The morning wind brushed against his face as André Marse, the first advisor of the Iron Fist Battle Group, stood beside Valent Taylor, gazing at the battlefield below the hillside.

The continuous whoosh of cannonballs and the sharp screech of bullets startled the flock of sheep into a frenzy, while the shaggy Tibetan mastiffs barked incessantly towards the source of the artillery fire.

On the flat ground in front of the manor at the bottom of the hill, approximately two thousand troops were engaged in battle.

For the ordinary person, it would be nothing but chaotic swords, fluttering banners, and spattering blood.

But to André, everything was distinctly separated.

Flags, movements, the shape of helmets—these complex pieces of information combined together to render the previously complex situation crystal clear.

The clockwork cannon had blasted the tents apart, exposing vulnerable unarmored knights.

Rows of long spearmen in three rows charged, stomping in unison to launch the [Thrust], piercing through the bodies of several startled and furious knights.

Not far away, the holy gunners armed with clockwork muskets were suppressing all attempts by the fleeing soldiers to escape from the main road.

These soldiers were remnants from the scattered Border Knight Order, a few fleeing flag units had camped overnight in this valley village.

But unfortunately, the retreat of the Border Knight Order had been transmitted through the Nao'an River to André long ago.

André mobilized overnight, forming a large net waiting for these unfortunate knights to run headlong into it.

"Kneel and you won't be killed! Lay down your arms and you won't be killed!"

"Come out of the tents, hands behind your heads."

"Boom—"

Splintered wood scattered, water troughs broke, water mixed with dry straw and horse hair flowed across the ground.

Terrified warhorses reared up, galloping out of the stables and toward the Shattered Stone Plain.

Herds of warhorses crashed wildly within the camp, the clockwork bullets rolled across the ground with a "click-clack" sound.

An invisible psychic impact, airborne bullets, knocked down the remaining soldiers in the camp one by one.

The knights, like helpless dogs, clutched their horse's necks, dashing madly around the camp—not to defeat captains and seize flags, but to escape alive.

"Valent Taylor," André suddenly said to Valent Taylor beside him, "Look over there."

Valent Taylor glanced over and saw two soldiers, amid the chaos, stuffing amber gemstones from a knight's jewelry box into their sashes.

The sashes were filled to the brim, and a few gemstones accidentally fell to the ground.

Valent Taylor grumbled, "Your fine soldiers!"

André smirked, "I've preached numerous times before the battle—fighting is fighting, picking up loot is picking up loot, the two cannot be done together.

Benny, do you know who that soldier is?"

Benny, the corps commander of the Fifth Corps, stammered for a moment, "It's my company's Captain Bai…"

"You know?" André remembered every corp and Captain Bai's name and appearance, he was merely testing Benny, "Cut off their left hands, let's see who dares to grab things randomly next time."

"You, André, only allow yourself to take, but not others?" Valent Taylor glanced sideways at him.

"I know when to take, and when I should take." André's hawklike gaze tightly locked onto the soldiers stuffing gold and silver treasures into their pants, "The battle isn't over, these shouldn't be taken now nor at any time later!"

The corps commander's temples were sweating; those two Captains Bai were evidently his capable subordinates, he was reluctant to have their hands cut off.

"Lord André…"

"What?" André suddenly opened his eyes wide, "You're not listening to me anymore?"

Instead, Valent Taylor pulled down his hand, "Alright, judge actions, not people; we must enforce fair punishment, and reject the old army's private nameless lynching customs.

Military Judge, you take the gendarme and arrest those two, deal with them as needed."

"Yes." The Military Judge summoned a squad of gendarmes and sprinted off towards them.

The corps commander gratefully nodded at Valent Taylor and followed the Military Judge.

Valent Taylor, however, was tugging Andre's arm, walking down the slope, "Are you not afraid that treating the corps commanders like this will cause discontent?"

"Discontent? I taught them myself, step by step!" André, yanking his arm free from Valent Taylor's grip, walked along the brook with hands behind his back, "Besides, it's the Pope who placed me in this position, what if they have opinions?"

"You don't need to degrade yourself, His Faithfulness isn't stingy." Valent Taylor followed after Andre, stopping in front of a broken stone wall, "I need to pee, wait for me."

Andre also unbuckled his belt and joined him, "I'll join you."

The trickling sound of water hit the stone wall, Valent Taylor avoided looking at Andre beside him, "You underestimate me, no need for your cooperation; we can advance the standardization of the Iron Fist Battle Group's military standards."

"That has nothing to do with you." Andre looked down at his crotch, "I have to show position, check below, show above, currying favor with His Faithfulness alone is not enough, there's also the Cardinal Conference."

"You still have such a heavy desire for power." Valent Taylor shook and pulled up his pants, "Do you want to wear the red cardinal robe?"

"I want to wear the red robe, but I don't want to be before the throne. The waters are too deep there, you can handle it, but I can't control it."

This André is treating the political situation in the Ry Court Barracks as some kind of royal palace, is the Holy Seat Mansion a devil's lair?

Valent Taylor intended to rebuke but knew André wouldn't listen, so he skipped the topic and began another: "What's the current situation, do you have any idea?"

"I know." André intermittently finished urinating and also pulled up his pants, "Mengse did well in the fight and ate viciously, leaving us only some leftovers.

But I'm not a greedy person, leftovers are fine, I'll take the loss."

"Are you someone who takes losses?"

"I do like taking losses." André chuckled, "But honest people can't always take losses, Master Pastor Valent Taylor."

"I will apply for the Iron Fist Battle Group to carry out the plan to attack the Thorn Garden, it just depends on whether His Eminence agrees." Valent Taylor was used to André's two-faced nature and could guess immediately.

"I told you, you are one of our Iron Fist Battle Group, from the old rebel army faction, how could you side with outsiders?"

Valent Taylor knew André had the urge to "pick things up," wanting to enjoy himself at the Thorn Garden.

Back then, Horn proposed the strategy of "stabbing Ginijis in the back," and now it's more than halfway completed, one could say the road ahead is suddenly open.

After defeating the Border Knight Order and freeing the forces of Shangruifo County, it was as if Horn had a hand free.

This hand could finally launch a counterattack against Leia.

Horn personally brought the elite Imperial Guard to Shangruifo County for this counterattack.

He wanted the army to march to the Thorn Garden!

In the 1446 Thousand River Valley War, a Land Servant Group of Thorn Garden was destroyed, equivalent to a third of the elite infantry's combat power.

The 1448 war combined with the flood collapsed the nobility and military systems of the Shattered Stone Plain.

In 1449, the Oslar Clan fully committed their forces, leaving the inside quite hollow.

At this moment, the road to the Thorn Garden was unobstructed!

What kind of place is the Thorn Garden? One of the few, if not the only, rich gold and silver mining areas in the northern part of the Eastern Continent.

The thought made André drool.

Once the army invaded the Thorn Garden, could the Oslar Clan afford not to send reinforcements? Could they dare not?

The Border Knight Order went with twenty thousand troops, and then using five thousand of the Iron Fist Battle Group to tie down the nine thousand troops of the Thorn Garden.

Through several battles and gradual attrition, Ginijis had only a little over fifty thousand troops left.

When two new battle groups of nine thousand each entered the battlefield, Horn's forces approached over forty thousand.

As this situation continues, with slow attrition, the strength of both sides has come increasingly close.

At this point, gathering a large force to strike must either force King Jiji to retreat, causing Leia's economy to collapse, or lead to a strategic showdown between King Jiji and Thousand River Valley.

The series of measures and battles in Shangruifo County all aim towards this.

"It's just a pity we let that Grand Master Emmerick get away." The two had already walked down the hillside by now.

Valent Taylor smiled: "It's not a pity, His Eminence meant not to kill them all, besides, we sent him a Red Knight and relevant evidence testimonies."

"Will he believe the testimonies?"

"People believe what they want to believe." Valent Taylor was gentle and reserved by nature, which didn't mean he lacked means.

André stopped Valent Taylor, ahead a squad of gendarmes hurriedly led away two Captains Bai.

Awaiting them were four lashes and demotion to vice-captain.

Just reaching the edge of the battlefield, the small operation was nearing its end.

However, among the prisoners, the two officials found a different figure.

"Who is this?" Staring at the fur-covered knight curled up on the ground, Valent Taylor's heart suddenly raced.

André squatted down: "This look, seems like a Norn person, is he a mercenary?"

"No, Lord André." The Ranger Captain handed him a handkerchief embroidered with a golden gate, "It's the crest of Papa, Duke of Jinmen of the Bear Castle Territory, this is a family private soldier."

Valent Taylor and André exchanged a glance, both recalling the worst possibility Horn had once mentioned.

"Could it be..."

André sternly commanded the ranger, "Immediately gather all rangers to scout eastward, until reaching the border of the Norn Kingdom."