A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

It was still dark, and the land was still shrouded in darkness. The huge military camp was silent, only the light of the bonfire swaying in the dark night.

A tall guard walked out of the camp unimpededly with the crown prince's token, leading a fine horse in his hand.

A thick cloak covered his body, and the hood covered most of his face, only a few strands of black hair were exposed.

He left from the side exit of the camp, and not long after he walked out of the camp, a person appeared in front of his road.

The fading stars in the wee hours of the morning fell on the golden hair of the man, who was obviously waiting for him here, and walked towards him as soon as he appeared.

"His Royal Highness Heymos."

In front of this 'guard', Keyhos bowed and saluted.

The man dressed as a guard raised his hand and took off the hood covering his head.

With the faint starlight, people could barely make out the handsome face under the pitch-black hair.

After saluting, Kaihos raised his head and looked at those golden red eyes.

He said, "Are you leaving now?"

Heymos looked at him, his golden red eyes narrowed slightly.

"Last night, you promised to let me stay in the Garlan camp, which really surprised me."

He answered irrelevantly.

Even if he is as brave as him, he can't sneak into the tightly guarded crown prince's camp quietly without disturbing anyone.

Because he didn't want to disturb others, and he didn't want to expose his departure from the royal city, so he first went to Kaihos.

Although Kaihuos was surprised to see him at first, after he asked to see Garlan, he took him to Garlan's camp without asking any further questions, and made excuses to send him to Garlan's camp. Sinyas away.

To be honest, Kaijos' behavior surprised Heymos a little.

He knew that Kaihos would take him to see Garlan, but he didn't expect that Kyhos would not stop him from staying overnight in Garlan's camp.

After all, this Guardian Knight of Garlan was very clear about his thoughts on Garlan, and he had been preventing him from approaching Garlan.

"You're not the kind of person who doesn't know what's important."

The blond knight replied calmly.

If someone really values ​​and loves the prince, seeing the current Prince Garlan will only feel distressed, and it is impossible to have other thoughts.

And although he wanted to cut off Heymos' feelings for the prince, he knew in his heart that Heymos valued the prince more than anyone else.

This person would never do anything to hurt the prince, that's why he let Heymos stay in the prince's camp overnight without worry.

"The prince is too tired. Although we try our best to share it for him, we are only subordinates after all, and we can't do many things. Even if we can protect him, we can't share the burden for him."

"He is the crown prince of Aaron Landis, and that burden is his responsibility. But in my selfishness, he is still just the little prince I want to protect. I hope he will not work so hard."

"And the only person in this world who can share that burden for him is you, Your Highness Heymos."

The corners of Heymos's lips twitched slightly at Kaihos' words.

He said, "Continue to perform your duties, Guardian Knight of Garlan."

While speaking, he got on his horse neatly.

On the distant horizon, a ray of light has appeared, and the sky has begun to brighten.

"Your Highness Heymos, what are you going to do?"

"Do what I can."

Heymos replied.

He rode on the horse and turned his head to look at the Gastad camp occupying a large area in the distance.

From the very beginning, he had no intention of staying here.

He just came to see Garlan.

Only by seeing and touching Garlan with his own eyes can he calm down.

And he is leaving now to do what he should do.

He knew that being as tough as Garlan, he didn't need to protect him by his side.

He will guard him in his own way.

He would hand over what Garlan wanted the most.

…………

........................

There was a sudden change in the army of the Gastadians.

The rangers lurking near the Gastade camp found that some soldiers in the camp were packing up their luggage and supplies one after another. The camp gradually became denser and the formation began to change.

It was obvious that the Gastadians were packing up their camp and the army was preparing to move out.

They did not plan to continue the confrontation with the Aaron Landis army, but wanted to retreat to the country of Kanal.

The behavior of the Gastadians choosing to retreat meant that they were defeated from Aaron Landis, and it also meant that the crown prince successfully led the army to drive away the invaders.

However, the crown prince, who succeeded in repelling the invaders, was not happy about it.

In the camp of the Aaron Landis army, in the tent of the crown prince, several generals are here.

Garlan sat on the main seat, frowning.

"You mean, the Gastadians plan to withdraw to Canal?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Kareni, who is the commander in chief of the army, answered.

"There are already signs of disengagement in the Garstad camp. According to the changes in their formation, they are preparing to withdraw."

"It was the right decision."

The female general Elson, who was listening, said, "After all, they don't have much food and grass left, so it is impossible to continue to consume with us. Of course, we must retreat when there is enough food and grass, otherwise, there will not be enough food and grass to evacuate by then." , that's the real end."

"Can't we do something? Attack them while they're retreating?"

Opada glanced at Garlan who pursed his lips and said nothing, and asked.

"Let these guys go back intact, it's too—"

"No chance."

Keyhos shook his head.

"The prince of Gastad, Tyr, has a high degree of control over the army, and the deployment of the army is also very stable. Since he has decided to retreat, he will definitely use the most stable method and will not give us any chance."

The Gastard army retreated in an orderly manner, not a rout.

Even if they leave in defeat in name, the opponent still has an army of 10,000+, and their own military strength is almost the same. As long as the Gastades have enough food and morale, they will not be able to swallow them all at once. Down.

"Even if we bite the Gastadians and pursue them all the way, we can only leave tens of thousands of them at most, and their foundation cannot be shaken."

Opada couldn't deny Kaihos' words, he turned his head and looked at Garlan again.

Not only him, but everyone else in the tent also set their eyes on Garlan.

The young crown prince sat on the main seat, his eyes were lowered, and his lips were tightly pursed.

"Are we just going to have to watch the Gastadians leave?"

He said the hand on the armrest of the seat gripped hard at the top of the armrest.

During this period of time, even under difficult circumstances, the young man who had always been calm and rational seemed to have difficulty controlling his emotions at this moment.

There was deep resentment in his voice.

"I can only just... watch Tyr retreat to Kanal?"

It was very quiet in the tent, everyone couldn't say anything, they could only watch Garlan silently.

Finally, the commander with white sideburns broke the silence.

"Dogs will jump over the wall in a hurry. If we must keep them all here, the Gastadians will find themselves without a way out, and they will desperately fight us. At that time, even if we can eliminate them, we will lost heavily."

Veteran Carreni let out a long sigh.

"Your Highness, I understand your feelings, but please don't forget that there are other countries that are eyeing us. If we lose both with the Gastadians, we will only benefit others."

There was silence in the tent for a while.

After a long time, there was finally an echo.

"……I see."

Garland said.

He closed his eyes, his light eyelashes casting shadows on his fair cheeks.

"Just do as you say."

The young man's tone of voice was very calm, and his face seemed to have calmed down, but for some reason, he was born with that unusually calm tone, which instead gave people a feeling of pain that his heart was being tightened.

Perhaps it was because of the hand that was clenched more and more tightly, contrary to the boy's calm expression.

Green eyes reflected the clenched hand, and the blond knight stepped forward.

"prince."

Kyhos bent down and knelt down in front of Garlan.

He looked up at Garlan, stretched out his left hand, and gently placed it on Garlan's right hand that was clenched tightly on the armrest.

"Only this time."

"That person has only this chance to escape."

"When Aaron Landis stabilizes, I will lead the army to Kanal."

He says,

"Please believe me, I will definitely bring Tyr's head back to Aaron Landis."

Garlan raised his eyes and met his guardian knight's gaze.

His gaze softened a little.

"it is good."

He replied, loosening his pursed lips.

The hand covered by Kayhos also slowly loosened.

…………

………………

As Kareni and the others said, Gastard's army broke out and began to retreat to Kanal in the west.

Although it was a retreat, the formation of Gastade's army was very neat and stable, so that the Aaron Landis had no chance to take advantage of it.

Even if Aaron Landis' army pursued all the way behind, they could not break through and disrupt their formation.

In particular, while the Gastades were retreating, they kept leaving behind troops along the way, each time an army of nearly ten thousand people.

A strong man cuts off his wrist, and a gecko cuts off his tail.

Apparently that Prince Tyre had calmly made such a decision.

He used tens of thousands of troops to break the rear, and used the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers to delay Aaron Landis's army, thus protecting the vast majority of Gasdard's army from withdrawing safely to Kanal.

In just three days, Aaron Landis's army defeated the last remaining army of the Gastadians twice in a row, and captured many Gastadians.

According to wartime customs, they handcuffed all these captives, locked them up, took them on the road together, and used them as slaves.

Aaron Landis's army lost very little, and if this continues, they can wipe out about a quarter of Gastad's troops at most before the Gastad people withdraw to Kanal.

The results are not small.

It is a pity that even with the loss of a quarter of its troops, the main force of the Gastadians was able to successfully withdraw to Kanal in the end.

Although the battle was going smoothly, what puzzled Kareni, Kaijos and others was that when they defeated the Gastad army in charge of the rear, they thought that the Gastad would use the mixed national soldier After the army is cut off, the army that protects the main formation retreats.But it was later discovered that most of the people who left behind were Gastadians.

This is really puzzling.

Moreover, the fighting power of the naturally powerful Gastadians should be far superior to that of soldiers from other countries. After the end of the army, the Gastadians are the main force. It stands to reason that the army should be much stronger than the troops of those mixed countries.

However, the fighting power of the army after the decision seems to be very weak, and the fighting power of those Gastadians feels much worse than before.

……

That night, after setting up the camp, Garlan routinely listened to the reports of today's battle situation by several generals, and then he returned to his camp accompanied by Zinyas.

As soon as he got to the tent, he saw a familiar figure walking around in the distance.

When Garlan walked over quickly, the girl who was the leader of the mercenary group didn't notice his arrival.

She frowned tightly, her eyes were distressed, and she looked hesitant.

As soon as she turned her head, she bumped into Garlan head-on. She was taken aback, and quickly bent over and knelt down.

"Your Highness, how could you..."

"Are you waiting for me? Kelly."

"Yes, yes, I'm very sorry to bother you so late, I have something urgent to see you."

Keli's face was full of anxiety, she looked up at Garlan with pleading eyes.

"Your Highness, there are a few people in my team who are about to die. The military doctor said that it is hopeless. I know that my approach is wrong and presumptuous, but they are all companions who grew up with me. I really can't just watch them die. so……"

"Please send a physician to see them, and I will accept any punishment for my faux pas."

Although military doctors also have a word of medicine, most of them only know how to treat people with superficial trauma or common minor diseases. In terms of medical skills, they are completely inferior to doctors.

However, there were only a few physicians in the army, and they were only responsible for treating important generals, so Keli begged Garlan for his companions.

Can't do it?

Garlan was startled and asked.

"Are they seriously injured?"

Keli's mercenary group was incorporated into the logistics army because of its weak combat power, and the logistics army was mainly responsible for material delivery, feeding horses and cooking, burying the bodies of soldiers who died in battle, and taking care of prisoners of war slaves and other trivial matters, and did not participate in battles. There are generally no casualties.

Now Kelly suddenly told him that several of her companions in the logistics army were about to die.

...Could it be that the logistics army was attacked by the Gastadians?

But they didn't say anything about Keyhos just now?

"No, it's not injured. We were assigned to work in the logistics army and did not participate in the battle." Kelly explained, "They are sick, all eight of them together... The military doctor said that they can't cure this disease, only a doctor can do it." There is a way, I really have no choice but to disturb you."

"I see."

Garlan stretched out his hand and lifted Keri up from the ground.

"I'll have my doctor come with you now."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and directly ordered a guard beside him to call the doctor over.

Seeing the back of the guard leaving, Ke Li breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry too much, Keli, my doctor's medical skills are very good, and he will definitely cure them."

Garlan comforted her, and then asked again.

"However, why did your companion fall ill so much at once? Is it because you are too tired? Did someone deliberately arrange too much work for you? Did someone deduct your rations?"

As Garlan asked, his eyes became sharper.

He suspected that Keli and the others were squeezed out by others as mercenaries, forcibly allocated work to them, made them work too hard, and even deducted their rations, which made Keli's companions fall ill one after another.

"No, there is no such thing, Your Highness, the assignment of officers is fair, and the food is not missing."

Kelly shook her head quickly.

Gallan smiled.

"Really, that's good, what work are you in charge of now?"

The conversation with Garlan made Kerri calm down a little, so she talked more.

She said: "We have recently been assigned to guard the prisoners of the Gastadians. Those Gastadians are not honest, but because many of them are sick, they can't make a fuss. We can still handle it..."

Originally, he just wanted to talk to divert Ke Li's attention, so that she should not worry, but when he heard this, Garlan was taken aback.

In the blink of an eye, countless pictures flashed in his mind.

The Gastadians retreating suddenly.

The Gastadians made up the majority of the remaining army.

Their fighting power suddenly became much weaker...

…………

The Gastadians living in the far north...

Spring is here...the temperature is getting warmer...the countless rotting corpses piled up on the battlefield...

…………

"Kerry."

"Yes?"

"You said that many people in Gastad are sick?"

"Yes, probably because I was injured during the battle..."

Before Keli finished speaking, Garlan interrupted her.

"Did your companions fall ill after taking charge of the job of guarding the prisoners?"

"Uh……"

Kelly thought about it carefully, then nodded.

"Yes, it is true that they began to fall ill one after another since then."

As soon as she looked up, she saw that the prince's expression, who was still gentle just now, suddenly became serious, and she also became nervous.

"Your Highness, is there a problem?"

"...Kerry, come with me."

After speaking, Garlan turned his head.

"Sinyas, call Kareni and Kejos to me at once!"

…………

………………

"What—plague—"

In the middle of speaking, the pale-haired veteran Carleni shut up forcibly and swallowed the last word.

The wrinkles on his brow tightened, and he kept his voice as low as possible.

"Your Highness, you mean... the plague?"

"Yes."

Garlan said, his eyes were cold.

"We all believe that the Gastadians retreated because they were about to run out of food and grass, but I am afraid that the information leaked on purpose by Tyr misled us. The real reason for their retreat should be an outbreak among the Gastadians. The plague, and Tire...he deliberately let the soldiers who were infected with the plague die, and deliberately let the sick be captured by us, the purpose is to infect our army with the plague!"