Chapter 1081 Outpost

"Sword of Dawn ()"

Rosetta's question came straight to the point, but Gao Wen was not surprised by it - everyone sitting in this room knew very well that they came here today to discuss this issue.

The "war" between Typhon and Cecil has ended, and the armistice agreement signed on the battlefield of Winterhold has been in effect for some time, but for the soldiers of the two countries, this matter has not yet completely ended. To this day, the reconstruction of the defense line of Winter Castle is still going on, and Winter Wolf Castle is still under the control of the Cecil Legion. Although Gao Wen has ordered the withdrawal of Winter Wolf Castle in line with the sincerity of the truce agreement. Half the army in the region, but everyone knows that the sword and plow banner with blue and gold stripes still flies over that Typhon stronghold--and the huge Iron Throne armored train still stops at the border between the two countries.

Sooner or later, this matter needs to be addressed head-on.

Gawain listened to Rosetta's words with a calm expression. He knew very well that under the current situation, Cecil's army stationed at Winter Wolf Castle actually had no reason to continue to occupy that fortress, unless he planned to take the already existing The ending "war" was re-escalated into a war of aggression, and what he really focused on was never the defense line of Winter Wolf Castle—but until the real goal was achieved, the army of Winter Wolf Castle was still a good card.

"I understand your concerns about this—but you can rest assured that Cecil has never intended to invade the land of neighboring countries," Gawain said slowly, "Our occupation of Winter Wolf Castle was originally due to the situation. I also know that the Typhon army was out of control at that time, your command system was in chaos, and we had to prevent the flames of war from spreading to our own land, so we had to move forward. Of course Feng's land must be returned, but... we also have our own difficulties.

"In the battle on the front line of Winterhold, Typhon was not the only one who suffered heavy losses. Cecil's armored army was also severely attacked after entering the attack range of God of War. We lost two light armored trains and one main armored train. The loss of tanks is even more immeasurable, in addition to the heavy artillery that was paralyzed on the battlefield and countless wounded... We cannot discard all of these on the battlefield.

"We want to transport heavy weapons back to the country, but the railway lines leading to Changfeng Fortress have all been blown up, and it will take a long time to repair them; those wounded also need to be taken care of, many of them are seriously injured and cannot They also had to stay in Winterwolf Castle after enduring the long distance and the disruption of the railway line. To be honest, I am more anxious to bring them home than you are, but I can't let the wounded return to Longwind Stronghold on foot... ..."

Rosetta frowned. Of course he knew that what Gao Wen said were all excuses—these words may be true, but the truth can be mixed with a lot of water, but he still asked along this direction : "Then you mean..."

"As soon as we repair the main railway line and the wounded can move to the rear, my army will immediately withdraw from the Winter Wolf area," Gao Wen said, "In fact, you should know that I have already ordered the local troops to evacuate. Most of the units that can be transferred have already left, and the rest... can't be evacuated overnight."

"So how long will this process take?" Matilda looked at Gawain, "A month? Or a year? Or longer?"

"I can only say as soon as possible," Gao Wen spread his hands, "but many factors are beyond my control."

Rosetta stared into Gawain's eyes for a long time before suddenly breaking the silence: "Actually, we don't need to haggle for a long time on such a watery matter, do we? We're not here to sharpen our lips today—" "

As he spoke, he adjusted his sitting posture and looked at Gawain with a more solemn attitude: "We each rule a powerful empire. Unless there are special circumstances, we don't even need to meet in person at all—if it's just to argue about a The ownership of the fort, our diplomats can complete all negotiations,

But now that you and I are here in person, sitting here face to face, I hope we can talk more heart-to-heart. Don't think about any diplomatic rhetoric, don't think about any implied metaphors, just say it frankly and directly-Tifeng has a moral fault in this matter, so you can raise your conditions, what do you want? "

It wasn't until this moment that Gao Wen finally showed a real smile, and then he sighed and made himself more comfortable: "So you should have said that earlier, instead of probing the matter of Winter Wolf Castle first. Since Now that we have reached this point, let me talk about my thoughts——Amber.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Amber by the side had already taken out a folded map. After putting the map on the coffee table and spreading it out, a partial picture of the northeastern region of the Loren Continent was presented to everyone.

The moment Rosetta saw the map, Rosetta's pupils shrank obviously, but what he noticed was not any marks on the map, but the astonishing accuracy of the map and the information about the large number of islands and coasts in the coastal area. The specific depiction, especially the latter - some unknown coastal islands and uninhabited coastlines that are not necessarily clear to local residents have been clearly outlined, and the information revealed in these details is enough to make him vigilant .

While Rosetta's attention was attracted by the map, Gawain's finger had already pointed to a certain point where the border between Typhon and Cecil was connected.

"Dragon Calling Fjord, as far as I know, Typhon also called this place," he pressed his finger on the map, and looked at Emperor Typhon in front of him, "I will build a port here—for Acting as the northeast node of the route around the mainland, in addition, in order to provide the necessary sea protection and turbulence warning for Huanlong Fjord, I also need to set up some strongholds in the sea area outside the port... In short, I want these islands .”

The room fell silent.

Rosetta Augustus's expression was as calm as a deep pool, while Matilda at the side took a light breath. At this moment, it seemed as if a cold wind had blown through the surrounding space, and the air at the scene even seemed to have actually become stagnant. At the same time, Rosetta and Matilda's hearts also emerged at the same time. came up with a name——

Bitter Winter.

That mighty steel warship is still lingering in the coastal area east of Winterhold. It has been there for a long time, and there is no sign of returning. It is like a nail nailed to the coastline of the Typhon Empire. edge.

I see.

Gawain didn't say a word, and waited patiently for Rosetta's answer. His expression never changed, so that others couldn't tell whether he was confident or complacent at the moment, and the silence in the room continued in this confrontational state. For a long time, until Rosetta suddenly raised her head, her deep-set black eyes were filled with a will that seemed to be as solid as ice: "Typhon can't accept it."

"You have to think about it carefully," Gao Wen didn't show any surprise on his face, he just said patiently and calmly, "I didn't ask for your coastline, I didn't ask for any land, I didn't even ask for your offshore waters— —I am asking for the island group off the southern coast of the Dragon Fjord, which is already close to the area dominated by storm turbulence, and is not within your territory."

"Typhon can permanently renounce his territorial claim to the Calling Dragon Fjord - it is a disputed area, but we can admit that it belongs to Cecil, but those islands...they are on Typhon's side," Rosetta resolutely said. He said, "It has nothing to do with whether it is located in the offshore waters or not. Even those islands that go deep into the violent ocean, they are also on the territory of Typhon."

"The endless ocean is vast and boundless, and the Typhons cannot spread their control area infinitely towards the sea—those islands have no ownership, this is a fact, and it will not change just because you draw them on the map," Gao said. Wen said uncompromisingly, "We can let those islands play their due role, which is better than letting them continue to be eroded by wind and rain on the sea."

At this moment, Matilda who was sitting on the side suddenly said: "What if those islands have ownership?"

Gao Wen frowned: "What do you mean?"

"I think you should have a way to contact that battleship at any time, right?" Matilda looked into Gawain's eyes, "Why don't you confirm it with your own eyes?"

Gao Wen had vaguely realized something, he took a deep look at Rosetta and Matilda, and said in a deep voice: "It seems... there are some things we can't continue talking about until tomorrow."

...

In the boundless ocean, a majestic and huge steel battleship is quietly floating on the sea under the night, the waves are constantly surging around, and the sea wind from the southeast direction is beating the steel armor on the side of the battleship, but this ship The most powerful battleship in history only shakes slightly occasionally, as calm as a hill.

Standing on a high platform on the front deck, Byron looked boredly at the distant sea, but he couldn't see anything except the undulating nearby waves that shone slightly under the starlight.

The Winter was already far away from the land, and at this distance, there was nothing to be seen even during the day, let alone at night.

This ship has been floating on the ocean for a long time, and the soldiers have also lived on the ocean for a long time. This is probably the longest experience of human activities on the ocean since the second pioneering (a certain legendary explorers' experience of drifting at sea does not count). After going through the initial adaptation period, life at sea became boring, and even Byron began to miss the days on land, but the strict military discipline still played a role on the ship, and the well-trained sailors were on board. People on the shore usually plan their own well-organized life, and at the same time, they have continuously accumulated valuable experience in the past period of time.

The experience of performing long-term ocean-going missions, the experience of maintaining ship machinery at sea, the experience of the sea environment and countermeasures... These things are extremely valuable technical accumulations, and they are also indispensable for further building the navy and training soldiers in the future Although Byron had led his soldiers to conduct many simulation exercises in the offshore area before this mission, no matter how realistic the simulation exercises were, they were not as reliable as actual experience.

While collecting and accumulating these valuable materials, Byron was also performing the important task entrusted to him: monitoring the coastline of the Typhon people, waiting for orders from the rear at any time.

The soldiers on this ship are very clear about the significance of doing this: as a steel fortress floating on the ocean, as long as the Winter is floating here, it will be able to deter the Typhon people enough.

At this moment, a sound of footsteps came from the side and rear. Byron turned his head and saw a junior officer walking onto the platform.

"General, we have received a secret order," the officer quickly walked to Byron's side, and said with a serious face after saluting, "the superior ordered us to move to the southeast immediately to investigate the three seats of H-6, H-9, and H-12. The situation on the islands and reefs."

...

Accompanied by a slight buzzing sound, a lightweight dragoon aircraft specially improved for scouting missions took off from the circular platform at the tail of the Winter, and flew into the distance in the night.

The undulating sea surface and the low-altitude mist quickly receded in the field of vision. With the help of the observation lens equipped with night vision and eagle eye enchantment, the distant scene was clearly presented in front of the aerial scout. This young scout kept his eyes on Looking at the situation on the sea surface, after flying continuously for a period of time, something different from the sea water finally appeared in his vision, as well as a small light source that seemed to be extinguished at any time.

There was the first island reef he was in charge of investigating - a piece of bare stone soaked in the icy sea water, even a few weeds were rare on this uninhabited small "island", but a little stubborn fire was on the small "island" The island rose up, illuminating the entire reef and the nearby sea.

A simple tent stood in the cold sea breeze. Two sentries with short staffs stood in front of the simple tent. They stared vigilantly at the sea in the distance. The flag was waving in the wind in the darkness.

On the sea level in the distance, a little bit of the glow of the rising sun has been slowly blurred along the undulating waves.

On the bridge of Bitter Winter, Byron was sitting on the captain's seat with a straight face, while the signal soldier was reporting the information sent by the scout in front of the magic net terminal:

"Typhonian sentries and flags were found on islands and reefs H-6, H-9, and H-12, and those seemed to have been set up recently... No Typhonian warships were found nearby..."

"General," an officer stood next to Byron, lowering his head hesitantly and said, "those 'outposts' are very vulnerable, but I'm afraid we can't..."

"It's not 'I'm afraid', it's 'absolutely'," Byron sighed, "We must not attack, even if those tents and flags fall down as soon as they are pushed..."

He shook his head, raised his gaze, and looked beyond the window on the side of the bridge to the wide deck outside—a huge rainbow light generator crouched on the deck like a behemoth, with large and small The secondary guns are guarded next to the powerful main guns, and the battleship's mana wings extend from one side. Under the fading starlight, the surface of the rune array on the wings glows dimly.

This ship can destroy strong fortresses, sink old warships, sweep fortifications and bunkers on the coast, and even execute weak true gods——

But it can't beat those "outposts" with only two or three sentries and a tent.

"Report to the higher authorities," Byron sighed again, "Leave this matter to His Majesty to judge."

As he spoke, he couldn't help muttering again: "Damn it, when did those Typhon people react..."