The fire started, and the farmhouse with wooden walls and thatched roof was instantly engulfed in flames.

While [Zhong Tiefeng County] and [Shang Tiefeng County] still have the last trace of peace, this is not the case in other places.

Wargne County, Hammer Town, Oak Village.

Unarmed men and women were tied up in strings with hemp rope and whipped on their backs mercilessly as they stumbled away from their homes, crying all the way.

Not a single old man could be seen among the hundreds of captive Plato civilians, because old men without the ability to work were either left in their houses to be devoured by fire, or were killed directly.

In addition to the captives on the road, there were also carriages carrying food and utensils, horses carrying clothes and belongings, and... Telton people who were laughing and laughing.

If we go further and pass the small forest in front of us, these Platuan people will completely embark on the road of no return.

Suddenly, a young Plato man broke free from the bonds. He hid a knife on his body and secretly cut the rope while the barbarians were not prepared.

The young man immediately wanted to untie the woman behind him, but was pushed off the road by the woman in tears.

The sound of horse hooves and whistles came from behind, and the young man also shed tears and staggered towards the woods.

But two legs can't outrun four legs, and the sound of hoofbeats is getting closer and closer.

Fear occupied the young man's mind. He instinctively looked back and saw a black shadow coming towards him.

Amid his mother's screams, the young man was knocked down by Yiguduo Dootou.

The one who knocked down the young Platoan man was a Hird man about the same age as himself.

Under the urging of other Hittites, the young Hittite dismounted. He tremblingly drew the bow string, pointed at the heart of the man on the ground, turned his back to the riders, closed his eyes and let go.

The horn bow clanged, and other Hed people cheered and cheered.

The young Hud man opened his eyes and found that the arrow had missed its path and was stuck in the ground. He made no sound, silently retrieved the arrow cluster, saddled up on his pedals, hit his horse and followed the other Hud men.

This young Hed man is the son of [Yuanguang], a small leader who owns forty families, and [Yuanguang] is the friend and vassal of Qinglingyu Nayan [Red Moon].

Qinglingyu [Red Moon] has 600 households, and can be regarded as a small and powerful foreign tribe within the Teldun tribe.

According to the tradition of marching and fighting among the Hud people, the fire-warmers divided the Terdun tribe into left and right wings.

The left wing is mostly composed of the unreliable foreign faction Nayan, with a total of more than ten thousand cavalry;

The right wing was dominated by Na Yan, a direct relative of the Jin family, with nearly 8,000 people, commanded by the roaster himself.

According to the route agreed upon before the war, the two wings of Terdun will spread their wings like birds and separately plunder the newly cultivated provinces.

The left wing crossed the river from the lower reaches, roughly entering the newly cultivated land from [Wagne County] and [Maplestone City].

The right wing crosses the river from the upper reaches, roughly entering the newly cultivated land from [Tiefeng County].

Another wing of troops pretended to attack Jinghu County, involving the power of the Plato people.

On the surface, the upper reaches are barren, with vast land and sparsely populated areas, while the lower reaches are rich and densely populated. It is a favor to allow Nayan from the foreign department to plunder the lower reaches.

In fact, it's just the opposite. According to the roaster's idea: although the lower reaches are fatter, it is also more difficult to cross the river, and the main combat power of the Palatuan people is deployed downstream.

During the great plunder in mid-September, even the coalition forces of the Hart tribes on the south coast failed to gain favor in Jinghu County.

Let Nayan from the outside faction go to the lower reaches to involve the Platoans, while he leads his own troops to plunder the upper reaches, and then wait for opportunities to go north, go east, or retreat according to the battle situation - this was the original plan of the roasters.

The Terdun people obediently accepted this strategy, which was obviously favoring one over the other. Even Nayan, a foreigner, didn't find it strange. There is a difference between closeness and distance. Shouldn't fat meat be given to relatives instead of to outsiders?

However, things don't always progress as planned.

When Tiefeng County showed an extremely tenacious will and stubbornly blocked Teltown's right wing from the Bighorn River, it was Teltown's left wing that caused extremely serious damage in [Wargne County], even threatening the jurisdiction of Maplestone City.

Because he knew that his fighting power was insufficient and he did not have a big leader to take the lead, Zhu Nayan of the left wing simply gave up the idea of ​​"fighting a war."

Before entering the newly cultivated land, Terdun's left wing dispersed in a flurry. Nayan and Cota, large and small, acted separately, each crossing the river according to his or her own ability. Whoever grabbed it would get it.

Some of them even turned around quietly while driving their herds, smeared the soles of their feet with oil, and went home quietly.

On the other hand, the military governor of Wargne County did not evacuate the village, reduce the number of troops, and focus on defense as suggested by the rebel leader Montagne.

He deployed his troops on a river bank more than 200 kilometers wide. The overall structure was like an egg, "hard on the outside and soft on the inside." There was a squadron of hussars inside to clean up and break up the enemy.

It's hard to say that his decision-making was bad, while Winters's decision-making was good.

Because Winters made his judgment based on the premise that [Wargne County's military strength is empty].

Without enough troops, it was impossible to effectively defend the river, so Winters suggested that Wargne County give up the river bank, evacuate the countryside, and guard the forts and towns to minimize losses.

But the actual situation is that [six infantry brigades are secretly gathering in Wargne County for the coming year's campaign against the rebels] - Winters certainly does not know this.

If arranged properly, maybe Warne County can be like Zhongtiefeng County in keeping the Terdun barbarians out of the river.

However, the Teltun people arrived much faster than the military governor of Wargne County expected. Before the troops from Wargne County were in place, the leading troops of Teltown's left wing had already crossed the river.

As soon as the Teltons broke into Wargne County, they scattered like mercury over the ground.

The Wargne County garrison, which lacked cavalry, was in a passive situation of "they could beat them, but they couldn't catch up".

If they set up their battle formations and fight openly, the Plato army, which is inferior in strength, can still beat the Telduans into panic.

However, the Hed people have always been "not shy about running away". They will avoid places where resistance is strong and go to other places when reinforcements arrive.

There were only about a hundred hussars in Wargne County, but the first group of Terton barbarians to invade Wargne County had fourteen turu (centurions) and more than a thousand cavalry.

A squadron of hussars is simply unable to deal with so many barbarians, and they will be eaten in turn if they are not careful.

The commander of Wargne County had a hard heart and did not dispatch any troops to reinforce the defense line along the river. Instead, he severely urged all troops to rush to their deployment positions.

As for the Terton people who have entered Wargne County, the Wargne County commander's response strategy is to "intercept and kill the enemy when they cross the Glorious River westward and withdraw from Wargne County".

For a military commander who is responsible for the safety of a county, this may be the most reasonable decision. Because as long as the river bank defenses collapse, more, more, more barbarians will flow into Wargne County.

But for the villages that lacked protection and failed to be evacuated in time, this was tantamount to a catastrophe. They were like eggs without shells, and the Teltown people could eat them however they wanted.

This is how the tragedy in Oak Village happened.

When the Hammercastle Cavalry arrived at Oak Village, the village had been wiped off the map, leaving only the blackened ruins and a flickering fire.

As the gateway to Iron Peak County, Winters left a small force of men garrisoned at Hammerkeep.

Seeing the thick smoke rising into the sky from the north, the commander of Fort Hammer immediately led his cavalry to rush to the rescue, but it was still a step too late.

Smelling the burning smell of death, the war horses snorted anxiously.

The Commander of Hammerfort is a gloomy man with a red birthmark covering half of his face.

"Search." He cherished his words like gold and ordered concisely and concisely.

The scouts dispersed, looking for survivors and clues.

"We found some corpses, all burned to a state of disgrace. There were no survivors." Some elderly sergeants reported. The old sergeants were so angry that veins popped out on their foreheads: "I didn't spare any of them. They were either killed or kidnapped."

The man with the red birthmark looked increasingly gloomy.

"There are fresh tracks and hoof prints on the road to the west of the village!" Another scout reported: "The barbarian must have gone west!"

"How much?" the man asked.

"You can't tell." The scout shook his head: "The tracks of humans and animals are mixed together, at least a hundred people and a hundred riders."

"Chase!" the man with the birthmark ordered.

"Sir, no! Wait!" The old sergeant hurriedly stopped in front of the man with the birthmark: "There are too few of us. We only have eighteen riders in total. It's useless to catch up!"

The man with the birthmark said nothing and stared at the old sergeant.

The old sergeant was born in Dussac and was the most senior among the eighteen cavalrymen present. Even he was stared at with fear by the man with the birthmark.

He tried hard to dissuade him: "If the Hud barbarians have the size of a centurion, they are not something we can deal with. If the barbarians appear here, they can enter Tiefeng County by land. The top priority should be to report the news to Gévaudan.

Besides, this is Wargne County, and we shouldn’t be here. If someone sees us, they might put a bucket of shit on us!"

"This man is not dead!" Another scout shouted from a distance.

The man with the birthmark and the old sergeant heard the sound and immediately urged their horses to get closer.

I saw a young man lying in the farmland with his face covered in blood. If his chest was not still rising and falling weakly, it would be almost indistinguishable from a corpse.

The old sergeant got off his horse with great effort, touched the young man's neck for a while, then looked up at the man with the birthmark: "He's still alive."

"Take it away." The man with the birthmark pulled the reins: "Withdraw."

…

…

Tiefeng County, Niuti Valley.

According to the order of the tribune of Montagne, nearly a hundred "chopping stakes" were erected in the town square, completely occupying the square.

The so-called chop stake is a strong log, half of which is driven into the soil and the other half is exposed on the ground.

Whether you are a military noble or an ordinary soldier, the first lesson in learning swordsmanship is to chop wood stakes and practice using force.

This is the meaning of the proverb "It takes three days to chop a wooden stake, and even an idiot can go to war."

The word "exerting force" sounds simple, but it is difficult to do. Just a small thing like [keeping the blade of the sword consistent with the trajectory of the swing] actually requires persistent practice.

If the posture of the sword blade is wrong, that is, if you hit someone with the sword blade, not only will it be unable to exert its power, but it will also easily cause the sword to break.

It's better to just use a stick - the mallet doesn't care about the angle anyway.
To be continued...