"We will not be garrisoning the castle this time, because there is a more difficult task for us to complete."
Matt paused, attracting the attention of all the officers.
"A few days ago, the Lombards once again captured the recently recovered Solburg. Solburg is located at the southernmost end of the four guard castles and fortresses south of Aosta. It is close to Wilno and is the gateway to and from Wilno. The Lombards wanted to exit from Solburg. They continued to capture the surrounding areas of Aosta, so they accumulated more than 300 troops and a large amount of armaments in Sorbourg, and the number of troops continued to increase. Provence also hoped to regain Sorbourg and then go south to regain Verno, so Sorbourg has become the focus of the recent competition between the two armies. "
"The second, third, and fourth companies of the Eastern Army will garrison the other three castles respectively to prevent the Lombards from continuing to exaggerate their power. The rest of the army will be sent to attack Sauerburg. Our outposts are also in the attack on Sauerbourg, and are responsible for the forward tasks of scouting the enemy, clearing roadblocks, and destroying the waiting posts." The five-day supply of food for the team is mostly in low mountains and dense forests to the south, which cannot be entered by carriages, so please ask the soldiers to carry as much food as possible. We need to go to a deep forest in the northeast of Solburg before tomorrow evening, where Lord Balian sent sentries to meet us..."
In the outpost command tent, General Art briefly explained the battle deployment of the army to the officers, and then the officers returned to their respective teams to prepare...
………
Five days later.
In the dense forests of the southeastern hills of Provence, what is different from the north is that it is still filled with the steaming heat of late summer.
The outpost has been stationed and hidden in this dense jungle for five days. In order to prevent the Lombards from noticing their traces, they did not dare to openly light a fire to cook. They could only make a small bonfire at night in a small airtight hut and cook some wheat paste broth.
Spencer, the baggage officer, has been quite distressed these days. He is hiding in a dense forest in the south, where there are often light rains and the sun is shining all day long. He has extremely hot flashes and cannot make a fire for cooking. The daily boiled rye bread has caused many soldiers to have mouth sores and diarrhea. In addition, they could only lurk quietly in the forest without moving, and the hot and humid jungle made the idle soldiers restless. "Sir Otto, when can we leave the jungle and attack the Lombards? The soldiers complain every day that the food is hard to swallow and the heat and humidity all over them is unbearable. Today at noon, two soldiers have diarrhea and are afraid they will have to lie down again."
Otto was sitting on the ground and took off his boots to dry his swollen and white soles in the sun shining through the branches. He also had a sad look on his face, "Let everyone be patient for a day or two. Your Excellency is leading the sentry team to scout around in the past few days. They have determined There are several attack targets. It is estimated that we will end our dormancy and attack the Lombards in the next two days. By then, we will have eliminated the Lombards' peripheral troops and we can leave this deadly place."
Behind the weeds on a hillside five miles southwest of the dense forest where the outpost was hiding, Art had taken Felix and Red from the sentinel team to hibernate here for the whole afternoon. Felix's face had already been bitten by mosquitoes. Although However, before hibernating, Art directed several people to wipe their faces with mud, but the scorching sun was directly overhead, and there was no cool breeze blowing through the weeds and shrubs, so the sweat had already washed away the mosquito-proof soil, revealing the exotic "food" that local mosquitoes loved most.
"It's so fucking miserable, this damn place." Felix cursed in his heart, but he didn't dare to scratch it, so he could only bury his face on the ground and scratch it gently to relieve the itch.
Two steps to the left of Felix, Art's experience was not as good as his. Sweat had accumulated in a small puddle under his head, and his face was red and swollen from mosquito bites.
It is not that a few people are deliberately training their will and endurance. The Lombard outposts at the bottom of the hillside are actually too close to each other. In addition to the sentries looking around in the arrow towers of the outposts, occasionally a group of patrolling enemy soldiers will pass by on the hillside path not far from where they are hiding.
This is the largest garrison outpost on the outskirts of Sauerburg, and it is probably the most difficult external attack point in the capture of Sauerburg.
This was originally a private farm outside the fort of Lord Solburg. It was built on a mountain and surrounded by a stream. Behind it was the hillside where the Aters were hiding. It was currently surrounded by a small stream on three sides.
Although the farmhouse is not big, it is all made of stone. The square outer wall is about fifty feet long and twenty feet high. The stone wall is so thick that the Lombards can stand directly on the top of the stone wall to observe.
The stone exterior wall has an oak-panelled iron gate. Walking along the gate is also a square stone inner fort. The inner fort is a sturdier structure than the outer wall. Apart from an iron gate, there is basically no passage in and out of the inner fort.
There are twenty-three Lombard garrison troops stationed in the entire waiting post. It is equipped with arrow towers, battlements, sentries, and patrols. It is an almost complete defensive point.
Matt buried his head on the ground and swung it from side to side for a few times. He slowly turned his head and whispered to Felix beside him, "Felix, do you remember the enemy's defensive deployment?"
Felix nodded lightly.
Matt turned his head and looked at Reid again, and asked: "Red, do you remember the enemy's movements?"
"Sir, I have written down everything else, but the enemy's secret posts change frequently and I can't figure out their movements." Reid's voice was unusually soft, for fear of revealing his position.
At saw that the sun had moved to the southeast, and even if he lurked any longer, he would not be able to detect anything. "Okay, retreat slowly."
As he said this, Art led the two of them back a little bit toward the other side of the hillside. One side retreated...
... ...
When Ate and the others returned to the dense forest where the outpost was hiding, with their faces red and swollen and covered in rags, the two sentinel teams led by Angus and Lusignan had already returned here.
Spencer handed a piece of rye bread and a water bag to Art, who returned late.
At took the dry bread and the water bag filled with boiled water and frowned slightly. Even he himself had been tortured by the rye bread and boiled water in the past few days, but as a commander, he was the least qualified to be picky...
Spencer glanced at At, who frowned slightly, turned around and got into the small hut and took out a wooden bowl filled with a few grains of dark yellow coarse salt.
Hence Spencer crushed the coarse salt in the bowl with a wooden spoon and said to Art: "My lord, make a bowl of salted water with water, break up the rye bread and soak it in for a while before eating. It doesn't really taste that good, but it's better than swallowing the hard bread that cuts your throat directly."
After hearing this, Art broke off the rye bread bit by bit and put it into the salt water prepared by Spencer. After soaking for a while, he couldn't wait to pick it up and put it into his mouth with a wooden spoon.
“Well, it’s indeed a lot better. You have a solution.” Art praised Spencer a few times.
"There's no way, sir, it's all forced. I can only eat one soft hot food a day, and the guys are going crazy. They complain all day long that the food I make is getting worse and worse."
Ate raised his head and soaked the bowl in one gulp. Pouring the soft salted bread into his mouth, he said to Spencer: "Tell everyone, the hard days are almost over. We will take action tomorrow. After completing the combat mission, I will give everyone a whole day to eat and drink."
Spencer finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Matt wiped his mouth, stood up and shouted to everyone in the camp: "All officers above the squad leader come to my camp for a military meeting!"
Then he ordered Spencer: "Spencer, go and call the two sentries sent by Lord Balian."
…