"It's over. We have to go?"
In the ruins of duanjie mountain, the Byrne Knights orderly packed their bags, burped up the last drop of wine in the cup, hid the cooked ham in the saddle bag, and turned over to mount with satisfaction.
The Byrne knights who took a hot bath, changed their new shirts, ate and slept well expressed great satisfaction - except lanmallos, the Earl of Lake City.
"There was no welcome party, no Carnival dinner, no girl who changed her clothes and hid in the quilt - we have to go because of an order from the crown prince?" the dissatisfied lanmalos whispered:
"Holy Cross, we just won the invasion of demons and saved the Empire! Is this a courtesy to the heroes who save the world?"
"Yes."
The count of white horse peak, regrell, stared at him: "this is a courtesy to a knight who faithfully obeys orders - it is not you, not me, Lord Loren Turin who won the battle of blood skeleton valley."
"None of these 10000 people can come back alive without our Duke!"
"You're unreasonable. If it weren't for the Duke, we wouldn't have gone to the place where we died."
"The unreasonable man is you, you wooden head!" regrell's expression was very tangled - when he was on the battlefield, the guy kept shouting to obey the Duke; But when he left the battlefield, everything turned around.
Does every cavalry commander speak like this, but his head is straight, with the exception of himself?
"In a word, think more about those brothers who failed to come back alive from the battlefield. Think about them. What are you dissatisfied with?"
What's dissatisfied... Lanmalos shrugged: "no... I'm just complaining for the Duke, and then more for ourselves - we won the battle of blood skeleton Valley and ended a demon invasion, but what did we get?"
"Prestige, respect... And your life!" regrell said bitterly, "this is the battle of dignity for Byrne's reunification after the tenth generation. What else do you want?"
"Of course, when we get to the capital Golovin, you may really get what you want - those panicked noble lords and ladies, in order to get the protection of an earl with military power in his hand, I'm afraid you can marry your daughter without even bride price."
"Oh, that sounds good... Wait?!"
Lanmalos, who had no time to be happy, suddenly changed his expression: "what did you say, Timor Golovin? We're going to Timor? Didn't we all agree to go home?! I thought the war was over!"
Regrell silently put down his work, slowly looked back and looked at him with an expression like a fool, with an unbelievable face:
"Tell me, are we both attending the same military conference?"
"Yes!"
"The Duke presided over the task assigned by Eckert, Earl of fury castle?"
"Yes!" lanmalos said inexplicably, "are you confused? I was right next to you!"
"Then why do you seem to know nothing about asking me this kind of thing - I also want to ask why the guy who shouted to make the rabbit look good next to me suddenly lost his memory!"
"What's going on?!"
…………………………
In front of the long table, everyone's eyes turned to the black haired wizard and the Countess of red blood Castle facing Brandon.
"As for the arrangement of guanbyrne..." Edward hesitated for a moment, and then slowly said, "my suggestion is... Please return to the red blood castle for a rest."
Huh?
Everyone was stunned, and even Charlotte couldn't help showing a surprised look.
According to common sense, at this time, shouldn't we mobilize more forces as much as possible - especially now that connord has died and Brandon has not been legitimately crowned, the only people who are really willing to show loyalty to him are the riders of Byrne's thirteen leaders except the East Saxons.
"Before you speak, please allow me to explain first." Edward continued in a deep voice after stopping Charlotte who wanted to ask, "I don't mean to ask Byrne to withdraw from this battle. Even if I want to, it's impossible."
"In short, for three reasons." Edward raised three fingers. "First, morale."
"The Byrne knights who have just experienced the battle of blood skeleton valley have more than half of the casualties. If they continue to fight, there is not only a risk of morale collapse, but also they urgently need to rest and recover their combat strength."
"But in the next battle, there are no such conditions at all; so withdrawing them to red blood castle is the best option at present."
"Secondly, it is out of the consideration of combat power distribution - 80000 Bain legions have been stationed in the imperial capital. From the strategic deployment, the strategic objectives that the Empire needs Bain to complete have been achieved, and there is no need for the Principality of Bain to do more obligations;
"It is not time for the final battle, and the war potential of the Principality of Byrne should not be exploited too much."
"The third is logistics; the siege of the imperial capital means that the legions outside the imperial capital will no longer be able to get supplies from golovon, and the besieged Elven army is bound to cut off the supply transportation line of the West Saxon generation." Edward said sternly:
"The next Byrne needs to undertake more logistics tasks - barley, wheat, pickled meat, alcohol, iron ingots... Unless Byrne can provide one-third to half of the war materials, we can't maintain such a huge army."
The voice fell, and the stunned people looked surprised one after another, showing a somewhat frightened expression.
Logistics... Yes, that's the worst.
Once the various legions are assembled in Western Saxony, the total number of troops will exceed 200000 - even though most of them can be supplied from Eastern Saxony and the accompanying baggage team, this number is far from enough in front of 200000 people!
In the principality, only Byrne can provide such a large amount of materials, and organize a huge transport team to transport these materials to places where they are needed; Otherwise, there is no need for the enemy to attack, and these 200000 people can starve themselves to death.
"In addition, I learned from the soldiers who participated in the battle of blood skeleton valley that although Duke Bain defeated the eagle king, he was also injured - no other meaning, but my suggestion is that you'd better return to the red blood castle for a while to recover from the injury until..."
"Thank you for your concern, but you are too worried."
Lauren, who remained silent all the time, suddenly interrupted him: "I've been hurt by some skin and flesh, but I'm not too weak to hold a sword."
"What's more... There are 80000 Baines in the capital Golovin. I'm their Duke. I can't just leave them alone."
Edward's expression was slightly chilly: "you mean..."
"Defend the imperial capital of Golovin and keep the Azores from taking half a step - leave it to me." the black haired wizard said faintly, and couldn't help laughing:
"Besides... Someone has to tell the adults in the sky palace what happened in the north."
The machete female Archduke's face showed an understanding bad smile, while dreisis's face on one side was difficult to see the extreme.
Edward stared at Lauren with a thoughtful expression.
Gongwei imperial capital... Seems to be a choice that will get a high reputation, but it is actually a hot potato; Guarding the city means not only facing the Azores outside, but also dealing with the sky palace and imperial nobles in the city.
Even in the age of the black Duke, the imperial nobles had little affection for the Baines, let alone now.
Moreover, there is also a former cabinet in the heavenly palace, a Holy Cross Church, and a second in line successor of the Empire, his Highness the eldest princess fillonay de sallion... How to deal with the relationship with them is more difficult than keeping the emperor from falling.
So the night watchman was really curious. What was the reason for Lauren to come forward voluntarily and take this option that was absolutely disadvantageous to him?
Is it really just because of the 80000 Bain legions stationed in the imperial capital?
"The Duke's willingness to take over this burden is certainly the best." after a pause, Edward did not continue to study:
"But... As we said earlier, the most critical task for Byrne at present is to ensure the logistics supply line in the rear; if the Duke did not take charge in person, I'm afraid such a large number..."
"Please don't worry about this. Bain will resolutely fulfill his promise."
Before Loren spoke, Charlotte took the initiative to step forward and slightly raised her head: "during the Duke's absence, I will stay in the round table Council of red blood castle and be responsible for all logistics issues - in the name of the Turin family, I assure you that the 13th leader of Bain will do his best to provide logistical assistance to the imperial army."
Under the generous speech, there was a moment of silence in front of the long table.
People with different expressions cast their eyes and kept looking back and forth between Charlotte and Loren - among them, Sally card's expression was particularly wonderful, and her shining eyes seemed to see the coming of the Holy Cross.
"I, I mean, of course, in the name of the Duke and the round table Council, not me!" Charlotte's cramped expression was a little angry:
"During the Duke's expedition, the remaining earls formed a round table parliament to select regents, which is a long tradition since the knight King era of the ancient kingdom, and has a very deep tradition in Bain..."
"I see. That's it."
Ignoring Charlotte's murderous eyes, Edward, the night watchman, interrupted: "gentlemen, we only have three months to fight the imperial capital of Golovin this time - according to the information from the west, lottel's grain reserves are on the verge of running out. If we don't get any assistance within three months, we will fall."
"Three months... We will hold the imperial capital, defeat the invading army of Azores and open up the traffic line to lottel!"
"The future of the Empire, the life and death of millions and even millions of human beings... Is on everyone's shoulders!"
…………………………
"So... What we have to do next is to guard the imperial capital."
In front of the floating city, Dalton kand, with his hands on his back, nodded slightly while supervising the craftsmen and alchemists to repair the floating city:
"No problem. The detailed plan can be arranged separately after arriving in Golovin - in addition, on the way to Golovin, I will try my best to collect information about the capital Golovin, which may be of reference value to you."
"You don't seem surprised at all, mentor." Lauren's expression was quite surprised: "I thought you would at least ask me why?"
Dalton just shook his head.
"The dialogue between the tutor and the apprentice will ask why, you are the Duke, and there will be no doubt about your decision."
"But... I still have some suggestions."
"Go ahead, please."
"On this trip to the imperial capital, don't let Ayn and Isaac cooperate - if you have any plans, think I didn't say that." Dalton said in a deep voice:
"In the battle of Golovin, what you need is sufficient intelligence and talents who can coordinate the relations between all parties. They will only become a burden for you. Little Joad, the head of the United Chamber of Commerce, and Bishop Byrne Weber are more suitable."
"In addition, Glenville, Earl of storm castle, I found that he was very competent in the role of 'foreign secretary'. Let him coordinate with the armies of Elman and Arles - in addition, Isaac told me that there have been some new developments in the new weapons you entrusted him to complete. Let him go back and complete his work, which should be more helpful to you."
New weapons... Something that almost killed himself in eboden popped up in Loren's mind.
So far, the research and development of "Kyaw lightsaber" is still at a relatively primary stage - miniaturization has been completed, but the failure rate and cost are still high, so it is not a weapon that can be put into actual combat.
Therefore, so far, Loren has never really planned to put this thing into the battlefield. Even if he trained a group of wizard apprentices specializing in the use of this weapon, it is only a part of the R & D process. He even felt that he might not see the finished products produced in batches in his lifetime.
But according to mentor Dalton, what new progress has this thing made recently?
The black haired wizard nodded, but his eyes turned to the ruins beside him and the barracks behind him.
The ice and snow piled on it gradually solidified and melted, and the dripping ice water turned into pools one after another, making the originally tidy camp muddy. Except for the snow, there was no color mud on the soldiers' boots.
The dark clouds of lead gray scattered under the majesty of the scorching sun, revealing a clear blue sky - a scenery that can never be seen in the duanjie mountain in severe winter. The whole world seems to have been washed, showing unprecedented clarity.
In this rotten mud pond under the clear sky, a delicate bud pierced the soil, grew up by Loren's boots, and conveyed an important message of the material world.
The severe winter is already yesterday.
Spring has returned.