectable Knight, but that's not enough. As an individual, I admire him very much, but as a lord, I have to reform him equally. "
Gwen couldn't help but laugh. "Of course, there's still a difference between Sir Maryland and those Southern Border nobles. I believe that the knight will smoothly come to his senses, complete the reform, and become a law-abiding 'new noble' that's harmless to the territory. I see the shadow of Philip in him. Although this kind of person is old-fashioned and difficult to change, as long as they know the right direction, their transformation will be very reliable, unlike those hopeless Southern Border nobles. They may shout that they're willing to be loyal to Cecil on the first day of collective labor, but I can't completely believe them even after ten years."
"Those traditional nobles …" Amber couldn't help but mutter after hearing this. Then, she stuffed the last bite of the snack into her mouth. "But it doesn't matter. You've finally taken down the North Gate that you've been longing for. Now the entire Southern Border is completely under your control. You have plenty of time to slowly deal with those guys."
"The entire Southern Border? No, I haven't controlled the entire Southern Border yet. " The corners of Gwen's mouth curled up. His gaze passed over Amber, whose face was full of biscuit crumbs, and fell on the military map, falling on the "Loen City" where St. Louen's Cathedral was located.
The city was located in the northwest of the Southern Border, and it had been circled by a red circle.
Amber noticed Gwen's gaze and turned to look at the map. She suddenly looked surprised. "You're going to … attack those frauds?"
"No, we'll surround them for a while longer," Gwen said, shaking his head. "St. Louen's Cathedral isn't Rock Fortress. Physically destroying or occupying the church will only cause more losses than gains. To destroy the foundation of the old Church of Holy Light in the Southern Border, we should go all out. This needs to be well prepared."
Amber keenly noticed the "old Church of Holy Light" in Gwen's words and smiled knowingly.
Three days later, the situation in Rock Fortress had basically stabilized. All kinds of registration and statistical work had been completed. Knight Perry and his Second Combat Regiment had achieved complete control of the fortress. Gwen boarded the "Polar Light" warship powered by the sirens and left the fortress with Amber, Byron, Luo Peini and the others.
With the convenient communication of the magic network, the news of the victory at the front line had actually been transmitted to Cecil City through wireless signals long before the army returned to the mainland.
In the government office of Cecil City, Heti ended the magic network communication with Rebecca. After filtering out her niece's cheerful chatter and nonsense without logic, she had figured out what Rebecca wanted.
A moment later, she summoned Kamel.
Kamel, who was full of arcane brilliance, entered Heti's office. He greeted the "Chief Butler of Cecil", who was a low-level mage but had excellent administrative skills. "Good afternoon, Madam. News from the front line?"
"Yes, a complete victory," Heti said with a smile. "And Rebecca said that there's something you need to do. It's the Lord's order."
"A technical problem?"
"Sort of." Heti nodded. "The Lord has decided to take advantage of this victory to conduct a large-scale broadcast test. Rebecca has provided a plan to test the actual performance of the magic network communication …"
.。 m.
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