Blood tax

Chapter 130 Pre-war Reconnaissance
After Griffith left the military camp near the Tuyang Reservoir, he switched to two horses and galloped along the road towards Old Town.He arrived in the old town on the evening of the 16th and found that the city defense forces of the old town had been concentrated.There are a lot of supplies piled up around the port, and the scene is very busy.

The arrangement he got from General Valens was only to rush to the city defense army headquarters in Old Town, leave the horses to the scouts there, and take a boat to go west along the river to the two brigades under the First Army of Verona Act as an observer and report the situation to Old Town.

On the surface, it is still a very simple task.

However, Griffith, who suffered a loss once, was extremely careful along the way, for fear of encountering another trap.He soon discovered that the military didn't care about him at all, and a small number of officers were busy cleaning up the old town's port unloading area and transferring supplies.

The Echo Crystal signals throughout the region are so noisy that even the Astrologer towers tell the time.

He waited at the headquarters for more than an hour, and finally an officer came to hand over to him.

"You can go to the arsenal to pick some weapons, there are no good things left, don't get your hopes up," said the busy officer, "I'm glad to see you have a nice piece of mail armor, our warehouse here is full of running rats, Nothing at all."

"why?"

"All the materials have been transferred to the Eastern Front," the officer replied. "All the armor and weapons were shipped there early last year to prepare for the decisive battle. Up to now, only a little more weapons have been added."

Griffith nodded, expressing his understanding: "Are there any other orders or combat briefings. What happened?"

"I don't know," the officer shook his head. "We suddenly received an order to assemble and arm all the city defense forces, and then mobilize the militia to organize the ports and warehouses. The time is very tight and we can't keep up."

After the officer finished speaking, he stood up and showed Griffith the location of the arsenal, and while pointing the way, he said: "If you have time, go and help us check the city defense army, and then report to the superiors, they have never fought The battle is not complete, and the equipment is useless at all, so why waste time mobilizing it?"

Griffith came to the quartermaster with a warrant and found that there were no clothes, boots, armor, equipment, or even a quartermaster.

A tech sergeant sat there blankly.He saw Griffith come in and greeted him warmly:

"Hi, I'm Senamon, an engineer technical sergeant from the 12th Legion. I was recently transferred here. The quartermaster has gone to the port. Let me take care of him here.
"As you can see, there is actually nothing to manage."

Griffith wandered around the empty warehouse and found a short gun, some daggers and hatchets, not even a saber.Technical sergeant Senamon registered and spread his hands: "That's all, our equipment is also very tight, especially the armor, and even the boots are not enough. This is still for the sake of sending you to the Verona Legion for you.

"You have to return it to us when you leave Old Town and return to Bayeran! The damage must be compensated."

Griffith took the equipment, took it out in his pocket, and put two shiny silver coins on the table, "Didn't you send some new things in the past two days?"

Senamon grabbed the silver coins on the table and said with a serious expression: "Let's come back in two days. It is said that a batch of halberds and tiger spears will be sent to cooperate with the spear array of the city defense army."

The halberd is fine.Griffith immediately remembered it in his heart, and then asked:

"How is the situation of the Verona Legion? Is there any news recently?"

Senamon curled his lips contemptuously: "Their legion is just empty now, and all experienced veterans have been dismissed. The general lives in his own territory, and there are only two brigades with less than a thousand people in the place you are going. Commander Maglius was their commander."

"What are they going to do?"

"I don't know, I heard that they will be transferred to the north to attack a large group of rebels," the technical sergeant Senamon thought for a while, "Some people suspect that the local noble coalition forces can't defeat the rebels, and some of them may rebel. Yes, in fact there must be a problem. The higher-ups sent a sergeant like you to understand the actual situation."

"Someone? Who exactly discovered the suspicious point?" Griffith asked vigilantly.

The technical sergeant touched his nose and said, "I guessed it. Of course, the superior must also have doubts.

"Have you seen the local city defense army and garrison? Those troops that do not belong to our system and are directly managed by local officers and nobles.

"They are almost like beggars. I saw them not having enough to eat, and they often went to steal potatoes from the field and chickens from the knight's house, and then they were hung up and whipped.

"How can such an army be reliable?"

……

Griffith went up the river by boat that night, and then boarded the carriage for Maglius's army to deliver supplies.

The road was messy, and many people like refugees fled from afar.I heard from them that a rebel army was coming from the north, but no one could tell what happened.

At noon on March 3, Griffith finally arrived at the barracks of the Verona Legion Brigade.

As soon as he arrived here, he heard the news that Sonia and the others were attacked.

What is even more astonishing is that the camping group clearly only needs to cross a not-so-wide Beit River to enter a relatively safe area, but they stayed there motionless overnight, and the horse bandits under the rebels had already cut off The road between the baron's castle and the ferry was besieged, and they could not go.

Griffith couldn't understand the situation at first, and thought it was a fabricated rumor.According to his common sense, Sonia and the others were not many in number, they were lightly dressed, and they were protected by a powerful Transcendent. There was no doubt that they should get out of the encirclement as soon as possible and join the reinforcements.

This is ridiculous!
There are often some strange battles in military history. The army that could jump out of the encirclement inexplicably stopped at the last moment of escape, sat in a sad city, and sang the song of perdition together.

Griffith laughed it off when he saw these battles in Homewatts, thinking that these guys are really stupid.

I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen to me.

The poor local communication situation made Griffiths not prepared in advance, and he never thought that Sonia would be surrounded.

He was worried.From the 18th to the present, Sonia and the others have been surrounded for a whole day, and they don't know if they were besieged or injured...

Griffith immediately came to the camp led by Maglius:

"When will Commander lead the attack?"

"Tomorrow morning." The officer on duty answered him very readily.

So fast?Sonia's situation is very dangerous, and it is good to put pressure on the rebels as soon as possible.Griffith was happy in his heart, and then asked: "Have the scouts scouted the nearby terrain?"

"There's no time," the quartermaster shrugged, "Baron Bate's castle is on the plain, and there's no way to set up ambushes nearby. Do you want a map here, and I'll give you a copy."

This map is a military version, and it is quite detailed.From the map, the two legion brigades led by Maglius occupied the opposite bank of the river in the southeast direction of Bett Manor after a quick march, and they needed to cross the Vero River to set foot on the land on the other bank.It is not the rainy season now, and the river is not rushing. With the strength of the legion infantry, as long as they pass through the deep water area, they can also break the defense of the rebels by assaulting the shore on foot.

The rebels cut off the area east of Beit Manor in an arc.They have at least three camps distributed in various highlands from the north bank of the Willow River to the west bank of the Beit River, and are besieging several nearby noble territories.

In Verona, in addition to the Maglius brigade, an engineer unit is coming from the coastal area. They are carrying light trebuchets and some ballistas, and are preparing to use them to storm the rebel defenses.The reinforcements from the east were covered by some light infantry and local militia, and they walked slowly.

Griffith is not a combatant of this force and can act according to his own habits.

Since leaving the eastern battlefield, Griffith has experienced a series of plots, ambushes and traps.Although he still maintains the instinct and habit of obeying orders, he increasingly feels that being an obedient soldier has limitations.He began to realize that many things that are taken for granted are actually contradictory and absurd, and it is necessary to make creative independent judgments based on his own experience and knowledge.

He is not going to rest in the barracks until tomorrow morning, but plans to take the time to investigate the nearby geography and the situation of the rebels.

It was just in time for dinner.The infantry of the brigade stood in long lines, quietly waiting for their meals.

Although the supply of the army has improved a lot after the end of the war, black bread, which is easy to preserve during the march, is still everyone's staple food.The side dish was a stew of potatoes, tomatoes and radishes that looked fresh from the ground.There was no meat in the soup, so the cooking soldiers could only pour a lot of lard into it.

Griffith stood in line for 5 minutes, and when it was his turn, he opened the iron lunch box he carried with him, filled the soup, took two big pieces of hard bread, and walked towards the commander who was eating.

Around a table in the headquarters, the commander and officers were eating their bread.When Griffith walked in, an adjutant next to the commander barely raised his head: "What's the matter, second-level squad leader?"

"Sir," Griffith saluted the officer solemnly, "I noticed that the upper reaches of the Beit River are hills and woodlands, not far from us. I worry that the rebel troops are hidden there, and after the spring snow melts, it may There will be flash floods, and I suggest reconnaissance in that area."

The officers who were eating stopped and stared at him inexplicably.

"Well, military democracy, that of the Eastern Legion," a squadron leader shrugged, turned his head and said to Griffith, "Secondary squad leader, no matter what rules you have in the East, here, the chief decides, soldiers Obey, understand?"

"Then go and have a look~" The commander put down the spoon, "I've decided, you will conduct reconnaissance in that area, and the reconnaissance results must be sent to me tomorrow morning."

The officers sitting around the table immediately showed satisfied smiles.

Griffith looked at the officers in the camp and said slowly, "Can you give me some men and horses?"

"Do you think I have extra manpower and horses here?" asked the leader, "Any questions?"

"Not anymore. Excuse me, Lord Commander, all the officers," Griffith saluted again calmly, turned and exited the camp.

Although Commander Maglius didn't give himself a good face, it's nothing surprising.Griffith is still just a small non-commissioned officer, and he is a vassal of a great noble from the central government. It would be strange if the Verona Local Legion was polite to him.

There are still several hours before it gets dark. Hurry up and start. Griffith can reach the foot of the mountain in the north before sunset, and complete the pre-battle reconnaissance of the entire battlefield by the way.

He moved along the east bank of the Beit River to get a preliminary understanding of the situation in the Beit Manor and the general situation of the bandits nearby, and he had an intuitive understanding of the plain that was about to become a battlefield.

If there were no more rebels hiding in the mountains, there would be no suspense in tomorrow's battle.He can rest at the foot of the mountain for a while, return to the camp before dawn, and rescue Sonia and the others together.

(End of this chapter)