What did you do with the dice?

Rusalka rescued people as he went along. Occasionally, when he saw a few people trying to save their belongings from the fire, he did not hesitate. He ran over and slapped them in the face. Then, when they were almost out of breath, he gave them a mouthful of holy healing, which made their greedy heads sober up and they fled to the main road in fear.

But Rusalka's bare-handed rescue was not very efficient, so fortunately he brought Phoenix, the all-purpose cat.

After Phoenix secretly absorbed a large amount of lost vitality from the fire, he used the shadows formed by the collapsed houses and flames to summon a large number of black tentacles. He directly rolled up the unconscious people who fell to the ground and wrapped them up, and then threw these black balls towards the outside of the town.

Seeing how flexibly and efficiently she used her shadow power, Rusalka couldn't help but envy this unit that could cast spells freely.

Alas, if only my brother were here, a heavy rain would come and all the problems would be solved.

Sanita poured cold water on him: (You're overthinking it. Frostbolts and the like can put out small fires, but large-scale firefighting requires at least weather manipulation, which is an 8th-level spell, and there are also restrictions on the current weather conditions. Most spells that can change the natural environment are at least 6th-level. There is rainfall among the indigenous spells, but it's a high-level spell for a small area and very complicated to prepare. By the time I have the spell ready, it will probably be burned out.)

Rusalka: (Then why are combat spells so powerful but so low level, while these practical style spells are so high level?)

Sani Tieta: (Because the world operates according to its own fundamental laws, and changing the weather and natural environment is equivalent to defying the will of heaven on a large scale, this is power close to that of a god. However, indigenous spells all have rules and formulas, but the spell templates that come with our traversal weren't designed by me, so how can I know why the strength and ring don't match?)

The team worked hard to search and rescue for a whole afternoon. During this time, many farmers and merchants nearby also joined the team. Except for Rusalka, everyone was exhausted and out of breath. Several people in the search and rescue team were even accidentally swallowed up by the sea of ​​fire.

Not long after, a belated heavy rain fell from the sky, extinguishing the flames.

Sani Tieta said that this is because the world still has some physical factors involved. The hot air flow carries a large amount of smoke and dust to form rain clouds. Under the influence of air pressure, it is almost equivalent to artificial rain.

After Phoenix confirmed that there were no more survivors in the town, everyone stood sadly in front of their homes that had turned into ruins. Surviving the disaster did not bring any relief to these poor townspeople. Their faces were filled with an expression of numbness and grief.

Rusalka comforted everyone, poured a few drops of holy healing water into the injured residents, waved her hand to indicate that they didn't need to thank her, and said that she would provide them with accommodation near the town of Test.

Influenced by his promises and charm, the residents found a backbone that allowed them to survive, and began lining up to find nearby merchants to get the relief supplies that Rusalka had just bought.

Lord Rusalka was here, so of course the merchants didn't dare to take advantage of the situation to rob. Of course, it might also be because the scene of refugees with scars all over their faces and the fire was really unbearable. People are made of flesh and blood, so they felt guilty and even sold all the goods on the carriages to Rusalka at a price a few cents cheaper than the market price. They also took the initiative to let their followers maintain order, pack the goods in batches, and distribute the supplies to the townspeople who had just lost their homes one by one.

After doing all this, Rusalka began to ask the mayor, who was the least affected by the fire because his family had a large number of people and could put out the fire quickly, what was the cause of this sudden fire.

The mayor was still in shock, his hands trembling. He barely stood up with the help of his family. He walked tremblingly to Rusalka and knelt down with tears streaming down his face. "My Lord, this was all done by a Dragonborn who called himself Garces. He also said that the agent of the Church of the Seven Sins knew your secret and would give you the things when you went to Alice City. Then he burned down the whole town. The town that we have painstakingly built for generations is destroyed in an instant. My Lord, you must avenge us!"

Dragonborn? Did I mess with them?

Rusalka recalled that she had killed a dragonborn on the city wall of Mingyue City, but to be precise, that was a dragonborn from the El Empire.

Could it be the El Empire seeking revenge? And how does this relate to the Seven Sins Agents of Alice City? They've formed an alliance, so is he seeking revenge for the Dragonborn?

But what do those words mean? I have never seen that agent at all. What a mess. Could it be another riddle man like Hydra?

It would be fine if he just told me a riddle, as I just wanted to punch him at most, but he actually dared to send the Dragonborn to destroy my town. This was a great humiliation and an irreconcilable feud!

Looking at the indignant townspeople, Rushaka, who had passively disappeared after escaping the battle, was filled with anger.

Rusalka raised his hands and pressed them down, signaling for silence, but he was actually angrily speaking in the private chat channel: (Damn it, Brother Fei, he can't beat me and yet he attacks my town and massacres my civilians. Despicable guy, I want to fight him! I can't wait for Esdi's support, I'm marching to Alice City now! I don't believe that it's invincible just because it has four magic towers!)

Sanitita was looking at the magic pattern he had drawn with satisfaction, and said to Rusalka calmly: (Fighting on their own, without discipline, a mess, isn't this what the agent wants to see? Putting aside the meaning of the words he brought you, this is a blatant provocation, can't you see it? In fact, we, the Pearl Tear Territory, have the right to choose not to participate in the war. He is doing this, just to drag us into it.

The more forces there are and the more chaotic the situation, the more opportunities he has. Although we will join the war anyway, no matter how he provokes, everything must proceed according to plan.

Rusalka was not convinced: (Damn, Pearl Harbor was bombed, how can this be tolerated?)

Sanitieta slowly advised, "Shangfang Valley was utterly defeated, the empty city plan was tricked, and he even took a piece of women's clothing. If he could tolerate that, why can't we? This time, he sent a Dragonborn, possibly even a Dragon Clan, to attack the town. We only lost a town, but he's exposed the possibility of collaborating with the Church of the Goddess of Fortune. He may even have a number of dragons in his possession. From an intelligence perspective, we're very much in the black. With two months left, we still have time to prepare anti-air and anti-dragon weapons immediately."

Rusalka took a few deep breaths to calm her excitement. She picked up the small loudspeaker and asked Phoenix to fill it with some magic. She put it to her lips and said loudly, "Everyone, I hear your voices, but the most urgent thing now is to ensure that we can see the sun tomorrow and rebuild our homes and lives. So everyone, please be patient tonight and rest where you are. Tomorrow morning, follow me to Test Town to stay for a while. I will mobilize resources and manpower to slowly rebuild Pearl Tear Town.

Without destruction, there is no construction. The new town will definitely be more magnificent than the previous one!"

His loud and firm voice could have dispelled the confusion in people's hearts. However, a large number of the townspeople no longer had any expectations for the new town. After all, for them, a house was just a place to live. Their relatives and loved ones had died in the fire, and their homes were gone. What was the point of rebuilding the town?

"My Lord, please let me join your army. I have nothing left to lose. I want to avenge my wife!"

"Me too. Although I'm a woman, I can still cook and feed horses for the army. My child is dead, and I don't want to live anymore. I just hope I can help you kill a few more lackeys of the Seven Sins Church!"

The townspeople, who had lost almost everything, burst out with long-suppressed anger and sadness, and were determined to follow Rusalka for revenge.

Rusalka certainly wouldn't reject their will to fight. He respected every creature that dared to fight equally, whether they were teammates or opponents. He raised his fist high and shouted, "Alright! Those who seek revenge, follow me to the City of Silver! I will lead you to the battlefield of victory and revenge! Let's fight the Church of the Seven Sins!"

"Fight the Church of the Seven Sins!"

People followed suit and cheered.

----

On the third day, Sanita glanced at Rusalka, who was sitting in her office in an unusually upright manner, poring over the military-grade map, and grumbled, "You're pretty awesome! Teresa is a Body of Pleasure, and you're a Body of War. You took Phoenix out for a trip, and even if your house burned down, that's nothing you could do. But you brought back over a hundred militiamen, which I didn't expect."

Why are you suddenly looking at maps now? What's wrong? Did you become more knowledgeable after going out? Do you want to learn about war from Lu Meng?"

Of course, the people brought back were placed in the military area, and they trained with the 12,000 miscellaneous troops, and they looked quite capable.

Rusalka didn't care about his brother's sarcasm. To express his resolve, he frowned, pointed to a spot on the map, and asked seriously, "Why does your map look so strange? I remember the opening of the Sicily Basin should be right here."

Sanitieta leaned over to take a look and said, "Because you are watching a pirated version."

Rusalka said in a surprised tone, "Ah? There are pirated copies of this thing?"

Sanitta didn't answer him. Instead, he gestured for him to stand up. Then, he took the confused Rusalka's shoulder and led him to his place. He pointed at the map in front of him and joked, "Don't worry, General. Take a look at this map."

Now Rusalka understood instantly that what she had just seen was indeed the "inverted version".

He was very puzzled: "No, so why did you put the map upside down on my desk?"

Sanita: "Is it possible that I put it upside down because I have to stand across from your table and arrange the dishes? It's too inconvenient to arrange the dishes while sitting down."

"So you've already figured out how to fight?"

"Yes, by the way, letters have arrived from Esdi and Grand Duke Gode. They will enter the border directly from the northeast starting next month, then attack westwards, taking this city as an outpost to cut off Grand Duke Ox's supply lines while guarding against surprise attacks from the El Empire. What we need to do is advance westwards, first eliminate Grand Duke Ox's stronghold, and then establish a defense line nearby to protect our rear."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Rusalka interrupted his brother's demonstration on the map with his baton. "Wait a minute, why are we setting up a defense line again? What about Alice City?"

Sanitieta spread his hands and said, "This is the common intention of the Grand Dukes of Gode and Delai. To put it bluntly, they're afraid that after we capture Alice City, you'll secretly take the Grand Prince and directly open the treasury to ascend the throne. Although everything can be postponed until after we capture Alice City, it doesn't mean they won't prepare in advance."

Rusalka was so angry that she almost fainted. At this time, they were still plotting in the palace?

"But!" Sanita tapped the map with his baton again. "I'll learn 'Shadowless Forest' soon. The main force can stay behind. We can lead the elite troops around this forest path and directly join the central battlefield."

Shadowless Forest? Sound familiar?

"Isn't that an elf's spell?"

"Alizee taught me."

How could Alice be so devoted to her brothers? Not to mention whether she could cast this powerful-sounding spell, wasn't this something that the elves had secretly passed down?

Rusalka frowned and looked at her good brother up and down with suspicion, and suddenly found that there seemed to be an extra bracelet on his wrist.

"Okay, you actually sold out the hook just to learn magic!"

Sanita replied expressionlessly, "Don't talk nonsense. This is for learning, not for shame. Besides, I'll only wear it for a month."

Rusalka looked at him teasingly: "Tsk, tsk, a ring for a month."

"It's the bracelet! Besides, I'm just asking if you want to use this spell. If you don't, it's fine. I'll take the bracelet off. When we're done with the encounter, we can play cards in the warehouse until the battle is over."

"Yes, of course! My dear brother, if all else fails, just edit the history books and write that it was me, Rusalka, who sold the hook, and Sanita was pure and innocent. I'll take all the blame and infamy for you!"

"Get out of here!"

Chapter 227: Battle for the Calbes Stronghold (1)

A month and a half later, when the news of the Golden Blade's half-month-late arrival came, Rusalka, who felt like he had nails on his butt, could no longer sit still. He ran to his brothers that same day to ask when the troops would be dispatched.

Sanita calculated the time precisely and took off the bracelet without mercy in front of Alice who looked disappointed.

When Shana saw this, the sleepiness on her face disappeared at once, and her eyes sparkled as if two stars were lit up. She quickly turned her head away, with a painful expression as if she wanted to laugh but was too embarrassed to do so - she had hardly laughed in the past month, and now it was very uncomfortable to hold it back.

However, his small action of putting the bracelet back into the small box immediately changed the indignant look on Alice's face, who was grinning and pinching the soft flesh on Sana's waist, into a look of anticipation and secret joy. Sana, on the other hand, seemed to be slow to realize the pain in her waist and put on a small mask of pain.

With just two small moves, he was able to play with the poor elves in the palm of his hand. Rusalka said that she would probably never be able to learn this kind of talent that seemed like a bard's true self in her lifetime.

Sanitta even shut up Rusalka, who had been full of outrageous remarks, with one sentence: Send out troops immediately.

Great!

Rusalka: "Come on, Phoenix! I'm sure I'll have more than you this time."

Hydra appeared at the door of the room like a black ghost: "What do you want to compete with my sister?"

Rusalka's face, which had just been full of energy, immediately hardened and she replied seriously, "Of course it's about who eats the most. What else can we compete for? How many enemies can we kill? Where do these enemies come from? Haha."

Hydra sneered, "Haha, really? I thought you wanted my sister to fight on the dangerous front lines again. It seems I was overthinking it."

"Haha, how could that be? I wouldn't be willing to do that..." Rusalka guiltily covered Phoenix's mouth with her palm, who seemed to want to argue with Hydra, and hurriedly slipped away with her: "Stop talking, sister-in-law, let's go to the parade on horseback."

Hydra sighed. She knew she couldn't persuade Phoenix with just a few words, and she couldn't communicate with Rusalka, who had no idea what was going on in her head. So she said helplessly to Sanitta, "Lord Pearl's safety has a huge impact on the morale of the army. You don't want him to get into trouble, do you? So, for the subsequent operations, leave the most dangerous missions to me."

Sanitta, who was studying the law, didn't say a word, but just nodded.

What does consent mean? Your Honor, my client just has a sore neck and wants to stretch it out.

----

The Kalbes Plateau is a continuous hill with a total length of 20 kilometers. The climbable watchtower defense line is about 5 kilometers long. It is the longest battle line that Rusalka has ever faced.

Although each time feels longer than the previous one.

Originally there were some lakes and woods on the hills, but in order to clear out flat ground for cavalry marches and charges, Grand Duke Oaks had planned to cut down all the trees in the central area and fill in the lakes. At the beginning of the war, he directly built watchtowers and camps, creating a highland outpost that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The defense of this outpost has become increasingly solid during the wars of the past few years, and its geographical location is very tricky, directly stuck in the southwest area of ​​Alice City. The cavalry charged downward and crossed the "Little Danube", a tributary of the Danube with a slow flow. It only took two days to target the logistics transit city of Chaudhry, which was built in the rear of the Great Duke Gode and relied on the Danube and the main stream as a moat.

Duke Gaode's logistics were attacked many times by light cavalry sent from outposts. Basically, six out of ten transports were harassed, and the attacks were unpredictable. Even if he sent troops to counter the encirclement, their mobility was not as good as the light cavalry.

They turned around and ran up the hill back to the outpost. The battle between the archers and the slingshots was a vivid lesson in defense for the pursuers who wanted to attack: "Hit high and hit low, hit the sand."

This position, which can be attacked or defended and can be advanced and retreated freely, has made Duke Gaode very miserable. If he doesn't fight, the opposite side has this watchtower stronghold behind it, and he can observe the logistics and transportation movements openly during the day and send troops to harass and attack.

If he gathered the city's forces to attack this outpost, he was worried that the Church of the Seven Sins in the neighboring city of Alice would send troops to attack him from the flank, or take the opportunity to steal the city of Chaudhry. That would mean the loss of the front-line logistics base, and the battle line would be pushed back directly to the homeland of the Great Duke Gode.

To use a more vivid metaphor, the importance of Chaudhuri City is the same as that of Jieting. When Zhuge Liang sent Ma Su to guard it, he just hoped that he could hold on to this place. He did not ask for any merit, but only for no fault. As long as he held on, everything would be fine.

But once it is lost, they can only go to extremes and force the city back quickly, otherwise there is the risk of their hometown being torn apart from all sides, similar to the space military fortress in the game "Stellaris" where a central node is lost. The subsequent losses will be simply immeasurable, and Duke Gode will definitely not be able to accept such a risk.

Fortunately, the general defending the city here, General Gao Hong, was not as greedy and reckless as Ma Su. He just sent some soldiers to conduct several small-scale trials and determined that the existing troops would not be able to take over the damn Kalbes stronghold in a short time. He immediately turned into a turtle shell and arranged all the troops that seemed to have a large numerical advantage to defend the city of Chaudhry. No matter how the enemy provoked and harassed him, he would not cross the line. He was really a Ninja Turtle.

The logistics troops sent highly mobile horse-drawn carriages to march at night to minimize the possibility of being discovered by the enemy's scout cavalry. If they were really discovered, he would send cavalry troops to protect them and fight a fair plain cavalry battle with the enemy. This made the enemy's commander Girard very unhappy, and he often cursed, "If you give me another 3,000 light cavalry, I can drag them to death."

But there was nothing he could do. In the eyes of Grand Duke Oaks, this place had limited strategic significance. It was impossible to send so many elite light cavalry there. After all, they did not have the ability to attack cities or engage in large-scale battles. They could only fight harassment wars. There was no point in sending more troops, so they could just wait and see.

Therefore, both sides can only maintain this small-scale, rock-paper-scissors-like battle for cavalry logistics transportation lines.

But things are getting better now, because Rusalka has expressed that he also wants to contribute to the battle for Alice City. The two grand dukes have discussed it and decided to first rule out the option of letting him go to fight Alice City, because he really has the eldest prince in his hands.

Then think about where we can use him without wasting combat power and play the best strategic role. It would be even better if we can consume his combat power.

Therefore, this easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack Kalbes stronghold became the strategic target they gave to Rusalka. It cannot be said that it was formulated, but it can only be said that they hoped that he could help to capture it along the way.

What they gave Rushaka was certainly not only hope, but also rewards. For example, the logistics of the march would be fully supported by the city of Chaudhry. The leaders of the Delai family also knew Rushaka's character, or rather, they understood the character of the nobles very well. So they told Sanita that the small nobles passing by along the way would also consciously "show their support" - either with money or with people, anyway, they would not let you pass empty-handed.

What I meant was that I wanted them to be more respectful, so please stop robbing them.

They had already thought of everything they could think of. The Golden Blade had also entered the country, and the Sani Iron Tower Mage Tower was almost set up. So they asked Rusalka to make the final battle mobilization, and then the mighty army set out directly from Silver City to the west again.

After Sanita explained the strategic objectives and general background of this strategy to Rusalka on the bird's back, Rusalka was very happy that she would be able to engage in some challenging, but not too challenging, battles next. Like choosing vegetables at the market, she waved her arm and said excitedly, "Okay, sounds great. Let's fight in the Alps!"

Sanita corrected him, "It's the Kalbes Hills!"

This time the troops were not divided into three groups. There was no need to guard against their own people during the march. Sanitta divided 60,000 people into 6 divisions. One division had 5 regiments, one regiment had 4 battalions, and one battalion had 500 people. The grouping was based on the "battalion" as the smallest unit.

These counting units were all taught within three months, and it was not difficult. It was just a matter of changing the "captain of five hundred men" in their impression to "battalion commander", removing the word "army" from "corps commander" to become "regiment commander", and then the commander-in-chief and the chief corps commander became "division commander", and 10,000 people became "a division".

Although they didn't understand what ten thousand people had to do with a "lion", lion was the abbreviation of the very fierce Rhine tribe mentioned in the book about the neighboring El Empire, so it was easy to remember.

What are the benefits of doing this?

The good thing is that when Sanitieta took command, he really felt comfortable all of a sudden: "Commander of the 3rd Regiment Scouting Cavalry, your regiment is responsible for the scout cavalry to explore the way and the light cavalry to block the way. You have four battalions under your command. Select the battalion commanders, namely the 12th Battalion, the 13th Battalion, the 14th Battalion and the 15th Battalion. Select the 12th Battalion as the scout cavalry, and the rest of the battalions are on standby.

The 1st Regiment is the Heavy Cavalry Regiment. You are the elite among the elite of Esdi, and are directly led and commanded by the regiment commander Sarolt. Your task is to ensure the stability of our center army during combat.

The 6th Regiment is a mixed heavy infantry regiment. Like the 7th Regiment, you are composed of three battalions of heavy infantry and one battalion of archers. You are the main attacking force. The strategic deployment is carried out with one battalion in front, one battalion in the back, and one battalion in reserve. The archery battalion must follow its own regiment, unless in an emergency, it can be transferred to another regiment with my permission.

20th Regiment, you are the auxiliary regiment, responsible for assisting the other cavalry regiments, including providing baggage supplies and consumables. The 81st, 82nd, and 83rd Battalions will liaise with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cavalry Regiments respectively. The 84th Battalion will be in charge of manpower and can be deployed at any time to supplement the other three battalions if they are short of manpower.

It feels good. This is how I feel like a military general of the Dragon Kingdom in my previous life. Damn commander, legion leader, squad leader, and battalion leader.

It didn't matter when commanding a small unit before. Sanitieta alone with some messengers and a captain-level commander was enough. Now it is discovered that once the legion is too large and the fighting situation becomes chaotic, it is difficult to tell which legion is in charge of which squad.

When asked about the names of the 100-man teams, they were all named by the team leaders themselves. Ten thousand people have to remember 100 strange team names, and there are a lot of duplicate names. Who can stand this?

Simply divide the troops into battalions of 500 people, give them uniform numbers, and then record them in notebooks in different categories. This makes commanding much simpler. With less than 6 people, at most you can command less than 120 battalions. For a player like Sanita who can manually control the human infantry in StarCraft to use skills and raise shields, it's a piece of cake.

Not to mention that he now has a full 19 points of intelligence, and feels that he can compete with AI in computing power.

Seeing that his orders were accurately executed in every camp, Sanitta felt very satisfied: That's right, now I have a little sense of logic in playing strategic games.

In the minds of the soldiers in this world, the act of "being promoted to captain in the army" itself means that the lord is very satisfied with you, so he "lends" these people to you to lead. It is equivalent to that you only need to listen to the lord's orders, and these one hundred people are roughly equivalent to your subordinates, and are not under the control of others.