Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 58 Tunnels and Gunpowder

"3000 people? So many? Are you sure you didn't make a mistake?"

Before they knew it, July had arrived, and a huge army had assembled inside and outside Fort Sazar, and Herme also counted the number of this army.

In order to count the number of people, Dunwa and his men were almost exhausted.

To make statistics on such a huge crowd, the workload can be said to be terrifying.

And the number of the army that came out in the end surprised Herme a little.

3000 people, this number is about the same as the total strength of the two sides in the war under normal circumstances in the Northern Territory.

Although I said that I had used all the resources I could get out of this assembly, but this amount still made Herme feel caught off guard from the bottom of my heart.

"Yes, Commander Herme, with 3000 people, the appearance of such a large army is really beyond our expectations."

Marondo, who was in charge of statistics, also had a look of disbelief on his face. Although everyone knew that the number of troops that could be assembled this time would definitely not be small, 3000 troops were still beyond expectations.

"Tsk, so is there enough food? Dunwa, is there enough food? Do you need to get a batch urgently?"

Herme asked the question he subconsciously thought of, food, if there is not enough food, this army will become a burden instead.

"Don't worry about 1. When you ordered me to prepare a year ago, I started to store food. For this reason, I have been busy all year, and I even used the relationship of Vivaldi Bank to let them help I am looking for food. Let alone 1 people, 2 people are enough. The amount of food available is enough to feed this army for a year! Not to mention, most people bring a lot of food with them. The food is completely complete Don't worry at all."

Mentioning this, the dwarf, who was still tired, couldn't help but take pride in his face. It was all thanks to him that he was able to save so much food.

"That's fine, Dunwa, thank you for your hard work."

When Hemei heard that there was enough food, she immediately felt relieved. After all, Youdao had food in hand, so she didn't panic.

"Commander Herme, since the army has assembled, when will we start to move?"

Marondo asked the key question.

Although there will definitely be more Cossacks coming if we continue to wait, Marondo knows that his lord is already very satisfied with the existing troops, so he wants to ask when to send troops.

"Well, this question..."

"News from Wengerburg! Lord Herme, just as you said, news from Wengerburg! The Nilfgaardians have really crossed the border! The war has begun!"

Halfway through Herme's words, Viato rushed in and interrupted.

The young knight was panting now, holding a scroll in his hand with the black, yellow and red mountain-shaped arms of the Kingdom of Aedirn on it.

Compared to Viator's panic and other people's seriousness about the news, Herme just took the scroll calmly. He knew that war was inevitable, so there were no surprises.

Planning to scroll, Herme read the information on it line by line. Finally, he nodded. Very good, the information on it was similar to what he knew.

Then he handed the scroll to his subordinates to pass it among them.

"It is the transfer order of His Majesty the King, requiring me to lead all the forces in the territory to Aden. The Nilfgaardians have crossed the Yaruga River, Livia has become a battlefield, and Queen Mivi is working hard to stop the advance of Ni. King All the military forces in Aden are required to gather at Edelsberg and prepare to enter Livia to assist the Livia army."

When Hemei narrated the core information, everyone had almost finished circulating the scroll, and now everyone looked at Hemei solemnly, waiting for his order.

"Two days later, the army will set off. According to the king's order, go to the front line. Everyone, get ready. We will participate in an unprecedented battle."

While saying these words, Herme's heart was far less peaceful than he seemed.

It has been four years, and he has been dealing with this war for the past four years. He must get what he wants in this war!
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When the order to move out was issued, the entire Fort Sazar jumped up and down.

In the past month, an industrial chain has formed around the huge army assembled, providing soldiers and Cossacks with all kinds of services, whatever services they want.

But now that the army was about to move out, these things had to be shoveled out, and the vendors were ordered to leave immediately.

If it fails to arrive within the stipulated time, the guards of Fort Sazar will directly knock down the stall.

These guards may have taken money from these peddlers and turned a blind eye to some of their illegal activities, but now, since the above has ordered, they have to carry out the order.

The soldiers and Cossacks who were about to go to Aden were also flying around in various ways. Many of them had forgotten what they were here for during the month of stationing.

Some people have even pawned their weapons and armor because of gambling or consumption, and now they are about to go to war, so they are anxious like ants on a hot pot.

However, it is chaotic down here, but the work is still progressing steadily.

Many people have been waiting for this moment for a long time, especially the officials and guards of Fort Sazar, as well as many soldiers who are eager to go.

With their efforts, it is embarrassing, but at least the progress is constantly advancing.

In this way, two days later, a large army was ready for conquest.

Although there was a lot of nonsense in the middle, the army was assembled again.

Before sending out troops, Herme gave an impassioned speech on the watchtower of his main castle.

He angrily reprimanded Nilfgaard for provoking border conflicts and starting wars (in fact, Herme knew that there were many twists and turns in it, but he certainly cannot say that this is an issue that should be discussed by the historians of later generations), and then announced that he would go to the West Against the Nilfgaardian slave masters.

Hemei promised that the soldiers who followed him could win countless spoils in this war, and everyone would get rich.

Here, Herme received the most cheers, after all, this is the most realistic for everyone.

Who cares about your reason for starting the war? The Cossacks who dominate here are all here for money. Everyone wants to get rich, make a lot of money, and make a lot of money.

Herme also knew this, but that was the only way to say it. There was no way to express her attitude.

Next, that was naturally the departure of Herme's army.

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"Goodbye, Katya, you must take good care of yourself during this time, and leave most of the work to Dunwa, don't force yourself too much, remember to pay attention to your health, and children, and you must listen to the midwife and doctor .”

With his back to the huge queue that was advancing, Hemei explained to his wife in a rambling manner.

It's like the last exhortation of an old mother who left home to her children, and Katya is obviously annoyed by her husband.

"Okay, okay, I know all this, I'm not a kid anymore."

Kajialuo said with annoyance, the reason was slightly, because now she was full of reluctance to leave her husband, and the same was true for Herme.

The couple desire each other's bodies and despite being married for two years, they spend more than half their nights in active intercourse.

Partly, this is the need to create an heir, and partly, it is because of the desire between young couples.

In the past month, although Katya became pregnant, they did not continue to do those things. Hemei was afraid that this might affect her son.

But desire always needs to be released, so at such a time, Katya will use her feet to solve the problem for her husband.

This shows the strong desire between them, and the couple's fascination with each other.

"After the war is won, I will be back soon."

In the end, Herme said so firmly, and then he turned his horse's head and rode straight towards the long queue. He didn't look back, because he was afraid that his emotions would not be able to hide.

And Katya just sighed and watched her husband leave.

This kind of scene has also been staged in other places in the queue, and there are always families or lovers of soldiers who come to see them off.

And they often don't lead the couple to control their emotions so well, that scene is touching.

But in the end, this army is still on the way forward. Under the banner of the Falcon Falcon and the banner of the black, yellow and red mountain pattern, they headed for the Blue Mountain Tunnel and headed west.

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"Hey, somewhere by the Zaar
A young Cossack mounts his horse.

He bid farewell to the girl next to him affectionately
Sadly he will be separated from Harkland

Hey, hey, hey, Xiang Falcon!
Fly over mountains, forests, fields and valleys
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells
My lark in the meadow..."

Cheerful singing echoed among the marching Cossacks. Singing this ballad, the marchers felt stronger under their feet and moved faster.

Cossacks with flutes, snare drums and lutes also played their instruments, matching the tune of the singing, making the singing even more exciting.

Whether it is the fully armed Sazaburg militia, the registered Cossacks in full armor, or the ordinary Cossacks with shirtless arms, Ataman and their subordinates, and the Sechi Cossacks who are most like soldiers. singing this song.

As for this song, it was "written" (referring to copying) by Herme, and it was called "Hey, Falcon", or he composed the music himself.

Once released, it became the hottest ballad in the Land of Cossacks.

This song is very in line with the aesthetics of the Cossack land, and the meaning expressed is also the deepest feeling of the people in this land.

Of course, this song is also popular in the north. It is a well-known ballad in itself, and it is only natural that it has become popular. Now "Hey, Falcon" has become Herme's second representative work.

So after releasing this song, Master Dan came from Novigrad to exchange artistic experience with Herme.

And our Hermione's level is low, and he tried his best not to reveal his secrets when he first communicated about "A Song of Ice and Fire".

So at that time, Herme directly refused to see Dandelion on the grounds of self-cultivation, and then sent him a bunch of gifts to invite him away.

But now, listening to the ballad he "created" echoed in the army, Hemei was extremely proud and felt very comfortable.

Although being a civil servant is very boring, it feels really good to be worshiped as a cultural master.

When Herme's army arrived, many passers-by would watch curiously on the side of the road. It was not the first time for many people to see the marching army. It was the first time for them to see such a huge army. Their jaws almost dropped in shock. up.

Herme hoped that more people would come to see it. This is also a way to show strength. Of course, the more onlookers the better.

Soon, Sazarburg's army came to the entrance of the Blue Mountain Tunnel.

The soldiers of Aedirn who guarded here moved the fortifications to let Herme's army pass.

Hemei was already acquainted with the guard of the Blue Mountain Tunnel, and Hemei did not forget to give the captain some favors. The relationship between the two parties was very good.

However, when he saw the huge army following Herme, he was still very surprised. He didn't expect that Herme could gather such a huge army.

After deciding to write a letter to report this information to His Majesty the King as soon as possible, it was natural to have a pleasant chat with the Earl of Sazarburg.

Then he explicitly and secretly asked Hemei to take care of his nephew, who had gone to work in Fort Sazar.

In this regard, Hemei naturally generously agreed, isn't it just to take care of a young man, just send it to the guard team, and the guards of Fort Sazar are largely used to resettle people.

Herme has always attached great importance to these low-level officers. Regardless of how small they are, they hold key positions.

Next, the army entered the Blue Mountain Tunnel. Most of the people in this army have experience, so they can easily complete it.

But on the way forward, Herme encountered something beyond her expectations.

"...The situation on Shaned Island is roughly like this. At present, the situation is still insufficient, and there is still too little news. The next thing is the matter directly related to our country. The battle report of Livia is getting worse and worse. It's getting worse every day."

Riding his horse forward at the forefront of the army, watching the Cossack cavalry ahead, Herme listened to Marondo's words.

The Cossacks who opened the way were selected by Heme from various Ataman war gangs. Scouting and opening the way are extremely important things, and this must be done by the elite.

Bogo led them, and the elite Xieqi he led was the core of the cavalry, playing the role of command node, just like the Xieqi Cossacks distributed among ordinary Cossacks.

The captain of the guard first mentioned the coup d'état on Shaned Island, and Herme didn't care much about this node event in the original book.

The essence of this coup is that the Warlocks of the Northern faction and the Imperial faction fought due to their internal differences, and our Geralt and Ciri were involved, and Geralt was unfortunately beaten by the original boss Wigfortz The leg was broken, and then the father and daughter were unfortunately separated, and then there was the story of Geralt looking for his daughter and Ciri wandering in the provinces of the empire.

The powerful Warlock Brotherhood was disbanded because of this incident, and the Warlock Brotherhood, which played a huge role in the First Northern War, completely withdrew from the game.

In this regard, Herme is very happy to see that the Warlock Brotherhood is not finished, so how can he keep going.

What's more, without the Brotherhood of Warlocks, there is one less player in the political game.

Therefore, he has an attitude of "knowing" about the affairs of Shaned Island. In comparison, he cares more about the battle in Livia.

"Although the main force of Livia's army is still there and has repelled Nilfgaard's first attack, the empire's army is obviously more. According to past information, Livia's country is very unstable and has always been There are capitulators operating in it, and they seem to be a big political force in Rivia."

The information Marondo said came from the internal report of the Kingdom of Aden.

Different from the propaganda that other than victory is another victory, the internal briefing will release all the exact information collected, so that important people in the kingdom can understand the situation and allow them to make correct actions and judgments.

Now, after reading the internal briefing, Marondo gave Hemeti his own opinion.

"Livia will surrender, Queen Mi Wei can't suppress the capitulators in the country."

Herme said directly that Marendo was taken aback by this, which was a standard defeatist remark.

If ordinary soldiers say this, if they are unlucky, they will inevitably be dealt with. But if Herme's words spread, it will definitely affect morale.

The captain of the guard hurriedly looked around nervously. Fortunately, there were Herme's guards all around. These people were fellow villagers who had followed Herme for many years, and they had been promoted to knights by Herme. Their words were very strict.

"Just wait and see, Marondo, what I say cannot be false."

Herme continued to speak firmly, why do you think he knew?Well, isn't this the advantage of the traversers?

When Marondo heard this, he didn't continue to say, no matter what Herme said was right or wrong, arguing with the boss is a thing without wisdom after all.

Seeing that Marondo had calmed down, Herme was not interested in saying more.

But another thing caught Herme's attention.

That is, in front of their team, a resting caravan suddenly appeared.

This caravan has four or five large carriages, all of which are covered with canvas to hide the things underneath.

The Cossack cavalry who opened the way have surrounded the caravan.

The Cossack cavalry moved very quickly. When they saw someone in front of them, they rode their horses and galloped over to separate them from the carriage.

Before, most of the caravan members were discussing something, only a few people were guarding the carriage, and after the Cossacks found them, they immediately started to act.

It is precisely because of this that the Cossack cavalry can easily separate these people from the carriage.

In any case, it is always correct to separate people from goods.

Normally, the Cossack's reaction would never be so intense.

But now it is wartime, so the order they received is that they can act cheaply if they find suspicious existence.

There is nothing wrong with such a severe posture in wartime, and even the most severe critics will not say much on such issues.

Now the Cossack Meban is sternly interrogating the identities of these people in the common language with a thick accent.

These caravan members did look suspicious. Their faces were all covered under hoods, and they looked mysterious, giving people a feeling of "this is not a good person."

That's why the Cossacks reacted so violently after discovering the existence of these people. They rushed up and forcibly separated the hooded men from the carriage, and even knocked over several people directly for this.

During this period, they directly drew their swords and slashed as soon as they saw something wrong with these people, which also successfully deterred these guys.

And their actions were successful, and it was precisely because they took such a desperate gesture that those hooded men were able to be driven over.

The quality of these people is obviously not very good. They reacted very slowly amidst the rapidity of the Cossacks. They didn't react until the Cossacks surrounded and drove them away, and the reaction was panic.

Herme was very satisfied with the actions of the Cossacks. This group of people did look suspicious, and it was the most correct thing to do.

In order to strengthen control, Hemei also called on the riders around him to step forward and surround those people.

It was at this moment that those people made a move. They seemed very panicked just now, but now they all acted in unison, as if they saw Herme's army.

They drew their swords directly from the cloak, and suddenly fought the Cossacks.

The Cossacks were not afraid either. They were already on guard against these suspicious people's sudden attack. Seeing their attack, they went up to them without fear and began to fight.

These hooded men also lift their hoods in battle.

And under the hoods, there is no doubt that they are the faces of elves, and under the cloaks, there are also hard armors. On the surface, they are Scoia'tael.

It's just that although they fought bravely, those unfamiliar or even completely amateurish movements ruthlessly demonstrated their identities as rookies.

Scoia'tael?What are the Scoia'tael doing here?They are not in the south to cooperate with the advance of the imperial army, what are they doing here?
This was the question that first appeared in Herme's mind, and then Herme found that the elves were desperately rushing towards the carriages, and some were trying to throw torches on them.

The Cossacks selected by Herme are all veterans of the battlefield. Although they don't understand what these elves are planning to do, but based on the thinking that what the enemy wants to do, we must stop them, and they try their best to prevent these elves from achieving their goals.

More soldiers went to support the Cossacks, and the disadvantage of the elves was getting bigger and bigger.

But even so, an elf rushed to the side of the carriage, but he was still killed.

And before he was killed, he tore off the canvas from the carriage, and seeing what was on it, Herme was so nervous that her heart rose to her throat.

Because it was a pile of wooden barrels, the style of these barrels Herme knew, they were barrels for gunpowder, and these Scoia'tael definitely came for that, so much gunpowder...

"Stop them! Stop them immediately! They must not be allowed to succeed. Come on, if you don't stop them, all of us will be finished."

Hemei said so, and then he pulled out the scimitar of the elf royal family, and rode his horse to the place of fighting.

And beside him, everyone who realized the seriousness of the matter followed closely behind.

(End of this chapter)