At night, through the dark clouds in the dark sky, a waning moon appears from time to time.
At the door of the command tent of the Welsh Army's central army, Art, who was wearing chain mail, was holding the hilt of his sword in his right hand, looking up at the ray of moonlight.
"Maybe there will be good weather recently." Art said to himself.
"Master, what do you mean about the good weather?" Ron's voice appeared in Art's ear.
Matt turned his head and glanced at Ron, then continued to look up at the sky, "Didn't I tell you to go back to the tent and sleep for a while? Why did you get up?"
Ron moved two steps and went to the campfire stand in front of the tent (for lighting) and stretched out his hands to bake. Although it was midsummer in July, there was still a slight chill at this time.
"Master, I can't sleep. I always feel uneasy after not being able to garrison the city. Moreover, there is a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and us. Once they know our true military strength, the battle will be difficult."
"Ron, how old are you this year?" Art asked questions one after another to pass the rest of the anxious and boring night.
"Sir, it has been four years since I was your attendant when I was seventeen, and I will be twenty-one this year."
Att nodded, "Yes, yes, you are twenty-one this year."
"Ron, I didn't let you marry Ollie, are you a little disappointed and confused?"
Ron was stunned for a moment. He had indeed been grudged for a few days about Art's refusal to hold his and Ollie's wedding, but now he no longer felt any resentment. "Master, I know you are doing it for my own good. You are worried that I will lose my fierceness after getting married. Moreover, you already knew that this war was bound to come, and you didn't want me to worry about it early."
At turned his head and stared at Ron for several times, "When did you come up with these reasons?"
"I have figured it out since I went to the Earl of Longxia with you, and I have also figured it out. If Ollie marries me, and I unfortunately die in battle, won't she become a widow? So you have a profound meaning in asking me not to rush to hold the wedding."
Matt raised his hand and slapped Ron on the head, "What are you thinking about all the time? There is only one reason why I didn't let you and Ollie get married, and that is that I planned to hold a grand wedding for all of you close officers after this war is over. , but no one else moves as fast as you, so I asked you to wait for them."
"Ah? That's it? I thought~"
h" You thought you were overthinking it!" Art scolded with a smile.
Ron scratched his head awkwardly, and an ugly smile appeared on his scarred cheek.
"Sir!" A messenger stood behind Art.
Say!
“Lord Odo reported that the perimeter of the military camp was cleared within half a mile, and the enemy sentries had been driven away by Lord Odo’s troops.”
At raised his head and glanced at the sky, gripped the hilt of the knight's sword at his waist, and shouted loudly: "Ron! Order the Welsh Army to immediately tighten the tents and restore the camp to normal size. Immediately dig trenches and pits around the camp and set up horse fences."
"Yes!" Ron immediately returned to his serious expression.
At ordered the messenger in front of him, ""Instruct the sentinels and the flag squadrons on the outside to return to the camp quickly before dawn. Not a single soldier was left on the outside, and everyone should return to the camp and stand firm!"
"It's your Lord!" The messenger turned around and ran out of the camp gate, running towards the darkness.
After a while, the Welsh Army camp quietly began to tidy up and reorganize the tents. The distance that was originally deliberately widened was reduced to normal size. The extra bonfires that were originally deliberately raised were suddenly extinguished. The soldiers who were originally patrolling and sentry all retracted into the tents and snored like thunder...
By the time it became bright the next day, the huge camp yesterday had suddenly shrunk by more than half, and the number of camp bonfires had suddenly grown to five or six hundred people. All the infantry, cavalry and crossbowmen who had been sent out and screened outside the camp suddenly disappeared overnight.
1,500 people suddenly turned into 500 or 600 people, and nearly a thousand soldiers evaporated...
In the command tent of the Western Army camp, the Western Army commander who had just been awakened from a light sleep was furious and cursed the leading baron and the officers who were responsible for monitoring the "rebel" reinforcements last night, "A bunch of useless things! A dog is more reliable than you! Thousands of people disappeared overnight and you didn't know it! Your eyes are all born on your butts!!!"
The leading baron who was responsible for monitoring the rebel reinforcements was sweating profusely from being scolded. He quietly raised his hand to touch his forehead and explained weakly: "It's impossible! My guards didn't close their eyes all night. They stared at the enemy camp with more than a dozen pairs of eyes. They really didn't see anyone leaving the camp~"
"Didn't you see? Didn't you see that they hadn't turned into birds and flew into the sky? Did you sleep last night?" the commander asked.
The baron who led the army began to sweat again, "I, I just stared for a while in the middle of the night~"
"But all my guards were watching with their eyes wide open!"
Command The officer's face became even more ugly, "I asked you to stare, you asked your guards to stare, your guards let the soldiers stare, the soldiers let the soldiers stare, the soldiers fell asleep!"
The baron who led the army no longer dared to utter the slightest explanation.
The camp suddenly became quiet.
After a while, an older man who looked like an advisor to the army stood up and said, "Legion Commander, you don't need to be angry anymore, Mr.**. I think maybe the enemy army is simply using tricks to confuse us. They only had five or six hundred people at the beginning, and they deliberately built the camp so big for bluffing. The palace has sent a message via pigeons, and the second batch of 1,200 troops recruited from Saône Province will arrive in at most five days. Vaal City, when we have the superior strength, we won’t have to worry about these rebels at all."
"The scouts have always said that the enemy reinforcements are estimated to be more than 1,500 people, but they are all estimated based on torches and camp fires, and they have not really seen the appearance of the enemy. I heard that the commander of the rebel Wells Corps is a shameless person and has always been cunning. Maybe this is another trap set by the cunning fox."
ifier | Yeah, that's right, that group of bastards must be bluffing on purpose to make us think they are outnumbered. No one has left the camp at all.
"But what? Say it quickly!" the commander shouted angrily.
But in the middle of last night, the enemy army did suddenly send out troops to clear out the sentries we had placed on the perimeter. Especially the enemy troops leading to the east side drove our sentinels away for two or three miles. Maybe they withdrew from the east side."
"Withdraw to the east? Where can we retreat to the east? Did they stop fighting? Did they run back to Jonah? You guys don't understand, so don't talk nonsense!" The scolded baron who led the army asked sarcastically. He was unwilling to admit that most of the enemy army had indeed disappeared suddenly.
The young officer glanced at the commander, who nodded affirmatively for him to continue.
The young officer walked to the abstract and rough terrain map hanging in front of the camp, and pointed to the valley separated by a mountain range from Vaal City. "Lord Commander, this east-west valley can lead directly to our territory. Not far away from the enemy camp, there is a mountain road that can be inserted into the valley. The carriage cannot go, but the line of infantry can pass through. 」
Everyone in the tent took a sharp breath of air, and suddenly a chill came over them.
“Army ~ Lord Commander of the Legion ~” an officer hiding at the end said in a trembling voice.
「辎重官，你插什么嘴！」
「大人～各位大人，我有一件小事忘了向大人们禀报～」
「什么事，快讲！」指挥官已经十分不耐烦。
Where are you going? "
"It's in that valley~"
The Western Army Commander's pupils expanded rapidly, "Quick! Send troops to the west to scout immediately! Send people to that valley~ Quick!"
In the lush wheat fields of the broad farmland one mile west of Vaal City, hundreds of fully armed soldiers were crawling and spread out. They kept their bodies low and tried not to move. If you looked at them from the ground, you would not be able to find them.
· Colin stretched his limbs slightly to relieve the numbness of his hands and feet, "Master Kazak, how long do we have to wait? We have been hiking all morning and we haven't seen the enemy searching the hills and dense forests?"
· Kazak was also pricked by the wheat stalks and leaves in the wheat field. His face was covered with scratches and there were constant bites from bugs in the ground, but he chose a supine position and slept "comfortably" all morning. "It's been two days. The enemy must have noticed something unusual about the food requisition team. They will definitely send people to search for nearby hiding places. More than a hundred of us will be easily exposed."
After killing all the Western soldiers who were out to collect grain in the villages on the west side of the valley, Kazak and Tuba lurked for a day in the dense forests of the hills on the south with soldiers from the two flag regiments. However, Kazak had a premonition that the Western army would definitely send troops to search for ambushes, so he brought more than a hundred soldiers to this wheat field before dawn today to lurk. July is already the wheat harvest season, but due to this sudden turmoil, many farmers on the border were drafted as soldiers or fled with their families before they had time to harvest all the grain. Therefore, the wheat in this wheat field is very lush. As long as you don't mind the discomfort of crawling on the ground for a long time, it is really a good place to hide soldiers.
There are many dense forests on the nearby hills where soldiers can hide, so it is difficult for the enemy to think that they are hiding in this ghost place.
"If you feel uncomfortable, turn over and take a nap. I think it's going to rain soon, and you won't be able to sleep even if you want to."
"Pass the message quietly and ask everyone to be more patient. I estimate that the adults have arrived at the gates of Vaal City and will need us soon." Colin nodded, moved back inch by inch, and then whispered to his messengers: "Pass the message quietly and ask everyone to wait patiently. Action will be taken soon. Tell everyone Go home, even if you poop, lie down on your stomach, do you hear me? "
"Ah, how can you poop while lying down?"
"I don't care, I can't stand up anyway, if anyone's whereabouts are exposed, I will chop him up first!"
The orderer said "Oh" and started to move to the side.
"This shit, I really can't pull it out when I'm lying on my stomach~" Kazak rubbed his belly that was bloated from eating special bread~
In the open space east of Vaal City, more than 600 elite Western troops were neatly lined up in formation. Although they were exhausted after more than ten days of fighting, they still showed strong fighting enthusiasm and calm battlefield discipline when the war came.
The more than 600 Western troops were roughly organized into three square formations. Almost all the soldiers and officers in the front row were wearing fine armor, and the long swords, short spears, shields, axes in their hands also glowed with the cold light of hardened steel.
The army supported by the whole country is indeed elite enough.
Hand on the east wall of Val City, the eastern troops guarding the city were also wearing armor and standing solemnly behind the wall. Walter led the guards to the city to wait and see. Under the city wall, there were more than two hundred selected elite defenders ready to go. As long as three wolf smoke rises outside the city, they will rush out of the city.
Near the east wall are more than a hundred Western Army surveillance teams. They must be prepared for the defenders who may leave the city to join the battle.
Unlike the enemy on the other side, whose atmosphere was about to explode, the Wells Legion did not look like they were going to fight at all. Although the legionnaires all put on armor and picked up weapons, they just sat on the ground in the combat preparation area as a flag team. Some ambitious soldiers and officers could not bear the loneliness and started chatting and having fun. Only a small number of military law soldiers wearing white feather helmets shuttled back and forth.
On the outside of the Wells Army array, a dozen cavalrymen were cruising on standby to prevent the enemy's forward skirmishers from approaching. Several Western Army officers who came to talk before the battle were also driven away by the cavalry.
The entire Welsh Army is completely "waiting for you to fight".
It happened that the Western Army, which had been facing off for half an afternoon, refused to launch an attack. The more the Welsh Army looked so indifferent, the more the Western Army commanders felt it was very abnormal. They hesitated between "bluff" and "conspiracy."
Especially because they clearly knew that an army had sneaked behind them but had lost its whereabouts. The defenders on the east wall of Vaal City also looked at the Western Army being slaughtered and planned to come out and kick them a few times, which made the Western Army even more uneasy.
"Lord Legion Master! Those bastards are just pretending on purpose. Let's just charge forward! Anyway, there are still two to three hundred people left behind, so we are not afraid of the enemy raiding the retreat." The baron who led the army had been scolded all morning today, and he was full of anger.
"Wait a little longer, let's see how long they can keep pretending!" The commander of the Western Army once again rejected the motto of his subordinates to attack.
"Let the soldiers wait patiently. As long as the enemy makes the slightest move, we will rush over!"
.........
The Wells Legion's rear formation, a group of officers also sat on the ground, the adjutant of the legion Odo stood up and walked gently to Art who was standing aside, and whispered: "Sir, do we continue to delay? I'm worried that it has been too long. The enemy will see through our army's plan, and I'm afraid we won't be able to resist it if they really come over. "
Matt looks calm on the surface, but in fact he has no confidence in his heart. It is impossible for the enemy to let them enter the city to garrison smoothly. The Wells Army may not be able to defeat the elite Palace Guards in the field. If he doesn't use some dangerous tactics, he really doesn't know how to solve the crisis in Vaal City in the shortest time.
“Odo, are you ready for the retreat route you arranged?” Art lowered his voice.
"Sir, I have made a plan overnight. If the battle fails, our army will evacuate quickly~"
"Okay."
Ate turned around and ordered to several key officers on the ground: "Send the order, the whole army will fight!"
"Yes!"
The officers stood up and ran towards their respective teams.
With a few orders, the soldiers of the Welsh Legion who were sitting on the ground chatting and laughing a moment ago suddenly stood up and stood in awe, and the messy team became neat and tidy for a moment...