Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Laurist thought that Duke Fisabulon had no other choice but to retreat back to the Eastern Wasteland Province. After all, he could advance to the border between the Southern Province and the Eastern Wasteland Province by following the main road behind the camp that had been burnt to ashes. Thus, he wasn't in a hurry at all. He first sent out light cavalry scouts to find out where the Fisabulon Family's armed forces had retreated to. On the other hand, he planned to let the soldiers pack up and prepare to leave the camp in two days.
Perhaps this time, he could even lead the army directly to the Eastern Wasteland Province and the Fisabulon Family's old nest, Crouching Tiger Castle. If he destroyed Crouching Tiger Castle, who knew if that old fellow Fisabulon would fight him to the death or lower his arrogant head in submission? Just as Laurist was lost in his thoughts, he received a report from a light cavalry scout. "Your Highness, the Fisabulon Family's armed forces have not retreated back to the Eastern Wasteland Province. They have set up camp on Mount Pobiliqi in the southeastern part of the Southern Province …"
"Oh?" This made Laurist very surprised. Mount Pobiliqi. This name seemed to ring a bell. "Map."
Schwald quickly spread out the map of the Southern Province on the table. Laurist took a look. No wonder he had an impression of the name Mount Pobiliqi. In the original plan to attack the Southern Province, after chasing the Fisabulon Family out of the Southern Province, they planned to build an impenetrable blockade along the border between the Southern Province and the Eastern Wasteland Province. The southeastern border of the Southern Province was to use the terrain of Mount Pobiliqi to build a fortress and use it as the center of defense to seal off the entire southeastern border.
Looking at the map. Not only was the border between the Southern Province and the Eastern Wasteland Province long, but the terrain was also very flat. Thus, for hundreds of years, the grassland barbarian tribes in the northeastern plains had basically entered from the Southern Province. For example, Count Philim's family's old territory was in the Southern Province. His ancestors had learned and absorbed the advantages of the grassland barbarian cavalry during the war against the grassland barbarian tribes, forming the famous Pegasus Corps.
In reality, the border between the Southern Province and the Eastern Barren Province was the boundary between the hilly areas and the grasslands. While the terrain was flat, there was no lack of lakes, ravines, hills, and mounds. Laurist's original plan was to make use of the natural terrain to build five fortresses and use them as the center of defense. He would add watchtowers, watchtowers, and beacons before digging trenches to connect them. Like a spider weaving a web, he would create a tight blockade at the border between the two provinces. He would completely seal off the external communications of House Fisablon's territory and defend against guerilla attacks from the border rangers.
But now, that old fellow Fisablun was commanding the family's armed forces to retreat to Mount Pobilic. What was the meaning of that? Why didn't they just retreat to the Eastern Barren Province? That was his family's territory, as well as their home ground. The open terrain was perfect for the guerilla warfare tactics of the Fisablun Family. It was like a fish in water for the Fisablun Family's rangers. However, Grand Duke Fisabulon seemed to turn a blind eye to this. He opened up the main road leading to the Crouching Tiger Castle in his family's territory and stationed his army in Mount Pobilic. What was he trying to do? Wasn't he afraid that he would send catapults to destroy his new camp?
Staring at the map, Laurist racked his brains for a long time but still couldn't figure out what Grand Duke Fisabulon was trying to do. However, from the map, Grand Duke Fisabulon didn't retreat back to his family's territory. Instead, he was guarding Mount Pobilic in a fit of pique. Even if he couldn't beat you, he would still disgust you to death. Close to eighty thousand soldiers were hiding by your side. Just ignore him. You're worried that he'll cause trouble in the rear and flanks, making it difficult for you. If you ignore him, you'll have to send a large number of soldiers to guard against him. Looking at the range of Mount Pobilic, Laurist realized that if he wanted to suppress the Fisablun Family's armed forces, he had to control at least three key points around Mount Pobilic. He had to build fortresses and guard these three points with at least sixty thousand soldiers …
'F * ck, this old man is clearly trying to restrain my forces.' Laurist cursed in his heart. Now, he somewhat understood the meaning behind Grand Duke Fisabulon's actions. Opening up the main road and garrisoning troops on Mount Pobilic, Laurist couldn't ignore these enemies occupying Mount Pobilic. If he wanted to attack the Crouching Tiger Castle in the Eastern Barren Province, he would have to see if these eighty thousand soldiers from the Fisablun Family would cause trouble for him. At the very least, they would cut off his path of retreat. At the very least, they would cause chaos in the entire Southern Province.
There were only two ways to make them behave. The first was to send troops to defeat them and chase them out of Mount Pobilic. The second was to divide his forces to guard a few key transportation routes and build fortresses, which was time-consuming and laborious. Furthermore, arranging twenty thousand soldiers at one point could only defend and not attack. After all, the Fisablun Family had eighty thousand soldiers. They were like a fist that could strike at any time. On the other hand, they had to defend three areas. Twenty thousand soldiers in one area. Just like that, sixty thousand soldiers were pinned down at the foot of Mount Pobilic. They couldn't take the initiative to attack because the enemy outnumbered them four to one …
Although it was only a small region in the southeastern part of the Southern Province, Mount Pobilic wasn't just a mountain. Instead, it was a general name for a mountainous region. From the map, Mount Pobilic had a few forks that led to the Eastern Barren Province and the Southern Province. It could be said to be a place that extended in all directions. After occupying Mount Pobilic, the Fisablun Family's Ranger Corps could attack the Southern Province at any time or retreat back to the Eastern Barren Province at any time. This was a place where they could attack and defend.
They had to take down Mount Pobilic and chase the Fisablun Family's armed forces out of the Southern Province. Lolist made up his mind and decided to personally take a look at Mount Pobilic. Duke Fisablun knew that his family's catapults, chariots, and ballistae were sharp and invincible, but he still chose to occupy Mount Pobilic. Where did his confidence come from? Lolist couldn't be at ease if he didn't see it with his own eyes.
Disregarding the objections of his subordinates, Lolist only brought Aire, Redi, Schwald, and a thousand guards to Mount Pobilic under the guidance of the light cavalry scouts. The moment he saw Mount Pobilic, Lolist understood why Duke Fisablun wanted to occupy this place.
Mount Pobilic was different from other mountains. It was surrounded by precipitous cliffs that were forty to fifty meters tall. The forks that led into the depths of Mount Pobilic were either at the bottom of the cliffs or in the valleys. The light cavalry scouts caught an old mountain bandit. The old bandit explained that the places where the cliffs and precipices climbed up were all inside the mountain. The hills in other places all had gentle slopes on the outside, but Mount Popelqi was uphill from the inside. This was simply a natural stronghold of a giant rock castle.
The old bandit said that there used to be five to six groups of bandits in Mount Pobilic. Each of them chose a dangerous place in the mountain and built a stronghold with thousands of people. However, last year, the Third Ranger Corps under Duke Fisablun said that they came under the Duke's orders to invite the leaders of the strongholds to surrender to the Fisablun Family. During the discussion, they suddenly took action and attacked all the strongholds. Then, all the young men were escorted to the Eastern Barren Province. It was said that they were going to dig for gold in some Golden River …
The old bandit was too old and one of his legs was lame, so the rangers let him go. Now, he had built a small shed at the foot of the mountain and opened up two mu of land to live his life. He was quite free now. Just now, he had gone to check on the trap, but he didn't catch any rabbits. In the end, he was caught by the light cavalry scouts.
The old bandit had lived most of his life in Mount Pobilic and was very familiar with the terrain. He told Lolist that although Mount Pobilic was surrounded by precipitous cliffs, after passing through a few mountain passes, there were gentle slopes, valleys, woodlands, and small streams inside. The place was open and the scenery was beautiful. Apart from the three forks into the mountain, there were no other paths that led inside.
"Sir, don't be fooled by the many small paths at the bottom of these precipitous cliffs. Some of them are impassable. After walking for half a day, you'll find that there's no path in front. Basically, the path with the lush weeds is a dead end. The rest of the paths are all interconnected. At the end, there's a fork in the road here that leads into the mountain. There are two more forks. One is about five miles away from here, and it's a little further south. The other one is even further west, about three to four miles from here. "The old bandit didn't know who Lolist was, so he addressed him as Sir.
"Are the mountains around those two forks also like this?" Lolist pointed at the precipitous cliffs in front of him.
"They're all the same, sir. Mount Pobilic is just this strange. The outer parts are all like this. Whether it's the Southern Province or the Eastern Wasteland Province, they're all like this. It's said that Mount Pobilic means Giant Mountain Stronghold in the legends. It really does look like a giant mountain stronghold. " The old bandit gave a definite answer, and even explained the origin of the name Mount Pobilic.
The problem now was that Duke Fisabulun had led 80,000 troops to occupy this giant mountain stronghold. If they wanted to take down this mountain, they would have to follow the three forks into the mountain before they could attack the top. Lolist didn't think that Fisabulun would give him this opportunity. According to the old bandit's explanation, these three forks would take a long time to reach the inside of the mountain after going around the precipitous cliffs. As long as the Fisabulun Family's armed forces threw a few stones at the top of these cliffs, it would be a huge tragedy for the troops that were preparing to attack below …
Lolist raised his monocular and looked at the top of Mount Pobilic. The Fisabulun Family's flag had already been raised on the cliff above the forked road leading into the mountain. It was obvious that attacking through the forked road was no longer possible. Seeing the Fisabulun Family's soldiers building the walls and stockpiling stones and wood at the top of the mountain, Lolist felt immense pressure.
The old fellow had really chosen a good place. Occupying Mount Pobilic was equivalent to abandoning two of the Norton Family's best offensive weapons. Lolist believed that his family's Thunder Catapults wouldn't be able to throw stones up a cliff that was 40 to 50 meters high. As for the war chariots and ballistae, they wouldn't be able to achieve effective results and objectives by shooting arrows from an upward angle. The enemy could ignore the threat of the catapults and ballistae if they hid on the cliff …
If they couldn't attack, then they would have to consider how to defend. Lolist thought for a long time, and felt that building a fortress at the three forks was the most reliable method. However, he wasn't willing to give up. Building three fortress fortresses to guard Mount Pobilic would allow the Fisabulun Family's armed forces to attack the southern province through the three forks. This was equivalent to handing over the initiative on the battlefield to the enemy. Moreover, the construction of the three castles and the surrounding defensive facilities would not only cost a large sum of money, but arranging for twenty thousand men to be stationed in each castle meant that the enemy in Mount Bobili was holding back sixty thousand of his own troops. If Mount Pobilic was in his hands, then he would only need 20,000 troops to seal off the border.
Lolist took out his monocular and scanned the mountaintops one by one. Eh, what are those soldiers doing? After looking for a long time, he realized that the soldiers of the Fisabulun Family had built a chain bridge at the top of two separate cliffs to facilitate the rapid transfer of troops. Then … Then, Lolist saw Grand Duke Fisabulun.
It was indeed Grand Duke Fisabulun. Grand Duke Fisabulun's face appeared clearly in the round frame of the monocular. The old man seemed to have aged a little, and he no longer had that high-spirited and insufferably arrogant air he had before. He should be supervising the soldiers building the chain bridge. The reason why Lolist could see so clearly was because Grand Duke Fisabulun was facing him. He should have also discovered Lolist's group spying on him from the bottom of the mountain, and was currently examining them with a frown.
Lolist and Grand Duke Fisabulun stared at each other from a distance of 500 to 600 meters. However, Laurist was holding a telescope in his hand, so he could see more clearly. On the other hand, Grand Duke Fisabulon took a while to realize that it was Laurist at the bottom of the mountain. He said something with an agitated expression. Laurist thought that it wasn't something good and that he was probably cursing him.
But very quickly, the low sound of a bugle horn could be heard. Lolist was stunned. "The old man actually sent out his troops?"
Then, he saw countless barbarian cavalry charging out from the fork in the road at the bottom of Mount Pobilic.
"F * ck! This old man is too shameless, he actually sent barbarian cavalry to capture me. " Lolist cursed loudly, feeling that he had been greatly humiliated. He had chased the old man, a rank 3 Great Swordsman, to the point that he had to flee for his life. Now, the old man didn't show himself and sent these barbarian cavalry to capture him. Wasn't he looking down on him?
"Your Highness, let's leave first." El, who was at the side, didn't think so. Right now, the Fisabulun Family had 80,000 troops. Other than 50,000 soldiers from the 3rd and 5th Border Ranger Corps, the remaining 30,000 were barbarian cavalry. This time, Lolist had only brought a thousand guards with him to investigate Mount Pobilic. Many ants could kill an elephant, so he didn't dare to be careless.
"Alright, let's retreat first. Bring that old bandit with us. This old man is a living map, and he'll be useful in the future." Lolist turned his horse around and readily accepted the good advice. However, he still warned El.
It was unknown whether these barbarian cavalry were tired of staying in Mount Pobilic, or whether Duke Fisabulun had promised Lolist a sky-high reward. Close to 10,000 barbarian cavalry chased after Lolist, unwilling to let him go. In the end, Lolist was angered and ordered Shihuard to bring a few guards back to report. He brought his own guards to defend a small hill. Close to 10,000 barbarian cavalry surrounded the small hill and attacked it for more than two hours. Other than leaving behind 2,000 or so corpses, they didn't obtain anything.
Lolist held the pass by himself. He alone occupied the small path leading to the hill, slaughtering the barbarian cavalry until their souls flew out of their bodies. Their bodies were filled with blood, and after killing for a while, they finally vented their frustrations. Very quickly, the Pegasus Corps arrived and dispersed the barbarian cavalry surrounding the hill, bringing Lolist back to the main camp.
After washing up, Lolist changed into a new set of armor and returned to the main tent. With a gloomy expression, he said to the officers and soldiers in the tent, "Tomorrow, we will move to Mount Pobilic. Everyone, think of a way to attack the enemy's camp. “
… …
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