our family is gone

“That is the hidden forbidden area of ​​our tribe, and only a few people know that the treasure of our tribe is hidden there.

There grows a very strange plant in here. The substance it releases makes the surrounding fog extremely toxic. And because this place is sheltered from wind, cold and heat, the fog has lasted for thousands of years and has become even more toxic.

When our ancestors discovered this place, they were attracted by its unique environment. They developed it, planted many magical plants, and set up seals.

Only after undergoing a special ritual or drinking a special antidote can one enter the fog. As for the secrets deep inside, they can only be opened in a special way. "

Lance could feel that the fog in the air was poisonous. No wonder Greendale's poison resistance was so high. The ability he gained from sacrificing the witch was natural purification. It should be that the shaman of the tribe could not enter and exit here without this talent.

As she spoke, Greendale took out her staff and mask and walked inside. The strange plants made way for them as if to welcome them.

The two of them went deep into the forbidden area...
-
When Reims went to wander in the mountains, the war between Hamlet and the empire had actually begun. Although there had not been a large-scale collision, the mutual infiltration and struggle in the dark had already begun.

Even if the empire suffered a severe drought followed by a rebellion, it had been passed down for hundreds or thousands of years, so its foundation would not be destroyed all at once.

In addition, Hamlet was so terrifying that he made the nobles put aside their conflicts and unite against the outside world. With the orders of the church, the efficiency of resource mobilization was greatly improved.

The believers struggled to move forward in the mud, and the power of faith pushed the huge army towards Hamlet...

The sound of a bowstring jumping appeared without warning in the silent woods, followed by a scream. The falcon on the branch nearby heard the scream and immediately spread its wings and swooped down, stretching out its sharp claws to scratch the enemy.

The battle was about to break out, but it was over in a short time. The falcon flew back to its owner and saw the hidden Laura, and of course some scouts.

"Don't come over here!"

One man tried desperately to escape, but a feathered arrow pierced his thigh. This was not a mistake, but they needed the tongue.

After a little time, they received the news that the first group of troops had assembled and were now looking for boats, preparing to cross the river to attack Hamlet.

The closer the war approaches, the more frequent the reconnaissance battles become. However, most of the troops that the nobles can send out are mercenaries who are paid to do the job. Of course, there are also some elite soldiers who are willing to take this risk. A small soldier who sneaks in and obtains important information may determine the victory of a battle, or even directly improve the situation.

The simplest example is Baron Lawrence of Bastia, who sneaked into the mountains to collect enough information to help the count win, which also turned him from a knight without a fief into a baron with his own territory.

The emperor has promised that if Hamlet is defeated, a large number of new nobles will be enfeoffed. One purpose is to divide the northern border of the empire to prevent the birth of another earl of such size, and the other is to use benefits to gain the support of the new nobles.

To be honest, now only the emperor has made this claim, at least on the surface. But this also lays the groundwork, after all, the great nobles cannot watch the emperor become stronger.

The scouts on Hamlet's side have all been professionally trained, and they cooperate with each other in teams. They have clear task assignments in the overall environment and know what they are supposed to do.

They also have the assistance of birds of prey and hunting dogs. Among them, there are some elite barbarian warriors who have changed their professions. They have been trained in the mountains and have excellent reconnaissance capabilities.

They have no high commissions, nor the temptation of promotion to nobility or fiefdoms. All they have is complete protection and the determination to defend their homes.

News kept coming to the commander. The team representing the emperor of the empire and the team representing the great nobles attacked in two separate directions, with each team having tens of thousands of people, which meant an army of 20,000 people.

Of course most of them were conscripted serfs, but in fact both sides had fought on the battlefield before, which means that most of them were veterans. No matter what the reason, it was not easy for them to survive the battlefield.

To maintain this army, the logistics would require no less than 50,000 troops, or even less, and the supplies for these troops were probably also plundered along the way.

But Totnes is on the other side. They have strong financial resources, abundant resources, and rich population resources, and can easily raise an army.

Although these people had not experienced much fighting, they were equipped with the best equipment. And it seemed that because they had heard about Hamlet's army, they also equipped their soldiers with muskets and cannons.

In fact, for the development of this world, it should be Lance who copied them, but who cares?

In addition to equipment, for commercial reasons they of course mastered a large number of routes, understood the terrain and surrounding towns, and of course were the first among these armies to use mules and horses.

It is a pity that all of their more than 20 gunboats disappeared. Otherwise, the land army would go north, and the fleet would bombard the coast and completely blockade them.

Although some ships have been temporarily modified, they can only maintain some face. They dare not show them off and be discovered, otherwise they will be in trouble.

However, Hamlet did not do anything extreme about this. Everything was going on in an orderly manner, just like a running machine. Everyone was a screw and a gear contributing his own part.

At this time, Hamlet's commanders gathered together. This should be their last meeting. They will be responsible for different tasks and face different fronts in the future.

"Sure enough, just as Lord Lance guessed, even if these guys join forces, they are definitely divided into factions."

"This gives us the opportunity to defeat them one by one."

"The focus is still on the south. If we win this, we will win the whole game..."

Everyone was making the final deductions on the map and the sand table.

After studying it, the tactics were simple. If Hamlet wanted to be invincible, he had to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out and defend and counterattack on the one hand, and launch a fierce offensive on the other hand to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

In the entire northern border facing the empire, Owendo's position is very critical, because it is right next to a big river. If the army wants to enter the Hamlet area, it must first cross the river and take over here. No wonder the emperor stationed people to control this place.

Similarly, as long as we hold this place, we can block the large army. We defend the river and specially select a group of river merchant ships to modify them with artillery, and the navy will block the water route.

Fortunately, the ice and snow had melted and the river was flowing again, otherwise there would be one less line of defense. On the other hand, they cleared the surrounding civilians, set up artillery on the city walls, stored up supplies and defended the city, and exhausted the spirit of the coalition forces of the imperial nobles through two lines of defense.

However, this is not the case in the south of Hamlet, facing Totnes, because there is no strategic location to defend. Although it is covered by wilderness, most of it is flat land, and the slight undulations are hillsides. It cannot be said to be a strategic place.

What's even more troublesome is that we have to find the artillery battalion in Totnes and take it down. Then the rest of the noble coalition forces will probably run away like they did back then, but this time Patton is on the opposite side of them...

Barristan returned to the city of Owendo to prepare to hold the city, while Reynald led the cavalry regiment and Patton's artillery to take charge of the south, which must be won in one battle.

Since the strategy of defensive counterattack has been decided, don't fire the first shot. Only when the enemy takes action first can Hamlet's counterattack be demonstrated to be indisputably just.

First of all, the emperor's army wanted to cross the river to launch an attack and sounded the clarion call for war.

Then they were hit hard. The boats crossing the river were shattered by the roar of artillery fire, and countless soldiers who were waiting for a plunder sank into the water.

On the contrary, Hamlet's temporary gunboats patrolling along the river kept firing and attacking along the way, forcing their large troops not to dare to approach the river at all.

The ambition then hit a wall. After the emperor who was far away in the capital learned about it, he used his extraordinary power to directly interfere with the battle on the front line, and at the same time urged his teammates to attack to share the pressure.

But as mentioned before, the emperor said he wanted to enfeoff Hamlet to win over the people's hearts. Now the rebels have become the second group and they don't cooperate with him at all, and they are even happy to see him make a fool of himself.

These guys are also cunning. They don't go head-on at all. Instead, they go downstream to bypass the defense line and then sneak through. They just don't attack the city. Instead, they focus on the towns and villages around Owendo.

Their idea was very simple, that is to occupy land and allow the soldiers to burn, kill and loot. As long as they actually controlled those areas, what would the emperor get even if he wanted to divide them?

It has to be said that they had some good ideas, but what they got were empty villages, towns and manors. Even the wooden door frames were removed. Not even a grain of wheat could be found, let alone stealing chickens.

To be honest, only Hamlet has the courage to give up all these things directly, not even caring about spring ploughing. He also has the ability to dispatch and resettle the residents without causing any trouble. This kind of terrifying control over the grassroots should be frightening to anyone with a discerning eye.

How could their invasion be hidden from Hamlet's side, so a counterattack followed. Lance was able to get here in one day by carriage because the road was smooth, but now the noble army seemed to be stuck in a quagmire.

Traps, hidden arrows, hidden guns and even explosions... they appear and disappear from all kinds of places mysteriously. There is no telling how many secret passages have not been discovered. This is the advantage of fighting at home.

The continuous harassment over the past few days made the noble army, which could not get any replenishment or vent their energy, dissatisfied, and the soldiers even fell into despair.

They thought that the army was coming to steal and bully men and women just like they did on the road, but they didn't expect to be treated like dogs.

Finally, when they could no longer bear it, a night attack in the dark night combined with the prepared bombs made their sensitive nerves jump. The bombing of the camp left more than 2,000 people behind, and the rest fled in panic.

Now they were facing an army that had not yet broken through the river bank defense line. Everyone was staring at each other in amazement, and the first wave of morale was severely dampened.

On the other side, Patton was very familiar with the habits of the Totnes artillery. He also received news that the general on the opposite side was his teacher. It could be said that they were all acquaintances, but that did not mean that he would let them go. On the contrary, Patton had been waiting for this day for a long time, and he needed to prove that he was not to blame.

Their guns were all heavy, with a long range and great power, and with Totnes behind them they had an endless supply of gunpowder, but they also had a shortcoming, which was that they were too heavy, while Hamlet's side mainly had light field guns like the six-pounder.

Another advantage is that the wilderness is covered because of the decline of Hamlet, which has led to the natural spread of many places. There are only small paths for caravans to pass through. It is very difficult for a large army with heavy artillery to move in such an environment.

"What a conservative formation. The route was carefully chosen, and the place to camp was even more conservative. It was not separated from the noble troops."

Patton did not want to start a war in Hamlet like he did with Owendo. He wanted to seek an opportunity, but the opposing commander was not as eager for success as the other two armies, but headed north very steadily.

Moreover, their target was not Hamlet, but Owendo. If these heavy artillery were transported up there, it would be difficult to defend the city relying on the old city walls.

And you have to know that the river connects to Totnes, and now their modified warships are also going up the river, so we must find a solution as soon as possible.

Both are competing in patience, and the hunter and prey may be reversed in an instant.

Finally, a not-so-heavy spring rain gave Patton the opportunity he had been waiting for. In the early spring season, the uncompacted paths became muddy due to the thawing of the permafrost, and it was not surprising that the heavy artillery sank directly into the mud.

What's more troublesome is that the air is humid, which makes it difficult to fire many flintlocks, and even artillery is difficult to load in the rain.

"Why do we have to fight them with guns and cannons?"

Both Leonard and Patton had this idea: in war, one should play to one's strengths and attack the enemy's weaknesses.

Just at this moment an attack occurred, and a team of cavalry rushed out of the forest in the rain.

In fact, the enemy began to arrange to set up camp for defense when it started raining, but orders are one thing and execution is another. It is difficult to camp in the rain, not to mention that they have to rescue the ammunition and logistical supplies first. No one would think that Hamlet, who is also a firearms army, would launch an attack, so they were inevitably lax.

And they probably didn't expect that Patton would dare to abandon guns and lead his troops to march lightly in the rain. What about the noble knights in Totnes?
They were eating and drinking in their tent, under the care of their servants, cursing the weather and Hamlet.

Then the war broke out without any warning. First, hundreds of cavalrymen broke up the formation, and then soldiers with bayonets and rifles rushed up. Although musket training was the main thing, bayonet training was not neglected.

What is more important is the degree of organization. They are divided into teams of twos and threes, cooperating and caring for each other. The musketeers on the opposite side probably had no training in close combat. When their muskets failed, they didn't know what to do with their "fire sticks" and were pierced through the body by bayonets.

They were awakened by the roars and screams coming from outside. With the help of their followers, they put on their knight armor and went out. There was already chaos outside. Their first reaction was to run away... (End of this chapter)