30 minutes before the start of the Magic Network on August 9, 1666
The Jena detachment of the Imperial Army's main force in the "muddy zone" north of Lunni in the Republic of Jourock
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?????????? When Nemen Soleton received his rank of major, Gustave Hugh Coleman was waking up from a nightmare.
In the dream of the Imperial Emperor, he saw his huge army being crushed, trampled, and routed.
The black, silver and gray military uniforms were driven like sheep by a few senior mages wearing colorful and vulgar military uniforms. The imperial court mages and priests either took off their uniforms and rebelled against the enemy, or they were trembling and helpless.
Then the emperor woke up and realized that it was not just a dream.
Cold sweat flowed from his forehead, soaking a large area of ??the silk pillow. He thought of last night's rout and his lifeless escape in the dark.
He left behind the Minister of War and his reserve troops.
He abandoned most of his army.
He didn¡¯t even know how many people followed him and escaped safely to where the main army on the North Road was. The battle last night was so chaotic. More than 100,000 troops from both armies engaged in a melee around a dozen areas of Lenny and its surroundings. His personal guards were also separated in the melee.
This is war. It is a demon that no one can control. All its actions cannot be carried out according to the planned plan. Even the emperor of the most powerful empire in the world cannot control it.
The free militia and national army around Lunni also took action after hearing the news. They fought fiercely with the Imperial Army's reconnaissance cavalry all night long. The detachments of court mages, commanders, and ministers were forced to break away from their formations one by one. The emperor finally brought only a few dozen troops to the muddy area.
He didn¡¯t even remember when he arrived at the outer camp of the main army. Maybe he had lost his memory before that.
"I'm not even as good as my father. He could at least choose to die in an artillery battle."
The emperor stretched out his hand to grab the scepter "Power" beside him, but failed. He remembered that he had left the scepter with Lennie. For some reason, the bed board beneath me seemed to be shaking.
He sat up and found that the ceiling above his head seemed a little strange. The ceiling is actually made of canvas¡ª¡ª
"A carriage?"
The emperor recognized it as the largest freight carriage in the empire, a large enchanted carriage used to transport twenty-four and thirty-two pound artillery shells, pulled by eight draft horses. If the Dukes need it, they will also use it to convert it into the center car of their own baggage train.
Gustav himself also had a baggage fleet composed of dozens of light and heavy carriages, carrying a variety of equipment starting with "Royal", including instruments from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to portable royal bathrooms - but this All was lost on Lenny. It has probably been looted by the defeated troops, the emperor thought to himself.
"Ah, Your Majesty, you are awake."
What came into his ears was a slightly unfamiliar female voice. It took Gustav a few seconds to remember who the owner of this voice was.
That is the latest visitor to his court - the adopted daughter of Duke Feigota. Of course, she also has a more sensitive identity, that is, the daughter of the empire's most dangerous enemy, which the Minister of Security once reminded the emperor repeatedly.
But Gustav also remembered that during his final escape last night, only this woman was always following him. When the entire chain of command collapsed due to the loss of the magician, she quickly subdued some of the knights who had lost their command and formed a temporary cavalry squadron to protect the empire's dignitaries.
But the emperor didn¡¯t understand why he and she were the only two people in the carriage. Of course, there were actually carriage drivers and three or two guards on standby in the corner of the carriage, but in the emperor's eyes these were not considered people of high status.
"This is my main army on the northern front, right? Princess von Feigota. How are my courtiers doing? Are they not here?"
??????????Dinika Willen von Fegota put down the book in her hand and stood up.
The emperor noticed that it was not a romantic novel that aristocratic girls loved to read, but a "Statistical Yearbook of the Principality of Feigota", which should be one of the results of the work of the Royal Security Department.
Dinica did not answer in a hurry, but called a guard and asked him to inform the courtiers who were commanding the troops, and then sat down again.
"Your Majesty, you must be wondering why I am the only one here. It is because your courtiers are busy directing the army to advance towards Lunni. There is only one person who has nothing to do and is not qualified to listen to secrets. They leave me here to take charge. Explain the situation to you when you wake up." Danika's statement containedWith a slight resentment, "No one can use magic now anyway. Without magic, no one can threaten your royal bloodline. This arrangement is very safe."
The emperor pondered for a moment and asked: "No one can use magic? Are my court mages holding a meeting to study it?"
"They had seen that supernatural magical structure." Denika recalled the conversation with the young genius. "As soon as I told what happened in Renni, they said they had seen something similar in the narrow area south of Jena. The structure was probably the work of the same unknown magician. About fifteen minutes ago, they observed that the unknown structure in the direction of Lenny was rapidly expanding and connected with the broken structure near Jena, forming a A much larger magic-breaking structure. It's not an anti-magic circle, because all magic items still work, but we haven't figured out why people can't use magic yet."
Gustav frowned: "They dare to march towards Lenny when they can't even use magic? Who is commanding the army? Whose decision is this? How could the fifteen brigades of the main army be mobilized so quickly ¡¡±
The emperor suddenly stopped talking, came to his senses, and figured out the cause and effect.
On August 6, the main army's offensive was blocked. He transferred Duke Fergotta back to Lenny, and during this period he reorganized the siege and waited for the road to Jena to be reopened. It seemed that instead of clearing the road, the army was massing and preparing to retreat.
"They are preparing to retreat. After Duke Feigota returned to Lenny, they had given up marching on Jena, right? The Duke and I didn't know anything about such a big decision?! The Minister of War did not appoint an agent Man, among the few generals left behind, who is so bold?"
The carriage suddenly stopped. The wooden door on one side of the carriage opened, and a cold, hoarse voice came.
"It was me, Your Majesty. It was I who ordered them to prepare to retreat."
The courtiers filed in, each with a nervous expression on their face.
Seeing them come in, the serious expression on the emperor's face relaxed. He looked at the people walking in one by one and called out the surnames of all the senior commanders of the legion one by one.
"Ah ha. Mr. Marlborough, Mr. Fermat, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Hartmann. I said you guys would not be so bold as to prepare to withdraw without an official order from the Minister of War. No wonder I The Ministry of Security has no reaction to this obvious arbitrary decision. Then, Mr. Nasser, please explain it."
"Your Excellency, Minister of Security."
Dinika also stood up quickly and bowed to the leader. Among these generals and high-ranking mages, she only knew the leader¡ª¡ªthis man's reputation spread far and wide throughout the civilized world, and everyone in the free countries was extremely jealous of him. The entire occupied area of ??West Julok was almost screened by agents of the Royal Security Department. Fleeing refugees were crowded into East Julok, Upper Italy and Asia, and even as far away as the Twin Islands of Intre. In the previous double battle of Jena-Blenheim, he was a defeated general like her and almost died in Jena.
Sid Naser coughed heavily, as if he was coughing out his lungs: "Retreat is my order. With less than 30,000 people here, Jena cannot be defeated, Your Majesty. I personally It¡¯s been tried, there¡¯s no point in trying again.¡±
"Compared to the security minister in the emperor's memory, Sid now looks even more haggard. He looked as if he had died once, his face was as pale as a vampire, and his eyes were bloodshot. It was obvious that this man had been supported by various strengthening magics in the past few days, and he might fall down at any time now.
"It seems that you lost badly in Jena, Sid." Gustav glanced at Denica, "It seemed even worse than what I heard."
"It's nothing. I was like this in the days before I met His Majesty Orestan. Fortunately, the pursuers of the Free Army are not as scary as the loan sharks in Delan." Sid said while coughing. Author, "The Free Army is more powerful than we imagined. They have new magic and magic weapons, excellent and cunning senior commanders, a brave and innovative junior officer corps, and disciplined soldiers who can fight to the last man." Soldier."
The emperor squeezed out a sentence through his teeth: "But if you retreat to Lunni, what can you do? With these 30,000 more people, can all the southern rebels surrender, or can you make supplies from stones?"
Sid nodded calmly: "My original idea was to take this army south first, and then find a way to persuade you and Duke Feigota to sign a peace treaty with the southerners. Even if this peace treaty is more serious than His Majesty Orestan's peace treaty Even worse, it is much better than the empire losing its emperor again and falling into civil war. If we persist, that will be the inevitable outcome."
All the nobles in the carriage took a half step back in horror. this maybeThis was what they thought deep in their hearts, and they also lost confidence in winning this war - but they did not expect that the Minister of Security would openly express this intention to the emperor.
Danica looked at the security minister in front of her in surprise. What he said now had no overlap with her impression of him. She even wondered if he really died once and became a completely different person. Is this still the cold-as-steel Minister of Security? Is this still the owner of Palenya Palace?
Emperor Gustave Hugh Coleman was choked and speechless for a moment. He smashed his right hand on the bed: "Okay, okay, okay, Sid, you are worthy of being an important minister promoted by my father. You are so frank. Too loyal. Then the reason why we are marching in such a hurry now is to surrender to Lenny quickly to prevent too many of our defeated troops from dying, right, Sid?!"
The Minister of Security shook his head: "No, Your Majesty. We are going to win. Although your adventure last night was a failure, it opened up another possibility for us. One that is much more glorious than signing a humiliating peace treaty." possibility."
His voice sounded like two pieces of frosted glass rubbing against each other, but it was surprisingly firm and powerful.
"We are here to win, Your Majesty. Although you lost that battle, you are likely to win this war!"
This statement was far beyond Gustav¡¯s expectations. At first, he even felt that this was a deliberate mockery by the security minister: mocking him for abandoning all his subjects after losing so miserably. He grabbed his scepter with trembling hands, but once again he missed it.
But when the remaining generals and nobles spoke up and agreed with Sid Naser's point of view, Gustav had to doubt his own judgment. Everyone is saying, "Yes, Your Majesty. We are moving forward with all our strength, and your hard work has turned the entire war situation around." Their bent waists and excited expressions do not seem to be fake.
The emperor calmed down, held his chin with his hand, and nodded: "Go on, Lord Nasser."
Sid's presentation was slow, but as clear as any intelligence report from the Ministry of Security: "The reason why Lenny is considered difficult to conquer is because it has two unparalleled powers. One of which everyone knows is Its multi-layered city walls and defense system have proven to be difficult to break through in successive counter-insurgency wars; another aspect that is often overlooked is its people and organizational capabilities. Lenny was able to devote its 100,000 citizens to city defense Among them, this is something that no other city can do. And last night, although your adventurous actions led to the defeat of our Lenny Attack Corps, it also temporarily destroyed these two forces."
"The former was arranged by Duke Feigota, who took this time to destroy Lenny's city wall. But the latter," Gustav shook his head, "No, I don't think their army has been destroyed. In other words, their losses will not be greater than ours. In such a war, their officers were able to mobilize their troops and repeatedly organize their defense lines. After a night, they must have rebuilt their army."
"But it was not an organized army. The princess told me that the lieutenant who pulled up the last defense force was from the Western General Army." A sneer appeared on the corner of the Security Minister's mouth, as if he recalled some memory, " And their general staff has even been captured by us. In other words, the current Lunni Army has no organized new troops at all, and all enemy forces are busy reorganizing. And we are inside and outside Lunni, There are at least tens of thousands of defeated troops."
"What do you mean" The emperor also vaguely grasped the key to this. But this key was too optimistic, and he couldn't believe it.
Next to him, General Earl Marlborough added: "It's like after a close battle, both sides are exhausted, and we still have 30,000 reserves suddenly thrown into the battlefield. In fact, we don't need 30,000 people. . As soon as the two brigades of our rearguard reach Lunni in the afternoon, everything will change. Our previous order to retreat has come in handy, and most of the troops are already ready to go."
The Minister of Security concluded: "That's why we boldly issued an order before you woke up, ordering all the troops to set off in the early morning, march to Lunni, defeat the new army they just organized, and end this war!"
"What matters is not how many people you have, but what they can do when, where, and where they are, right?"
"This is what war is like, Your Majesty. I lost in Jena and you also lost in Rennie, but sometimes victory can be accumulated from defeat."
The excitement on Gustav's face only stayed for a moment. Last night's failure was such a huge blow to the emperor that it almost destroyed all his self-confidence.
"But we don't have magic." The emperor muttered to himself, "And they do. We don't know how many top mages they have who can use super magic. Last nightA single female mage defeated three thousand of us and shocked the entire army. What if they still have the ability to defeat 30,000 of us? "
¡°What if we already have magic, Your Majesty?¡±
The Minister of Security turned his attention to the young man aside. The emperor finally noticed that there was a strange young face in the room that he was not familiar with.
"This young man beside Cardinal Ionette Hartman isplease forgive my blindness."
"When I first saw the sky, I was filled with fear." The young man spoke in ancient Koman language, took a half step back awkwardly, bowed and saluted, "Issac Newton, the humble man."
"Isaac Newton." The emperor thought for a while, "Your relationship with the late Cardinal Jet Newton is"
"I am his nephew."
¡°Then, you must have made an indelible contribution in the Battle of Jena to be here,¡± the emperor speculated.
"No." Newton's face turned red. "At that time, I couldn't find a way to decipher the enemy's secret. But now that she used that magic again, I analyzed the secret of the enemy's magic. It was not a Magic used to prevent people from using magic - in fact, on the contrary, it is probably a technology that supports people in using magic. I think I can teach this secret to everyone. Although I cannot guarantee that everyone will adapt, at least ten people will be able to use magic. One-third of people can master it."
"Then there is no problem." The emperor nodded, "One in ten. An acceptable probability of a comeback."
Newton nervously wanted to correct him: "Your Majesty, what I said is not-"
Ionette on the side gave him a quick tug.
The emperor stood up.
Because he had lost his scepter, his legs were shaking slightly, but his tone was very decisive: "Seize this opportunity, gentlemen. I agree with you to march on Lenny, I hope the gods can be on our side! "
¡°It won¡¯t be bad anymore anyway,¡± the emperor thought.