Shaman from Afar

Compared with what happened in the capital of Golovin, the journey from the capital to Ebden, the reception received by Loren and his party is simply "courtesy".

As long as you see the flying black lion with black background and the iron crown held by the three dragons (connor gave him), almost all the towns, mansions, fortresses and legionary supply stations along the way will be "enthusiastic" Open the warehouse and provide the most sufficient supplies at the fastest speed. Weapons, food, and drinks are all promised at once;

He even offered pack horses and caravans to ship the growing logistics team, so that this team of less than 2,000 people followed by a logistics team of nearly 3,000 people; even the Bayern Army, known for its abundant supplies, I have never enjoyed such sufficient logistics-it's almost like traveling.

Even as the ranks continue to expand and the supplies become more and more abundant, the merchants in the surrounding towns also take the opportunity to keep up with the ranks, use their bits and pieces to do business with the knights, or exchange more and better drinks for the knights' supplies.

The knights who knew they were going to fight a vicious battle no longer cared about the money in their hands, some bought wine and meat and sipped it when they camped at night, and some spent a lot of money to write letters to the capital and the west. The small souvenirs bought by Sackland were sent home together.

In this regard, Eckert, the Earl of the Fury Castle, chose the default, and Loren had no intention of blocking it. Even the Demon Hunters of the Wings of the Sky joined in.

The Bayerns have a tradition of drinking a gala before the duel and running to the battlefield, which is their last chance to celebrate.

For such a generous contribution, all the "enthusiastic and kind" local lords put forward the same conditions in unison.

Just stay for one night and get out as soon as possible!

Loren and his party did not have any thoughts about staying in this dim sum. The most important thing now is to arrive in Ebden as soon as possible to organize the local army and the citizens of the city to prepare for the battle.

As he was about to leave the border of West Sakland, an imperial legionnaire and nearly a thousand regiments joined the ranks of Loren, claiming to have been ordered by Connor I himself, and "escorted" Duke Byrne to Ebden, and on behalf of the emperor himself and the Duke fight side by side.

Well, basically I just told Loren directly that I was sent by Connold to monitor you. By the way, I brushed the presence of your emperor in Ebden, lest the residents there think that I was abandoned by the emperor.

Although it was basically abandoned-even Loren, who is most confident in this tactic, doesn't feel that he can really hold Ebden and not lose it, at most it is only time sooner or later.

But Loren was still smiling.

The other party is the army sent by Connor, so it must be the elite of the Fortress of the Boundary Mountain; these legionnaires can be said to be experts in defending the city from above and below the empire, and they are also the best marine corps.

It's not appropriate to say that, but if you set foot on the ground to form a phalanx, or form a small phalanx on the city wall to fight against the enemy ... Maybe a corps of 100 people can play better than the same number of Bayern knights.

Although claiming to be an "escort", the legionnaires still kept a distance from the ranks of the Bain knights, not far behind, and even remained independent when camping, never close to the tents of the Bain knights. .

With the wings of the sky, Lusien walked at the front of the team as a sentry and spies to protect the queue, while constantly inquiring about the current trend of Ebden;

Eckert, the Earl of Wrathcastle leading the Knights of Byrne, and Loren **** and protect the brigade, while constantly discussing the question of how to arm Ebden.

Experienced Eckert strongly disagrees with Loren's plan-in his view, a free city with a weak defense and a particularly large urban area, from the beginning, could not and should not be fully armed.

The ideal tactic should be to cooperate with Ebden ’s extensive ground and underground transportation network, supported by several solid structures in the city, put the enemy into the city to fight street battles, divide and annihilate between narrow streets and buildings. Delays the fall of the city.

Even if the enemy has a million troops, the number of troops that can invest in the siege is extremely limited; once dispersed to the entire urban area, no more troops can control all the buildings and streets.

For the experienced Earl of Eckert, Loren has always relied on his opinions, and he is also right. If you only want to defend Ebden, you should really abandon the outer defense wall, but the weak wall, and move into the city. Stronger building stronghold.

But the problem is not this time.

Because the reason for sticking to Eboden is not because the city is important-of course, she is indeed important-but to keep the Azores ’army on the imperial coast as long as possible, to ensure that their fleet cannot be docked shore.

For this purpose, the two city walls facing the sea must have troops stationed; even if they know that they will suffer heavy casualties, they cannot give up these two defense points.

The only thing to be thankful is that this time the troops are very abundant; in addition to the two thousand knights and one thousand legionnaires that accompanied them, there are also nearly 20,000 mercenaries in the city of Eboden.

Although Ebden ’s mercenaries have always been famous for “money is better than death” and “collapse to murder employers”, this time they are required to stick to their own city, and in order to keep Ebden from falling, the free aristocracy in the city It's impossible not to be generous, so don't worry about their morale anymore.

But as a group of people gradually approached Ebden, looking at the empty trade road in front of him, the trail of birds and flowers, a not-so-good hunch gradually spread in Loren's heart.

It's too quiet.

It shouldn't be so quiet.

The Quartet Avenue from West Sakland to Ebden can be said to be the busiest commercial road in the north of the Empire, second only to the Jewel River route.

Moreover, compared with the Jewel River route that specializes in delivering tributes and supplying luxury goods in the upper class of the imperial capital and various bulk cargo transshipment, the Sifang Avenue connecting the two places is the only way for ordinary business travel hawkers; carrying a bag, carrying a bag Cargo two-wheelers and trolleys, with billowing smoke, headed towards the East Sacran, Lotel, Eboden countryside ... countless.

Even if I have already seen the magnificence of Golovin, the prosperity of the Red Blood Castle, the camp of the Thousand Accounts ... Loren still has a fresh memory of Eboden's original prosperity.

But now, there are few pedestrians, and the flat and spacious Sifang Avenue is deserted like a country road in a deserted place.

It shouldn't be ... Although Connor had issued the order for a full-scale war, this was only a week ago. The Duke and the messenger of the empire should have just arrived, manually mobilizing the army in the territory, and martial law in the city And road.

How could it be that the news came out here and the trade route was empty?

While Loren was still confused, the cavalry in front suddenly slowed down and the whole team stopped.

Lucian, riding a pony, ran back from the front of the team with a complex expression.

"What's wrong?" The dark-haired wizard who raised his eyebrows asked a little nervously.

"There is a team ahead, coming here from the direction of Ebden." The gray pupil paused, and said with some indescribable expression:

"Too many people are blocking the road."

The dark-haired wizard and the Earl of Fury looked at each other.

"How many?" Earl Eckert asked a crucial question: "Who are they?"

"Civilians, nobles, businessmen ... all are people who are escaping their lives or going to relatives, as if the entire Ebden knew that war was about to start here!"

Lucien shook his head, his expression a little ugly: "As for how many ... it is still up to you to see for yourself."

In the direction pointed by the gray pupil, the two people ... even with Isaac at the back, looked up desperately, looking at the horizon in the distance.

Then they were stunned.

people.

The crowd ... and the crowd who can't see the edge.

There are all kinds of people, pushing a cart, driving a carriage or oxcart, sitting in a caravan or traveling four-wheeler, on foot ... but when they come together, only the sky is rolled up The smoke and countless black spots rushed together like a murky tide!

It's like a pile of sand, ants who are going to succeed; chaotic, disorderly, next to each other, desperately overtaking the people in front, or closely following the team, not daring to go away Coming toward the black lion gold banner.

"Who can tell me, is this Ebden, or ... Boy's Great Green Sea?" Isaac couldn't help saying: "This posture, this battle ... I don't know which nomadic tribe is migrating. It! "

Earl Eckert looked suddenly and looked at the dark-haired wizard suddenly:

"Duke, do you say ..."

"No, it shouldn't be that way." Loren shook his head, dismissing the speculation of the Count of Fury: "If Ebden really fell, the refugees who fled are definitely not the only ones."

And after the refugees, I am afraid that there should be a defeated army and a chaser sent by the Azores to kill the refugees ... In short, it is impossible to let so many people pass through the Sifang Avenue in such a big swing.

More importantly, he did not believe that there was a wizard tower, and that Ebden, who was stationed by nearly 20,000 professional mercenaries, would fall so soon.

"Master Corona returned to Ebden one step ahead. These should be nobles and civilians who had just heard of the war and wanted to flee."

Looking at the whirling troops in the distance, Loren sighed and waved to the knights behind him: "Let the road go and let them go, and also notify the commander of the legion sent by the emperor, don't stop these escapes people."

Lucien readily accepted his order and turned to leave.

"The Duke ... the large number of civilians and nobles evacuating from the city will seriously weaken the city's defenses." Earl Eckert couldn't help but remind: "I know you may have some kind ideas, but what you need to keep the city Neither manpower nor wealth is a decimal ... "

"But they have already started running, and even if we close the road now, how many people are willing to go back?" Loren shook his head. "I'm afraid that we have to fight this 'rebel army' before we even wait for Ebden." Fight. "

Earl Eckert paused.

"... From another perspective, it is also a good thing to let civilians evacuate before the war-so that we can abandon some unprotected civilian areas and concentrate more troops on key positions and lines of defense." In order to convince himself or to convince Loren, Eckert said in a deep voice:

"At the same time, the evacuation of a large number of refugees can also reduce the consumption rate of various supplies in the city, allowing us to persist for a longer time; without the need to consider logistics issues, the reinforcements can also rush to support us at a faster speed ... It can be said that it will kill two birds with one stone. "

The dark-haired wizard didn't speak anymore, just smiled and agreed.

A quarter of an hour later, the ordered Bain knights separated to both ends of the road and let the center of Sifang Avenue out for the refugees to pass; the soldiers in the back row did not seem to have any objection, and even took the initiative to maintain it. Order, use the shield wall to divert the crowd, and ensure smooth roads.

The weeping refugees hurriedly rushed through the road, passing through the passageway left by the army at the fastest speed, forming a messy but orderly team, and daring not to be neglected.

The dark-haired wizard sighed with emotion when looking at the crowd in front of him and the crowds of pedestrians.

As the crowd gradually left, preparing to order the team to continue to advance, a somewhat strange figure suddenly broke into his sight.

Before he glanced at it, the winged hunters on both sides of the sky had stepped forward and pushed the guy down.

"It hurts ... hey, wait a minute! I'm not a bad guy, I know ... I know your lord!"

"Duke Loren! Duke Loren Turin, do you still remember me, I am Locke, the owner of the old lame tavern!"

Ok?

The dark-haired wizard looked at the ground and struggled to get up, faintly remembered that there was such a guy.

Locke, the owner of this "old lame tavern", is a little-known bard and a night watchman's intelligence dealer. He can't bear a double-digit love bond, plus a green-hat nobleman who wants him to die. After Peter Fasha's alchemy changed his appearance, he escaped the disaster ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ In addition, he was also the outside line of the night watchman organization of Eboden, controlling several insignificant intelligence networks, and Egypt Boden ’s mercenaries are intimately connected in private, so they were once sheltered by the Bellini family who controlled Eboden ’s trade and mercenary business.

When Ebden's night watchman organization fell, Loren and Edward were in the tavern for a while.

However, as soon as this "old acquaintance" came up, he told Loren a "big day" news.

"What did you say, Eboden has fallen?"

"No, it's not a fall, it's civil strife!" The gasping pub owner waved his hands again and again, interrupting a startled gray pupil, and then eagerly looked at Loren:

"The three major mercenary regiments responsible for Eboden's city defense have collectively rebelled because they have been owed commissions, and they have occupied the city defense and the fortress, forcing the free council to fill in the commissions that have been promised."

"Master Duke, if you don't rush to solve this matter, Eboden will not be destroyed by foreign enemies, but by civil strife!"