The capital of Ansu, the city of Saint Sunil, Silver Castle.

In the military hall, several nobles and knight lords sat at a wide long table made of heavy oak wrapped in gold edges, while two current regents of Ansu and the nominal crown prince of Wales were sitting on the long table. The first high-level military meeting was being held.

The brilliance of the magic crystal lantern illuminated the hall with a slightly dull atmosphere. The metal shield hanging on the north wall of the hall reflected the light of the magic crystal lantern, and also blurred the backs of the two regents and the crown prince. In the blurry reflection, the bright red coat of the Prince of Wales was eye-catching like a ray of blood.

This man who returned to the position of crown prince after middle age quietly watched the nobles speak at the long table, discuss and argue, and his eyes fluctuated occasionally, but he almost didn't say a word. He sat here like an unrelated person, listening to those affairs that should theoretically be decided by himself.

An old gray-haired knight was on the table with his hands. He was short, but extremely strong. Although he was not young, his eyes were still burning with a sharp light like a young man. He looked at the other knight lords and nobles around him, and said in a strong and powerful voice: "The battle to regain Thorin Castle has failed. Everyone, we must face this fact. Although the number of rebels in the East is small, we are at a disadvantage."

"The good news is that we dragged the rebels into the hills around Solinburg," said one nobleman. "We are backed to the Holy Spirit Plain, with a wider land and more people, and lasting combat is beneficial to us."

The old knight couldn't help knocking on the table: "Don't be too optimistic, Earl of Bahrain, the premise of long-term combat is that we can really maintain this situation for a long time. The Luolun family has been confronting the Tifeng people for many years. Their soldiers are more tenacious and can withstand pressure. The morale of our army is declining every day. If we can't achieve any results, even if there is enough food and troops, we can only be the one who can't hold on..."

The Duchess of Victoria, who was sitting at the head of the long table, suddenly interrupted the old knight: "Cromwell, don't be excited."

Moon Wales turned his head slightly and glanced at the Regent Duke beside him, then retracted his gaze and looked at Cromwell White Mountain opposite the table. He knew the old knight lord. The special surname "Baishan" is not common in Ansu, but it is a typical dwarf surname. This is because the ancestors of Cromwell White Mountain were indeed a dwarf: During the pioneering journey seven hundred years ago, there were not only elves in the alien race that fought side by side with humans. Some of them also became builders of the human kingdom in the process of great development. Some of them finally chose to integrate into human society and even became members of Ansu nobles. This is how the family of Cromwell White Mountain came from.

Perhaps influenced by the blood of the ancestors, the temper and character of this knight lord seemed too straightforward among many nobles who paid attention to elegance and etiquette. But Walesmoon knew that what Cromwell was talking about was the truth, but... since the Duchess of Victoria had already spoken, he no longer had to speak.

"Sorry, Grand Duke, but we must admit the facts," Cromwell White Mountain apologized, but his speech was still full of momentum. "The rebellion in the East is not as easy as we imagined. We did not drive them out of the Holy Spirit Plain before the end of the Fire Moon. They have already taken root in Fort Thorin. The Harvest Moon has arrived. The rebels will use the food we planted for half a year to feed themselves. Grand Duke Wilder, Duke Franklin, and His Highness of the Prince, I am willing to take the Knights to fight to help the Earl of Thorin to regain the fortress. We cannot let the rebels spend the Harvest Festival on the Holy Spirit Plain..."

"I never thought the East Rebels were easy to deal with," said Victoria Wilder lightly, "but the Knights of the Capital could not move, Earl of Crowwell, our rear was not safe."

The old knight stared at him, while the other knight lords and martial nobles next to him exchanged glances and started to talk in a low voice.

Duke Bodevin Franklin, who was sitting on the right hand of Moon in Wales, stood up at this moment: "I'll say that this news has just reached the fall of the Rock Fortress of Saint Sunil."

The entire military hall suddenly became quiet.

The Duke of the West was very clear, and there was no ambiguity in the short sentence. However, perhaps the amount of information in this sentence was too amazing, or perhaps the news was too much beyond everyone's expectations. Every nobleman who heard this sentence did not react. In the end, the Earl of Bahrain, who was sitting next to Cromwell, was the first to break the silence: "His Duke, are you talking about the... Rock Fortress in the south of the Holy Spirit Plain?"

"Does Ansu have a second Rock Fortress?" Bedwin Franklin said with a glance at the slightly fat Earl of Bahrain.

A nobleman from the capital couldn't help but murmur in shock: "There is so far from the eastern territory, and there are still mountains in the southern part of the Holy Spirit Plain in the middle. How could the rebels turn there..."

Perhaps the rebellion in the East had occupied the noble's thoughts, or perhaps the idea that "the many rural lords in the South are not worth mentioning" was still entrenched in his mind. This gentleman actually thought that the rebels in the East invaded the South through some means and attacked the Rock Fortress. He did not even think of another sleeping giant beast on the vast and remote land in the south.

But the others had already reacted. After a brief shock, Cromwell was the first to read a trace of information from the gloomy and serious expressions of the two Regents' grandfathers. He asked in disbelief: "Is it...Cecil?"

"That's right, it's not the Eastern Rebels, but the Cecil family," said Bodevin Franklin calmly. "Five days ago, the founding grand duke, Gowen Cecil, destroyed the defense of the Rock Fortress on the 58th of the Fire Moon, occupied the fortress, and seized all the soldiers and civilians in the fortress."

Cromwell's beard was shaking, and he seemed to want to speak, but the female Victoria Wilder followed Duke Franklin and said: "I know what you want to ask, but all the information has been interrupted at this time. Cecil's army broke through the fortress in a very short time. It was said that it took only a few days before they blocked the entire fortress, and the fortress defenders had no time to send any useful information.

"Only two Griffin messengers who risked their lives to break through the siege sent the situation of the fortress to the capital on the day it fell. The information that can be grasped now is that Duke Gowenceil used some unknown method to create a large number of extraordinary weapons with amazing power, and established an extremely powerful army in a short time...

"Maryland Onal, the lord of the fortress guarding the fortress is currently unknown. Before the fortress fell, Sir Maryland led the last knights out of the city to fight, but then the barrier of the fortress was destroyed by the magic of the Cecils.

"The Earl of Pompeii also received a magical arraignment, confirming the news of the fall of the fortress."

After the Duchess of Victoria finished all the known information, Cromwell White Mountain finally found a chance to speak. The knight lord with some dwarf blood frowned: "Cecil... Is the Cecil family the same as the Eastern Realm..."

"Cecil's army has not yet continued to move north. After occupying the Rock Fortress, they closed the northern gate of the fortress, as if they were going to hold on," said Duke Berdevin Franklin. "According to the news from the Earl of Pompeii, they ignored the easy-to-reach granaries and manors outside the northern walls of the fortress, nor did they plunder any unguarded border village."

It was obviously a very abnormal situation to occupy the fortress but not to rob the villages and manors around the fortress. The nobles at the scene couldn't help but whisper. Seeing this, Cromwell Baishan couldn't help coughing: "Cough cough, they haven't gone north now, which doesn't mean they will never go north."

"That's exactly what we worry about," said Beardwin Franklin. "The Cecil family...their current heads are Gowvenceil."

The nobles at the scene calmed down again, and they exchanged their eyes, and at the same time they finally recalled the several emergency letters that Sir Maryland, who guarded the fortress before the fall of Rock Fortress, had sent in succession.

More than 40 families in the southern border jointly launched an army to fight against Cecil, and were then quickly wiped out...

This amazing news also caused a stir among them and caused another military meeting, but no one thought that the Cecil family would be so rapid, and no one thought that the Rock Fortress would fall so simply.

They thought it would take more than a year before the situation in the south developed to the point where it would have to be faced.

Welshmoon, who had never spoken, sighed softly.

He remembered the warning that Veronica gave him not long ago. He still remembered that Veronica warned him that Govin Cecil was releasing a beast, but now it seems... the nobles of the royal capital may have lost the last chance to put the beast back into the cage.

"We once thought that what happened in the southern border was just a lord civil war, and the lords outside the Cecil family were the ones who took the initiative to provoke the war. But now it seems that everything happened in the southern border was under the control of our founding hero who had planned for a long time," said Duke Berdevin Franklin. "Now the fall of the Rock Fortress has become a fact. No matter how Cecil's army conquered a fortress in such a short time, they had occupied it and were ready for defense. Earl Cromwell, do you think we have the ability to take the fortress back?"

Cromwell White Mountain shook his head without thinking, "It is impossible unless we withdraw the army east of the Holy Spirit Plain at least half, and even if we withdraw half of the army, we may not necessarily defeat the Rock Fortress. I know Sir Onal, Maryland, who is a very powerful knight lord. His army is not worse than the Knights of the capital. He is not even the opponent of Duke Gowen Cecil. The strength of the Cecils is imaginable."

After saying that, the old knight lord shook his head: "What I am most curious about now is how the founding hero built such an army... less than two years, less than two years! He can actually knock down the Rock Fortress?"

"Every ancient family has hidden secrets, not to mention that this ancient family has a resurrected ancestor," said Beardwin Franklin in a jokey tone. "Maybe seven hundred years ago, Duke Gowenceil buried an undead legion of the Gondor era in the mountains of the southern border?"

Cromwell Baishan shook his head and said in a rough voice: "This is not funny at all..."
Chapter completed!