Chapter 470

Second, if the enemy pursued them, he could also counterattack on the spot, annihilate the enemy's pursuit troops, and earn himself a military merit.

So, on the third day of the retreat, when the three armies had retreated nearly 200 miles, Scaloni received a letter from the scouts, saying that the enemy's army had pursued them, and the number was only about 8,000.

Scaloni immediately ordered his 30,000 troops to camp on the spot and wait for the enemy to tire, and directly annihilate the enemy's pursuit troops.

But when the tireless Napoli Legion rushed into Scaloni's army, everything changed.

Scaloni's plan was completely disrupted...

Chapter 120: Brother and Sister Reunited

"Master Litt, are you in such a hurry to rush back now? Is it to see Master Orson?" In the retreating army, Litt rode a horse in a good mood, and Virgil beside her also smiled and joked.

When Lit heard Virgil say this, her face turned red, but then she said as a matter of course:

"Of course, I haven't seen Orson for so long." She covered her chest and pretended to be in pain.

"Oh, I feel like my heart is going to break without Orson's energy!"

Looking at Lit's exaggerated scene, Virgil also laughed out loud.

Martin, who was standing aside, was a little confused.

"Mr. Lit, I know you have a good relationship with Mr. Orson...but isn't this a bit too exaggerated?"

If Lit hadn't been so exaggerated as if he was acting, Martin would have thought Lit was a gay.

"Hehe, just kidding, just kidding, but I really miss Orson." At this time, Lit suddenly realized that there was another Martin beside her, and then she quickly returned to her serious appearance.

But Virgil knew that Lit was probably not joking.

"Mr. Lit, do you know what Mr. Orson meant by asking us to withdraw our troops?" Martin asked seriously.

He also couldn't quite understand Orson's approach. He had an advantage on the front line, but he demanded a withdrawal, and his tone was rather harsh.

You know, the coalition had suffered a lot of losses in order to break through the walls of Romulus City. If they gave up those positions, they would only suffer more losses if they attacked again.

Even if the enemy's mysterious legion was very powerful, the coalition would not be defeated relying on the walls and fortifications.

"I don't understand it either, but I'll ask Orson about it when I meet him."

Litt said this with a smile, and then ordered the soldiers in the rear to speed up. She couldn't wait to meet Orson.

...

"I knew it."

Looking at the battle report in his hand, Orson sighed helplessly.

And Arthas beside him had a sullen face.

"Scaloni has fought all his life, why is he so careless at this time." Arthas complained in annoyance.

Just now, the rear guard army came into contact with the enemy's mysterious army. At first, Scaloni was prepared to take advantage of the enemy's rest and attack them unexpectedly. Unexpectedly, after the contact, the enemy did not show any signs of exhaustion from the pursuit, but was extremely brave.

Although Scaloni saw that the situation on the battlefield was not right and responded quickly, he still had the idea of ​​luck, but the result was that the enemy deployed more and more troops, and finally Scaloni could only leave 10,000 corpses and flee north in a hurry.

If Orson's order was strictly implemented from the beginning, the enemy's army in full plate armor would never be able to catch up with the retreating coalition forces.

Even when Scaloni ordered the defense to be deployed on the spot, the other coalition armies were at least dozens of miles away from him, and it was difficult to rush to provide support.

In this case, Scaloni's war crimes must be inevitable. At most, he can only use the credit of the previous siege to offset it, and don't think about getting the title of Duke of Napoli later.

Arthas was still planning how to help Scaloni win the most military merits, but then Scaloni wasted a huge opportunity, and Arthas felt dizzy.

Before he made a move, his teammates had already surrendered.

"Perhaps, General Scaloni had some concerns outside the battlefield, so it interfered with his judgment." Orson said.

The so-called concerns outside the battlefield, Orson and Arthas obviously knew it well.

Orson and Arthas looked at each other, and the latter sighed.

"Well, I should congratulate you here, Master Orson."

"Your Highness, why do you congratulate me when you lost the battle on the front line, Your Highness?" Orson looked at Arthas with a puzzled look.

"Your Highness, you have been in the palace for too long. Have you forgotten what you are best at?"

Orson's question stunned Arthas.

Yes, the original Arthas was best at and liked only one thing, that is, in the army, fighting on the battlefield.

At that time, he thought that as long as he did his job well, and with his status as the eldest prince, the throne would definitely be passed to him.

However, after this period of open and covert fighting, his behavior was more or less political, and his whole way of thinking became political.

When he applied his political thoughts to others, he naturally regarded a big defeat as good news for Orson.

After hearing Orson's suggestion, he also realized the mistake in his words just now.

"Sorry, Orson, there was something wrong with what I said before." Alsace said this and apologized quickly.

"It doesn't matter. Your Highness, you just need to change your mind." Orson said, waving his hand.

At this time, the messenger from outside came in again.

"Reporting to Commander Orson and His Highness Alsace, we have met up with the leading troops of the coalition at the front, and the leading general is Young Master Li Te."

"I understand." Orson nodded. At this moment, another footsteps sounded outside, and Li Te walked in with Virgil and Martin.

Lite lifted up the curtain, looked up and saw Orson standing in the center.

At this moment, she was still wearing loose clothes and looked dusty. In order to make it easier to manage, she also tied her hair into a ponytail.

The moment she saw Orson, her eyes lit up, then she opened her hands and ran directly towards Orson.

"Oson, long time no see, I miss you so much!"

With that said, she jumped directly into Orson's arms.

Orson was not surprised by this kind of scene. He caught Lite who rushed towards her like a cannonball, and then gently rubbed her little head.

"It's been a long time indeed, Li Te, thank you for your hard work during this time."

The two hugged for a while, and then slowly separated.

Regarding this scene, everyone except Virgil only regarded it as a matter of deep brotherhood and said nothing. Instead, they each lowered their sense of presence and left time to the "brothers" who had not seen each other for months.

"Orson, if you are free tonight, I want to tell you what I have encountered these days. There are many contents in the letter that I cannot finish or understand."

"I'm sure I'll have time, but there's one thing that's more difficult to deal with right now."

"Ah... Orson, are you talking about General Scaloni?"

The news of the defeat was reported through the fast horses, so as long as the legions on the scouting road heard the news of the defeat of Scaloni's legion.

Of course Lite was no exception, but the scout didn't elaborate at the time, and she was in a hurry to come back to see Orson, so this matter didn't attract her attention immediately.

"Yes." Orson nodded seriously, and Li Te knew that this matter was probably not simple.

Chapter 121: Visit the front line in person

Two more days passed and all the coalition forces were successfully reunited.

Orson sat at the top of the central military tent. Next to him were Alsace and Lucius. The commanders of other legions were also sitting in the two rows below.

Everyone remained silent, no one spoke.

Until a few minutes later, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and then Scaloni walked into the military tent with a disgraced face and lowered head.

He knelt down in front of everyone without saying a word.

"In the end, the enemy will have a bad start, and he is willing to accept any punishment."

Saying this, he cupped his hands towards Orson.

"No need to be like this, General Scaloni, everything is not over yet, the war is not lost, and you will not be able to continue leading the troops after losing this battle."

Orson stood up, came to Scaloni, and helped him up.

After all, he is a big boss in the army, and he has a good relationship with Alsace. It depends on the owner to beat the dog.

"No." Unexpectedly, Scaloni became stubborn and shook his head.

"I will make such a big mistake in the end. If there is no punishment, I will feel uneasy!"

Seeing this, Orson could only sigh helplessly.

He looked at Alsace.

"I wonder what His Highness the Prince thinks should be done with Scaloni?"

He asked this because he wanted to hand over the disposal power to Alsace. As Scaloni's "master", it was most appropriate for Alsace to decide Scaloni's fate.

Unexpectedly, Alsace just shook his head.

"Let's leave it to you, Orson."

"Okay." Seeing Alsace kicking the ball back, Orson no longer resisted. He looked at Scaloni, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes again, his expression became serious.

"General Scaloni, you have failed to carry out military orders and have lost 10,000 elite troops, destroying our morale. It is reasonable to deprive you of the right to command in this battle. Your army is fully under the command of His Highness Alsace. As for the You, temporarily suspend your duties and return to Saint Laurent City to reflect on your mistakes."

"...as you command."

This punishment is quite reasonable and falls into the category of neither light nor severe.

Scaloni did not collapse the entire front and turned the tide of the war on his own. Second, he did not evade responsibility and took the initiative to plead guilty. Coupled with his status in the army, the punishment he received would certainly not be too severe.

As this punishment continued, everyone else present had different facial expressions.

The happiest person was the Duke of Antica. The generals of Antica, as well as Lite himself, all had smiles on their faces.

As for the officers loyal to the Alsace side, they were somewhat unhappy.

After all, the army had been building momentum for Scaloni from the beginning. As a result, Scaloni has completely lost his position as Duke of Naples. Everything the army has done has been in vain, and in the end he has to help Antica fight. Return to their place as Duke of Naples.

From the moment the candidate for commander-in-chief was selected as Orson, everyone already knew the future ownership of the Duke of Naples.

And Orson naturally noticed everyone's expressions.

Before Scaloni could take the order and go out, he spoke again:

"Everyone, I noticed that when I just announced the punishment for General Scaloni, you seemed a little happy and a little dissatisfied."

"I don't know what you are thinking, but I hope you don't bring the idea of ​​mutual infighting in the political arena to the army."

"An army that is united in appearance but divided in spirit will eventually become a mess. Don't think that the Duke of Napoli has no chance to turn the tables. If you still hold on to your original ideas, then we will definitely lose this battle, and I will not be the commander of the defeated army. Please find someone else."

"I always believe that the duty of a soldier is to win the war and consider other things after the victory. So, everyone, no matter what your mood is, follow my orders completely and don't have any small thoughts."

These words directly shocked everyone present, except Arthas, who had heard Orson's speech before, and Lucius, who knew Orson's character a long time ago.

Everyone looked at each other, and at this moment everyone's eyes were full of surprise and suspicion.

"Oh, Master Orson, since you've said that, I won't hide it anymore. You want to solve this problem, right? Then let's make it clear here." An imperial army general said this and stood up.

"Oh? General Ravenna, what do you mean?"

"Master Orson, you should know that General Scaloni has been punished this time, and the title of Duke of Naples will only fall on you after the war. We gave your Stranik family such a large piece of land for free, but you said this. It's hard for me not to think that you are taking advantage of the situation."

Seeing the other party say this, Litt in the audience stared at the other party fiercely, wanting to stand up and discuss with the other party at any time.

"Are you so sure that I will be the Duke of Naples?"

Orson asked directly.

"What else? Are there other candidates?"

"The results haven't come out yet, General Ravenna."

At this time, Arthas took the initiative to stand up and help Orson out.

"Your Highness, why are you..."

Ravenna looked at Arthas in disbelief.

He was clearly helping Arthas, so why did he side with Orson?

"General Ravenna, don't forget what a soldier's duty is." Arthas came to Ravenna, patted his shoulder, and whispered something in his ear.

Ravenna's face changed, and then he came to Orson unwillingly.