Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 184 Only the victor is just

Following the lord's shout, a group of strong men from Gaoya Castle gathered around as if they had heard something strange.

The cold weather was suddenly warmed up by this group of steaming rough guys.

Everyone crossed their arms and watched quietly to see how long the dog-headed man on the ground could hold out.

Military life is boring, not to mention that the world is now covered in snow, which makes it even more boring.

Faced with this situation, the idle lord directly started a bet.

Since the barbarians under his command were all poor fellows who couldn't even take a penny out of their pockets, the bet was that whoever lost would go back and buy all the dirty clothes the other person was wearing.

"I bet this thing can only hold on to less than a thousand pulses. If it exceeds that, it should be a real corpse." The lord said carefully.

"With so many people surrounding it, it's still like a real corpse. I think it can definitely last more than a thousand pulses." Zat touched his chin, looking thoughtful.

"Sikai, do you want to make a bet?"

Sikai, who was very curious about why everyone in Gaoya Castle was gathered together, walked over and the lord asked.

Looking at the dog-headed man on the ground whose legs were shaking like a sieve, Sikai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This Lord Li really had a bad taste.

They are obviously so scared that they are shaking uncontrollably, yet they are still talking seriously here.

In fact, the dog-headed man only lasted less than two hundred times before he could no longer withstand the scrutiny of a group of strong men. He turned over and knelt on the ground, holding the lord's legs and begging, tears streaming down his face.

"Master, please spare me. I am just a weak, pitiful and helpless dog-headed man. These damn lizardmen dragged me here by force."

Looking at the snot on its face, Levi pulled his foot back with a look of disgust, "Tell me the truth, and I'll spare your life."

The lord has always been a man of his word, and he usually has great goodwill towards prisoners who betray their allies without hesitation.

"Your main force broke through the forest ahead a few days ago."

"Master, it was three days ago." The dog-headed man wearing a straw hat replied honestly.

According to calculations, the drow elves broke through the Shadow Forest not long after they set out.

"Is there a large team coming up from the south to join you in the next few days?"

Levi asked again.

If the coalition army led by the Minotaur was withdrawing a large force, no matter how fast they marched, they would at most be half a day or a day faster than them who were marching day and night.

"Yes, yes, they went straight into the Shadow Forest."

"They are led by a minotaur and a centaur." The kobold nodded quickly, and then the jerk even sighed: "They are really tall and strong, like the giants in the legend. Even if you look up, you can't see their whole appearance."

Levi seemed to have seen it, and the guy was so scared that he quickly shut his mouth and started to tremble again.

"It's definitely them." Skye said, "Only the centaur leader can be said to be as strong as the giants."

"I didn't expect that they would actually come here to meet up. This is trouble." Sikai rubbed his hands worriedly.

He said that the centaur was very difficult to deal with. At the beginning, he was only far away from him, and he was able to block the arrows shot by the other party by relying on his fighting spirit. He was a top-notch strong man.

"They are just a bunch of little bastards who can only run away. When you meet this bastard Sir, I will open your eyes and show you what it means to kill him in one blow."

The lord has always been reluctant to accept such behavior that boosts others' morale.

Unlike before, now he truly joined the Legion of Thorns as an aid, so the overall morale was naturally within his consideration.

We will not simply focus on the Gaoyabao team.

Simply put, it is a huge responsibility.

Levi spared the dog-headed man as promised, but it could only go south. In the ice and snow, whether it could survive depended entirely on its luck.

The wildling defenders here did not take any prisoners, and did not waste energy chasing those who escaped. They were all deliberately driven south and forbidden to enter the Shadow Forest.

Then the largest animal skin tent in the camp was cleaned out and used as a temporary meeting room.

The officers of all ranks in the Thorn Legion and several powerful figures who truly had the power to make decisions were sitting on small stools, warming themselves around a fire. There were a few sweet potatoes roasting by the fire to satisfy their appetite. The skin had been roasted until golden, oil was oozing out of them, and a faint fragrance was wafting in the air.

Although Fujiero was born into a merchant family, his status was not actually very high. The simple living habits he developed at that time accompanied him throughout his life.

He peeled off the skin of the sweet potato and ate it with relish, smacking his lips from time to time.

He looked like a commoner who had just returned home from farming, without any of the demeanor of a commander of the Legion of Thorns.

"Fuck you, Fujiro, if you smack your lips again, I'll punch you."

Faced with the sound of smacking lips while eating, the lord finally couldn't bear it anymore and raised his iron fist of justice.

I don’t know what’s wrong with this legion commander. Can’t he just be quiet and eat a sweet potato?

"I'm sorry, I lost my temper," Fujiro apologized sincerely.

He was not sure he could take a punch from the Lord of Highcliff Castle.

The smacking sound suddenly disappeared.

The officers, who had originally looked painful, immediately smiled and secretly gave the lord a thumbs up.

Fujiro's status was higher than theirs, so he had no choice but to endure the torturous sounds.

Now they have a much better impression of the Baron who solved this difficult problem.

"Don't blame me. This is a unanimous decision." Levi said with a smile.

He sold out everyone without hesitation.

After Fujiero looked at the officers of the Thorn Legion with a smile, he reluctantly turned his gaze away from the remaining sweet potatoes.

Only a few officers were left looking at the lord with resentment on their faces, and Levi pretended not to see anything.

The ice and snow priest Fu Jin watched all this with a smile.

"We suffered losses in reconnaissance in the previous few times, so this aspect must be of top priority now. The outcome of a war is largely determined by the information gap." Fujiro talked about business calmly.

"Especially since there is a shadow forest ahead. According to Knight Skye, the routes inside are extremely complicated and dark. If you are not careful, you will get lost."

"This place has now been captured by the army led by the drow elves. Given this natural terrain, I can almost conclude that there are definitely soldiers left behind."

A group of subordinate officers listened carefully, showing thoughtful expressions from time to time.

When dealing with the Minotaur coalition forces before, they suffered from the fact that the enemy had a natural scout race called centaurs. The cavalry of the Legion of Thorns had no way to confront them head-on and could only let the enemy run around the camp to conduct reconnaissance.

This matter was originally unsolvable. Only the royal griffin cavalry, or advanced blessing magic, or the ace cavalry with magical beast mounts could fight against the centaurs who were born to do this. Unfortunately, the Thorn Legion did not have these three things, so it was completely crushed, leading to a series of seemingly impossible things.

"I think I can be of some help in this regard."

The gray-haired Fu Jin said at this time.

"My snowbird can provide reconnaissance, and the speed spell can be used on the soldiers, making them as fast as snow leopards. I think it should be enough to handle reconnaissance."

"Master Fu Jin, thank you for your help." Fujiro said before looking at the rest of the people.

"Sikai, you are familiar with the route, so you will be the deputy commander of the vanguard army."

"As for the next vanguard commander..."

"Fugero, let me do it."

Panda took the initiative to speak.

Although Pandas are peace-loving, it does not mean they are weak. On the contrary, they are not afraid of fighting.

"This..." Fujiro was a little hesitant.

The terrain in the Shadow Forest is complex. If according to Sikai's description, basically soldiers will be left behind to prevent sneak attacks from behind and to leave a way out for themselves. With the Panta warriors as the vanguard, no matter how strong the opponent is, they can definitely withstand the pressure.

But there is a problem involved, what if...

If the enemy sets an ambush, it would be totally counterproductive if the Panta warriors were wasted in the Shadow Forest.

The personal bravery of the Panta warrior is certainly impeccable, but when it comes to issues of strategy and tactics, it is worth questioning.

As a commander, you have to keep this possibility in mind as long as it exists.

Therefore, Fujiro remained skeptical about whether Panda, the panda man, could do the job.

After all, he had only been in contact with this panda for a short time and didn't know how intelligent the other party was.

Levi saw Fujiro's hesitation and did not refuse. He took over the conversation: "Let me do it. I just want to test the strength of these bastards."

"If it's Baron Levi, then I'll feel relieved." Fujiro smiled.

In terms of squad combat, the warriors of Gaoyabao are no worse than the warriors of Penta, and Lord Li is farsighted and has great military talent.
There is absolutely no problem for him to lead the vanguard army.

"Let me go with Lord Li." Panda suggested.

Although he was not appointed as the leader of the vanguard corps, it was not for this temporary title.

"That's fine." Fujiro nodded.

If it was just the Panta warriors, he would still be worried, but with the Lord of High Cliff Castle, there would be no problem at all.

After all, this guy was a really tough guy who led a dozen soldiers alone to withstand the attack of hundreds of frenzied Minotaurs.

If one adds the hundred Panta warriors, Fujiero couldn't imagine how many people would be needed to capture Lord Li.

"Everyone!" Fujiro raised his voice and said in a voice that was almost shouting: "The previous two mistakes were only due to carelessness. We are stronger than the enemy, this is beyond doubt, not to mention that we now have two advantages!"

"First, Duke Flinna asked us to come to support her through the Shadow Stone. This means that the army led by the drow elves did not know that there was a legion of more than 10,000 people coming behind them."

"Second, the enemy doesn't know our strength, but we know their numbers and deployment."

Fujiro's voice was as loud as thunder, and the confidence contained in it was so great that even the legendary Paladin would be ashamed of himself: "I have told you many times that temporary success or failure does not determine everything. Only the ultimate winner has the authority to modify the history books. So now, tell me, what should we do?"

"Wash away the shame!" the officers of the Thorn Legion roared.

"Go!"

……

In fact, the entire vanguard army, in addition to the 300 warriors of High Cliff Castle and the 100 Penta warriors, also included 960 soldiers from two battalions of the Thorn Legion.

A total of about 1,400 people formed the vanguard army.

The subsequent main force of the Legion of Thorns cannot march quickly, so a smaller and faster vanguard is needed to clear mines for the legion.

But in the lord's opinion, the so-called mine-walking is actually just that.

After all, reality does not require the enemy to appear from the front.

What's more, in a place like Yinglin where ambushes can be placed in all directions, no position in front, behind, left or right can be said to be safe. At most, the main force in the center will be safer.

However, although the forward is slightly dangerous, Levi has his own considerations.

In fact, after learning about the magic crystal mine, he could no longer hide the heat in his heart.

It can be said that 90% of the reason for coming to provide assistance this time is because of the magic crystal mine.

Therefore, in order to obtain enough magic crystal ore to hatch the stone egg, he had to perform better and make conditions to Florina with his considerable contributions.

As for whether the stone eggs would hatch something harmful to High Cliff Castle, the lord had already considered this.

No matter what Fu Jin said, no matter how many magicians there are, all kinds of monsters have emerged now.

All of this undoubtedly tells Levi one thing, that the world is changing at a very fast pace.

If Gaoyabao refuses to accept new things and continues to be complacent, it will sooner or later suffer the consequences of being closed off from the outside world.

This stone egg must be something extraordinary since it is related to the goddess of nature.

We should not abandon it just because of its hidden risks.

So accepting it is a choice where the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Shadow Forest is worthy of being the natural geographical advantage of the elves as their first barrier. The dangers there are three times more terrifying than what Sikai described.

As soon as you enter, it becomes dark as if the sun sets, with visibility only about ten steps ahead.

The trees around were tall and sturdy, and green vines hung down from the sky like poisonous snakes ready to bite.

There were all kinds of unknown weeds in different colors on the ground that were ankle-deep.

The team had to light torches and continue moving forward.

"This place is very unusual. It's still winter outside, but inside it's still green and lush, without a single bit of snow or wind."

The lord was riding on a horse, looking at the green trees and grass around him, feeling inexplicably strange.

It feels like traveling from a frozen world to a tropical rain forest.
(End of this chapter)