Chapter 432 Noble Virtue

The magic-guided artillery cart pulled by packhorses squeaked on the potholes and gravel roads, and the heavily armed Cecil combat soldiers formed an escort formation in front of and behind the artillery cart, always alert to everything on the wasteland. There was movement, the young knight Philip rode on horseback at the front of the line, and at the end of his line of sight was the northernmost rolling hills in the south.

The rock fortress is between the mountains, and it locks the mountains like a prison door, locking the Cecil family on this land for a hundred years.

Today, he is going to open that door.

Scouts riding fast horses and in groups of three were constantly sent out from the team to investigate the surrounding situation in all directions, forward, backward, left, and right, and report the situation to the team at any time: Now the team has reached the rock fortress and the southern border. The buffer zone must be vigilant.

Knight Philip is very clear that this will be a completely different battle from the artillery bombardment of the gravel ridge-in front of the gravel ridge, he is fighting a defensive battle, and the attacker is a coalition of nobles, and he only needs to arrange artillery positions in place. Then just wait for the enemy to throw himself into the net, and this time he becomes the attacker, then everything will be completely different.

If the traditional noble codes and war etiquette are followed, both the attacker and the defender must act according to the rules. Even if one of them finds out the opponent's course of action, he must wait patiently on the agreed battlefield, waiting for the opponent to enter the battlefield. The attack can only be launched after the battle is set up and the signal to start the war is issued. This "battle process", which is more symbolic than actual, is highly praised by the nobles, because it can ensure the safety of the nobles participating in the war as much as possible during the entire war, and it seems to be enough. Elegant and decent - but the shelling on Gravel Ridge had shattered it all.

A cannon rang out on the gravel ridge, and the aristocratic coalition forces, who had not had time to organize their formation, were slain by the sudden attack of the Cecilians. After that, the traditional war etiquette disappeared, and they had already suffered a loss. It is impossible for the nobles to continue pedantically guarding those old rules. Knight Philip must always be ready to deal with the enemy's surprise attack. Although the magic crystal railgun is powerful, it is the most vulnerable stage before the shelling position is launched.

While thinking about it, Knight Philip suddenly heard a small commotion from not far away. He raised his head and saw several soldiers escorting two people who were tied up with five flowers.

Philip stopped his horse and saw that the two bound men were wearing traditional—or old-fashioned iron chain mail. No identification marks could be seen outside the chain mail. One of them was injured by a heat ray gun on the arm. The wound was charred and black, and there was no obvious trauma on the other person.

The team leader who escorted the two saluted and reported loudly: "Sir! We have caught the spies of the Rock Fortress - they were sneaking around in the nearby woods and were discovered by the troops patrolling outside."

The two bound captives looked terrified and nervous, as if the surrounding Cecil soldiers with strange equipment and murderous names would eat people, Philip looked down at the two people condescendingly, and asked after a long time, "You guys The person from the Rock Fortress?"

In this case, instead of admitting it, they were courting death. The two prisoners hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

"Very well, don't worry, I will not execute you," Knight Philip nodded slightly, "I will let you go back - our lord has a letter to hand over to the commander of the Rock Fortress."

...

Cecil has really come.

The two patrolling soldiers who went to patrol the south of the fortress brought back news of the Cecilians' massive attack, as well as the "letter" they handed over to the rock fortress.

The keeper of the rock fortress called all the army commanders at the first time,

The southern nobles who had taken refuge in the fortress were also summoned.

In the main hall of the castle district, a knight captain was relaying the news from the front to his superior:

"General, there are three to five thousand people coming north, and they have a very large convoy - the car is loaded with all kinds of strange things, maybe it is the 'Skyfire Explosion' spell casting device. They are now It has entered the hills south of the fortress, and will enter the plains in about three days..."

The southern nobles were a little turbulent, but they were generally calm, while other knight officers discussed in a low voice, a middle-rank knight commander stood up from his seat and looked at Sir Maryland: "General, those Cecilians What is written on the 'gauntlet'?"

Sir Maryland nodded and took out the "Letter from Duke Cecil Gawain" that had just been delivered to him. Everyone's eyes were immediately attracted to the letter, especially the southern nobles in the hall. Even his breathing slowed down for a moment.

Sir Maryland already knew the content of the letter. He first glanced at the southern nobles, and then said calmly: "I will read it to you."

The content of the letter is not long - it is not as complicated and gorgeous as most noble letters, with a lot of words, but it is simple and straightforward like a note-

"...More than 40 nobles in the southern border collectively declared war on the Cecil family. After their defeat, the remaining culprits have fled to the rock fortress. In view of the above-mentioned nobles' unwarranted violation of Cecil's land and people, they have been designated as war criminals by a just law. , Cecil's army is now coming to you to receive prisoners of war, I hope you can distinguish right from wrong, hand over the war criminals, and accept our personnel to search the city."

It took Sir Maryland less than a minute to read the contents of the letter, and then the hall fell into silence.

It wasn't until two minutes later that a knight officer exclaimed and broke the silence: "What is this?! How can there be such a negotiation document?!"

"That's right, of course it's not a negotiation," Sir Maryland said, looking at the knightly officer with an angry smile. "It's an order from the top, more arrogant than the king's order to his attendants! It seems that our A founding hero who came back from the dead was not ready to negotiate with us."

After listening to the contents of the letter, the southern nobles became uneasy, as if they were really afraid that Sir Maryland, who was in front of them, would hand them all over in exchange for the safety of the fortress. Now that they saw Sir's reaction, they felt a little more at ease. , Viscount Mariolan took the time to say: "Sir, you are right, the Cecilians will not negotiate with us according to tradition, their lords have always ignored all virtues and rules, and negotiated with them only It can be a waste of time, and it will fall into a trap!"

Sir Maryland nodded slightly. Seeing this scene, Viscount Consco also stood up next to him and said, "Sir, the Cecilians will arrive in three days. We can make more preparations at this time..."

"Do more preparations?" Sir Maryland looked at this tall and thin man who had been depressed and intoxicated not long ago. He knew that although Viscount Conscoe's family heritage was not long, he was a resourceful and resourceful person. Don't mind listening to the other party's opinion, "What do you mean?"

Viscount Consco gritted his teeth and said, "We can dig more traps on the plains in advance, and send Druids to the hills to drop poisons. In addition, we can throw the dead livestock carcasses into the Baishui River, You can even directly let the druids spread the plague in the river water - we have filled all the wells on the plain in advance, the Cecilians can only rely on the White Water River if they want to get water, no matter how powerful their weapons are, people will always Get ill……"

"Stop talking," before Consco finished, when Sir Maryland interrupted him suddenly, "Viscount, how did you... The slightest bit of aristocratic spirit!"

"Sir, these schemes may be insidious, but they are really effective," Viscount Conscoe defended. "The Cecilians don't speak of virtue and rules, and their lord is a person who takes the lead in destroying the nobles. There is absolutely no need for us to follow up with them. What kind of aristocratic spirit do they talk about..."

Sir Maryland looked at Viscount Consco with a surprised look, as if it was the first day he had known him. He did not expect that these insidious schemes would come from the mouth of a nobleman, but he also agreed with Viscount Consco in his heart. These strategies were indeed effective, but after thinking about it, he couldn't help but say: "Do you know that the lower reaches of the White Water River are not the only armies of the Cecilians - the river continues to descend, and there are countless people Live by it."

"What does the life and death of those commoners have to do with us? When we were sleepless in the wasteland, those commoners would have long forgotten their lords and went to greet their new master Cecil!" Viscount Consco He said excitedly, as if the pressure accumulated for so many days finally burst out on him, "Sir, I know what you are worried about - the White Water River flows south, and there is a part of your territory beyond the hills, But don't forget, there is my manor and castle further down! What we have to do now is a glorious sacrifice - civilians are like wheat, this batch is cut off, and the next year will grow, but once we After death, who can maintain order in that land in the south?"

Viscount Consco waved his arms and said that there was a bit of impassioned meaning in the end. What surprised Sir Maryland most was that the southern nobles at the scene responded one by one. They all nodded in agreement with Consco. These proposals of the Viscount, just because of the latter's words "sacrifice full of glory", this strategy that was completely contrary to the spirit of the nobility turned out to be a noble plan.

But at this moment, Countess Ropeni suddenly spoke in a cold voice: "Gentlemen, I'm afraid you are thinking too simply."

At this moment, Ropeney Grant had a considerable voice among the southern nobles. As soon as she opened her mouth, the nobles who had been agitated all quieted down. Even Sir Maryland showed a look of watching the play, waiting for Ropeney to pick up. down.

"I'm afraid you forgot, what the Cecil people made their fortunes on."

Ropeney Glen threw out a word coldly, and more than half of the people at the scene quickly showed a thoughtful look.

"Alchemy potions—their alchemy potions are so large that they can be drunk as water. Is the medicine for healing a very valuable thing?" Ropeney Glen glanced around, "Even if you use druid spells to destroy Baishui River's The river water is all turned into toxins, the Cecil people probably won't care, but you will waste a lot of energy!"

The southern nobles looked at each other, Viscount Consco was speechless, and Sir Maryland said at the right time, "That's true, Viscount Consco, that's not a good idea for you."

Then he said: "But we do need to deal with it, before the Cecil people have a firm foothold..."