Chapter 555 Arrival at Broken Rice Town
The morning stars dotted the dark blue sky. Behind the mountains and forests, a flash of orange-red light pierced the spring night and ushered in the dawn.
The golden-red sunlight fell on the Naoan River, illuminating a cloud of river mist that looked like burning gold.
"Wow——"
The solid barge penetrated the fog rolling on the river.
The dense black and red flags looked like a moving forest on the river, pulling dozens of barges into a long row and sailing on the wide river.
On the fishing boats on the river bank, the sparse fishermen were trembling, with their mouths wide open, looking at the group of soldiers standing behind the side of the boat like obsidian sculptures.
"Short, short hair?"
As soon as the young fisherman spoke, he was slapped on the back of the head by his grandfather.
"This is a man from the Salvation Army. We will dock in the town soon. Watch your mouth."
Touching the back of his head, the young fisherman still couldn't help but be curious: "These short, ahem, Salvation Army masters, my priests heard that they are humanoid monsters created by the devil and can shoot lightning?"
"If you speak louder, do you want to be hanged by the whole family?" the white-bearded fisherman gritted his teeth and cursed.
He had heard that these Salvation Army soldiers loved hanging and beheading, and they even brought gallows with them when they went on an expedition.
It would be a big loss if they were caught and hanged on the ship for making noise here.
However, the Nauan River is more than 200 meters wide. Naturally, the Salvation Army on the boat cannot hear what the two men are saying.
Laurent stood on the bow of the boat, looking at the map in his hand under the skylight: "Can I get to Suomi Town before noon?"
"Yes." The local guide from Hotam County said with a smile, "Not to mention noon, we can reach the town of broken rice before the sun rises completely. We will inform you in advance that the Salvation Army masters will be able to eat as soon as they land. Serve breakfast.”
"Don't call me Master of the Salvation Army, just call me a member of the church." Laurent felt extremely numb after hearing the name Master, and he felt uncomfortable everywhere.
The guide was naturally obedient: "As you command, fellow believer."
Laurent was speechless for a moment, so he waved his hand and asked the guide to stay somewhere to cool down.
Looking at the reflection of the spring on the river, Laurent held onto the side of the boat, and the chilly spring breeze blew on his face, which dissipated a lot of anxiety.
At this moment, Laurent was both happy and worried.
It had been three days since he set out from the detention dock. Along the way, he only went ashore once to replenish supplies. The rest of the time, he was either taking a boat or changing trains.
Now that the destination of Suomi Town is right in front of us, it would be a lie to say that I am not nervous.
Behind him were fifty-two barges, carrying more than 2,300 men from four Black Crown regiments, including a hundred-man mage regiment, more than ten fireball crossbows, and fifty clock bombs.
You must know that the production of clock bullets is difficult and the output is extremely low. Even if the alchemy workshop of the Holy Armament Court is operating at full capacity, there are only about 170 clock bombs in stock so far.
Laurent took away nearly a third of it in one breath, which shows the importance of his mission.
He will be the vanguard, landing in Suomi Town before everyone else, and joining up with the local Shengsun Rebel Army.
This thing seems simple, but the risk is actually not low.
Suomi Town is located on the outskirts of Feiliu Castle, at the junction of the noble rebel forces and the church-controlled area.
Less than fifty miles away is Prince Kong Dai's command company camp outside Feiliubao City.
Twenty miles further from the headquarters of the Imperial Company is Feiliu Fort.
The distance from Suomi Town to the headquarters of the Imperial Company is a day's journey for the Salvation Army, but for the knights, it takes half a day or even an hour.
There are not only thousands of slaves and craftsmen in the camp, but also a company of 300 knights, more than 200 temple knights, and more than 2,000 old friends - mercenaries, guards and armored sergeants.
On March 1, the Black Crown Seventh Army and the Eighth Army led by him captured Zhishuiwu and repelled two waves of counterattacks by the deputy fort knights.
On March 2, four black champion groups came to support and completely defeated the main force of the deputy fort knights.
At noon on March 3, the first batch of barges and the support of Father Miracle arrived. They didn't even have time to rest, and they got on the barges and went down the river. Today is March 6th, and the second batch of four legions and cavalry will not arrive until the afternoon of March 8th, and the third batch of four legions and skitarii will not arrive until March 9th.
This meant that Laurent and the other three corps commanders had to hold on in Suomi Town for two days, and they could not let the Imperial Company attack them while their footing was not stable.
The more than 2,000 infantrymen were naturally nothing to worry about. With the clock bullet, an artifact of clearing out miscellaneous soldiers, they were the only ones who could sleep peacefully during the charge.
What is really difficult to defeat is the Order Company and the Temple Knights, who total more than 500 knights.
Hotam County is different from Langsander County or Kasha County. It is a flat area with developed agriculture.
This means that there is no suitable forest or mounds nearby, and there is no city wall in Suomi Town. They will probably have to fight the Order Company on the vast plains.
They couldn't even build fortifications in the wild because they didn't have much mortar.
The barge has limited space and needs to be used first to transport people and materials. There is not so much space to load mortar.
In order to gain time and prevent the Command Company from reacting and occupying the perfect landing point in Suomi Town, they had to arrive early.
By the time the news of their arrival spreads today, no matter how slow the response is, we will probably see traces of the Order Company tomorrow morning or even this evening.
To this end, the four legion commanders and four legion clerks held a meeting together, and the final result was-
If there are no other surprises, then they will drive away all the residents of Suomi Town and use Suomi Town itself as a favorable terrain.
"Legion Commander, Broken Rice Town has arrived."
Laurent raised his head subconsciously, and then he closed his eyes because of the rays of dawn.
But after he got used to it, he saw rows of houses with earth-and-wood structures, with smoke rising into the sky along the towering chimneys.
Residents here like to use a kind of quartz sand to decorate the walls. At first glance, the walls sparkle like water.
What a beautiful town.
The barge slowly sailed into the port in the light reflected from the wall.
Beside the port, enthusiastic townspeople lined up dozens of large pots, and the fragrant smell of freshly baked bread lingered on the soldiers' noses.
When Laurent got off the boat, several other captains of the Black Champions were already standing on the dock talking and laughing with Andre, the leader of the local Saint-Sun Rebel Army.
"Oh, is this Commander Laurent? He is indeed a talented young commander!"
Seeing Laurent coming, Andre naturally welcomed him with a hearty smile.
But Laurent didn't respond too enthusiastically. How could they know that he was "outstanding talent" when they met for the first time?
After a casual chat, I saw that none of the other legion commanders mentioned treating Suomi Town as a battlefield.
Laurent could only sigh secretly in his heart, but in the end he was asked to be the bad guy.
With a straight face, Laurent coughed and cleared his throat, and the other three legion commanders stopped talking in tacit agreement.
"Mr. Andre, I have to say something, even though it is so embarrassing, but for the sake of war..."
"You want to use Shaimi Town as a battlefield?"
Laurent choked on his words, but he still calmed down: "Yes, this is the result of several discussions between us. I'm afraid we have to do this."
Although the several legion commanders were helpless, they could only respond with words.
"In fact, it's not necessary." Andre intercepted Laurent's next words, "We met you in Suomi Town in advance, how could we not think of how to help you fight?"
"Do you have any other ideas?" Laurent raised his chin slightly and looked at Andre slightly unhappily.
There was a mysterious smile that couldn't be concealed on Andre's lips: "There are two leaders of the Saint-Sun Rebel Army. Why don't you ask Valencia where Taylor went?"
(End of chapter)