Chapter 685 Defensive Tactics

The breath of war is approaching, but for the current Cecil Empire, it is really not the best time for war.

Changfeng Fortress, the towering city walls stand between the hills and the plains. The bastion walls that stretch for dozens of kilometers are facing the colder autumn wind. In the bright sunlight cast by the giant sun, there is a layer of pale golden brilliance. The runestone bricks inlaid on the top shone slightly with a magical halo, making the entire fortress shrouded in a layer of energy shields, and vigilant soldiers stood on the city walls and towers, staring at the Typhon Empire. direction.

Inside the fortress, a group of newly recruited soldiers was walking through the barracks in a loose formation. The Cecil Corps instructor who was in charge of training the new recruits stood by the road with a meticulous expression, but not far from the city wall. I noticed that a fortress veteran in the recruit team couldn't help but shook his head: "These soldiers can't fight at all... It's okay to deal with bandits at home, and fight with the Typhons here? Seven or eight people are tied together. Not enough to die."

"The exercises of the Cecil Corps can quickly put these new recruits in use - at least let them know the order." Another veteran said next to him.

"It also takes some training time. I'm afraid these conscripts were still holding hoes and pitchforks the day before yesterday..."

Maryland in military uniform walked across the city wall with his sword in hand. The conversation of the veterans fell into his ears, and the performance of the recruits fell into his eyes.

After completing the tour, the fortress commander returned to the command post in the castle district, where his adjutant - a black-haired, brown-eyed, shrewd and capable young man - was already waiting here.

"General," the adjutant stepped forward and saluted, "the scout has returned information."

"Well," Maryland nodded, "the Typhons are moving again?"

"A group of engineering mages are building additional walls, stables and barracks in the hills west of Winter Wolf Castle. The scale is not small. It is unclear how many people it can accommodate, but it is certain that they have opened at least four new wells."

"...The Black Steel Knights or the Iron River Knights are about to arrive. They are all troops that are good at reloading and assaulting fortresses," Maryland said in a deep voice. "The Typhons shouldn't wait too long."

The young adjutant did not speak, neither fear nor shake, his face was calm.

Maryland secretly applauded the young adjutant's response, then turned to the back of the table, picked up the report on the table and glanced at it.

"...The last group of private soldiers that can be gathered nearby has also reached the defense line..." The fortress commander sighed softly, "After them, the entire Eastern Territory may not even be able to gather a thousand troops. already."

The situation is worrying,

However, the fact is the fact - the soldiers are stretched thin, and the garrison of Changfeng Fortress is only so much.

The empire has just experienced a year-long civil war and a disaster that swept half of the Holy Spirit Plain. The original kingdom's main force was exhausted in the continuous battle. Now, except for the few surviving elites, who can come in handy now, There is only the Cecil Corps in the south. However, at least half of these troops must stay in the country to maintain post-war order. The number of soldiers that can be sent to Changfeng Fortress is limited - the superior has already selected the most elite troops that can be mobilized at present. And the most powerful weapons were sent, but Maryland knew that wasn't enough.

The Typhons are also increasing their troops, and they are increasing their troops in the form of a mixed army of magicians, knights, and supernatural beings. These armies cannot be replaced by ordinary heat ray guns and a few medium-caliber fortress cannons. Ordinary people who are easily defeated, to deal with them, either the elite defenders of Changfeng Fortress must be doubled, or the Iron Throne must be transported to the defense line.

But neither of those two things—Maryland did its best to mobilize the aristocratic private soldiers in the east, plus a small number of mountain corps supported by the north. These loopholes are likely to be broken within two days.

He must find a way to strengthen the garrison of the fortress.

Maryland's eyes moved on the battle map next to it, and his eyes slowly swept across the buffer zone on the border between the two countries, the Typhonian Winter Wolf Fort and several outposts that had been identified so far.

The first criterion of defense is to protect oneself, and there are many ways to protect oneself, either by making oneself invulnerable, or by eliminating threats before they are harmed, or...by keeping the enemy from attacking.

The garrison of Changfeng Fortress may not be able to increase, but he can try to confuse the Typhons into thinking that the garrison of this fortress is still increasing.

After some meditation, a bold idea gradually took shape, Maryland raised her head and looked at her adjutant: "Let the reserve corps of the Mountain Corps disguise as merchants and civilians, smuggle their flags and equipment, and distribute them in batches within two days. Go out of the city and gather at the Karon Valley in the northwest."

The adjutant was stunned for a moment, and was a little dazed for a while: "Then what?"

"Then change back to the equipment of the Mountain Corps, and enter the city from the north gate of the fortress - when you enter the city, make the movement louder, and don't make it too exaggerated."

Two seconds later, the adjutant realized Maryland's intentions. The young man showed an expression of sudden realization, and then looked at the general with admiration: "Yes - you are really a good idea! I'll arrange it now!"

"That's not enough, we have to do a full set of the show," Maryland added immediately. "Didn't the Typhons build barracks near Winter Wolf Castle? We also build -- set up camps in the north and south of the fortress, dig wells, and put some of them in. Move the levies to the new camp, and let them open fire and cook there. In addition, send someone to Count Robert's domain and borrow his wagon to transport 'grain'."

"Yes!" The adjutant stood straight and gave a military salute, but before leaving he suddenly became a little worried, "But General, can this really hide the Typhons?"

"It can be frightened for a while, and they will definitely react later, but it doesn't matter, as long as they can delay their attack, it is enough," Maryland said calmly, but his eyes fell on the map next to him, "The engineering team in the rear is working overtime. The temporary railway will be built more and more, and the Iron Throne will soon be repaired. As long as the Typhons hesitate for a while...they won't be able to bite Changfeng Fortress."

...

Cecil Empire, San Sunil City.

Preparations for the large-scale relocation work have already begun, and more and more work reports on the relocation of the capital are piled up on Gawain's desk.

The coronation ceremony has ended, the signing ceremony of the nobles and the handover of the command of the old Royal Knights, the Guards, the Royal Shadow Guard and other units have also been completed. It was initially on the right track, and the situation in Saint-Sunil was under control. The mission of the interim government has come to an end. According to Gawain's plan at the beginning, the relocation work should be started next.

On the surface, Saint Sunil is magnificent, but in fact the infrastructure is backward, the influence of the old forces is profound, and more importantly, the communication system is weak, and the command of the Cecil Corps is slow. It is really not a good place to control the operation of the empire. A major event is not a matter of packing the relevant personnel and materials to a new place - even if it is implemented from now on, it may take a whole year to completely complete the transfer and reconstruction of the ruling function.

And in this process, Gawain must also take into account the short-term chaos caused by the transfer of the ruling function. To prevent this chaos from having a chain reaction, Typhon can take advantage of it.

In the velvet study of Silver Castle, Gao Wenzheng put the finished report on the desk, and besides him, there were three of his grand consuls sitting in this study.

"Aiden Alfred rejected the position in the Council of Ministers, didn't he?" Gawain raised his head and looked at Victoria Wilder, who was sitting across from him.

"Yes, he also resigned from the court and the honorary title," Victoria replied. "He said he was grateful for your offer, but he was old and wished to go home to recuperate."

Aiden Alfred, the former Prime Minister of Francis II, a loyal and old minister of the Ansu Kingdom, his family has been loyal to the Morn royal family since the first dynasty, and has diligently served the country for hundreds of years. year.

The former prime minister's talent made Gawain want to make an exception, but his choice of refusing to take office was not what Gawain expected.

"Respect his choice," Gawain nodded slightly, "Also, ask him if he is willing to be the director of the Saint-Sunil Library - this is not a position in the government affairs office, and he can still guard the original royal collection of books. If you still don't want to... let the old man go home, and the Government Affairs Office will pay him a pension on a monthly basis."

Victoria nodded: "You have considered it very carefully, and he will not refuse this position."

"Let's talk about moving the capital," Gawain adjusted his sitting posture, "After I return to Cecil City, the affairs on Saint Sunil's side are temporarily managed by Victoria and Baldwin, you are responsible for completing the follow-up work, especially It is to complete the laying of the magic net from Saint Sunil to the north and west to ensure the establishment of communication. In addition, all the nobles of the royal capital, according to the size of the family, need to send a certain proportion of family members to the south to settle down. This should not be the case. Is there a problem?"

"Yes, they were mentally prepared when the order to move the capital was issued," Baldwin Franklin nodded, then chuckled, "Exchanging hostages for survival is a traditional aristocratic survival rule. one of them."

"This is not a simple 'hostage', it is a necessary part of the dismantling and transformation of the old aristocratic forces... Of course they don't understand now, this is normal," Gawain shook his head, "It's okay, take it step by step. Hetty , how are the preparations for the reconstruction of the Kingdom Avenue?"

"Gordon has brought people to Pompeii, and the preliminary materials and personnel are in place. Construction will start after the soil survey is completed."

"Very good - this part of the work is very important, priority is to ensure financial support." "Yes."

Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that another job was on the right track.

Enfeoffed kingdoms can be separated by lords, but empires are not allowed to hang around in isolation. For a centralized empire, ensuring transportation is a prerequisite for ensuring the order of governance, especially for the Cecil Empire, which is in desperate need of rebuilding order. This is the case—the reason why Gawain dared to move the state’s ruling institutions from the central area to the south is because modern transportation technology can ignore this physical distance, and building modern roads is to make new means of transportation fully effective. important part.

From San Sunil to the south, there is a Gorgon River as a transportation artery, and a Kingdom Road as a land trunk. Since last year, Victoria and the then Ansu royal family have been focusing on repairing the Kingdom Avenue, so that this road that has been abandoned for nearly a hundred years has initially recovered its functions. However, the Kingdom Avenue repaired according to the old standards is not enough to withstand the traffic pressure of the new era. The previous cluster war also caused some damage to the Kingdom Avenue on the east bank of the Gorgon River. Therefore, from the actual point of view, Gawain decided to send an engineering team from the south to rebuild a road connecting the north and south of the empire on the basis of the old Kingdom Avenue. Come.

Typhon has an "Road to Empire", and Cecil will have one in the future.

At the same time as this "Imperial Avenue" was built, Gawain also planned to build a north-south railway line on the west bank of the Gorgon River, and with Saint-Sunil as the center, the railway line would be branched and expanded in the east and west directions. , forming a new "cruciate artery".

Of course, this will be a huge, time-consuming and labor-intensive project, and it will take a long time to complete, but no matter how much it consumes, the cruciate artery must be built - this will be the starting point of the century-old foundation of the Empire.

Regardless of how long it will take for the new cross artery to be completed, the railway connecting the north and the south should be completed soon due to the short distance. At that time, from the south to the "old capital", there will be rivers, roads and railways at the same time. The three major transportation lines, from Saint-Sunil to the north, will also be connected by roads and railways, and the transportation between the north and south of the empire will become extremely convenient. The ore veins can also be quickly transported to meet the growth needs of the hungry industrial beasts of the Cecil Empire.

As for now, although there are no railways and highways between the southern border and Saint-Sunil, due to the convenience of the Gorgon River and the efficiency of the new mechanical ships, there is no need to worry too much about traffic problems - the development of the Gorgon River transport also makes the high One of the reasons why Wen dared to start moving the capital at this time.

"One more thing," Hetty said again after reporting the progress of the road construction. "Ancestor, the Iron Throne has been repaired."

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