Longwind Fortress, Maryland ended the communication with the Cecil chanical Manufacturing Facility. It was only then that the adjutant standing next to him couldn’t help but speak: "General, are you planning to arm those newly conscripted soldiers with fake magical equipnt?"
Maryland nodded: "That’s the idea—have them put on fake equipnt and stand on the city walls, and that’s not nearly enough."
"Not enough?"
"The southern borders can only supply a limited quantity of ’counterfeits’ in a few days, and in the short term, it’s only possible to equip individual soldiers. I’m afraid these things won’t scare the Typhon Empire; we’ll have to co up with our own plan," Maryland continued, "Previously, the engineering teams that were expanding the camp should have beco idle—pass on my order to construct earthworks around the hills north of Longwind Fortress and the Palare Highlands, transport all the timber accumulated in the shallows over there, and I’ll tell you what I intend to do..."
The defensive forces at Longwind Fortress resud operations, and before the next wave of reconnaissance from the Typhon Empire arrived, several engineering teams began a round of large-scale earthwork construction according to Maryland’s orders—from the hills north of Longwind Fortress to the Palare Highlands to the south of the fortress, more than ten defense structures or fire positions were starting to be built.
At Palare Highlands, on the fourth ’Cannon Position,’ engineers were hastily digging trenches, leveling the ground, and fully ard sentinel towers stood on temporarily erected watchtowers, constantly scanning the vast open wilderness vigilantly. Two soldiers equipped with engineering-use Magic Transmission Terminals were cutting timber, while several others handled large bundles of tarpaulins and coiled ropes. The scene was busy, yet orderly.
The commanding officer in charge of directing the engineering team walked past a newly dug trench, glanced at the soldiers’ progress, nodded slightly, and said to the soldier next to him: "At this speed—get the frawork up before noon."
"Sir, is this really going to work?" the soldier scratched his head, "relying on these facades to scare people?"
"Execute the order," the commander glanced at the soldier and then grinned, "and I think it might work."
He lifted his head and saw several soldiers in the distance nailing cut timber to the slope of an earth mound, then covering it with a tarpaulin. The tarp’s four corners were nailed firmly to the ground, and in another pit stood a real Magic Crystal Railgun, with its accelerated rails pointed toward the plains, the tarp on the cannon barrel half-covered.
In fact, that was the only real cannon on the position, while all other railguns were constructed from wood or scrap iron.
This was a fake position, an ingenious deception, similar positions could be found throughout the vicinity, and more were established to the north of the fortress. However, not all positions were fake—about a quarter of a dozen positions were real, deploying railguns urgently transferred from the Plains of the Holy Spirits and sufficient troops, posing a genuine challenge.
This was a strategic wisdom that traditional noble lord troops had never contemplated, a cunning behavior entirely detached from so-called "integrity and honesty" knightly spirit. Yet all the battles the Cecil Legion had experienced, both big and small, had proven one thing—The era of knight warfare was over, buried under the scorching ashes of the blast, and the new standard of righteousness was calculated jointly by caliber and range.
"Don’t forget one thing, those from the Typhon Empire have yet to experience the devastation of magic artillery," the commander, promoted from veteran ranks, grinned as he spoke to the soldier beside him, "Most of them don’t know what real magical equipnt looks like, especially after we’ve camouflaged it—if they don’t recognize it within the week, the Iron Throne is ours!"
...
On the city wall of Longwind Fortress, Maryland leaned on his sword beside a Magic Crystal Railgun. Not far from him, on a cannon emplacent adjacent to a real magical cannon, soldiers were stacking steel plates and cent blocks originally intended to reinforce the city walls. A patrol unit walked by not far behind him, wearing strangely styled light armor, marching in neat formation, and full of spirit.
At least on the surface it looked that way.
"The troops on the Typhon border have never seen magical equipnt firsthand, but their intelligence personnel certainly have reported back about the general form and power of these things, which leads to intelligence deviation," Maryland gently exhaled and said to his adjutant, "After the completion of position eight, conduct an artillery barrage in the direction of the Grey Pool Marsh—release the news in advance, claiming it’s a test of the second generation of new weapons, and do the sa after the completion of position twelve."
"Yes, General." The adjutant bowed his head and received the order.
Maryland nodded, his gaze crossing over the crenellations of the wall, overlooking the vast expanse of wasteland beyond.
The false deterrence was already in place, but one must also be prepared for the possibility that the Typhon Empire might see through the deception in advance or simply not fall for it. In the end, warfare ultimately relies on hard power—while constructing those deceptive positions, Maryland was also continuously strengthening Longwind Fortress’s genuine defensive power. Minefields at critical pathways had already been laid, traps and trench projects around the fortress never ceased, and inside the fortress, the training of new soldiers never slackened, proceeding with order.
After all, aside from those outwardly shiny "magical equipnt," a batch of real magical infantry had been sent from the rear, characterized by ease of operation and rapid combat readiness—ordinary people could learn to shoot properly after three days of training. New recruits could barely stand on the city wall after training for just over ten days. At this most critical juncture, every additional soldier trained ant an extra layer of security for the Empire’s border.
He had once lost a fortress, and in his lifeti, he did not wish for the sa thing to happen a second ti.
Beside him, the young adjutant who had been by his side since the rocky ridges Fortress era, sharing experiences of the rocky ridges battle, labor reform, and battle of the gods, was also gazing out at the extensive defense line. The young man’s bronze face seed to bear complex emotions.
After a few minutes of silence, Maryland asked, "Payne, what are you thinking?"
"General..." The young adjutant hesitated for a mont, but finally spoke, "I was just suddenly feeling a bit emotional. The last ti I guarded a fortress, the knightly spirit was my sole belief."
"Protecting our holand is also knightly spirit, and it’s a higher knightly spirit—when we defend this place, we’re protecting more people," Maryland shook his head, "As for the ans employed on the battlefield... the tis have changed, Payne. I found enlightennt before the giant cannon, and you should try it too."
"...You’re right, General."
...
The changes at Longwind Fortress and its surrounding defense lines did not escape the attention of the Typhon scouts. A continuous stream of intelligence quickly gathered at the Winterwolf Fortress command post, where Andresha Wendell received these reports and was even surprised to stand up—this young Wolf General had never expected the Cecil Clan to suddenly construct a second defensive line.
Faced with the increasing military pressure from the Typhon people, the Cecil Clan not only refused to adopt a strategy of retracting their defensive lines, but actively constructed a batch of new positions. Does this an... that they have more backup troops than initially imagined?
The reconnaissance unit commander coming to report stood in front of Andresha, ticulously reporting the situation: "General, we have discovered at least six newly constructed positions along the Palare Highlands, all heavily guarded with soldiers. In the northern hill area, we also found unconfird numbers of troops and positions. Additionally, according to the rchants’ intelligence, the Cecil Clan has been frequently moving troops recently, with many soldiers and convoys entering Longwind Fortress from the northwest and southwest..."
Andresha thought of the recently received intelligence, considering the reports of continuous reinforcent at Longwind Fortress.
"Where did all these soldiers co from..." the young Wolf General furrowed her brow, "Can we confirm the details of those soldiers and positions?"
"Those soldiers seem to be the rumored Cecil Magical chanized Legion; their equipnt is quite different from regular soldiers, marked by distinctive combat backpacks, and they exhibit strong discipline. As for those positions... our scouts did not approach too closely, but we did observe scenes of Cecil people testing weapons as powerful as previously reported, fully capable of competing with our Mage Corps."
Andresha moved away from the table, coming up to the nearby hanging battle map, marking one by one the positions reported by the scouts along the Longwind Fortress defensive line.
"It’s a complete defensive line..." "The scale matches the previous reinforcent situation." "A large legion gathers at Palare Highlands and the northern hills..." "Are they already prepared to deal with the Iron River Knights’ ’legion-level spells’?"
Gazing at the battle map in front of her, Andresha Wendell fell into prolonged contemplation.
With costless relays via the Magic Communication Tower, border intelligence reached Rosetta Augustus promptly.
"Ferdinand Qinheng, the Anzu have increased forces along the defensive line again."
The Typhon Emperor looked up, addressing the old Duke standing before him.
"They are called the Cecil Clan now, Your Majesty," Ferdinand Wendell said gravely, "They have constructed a series of extension positions based on the original Longwind Fortress defensive line, and based on previously received intelligence, they seem ready to counter the Iron River Knights."
"... The Iron River Knights can create an energy storm covering nearly two kiloters in a single charge, extrely adept at destroying heavy fortress barriers, but if a series of positions equipped with long-range firepower are engaged in continuous attacks and interference, the Iron River Knights’ legion-level spells will be disrupted... The new commander of Longwind Fortress is an experienced person."
Duke Ferdinand nodded, "Andresha’s reconnaissance troops have already ’clashed’ with them several tis, the Cecil scouts are experienced and well-equipped, although most are ordinary people, they are not at a disadvantage facing the Transcendents, indeed they are elite."
Rosetta remained silent, sitting quietly in the high-back chair, while Ferdinand following a pause continued, "The Royal Advisory Council evaluated recent trade situations with the Cecil Clan and gathered intelligence from civilian channels, concluding that war is inadvisable."
"The Advisory Council’s opinions are all based on indirect intelligence, but Andresha’s intelligence is directly obtained from contact," Rosetta broke the silence, "We must make a decision. If we are to fight, now is the last opportunity. If we don’t, we must now decide on the explanation to the Noble Congress."
Ferdinand was silent for half a minute before solemnly speaking, "...My opinion aligns with the Advisory Council, war is inadvisable, Your Majesty."
"The reason?"
"Our industry and economy are undergoing a major transformation, during which a large part of previously accumulated reform pressure can be alleviated, and we no longer have such an urgent need for war. Conversely, if the Cecil Clan indeed prepares to face us, our setbacks could be greater than previously expected, not only failing to alleviate internal pressure, but even ongoing industrial construction could be interrupted."
Industry and economic transformation...
Rosetta furrowed his brow.
What Ferdinand said was an undeniable fact—the Typhon Empire is at a key point of entering a new era, and the erging magic-industrial revolution is destined to completely change societal operational rules, and within predictable bounds, the benefits from these changes might surpass those accumulated over the past hundreds of years.
In this situation, does Typhon really need a war?
Rosetta got up from his desk, pacing slowly beside it.
After more than ten minutes, he finally stopped.
"Let Andresha withdraw the forces and bring the Iron River Knights back east of the Winterwolf Fortress defense line."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After making the decision, Rosetta appeared sowhat relieved, exhaling gently, looking at Ferdinand, "Hopefully, today’s decision is the correct one, Ferdinand Qinheng."
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