From Witcher to Lord of the Empire.

Chapter 312 The Dragon's Roar Above the Clouds

The rain was pattering, making a crackling sound on the cowhide wrapped outside the tent.

This is Upper Soden.

The Battle of Sodden Mountain two years ago seemed to be just around the corner, and the raindrops hit the ground, as if dead souls were crying.

It's a pity that after the Battle of Soden Mountain, the soldiers in the northern border went back to their homes, but the Nilfgaardians stubbornly stayed here, built complete military fortifications, and still stared at the northern border.

"marshal?"

Emperor Emhyr's executor stood behind the tall man, asking probing questions.

Marshal Menno did not remove his armor, and he also wore a tight combination of chain mail and plate armor in the tent; he had an original delicate mustache, but the long-term battle had made him neglect his appearance for a long time.

Executor Peter looked at the Marshal's back in reverence, because it was a Nilfgaardian legend.

To put it a little disrespectfully, even if Marshal Menno died suddenly at this moment, his status in the history of the empire is worthy of the comment of "one of the greatest generals".

If he can faithfully implement the emperor's war plan for the northern border - even if it is only half - it will be enough for him to go a step further and remove the word "one".

But at this moment, the great Imperial Marshal Menno Cuhorn frowned.

"Your Majesty specifically asked you to bring this secret letter to me? Even though he sent warlocks to support him, he still asked you to make an extra trip to bring me this secret letter?"

"Yes, Marshal."

Hearing the answer from the emperor's executive officer, Marshal Menno did not change his face, but heaved a long sigh in his heart.

What does it mean that the warlock has already been sent, but the executive officer is sent out of nowhere?
——It shows that His Majesty the Emperor relies on the power of Warlocks on the battlefield, but he is unwilling to give Warlocks sufficient trust and does not want them to have access to confidential information.

"There are three whole warlock troops, but all of them are assembled in our Central Army, and there is not one in the Western Army?"

"Yes, Marshal."

……

The marshal sighed inwardly again.How could he fail to see what the emperor meant after so many years of fighting in the battlefield and court?

If Lannister's record in the Eastern Army Group is true—no matter how he did it—then the situation of the Western Army Group is now infinitely more critical than that of the Central Army Group.

But the emperor still gave an order to send all the warlock troops to his side.

Your Majesty, why bring politics to the battlefield?There are so many methods in the palace, why do you have to sacrifice the lives of frontline soldiers to achieve your goal?

Does His Majesty want the entire Western Army to be buried with Duke Witte?

Marshal Menno clenched the letter paper tightly, his heart fluctuated, but he didn't reveal a little on his expression.

"Your Majesty gave you a message before giving you the secret letter, right? What did you say?"

The executive officer immediately turned serious, and imitated Emperor Emhyr's tone and expression vividly.

The soldiers who can be used to carry out the orders are those with outstanding memories. Mennuo closed his eyes and felt as if the emperor was right in front of his eyes:
[Tell him, I'm not angry, I just feel ashamed.So I asked him to send all the remaining Ade Fein divisions and Alba divisions to Livia, and at the same time bring the warlocks I sent to him.I want him to wash away the disgrace of the Empire, rebuild the right wing of the Army Group, and keep our strategy going. 】

After sending the message, the executive officer immediately restored his humble expression: "This is His Majesty's order."

The marshal nodded noncommittally: "I see."

The problem is bigger.

The message passed over asked the remaining Ad Fein Division and Alba Division to move eastward, but the secret letter requested the Marshal to send out Delaney's [-]th Cavalry Brigade and Nausicaa Division.

There is an essential difference between the two.The Alba Division and the Alba Division belonged to the Third Army. The Alba Division was a heavy cavalry and heavy infantry division. Most of Asia was knocked out.

The [-]th Cavalry Brigade of Delaney and the Nausicaa Division belonged to the [-]th Cavalry Corps, a purebred cavalry unit with lighter equipment, stronger mobility, and more numbers.

The battle plan for sending the two is completely different.

This couldn't possibly be a problem with Peter's executive officer's memory. People who could be promoted to executive officer would never make such a mistake.

Then there is only one possibility-the emperor doesn't even trust his own executive.

Moreover, not only are the legions dispatched different, but even the combat objectives are different.The emperor's secret letter clearly stated that the primary purpose of this operation is to oppress Livia and Aedirn, forcing Lannister to support the eastern war again.

If Lannister really came by that weird magic, then the Marshal would send the entire Fourth Cavalry Legion and all the warlocks eastward to capture or destroy Lannister.

If Lannister doesn't come or runs away, the next best thing is to occupy Livia and Leiria and rebuild the right wing of the legion.

……

This is tactically unthinkable. The emperor seems to have raised the value of Lannister more than a quarter or even a third of the north.

But the marshal put down the secret letter, and after much deliberation, he still decided to faithfully carry out His Majesty's order, no matter how incredible the order was.

There was a reason why the emperor was so suspicious. This showed that the political infighting in the empire had reached a very serious level. At this time, as the pillar of the empire, he could no longer cause trouble for the emperor.

Marshal Menno recruited his adjutant and was about to give an order, but his eyes turned to the executive officer who remained motionless.

"Did His Majesty give you an order to tell you what to do next?"

The executive officer lowered his head: "Your Majesty asked me to follow you temporarily."

Menno was silent.

He even forgot to give his adjutant an order to dispatch troops.

"I see."

After a while, he said so in a complicated tone.

Turning his gaze, he looked west.

Werther, wish you were lucky.
-
Joachim de Witte sat at his desk.

There are several sheets of letter paper spread out in front of him, and he is personally copying the original into several copies.

This kind of work should have been done by adjutants or attendants, but because the content on the letter paper was too shocking, Werther didn't dare to use other people's hands.

[My like-minded friends:

I heard a very bad rumor in the north, you may not have heard it in the south, or that "someone we all know" will deliberately suppress this news.But I must say - we may be losing a worthy ally.

Not just him.In the past few days, I have often felt cold in the north, and I can feel a biting chill crawling in my bones, and there are various signs that I seem to be going to follow our allies...

By writing this letter, I want to give you a wake-up call, and I will continue to fight.But at the same time, we may have to put the plan that was abandoned by us back on the table...Elect a person who is more qualified to lead us to replace the current violent person who doesn't know how to be grateful...]

The various names and references in the letter are very vague, but anyone who actually receives this letter will know what it means.

Duke Witte and his friends are very cautious. Even if the letters between them are intercepted, it will be very difficult for the empire's spy agencies to find materials that can be used as evidence in the imperial court.

However, they all ignore the fact that sometimes the emperor doesn't need evidence at all.

……

After transcribing the shocking letters, Duke Werther sealed them up one by one and kept them close to him, waiting for the appointed time to send them out.

Then he walked to the battlements at the top of the fortress, and immediately a sentry on guard saluted him.

Duke Werther ignored them, just looked down along the jagged fence.It happened that the city gate was wide open, and another army with the black sun flag was stationed outside the city under the guidance of the sound of the horn, and then an officer of the army led the team into the city to register.

"How many people have come to Ortagar Fortress in total?" Duke Werther frowned when he heard this, and asked the adjutant who had been walking by his side with his hand.

The adjutant knew this information by heart every day: "My lord, this is the fifth army in ten days. Adding in their words, there are now 8000 people gathered in Fortress Ortagar."

After finishing speaking, the adjutant carefully looked at Duke Werther's expression: "The resistance of the people of Sintra has been very strong recently, should we..."

"What kind of strong law?"

The adjutant's words were interrupted by Duke Witt, his thoughts were suffocated, and he said stutteringly: "Their guerrillas are harassing our troops outside, and they even raided Haochebuz some time ago..."

"It's just guerrillas, can they still hit our fortress?"

The adjutant was completely silent.

Seeing the adjutant's expression, Duke Werther snorted softly: "The emperor didn't expect us to take down Sintra for a long time. The role of our Western Group Army now is to build a channel for Marshal Mennonite to ensure that the Sintra people don't intercept the cavalry regiment." the way back."

"Yes, my lord." The adjutant lowered his head.

The coach has already defined his entire army as a logistics force, what else does he want as an adjutant?

……

"My lord, there is one more thing." But even if the coach is decadent, the adjutant cannot ignore everything.

He suddenly said again: "My lord, there have been messages circulating around our fortress recently. It said that Duke Darcy of the Eastern Army was raided and captured by a lion. The Eastern Army has now collapsed. The soldiers are so impetuous now. We are It's not time to gather the chief officers of each battalion to discuss how to solve it..."

"This is not a rumor." Duke Werther interrupted.

"……what?"

Even though he had heard too many outrageous remarks from Duke Witte, the adjutant was really stunned by Duke Witte's response this time.

Duke Witt glanced at the adjutant who had lost expression control, and said slowly:
"I've heard that so-called 'rumor' too. Darcy has indeed miscalculated, and the Eastern Group Army has indeed collapsed."

"However, the method of describing Lannister in that rumor is like a fairy tale... It can only be said that it really came from the people of Sintra. They can say anything to boost morale."

"But in any case, Darcy did fail, which shows that Lannister still has some solutions. Therefore, I will not prevent the scattered troops outside from concentrating in the fortress until I know Lannister's methods. That's the safest course of action."

"Don't worry about the logistics. Although we were attacked in Haochebuz, there are still a steady stream of transportation channels coming from the south in our rear. It's just that our army line has shrunk again, which is harmless."

The adjutant hesitated to speak.

This kind of tortoise-like tactic is harmless to Duke Witt, but it is difficult for other Nilfgaardians who are advancing from south to north with great momentum.

"However, if the soldiers are left in such a state of confusion, it may indeed lead to a catastrophe." Duke Witte thought, "Then tonight, you will inform the officers above the lieutenant colonel in each battalion and brigade..."

……

Duke Werther spoke slowly, but the adjutant's expression gradually became wrong.

His attention was drawn away from the Duke's order, and he suddenly looked in one direction.

"grown ups!"

The adjutant interrupted Duke Werther's words for the first time, and the Duke who was temporarily transferred from the court to serve as the commander of the Western Army also saw something wrong from the faces of his soldiers.

From the moment they talked, the soldiers stationed outside the fortress had already jumped up.

The ground trembled slightly, and several experienced officers and scouts took the lead in looking in one direction.

Thick clouds were spreading in the sky, and there was not a single animal on the ground, but it firmly caught everyone's sight.

"What happened?" Duke Werther was out of the situation, but he could keenly feel that something was wrong with the atmosphere, "What happened? Answer me!"

Duke Witte lacks military experience, which is why he needs an experienced adjutant to be in charge of admonition.

At this moment, the adjutant's expression has become very dignified: "It's cavalry, my lord. They came from the north."

The ground rumbled and shook, and the hooves of a large group of cavalry could be heard miles away.

Soldiers outside the fort are the first to feel it.And at this moment, since even the soldiers on the battlements have begun to realize the cavalry's steps, it means that the enemy is very close to him.

The urgent horn sounded immediately, and the soldiers who were still resting immediately assembled; all eyes were on Duke Witte, waiting for the order.

"The cavalry regiment led by the marshal is stationed in Upper Soden in the east, and the only ones coming from the north are..."

"Sintra people!" Duke Witt gritted his teeth, still wondering, "How dare they come to attack our fortress? What about our patrols and other security forces scattered outside?"

"The troops outside have been concentrated in the fortress due to logistical problems, my lord!" The adjutant was sweating coldly, "And the scattered patrols have no chance of coming back when they encounter guerrillas who are familiar with the terrain!"

"My lord! Please order!"

No matter how Duke Werther avoids the battle, it doesn't mean that he is weak.

After all, he was a duke.

A series of orders were issued, and the sound of orderly horns soon resounded throughout the fortress.

Kuroshio-like soldiers infiltrated into the castle in an orderly manner as if diverted lake water, and instantly armed the building for war.

Due to the large number of Nilfgaardians, the central fortress couldn't hold so many people, and more soldiers formed a phalanx around the fortress, completely turning the fortress that was like an iron barrel into a hedgehog.

Soon, the Nilfgaardians who were waiting in full battle saw a silver wavy line undulating from the edge of sight, and armored cavalry began to be caught by the naked eye.

The Three Lions flag is waving in the air.

"Sure enough, they are from Sintra!"

Duke Werther exclaimed, but really heaved a sigh of relief.

The number of enemies is not too many, or even too few. It seems that there are less than 5000 people. I don't know how many more people there are than them.

……

Thinking of this, Duke Werther's expression widened. The troops in Sintra might not even be able to penetrate the troops outside the fortress, let alone himself inside the fortress.

"And they're all cavalry, and we're in the castle. Is Lannister foolish enough to attack the city with cavalry? Does he think his horse can fly?"

"Blow the horn, get ready to meet the enemy, and raise our flag!" Duke Werther turned his head, "Since Lannister has sent us a gift, then we will bluntly..."

"Aw———"

"Ow!"

Two roars like ancient bells exploded in the soul, suddenly interrupting Duke Werther's words.

Everyone felt as if someone had hit the back of their heads with a sap, their eyes widened morbidly, and their necks were raised uncontrollably.

Above the dark clouds in the sky that firmly covered everyone's sight, two black shadows broke through the thick barrier, and brought wisps of mist to the top of their heads.

"That's..." Duke Werther heard his adjutant muttering to himself, "...a dragon?!"

(End of this chapter)