"On the way to the mountain fortress, I happen to pass by the eldest prince's sphere of influence in this area. Why don't I go and check it out myself."
After making up his mind, Lei Xiao immediately informed the main and subordinates around him of his decision by reading a few words.
Currently, Lei Xiao is surrounded by ten people including Huzhang, Hongye, Lian, Bert, Jubai, Yecang, Ariel, Nanxing, Nanyue, and Bai Wei. After receiving Lei Xiao's order,
They all respectfully accepted the order.
While chasing the wind and lightning, a group of people wearing invisibility cloaks finally stopped in a secluded place on the outskirts of a strange city.
Under the bright sunshine, Lei Xiao, standing on a slope, looked around and then noticed.
The several affiliated villages on the outskirts of this city are no different from the Iron Grid Castle and Gray Rock City that I have visited before. They are dilapidated and smelly everywhere, but the surrounding farmland is lush and fertile.
.
Compared with the tall and majestic city not far away, the scene of such a shabby village is like the sky and the earth, like two worlds.
"Lord, it seems that the poor conditions of the free farmers under the rule of these traditional nobles are on par with those of the new nobles. They are undoubtedly in complete violation of the laws of the kingdom."
Ariel frowned and crossed her arms and said, "The ancestors of these guys all made great contributions to the kingdom by fighting side by side with the great King of Heroes. Only then were they finally able to lead a side for me, Leng Yan.
Given the king’s grace, I’m afraid they didn’t expect that their descendants would completely violate the ancestral precepts, right?”
With a helpless sigh, Ariel added: "You know, back then, most of their ancestors were just a group of serfs who were exploited by the old nobles."
"In my hometown, a sage once said that a gentleman will be killed in five lifetimes, and these guys have been here for so many years. It's long past time to pay the price for what they have done.
"
Lei Xiao looked indifferent and said calmly: "Let's lower the purifying hammer and smash everything about these guys who think they are noble."
"As you command! Lord!"
After hearing Lei Xiao's words, the surrounding subordinates couldn't help but get excited.
Having said that, Lei Xiao had already heard about this strange city.
This city is called Velen City. It is one of the larger cities of the Great Prince's faction in this area, except for Songluo City. It is located to the west of Red Arrow Town and southwest of the ancient battlefield ruins.
At the same time, it is also the frontier city closest to Kongqing Town for the Grand Prince's faction, mainly focusing on the textile industry and agriculture.
The specific strength is between Shuiyue City and Fanyin City, with a garrison of seven thousand people.
"Lord, the gate of Velen City is closed, there are many sentries on the city wall, and the surrounding villages are all empty. It is obviously on the highest alert."
Bert, who had a short beard and a gray beard, took a step forward, bowed and said, "What should we do next?"
After hearing Burt's request, Lei Xiao frowned for a moment and then asked: "Old General Burt, if you were the lord of Velen City, what would you do now?"
"Back to my lord, the first thing that my subordinates need to do is to protect themselves and their families from being caught or assassinated by strong opponents who may appear."
Bert gently stroked his short gray beard and said without hesitation: "At present, when the opponent does not know our specific operational deployment, intelligence is undoubtedly the top priority."
"Only by mastering our attack targets can the opponent prepare and respond in time. As the supreme commander of a city, the city lord must be the one with the most intelligence, or the only one with key intelligence."
"As for family members, they will become objects used by opponents to threaten them."
Nodding respectfully to Lei Xiao, Bert concluded: "Thus, only by protecting yourself and your family first can you avoid being coveted by the enemy and end up failing."
"Is that true?"
After receiving this expected answer, Lei Xiao frowned and asked again: "Old General Bert, if you want to be more specific, how will you protect yourself and your family?"
"Back to Lord, the best way to protect yourself is to prevent your opponents from discovering you. It's easy to tell your family, as long as the secret is hidden somewhere in the city."
Bert still maintained his bowing posture and responded: "The subordinates themselves will disguise themselves, hide anywhere in the army, and give orders secretly, or simply pretend to be inconspicuous guards and servants.
To disrupt the opponent's line of sight, and then wait for an opportunity to make a move."
"From this point of view, it is indeed unrealistic to forcefully seize the opponent's important commanders to obtain intelligence."
Lei Xiao shrugged and said helplessly while looking at the heavily guarded city in the distance.
"Back to Lord, that's exactly what it is."
The old voice sounded, and Bert said solemnly: "Moreover, these nobles who are fanatically loyal to the first prince or the second prince must be eager to make meritorious deeds, and they are even less likely to make mistakes on such a basic matter."
"So my subordinates can conclude that these city lords will definitely control the key information in their own hands. Even the cronies around them may not know it."
After a pause, Bert gently stroked his white beard and added: "Lord, then again, to a certain extent, this is not a bad thing for us."
"Old General Bert, you are referring to the greed for credit and rashness, right?"
Lei Xiao withdrew his gaze from a distance and said with understanding: "Although the eldest prince and the second prince have a huge force, although they have the same master, every noble among them wants to be the one who makes the most contribution. This is indeed
That’s for sure.”
"Yes, Lord, compared with us who work together, this will undoubtedly be a huge disadvantage for the other party."
A smile appeared on Bert's old wrinkled face and he responded.
"Indeed."
Lei Xiao also smiled faintly, and immediately focused his gaze on the surrounding dilapidated villages again, and then said: "If this is the case, then there is only one thing left that we can do."
After speaking, Lei Xiao nodded to the subordinates, and the group of people flashed and immediately began to take action.
Not long after, thick smoke billowed out from several heavily guarded large granaries in Velen City, and several unburned rockets were left at the scene.
"It's on fire, it's on fire! Put out the fire!"
"This black iron red-feathered arrow... is the standard equipment of Ironforge! Those hateful bastards! Go and report it to the captain!"
"Look, the No. 5 granary in the south of the city is also on fire! Send more water magicians quickly!"
For a time, the city of Velen was in chaos.
In the outer suburbs on the other side of Velen City, the instigator Lei Xiao and his party were already continuing to gallop towards the mountain fortress.
Just now, Lei Xiao, while satisfying Chao Yan's little wish, also stopped by to check out various places in the city.
Just as Dean and Fran said, the city has already been under complete martial law and the streets are empty. Correspondingly, every military camp is extremely tense.
On the city wall, in addition to the heavily armed garrison soldiers, you can also see a large number of reserve army soldiers with obviously inferior equipment, and even a lot of skinny farmers with helpless eyes.
From this, it is not difficult to see that the other side has obviously mobilized all the forces that can be mobilized, which also shows from the side how much the other side attaches importance to this war.
After that, Lei Xiao and his party passed through several cities within the eldest prince's influence. After some inspection, Lei Xiao discovered.
The level of tension and attention in these cities is only higher than that of Velen City at the beginning. Several remote cities in the back have begun to have huge garrison troops leaving the city. Those who stay behind are mostly reserve troops with crude equipment.
.
"Lord, it will take a day or two for the following cities to reach the forefront of Velen City. It seems that the other side is obviously very organized and is gathering troops."
Suddenly, Bert's old voice reached Lei Xiao's ears again.
"Indeed."
Lei Xiao lowered his body on the fluffy white hair and responded: "I have received intelligence from various places just now. The forces of the Second Prince's faction have almost the same approach. As for Star Star City on the Star Star Corridor,
It is also completely under martial law and has sent out a lot of soldiers."
Just when Lei Xiao said this.
Between the two mountains in the distance, the outline of a giant fortress is clearly visible.
"Is it finally here?"
Lei Xiao narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the majestic building that looked like a giant beast, lying between two mountains, and murmured in his heart.
In the current situation of the war, in order to hide from others, it was naturally impossible for Lei Xiao and Ariel to walk in arrogantly when they went to the mountain fortress this time.
Instead, he only informed Randall and asked him to tell Bai Lao secretly.
As the mountain fortress became clearer, Lei Xiao noticed.
Under his own arrangements in advance, Randall, who had been standing in front of the fortress for a long time, was commanding his subordinate mercenaries to transport some ordinary supplies into the fortress. In addition, the defense behind the fortress was relatively weak, so,
Just enough to be able to enter the interior of the fortress without any hindrance.
After successfully entering the mountain fortress, under Lei Xiao's secret instructions, Randall led the group forward and finally arrived at the familiar meeting hall.
At this time, I saw Mr. Bai, still wearing heavy white armor, waiting here alone.
"I have met Your Excellency Ke Qing, and I have met Your Highness the Princess!"
Seeing Lei Xiao, Ariel and others who had just taken off their invisibility cloaks, a smile suddenly appeared on their old faces and they hurriedly came forward to greet them.
"General Bai, you are well."
Lei Xiao looked at the old face covered with white beard, nodded and smiled.
At this time, Lei Xiao could clearly feel it.
The old kingdom general's momentum was much more tyrannical than before. It seemed that under the influence of the fourth-level healing magic medicine Holy Light Angel Pill, most of his injuries had recovered.
Noticing this, Lei Xiao spoke again: "Seeing General Bai recover so quickly is undoubtedly the happiest thing for Her Royal Highness and I today."
"Haha, thanks to Your Excellency Ke Qing's great help, I will never forget Your Excellency Ke Qing's kindness."
While welcoming Lei Xiao and others to the seats in the meeting hall, Bai Lao stroked his beard and said with a smile: "If I read it correctly, your Excellency Ke Qing's strength seems to have improved a bit."
"Old General Bai is indeed very discerning."
Lei Xiao raised his eyebrows and said noncommittally.
During the previous offensive and defensive battle at the mountain fortress, my magic strength was still at level three and seven stars.
And now, I have been wandering around as a double third-level peak powerhouse for a while, and I have indeed made some progress.
When Lei Xiao and Ariel sat down, Mr. Bai, who had just exchanged a few words with Bert and Ju Bai, got straight to the point: "Your Excellency and Your Highness the Princess are here for the war that is about to begin, right?
"
Having said this, Bai Lao's wrinkled and resolute face couldn't help but reveal a hint of deep helplessness, and sighed: "What if my king, who is unconscious, learns that several princes and highnesses have sacrificed their entire lives for the sake of power?"
Yan was dragged into the quagmire of war, I'm afraid he will be heartbroken and burst into tears."
"Old General Bai is right. My father has spent his whole life fighting for Leng Yan's stability. In the past few decades, he has pacified many powerful foreign enemies who were ready to attack and regained a lot of lost territory. But in the end, he got something like this.
result."
Ariel lowered her eyebrows and sighed softly.
"Old General Bai, it seems that the changes in the forces of the eldest prince and the second prince have been reported to you."
Lei Xiao first patted Ariel's shoulder lightly, signaling her to regain her composure, and then said, "What does General Bai think of this upcoming dispute?"
"Your Excellency, guest, to be honest, although I had anticipated such a day for a long time, I didn't expect it to come so soon."
The wrinkles on the old white face became more and more deep, and he said helplessly: "Judging from the momentum of this comprehensive mobilization, I am afraid that the two princes will not give up unless they fight to the death.
of."
"According to the desperate temperament of the two princes, this eastern region will surely be devastated by the flames of war, and all life will be devastated."
"After all, the power of the two princes in this area is too huge. Unless several large legions of the royal family come at the same time, no one can stop it."
Sighing heavily, Mr. Bai shook his head with a wry smile and said: "If you think about it carefully, the Holy Night Army's new defeat means that they no longer have to worry about the border battlefield. I'm afraid this is one of the reasons why the two princes chose to take action directly."
"Exactly what I expected."
Lei Xiao raised his eyebrows and said bluntly: "As for the dispute between the two, I wonder if General Bai has any exclusive information?"
"His Excellency, Ke Qing, thinks highly of me. From the situation before the attack and defense of the fortress, it can be clearly seen that in the eyes of the two princes, I have long been a dispensable abandoned son, so what's the point?
Exclusive information?”
Bai Lao shook his head mockingly, and then a hint of determination appeared in his eyes, and he said: "But if Your Excellency the guest and Her Royal Highness the princess plan to take refuge in the mountain fortress, then I will naturally risk my life to protect the guest."
Your Excellency and Your Highness the Princess are considerate."
"Thank you General Bai for your kindness."
A smile couldn't help but appear on Lei Xiao's face, and he immediately said: "However, this time, Her Royal Highness and I came not to seek the protection of General Bai."
"oh?"
After listening to Lei Xiao's words, Bai Lao's old face suddenly showed unexpected surprise, and he blurted out: "Then what is the purpose of Your Excellency and Your Highness the Princess coming here at this time?"
After a pause, Mr. Bai seemed to have thought of something. An uncontrollable shock appeared on his old face again. His old eyes widened and he said in disbelief: "Could it be that Your Excellency Ke Qing and Her Royal Highness the Princess are planning to meet the two princes?"
Your Highness is facing a head-to-head confrontation?! Are you also participating in this all-out war for power?!"
"exactly."
Lei Xiao still maintained a faint smile and responded calmly.