Chapter 434 The Great Alliance Moves Forward (7)

Green Valley is burning.

The green valley that was once lush and lush with fields has now turned into a red valley.

The fire on the south bank spread to the mountains, and instead of being extinguished, it became more and more out of control; the soot with the embers drifted across the Achyranthes River in the wind, and the wheat fields on the north bank were also ignited.

Both sides of the valley were illuminated red by the fire, and the Achyranthes River reflecting the flames looked more like molten glass. The clouds were also smeared with the color of hell by the carnival demons, and the enchanting and terrifying blood river above Green Valley Town could even be seen from several kilometers away.

Major Alder Felt merged the remaining three well-formed infantry brigades into a "grand square". When he tried to reorganize his formation, cavalry in black kept jumping out of the thick fog and raiding the large square formation that was still gathering from all directions, intending to completely defeat Felt's troops.

Felt not only had to do his best to fend off the enemy's light cavalry, but he also had to do everything he could to prevent the grand phalanx from disintegrating itself.

Fortunately, the black cavalry, which only had a Plato saber and a short Herd horse, lacked the ability to make a final decision. They could only launch an intimidating charge, but could not break through the forest of guns.

The enemy infantry did not catch up - the fire isolated the battlefield and cut off Felt's troops, but also caused a lot of trouble to the enemy.

Major Felt commanded his men to retreat in a row until they retreated to an unknown farm outside the valley.

There is a large barn in the southwest corner of the farm, with half-meter-thick stone walls and two floors. It is a grain store shared by the villagers.

When passing by this place in the afternoon, Felt noticed this sturdy and tall building at a glance.

So when he retreated out of the valley with the defeated remnants of three brigades, he immediately occupied this big barn.

It was the lean months now, and the barn was empty except for some hay.

While Felt sent people to drill shooting holes in the barn wall, he also sent people to demolish the farmhouses near the barn to clear the shooting area.

Timbers and stones removed from the farmhouse were used to strengthen the barn, and anything that could not be taken away was burned.

After buying himself some breathing time, Major Felt finally found the opportunity to count the losses:

The Sixth Brigade stationed in Green Valley Town was completely wiped out - if it weren't for Felt's cautious nature, I'm afraid the remaining five brigades would have faced the same fate as the Sixth Brigade;

The 7th and 8th brigades at the front of the marching sequence also ceased to exist. There was no news from the brigades' captains. The organization of the troops was destroyed, and only scattered troops escaped;

The 9th and 10th Battalions escaped due to their location at the rear, but a small number of soldiers had already taken advantage of the chaos to desert, and the remaining soldiers were panicked and had no fighting spirit.

In addition to the loss of personnel, Felt's troops also lost all their baggage carriages. Food, ammunition, and equipment were also lost along with the baggage carriages.

If it were normal times, Alder Felt might have begun to consider which era of war history to choose as his lifelong research direction.

However, the current Major Felt, let alone making plans for the future, even if it is the day after tomorrow, he has no extra energy to think about it.

At this moment, he was only thinking about one thing - how to survive tonight?

The residents of this unknown small farm have found that their home has become a battlefield, and they have fled overnight with their families.

Standing on the roof of the barn, Major Felt could see the fully loaded wagons, livestock, and humans escaping along the road away from Green Valley. In the direction of Green Valley, the fire has not been extinguished yet.

The swaying dim lights almost formed a line, and the cries of children could be faintly heard in the wind.

The sight before him made Felt feel inexplicably sad, but he soon had no intention of being sentimental anymore.

Perhaps the burning farmhouse attracted the enemy's attention. Not long after Felt ordered to clear the firing range, the enemy caught up with him.

It was now completely dark, and the farmhouse fire temporarily shut out the night surrounding the barn.

However, beyond the reach of the fire, deeper into the night, the black cavalry emerged from the thick fog again.

At first there were only sporadic hoofbeats, and then more and more cavalry joined the ensemble. They seemed to be performing some mysterious ritual, speeding around the barn where Felt's troops were located.

By the end, the sound of hooves rumbled from all sides of the barn, making it unclear how many enemy cavalry were galloping in the darkness.

The spirits of some of the defeated soldiers trapped in the barn were also driven to near collapse.

"It's a wolf! That's not a human! It's a wolf!" A disheveled soldier threw away his weapon, rolled and rushed towards the barn door, shouting frantically: "I have seen wolves! Wolves will run around their prey! Only wolves can We will run around the prey! This is a sacrifice! The wolf wants to offer us as sacrifices to the devil! Run away! Run for your lives!"

There was no need for Felt to open his mouth. Second Lieutenant Kadar, who was guarding the gate, knocked the crazy deserter to the ground with one punch.

Kadar stepped on the deserter's back, grabbed the deserter's hair, gritted his teeth, pulled out his sword, and looked at the major inquiringly.

Felt hesitated and shook his head.

Kadar stuck his sword in the cracks of the bricks, called on his subordinates to tie up the deserters, and stuffed the deserters' mouths with straw.

During the whole process, the crazy deserter kept struggling, whimpering and screaming.

The attention of other soldiers was attracted by the crazy deserter. They watched silently as Lieutenant Kadar controlled the deserter, not knowing what they were thinking.

Major Felt motioned to Lieutenant Kadar to take the deserter into the barn loft and keep him under separate supervision, lest the latter damage the already low morale.

"What wolf? What devil? These are all crazy words!" Major Felt deliberately shouted loudly: "I think he was frightened!"

Felt patted the wall and door of the barn, pretending to be nonchalant, trying to eliminate the impact of the sudden situation: "This house is very strong, and it can be used as a fortress. If the rebels can Call in, they have already called in! Do you still need to crawl around like ants outside? Tonight, each hundred-man team takes turns to keep vigil, and the others should seize the time to rest."

The barn was silent except for the roar coming from outside the walls.

The soldiers neither spoke nor went to rest like the major said. They just stood there quietly, leaning on their weapons.

A soldier belonging to the Maple Stone City brigade plucked up the courage and asked timidly: "Major, but I heard that there is really a wolf among the rebel generals..."

The voice of the soldier who asked the question was very low, but it was too "quiet" in the barn, so everyone heard his trembling murmurs.

The last thing Major Felt wanted was for someone to continue the topic of "wolves", but now he had to try his best to maintain the remaining loyalty of the soldiers, so he waved cordially: "Don't be afraid, come forward and say loudly !What did you just say? There is a wolf among the rebel generals?"

No matter how Major Felt waved, the soldiers who asked questions did not dare to come forward. A second lieutenant couldn't stand it anymore. He grabbed the collar of the soldier who asked the question and dragged him to the open space in the center of the barn.

"What kind of wolf? Can a wolf be a general?" Major Felt looked around at the soldiers and asked with a smile, "Is it possible that the orders are written on the food bowls, and the orders will be carried out in whichever food bowl the wolf goes to eat?"

There were soldiers from Xilin Province who also laughed, but there was no smile on the faces of the soldiers from Maple Leaf Fort.

"No, it's not a wolf, it's a human, and it's also a wolf." The soldier who asked the question swallowed hard and repeated the legend he had heard incoherently: "The rebels called him [Wolf's Blood], some said it was because He can turn into a wolf when the moon is full..."

"It turns out to be a nickname." Major Felt couldn't help but become interested as he imagined what kind of officer would get such a nickname.

He sat the soldier who asked the question on a pile of hay and encouraged: "Don't be afraid, speak slowly. Tell me everything you know about 'Wolf's Blood'."

…

While Major Felt was listening to someone tell a story that had been passed down through countless hands, the protagonist of the legendary story he was listening to was now outside the town of Green Valley, less than five kilometers away from him.

The headquarters of the Tiefeng County garrison is being transferred.

The clerks at the headquarters destroyed correspondence and files that could not be taken away, while loading documents that could not be destroyed on horseback.

Without the overall coordination of Captain Mason, the transfer process of the command headquarters lost its previous orderly style and seemed a bit disordered and chaotic.

Winters himself was sorting out the map. When Jacob Green walked into the tent, he just looked up and nodded slightly.

"Sir." Yakob bowed and greeted: "The clerks are all ready."

Jacob carefully took a peek at the map on the tribune's small table, and unexpectedly discovered that the parchments marked with complex markings were not maps of Green Valley, but maps of Lake Town, Snake Lake and Baze. Naul valley river.

Winters was concentrating on the work on the map, measuring and writing calculations at the same time, as if someone outside the tent was shouting: "Let's go when you're ready. The sooner you catch up with Tribune Mason, the safer you will be."

"Yes." Jacob turned around and wanted to leave, but after all he could not give up the opportunity to peek into the inner world of the blood wolf, and boldly asked: "You have just achieved a glorious victory, and you have already set your sights on the next glory. Did you win?"

"Glorious victory?" Winters repeated the word, his tone extremely sarcastic and bitter.

"Yes, a brilliant victory! At least that's how I will record it!" Jacob insisted: "Four battalions against six brigades, half defeated and half defeated - only a negligible price paid! If this is not brilliant! Victory, what else?”

"A negligible price?" Winters asked calmly: "Look at the scene outside the tent. The Green Valley has been turned into the Valley of Fire by me."

"It's just one season's harvest. The dead trees will sprout new shoots, the seeds will be sown again, and sooner or later the green valley will return to its original state."

"Maybe. But they'll never trust us again."

Jacob fell into silence, and he considered his words: "These are...the necessary price for victory."

"There's no need to comfort me, Mr. Green. I know what I'm doing. But it doesn't change what I've done..." The ruler and charcoal pencil in Winters' hand paused for a moment, then continued to rustle: "Nor can it. — and shouldn’t give me any comfort.”

Jacob stopped talking and stayed quietly with Winters Montagne for a while. The latter did not drive him away, but continued his calculations.

An angry footsteps sounded outside the tent, and Seb Carrington kicked open the curtain and stepped into the tent.

Seeing that there were other people in the tent, Major Seber swallowed back the question that was on his lips. He stood by the door with his arms folded, looking at Jacob Green without saying a word.

Jacob hurriedly resigned.

As soon as the troublesome guy left the tent, Major Seb's roar immediately sounded: "Why don't you let me pursue you?!"

"Your light cavalry lacks the ability to attack fortresses." Winters explained rationally and restrainedly: "And they are too precious. They have the courage to shake the large square formation, but I don't want to waste them on trying to shake the large square formation."

"Where are your infantry?! I can't attack the fort? Where are Captain Mason's cannons?!"

"The fire was out of control, and the infantry had to retreat, otherwise it would be involved in the fire. Captain Mason's artillery had already withdrawn early. Without the support of artillery, a head-on confrontation with the large square formation would cost us high casualties."

Major Seb was going crazy, and his roar was louder than ever: "High casualties? When it's time to take advantage of the victory and pursue the victory, you are worried about casualties?! Do you know? Once we let the federalists gain a foothold, we will pay more than we do now." Higher, higher, higher casualties?!”

"We can only accept the fact that today we cannot completely annihilate the enemy."

"You missed the opportunity!"

The voices of the two people reached outside the tent, and the guards were so frightened that they shrank their necks, and the clerks tried their best to stay away, not even daring to listen.

Another series of heavy footsteps sounded, and the shirtless Andre opened the curtain, lowered his head and walked into the tent - it was Jacob Green who ran to find him.

When he saw Major Seber spraying saliva on Winters from a high position, Andre was not angry but happy.

"Don't look at me, I'm not here to break up the fight. Only Mason can do such a thankless task as breaking up the fight, and I don't care."

Andre had enough time to walk to the other end of the tent and pour himself a glass of water - there was only clear water in Winters' tent.

He turned around, leaned against the small cupboard, and said enthusiastically: "Besides, I have always been curious about which of you is better at swordsmanship."

Major Seb snorted, stood up straight, and simply arranged his old uniform.

He took a deep breath, held on to his saber, and said coldly: "The fire on the south bank has reached the mountain, and the Provincial Highway is completely passable. The Union Provincial Man's troops are outside Green Valley, and my men have locked onto him. position. If we set out now, we still have a chance to annihilate them all in one fell swoop. If it's a little later, that federal provincial guy will reinforce that barn into a turtle shell!"

"We won't waste any more time on them." Winters paused for a moment, pulled out a map from the bottom of the layers of maps of different scales, and handed it to the major: "Bazenauer's troops have been replenished, Bo Colonel De’s troops are at a disadvantage, and we need to join Colonel Bode as soon as possible.”

Seb took the map, frowned and asked: "Are you sure that the other half of the puppet government's legion has arrived at Bazenauer? Maybe they are still on the ship."

"Unless I see it with my own eyes, I can't be sure. But the intelligence from different sources can currently be verified by each other." Winters handed Seber another decrypted letter: "This is the latest report from Colonel Bode. The colonel has discovered the whereabouts of the enemy's main force, and among the enemy's main force, a flag that does not belong to the New Reclamation Army has appeared - which also verifies the information we already know."

Seb was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Emotionally, I hope you will support Colonel Bode as soon as possible. But rationally, I still think it is a safer strategy to annihilate the enemies in front of you first, and then advance to Maplestone City."

"I have seen Maple Leaf Fort. It is a very strong fortress." Winters shook his head slightly: "It is tantamount to wishful thinking to capture it with the artillery we have on hand."

Winters had a good reason, but the sweet spoils were right in front of him and at his fingertips. Who could give up without giving it a try?

Seb eagerly added the reason: "Of course Maple Leaf Castle is difficult to defeat, but Maple Stone City's defense is very weak! Maple Stone City is the essence of the New Reclamation Province! Wealth! Population! Resources! Everything is there! Take Maple Stone City, The supplies and ordnance that Adams has accumulated belong to us! We can recruit soldiers and horses, and we can rebuild the new reclamation army."

Andre on the side also kept nodding.

Winters retorted resolutely but without doubt: "The army is everything to us. If Colonel Bode's large army is defeated, then even if we temporarily gain Maplestone City, sooner or later we will lose it again. If we can defeat Colonel Sarnell troops, then even if we abandon Maple Stone City today, we will be able to get it back sooner or later."

"I'm worried." Seb's voice was no longer as loud as it was at the beginning, and his face turned gloomy: "If we miss this opportunity, we may never be able to win Maple Stone City and Maple Leaf Castle again."

Winters also stood up, looked straight at Seb, and said decisively: "Even so, we will never betray our friendly forces!"

Seb was forced into a corner by Winters' gaze. He gritted his teeth and stamped his foot: "Okay! Let's do it!"

Having made up his mind, Seb Carrington no longer hesitated and returned to his usual unruly self.

He licked his fangs and said coldly: "But I have to remind you that if the troops from the other three counties have been in contact with the main enemy force, then even if we rush to join Colonel Bode now, I'm afraid it will be too late! "

Seb supported the marching table and stretched out his hand to draw an invisible line along "Green Valley", "Qingyin Pass", "Changhu Town" and "Snake Lake": "Even if we march day and night, from Green Valley to the north at least It will take two days - two days is the most optimistic estimate, and more than half of your troops are infantry! By the time they reach the battlefield on two legs, Colonel Bode and Saner will have already decided the winner!"

"I know." Winters clicked on the single-page map in Seb's hand: "I also have countermeasures."

Only then did Seb pay attention to the map Winters handed him for the first time. He recognized it for a while, trying to compare the lines and marks on the map with the mountains and rivers in his memory.

When he truly realized what this map meant, Seb, as bold as he was, broke into a cold sweat.

"You...this...I..." Seb couldn't say a complete sentence for a long time, and finally asked with wide eyes: "What about the army of the federal army outside Green Valley? Once he catches up, we will all It’s over!”

"Based on the performance of Major Alder Felt, he is a commander with a conservative style and extreme caution." Winters sat back in his marching chair and played with the herdsman's knife in his hand: "It is his caution that Saved his unit today."

"Be cautious." Andre said dismissively: "I think you are as timid as a mouse!"

This time, it was Major Seber's turn to nod in agreement. He took a deep breath and said angrily: "You're not lucky either!"

"Prudence is a precious quality." Winters' fingertips touched the blade and mused: "However, maybe we can make Major Felt's 'caution' work for us."

"Then..." Seb asked reluctantly, "Then let him go like this?"

"Who said we should let him go?" Winters raised his eyebrows: "I just said we can't annihilate them all today."

Seb was stunned, and Andre was baffled.

"Hey! Don't talk nonsense!" Major Seb slapped the table in annoyance: "Although the joint provincial man is not very good at field combat, he is a good guard at guarding turtle shells! The more time you give him, the more time you give him to deal with him. It will be even more troublesome. Besides, once we meet up with Colonel Bode, where will we have the extra troops to deal with him?"

"Major Seb Carrington." Winters rarely called Seb by his full name: "Although you are an expert in using light cavalry, your thinking is still that of the Platoans, always seeking to pass A major battle will end all battles in a morning or even an hour."

"Captain Montagne!" Seb was instantly furious: "If we don't use the methods of the Platoans, why should we use the methods of the Hurd barbarians?!"

Winters stood up and slapped the knife in his hand on the marching table: "That's right! The next battle will be fought using the methods of the Hurd tribes! If the methods of the Hurd tribes can allow us to fight more If we win with small casualties, it proves that the Herds' tactics are better! Whatever method works well, I will use that method! I will never waste the lives of my soldiers easily!"

Seb was speechless for a moment, and Andre behind him asked belatedly: "Is this why you asked that boy Pierre to lead the troops out?"

"Yes." Winters pulled out the knife from the table and said calmly: "Major Alder Felt will be in charge of Pierre Mitchell."

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