(Afternoon of January 3, 344 in the Gregorian calendar)

Although it was the hottest time of the day, the soldiers on the march were shivering with cold. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Dragoon Arudina brought the news of the loss of Rocohit.

"As expected," said Thorgrande, rubbing his hands, "what happened to Tom Andak?" ”

"It's not clear, no one has escaped from there yet." Arudina folded her hands helplessly.

At this time, a scout ran in and reported: "There is a Mastar corps passing through the Muryath Gorge, about the size of a regiment. ”

"The enemy's vanguard is really fast, and it seems that the large forces are behind." Thorgrande pondered for a moment. At this moment, Sogrend was complaining about the lack of intelligence. Dragon knights are rarely active in winter. In order to save the dragon's rations, Sogrend divided the 36 dragon knights under Arudina into 12 groups and took turns to fight. Of course, each group only moves for 2 hours a day, which can only serve as a scout. Moreover, 2 hours is only enough for the dragon knights to fly back and forth from the station to the border line for a month and a half, so there will be a period of time when they will have to rely on cavalry reconnaissance. In this way, you can't get more of the situation after the opponent's battle line like the Dragon Knight.

In any case, Sogrand decided to meet the attack, "Who is better to send this time?" "How to settle the credit of subordinates is really a headache for the boss.

"Let Singled go." Arudina suggested.

"That's a good idea." Thorgrande saw through the dragoon's intentions, "Transfer the archers of St. Gran to him again." Arudina, go and call Singhald. ”

"Yes, Legionnaire." Arudina saluted and happily withdrew.

After a while, Oscar Singer came to the side of the Legion Commander and drove his horse to inspect the resting troops.

"Is there anything Captain Legion is looking for me?"

"The vanguard of Mastar's is already crossing the Muryat Gorge, about a regiment."

"Your Excellency wants me to get the glory of winning the first battle?"

"Yes, but there is currently a lack of information on the enemy's main forces. If you meet the attack, you will not be able to run into the enemy's large army......" Saugrend was about to continue, when a herald came to his horse to report that someone had returned from Rokohit, and that the enemy's vanguard was only four miles away. "Singald, get ready to strike. However, it will only give you 3 regiments, plus the archers of St. Gran. Remember, if you can't win quickly, it's okay to retreat. I must retreat with my whole army, and I'll leave it to you. ”

"It sounds like the final bad guy in the story." Huo Lin said from the side.

"The last general will definitely live up to his mission." Singled swore an oath.

Thorgrande rode away satisfied.

Signori's two brigades had already left the gorge, with a total of 500 heavily armored lancers and 1,500 pikemen. Judging from the results of the reconnaissance ahead, the Falencian army began to retreat in the direction of Gresden, presumably for fear of encountering our large forces. Thinking of this, Signori couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief. His troops have no backup and no strong troops, and it is himself who suffers in the event of an enemy. It was all because of the greed of the old man of Frederick Fields that he sent himself to the line of life and death.

"Enemy attack!! It's the Pharansi barbarians! ”

Signori was drawn back to attention by the shouting. I saw hundreds of archers in front of me taking aim with their bows. The opponent has fewer than himself, of course, attacking. "Knights, rush. Don't give them a chance to shoot a second arrow. Signori beckoned the cavalry to charge with him.

After the opponent finished shooting a round, he immediately turned around and retreated, and about thirty or so heavily armored cavalry fell off their horses, and even if they were not killed on the spot, they were trampled by their own horses. The Mastarians were not willing to suffer and pursued them closely. The spear reluctantly ran to keep up, so as not to be pulled away.

The Mastars gave chase, and suddenly, a rain of arrows flew from the right, and another group of knights arrived. The Mastars were about to turn to the archers behind the dirt slope on the right, when the archers, who had been fleeing, turned their horses and fired at them. While the Mastarians were in a dilemma, a group of Farencian heavy lancers was slaughtered on their left flank, almost four times as numerous as the Mastars.

In the face of the sudden flank assault, the knights of Signori were suddenly confused, unable to organize even effective resistance. All cavalry commanders with common sense knew that in such a situation, it was simply impossible to make the heavy cavalry turn around. Just as they were in confusion, the pikemen arrived. It is well known that the phalanx of pikemen is a good remedy for restraining cavalry.

But as soon as the Mastars were panting and finishing their formation, the second ambush of the Farensian army came out again. Arubelich Wing Mnast of the 42nd Hussar Regiment saw that the pikemen were not firmly on their feet and ordered the spears to be thrown. The Falencian hussars were less attached to the spear than the Mastar, and they were always ready to take their spear out of their hands and draw their sabers to slash and slash as soon as they hit their target. And the tactic of throwing the spear in his hand was a helpless move by Sogrend in a previous battle, but he didn't expect it to have a miraculous effect. The mass of the spear is much larger than that of the arrow, and with the speed of the cavalry when charging, it can easily penetrate the whole body armor of the heavy infantry if mastered well. Therefore, the spears used by the hussars of the Third Legion were improved and more conducive to throwing them.

Mastar's pikemen had no experience in fighting this tactic, and they single-mindedly lined up in a phalanx, waiting for the other side to ram their spears. Therefore, almost no one is prepared for defense in the face of such long-range fire.

Two thousand pikes made half of the pikemen in the first three columns incapacitated at once, and the soldiers in the back were unable to quickly fill the gap in formation due to the confusion of their companions in front, and the Mastars were completely bogged down. The lancers had been dashed to pieces, and the pikemen were the target of slaughter by the cavalry without a complete formation.

"Dismount, all the knights, and throw away your legarmor for me." Signori shouted, he was the only one left now.

The knights of Mastar threw away their spears and untied each other's unnecessary joint armor from their companions. Before the pikemen could collapse completely, Signori finally organized the remaining knights. The Phalansi heavy lancers seemed to lack experience in actual combat, and they seemed a little overwhelmed when they entered the burying battle. This made it possible for the Mastars to fight back, and the dismounted knights could be used as half of the phalanx, and they quickly drove away the Pharians, who were tangled with the pikemen.

"Stay in shape! Hold on, our main force is behind us. Signori was loud and morale-boosting.

However, after all, the number of dismounted knights of the Mastars is limited, and in addition to being attacked by the other side first, more than half of the number has been lost now. The Falensi archers returned to the battlefield, and the Mastar knights could not fully cover their allies who were more than 6 times their number, so the archers went around the flaws in their defenses and cooperated with the archers on the other side to send death into the still chaotic ranks of the Mastarns.

"Sir, we're going to die here, we're going to die here!" A young knight next to Signori was on the verge of hysteria.

"Don't talk nonsense, we'll hold out until the Princess's reinforcements arrive, we'll ......" Signori stopped abruptly, as the object of his encouragement had lost his life, his pupils gradually dilated, and sharp arrows pierced the knight's temples, which were not protected by a helmet.

The knights watched the scene silently, and Signori had never felt that silence was so terrible, the battle spirit of the Mastars was dead.

"Hasus!" The Falencians seized the moment accurately, Singald and Arubelich had regrouped their effective assault forces, and the hussars, under the cover of their heavily armored companions, brandished their swords and completely crushed the fragile formation of the Mastar.

After two hours of fierce fighting, all 2,000 men of the Signori division of the Mastar army were killed, while the losses of the Phalensis were relatively insignificant 56.

"Aruberich Wing Mnast, Kaya Fabaru, Major Noyce, Janis St. Gran," the blue-eyed knight shouted to his captains, "get out of here." "Needless to say, he's Oscar Singer.

The heavily armed lancers and archers on foot retreated first, and the hussars and archers followed after packing up some of their booty. After all, no one wants to stay here for long without knowing when the enemy forces will emerge.

At the same time, the main formation of the Mastar people had just departed from Lockhit. However, the vanguard of the Iberian Army had already entered the Muryath Gorge.

"The Iberians are really anxious." Hayes said.

"They haven't tasted the guerrilla warfare of the Pharansian barbarians, so let them suffer this time." Cosette responded.

"Shut up, Cosette!" It was rare for Atalanta to open her mouth to train people, "If you say something like this, it will bother Her Highness the Princess." She glanced at Sigrani, who hadn't noticed their conversation, just kept looking ahead.

At this time, the Pharansis had received the information they had always wanted, although it was a matter of their retreat into the valley of Besser.

"It looks like we've lost our planes." Huo Lin said nonchalantly.

"What else is worthwhile, who is the commander? And what about Lord Andacus? Thorgrande asked.

"Lord Andak has given his life for the country." Jayne Beta replied in a melancholy tone.

"Oh," Thorgrande paused, "is it?" ”

The generals present were silent, and the silence lasted for a while. Jayne provided another situation to break the silence: "Speaking of commanders, the commander of the Mastar army seems to be their princess, and I have heard that it is their next emperor. ”

This information aroused everyone's interest, and Huo Lin first asked, "How does it look?" ”

"Beautiful!" Jayne replied obliviously.

"Your Excellency, Legion Commander." Carl Holling approached Sogrend.

"What's the matter?"

"If you catch her, can you let me ...... first" In the entire legion, only Huo Lin would be so direct.

"You can't promise him, Legionnaire!" Seeing that someone made the first kick, other male commanders began to heckle.

"Well," announced Thorgrande with a smile, "whoever catches the princess first, the princess is at his disposal." No one else is allowed to interfere, this is a gentleman's agreement between men. "The implication is that women don't spoil their good deeds. According to the Falencian tradition, the personal booty obtained on the battlefield was sacrosanct, and even the king had no right to take it.

"Long live the Legionnaire!" The men cried out for joy.

"Lord Luce, how can you make your own decisions?" The women in the commander objected.

"Well, if you say which person you want not to participate, I will disqualify him from the competition, and each person will only have one chance." Thorgrande still smiled. The girls were silent all at once, and they all seemed embarrassed to speak.

"If you don't say anything else, you should abstain."

Brigide first smiled evilly at Huo Lin: "Dear division commander, you are busy with military affairs, so you don't need to. ”

Huo Lin had an expression of "I'm not done with you, we'll see", and then said to everyone very seriously: "Everyone, this fact has taught us not to offend women, especially the kind of old virgins who can't get married." ”

"What did you say!" Brigitte was like a cat with its tail stepped on.

"Alright, alright, is there anything else?"

"Second brother, you are not allowed to participate anyway." Arudina finally spoke.

"Hey, you don't dare to say what you like, and you can't hurt me? Are you my sister? "Arubelleshi is in a hurry.

"Okay, I'll talk. If you want to complain, blame yourself, who told you to beg me to send your sister to starve? ”

"Well," Arubelich sighed, patting Singled on the shoulder, "man, I'm suffering for you." "Singled is experiencing what is inexplicable." It's so dull that it can be. Arubelleshi sighed.

"Brother, are you finished? Don't talk to no one when you're dumb. Arudina shouted with a red face.

"So does St. Gran give up?" Sogrend asked again.

Annis Saint-Gran nodded shyly, but everyone noticed that she smiled with joy and satisfaction at the sassy siblings.

"Alright, now let's go and put the team in order, we have to rush to the Besr Valley fork before dark."

"What? There's a retreat. ”

"Those who have an opinion will be disqualified from the competition immediately!" The Legion Commander snapped.

A bunch of subordinates immediately retreated. Only Jayne was in a daze, although he heard that the officers of the Third Legion were very interesting, but only the Third Legion could hold a combat meeting like this. Outside the tents, the commanders began to urge the soldiers to move. Although everyone complained, they finally set off.

In the evening, the remains of the Signori were found.

"The Mastars are really useless, they have been wiped out." Garcia sarcastically.

"Baron Field, this is your troop, right?" "I want you to explain it to me after the battle. ”

Frederick nodded in horror and stepped back.

"Your Highness, what is your opinion on the next step in the march?" Juan José asked.

"Let's divide and attack, or the supply line will be a real headache. The hussars of Pharansy were like the wind. "Besides, we have the absolute superiority in strength to push the Pharansis back to the death." ”

"As I like," replied José, "then the forces are distributed in this way: our army of 9 banners and 60,000 men marches from the valley of Besr, your 11th Army occupies Miston through the forest of Abdura, and the remaining 50,000 allied troops feint to attack the valley of Karan. ”

It would be wise for the coalition to feint against the strongest Kalan, who would not be able to capture Kahlan even with 300,000 troops. There is no danger in the Besr Valley, and forces should be concentrated to control it. Miston, on the other hand, was more troublesome, where the forts were not very strong, but there was a dense forest. However, it is winter, and it is almost impossible to use the forest there.

The Iberians would take advantage, Sigrani thought to herself. He said: "Miston is not the point, the troops in the middle can be strengthened, it is better to transfer another wing from the 11th Army Corps to carry grain and grass for your army." ”

"Her Royal Highness the Princess is so gracious." Jose said with a smile. But I thought in my heart, carrying grain and grass? I wish we had a fight with the Pharansian barbarians.

"Lord Commander, to say that is to see the outside. I am a weak woman, and I would not have been able to accomplish this miraculous feat without the help of the commander-in-chief. The commander of the middle route army must be the key to determining the victory or defeat of the battle, and it is our army's honor to provide some help to the success of the adults. ”

When the other party said this, Jose couldn't refuse, but said: "Then I have command over the supporting army." ”

"There's no problem with that." Sigrani smiled. Whether or not to listen to it is another matter.

After coming out of the friendly tent, Frederick came up, "Your Highness, which army are you marching with?" ”

"I'll lead the 11th Legion with you through the Abdullah Forest. Let Hayes take the 17th Army to Karan. ”

"There are only 30,000 people in the 11th Legion, and your safety is ......, Your Highness"

"I have my own plans, dear baron, and you should think about how to build up the merit and explain to me why 2,000 men were lost in vain. Is a soldier's life so cheap for you? After saying that, he brushed his sleeves and left.

Atalanta chased after her and persuaded, "Your Highness, please calm your anger. ”

"A general who does not value his soldiers will always be mediocre."

"But Your Highness should bring more people just in case?"

"Although it is more difficult to ambush in the forest of Abdullah now, it is not impossible, and I want to pass through it as fast as I can. Now the best way for the enemy to win is to kill the main general, and the main general is usually in the army. Let Juan José get into trouble. As for my safety, it's fine with you. Sigrani put her arms around her guard.

The huge wyvern flapped its wings and landed in the clearing, "Legion Chief, as expected, the enemy army has attacked in three directions. The dragon knight reported. Sogrand seemed calm, but the group knew he was starting to get excited.

"How is the enemy's forces disposed?" Huo Lin asked.

"30,000 Mastar troops in the Miston direction, 50,000 coalition troops in the Karan direction, 60,000 Iberian troops and 10,000 Mastar troops in the center."

"Huo Lin and Singald should know what to do when they take your people to the Abdullah Forest, right?"

"We will teach the Mastar people well, and we should use such hard tactics." Hollin replied.

"So, am I going to guard Karan?" Jack Fleett asked.

"yes, if it's Jackfleet, I'm relieved. Remember, you have to hold it for 3 days anyway. After 3 days, it is okay to escape. Alright, let's get ready to go. Arubellich, Tozhov stayed. "Sogrand ended up mysteriously leaving behind the commanders of two hussar regiments.

On the evening of January 3, 344 A.D., the Third Phalencian Army began to disperse. At this time, the sky began to fall with snowflakes, and the moon was tightly obscured by dark clouds. What will the first winter snow in the Alke region bring to the soldiers?

(Evening of January 2, Parello, City Hall)

"Your Majesty, the urgent military information is coming from Gresden." Herald report.

"Listen to it." Charles I, King of Phalonsi, said.

Several of the legion commanders also showed eager looks. "On the night of December 31, 343, Gresden was attacked by the combined forces of Iberia and Mastar. More than 100,000. By 1 January, the forward fortress of Lokohit had entered into battle with the enemy. ”

"Amazing strategy." Shapur Lanfonte lamented that this man was the commander of the Eighth Legion.

"Now is not the time to be moved," said Hannibal Henry, who is also 53 years old and is the commander of the Second Legion. "We only have 30,000 people in the East, and Leus is still just a hairy boy, think about what to do."

"Personally, I don't think there is a need to save it, when our army annihilates the enemy's army, the Mastar themselves will retreat from the east." Brie Bird, Commander of the Seventh Legion.

"But more than half, let alone 50,000 Iberian troops, what to do?" Oiffi Santero of the First Legion retorted.

"But 50,000 Iberian troops. As long as our army wins the decisive battle in the second place, it is not too late to return to the division. "Daria Mushal, Commander of the Fourth Legion.

"The other side will not fight us at all." Shapoel reminded in an unhurried tone.

At this time, Charles I looked at the commander-in-chief, Marshal Vivlitz Becky, who had not yet spoken. The old handsome, who is over 60 years old, finally stood up and spoke: "Don't fight with words. I decided to reinforce the 3rd Corps. Only the Fifth Legion has not yet arrived, allowing Douglas Gran to send 20,000 to support the East. Also, Hannibal, you make a trip to the East. However, first arrive in Jonil for a rest day. Lanfonte, do you have an opinion? ”

Sharpel yawned and said, "If Admiral Henry rests for a day and rushes over, the battle will probably be over by then." Everyone looked at him, and the meaning was clear: Gristden is difficult to attack, why are you cursing your own people? Sensing what everyone meant, Shapoel explained, "I mean, that kid from Thorgrande might be able to get his opponent between his tails in a week." The crowd was even more stunned.

"You think so much of this Narcisbis kid?" Old Betsy asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course, neither Your Majesty nor I will look away. Also, that kid wants to be my son-in-law, don't beat him if you have a daughter. Shapoel is most proud not of his own exploits, but of his daughter. This is well known, and it is also the point that most embarrassing the captains of the legions. But the commander-in-chief also regards his only daughter as the pearl of his palm, although the two have a good personal relationship, but when it comes to this matter, both sides hate each other. After that, the verbal arguments were the most unbearable. So the captains of the army took His Majesty and fled. And the remaining two are still debating whether the ice blue eyes are beautiful or the brown eyes are charming.

The earth is in its pre-storm calm, and the guards of the underworld are opening the gates of the underworld. Waiting for the arrival of a new soul. The guides of the undead have begun to set out. Carrying the scythe of the soul harvester, they sang the march of the Land of the Dead in unison, and walked to a place on earth called Alker.