Sword of Dawn

Page 185

"I accept your allegiance," Gawain nodded slightly, "but don't just be loyal to me or my family, but be loyal to a great cause."

Sir Maryland, who was standing next to him, saw this scene, his expression changed a few times, and he didn't know how complicated emotions were in his heart, but in the end, all he wanted to say turned into a long sigh with complicated meanings: "Alas..."

He found that he couldn't even call the Vinesse a traitor—Ropeni's loyalty was unwavering, but she was loyal to Cecil...

"Sir, don't be so busy sighing. Although the Rock Fortress fell, at least it fell into my hands, and it didn't fall into the hands of the eastern border rebels someday in the future." Gawain glanced at Sir Maryland, Said lightly, "Maybe you are full of regrets at the moment, but one day you will feel lucky."

The main hall and military hall on the upper level of the castle have been destroyed by the collapsed ceiling, and other parts of the area have also become precarious due to the collapse of the upper level, so Gawain led his men directly into the dining room on the lower level of the castle, treating it as a temporary After the war, he took over the headquarters and prepared to make further arrangements for the wartime control, reconstruction and repair, and follow-up management of the fortress.

Taking down the Rock Fortress was only the first step in the work. How to re-arm and strengthen this fortress and turn it into Cecil's strong northern gate was the more important thing.

Of course, before these tasks were carried out, Sir Maryland and all the officer-level prisoners of war captured after the city was broken were sent to a temporary prisoner-of-war camp, where they were held in isolation and guarded by heavy soldiers - Gawain gave them more The living environment is good, but the security defense is not slack at all. Although he doesn't think that the Maryland Sir will make a move to escape from prison, he can't guarantee whether the other party's old subordinates will make any extra moves.

In his opinion, although a chivalrous person like Maryland Onal may not be very popular in certain aristocratic power circles, he can easily cultivate extremely loyal subordinates. It is necessary for all commander-level prisoners of war in the fortress to be held in isolation and strictly guarded.

In the hall serving as the temporary headquarters, Gawain looked around at the crowd—the two Cecil knights, Philip and Byron, the two Kant knights, Walder Peric and Margarita, and Solderin The commander of the Iron Rangers, Countess Roperney Glenn, and Amber as the guard, these are all the people who participated in this meeting.

"Everyone, we have won. The Rock Fortress has become the northern gate of Cecil, but before we indulge in the joy of victory, we must know that we still have a lot of work to do. Soldering, first report the situation you have Bar."

"Yes," Solderin stood up, with a serious expression on the senior ranger's face, "the royal capital will soon know the news of the fall of the Rock Fortress - after the magic barrier of this city is extinguished, the commanders who stayed in the city will immediately Released all the griffin messengers and carrier pigeons, and sent a group of death squads to rush out of the city from the north side gate. We only had time to intercept some of them, and the rest of the messengers had disappeared on the Holy Spirit Plain. The griffin nest was not destroyed in the first place It was my fault."

"No, your manpower is limited. It is your task to destroy the mage tower first, not the griffin's lair," Gawain interrupted Soldering, "The situation is as I expected, and the king will definitely know about the Rock Fortress. It's fallen—even if the defenders in the fortress fail to send out the information, the Earl of Pompey will soon notice the situation and send the letter immediately, there are still griffin messengers in the earl's territory, and there may even be magical messages."

Speaking of this, Gao Wen paused: "So, the first thing we have to do is to strengthen the northern city wall of the fortress and completely remodel it - in fact, it doesn't matter whether the king can receive the news or not, how long does it take to receive the news? , the first thing we're going to do is this.

"The rock fortress was originally designed to defend the Cecil family in the south, so its northern city wall is much weaker and lower than the southern city wall-although the fall of the rock fortress illustrates the old-style fortress that relies solely on walls and magic shields to defend against attack It is already behind this era, but they are still necessary for their existence. We must first thicken and heighten the wall on the north side of the fortress. For this reason, we can even delay the repair of the south wall; secondly, we need to transform the north wall. Cover it with a magic net, set up a magic crystal railgun on the top of the city wall, and install a calibrator in the future; finally, the whole fortress will also be transformed, and it will be built into a heavy-duty industrial and military mixed fortress. The entire plain extending southward from the fortress will be included within the scope of this fortress city..."

Chapter 0445 The Day of Triumph

The meeting lasted until sunset. When the lights were lit, the reception, control, and renovation of the Rock Fortress were finally roughly arranged. Among all the arrangements, the most important thing was who should do it next. Guard this vital northern gateway.

Gao Wen did not choose the two "veteran" Philip and Byron.

The loyalty and abilities of the two knights are of course beyond doubt, but they are not suitable for guarding the Rock Fortress. The First Battle Corps they lead, as the main force of Cecil, undertakes the important task of maintaining the security of the entire southern border and defending the Dark Mountains, especially the first The second point is that Gao Wen dare not relax no matter what.

In Gawain's eyes, the threat of the wasteland opposite the Dark Mountains was far greater than the human kingdom in the north—although the Rock Fortress was an important gateway to the south, no matter how important it was, Gawain could not weaken the defense of Cecil's homeland.

Byron and Philip cannot be tied up in the fortress, and apart from them, the younger generation of commanders trained by Cecil are still lacking in experience, and none of them are capable of taking on this important task.

In the end, Gawain chose an old knight from the Kant region—Walder Pelich.

With the help of Philip, this experienced knight successfully transformed an old-fashioned noble private army into Cecil's Second Combat Corps. Although this regiment still has a lot to be improved, the old knight's ability has already It has been reflected in this process, and what is even more commendable is that Walder Peric's ability to accept new things and new ideas is unexpectedly strong. As the oldest knight in the Kant area, he is learning new weapons and tactics. The speed of military thinking was actually faster than those young people, and even Philip praised this to Gao Wen.

In addition to ability, Walder Peric's character is also trustworthy.

The task of guarding the Rock Fortress, renovating and modernizing the fortress fell on the Second Combat Corps.

After the meeting, Gao Wen stood in the deserted hall, looking at the map hanging on the wall and lost in thought.

The north gate was knocked down.

The king's capital may know the news soon, but given the current situation where the dukes of the west and north are struggling to deal with the rebels in the east, they will be unable to solve the crisis in the south. They know the combat effectiveness of the rock fortress, so they can naturally estimate the The strength of Cecil's army that broke through the Rock Fortress in one day, as long as they are not stupid, the two grand dukes will realize that even if they piece together a team under such circumstances, it is impossible to defeat the Rock Fortress. Bringing it back will only increase consumption—so the most likely response of the capital is to send envoys to contact it in order to seek temporary "stability".

Regardless of whether the king sent envoys or troops, it was the same for Gao Wen. What he wanted was a Principality of Cecil that was completely under his control without being disturbed by the outside world. He would temporarily close the door, Isolate all the forces that want to infect the environment, and then quietly absorb and digest this vast territory that has just fallen into your hands, so that your basic disk can be completely stabilized, and enter the benign stage of industrial operation. This process may take several days. Years—even if there is pressure from the demon tide, he has to speed up everything, this process is still indispensable.

The emergence of modern weapons will eliminate the traditional castle tactics, but this does not mean that a portal like the Rock Fortress is meaningless. At least at this stage, this northern gate will firmly guard the land of the Principality of Cecil.

The air nearby was slightly distorted, and a shadow emerged from the air. Gawain turned his head to look in the direction of the shadow: "How's the situation outside?"

Amber picked up the water glass from the table next to her and poured down half a cup of cold tea with a "cuckoo" before she began to report the situation outside: "Everything is in order. The main force has completed the takeover. All the defenders have been imprisoned, and the Iron Rangers have just found the last batch of hiding guys from the mill in the west of the city—they were exiled knights from the southern border, and their ability to escape and hide has really improved a lot."

Gao Wen nodded: "Where are the civilians in the city?"

Amber grabbed another piece of snack and stuffed it into her mouth. She chewed and said, "Martial law in the inner city, and a wartime curfew. Of course, civilians stay in their own houses, but that female knight named Margarita has brought The soldiers went to read out the 'Announcement to the People', and distributed the supplies and medicines for comfort, both of which are quite effective, and the civilians in the inner city are currently in a bit of tension, but the order is quite good."

Gao Wen breathed out, "Because we didn't bomb civilian areas."

The Rock Fortress is a fortress-type city—it is both a fortress and a city. Nearly ten thousand soldiers have been stationed here for a long time. In order to maintain the operation of the fortress and the stability of the army, the central area of ​​the fortress is a fully functional town. Except for the soldiers In addition, there are a large number of civilians living here.

In order to prevent accidental damage to civilian areas, during the entire previous shelling process, Cecil's army only bombed the southern city wall and the military installations behind the first city wall. Even Solderin and Luo Peini carried out sabotage operations in the inner city. Sometimes, their targets of burning and attacking were military camps, outposts, and mage towers. Although the urban areas where civilians lived were slightly affected in the process, compared with other places, the damage was almost can be ignored.

It can only be said that the fragility of the aristocratic army in this era helped Gao Wen a lot. Those conscripts who had no discipline and belief at all lost their will to resist almost immediately after the wall collapsed. Take the entire fortress with limited bombardment—if the defenders of Rock Fortress are an army with a strong will to fight and modern experience, if they continue to resist after the walls have fallen, and even retreat into the inner city and rely on the intricate streets, If the folk houses come to fight the Cecils in street fighting, then this battle will never be won so easily.

The damage to civilians in the inner city will definitely not be so slight.

After reporting the situation, Amber started to stare straight at Gao Wen. She was still holding the snack in her hand, and the corner of her mouth was still stained with snack residue, but her eyes were serious. Gawain saw this guy's behavior. She knew that she had a problem and couldn't figure it out, so she said casually, "You can ask whatever you want."

"What are you going to do with that Sir Maryland?"

"What kind of problem is this - of course it is treated as a prisoner of war," Gawain waved his hand, "Send Cecil back, labor, indoctrinate, inculcate Cecil's laws, and then see if he is willing to become a part of Cecil, become a A good citizen who abides by the law, so I can keep his title of nobility, although the 'new style of nobility' basically only leaves a title and annuity..."

When Amber heard this answer, she immediately showed a look of great disappointment: "Tch, I thought you would be treated specially."

Gawain was silent for a moment, then asked unhurriedly: "Do you still remember what I said in front of you and Wright last time?"

Amber thought for a while: "The ones about the land nobles?"

Gawain nodded: "That's right, there are also 'good' ones among the traditional landed nobles, who retain the spirit of chivalry, pursue true noble virtues, and have admirable character. Sir Maryland is such a nobleman-but this still cannot change The nature of his landed nobility, and the limitations of his 'noble virtues'. He is a respectable knight, but that is not enough. Personally, I admire him, but as a lord, I must reform him equally. "

Speaking of this, Gawain couldn't help laughing: "Of course, there are still differences between Sir Maryland and those nobles in the southern border—I believe that Sir will be able to wake up smoothly, complete the transformation, and become a 'new type of nobleman who is law-abiding and harmless to the territory. ', I saw the shadow of Philip in him. Although this kind of person has an old-fashioned personality and is difficult to change, as long as they recognize the right direction, their transformation will be very reliable, unlike those hopeless southern nobles ——They may clamor for loyalty to Cecil on the first day of collective labor, but I can't fully believe them if they clamor for ten years."

"Those traditional aristocrats..." Amber couldn't help muttering after hearing this, and then stuffed the last bite of snacks into her mouth, "But it doesn't matter, you finally knocked down the North Gate you have been thinking about, and now the whole The southern border has been completely controlled by you, and you have plenty of time to take care of those guys slowly."

"The entire southern region? No, I haven't controlled the entire southern region yet." Gawain's mouth turned up, his eyes passed over Amber's face covered with biscuit crumbs, and landed on the military map, where St. Luane's Cathedral was located. Enter "Luan City".

That city is located in the northwest of the southern border, and it has been surrounded by a red circle.

Amber noticed Gao Wen's gaze, turned her head to look at the map, and suddenly showed a look of surprise: "Are you going to...do something to those magic sticks?"

"No, surround them for a while longer," Gao Wen said, shaking his head, "St. Luan's Cathedral is not a rock fortress, physically destroying or occupying that church will only be worth the loss. To destroy the foundation of the old Church of Holy Light in the southern border, It should be punished, it needs to be well prepared.”

Amber keenly noticed the term "Old Holy Light Church" that Gao Wen said, and laughed knowingly.

Three days later, the situation in the Rock Fortress was basically stabilized, and all kinds of registration and statistical work were completed. After confirming that Knight Walder Peric and his Second Combat Corps had completely controlled the fortress, Gawain took the opportunity to The battleship "Aurora" powered by Kraken, left the fortress together with Amber, Byron, Luo Penny and others.

And with the convenient magic network communication, the news of the frontline victory was actually sent back to Cecil City via wireless signals long before the army returned to the mainland.

Cecil City, in the government affairs hall, Hetty ended the magic web communication with Rebecca - after filtering out the cheerful chatting and bluffing nonsense of the eldest niece, she has figured out Rebecca demand.

Moments later, she summoned Kamel.

Kamel, who was full of arcane brilliance, entered Hetty's office, and he greeted the "Cecile Butler" who was a low-level mage but had excellent internal affairs ability: "Good afternoon, ma'am— —Is there a message from the front line?”

"That's right, a complete victory," Hetty said with a smile, "and Rebecca said that there is one thing you need to do—this thing is ordered by the lord."

"technical problem?"

"That's right," Hetty nodded. "The lord decided to take advantage of this victory to conduct a large-scale broadcast test. Rebecca provided a plan to test the actual performance of the magic net communication..."

Chapter 0446 Broadcasting

For the people of the Housman area, what they have experienced in recent times is even more complicated than what their ancestors have experienced for generations.

The Horsman family that ruled this land suddenly fell apart, and the owner of the castle was replaced by a "government official" from Cecil. The big event of distribution followed. The well-disciplined Cecil army replaced those loose and greedy private soldiers of the nobles, and strictly carried out the orders of the new lord, and together with these things came to this land, there was another Batch after batch of engineering teams, one after another construction area...

The new changes are so rapid, and the impact is naturally good and bad.

Many people feel uneasy and at a loss when facing all kinds of new things, and some people can't understand the meaning of the unheard of "Cecile's Law" and "Cecile's Order", and they have long been accustomed to a loose and chaotic way of life The Hussmans often get together to discuss the "unbelievable" parts of the new law, such as the prohibition of defecation on the street, centralized garbage disposal, etc., while others also noticed that after the arrival of the Cecils, the side of -

The government officials are obviously more reasonable than the lords and knights. The laws they promulgate are strictly enforced, rather than following the wishes of the law enforcement officials; Cecil soldiers are more disciplined. They have occupied castles and outposts and have never robbed nearby civilians. The land distribution promised by the new lord is not empty talk, at least the first batch of new residents who migrated to the periphery of the city have obtained their own land, although many people are worried that the lord will These lands will be taken back again, but at least they have land in their hands for the time being...

For most people, they don't care who the lord on their heads is, and they don't care which family's flag hangs on the castle. As long as they can guarantee the food and clothing of the people, the ruler can reap unimaginable rewards in this era. support, and the new government affairs office at least guarantees this, so even though the implementation of the new decree is not easy, the transformation and construction of the land by the Housman government affairs office are still proceeding according to the schedule.

Old Horsman Castle - where the current government affairs hall is located, a group of magicians and soldiers are busy in the square in front of the castle.

These "engineering teams" from the Cecil region have been regular visitors to the territory recently. As the situation in the entire Hosman region has stabilized, more and more Cecil construction teams have entered this area. The incredible magical technology came, and all kinds of magical machines were used to build houses and various facilities.

The Hosmans call those magicians who wear cloth overalls "Cecil wizards" because they always see magicians building houses with magical spells, but these magicians call themselves I am an ordinary person, so the locals gave them such a name.

Whenever the "Cecil Wizards" were working, there would always be people around to watch - the Hosmans had gradually gotten used to the various magical things that the Cecils brought to this land, and Under the propaganda of the Government Affairs Office, we have come into contact with incredible magical technology little by little, but after all, the time is too short. The so-called "Magic Era" is still a novel and weird term for these locals. His "noble magic" is so close to them now, most ordinary people can't resist this curiosity.

Many people are gathering around the square at this moment, guessing what those magicians and soldiers are busy with, and guessing what are the uses of those strange metal, crystal, and rune devices. Although some soldiers are guarding the construction site, they It also didn't mean to drive away the crowd.

The Hosmans have probably figured out the temper of these mighty soldiers: these soldiers are really disciplined, even ordinary soldiers are as self-disciplined as the most upright knights, as long as they do not violate the law, these soldiers with swords will never seek Trouble or extortion of money from civilians.

"What do you think they are going to do?" Someone in the crowd curiously asked the people beside him, "You came early, do you know?"

The person being questioned shook his head: "I don't know—they were busy when I came here. But I guess it's mostly streetlights...haven't they been building streetlights all over the city recently?"

"There are already streetlights in this square, why do you need streetlights?" The third person next to him retorted, "Anyway, sooner or later, the people from the Government Affairs Office will say-by the way, does anyone know what was written in the notice on the square today? "

The first person to speak shook his head: "I am illiterate. But most of them are the new laws, prohibiting urination and defecation on the street, building toilets and garbage stations, etc..."

An old man standing at the back of the crowd heard it and couldn't help muttering: "Pooping is not allowed on the street. To be honest, it doesn't make sense."

The topic of the crowd is like this. Sometimes it takes a few words to go to other places completely. The discussion point of several people quickly shifts to those weird "Cecile Orders". Head, muttering: "They also asked everyone to boil the water before drinking it - let me say that although the gentlemen in the government affairs department are all good people, these rules govern too much..."

"I think it makes sense to boil the water, at least there will be no strange smell after drinking the water—"

People began to happily discuss a new topic, and went further and further on this topic, but at this moment the construction on the square has come to an end: after a busy work by the magicians, a strange large-scale device was fixed on the On the stone platform in the center of the square.

It was a strange device with a triangular base, runic radiance shining on the surface, and a crystal inlaid on the top.

The magicians began to test the device and light up the runes on its surface to confirm its status. The curious crowd gradually stopped talking and turned their attention to this strange thing again. When they became curious, several groups of soldiers on horseback suddenly ran out of the castle and ran towards various exits of the square.

The soldiers were heard shouting:

"Citizens of Hosman! The great Duke Gawain Cecil wants to speak to you! Assemble in the square!"

Gawain Cecil?lord?

The lord will appear in the square?When did he come?

People looked at each other, everyone was blank. Of course they knew the name of their new lord, but they didn't expect the lord to appear in this place. There was no news before, and no one saw the chariots and horses entering the city. coming?

And... didn't you hear that the lord took the army to the north to fight?Is he already back?Come back so soon... Did you win?Or didn't fight at all?Or... did you lose?

People were surprised and confused, and those who were going home because they were tired of watching the construction also abruptly stopped, staying and discussing the incredible thing of "the lord's sudden arrival" with others, but in the During the discussion, they saw another group of soldiers coming out of the castle and standing in line around the strange "magic device" that had just been set up in the center of the square.

The soldiers guarding in line seemed to prove that the lord would really come, but they were guarding around a magic device... which made people wonder.

There are more and more people in the square.

At this moment, Hossman City is still an old-fashioned town. There is only a limited urban area around the castle, and the soldiers only notified those residents who are nearby and can rush to the square quickly. Residents who were full of curiosity and nervousness gathered in the square. Those who came late could not even find a place in the square and could only climb to the roofs of nearby buildings. Can't help but rejoice——

Fortunately, they were here early to watch the excitement, and they occupied the best position at this moment.

The residents of Hosman City gathered and watched, many of them were nervous and fearful: Gawain Cecil's reputation was known to everyone in Ansu, and this legendary The hero conquered Hussman not long ago and became their lord, and now he wants to talk to them again. This is not an ordinary thing, among other things-their ancestors have never had this opportunity...

After all, even the heirs of the Cecil family can only go in to see Gawain Cecil's coffin when they are visiting the grave.

But the lord still did not appear, only a group of soldiers guarded the open space in the center of the square, and a dozen magicians were busy there.

The people on the outer side of the square couldn't even see what was going on inside, and there were people constantly yelling at the back and asking the people in front: "Has the lord arrived? Has the lord arrived? What does he look like?"

"The lord hasn't come yet—but I see the consul of Daedalus! Perhaps the lord is coming soon?"

After a while, the magicians finally finished all the adjustments and successfully completed every test.

Daedalus, the consul of Hosman City, and several colleagues came to the square, and a magician came to him: "Consul—the test has been completed, and the signal has been connected."

The young consul took out the mechanical watch from his pocket, glanced at the current time, and then took a deep breath to calm down his nervousness, "Let's get started—let's witness it together."

The magician nodded, turned around and gave instructions to his assistants: "Adjust to the broadcast mode, the sound and image will be increased by three levels, and connect!"

The power to the device is turned on.

Under the gradually dimming sky, amid the curious gazes of countless pairs of eyes on the square, a slight buzzing sound suddenly sounded, and then, a hazy and chaotic light suddenly emerged in the midair in the center of the square.

That ray of light floated high in the sky, like a curtain of aurora that was constantly trembling, and immediately caused one after another exclamation, and before the exclamation came to an end, the image in the light curtain trembled and gradually stabilized .

The figure of Gawain Cecil appeared there, in the huge holographic projection.

Even those at the farthest reaches of the square could see their lord clearly.

Under the effect of augmentation magic, a deep and majestic voice resounded throughout the square:

"Good afternoon, honorable citizens of Cecil, I am your lord.

Chapter 0447 Prospect

"Glorious citizens of Cecil, good afternoon, I am your lord."

The majestic and deep voice from Duke Cecil resounded in the square, and the whole square was silent.

Everyone opened their mouths and stared wide-eyed, staring at the huge holographic image in the center of the square in astonishment and confusion, as if they were watching some miracle that fell from the sky.

Even the soldiers standing in the center of the square and guarding the communicator had a hint of excitement on their faces: Although they could only see a messy spot of light and a part of the clear image due to the viewing angle of the projection, they It is very clear that the content on this image is what is happening at this moment. Their lord is standing in Cecil City at this moment, but he has actually transmitted his figure and voice here.

Consul Daedalus also raised his head a little excitedly, and murmured softly to himself: "It really is...unbelievable..."

And the voice echoing in the square continued after a short pause: