Imperial Crown.

Chapter 362 Did I use a trick?
Many thanks to Qidian Dad [Book Friend 20230701122331537] for the 100 reward!

……

Duchy of Aivor, 57 kilometers southwest of Blue Castle.

This is a small town called "Winterspring Valley", but now it is home to an army of 20.

That’s right, a full 20!
There were 20 troops, and there were nearly 35 serfs serving them.

The originally small town was almost completely submerged in the military camp. From a distance, it looked like a forest without leaves.

With so many people eating and drinking, the amount of food consumed every day is astronomical.

Moreover, they were mobilized from the entire Principality of Eivor. Not only do they have subtle cultural differences among them, but people from some regions have even looked down on each other since ancient times.

There are constant conflicts, big and small.

They would fight if they lost a gambling game, if they robbed a woman, if they robbed wine or meat, or even if they just didn't like each other.

There were also many nobles, both big and small, who took the opportunity to seek revenge and fish in troubled waters.

Death is a common thing. It would be a rare thing if no one died one day.

Even the number of soldiers who died every day could become a matter of gambling.

In this situation, whoever is responsible for coordinating the overall situation will be the number one unlucky person in the entire continent.

But Quentin is the most unlucky one.

There is no way, after all he is the Marshal of the Principality,
"Whoever wants to be the marshal can do it!"

Quentin flipped through the documents in front of him, his chest heaving with anger, almost exploding.

20 troops, including 11 fucking marquises and earls.

It is said that women are prone to conflict when they are together. The same is true for high-ranking nobles. There are always those who dislike each other.

If you don't like each other, you can only change campsites.

Yes, Quentin can understand all of this, but...

"Don't bully people like this!"

A said he didn't want to be next to B and C, B and C said they didn't want to be next to D and E, and H said he couldn't be next to E and F, but hoped to be next to D. But D said he didn't like H's attitude...

We have changed it almost 10 times in a row, and every time someone is dissatisfied.

There's no end to this adjustment!

In fact, Quentin also knows the most fundamental problem.

He had no actual army under his control, and his title of grand marshal alone was not enough to suppress these nobles.

Who made Eivor VIII refuse to let the Guards leave the Blue Castle?
The nobles who retreated from Bolan City with Quentin, led by the Marquis of Aragon, united closely around Quentin.

But...

Quentin's face turned sour when this matter was mentioned.

In fact, the defeat at Boland City was not a serious one.

The situation at that time was that Raven's Eagle Army was busy taking over the city of Bolan, and although the 1000 heavy cavalry led by Eric were extremely powerful, Quentin and his men were only thinking about escaping.

It is true that the team was dispersed, but in terms of casualties, there were actually not many.

Excluding the more than 2 troops under Frank and the dead in battle, there are still more than 9 people left.

More than 7 of them fled, but according to Quentin's usual estimation, he should be able to gather at least 2/3 of them. By then, he, Aragon and the other two families will unite, and the 8 troops will be enough to have considerable say.

But who could have imagined that out of the more than 7 people, nearly 6 disappeared once they ran away.

We also caught a few soldiers who refused to return to the team, and got similar answers after interrogation:

If they beat Raven, it would be of no benefit to these soldiers; if they lose, it would be good if they can escape. If they can't escape, they will lose their thumbs at best and their heads at worst, and their bodies will not be able to rest in peace.

After all, they don't want to become part of that "Jingguan".

Therefore, Quentin, Aragon and others only have a total of just over 3 people.

And among an army of 20, 3 people do not have much say.

Not to mention, due to the loss of the serfs, others would have to take care of the logistics and profit sharing.

So Quentin, as the Grand Marshal, must feel so frustrated.

Thinking of this, Quentin couldn't help complaining:
"Gatugan, you old man, just follow the Grand Duke's orders. Why are you arguing with him?"

Although both of Gatugen's proposals were rejected, the prime minister still fulfilled his obligations conscientiously.

Eivor VIII did not want troops from all over the country to crowd into the Blue Castle.

Firstly, he felt that doing so would "destroy the artistic sense of the city" and secondly, he did not want to leave a cowardly impression on the outside world.

After all, it was not a good look for an entire duchy to be blocked in the royal capital by a baron like Raven.

So Gatugen took a compromise approach.

Troops from all over the country were summoned to defend the royal capital, but the gathering place was set in Winterspring Valley.

This is the only way to Blue Castle.

"Marshal, something bad has happened!" Aragorn rushed in from outside.

Since arriving in Winterspring, they have been working together, and Aragorn has been trying to curry favor with Quentin, so he has played the role of a half-clerk.

He took two breaths before he finally finished speaking:

"Raven is here!"

Quentin remained calm.

Just like a proverb circulating in the Principality of Eivor -

The end of ignorance is experience.

Having faced Raven once, Quentin was mentally prepared this time.

They now have 20 troops. Although the camp defense is not as good as that of Bolan City, it is still not something that Raven's more than 1 troops can defeat.

What followed was nothing more than the same old routine, just setting up camp and confronting each other.

With the intelligence agency "Wolf Kiss" in hand, Quentin heard all the news from the cabinet and knew what kind of pressure Keynes was facing.

Moreover, the Grand Duchess did not hide from him the fact that she had contacted Teacher Quilly.

Anyway, the longer you delay, the better it will be, so why rush?

"Got it." Quentin said calmly, "Pass the order down, have them defend their camps, send scouts farther away, and prepare the long-range troops to guard against a surprise attack by the Wind King's troops."

Aragorn was still sweating profusely:
"But...Hausmann, Kontanz, and Archibald are competing with each other and have already led their troops out of the camp!"

"What!?"

"Call them back to me quickly!!"

No one who has fought with Raven in the field has had a good ending!
How dare they?

……

When Raven saw the flying beasts of the Eivor people in the sky, he knew that he and his group had been discovered by the other side.

But this doesn't make Raven nervous.

The 1st and 2nd Corps of the Eagle Army have a total of 1 people.

The First Independent Corps has 4000 people.

The Slater family army led by Hyde consists of 5000 people.

As all the war horses and pack horses seized from horse thieves by Eagle City were delivered, almost every one of the 1 people had a horse.

This is why, in just 6 days after setting off, Raven was able to lead his team from Bolan City all the way to the heart of the Eivor region!

The dust raised by the march of an Arima troop of this size could not even cover it up.

So there is no need to care at all.

Riding over a high slope, Raven saw from afar that at least 7 soldiers had left the Winterspring camp, formed a strong formation, and slowly moved forward.

But after seeing Raven and the others' whereabouts, he immediately stopped.

"The lineup is quite rigorous." Raven sneered: "I just don't know how it will turn out."

"Pass on my order, the entire army speeds up, dismount and line up 500 meters away from the enemy camp!" 500 meters is a distance that can be reached within 5 minutes even for heavily armored infantry.

For lightly armored infantry, 3 minutes is enough.

Starting to line up at this distance shows extreme contempt for the other party.

It also shows extreme self-confidence in oneself!
This kind of confidence is not only possessed by Raven, Eric, and Hyena, but also by every soldier in the Eagle Army!

The order was passed down through the flag, and the Eagle Army burst into a uniform shout:

"kill!!!"

The momentum rushed straight into the universe, almost poking a hole in the sky.

The rumbling of horses' hooves made the gravel on the ground jump.

800 meters...700 meters...600 meters...

Just when they were about to reach a distance of 500 meters, the enemy's relatively neat formation suddenly scattered!

It flowed out like green beans from a sack, and it couldn't be stopped!

Among the 7-strong army, three high-flying battle flags representing different nobles fluttered backwards.

This scene made Raven stunned!

He raised his arms:
"Pass my order, all troops stop!!!"

"Wind King Squadron, get closer to investigate the enemy situation!!!"

Raven's face was solemn.

He didn't think he was so famous that the enemy army would collapse at the sight of him.

After all, although he was called the Demon King, he was not a real devil from hell, and there was no aura of fear under his feet.

Moreover, if the enemy was really that weak, they should not have gone out of the city to form a battle line. The best strategy would have been to rely on the camp to defend the city.

So there is only one answer, that is, the other party has set some kind of trap, waiting for Raven to jump into it!
"The acting is really realistic."

Those 7 troops really seemed to be retreating.

"Throwing away all weapons and armor" is not just an expression, but the real behavior of these troops. Some of them even huddled where they were, as if they were too frightened to move.

There are quite a few of them, several hundred in total.

This kind of person is probably a death warrior.

"I didn't expect that there are still experts in the Principality of Aivor."

Raven's throat moved and he swallowed, suppressing the greed deep in his heart.

If he completely wiped out an army of 7, the seized supplies would be enough for him to make another fortune, and it would also significantly weaken the power of the Principality of Eivor again.

The opponent's coach must have big plans to dare to throw out such a bait!
So... where's the trap?
An ambush?
His own Wind King's troops have been conducting reconnaissance. If there is an ambush, there is no reason why they would not be discovered.

Or lead your troops to block my retreat like Palmer and his men did before?

Not right either.

Not to mention whether the Principality of Eivor can still squeeze out so many combat-ready soldiers. Even if the Principality of Eivor really called in a group of ghost soldiers that should not exist, Raven has been maintaining communication with the city of Bolan in the past few days, and if there was any discovery, there should have been news long ago.

"A magic trap that will be activated only after we have deployed our entire army?"

Raven used the Eye of Truth and looked at the battlefield where 7 people were previously stationed.

But apart from a few people carrying enchanted weapons, there was no trace of magic.

Feeling increasingly uneasy, Raven began to wonder if there was any flaw in his long-distance raid...

At this moment, the hyena roared:
"My Lord, you are truly amazing!"

Raven looked up subconsciously, then squinted his eyes involuntarily, rubbed his temples with both hands, closed his eyes and opened them again.

Only then was I sure that I was not seeing things.

But...what on earth is going on?!

The 7 troops ran at a very fast speed without anyone stopping them. Instead of returning to the camp, they went around the gaps between the camps and continued to flee northward.

In the half hour that Raven was thinking, they had already run several kilometers, and each of them seemed to have Warcraft bloodline.

Moreover, those camps that had been keeping silent also started to move at this time.

Instead of preparing for battle, they fled north like mad.

Even as they were fleeing, huge fires broke out in several camps.

An army of 20 men, just like that... collapsed! ?

Raven felt his head was full of question marks.

Even if we want to act, isn't the cost too high?

I haven't even entered the camp yet, why are you setting fire to it?

"Amazing, awesome, sir!" The hyena was still praising from the bottom of his heart:
"You always told me that you need to use your brain to fight. I didn't dare to say anything openly before, but I was actually not convinced in my heart."

"Now I am really convinced!"

"Last time, you used a strategy of sowing discord. What strategy did you use this time? You actually won this war without even staining your sword with blood!?"

Raven pulled the corners of his mouth apart and laughed dryly: "That's a secret."

Did I use any tricks? How come I don't know about it?
Am I really so lucky that I can scare the opponent to pee their pants as soon as I appear on the stage?

"Pass the order down, send a team to arrest the guys who stayed behind - be careful, and kill them if they resist."

"Then, have the scouts go to the camps that are not on fire to see what is going on. Pay special attention to checking the fire starters and the ground below. Be sure to beware of the enemy's traps."

The enemy's camps were arranged in a pattern of many stars surrounding a moon, with a total of 12 camps. In addition to the central camp, the two in the northeast were on fire.

After all, they were regular troops, and the layout of their camps was quite reasonable. The fire in these three camps did not spread to other camps.

The takeover of those camps that were not on fire was quite smooth.

There were no traps, no ambushes, only bags of food, fodder, and fine wine, and even a number of living cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and other livestock and poultry.

Raven picked a clean camp and entered it. Before he could sit down to rest, Hyde came running over to "demand punishment".

He sat down opposite Raven and complained:

"Raven, you are so unfriendly!"

"I've been following you for quite some time. I didn't show up in Bolan City last time, but you used a good trick this time, so I won't say much."

"But you should at least let me know beforehand, right?"

"I was ready to fight, but just as I was about to take off my pants, he ran away!"

"I won't say anything else. It's amazing that we won! I don't even think my dad has ever seen a victory like this."

At this point, he squinted his eyes and said, "Now that the matter is settled, just tell me what happened. What methods did you use?"

"I'll have something to brag about when I hold my grandchild in my arms in the future."

This series of rapid-fire attacks left Raven with no chance to speak. Now that he had finally finished speaking, Raven said:
"Hyde, it's not that I'm hiding this from you. In fact, until now, I still don't know what happened!"

Hyde frowned and looked at Raven, and said, "This face is really handsome. No wonder you are called 'Little Bee'. If I were a woman, I would definitely not be able to escape your mouth."

"What?" Raven didn't quite understand for a moment.

"I mean, we're all men, do you think I'd believe such a lie?" Hyde stood up and walked back angrily:
"If you don't say it, don't say it!"

Raven was so sad that he wanted to cry but had no tears.

I am clearly telling the truth, why don’t you believe it?
Am I the kind of person who would tell a lie?
Hyde was not the first, nor the last.

Next, until the evening, starting from Visdon and Eric, to Simon, to Akori, and even Lancha came, they all asked Raven from various angles what strategy he had used.

In their eyes, Raven was a man of unparalleled wisdom and strategy, and was simply the greatest military strategist of all time.

Raven himself almost believed it.

It was not until the night when the hyenas arrived that Raven finally relaxed a little:

"My Lord Baron, I have found out everything you requested!"

……

(End of this chapter)