Heading to the Tian Yin Plains, a Pincer Movement

Hearing this, Henry also sighed. Decades had passed since the Empire's last Pioneering War, and the population loss had recovered. He wondered how many people would die this time.

He heard that in the last Pioneering War, over 600,000 serfs died, and thousands of farmsteads were completely emptied. The exact number of deaths among the Royal Family's Imperial Legion and the Noble Private Armies was unknown.

The Empire's current advantages were a large number of cannon fodder, more advanced forging technology, and higher crop yields.

Henry felt that the King launching the Grand Inquisitor was because the losses this time were a bit heavy and needed to be replenished.

"By the way, Henry, your letter said your castle isn't very good? What's wrong?"

Henry described the castle's flaws one by one. Fas laughed, "That's nothing. Four months, over two thousand artisans and laborers, building a stone frame is quite good. If it were built slowly, eight months might be better."

Henry raised an eyebrow and asked Fas, "Are you telling me to live in a wooden house in winter?"

Fas thought carefully and laughed, "Consider that unsaid."

Henry was not like them. Even if their fiefs were destroyed, they had the original structure and could quickly rebuild by throwing money at it. Henry's fief was originally a small village and had been razed to the ground by Demihuman raids.

"Bain is probably going to be bored this time. No one to compete with him on who eats faster."

"That's good too. Bain has no resistance to food. He was hungry for over ten years since he was a child. Every time he sees delicious food, he forgets all the etiquette he learned."

"Hahaha, but he is indeed a qualified attendant. He's not a Knight anyway."

The two walked and talked, strolling aimlessly through the Stationed Troops camp.

"By the way, do you remember Knight Rhine?"

"I have some impression. It seems the first time we met was at Earl John's Earl's Mansion. At that time, everyone's fiefs had been raided by Demihumans."

Fas took a deep breath and said, "That's right, he's dead. Not just him, Baron Hene Laru is also dead, killed in the Tuo Ye Campaign."

The two expressed their sadness. After all, they had just spoken to these people, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone.

Henry raised his head and said towards the Noble camp, "This time, the Nobles are very down."

He didn't know if it was because of the snow or some other reason, but Henry always felt the atmosphere this time was somewhat oppressive.

Fas nodded. Two months later, this large assembly, although more Nobles participated, the arrogant "certain victory" attitude had dissipated a lot.

"The Royal Armaments Factory in Makebu has been terrifyingly efficient recently. They forged over ten thousand weapons and thousands of sets of Legion Infantry armor in a month.

The Armaments Department in Chaiken seems to have produced two hundred thousand arrows? That's enough for two Campaigns. The technology of the Overseas Kingdoms is too terrifying. How strong do you think they are?"

As the two chatted, they talked about armaments and unconsciously discussed the various technologies controlled by the Royal Family.

Henry subconsciously pursed his lips, then quickly wiped them dry with his hand. In this cold winter, he didn't want his lips to crack.

"The Overseas technology is indeed powerful. The speed at which they build various buildings is frightening. I don't know how they came up with those messy construction machines. How powerful must they be? They actually dare to sell us High-Yield Crops like Potato and Pearl Rice."

"It's just tough on the weapon artisans in those small workshops. Who would have believed that one day, weapons and armor in our Grassland would be cheaper than warhorses?"

Henry nodded in agreement. This was indeed a marvel.

Woo... woo...

As the two were chatting, a series of horn sounds came from the city wall. The two exchanged glances and immediately rushed over.

This was the sound of an emergency meeting, which only occurred for particularly important military matters.

The massive Noble Private Army camp buzzed, and Nobles, wrapped in fur coats or cloaks, gathered at the City Gate.

Several Lancers came to lead the way, taking the large number of Nobles into the city for the meeting.

Hundreds of Nobles entered the council hall of the Autongard City Hall. It was packed with chairs, almost bursting the room, and the large number of Officers waiting inside could only stand.

Henry and Fas were among the first to enter the council hall, sitting directly at the front. Don't ask why, just know they were the Stars of the Zhi Luo Campaign, and they sat at the front.

"Two Legion Commanders, Henry Burley extends his sincere greetings to you."

The two generals sitting at the podium were the Legion Commanders of the Eighth Army and Ninth Army, who had been sent as reinforcements.

The Commander of the Eighth Army was Sothland Campbell, an Honorary Count, who came from a commoner Officer background.

The Commander of the Ninth Army was Milen Wilson, an Honorary Count, also from a commoner Officer background.

These two were featured in textbooks at the Royal Knight Academy. They had once pushed back the tall and fierce Two-Headed Ogres in the Northern Snowfield. These two were truly heavyweights.

Suosilan grinned broadly and laughed heartily, speaking with a Baddan Mountain Area accent, "I know you, you are very brave. Knight, your arrival honors me."

"The honor is mine, Count Suosilan. I learned about your deeds at the academy, and I greatly admire your Meritorious Service."

Milun did not speak, only nodded at Henry. Henry didn't mind; Milun had overexerted his voice commanding in a war and was trying to speak as little as possible.

Even the King would provide him with a throat-soothing drink when summoning him.

Suosilan stood up and, after everyone was seated, began, "Tiar has sent word that Countess Latifa has not found any trace of the Centaurs that attacked the Third Army.

However, Marquis Alberti of the Eleventh Legion has sent a carrier pigeon stating that a large number of Demihumans are gathering, intending to surround the Seventh and Eleventh Legions.

They need us to quickly reach the Tian Yin Plains and fight a decisive battle against the Demihumans there!"

These few short sentences contained a huge amount of information.

A force of several thousand elite Centaur Heavy Armor Infantry was missing, and the Seventh and Eleventh Legions, which had participated in two Campaigns, were facing the predicament of being surrounded. This meant that the Logistics lines of the two Legions were definitely cut.

Suosilan raised his arm and said angrily, "The Seventh Legion only has six thousand troops left, and the Eleventh Legion has seven thousand three hundred. Although there are still twenty thousand Serfs and eight thousand Auxiliary Soldiers, this is not enough to fight a breakout battle!

We must! Immediately! Right now! Set off! If we lose two more Legions in formation, our days will be difficult."

The Nobles nodded in agreement. Death was not terrible, and many deaths were not terrible, but death in formation was terrible.

The death of a large number of veterans would greatly reduce the training speed of future New Armies.

"As long as we arrive quickly, the war will change from being surrounded to a counter-encirclement!

Nobles, for the Empire, for the King, for your Fiefs and the heads of the Demihumans, let the war begin!"

"Let the war begin!"