Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 686 - 685: Defensive Tactics

The scent of war is approaching, yet for the Cecil Empire, this is truly not the best time for warfare.

Longwind Fortress, towering walls standing amidst the hills and plains, with bastion walls extending for tens of kilometers against the increasingly chilly autumn wind, gleaming with a pale golden hue in the bright sunlight cast by the great sun. The rune stone bricks embedded in the walls flicker subtly with Magic Power glow, enveloping the entire fortress in an almost invisible energy shield, while vigilant Soldiers stand on the walls and sentinel towers, staring towards the Typhon Empire’s direction.

Inside the fortress, a group of newly stationed Soldiers marches in a loose formation through the barracks, observed by a Cecil Legion instructor standing by the roadside, his expression meticulous. On the nearby wall, noticing the new recruits, a veteran of the fortress couldn’t help but shake his head: "These troops are utterly unfit for combat... they’re passable for dealing with bandits at home, but to fight the Typhon Empire here? Tying seven or eight of them together still wouldn’t be enough for a decent fight."

"The Cecil Legion’s doctrines can swiftly make these new recruits useful—at least teach them to follow orders," another veteran nearby commented.

"They’ll need training time; these Conscription Soldiers were probably wielding hoes and pitchforks just days ago..."

Clad in military attire, Maryland walked past the walls, hearing the conversation of the veterans, and seeing the performance of those recruits.

After completing his patrol, this fortress commander returned to the command post located in the castle area, where his adjutant—a shrewd and capable young man with black hair and brown eyes—was already waiting.

"General," the adjutant stepped forward to salute, "the scouts have returned with intelligence."

"Hmm," Maryland nodded, "The Typhon Empire is making moves again?"

"A group of engineering Mages is constructing additional walls, stables, and barracks on the hills west of Winterwolf Fortress. The scale is significant; it’s unclear how many people it can accommodate, but they’ve definitely dug at least four wells."

"...The Black Steel Knights or Iron River Knights are likely arriving; they are units adept at heavy armor assaults on fortresses," Maryland said solemnly, "the Typhon Empire shouldn’t wait too long."

The young adjutant remained silent, showing neither fear nor disturbance, a calm expression on his face.

Maryland inwardly approved of the young adjutant’s reaction, then turned to the table and picked up a report to glance at.

"...The last batch of private Soldiers from nearby has also arrived at the defensive line..." the fortress commander sighed lightly, "after them, the entire Duke of the East can’t even muster a thousand-man team."

The current situation is worrying, yet the facts are what they are—troop shortages, and Longwind Fortress’s defensive force is only so much.

The Empire has just experienced a year-long civil war and a disaster that swept across half of the Plains of the Holy Spirits, depleting the Kingdom’s main forces through continuous battles. Now, aside from a few surviving elites, only the southern borders’ Cecil Legion can be utilized, yet at least half of these troops must remain in the country to maintain post-war order. The number of Soldiers sent to Longwind Fortress is limited—the higher-ups have already sent the most elite unit and the strongest weapons available, but Maryland knows it’s still not enough.

The Typhon Empire continues to increase their forces, mixing Mage Corps, Knight Corps, and Transcendent units into their army—these forces aren’t easily overwhelmed by ordinary heat-ray guns and several medium-caliber fortress cannons. To counter them, either Longwind Fortress’s elite defenders need to double, or the iron throne must be brought to the front line.

But neither is available—Maryland has done his utmost to mobilize private aristocratic Soldiers from the Duke of the East, along with small support from the northern Mountain Corps, barely filling the breach in the defensive line. However, under strong impact, these breaches may collapse within two days.

He must find a way to enhance the fortress’s defensive strength.

Maryland’s gaze moved across the nearby operational map, slowly sweeping over the buffer zone between the two countries, past the Typhon Empire’s Winterwolf Fortress and the currently mapped sentinel stations.

The primary standard for defense is self-protection, and self-protection can come in many forms: either by becoming invulnerable, eliminating the threat before it causes harm, or... making the enemy hesitant to attack.

Longwind Fortress’s defensive strength may not increase, but he could try to make the Typhon Empire mistakenly believe that the garrison here continues to grow.

After some contemplation, a bold idea gradually took shape. Maryland raised his head, looking at his adjutant: "Have the Mountain Corps’ reserve unit disguise as merchants and Civilian Workers, secretly carrying their banner and equipment, and set out of the city in batches within two days to gather at Kalong Valley northwest."

The adjutant was momentarily stunned, a bit bewildered: "And then?"

"Then change back into Mountain Corps’ equipment and enter the city from the fortress’s north gate—make a big commotion during entry, just don’t make it too exaggerated."

Two seconds later, the adjutant realized Maryland’s intent, revealing an enlightened expression followed by immense admiration towards the general: "Yes—this is indeed a brilliant plan! I will make arrangements immediately!"

"That’s not enough; if we’re putting on a show, we should go all out," Maryland promptly added, "The Typhon Empire is building camps near Winterwolf Fortress, aren’t they? We will build too—set up camps in the north and south of the fortress, dig wells, transfer some Conscription Soldiers to the new camps, and have them cook meals there. Also, send someone to Count Robert’s territory to borrow his wagon convoy for transporting ’supplies.’"

"Yes!" the adjutant straightened up and saluted, but before leaving, he suddenly expressed some concern, "But General, can this really deceive the Typhon Empire?"

"It will scare them for a while, and eventually, they will react, but it doesn’t matter. As long as we can delay their attack, it’s enough," Maryland said unhurriedly, his eyes falling on the map beside him. "The engineering team in the rear is working overtime to lay the temporary railway, and the iron throne is almost repaired. As long as the Typhon hesitates for a while... they won’t be able to take Longwind Fortress."

...

Cecil Empire, St. Soniel.

The large-scale migration work has begun preparations, and more and more work reports on relocation pile up on Gawain’s desk.

The coronation ceremony has ended, the aristocratic signing and power transfer ceremony, as well as the handover of command of the old Order of Knights, personal guard, royal shadow guard, and other forces, have also been completed. After a period of running-in and adaptation, the newly established Administrative Office has initially started on the right track, controlling the situation in St. Soniel. The mission of the temporary government has thereby come to an end, and according to Gawain’s initial plan, the next step should be to start the relocation work.

St. Soniel appears magnificent on the surface, but in reality, its infrastructure is backward, the influence of old forces is profound, and more importantly, the communication system is weak, causing delays in the command of the Cecil Legion. It is indeed not a good place to control the operation of the empire. However, relocating the capital is a big matter. It’s not just a matter of packing relevant personnel and materials to a new place—even if executed from now, it may take a whole year to fully complete the transfer and rebuilding of governance functions.

Moreover, during this process, Gawain must also consider the temporary confusion caused by the transfer of governance functions and prevent this confusion from causing a chain reaction that Typhon could exploit.

In the Velvet Study of Silver Castle, Gawain was placing the read report on the desk, and besides him, three of his Grand Governors were also seated in this study.

"Eden Alfred declined the position at the Administrative Office, did he?" Gawain raised his head and looked at Victoria Wilder, sitting opposite.

"Yes, he also resigned from the court position and honorary titular positions," Victoria replied. "He said he appreciated your offer, but he is getting old and hopes to retire at home."

Eden Alfred, once Francis II’s Prime Minister, a loyal old minister of the Anzu Kingdom, his family has been loyal to the Moen Royal Family since the First Dynasty and has diligently served this country for hundreds of years.

The talent of this former prime minister made Gawain want to recruit him exceptionally, but his choice to decline the position was not unexpected for Gawain.

"Respect his choice," Gawain nodded slightly, "Also, ask if he would be willing to serve as the Director of the St. Soniel Library—this is not a position in the Administrative Office, and he can still keep the original royal collection. If he still doesn’t want to, then let the old gentleman go home, the Administrative Office will issue him a monthly pension."

Victoria nodded: "Your consideration is very thorough, he probably won’t refuse this position."

"Let’s talk about the relocation again," Gawain adjusted his sitting posture, "After I return to Cecil Castle, the affairs here in St. Soniel will be temporarily managed by Victoria and Baldwin. You are responsible for completing the follow-up work, especially completing the Magic Web installation from St. Soniel to the northern parts and the western parts, ensuring communication is established. Additionally, all aristocrats of the capital, based on the size of the family, need to send a certain proportion of family members to settle in the southern borders. There should be no issue with this, right?"

"Yes, they were mentally prepared when the relocation order was issued," Baldwin Franklin nodded, then chuckled lightly, "Exchanging hostages for survival has always been one of the traditional aristocratic survival rules."

"This is not purely ’hostages,’ it is a necessary part of dismantling and reconstructing the old aristocratic forces... of course, they do not understand this yet, which is normal," Gawain shook his head, "It’s okay, take it step by step. Aunt Heidi, how is the preparation for the reconstruction of the King’s Road?"

"Gordon has already arrived with people in Pompeii City, with both initial materials and personnel in place. Once the soil survey is completed, we will commence work."

"Very good—this part of the work is very important, prioritize ensuring financial support.""Yes."

Gawain lightly sighed, feeling that another task was on the right track.

While a divided kingdom can allow for regional leaders, an empire cannot allow territories to be isolated. For a centralized empire, ensuring transportation is the prerequisite for ensuring orderly governance, especially for the currently recovering Cecil Empire, which is eager to rebuild its structure—Gawain dares to move the national governing body from the central region to the south precisely because modern transportation technology allows the physical distance to be negligible, and constructing modern roads is an essential part of enabling new transport tools to fully exert their effectiveness.

From St. Soniel to the southern borders, there is a Gorgon River that serves as a transport artery, and a King’s Road that functions as a land mainline. Since last year, Victoria and the then Anzu’s royal family have been focusing on repairing the King’s Road, allowing this road, long unused for nearly a hundred years, to regain basic function, but the King’s Road repaired by old standards is not enough to bear the transportation pressure of the new era. Furthermore, the previous Crystal Cluster war also caused some damage to the King’s Road on the east bank of the Gorgon River, so realistically, Gawain decided to send the southern borders’ engineering team to rebuild a road connecting the empire from north to south based on the old King’s Road.

Typhon has an "Imperial Avenue," and Cecil will also have one in the future.

And while this "Imperial Avenue" is being constructed, Gawain also plans to build a railway line running north and south on the West Bank of the Gorgon River, and from St. Soniel, further branch the railway line east and west, forming a new "cross artery."

Of course, this will be a large-scale, time-consuming, and labor-intensive project that will take a long time to complete, but no matter how much it consumes, the cross artery must be established—this will be the starting point of the empire’s century-long foundation.

Before considering how long it will take to complete the new cross artery, the railway connecting the southern and northern borders, due to its shorter route, should be completed soon, by which time there will be three major transportation lines of river, road, and railway simultaneously from the southern borders to the "old capital," and from St. Soniel to the northern parts, there will also be road and railway connections, making transportation between the empire’s north and south extremely convenient. On the one hand, national security and stability will be ensured, and on the other hand, rich mineral veins from the northern mountainous areas can also be quickly transported out to satisfy the ravenous industrial beast of the Cecil Empire."

As for now, while there are no railways or roads between the southern borders and St. Soniel, thanks to the convenience of the Gorgon River and the efficiency of new mechanical ships, there is no need to worry too much about transportation issues—the prosperity of the Gorgon River is one of the reasons Gawain dares to initiate the relocation at this time."

"There’s one more thing," After reporting the progress of the road construction, Aunt Heidi spoke again, "Ancestor, the Iron Throne has been repaired."