Black Iron Crown

Twenty-fourth day of June of the Empire.

early morning.

The southern border of the central part of the empire already has a fairly mild climate, with spring flowers blooming everywhere, and lush vegetation growing lushly by the roadsides in the fields.

The warm majestic wind blew across the earth with a warm heat wave, and the already overgrown branches made a rustling sound, and the sun shone through the dense leaves, and mottled spots of light fell on the ground.

It would have been the most beautiful sight in the world if there had been no war.

War destroys everything.

Above the Basin Fortress, Grand Duke Mabula is making a routine inspection.

He wears a gorgeous armor, and some iron plates are added to the joints for further protection. He wears a heraldic burqa with a golden lion on a red background, and a gilt lion head on a flat barrel helmet, reflecting his The majesty is incomparable.

The soldiers stood vigilantly on the city wall, while the archers were sitting in the arrow tower, ready to use their bows and arrows to deal with possible emergencies.

Following the gaze of Grand Duke Mabula, the outside of the fortress is already in ruins.

Countless villages were burnt to the ground, and the black smoke is still lingering. Human and livestock corpses can be seen everywhere. Occasionally, some wild beasts are biting the broken bones on the ground.

Vultures and crows hovered in the sky looking for an opportunity, and when they had the opportunity, they took advantage of the beasts on the ground not paying attention to peck at two bites of carrion. This was a carnival feast for all carnivores.

Countless undead souls circled and roared in the sky and refused to disperse. The strong rancid smell permeated tens of kilometers. This area has become a no-man's land, a complete hell on earth.

The rebellious southern lords had a large number of people, but this also brought them huge consumption. In order to obtain more supplies, these villages were their best targets.

Below the Basin Fortress, there is a pile of spears buried in the soil with their pointed ends pointing up. On top of that are some severed heads. These heads have grim and unwilling expressions on their faces.

The long-term high temperature made the body rot extremely fast. Flies buzzed and circled around, landing on the heads from time to time to feast on them. Right now, these heads have become zombie-like heads covered with rotten flesh.

Grand Duke Mabula frowned,

Looking at everything below, Fort Babs was already isolated and helpless at this time. Although it was still the most important fortress against the southern rebels, it could not receive large-scale supplies from the rear.

Fortunately, when there was turmoil within the empire, the Duke of Mabula and the dead Earl Wesley and others hoarded a large amount of food in various fortresses along the way.

Within a year and a half, there is still enough food and drink for tens of thousands of soldiers.

The rebels who besieged the fortress were stationed about a kilometer away from the fortress. They had already built a relatively strong camp, and it seemed that they were ready for a protracted siege.

The Grand Duke Mabula retreated after patrolling the city for a while. During this time, the enemy had organized three sieges. , the enemy was repulsed again and again.

At this time, Sir Frant was also riding on his horse and looking at the strong and towering fortress in front of him from a distance, and the blue moon-watching flower flag was slowly fluttering behind him with the majesty.

In such hot weather, he still wears a heavy helmet and thick armor. No one has ever seen him take off his armor.

Looking at this impregnable fortress, even Frant, who defeated Earl Wesley on the battlefield and directly caused his death, could only sigh helplessly.

He had accumulated great wealth for his father in recent battles, and as one of the first lords to rebel, he took the lead in this war.

Not only did he get a lot of iron armor from the battles, but he also moved the residents of the areas they captured to Fort Creek in batches, and his father, the Earl of Ruimensuo, also took these residents as he said. Incorporated into the villages under their own rule.

At the same time, some people were recruited to join the army and trained.

The soldiers led by Frante before had quickly transformed into a powerful army with preliminary combat effectiveness under a series of battles.

As for such an army, there are more than 2,000 people under Farrant's command. He plundered wantonly from the war, and he got a huge amount of property, so he was not afraid of not being able to support these soldiers at all.

After three brutal sieges, the spirit of the rebels had already suffered a huge setback. The towering Basin Fortress stood in front of them like a rock, and they could not conquer it even if they were smashed to the ground.

After successive attacks, the rebels paid the loss of at least a thousand people, but the Basin Fortress was still strong.

The defenders in the fortress only paid the loss of two or three hundred people, but this is already a very rare result.

"Withdraw part of the army first... Tell the coalition army that there is a rebellion in the territory, and a part of the army needs to go back to suppress it..." Sir Frant said to a follower beside him.

He glanced back at the fort, and rode back to camp.

If it is almost impossible to do homework in this fortress in a short period of time, it is better to withdraw part of the army early than to put the army here to consume food meaninglessly.

Unlike the hell-like situation in the south, although the battle in the north was equally brutal, the casualties of ordinary civilians were not many.

In fact, the people of the Pakuten tribe can almost be all soldiers in a sense, so the so-called civilians have not lost much.

With the slow advance of Leiner in three days, they have advanced more than 50 kilometers in a row, and Morsh kept retreating with a simple camp in order to keep a safe distance from them.

"How far are we from the Morsh camp now?"

After some push, Reiner asked Samuza like this.

"About 100 kilometers, the distance is definitely no more than 100 kilometers, because after another 100 kilometers, it will be the pasture of the Agur people. He absolutely dare not let his tribe go there to ask the Agur people to rob the grassland!"

Lena narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard the words: "One hundred kilometers... This distance is not far away. The cavalry can go straight to their camp after two days of marching!"

Thinking of this, he was a little puzzled. It stands to reason that he had advanced for three days in a row, and not a single Agur cavalry appeared during these three days.

What is the reason?

Leiner, who couldn't figure it out no matter what he thought, simply gave up thinking. Anyway, it would be a good thing for him. If he could directly approach the 40 kilometers away from the Morsh camp, then he would have to give up all strategic depth. Forced to spread out and fight with himself.

Because if he didn't do this at that time, Leiner could directly attack his camp regardless.

The most important property of the nomads is the cattle and sheep. Leiner doesn't even need to send troops to kill the enemy. It only needs a small number of people to drive away and kill those cattle and sheep, which is a disaster for Morsh.