Final Preparations Before Deployment

Victor took out his pocket watch from his pocket, opened the cover, and quickly scanned the position indicated by the hands on the dial.

Then, he raised his head, looked at the crowd in front of him, and said, "Everyone, we must race against time!"

If possible, please speed up and set off as soon as possible.

Even just one minute early would be helpful!

As soon as he finished speaking, the officers of the Southern Marching Legion responded in unison, "Yes, sir!"

They dared not delay and turned to leave without hesitation.

After returning to their respective camps, they would urge the soldiers to organize their equipment and check their weapons... to ensure that the army could set off on time or even ahead of schedule.

"Wait a minute, James, I'll come with you!"

Victor called out to James.

After saying this, Victor instructed the Guard Cavalry behind him to leave the main force of the Guard Cavalry to collect the allocated supplies.

He went ahead, taking a few guards with him, and followed James back to the First Regiment's camp.

Along the way, Victor walked side by side with James, while the others followed closely behind.

As they walked, Victor would occasionally turn to talk to James beside him, and the two chatted and laughed.

James, this time you've finally completed your team's roster!

"Your team really needs to perform well!" Victor said with a big laugh.

James nodded slightly in response: Yes, these horses are very important to us.

Don't worry, Victor, our team will give it our all!

James's First Regiment was the elite of the Two Rivers Territory army, and it was mainly composed of Cavalry.

Since their southward campaign, the lack of warhorses has hampered the entire regiment, preventing them from fully utilizing their strength.

However, this time Victor did not hesitate to give all of the half of the fine horses sent by Luoza to James's troops, allowing the First Regiment to replenish its missing warhorses.

In this way, the First Regiment will be even more powerful, displaying its might on the battlefield.

"Of course! Our First Regiment is a genuine, top-notch elite force among the Southern Marching Legion!"

Now that both detachments of Heavy Cavalry are finally at full strength, I will personally lead the troops in the charge this time!

"What do you care about the elite troops of some Grand Duchy? They can't stop our advance!" James shouted with arrogance and confidence.

It must be admitted that James's arrogance is not without reason.

After all, the First Regiment he commanded was indeed exceptionally strong, possessing not only the most powerful Heavy Cavalry force in the Two Rivers Territory.

Moreover, this army was built strictly according to the model of the Iron Knights, the most famous and powerful army under the Iron Birch Family!

These Cavalry were all seasoned veterans, their combat skills were superb.

Furthermore, he possesses unparalleled riding skills, making him the best in the entire territory!

As for the warhorses they rode, they were all top-quality steeds carefully bred by the Iron Birch Family and specially supplied to Victor by Alex!

In addition, to ensure absolute safety, the armor worn by these soldiers was also unique: the outer layer was a sturdy armor made of iron birch wood, which was unique to the Iron Birch Territory, while the inner layer was covered with an additional layer of exquisite chainmail, carefully forged by the Mesopotamian Armory.

James has always been proud of having such outstanding elite troops under his command.

At the same time, this unit was the envy of all the officers in the Two Rivers Territory army!

"You must not let your guard down! This time, the Iron Knights of the Iron Birch Territory suffered such heavy losses against the Ducal Guard Legion. A full 80% of their forces have been wiped out. It can be said that this army is now just a name without substance."

I really don't want to see the same thing happen to our own Heavy Cavalry units.

Although I don't intend to interfere with whatever tactics or strategies you choose, you must be extra cautious.

After all, the painful lesson of the Iron Knights is right before our eyes! I really don't want to just stand by and watch you lose the elite Cavalry force of the Two Rivers Territory due to a moment of carelessness."

After hearing Victor's words, James's expression became extremely serious.

In fact, he was very clear about this matter. He had even carefully studied the battle report that described the entire battle many times. It could be said that he knew every key detail by heart.

If he had personally led the army to face that dire situation, the outcome probably wouldn't have been much better.

After all, the enemy's tactics were extremely sophisticated and ruthless, and even he couldn't win. The best way was to avoid falling into the enemy's trap in the first place.

However, despite having such a clear understanding in his mind, James couldn't help but ask with a sliver of hope, "Could this really happen?"

I think it's unlikely! You have to understand that the Duchy's Royal Imperial Guard Legion deployed a full five thousand well-equipped and well-trained Heavy Infantry to engage in this life-or-death battle with the Iron Knights.

They made enormous sacrifices to gain the opportunity to inflict a major blow on the enemy, successfully crippling them.

However, their own casualties were also very severe, and their strength was certainly greatly affected.

Therefore, in my opinion, it would be very difficult for the Imperial Guard Legion to reorganize into the same formation as before!

"I was just mentioning it casually, but you must not underestimate the Grand Duchy's Imperial Guard Legion!"

Viscount Borey is known for his caution; who knows if he has any other tricks or backup plans to deal with our Heavy Cavalry?

Victor spoke with great conviction, and James, standing beside him, was completely convinced, a look of deep agreement on his face.

Seeing James's reaction, Victor nodded in satisfaction, thinking to himself: This guy finally listened to me.

So he stopped talking and didn't want to seem too verbose.

Given the current situation, most of the upcoming battles will require the commanders of each unit to personally lead the charge, and Victor himself will likely have little chance to personally command operations on the front lines again.

So what he said to James just now was simply to give him a little hint.

Given Victor's understanding of James, if James were to truly be more vigilant and take precautions, then there would be very few people in the world who could fool him!

Before long, the group arrived at the camp of the First Regiment.

At this very moment, the camp of the First Regiment was bustling with activity and excitement!

After all, they were the first team to receive warhorses and various supplies. Now, all the detachments are on high alert, fully prepared for battle, and have already started eating breakfast.

Before Victor even stepped into the camp, a rich aroma of food wafted over him.

You should know that since the emergency meeting last night, he had only eaten a small plate of snacks; after a whole night of traveling around, even a strong man like Victor was already exhausted and starving.

So when the enticing aroma of the food wafted into his nostrils, Victor felt his stomach rumble impatiently...

"My lord, we still have some time before we set off. How about we eat something first?"

Victor initially wanted to reject James's suggestion outright, but an uncontrollable hunger gnawed at his empty stomach like a swarm of greedy insects.

Not long after, a loud and embarrassing rumbling sound came from Victor's stomach—gurgling...

The sudden noise startled not only Victor himself, but also James, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but turn his gaze to him.

Faced with James's slightly mocking gaze, Victor suddenly felt embarrassed and could only mutter irritably, "Fine, fine, since that's the case, let's eat first, but remember, we have to leave immediately after we finish eating!"

Without the slightest hesitation, James led Victor straight to the First Regiment's mess hall.

By this time, some soldiers had already started to line up and wait to receive their breakfast.

Victor's gaze was drawn to several huge iron pots placed in the open space outside the kitchen.

Two busy cooks were working in front of each pot. One cook held a long wooden stick and stirred the pot constantly, while the other held a huge wooden ladle and scooped the cooked food out of the pot and poured it into the bowls held by the soldiers in line.

Victor couldn't help but take a deep breath; the air was filled with a rich, creamy aroma of milk.

He couldn't help but walk forward, stopping not far from the large pots, and staring intently at the food inside. The thick liquid was bubbling and steaming.

"It really is milk and oatmeal!" Victor nodded, a satisfied look on his face. He turned to James beside him and said, "Hey, James, I didn't expect you to be so well-prepared."

This milk oatmeal is a real treat; it not only contains oats but also a generous amount of salt.

It can be stored in a water bag for a day, replenishing water and salt while also satisfying hunger, making it ideal as an emergency food for Cavalry on long journeys.

After saying that, Victor reached out without hesitation, picked up a wooden bowl from the mountain of cutlery piled up to the side, and held it straight to the side of the huge iron pot.

At that moment, the cooks who were distributing the food only glanced at him before immediately recognizing him as their incomparably noble lord.

The cook deftly scooped up a spoonful of steaming, thick milk porridge and carefully poured it into the wooden bowl held by Victor, filling it completely before stopping.

Victor took the large bowl filled with milk and wheat porridge without lingering. He gently blew on the hot porridge a few times to cool it down before eagerly picking up the bowl and taking a small sip.

After savoring the taste and lightly licking his lips, he turned to James was standing not far away, and asked:

"Hey James, where did you get all this candy?"

"Victor, oh Victor, you truly are amazing! Your tongue is simply divine; you can taste it all in an instant!"

James said with a smile, "Our team has a large quota, which we've never been willing to use."

What a coincidence! I accidentally discovered that among the supplies from the Two Rivers Territory, there happened to be a batch of White Sugar!

So I used those precious quotas to exchange for some of them from the Logistics Department.

Originally, these White Sugar were intended as a special reward for the brothers, since they had all worked hard during this period and we wanted them to have a taste of sweetness!

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned; who could have predicted that you would issue an emergency troop deployment order at the last minute?

There's no other way; things have come to this point, so we'll just have to use up this batch of White Sugar for now!

But speaking of which, what did you think of the milk and oatmeal porridge our team made?

As the lord, shouldn't you show some appreciation?

Victor nodded, indicating that he would definitely contact the Logistics Department to handle the matter and guarantee that all those quotas would be canceled.

He also promised to give them double the supplies as compensation once they returned to their Two Rivers Territory.

Upon hearing this news, James was quite surprised. He stared wide-eyed at Victor and asked incredulously, "Why are you being so agreeable this time? This isn't like you at all!"

Victor smiled slightly but did not directly answer James' question.

He picked up the steaming bowl of wheat porridge in front of him, gently blew away the foam on the surface, and then slowly took a small sip.

Then, he put down his spoon, wiped his mouth, and slowly explained, "It's really nothing, just a little bit of White Sugar."

Consider this my advance reward for your unit's combat achievements!

After all, if you perform exceptionally well in future battles, then all these things will be nothing more than trivial matters!

In addition to milk and oatmeal porridge, the kitchen also prepared a large amount of bread, as well as some sausages and pickles, making it a very lavish meal.

Victor noticed that the soldiers in line had finished their milk and porridge and were now finding places to eat.

At this point, the large pot that was originally full of milk and oat porridge did indeed have a lot of porridge left, just as expected, but it was noticeably less thick than before. Upon closer inspection, almost all the oats inside had been scooped out.

Just then, a group of cooks wearing aprons and carrying various tools walked quickly over.

They skillfully moved many cowhide water bags from the side and quickly scooped up the remaining wheat porridge from the pot and poured it into the water bags.

Looking at the busy yet orderly scene before him, Victor knew in his heart that these leftover porridges would serve as emergency food for the First Regiment's Cavalry during their forced march!