Chapter 223 “Knights of the white feather” (part two)
After a long period of silence, Du Wei finally lets out a deep sigh because he knew the words coming out of Alpha were true.
Even if he did in the future raise the flag in the Northwest….. But can it really be regarded as the Rowling House?
What truly made up the Rowling House is the hundreds of thousands of people living in the Rowling Plains, that is the true Rowling House! Not the Desa Province……. The two cannot be intertwined!
It would appear he had taken his promise of restoring the family honor too lightly… …
If he wants to truly restore the Rowling House, then he needs to take back the Rowling Plains, take back the hundreds of thousands of real Rowling citizens! … … Ha, as if Prince Son would agree to such arrangements?
For this night is a long one for Du Wei… …
Despite the setback, Du Wei did not let himself fall into depression because by dawn, he had already livened up his spirit to walk out of the study room.
No matter what the future holds, the problems placed before him now should be his main concern.
40,000 Northwest soldiers are only ten miles away from his city. Then there are the 10,000 Prairie wolves creeping through his territory.
Being a Lord, the Lord of this land, Du Wei cannot allow such a thing to take course!
Convening everyone to the city wall, Du Wei looked out into distant and could easily survey the entire enemy camp with his Eagle eye.
In a single night, the Northwest army managed to finish setting up camp ten miles out.
“Taking advantage of the darkness, I sent some brothers out last night to gather intel on the enemy.” Longbottom curls his lips downward: “Those bastards got even more soldiers again. Last night, large amount of supplies were delivered to the main body along with reinforcements. According to my calculation, the amount should be enough to let 40,000 people eat and drink for a whole month. In other words … … These guys want to trap us inside the city for a whole month.”
Du Wei laughs coldly at this: “They sure placed a big bet!”
Then he declared: “Gentlemen, I have some bad news to announce. I got reliable information that these people are here with ill intent! They want to lock us in here in order to cover up the prairie spies lurking in our land! There are at least 10,000 of them running wild!”
The moment his words rang out, everyone had their face change!
The one to react the quickest is Philip: “My lord! We have to send our troops out as soon as possible! Everyone knows how terrifying the prairie people are. They are a bunch of bloodthirsty wolves! If left unchecked, a pack of wolves like this entering our territory will bring great suffering and losses to the people of Desa Province! Burning, killing, looting, there’s nothing they won’t do!”
“But we don’t have enough forces.” Dadaneier frowned: “Your excellency, are you sure those prairie natives have decentralized their forces? If so, how are we going to find all those bastards when we only have a few thousand men’s here?”
Philip immediately became angry: “Dadaneier! Should we just watch these wolves run wild in our land? The ones to bleed will only be our citizens!!”
Dardanelle immediately argued back: “Sir Philip, that’s not what I meant! It’s just that I’m looking at it from a purely military standpoint. We simply don’t have enough forces to deal with the prairie natives because cavalry riders can only be dealt with cavalry riders, and our cavalry riders…….”
At this point, he glanced over to Longbottom. The meaning behind his eyes was obvious to everyone: we don’t have a lot of cavalry riders!
For the first time ever, Du Wei started to question Longbottom’s recruiting methods. The reason is no other, due to his overly high standards, Du Wei only has around one cavalry regiment for mobilization.
3,000 cavalry riders.
How is that number going to deal with 10,000 prairie wolves? Aside from being outnumbered, the enemy is moving independently in small groups!
Although Du Wei also supported Longbottom’s recruitment method before, but…… Isn’t the numbers too small? He’s already been in the Northwest for over a year, yet, his cavalry regiment only numbers around 3,000 people while his infantry forces is at 16,000……
“Ahem!!” Longbottom finally coughed up to talk.
The moment his cough came out, everyone nearby went quiet. After all, Longbottom is the only person that truly enrolled in the army. Whether it is Philip or Dadaneier, these two never actually had any real military experience.
“Gentlemen, I think the situation is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.” Longbottom eyes showed a glimmer of hope: “Don’t forget, Knight Robert still has two infantry regiments outside!”
Knight Robert is in fact not within Loulan City right now. Being Du Wei’s leading general of his infantry forces, Knight Robert nominally has a total of four regiments – 16,000 soldiers – under his command with the strongest standing by in Loulan City.
Then another regiment stationed at the former capital, Anglia City.
The remaining 8,000 people are scattered across the Desa Province to act as the local garrison forces.
Philip knit his brow as he brought his own worries forward: “That is right, but Knight Robert’s two infantry regiments are scattered across the land. And … … Both regiments are a mix of veterans and recruits, therefore, their fighting capabilities aren’t guaranteed. If they were to encounter the enemy without any preparations, they are likely prone to be swallowed up.”
“But don’t forget … … The prairie riders are also separated in their movements.” Longbottom cries out: “Although they have over 10,000 people, but as long as they are broken up, then they aren’t as terrifying as they can be. Moreover, our troops are stationed across different towns. Based on Knight Robert’s cautionary personality, he would have ordered his men to be extra careful during this period due to Du Wei’s prior warning over the spring drill. Even if the prairie wolves want to attack, I highly doubt they will find much opportunity to sneak a blow to our forces if our men stay within bounds….. Of course, we can’t just sit back over this incident; nevertheless, I also don’t want everyone start assuming the situation is as pessimistic as everyone makes it to be.”
Du Wei pondered for a moment, as the Supreme Leader, he needs to make the final decision: “I trust Knight Robert, he is a trustworthy person. Under his leadership, I believe the prairie wolves won’t be able to get any advantage over him…… Our main concern right now is in finding a way to send our cavalry riders out! Otherwise, the situation will become even more worrisome if time continues to tick.”
Since the Duke made his decision, the following people had nothing else to argue about as they looked towards their lord and master.
“We need a way to get out.” Dadaneier spoke up: “It’s clear the Northwest Army is encircling us! Since they are colluding with the prairie natives, then they aren’t going to let our troops out of their circle. When Longbottom went out to scout last night with his men, the enemy countered with several parties of a thousand strong to keep a wary eye on them. If we were to break out of this, we might have to fight the Northwest Army for once!!!”
Du Wei took one look at the Dadaneier, then at the Longbottom, then at the other leading military officers present. One thing he noticed was their determination and eagerness that was plastered on his men’s faces.
“Fight head on?” Contemplating the idea for a moment, Du Wei was just about to give the order when Philip interjected: “Your excellency, maybe there’s another way.”
“Huh?”
Phillips smiled calmly as he spoke: “My Lord, you forget the Marquise is currently inside the city. I’ve heard that General Rugaard is also a faithful admirer of her ladyship! Since this is so, I’m certain the army outside will be quite reluctant in blocking the Lister household’s men.”
After a pause, Philip grinned wildly: “When her ladyship came to visit this time, she brought with her the ‘Knights of the White Feather’!”
Du Wei’s eyes lights up with enlightenment.
Philip continues to chuckle: “Considering your friendship with the Marquise, I believe it won’t be difficult to borrow the White Feather name from her. The only difficult part of this plan is likely outfitting our forces. As you know, the Knights of the White Feather are famed for their silver armor and white horses. It wouldn’t be too hard to find the necessary armors from the warehouse, but the horses will have to be disguised with paint because we simply don’t have that many white horses around….. Lastly, we just need you to go borrow the White Feather banner from her ladyship and the plan is a go.”
“But …… The Knights of the White Feather only came with a total of 200 people …… And, as we all know, their roster only numbers up to 500 people. If we rush out with 3,000 cavalry riders in one go, anyone would know it’s a fake.” Dadaneier frowned with displeasure.
While Philip only smiled without speaking, Du Wei finished the answer for him: “This is not difficult to overcome! Every knight is allowed to have four squires to accompany him. As long as we keep the number at 800, the enemy won’t know if it’s true or not even if they investigate. Splitting our 3,000 soldier’s apart into four groups, we can then head out in four directions. Humph, even if one group encounters an enemy unit, they won’t be able to see through us…….”
It’s not like this world have telephones or mobile texting! Even if all four groups encountered the enemy, the other party won’t be able to reach their allies to realize something was up. By the time they do realize, Du Wei and his forces would be long gone by then.
The only problem is … … He’s going to owe the Marquise another favor!
As expected, the Marquise easily agreed to Du Wei’s request without hesitation. In fact, she even offered to lend him the real 200 Knights of the White Feather so that he can divide them into four teams. This way around, the chance of them being found out would become even lower.
In addition to this, Mrs. Lister puts forward a little request and that is to let Muse tag along on this trip.
“Muse is after the family heir. With him by your side, even if the army does intercept your group, Muse can step in to help defuse the situation.,,,,,,” At this part, Mrs. Lister curls her lip into a smile: “Even if General Rugaard were to be present, he would still have to give my family some face.”
Thinking over the request, Du Wei knows that it will be slightly inconvenient with the kid tagging along, but whatever…..! As a Mage with the strength of a sixth rank, how can he not handle a kid during a fight?
Philip is truly a capable guy. In the shortest period of time, he managed to gather enough silver armor and amassed enough painted horses for all 3,000 men.
Not even noon yet, the city gates to Loulan City all opened at the same time and from it, four forces of horsemen all rushed out of the capital in different directions.
According to the distribution order, Du Wei, Longbottom, Hussein each led their own respective group, but the last group lacked a proper leader. Although the last group had a captain of the cavalry regiment to lead it, but the guy’s strength is limited. If they somehow encountered the prairie wolves….. There’s no guarantee the enemy won’t have a shaman in their mist!
Thinking it over, Du Wei called over captain Alpha to join the last group.
This way, all four groups will have their own powerhouse to standby for emergency. His strength may be only at the sixth rank, but Du Wei is confident that in the key moment, the dormant Semei will step forth to save him.
As for Longbottom’s team, he may be strong, but he’s not someone that could one man an army. As insurance, he specifically asked Old Alley’s two disciple to join Longbottom and his men for this trip.
In Hussein’s case, is there anything else he needs to say? As long as that old dragons doesn’t show up, then there won’t be anyone in this world that can possibly harm our Saint Knight. Even if a shaman shows up, they better think twice to engage!
Captain Alpha’s strength doesn’t need to be questioned. As a eighth rank knight, there shouldn’t be any reason he would be overwhelmed by a shaman without putting up a fight.
Then the only thing left to account for is the people left behind in Loulan City!
Dadaneier being the city defense chief, he will naturally be staying behind. As a precaution, Du Wei even called for Vivian and Nicole.
“Dadaneier, you already know about Queen Medusa.” Du Wei shows a slightly awkward smile: “You should also know it’s for the best not to expose her identity, otherwise, there will be big trouble! Unless you have no other choice like the Northwest Army laying siege, you must under no circumstances ask her to make a move, understand?”
Dadaneier is someone that experienced the frozen forest with Du Wei, so he is fully aware of the consequences. Inwardly, he was quite relieved to have this snake beauty standing by.
“What if the other side really attacked?” The one to raise the issue is Medusa herself.
“Then……” Du Wei coldly laughs aloud: “Then don’t hesitate … … Kill!!” Du Wei sighs: “Regrettable, Miss Nicole, your petrification ability may be powerful, but it’s unable to deal damage on a massive scale….. When facing a powerful army, this part is not your specialty.”
Beyond his expectation, Queen Medusa’s usually indifferent face suddenly formed a smile. With her eyes still closed, she looked up towards the sky.
“Du Wei, you don’t have to worry, I still have … … My hair. If necessary, I wouldn’t mind turning the next ten miles around the city into a living hell.”
