A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

It was still dark, and the earth was still shrouded in darkness. The huge military camp was silent, with only the light of the bonfire swaying in the dark night.

A tall guard walked out of the camp unimpeded with the crown prince's token, holding a horse in his hand.

A thick cloak covered his body, and the hood covered most of his face, with only a few strands of black hair exposed.

He left from the side exit of the camp. Not long after leaving the camp, a man appeared in front of him.

The starlight that was about to disappear in the early morning fell on the man's golden hair. The man was obviously waiting for him here. As soon as he saw him appearing, he walked towards him.

"Your Highness Heimos."

Arriving in front of this 'guard', Kehos bowed and saluted.

The man in guard uniform raised his hand and took off the hood covering his head.

The faint starlight could barely make out the handsome face under the dark hair.

After saluting, Keyhos raised his head and looked into those golden-red eyes.

He said: "Are you leaving now?"

Heimos looked at him, his golden-red eyes narrowed slightly.

"Last night, you agreed to let me stay in Garlan's camp, which really surprised me."

He answered unquestioningly.

Even as brave as he was, he could not quietly sneak into the heavily guarded crown prince's camp without alerting anyone.

Because he didn't want to alarm others or expose his departure from the royal city, he went to Kaihos first.

Although Kehos was surprised to see him at first, after he asked to see Garlan, he took him to Garlan's camp without asking any more questions, and deliberately made an excuse to move the man who was staying in Garlan's camp. Take Xinyas away.

To be honest, Heimos was a little surprised by Kejos's behavior.

He knew that Kehos would take him to see Garlan, but he didn't expect that Kehos didn't stop him from staying in Garlan's camp for the night.

After all, the guardian knight of Garlan knew very well what kind of thoughts he had towards Garlan, and had been preventing him from getting close to Garlan.

"You're not the kind of person who doesn't know what's important."

The blond knight answered calmly.

If someone really valued and doted on the prince, they would only feel distressed when they saw the current Prince Gallan, and would not have any other thoughts at all.

Although he wanted to cut off Heimos' feelings for the prince, he also knew in his heart that Heimos valued the prince more than anyone else.

This man would never do anything to hurt the prince at any time, so he felt relieved to let Heimos stay in the prince's camp all night.

"The prince is too tired. Although we try our best to share the burden for him, we are only subordinates after all and cannot do many things. Even if we can protect him, we cannot share the burden for him."

"He is the crown prince of Aaron Landis, and that burden is his responsibility. But from my selfish point of view, he is still just the little prince I want to protect, and I hope he doesn't have to work so hard."

"And the only person in this world who can share that burden is you, Your Highness Heimos."

Kayhos's words made Heymos' lips slightly raise.

He said: "Continue to perform your duties, Guardian Knight of Garlan."

As he spoke, he got on his horse neatly.

On the distant horizon, a glimmer of light has appeared, and the sky has begun to brighten.

"Your Highness Heymos, what are you going to do?"

"Do what I can do."

Heimos replied.

He sat on his horse and turned to look at the Gastard camp in the distance, which occupied a large area of ​​ground.

From the beginning, he had no intention of staying here.

He came just to see Garlan.

Only seeing and touching Garlan with his own eyes could calm his heart.

And he is leaving now to do what he should do.

He knew that being as tough as Garlan did not require him to be by his side.

He will protect him in his own way.

He would put what Garlan wanted most into his hands.

…………

……………………

There was a sudden movement in the Garstard army.

The rangers lurking near the Gastad camp discovered that some soldiers in the camp were packing up their luggage and supplies. The camp gradually became denser and the formation began to change.

It was obvious that the Gastards were packing up the camp and the army was preparing to move out.

They did not intend to continue the confrontation with Aaron Landis' army, but wanted to retreat to the country of Karnar.

The Gasdad people's choice to retreat meant that they were defeated by Aaron Landis, and it also meant that the Crown Prince successfully led an army to drive away the invaders.

However, the crown prince, who successfully drove away the invaders, was not happy about this.

In the camp of Aaron Landis's army, several generals are here in the crown prince's tent.

Garlan sat on the main seat, frowning.

"Are you saying that the Gastards are planning to withdraw to Kanal?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

As the commander of the army, Kalleni answered.

"There are already signs of breaking out in the Gastad camp. Judging from the changes in their formation, it seems that they are preparing to withdraw."

"This is the right decision."

Elson's female general Venier who was watching said, "After all, they don't have much food and grass left, and they can't continue to consume it with us. Of course, they have to retreat while there is still enough food and grass, otherwise, the food and grass will not be enough to evacuate by then." , that’s when it’s really over.”

"Can't we do something? Attack them while they retreat?"

Opada glanced at Garlan who pursed his lips and said nothing, and asked.

"It would be too much to let these guys go back intact—"

"No chance."

Cayjos shook his head.

"That Prince Tire of Gastad has a high degree of control over the army and is very stable in his deployment. Since he has decided to retreat, he will definitely use the most prudent method and will not give us any chance."

Gastad's army retreated in an orderly manner, not a rout.

Even if they are nominally defeated and leave, the opponent still has hundreds of thousands of troops, and our own military strength is almost the same. As long as the Gastard people still have enough food and grass and high morale, they will not be able to defeat them in one go. Swallow.

"Even if we bite the Gastad people and pursue them all the way, we will only be able to leave tens of thousands of them at most and cannot shake their foundation."

Opada couldn't deny what Keyhos said. He turned his head and looked at Garlan again.

Not only him, but everyone else in the camp also set their sights on Garlan.

The young crown prince sat on the main seat, his eyes lowered and his lips pursed tightly.

"Are we just going to have to watch the Gastadians leave?"

He said, his hand on the armrest of the seat tightly gripping the top of the armrest.

During this period of time, the boy who had always behaved calmly and rationally even in difficult situations seemed to have difficulty controlling his emotions at this moment.

There was deep reluctance in his voice.

"Can I just...watch Tire return to Kanal?"

The camp was very quiet. No one could say anything and could only stare at Garlan in silence.

Finally, the commander with white temples spoke and broke the silence.

"An anxious dog will jump over the wall. If we must keep them all here, the Gastad people will find that they have no way out, and they will fight us desperately. By then, even if we can eliminate them, we will lost heavily."

Veteran Kalleni let out a long sigh.

"Your Highness, I understand your feelings, but please don't forget that there are other countries that are eyeing us. If we and the Gastard people lose both sides, we will only be advantageous to others."

There was silence in the camp for a while.

After a long time, there was finally a reply.

"……I see."

Garlan said.

He closed his eyes, his light eyelashes casting shadows on his fair cheeks.

"Just do as you say."

The young man spoke in a calm tone, and his face seemed to have calmed down, but for some reason, his unusually calm tone gave people a feeling of heart-wrenching pain.

Perhaps it was because of the hand that was clenching harder and harder, completely opposite to the young man's calm expression.

Green eyes reflected the clenched hand, and the blond knight stepped forward.

"prince."

Kayhos leaned forward and knelt down in front of Garlan.

He looked up at Garlan, stretched out his left hand, and gently covered Garlan's right hand that was clenching the armrest.

"Only this once."

"That person only has this chance to escape."

"As soon as Aaron Landis stabilizes, I will lead my army to Canal."

He said,

"Please believe me, I will definitely bring Tire's head back to Aaron Landis."

Garlan raised his eyes and looked at his guardian knight.

His eyes softened a bit.

"good."

He replied, his tight lips loosening.

The hand covered by Caijos also slowly relaxed.

…………

………………

As Kaleni and the others said, Gastad's army broke camp and began to retreat to Kanal in the west.

Although they were retreating, the formation of Gastad's army was very neat and stable, leaving no chance for the Aaron Landis to take advantage of.

Even if Aaron Landis's army stayed behind to pursue them, they could not break through and disrupt their formation.

Especially when the Gastad people retreated, they continued to leave behind troops along the way, each time an army of nearly ten thousand people.

A strong man's wrist is cut off, and a gecko's tail is cut off.

Apparently the prince of Tire had made such a decision calmly.

He used tens of thousands of troops to cut off the rear, and used the lives of those tens of thousands of soldiers to delay Aaron Landis's army, thereby protecting the vast majority of Gastad's troops from safely withdrawing to Canal.

In just three days, Aaron Landis's army defeated the Garstard army twice in a row and captured many Garstard people.

According to wartime custom, they handcuffed all these prisoners, imprisoned them, took them with them on the road, and used them as slaves.

Aaron Landis's army suffered very few losses, and if this continued, they would be able to wipe out at most about a quarter of Gastad's troops before they could withdraw to Canal.

The results are not small.

Unfortunately, even if they lost a quarter of their troops, the main force of the Gastards was still able to successfully withdraw to Kanal.

Although the battle was going smoothly, what puzzled Kaleni, Caijos and others was that when they defeated the Gastad army responsible for the rear break, they originally thought that the Gastad people would use the mixed national soldier. After the army is cut off, the main force protecting our formation evacuates. But later it was discovered that most of the people left behind were Gastard people.

This is really puzzling.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the naturally powerful Gastad people should be far better than that of soldiers from other countries. The main force of the army after the break is the Gastad people. It stands to reason that the army should be much stronger than the armies of those mixed countries.

However, the combat effectiveness of the army after the break seemed to be very weak, and the combat effectiveness of the Gastad people also felt much worse than before.

…

That night, after setting up camp, Garlan routinely listened to several generals' reports on today's battle situation. Afterwards, he returned to his camp accompanied by Xin Yasdi.

As soon as he walked not far from the camp, he saw a familiar figure milling around in the distance.

When Garlan walked over quickly, the girl who was the leader of the mercenary group did not notice his arrival.

She frowned tightly, with a troubled look in her eyes, looking hesitant.

When she turned around, she bumped into Garlan head-on. She was startled and quickly knelt down.

"Your Highness, how could you..."

"Are you waiting for me? Kelly."

"Yes, yes, I'm very sorry to disturb you so late. I have something urgent to see you."

Kelly's face was full of anxiety. She looked up at Garlan with pleading eyes.

"Your Highness, there are several people in my team who are dying. The military doctor said there is no hope of saving them. I know what I did is wrong and very presumptuous, but they are all companions who grew up with me. I really can't just watch them die. so……"

"Please send a physician to see them. I will accept any punishment for my indiscretion."

Although military doctors also have the word "medical", most of them only know how to treat superficial injuries or common ailments. In terms of medical skills, they are completely inferior to doctors.

However, there are only a few doctors in the army, and they have always been responsible for treating important generals, so Kelly begged Garlan for her companions.

Not working anymore?

Garlan was startled and asked.

"Are they seriously injured?"

Because of their weak combat strength, Kelly's mercenary group was incorporated into the logistics army. The logistics army is mainly responsible for transporting supplies, feeding horses and cooking, burying the bodies of soldiers who died in battle, guarding prisoners of war and slaves, and other trivial matters. It does not participate in the battle. There are generally no casualties.

Now, Kelly suddenly told him that several of her companions in the logistics army were about to die.

... Could it be that the logistics army was attacked by the Gastards?

But Kaihos and the others didn't say anything just now?

"No, it's not that we were injured. We were assigned to work in the logistics army and did not participate in the battle." Kelly explained, "They were sick, eight of them together... The military doctor said that they could not cure this disease, and only doctors could There is a way, but I really have no choice but to bother you."

"I see."

Garlan stretched out his hand and lifted Kelly up from the ground.

"I'll ask my doctor to go with you now."

After saying that, he turned around and directly ordered a guard beside him to call the doctor.

Watching the guards leave, Kelly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry too much, Kelly, my doctor has very good medical skills and will definitely cure them."

Garlan comforted her and then asked again.

"But why did your companions fall sick so many all at once? Is it because you are too tired? Did someone deliberately assign you too much work? Did someone deduct your rations?"

Garlan asked, his eyes becoming sharper.

He was suspecting that Kelly and the others had been squeezed out by others because they were mercenaries, and that they had been forced to assign work to them, overloading them with work, and even depriving them of their rations, which was why Kelly's companions fell ill one after another.

"No, there is no such thing. Your Highness, the officers assigned their tasks fairly, and there was no shortage of food."

Kelly quickly shook her head.

Garlan smiled.

"Really, that's good. What work are you responsible for now?"

The conversation with Garlan made Kelly calm down a little, so she started talking more.

She said: "We were recently assigned to guard the prisoners of war of the Gastad people. Those Gastad people are not honest, but because many of them are sick, they can't make trouble. We can still deal with it..."

Originally, he just wanted to talk to divert Kelly's attention and tell her not to worry. When he heard this, Garlan was startled.

In the flash of lightning, countless images flashed through his mind.

The Gastadians suddenly retreated.

The majority of the remaining troops were Gastards.

Their fighting power suddenly became much weaker...

…………

The Gastad people living in the far north...

Spring has begun...the temperature is getting warmer...the countless rotting corpses piled up on the battlefield...

…………

"Kelly."

"yes?"

"You said that many people in Gastad are sick?"

"Yes, probably because I was injured during the battle..."

Before Kelly could finish her words, she was interrupted by Garlan.

"Did your companions fall ill after taking charge of guarding prisoners of war?"

"Well……"

Kelly thought carefully and nodded.

"Yes, it is true that he began to fall ill one after another from that time."

When she looked up, she saw that the expression of the Crown Prince, who had been gentle just now, suddenly turned serious, and she also became nervous.

"Your Highness, is there any problem?"

"...Kelly, come with me."

After saying that, Garlan turned his head.

"Shinyas, call Kaleni and Kehos to me immediately!"

…………

………………

"What - plague -"

Kaleni, a veteran with pale sideburns, shut up forcibly in the middle of speaking and swallowed the last word.

The wrinkles on his forehead clenched tightly and he lowered his voice as low as possible.

"Your Highness, you mean...plague?"

"Yes."

Garlan said with a cold look.

"We all believe that the Gasdad people retreated because their food supplies were about to run out, but that was probably Tyr's deliberate leak of information that misled us. The real reason for their retreat should be that an outbreak broke out among the Gasdad people. Plague, and Tyr...he deliberately cut off the queens of those soldiers who were infected with the plague, and deliberately allowed the sick to be captured by us, just to infect our troops with the plague!"

The author has something to say: Well, it seems that several friends left messages and guessed correctly about the plague.