“You’ve already been outside from early on?” May frowned.
“I did not mean to eavesdrop,” Carter said in defense while he raised his hands. “It’s just an accident, I promise.”
“Puff,” May couldn’t suppress a chuckle and then said in comfort, “I don’t blame you, there is no reason to show an expression like that.”
“You don’t?” The Knight breathed out in relief and reached for the wine, only to get stopped by May.
“You still have night duty, right?” May shook his finger and said, “Therefore, I can only let you drink a small cup and no refill. But…” She smiled, “Wait until the end of the mission, then you can nicely invite me.”
After Carter left, May took another cup of wine and leaned back against the chair.
Since she had tasted the wine for the first time, she discovered that she had slowly started to enjoy its hot and mellow flavor.
As for Carter’s previous invitation, she already had a faint answer to it within her heart.It is indeed only possible to know the results of some matters after trying them, just like the wine in my hands. Although the first taste was difficult to swallow, but compared with its following richness and mellowness, those sour and sweet fruit wines or the bland ale just can’t compare.
After the end of the theater season, I might as well take my father with me and settle in Border Town, right?
…
Roland arrived in Longsong Stronghold two days later.
Petrov and members of the five families came out of the city to welcome His Highness the Prince and his troops.
After stationing the First Army into the stronghold, Roland went straight to the castle and held a brief meeting.
“I got my hands on reliable news, Timothy has raised a force that is advancing towards the stronghold.” Roland announced after sitting down on the Lord’s seat at the top of a flight of steps, while looking down on the nobles gathered beneath, “Their actual number and the route they’ve taken is unknown, but there is no doubt that they are coming for me. According to Timothy’s consistent tactic, they are bound to expand their troops by plundering and conscripting the civilians; before using drugs to force them to attack us.”
“Excuse me, Your Highness,” the eldest son of the Wolf Family interrupted puzzled, “The drugs you are speaking about…”
“A type of vicious red pill, that can give civilians more strength than a knight, but after the effect wears off, those who took it can only helplessly struggle before dying.” In addition to Petrov, the other four influential families didn’t know about the Church’s secret medicine, so Roland gave a simple description of the characteristics and the source of the pill. Then he continued, “Through this plan Timothy continues to weaken the resistance of the Western Territory. Any person he cannot use is a target of looting and enforcing, the same goes for your territory. As the Protector of the Western Territory, I request that you clearly explain the situation to your Family’s staff and the commoners staying on your land; and that you transfer all of them into the city, so that Timothy won’t be able to expand his force.”
“But the food and stored goods in our warehouses…”
“You can move as much as possible,” Roland decisively interrupted, “However, I can only give you three days, until then all the commoners in the surrounding have to have been gathered together inside of the stronghold. After I beat back Timothy’s troops, you can all naturally leave.”
After the conclusion of the meeting, the Prince summoned Iron Axe to the castle.
In fact, by no means had he disclosed the exact situation to the nobility. Lightning and Maggie were already able to expose the whereabouts of the troops coming from King’s City. Unlike the previous group of invaders, they were traveling by sailboat this time, and moving straight along the Redwater River’s channel in an attempt to enter the hinterland of the Western Territory by passing through Willow Town.
This was a very thorny route, at the time the enemy came to the river’s bifurcation point, they could either follow the tributary to attack Longsong Stronghold’s Southern and Eastern Gate or continue following the river westwards and go straight for Border Town.
In order to prevent his defending troops from needing to split up and create a situation of attending to one thing and losing sight of another, he needed to concentrate his superior military strength and take the initiative to go out and defeat the enemy.
Evidently, the Redwater River’s bifurcation would be the most suitable place for such an ambush.
Chapter 279 Battle line up
After entering the hall, Iron Axe gave a standard military salute.
“Timothy’s troops are expected to reach the junction in the Redwater River four days from now. The First Army will set off this afternoon,” Roland bluntly spoke. “You will meet up at the battle site with Border Town’s defensive troops and take over the command; I will travel there as quickly as possible.”
“Don’t we need to defend Border Town?”
“All of the enemy’s movements are under the surveillance by Lightning and Maggie. Setting up a defensive division is no longer necessary, just one joint attack to the right side should be enough to smash the enemy.” The Prince paused, “But we also need to leave one hundred soldiers in Longsong Stronghold to watch over those nobles.”
“Remain… here?” Iron Axe asked shocked.
Roland summarized his previous released orders to the five families, “The reason that I gathered them together was to make it more convenient to watch over them. This will keep them from having any thoughts after learning about Timothy’s attack on the Western Territory. The Second Army’s weapons are old and their combat experience is lacking, so in case they encounter an unexpected situation they may not respond to it. However, with the ten squadrons of First Army’s soldiers, we can ensure that the nobles cannot lift any wind and waves. Since I do not want to fight at the Redwater River junction, only to birth riots at my back.”
“As you bid, Your Highness,” he said.
“Do you have to go?” After Iron Axe had left the hall, Nightingale stepped out from behind the lord’s seat and asked him.
“Of course,” Roland said, “If I do not go, who else could make good use out of Lotus’ ability? I may not be adept at commanding battle strategy, but I’m damn good at using bunkers to seal off roads and tanks to slap faces.”
“Bunker I know of; however, what is this tank?” Nightingale’s face showed her confusion.
“Oh… they are carriages which drag around a cannon,” the Prince coughed twice. “But currently we do not have enough horses, so we have to rely on Little Town to transport the cannons, which like this cannot be called tanks.
“That’s the reason why you picked Honey?” She blinked and asked, “As far as I know, she can even tame tigers and panthers making them as gentle as horses. But aren’t “tanks” nothing more than cannons which are pulled by wild animals?”
“Of course,” Roland couldn’t refrain from tilting his mouth, “The different models can also straightforwardly be named Tiger and Panther.“
Just then, Carter, holding a white-tailed kite in his arms, came in and announced: “Your Highness, there is news from Border Town.”
Roland clapped his hands, immediately after, as if it had intelligence, the white-tailed kite unfolded its wings, freed itself from the knight’s arms and soared into the air, gliding the short distance to firmly land on his shoulder. Feeling the kite land on his shoulder, he took a piece of jerky from his pocket and gave it to the bird to swallow. It also conscientiously raised its claw, so that Roland could easily untie the cloth tied to it.
The kite wasn’t Maggie in her hawk form, it was one of Honey’s trained air messengers. They could remember five to six different people, as well as hundreds of flight routes, even in case that they were brought to an unknown place, they could still find their way home. This time, for his trip to the stronghold, Roland had brought a total of four messengers. Within one hour they could travel from one place to the other and back. Furthermore, they could also fly for a whole day without having to take a break. In the absence of a wireless transmission, this way of keeping in touch counted as the quickest method.