"I said at the beginning that you are playing with fire. If you are not careful, you will burn yourself to ashes. How about it? Do you believe it now? But it is too late. Darauma has been dedicated to Ms. Strategy, where It has become a holy place for Ms. Strategy. Once we send out troops on a large scale, the followers of the Red Knight may join the ranks of our enemies. There are now many believers of Ms. Strategy in our army, especially those at the middle and lower levels of front-line commanders. "
"I think this method is feasible. Since there is no way to curb the rise of Darauma, then provide her with conveniences and let her develop further. By then, the dukes in the west will definitely be more anxious than us. After all, we still have the east as a Buffer, and their space will become smaller and smaller, conflicts will become increasingly intensified, and we can just sit back and watch the show."
"What Elder Fitch said is very reasonable. Expansion is far more likely to destroy a person than suppression, especially such a person without a foundation. One failure may lead to her complete collapse, even if she is now a voter of Ms. Strategy. , and it is impossible to win every battle, this is something that even the goddess of strategy cannot do."
"I agree."
"I agree."
"I object."
The Saradas elders all expressed their opinions and fell into a new round of quarrels. This situation has become inevitable for such meetings, because they all have their own little calculations.
Conard watched with cold eyes and soon discovered that those who objected all had properties in the Northern Isles Plain.
The majority of those who agreed had nothing to do with that place, and there was a trace of schadenfreude in their expressions, as if they were mocking the elders who had property there.
When they made these decisions, were they based on family interests? Or is it based on their own interests? I'm afraid they themselves can't be sure.
Frances was neither sad nor happy from beginning to end. Her eyes fell on Conrad, and there was not much father-son affection. It was like looking at a dead object or a tool. She slowly asked: "What are you?" Opinion?"
Frances still lacked the authority of the patriarch. As soon as he spoke, the entire city council hall fell silent instantly, and everyone's eyes fell on Conrad.
Conard said with a fearful expression: "There are so many elders here, how can I have any room to express my opinions? I am willing to implement all decisions of the family."
"Oh?" Frances' expression finally showed a slight fluctuation, and there seemed to be other meanings in her eyes. "Even if you are asked to sign an alliance with the Lord of Zalanda on behalf of your family, would you be willing?"
It was just as Uncle Matthew guessed.
Although I have been mentally prepared for a long time and have my own plan.
When this proposal was made, especially by his biological father, Frances, Conrad still felt sadness that could not be concealed in his heart. There was no family affection at all in this kind of family.
Conard forced himself to calm down, bowed and saluted: "As long as it is beneficial to the family, I am willing to go and sign an alliance on behalf of the family."
"Yes, why didn't I think of it earlier? We can definitely send people to wait for opportunities to act according to the situation."
"The Duke is the Duke, and he grasped the key point as soon as he turned his head."
"us……"
The elders present were all old foxes, and in a blink of an eye, they thought of the genius of this proposal.
Frances waved her hands heavily, interrupting their praise, "I'm tired. I believe that after fighting for so long, you should be tired too. Just follow the other party's proposal. I will sign a covenant with the other party in person, Conrad , although you have merit in this matter, it cannot offset your mistake of mobilizing the first heavy cavalry regiment without authorization. From today on, your first heavy cavalry regiment and the second heavy cavalry regiment will switch defenses to garrison Snow Rock Castle and guard against the Snowflake Mountains. A swarm of monsters infiltrated Omlaran."
After listening to Frances' order, Conrad was in disbelief.
It's just that this disbelief is not dissatisfaction with the border guards as the family elders mistakenly thought.
But the whole thing, not only did he not regard himself as an abandoned son, but it even perfectly matched the plan he had just made to dominate the border and seize the supreme rule of Saradas in a roundabout way.
Guarding Snow Rock Castle is an outright chore for others. After all, it is located between the Omlaran Mountains and the Snowflake Mountains. It is often attacked by the monster groups in the two mountain ranges - Saradas only controls it. He has the largest gem mine and the strongest monster force in the Omlaran Mountains, but he has not yet completely put this place under his control.
The huge snow-capped mountains with complex terrain are the main reason that cannot be ignored. The other reason is the mages with ulterior motives and the rulers of large cities along the Lake of Steam, who secretly cause harm in the dark. Among them, Mingta City at the mouth of the Mingta River The most intense thing is that they are also afraid that the heavily armed military city of Tethyr will one day turn its troops against them.
But for Conrad, who has a new plan, this is an absolute blessing.
The sky is high and the emperor is far away. Far away from Saradas and these elders who can only blindly command behind their backs, he can do things according to his own will.
Could it be that Frances has changed her temper? Do you look at yourself differently?
Conrad raised his head, and what he met was still a pair of cold eyes without any emotional warmth. The little warmth that had just emerged in his heart was instantly extinguished.
It wasn't that Frances looked at her differently, but that she had turned some unfavorable situations into advantages because of her change of thinking.
Even the matter of signing the contract with the Lord of Zalanda City in person, it is estimated that there is a calculation that belongs to him, but he did not think of the root cause.
After thinking about this, Conrad had the right expression on his face, with gratitude mixed with a little bit of sadness and anger, "I obey."
Although Saradas has the Council of Elders, they only have the power of suggestion and no veto power. Most of the power is still in the hands of Frances as the Duke. Once he makes the decision, the whole thing is finalized and cannot be changed unless He changes his mind on his own.
Since it was Ferrand Xisi who came forward in person, the matter became solemn, grand and full of ceremony.
After all, the opponent is the old Duke of Tessel, the largest member of the aristocratic warlords who are often scolded now.
When he left the city, he was accompanied by a fleet of nearly a hundred vehicles.
The place where the covenant was signed was the place where Zalanda and Conrad met previously, and that was the default dividing line between the two territories.
Gavin didn't know the specific process, because he had already returned to the military camp of the migrating army to make final preparations.
Because they all know that the Saladas family is stalling for time. If they want to truly sign the alliance, they have to wait until this migratory army truly embarks on the migration road and successfully leaves the territory of Tethyr, no longer against them. After the threat posed by the Saradas family.
Before that, they were discussing the details of the alliance, such as the clear dividing line between the two sides, the maximum number of soldiers stationed on the border, whether there is the possibility of cooperation between the two sides in the future, etc.
Another important purpose is to take Zalanda as a hostage to prevent the migratory army led by Gavin from launching an invasion of Saladas City in the name of migration. The Is River is their bottom line, and the migratory army can only attack Saradas in the name of migration. Operations on the north bank of the Si River.
When the covenant between Darauma City and Saradas City was signed was not decided by the people here, but by the migrating army dozens of miles away. Countless pairs of eyes were staring at this army in the air and on the ground. Every move of the migrating army affects the hearts of countless people.
August 28, 568 in the Tethyr calendar, is August 28, 1359 in the Valley calendar.
This day is destined to leave a strong mark in Darauma and in the history of Tethyr.
As soon as the sky dawned, the sound of horns resounded throughout the suburbs of the east gate of Darauma. Knights on flying warhorses flew over the huge camp, loudly delivering orders, "Pack your bags and prepare to set up camp. Proceed in an orderly manner according to the predetermined order, the Lord has given orders, and today’s march target is twenty kilometers.”
The first cars to drive out of the huge camp were not the side cars.
But there are three tree people. Their size is outstanding even among tree people. They are all over 18 meters, close to the limit of giant size. Not only the height is amazing, but the size is also amazing, especially the lower body. They were like broken thorns, not humanoid bodies, but animal bodies lying on all fours, resembling giant elephants, with thick, round bodies, and four legs like huge wooden stakes, each of which was at least as thick as two people holding each other.
These three tree people are called giant elephant tree people. They were all enlightened by Gavin in Misnoel. They were born on the same hilltop. Under this hilltop, there is a giant elephant tomb from ancient times, with dozens of people buried underneath. Thousands of giant mammoths absorbed the souls of giant mammoths to achieve their current size.
Three giant elephant tree men were incorporated into the vanguard army of sidecars. As the pioneers, they were not pulling sidecars, but a huge iron pillar.
This iron pillar is two meters in diameter and six meters in length. Together with the traction device outside, the weight of this thing reaches a terrifying one hundred and fifty tons.
Together with the power of the giant elephant tree man, they dragged this thing to walk in the wilderness without affecting its speed.
This is an alien version of a super giant steamroller.
The function is self-evident, of course it is to open the way.
Hundreds of floor-type chariots loaded with food supplies are a big load even on dirt roads, let alone on the soft soil of the wilderness. Even with the help of tree men and enlightenment trees to drag them, the speed is very slow. It will be very touching.
Simply walking through it was not in line with Gavin's usual style of doing things, especially after making such a huge amount of preparations.
He not only wanted to leave a name and voice, but also left a path, a migration path from Tethyr to the valley.
Once this thing is done, it will not be a one-time deal, but a continuous one. More Tethyrs will embark on the road to the valley along this migration road.
Even the residents around Calimshan, Amn, and the Lake of Steam may follow this road to the valley. Like Tethyr, they are all populous countries, especially Calimshan, which practices slavery and slaves. Revolts and escaped slave incidents occurred frequently. As long as Gavin made a name for himself, he would have a fatal attraction to them.
The weight of the Giant Elephant Treeman is already terrifying, and together they are even heavier than this iron pillar.
Even stepping on and pressing them, the soil where they passed was completely consolidated, and even the flatness was improved to a certain extent. Before arriving at Reitawen in Amn, there were flat plains along the way. As long as the soil was solved The road is relatively soft and easy to get stuck, but the road is not difficult to walk on.
"Let's move together!" was accompanied by an order.
The sound of two heavy footsteps turned into one sound, dust flew up, and the earth seemed to be trembling slightly. The huge special steel wire ropes were all stretched up, creaking and groaning, and the surprisingly heavy iron pillars of the road rolled and roared. Long started to move forward. The moving speed was not too fast, and it was definitely not slow. It was initially set at four kilometers per hour, which is the walking speed of a normal person.
Everything is still in a trial operation state and must be adjusted according to the actual situation. Now we seek stability rather than speed. Once the operation is normal, we will slowly increase the speed. This is not only the case for the giant elephant tree people, but also for the migrating army behind. .
This is the first stage of the migratory army - running-in. The main purpose of this stage is to make the entire migratory army operate smoothly and to allow the civilians to adapt to this continuous rush.
The giant tree man holding the iron pillar of the road was of course not walking randomly in the wilderness, but had a clear path, an eight-meter-wide black passage that exuded a faint smell of decay, stretching endlessly into the distance. , they just need to follow this mark.
This marked passage is naturally the result of Half-Moon Horse Luna.
This matter was not implemented after the plan was finalized with the Blood Claw Legion, but was already started after Luna obtained the Corruption Furnace and realized her advantage in opening roads.
There are still doubts about other sections of the road, but not the migration section in Tethyr. They have only one way to go, and that is to open a new road on the north bank of the Is River that leads directly to the city of Retawen in the Kingdom of Amn.
There is no directly connected trade road between the two cities, so Darauma has two ways to go to Ritavon.
One is the waterway, which goes upstream along the Is River. It is relatively smooth, but the road is a bit long, winding around a big bend, and is nearly 600 kilometers long.
The other land route is to go to Saradas via the Zhasa Road, and then transfer to the Sari Road. The former is 350 kilometers, and the latter is 280 kilometers. The total distance is even on land and water. above.
Another key issue is that most of these two roads are in the territory of Saradas.
Just the gathering of the migrating army made them all extremely nervous. How could they be allowed to use the road?
This is also the main reason why Darauma was stuck by the warlords and nobles. They originally relied too much on the Zasa Road and the Is River water transportation. They were in the hinterland of Tessel. As soon as the road was blocked at both ends, they were immediately surrounded. .
Originally, Zalanda pinned its hopes of breaking the situation on Gavin's Mys Noel, hoping to use it to divert the enemy and bypass Saradas' blockade.
But as the migration progressed, they discovered that where could it be faster and more convenient to take the opportunity to open a direct trade route to Shwetawen on the north bank of the Is River?
The straight-line distance between the two sides is 380 kilometers, and the road initially opened by Ban Yueju totals 410 kilometers, which is basically a straight line.
Following closely behind the Giant Elephant Tree Man was the vanguard army of vans.
It's just that these cavalrymen are not holding swords and shields, but working tools such as pickaxes, heads, shovels, and baskets. The captains and commanders who have just taken office are giving their final instructions.
“Our main tasks are to fill holes and level rocks.”
"When filling the hole, use local materials, mainly gravel, supplemented by soil, one layer of stone and one layer of soil, not flush, but higher than the surrounding road, in the shape of a bag of earth."
"The task of flattening rocks is given to casters who can use Soft Stone Technique. Those are soil and stones that have been casted with Soft Stone Technique. They are the best paving materials. I dug them all out and used them as repair and filler for other potholes. , give priority to the potholes that appear after the road roller passes, and also dig up the soil bags, leaving them to the giant elephant tree man to step on them."
"A hole was found here and needs to be filled."
"One was also found here."
"A large area has collapsed here, and a lot of earth and rocks are needed. Quick, quick, quick, our sidecar convoy will be out soon."
These knights and mercenaries not only showed no resistance to the newly arranged work, but were also very interested because this road construction model completely subverted their cognition.
They split into two, with two-thirds in front, looking for those obvious ravines along the way, filling them all in, and raising them slightly above the surrounding ground, waiting for the giant elephant tree man roller to come and compact them flat.
One third is at the back, responsible for filling in the holes made by the giant tree man's steamroller, most of which are rodent burrows.
The operation method is exactly the same as before. The final compaction work is left to the extra giant elephant tree man, who uses his huge weight of more than fifty tons to forcefully compact it back and forth.
As always, ordinary means and magical means are used together, the former is the main method and the latter is the supplement.
Four kilometers per hour, if it is just used for traveling, it is really not amazing. An old man can walk faster than this, but if you add road construction, it is no longer amazing, it is simply amazing, and this is just the beginning. Speed, not top speed.
This dirt road that was formed at one time was much stronger than imagined, because there was a behemoth of more than fifty tons following behind it. After walking through it, there was no sign of deformation at all. Ordinary commercial roads may not be able to bear his load. After all, the power of a 150-ton press is definitely not something that can be blown out.
After the road construction team had gone out for nearly a kilometer, the vanguard vans of the vanguard army slowly drove out, dragged by two strong horses. The strange thing was that these vans were not equipped with grooms, but they were Move forward in an orderly manner along the newly built road.
(End of chapter)
