Transcendent Noble

The bright sun shines through the dense treetops and leaves mottled spots of light on the ground. Several naive Swiftbird cubs play around the beam of light in the forest. These chubby furballs are huddled together, and they look really cute. Two young male birds fought with each other in order to compete for a branch, but the little female birds watching from the side showed that they were showing their strength to the sisters. When the male leader walked over at a majestic pace, the two little male birds immediately came down.

Several alchemy militiamen pushed their carts and walked near the flock of birds, and the large and small Swiftbirds immediately surrounded them. The purple cane leaves in the trolley fell to the ground, but the Swiftbirds remained indifferent, especially the strong Swiftbird leader also let out a dissatisfied scream, as if urging something. The militiamen opened a wooden box, and dozens of fat ground lizards were shaken out. The birds suddenly became excited, and they chased the ground with short-legged ground lizards crawling all over the ground. The few plump little Swiftbirds also staggered and approached. The male leader pressed a ground lizard with his strong paws, and drove two reckless young Swiftbirds away. Three adult females would The ground lizard shreds and feeds it into the mouth of the young bird waiting to be fed.

On the high hill, Victor was watching the following scene of the 14 Swiftbirds eating. He asked Buso beside him: "How many Swiftbirds do I have now?"

"My lord, there are 37 in total." Buso replied.

After sending Sylvia away, Victor did not return to the manor in Hekou Village, but went directly to the mountain fortress. Compared to a few months ago, Victor's mountain fortress has become more prosperous.

The mountain land reclaimed by the alchemy militia increased from the original 800 acres to more than 2,000 acres. These mountain fields are scattered around the fortress. They mainly grow vegetables and sweet potatoes, as well as a small amount of herbs and berries. In addition to feeding more than 500 homunculus, these output can also be transported to Hekou Village. Because it is quiet and enclosed, free from outside interference, Victor also ordered Buso to breed spelt wheat, sweet potato and wild vegetables, hoping to obtain better seeds. Apart from this, the alchemy militia also cut down a large area of ​​shrubs to expand the planting area of ​​oil trees and black fruit trees. It is believed that the number of these precious trees will greatly increase in a few years.

More than 3,000 ground lizards are raised by the alchemy militia, and an average of more than 700 eggs are laid every day. The ground lizard eggs are for homunculus food, while the side of the ground lizard supplements nutrition for war mastiffs and swiftbirds. To Victor's surprise, the first batch of Swiftbird chicks had already emerged, and the number of Swiftbirds reached 37, divided into four populations. According to Buso, Swiftbird females reproduce once a year, with 1 to 2 eggs each time. It takes three years from chick to adult. After another year, the young Swiftbirds will form a new group. By then The number of birds will increase exponentially, but their numbers will still be restricted by the purple cane population. Buso estimates that the existing purple cane forest can support up to 800 swiftbirds.

"Go! Go to the weapon workshop."

The blacksmith shop on the south side of the mountain fortress has changed from a simple wooden canopy to a brick and tiled weapon workshop. The wall is still not built, the iron oak beams are supported by pillars made of rock and brick, and the wormwood on the roof has also turned into tiles. The mountain stream passes through the outer side of the weapon workshop, mixed with the waste water from the workshop, flows to the cliff on the west, forming a small waterfall and falling into the Great Swamp. Dozens of alchemy assistants loaded with forging skills are busy in the weapon workshop. The clinking of hammers on anvils, the rustling of red iron tools being stuffed into cold water, one after another, is endless.

Victor is nodded with satisfaction, he has two iron workshops, one bright and one dark. Mingdi is in the hill camp and is responsible for building wooden poles, arrows, crossbow bolts, leather armor and bucklers, as well as farming tools, stirrups, carriage parts and other civilian appliances. The dark part is here, responsible for building iron essence lock armor, iron essence short spear, iron essence long sword, thorium crossbow, thorium crossbow, and detachable small trebuchet. As long as there are materials, these two workshops can continuously manufacture sophisticated equipment and arm Victor's army. So far, there are 200 Thorium Heavy Crossbows, 3000 Thorium Crossbows, 500 Ordinary Thorium Crossbows, 200 Hard Bows, 50 Longbows, and 200 Iron Essences, Iron Essence, and Iron. 600 essence single-handed spears, 300 iron essence long swords. But Victor is not looking at these top equipment today.

"Buso, how about the Swiftbird Hussar equipment I want you to make?"

Buso said: "My lord, we have built a set." With that, Buso Opened a cabinet and put the equipment inside one after another on the long table.

"Your lord, according to your requirements, the Qingqi equipment includes iron essence one-handed spear, iron essence dagger, three iron essence throwing spears, one hard bow, one thorium crossbow, and two quiver sacs. , A shovel, iron essence lock armor, iron oak buckler, cowhide inner armor, leather gloves and leather boots. There is also a sundries bag, which contains flint, hemostatic, antidote, paralysis potion, jaggery block, suture wound The silver needles and fine linen thread."

Victor carefully checked these Qingqi equipment, and then asked: "Have you tested it? What is the result?"

"Tested, these The total weight of the equipment is 140 pounds. After the alchemy militia rides the Swiftbird, the Swiftbird’s speed is reduced by 30%, the jumping ability is reduced by 40%, and the running distance is reduced by 50%. In addition, the hard bow can shoot through leather armor within 50 meters and shoot through within 60 meters. The lock armor can't meet the requirement of killing elite soldiers within 80 meters."

Victor's territory is vast, with many hills, and 400 kilometers of mountains. To control such a large territory, Victor has enough power in his hands, but the territory in the north is solitary. It is 1,000 kilometers away from here, and Victor has a feeling that it is beyond reach. The most terrible thing is that there is also Solon, a neighbor of harboring malicious intentions. Victor is very worried that Solon’s forces will attack the Freedmen Business Group in the north. In order to deal with this situation, he needs a fast assault force that can adapt to mountain terrain.

The war mastiff has very strong mobility, but there is no good way for the Knight in armor, so the Swiftbird Hussar is the best choice. Victor's Swiftbird Hussars were designed to intercept Knight squad, and they had to be able to use terrain to escape the pursuit of Silver Knight. However, the Swiftbird's weight-bearing capacity is not enough to withstand these equipment. If the defensive equipment is to be reduced, there will be heavy casualties, which may lead to failure of the operation. Victor frowned and asked: "What is the solution?"

Buso said: "Replace the iron essence one-handed spear with a thorium one-handed spear made of round paulownia wood, remove the throwing spear, and put the iron The essence of the mail and cowhide inner armor is replaced by thorium leather armor, and the hard bow is replaced by a thorium short bow, which can solve the problem of insufficient lethality of the weight and hard bow."

The thorium leather armor in Buso's mouth can be used. Not a cow leather armor, but a 4 cm thick rhino leather armor. The thorium leather armor made from this rhino leather is as flexible as leather armor, lighter than lock armor, and defensive power surpasses plate armor, enough to withstand the cross The crossbow shoots. But Victor doesn't even have many cowhides now, so there are giant rhino skins?

"Couldn't it be possible to use cowhide? Can three-layer cowhide plus thorium leather armor meet the requirements of defensive crossbow?" Victor asked helplessly.

"Use more Thorium, leather armor can meet your requirements, but the weight will exceed iron essence lock armor." Buso said with a sharp glance.

"Forget it, the giant rhino skin will find a way later. You will arrange for me 10 auxiliary soldiers, 10 Concealed Ox militiamen, 30 monkey militiamen, 5 war mastiffs, 15 Golden Crow went to the northernmost mountain area of ​​Centaur Hills to establish a stronghold.” Victor decisively gave up the idea of ​​making thorium leather armor from cowhide.

"Okay, my lord." Buso nodded asked: "What is their mission?"

"Build a mountain camp, explore the surrounding resources, lurch and wait My order." Just after Victor finished speaking, a militiaman came over and said, "My lord, the Golden Crow has brought news of the Warhammer mercenary group."

Victor took the letter and said after reading it with a smile: "The hammer still has ideas."

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"Crazy! Head of the hammer You must be crazy! We will all die!"

"Shut up!"

Fat Wedge curled up in a simple trench shiver coldly, howling of a jackal, a goblin His screams broke his heart. The other freedmen and merchants were not as good to go there, all of them frightened like quail. Those of them who hang out in the town have never seen what a monster looks like, but they have also heard of the brutal reputation of jackals. When they came into contact with these cannibal monsters up close, they knew that the jackals were far more terrifying than they thought.

The leader of the mountain people, Mu Mu, cautiously said: "Head of Hammer, shall we replace those brothers? They have been guarding for a long time, and I am worried that they will be exhausted?"

"Can you shoot those goblins and coyotes at night? Lie down and sleep if you can't, rely on these brothers tonight, and rely on us tomorrow morning!" The hammer was lying in the trench, his eyelids were not opened. Open it.

Through the bonfire and moonlight, the wood saw a mercenary raising a hard bow and shooting an arrow down the slope. A short scream came from the shadow. It was a dog hiding in the dark. A goblin who secretly shoots rocks. Such a terrifying shooting technique caused Mu Shu to swallow.

Three days ago, these homeless mountain people became a problem for the Warhammer mercenary group. Hammer originally planned to leave them behind and continue on their way, but Barbarian Niu proposed to use these mountain folks to build a supply base for the caravan. After discussion, Hammer and the two Old Partners decided to adopt Barbarian's suggestion. After inquiring the old mountain people, they learned that walking eastward along the forest is the site of a group of jackals, and there is no more mountain village. If the Jackal gets in the way, it must be completely eliminated. The next caravan impossible to have such a strong lineup. Since you want to fight the jackals, you can bring these mountain people on. On the one hand, you can strengthen your own strength. After the jackals are eliminated, you can also let these mountain people settle here and become the first node of the trade road.

The hammer tells the mountain people to join the mercenary group to fight against the jackals and let them choose. Mountain people are tenacious and brave, and often deal with gnolls, but it is definitely a stupid choice to fight with gnolls without fortifications. There was a fierce dispute among the mountain people. In the end, the old mountain people rejected all the opinions and decided to go along with the Warhammer mercenary group. The reason is simple. Disagreement is a dead end. Either be killed by the lord’s army, or fight with the mercenary group, and the group of jackals will come sooner or later.

More than one hundred people walked along the periphery of the forest for three days, and finally left the Beria’s sphere of influence and entered the territory of the Jackal. Refining Golden Crow, investigating the situation in a radius of 50 miles is very clear. There are about 37 jackals operating in this area. They have enslaved a small number of goblins and domesticated a dozen coyotes. Their strength is extremely weak.

Although this group of gnolls are weak in strength, their ability to escape is not small. Once they encounter a strong enemy, they will flee in all directions. The hammer will have time to fight guerrillas with them, and their supplies are running out. Now there are more than one hundred people wanting to eat, and the whole team urgently needs to gather resources and supplement food. After discussing with the three war bear veterans, they decided to attract the jackal and then annihilate it. So they chose a relatively open place to camp, and only lit a bonfire. That night, the jackal came indeed.

The tactics of this group of gnolls are no different from their counterparts. They drive goblin slaves to harass the human camp, so that the prey cannot rest, and then wait for the opportunity to drag away the weakest target. However, they are destined to gain nothing tonight. Twenty-five monkey militias are holding hard bows around the camp. Goblin stones are useless when hitting hard leather armor, and the dim night cannot stop the keen perception of monkey militias. Every arrow can take the life of a goblin. When the sky was getting dark, the goblin slave was lost, and the gnoll leader let out a long howl, and they retreated temporarily, waiting for the next night.

The hammer got up from the ditch and asked the monkey militia who was watching the night: "Jerry, do you want to rest for a while? Shall we go in at noon and kill those animals?"

Jerry said: "Captain, we don't need to rest. We can fight at any time."

"Bull bull, where are those beasts now?" The hammer turned his head and asked the bull.

The bull looked at the Golden Crow that hovered in the sky, and said, "In the woods 2 kilometers away to the northeast. There are also 3 jackals nearby watching our movements."

"Kill the scout of the Jackal, we will wrap it up!"