Chapter 374: The Northern Region Map in Hand!

"Viscount Gervas, please wait!"

"Captain Lide, is there something you need?"

As Gervas was walking out of the meeting tent, Captain Lide came straight toward him.

He saw that Lide was carrying a pot of wine in his hand.

"Viscount Gervas, thank you for your reminder today. If not for you, my subordinates would not have happened to encounter the orc ambush, and tonight's losses would have been immeasurable!"

"I have nothing good to offer, but this is a pot of rum from the Royal Capital. It was awarded to me previously by the Lord Commander of the Legion. I now present it to Your Lordship the Viscount; I hope Your Lordship will not disdain it!"

Gervas nodded, but did not take the pot of wine. "Captain Lide, I indeed do not like drinking much, so let this wine go!"

The taste and flavor of wine in this world were obviously incomparable to those of his previous life, so Gervas indeed did not like to drink it.

Unless it was at a banquet or similar occasion, he would only drink a little.

Now, Captain Lide did not know what to do, after all, this was the only gift he could offer.

Gervas continued, "Captain Lide, if you truly wish to express gratitude, I have a request here; I wonder if you could make an exception!"

"Hmm? Viscount Gervas, what is it?" Lide was puzzled; he was only a Captain of a thousand Rangers, and there were truly few things he could do to help a noble like Gervas.

"Captain Lide, you also know that war places the greatest emphasis on knowing oneself and knowing the enemy; only then can victory be ensured!"

"I have gained some understanding of the orcs' combat strength, but my current trouble is that I do not understand the terrain of the Northern Region!"

"So, I heard that the Ranger units are among the few, besides the various Commanders, who possess maps!"

"I wonder if Captain Lide could make a copy for me; this way, when dealing with the orcs in the future, even if something happens, I will be able to respond better!"

"A map?" Captain Lide looked at Gervas in surprise; he never expected the other party to make such a request.

After pondering for a moment, Captain Lide nodded and said, "Viscount Gervas, if it were another noble, I might not dare to leak the map, as this would also violate the Kingdom's laws, to avoid enemy spies finding out!"

"But Viscount Gervas's feat tonight makes me not worry about the possibility of the map leaking to the enemy, so I can help Viscount Gervas with this favor!"

"Then thank you!" Gervas's face immediately filled with a smile; the map he had been thinking about could finally be obtained, and subsequent intelligence would no longer be like reading a heavenly book.

And this was not in vain for the special favor he had previously shown to Captain Lide.

Just as Gervas was preparing to take his leave and return to the camp first to bring the parchment and ink and brush,

Captain Lide continued, "Viscount Gervas, as for making a copy, let that go; I happen to have an old map there. Although the edges are eroded, it will definitely be more useful than a copy!"

Afterwards, Captain Lide took Gervas to his tent.

Entering the tent, Gervas saw the old map Captain Lide had spoken of.

This was actually a complete map of the Northern Region, five meters long and two meters wide.

Good heavens! Gervas exclaimed "Good heavens!"

Gervas had originally thought it would at most be a small regional map about one meter in length and width.

But this map before his eyes completely exceeded his imagination.

Moreover, although the patterns above were still scribbled, the level of detail reached the village and town level.

"Viscount Gervas, although our Rangers are few in number, we are the most important position in the Legion, without exception."

"Because we are the eyes of the entire Legion."

"Additionally, besides spying on military intelligence, we are sometimes responsible for adventuring through areas occupied by the enemy to deliver important military intelligence."

"Therefore, we must know the entire Northern Region inside out, and the soldier squads executing missions must also possess accurate route maps!"

"So, this complete map of the Northern Region allows me to copy the corresponding map for my subordinates to execute missions at any time and place!" Seeming to sense Gervas's shock, Captain Lide explained aloud.

"Captain Lide, giving me this map, are you sure there is no problem?" Although Gervas had planned and schemed in advance to get the map from Captain Lide,

if the risk was very high, he actually only needed a map of the area near the war zone.

After all, one could not repay a favor by making someone risk losing their head to express gratitude.

"Your Lordship Gervas, under normal circumstances, I definitely could not give it to you directly, even if it was damaged!"

"Because this needs to be turned in, but last night's orc attack caused an urgent situation; I could order my subordinates to destroy the old map on the spot to prevent it from falling into the orcs' hands..." Captain Lide did not finish, but the meaning was already very clear.

Gervas showed gratitude in his eyes. "Captain Lide, I will remember your help!"

Lide nodded and said no more.

Although this map was indeed very important.

But if not for Gervas's reminder last night, which reduced the losses of the Vanguard Camp, he would most likely be punished after returning.

The lightest punishment might be demotion, such as being demoted to a Centurion.

After all, regardless of the reason, failing to detect the orcs in advance was the Rangers' greatest fault.

Forty li behind the Vanguard Camp, the main army was marching.

A scale of over one hundred thousand people made the entire army form a long dragon stretching more than ten li.

Located at the front of the column, the President of the Southern Region, Duke Hernand, Duke Lieshi, along with several Hou Jue and Counts, gathered together, riding horses forward.

They chatted about the orcs' possible movements next while marching.

"You say, did the orcs charging into Red Shicheng just make a show, actually just to distract our attention, thereby allowing other orcs to better plunder elsewhere?" a Hou Jue spoke up.

"I think this is possible; after all, Red Shicheng is a towering city with eighteen-meter-high walls; attacking such a city, even if we humans attacked it ourselves, would be very difficult!"

"Moreover, the orcs are not good at siege warfare to begin with; if they attack, they must pay a heavy price, so as long as they are not crazy, I think they will not make such a choice," a Count immediately agreed upon hearing this.

Because this was not a formal meeting, just idle chat.

So the Hou Jue and Counts were relatively open.

But just then, Duke Lieshi suddenly spoke with a smile, "It seems you all think Duke Hernand's deduction is wrong, thinking the orcs are not preparing to attack Black Dragon City?!"

Instantly, the scene became quiet, and the Hou Jue and Counts all closed their mouths.

Although it was idle chat, with Duke Lieshi saying it like that, the meaning changed.

And the two dukes before their eyes, no matter which one, they could not afford to offend.

Seeing the awkward silence, Duke Hernand glanced at Duke Lieshi and said coolly, "Duke Lieshi, gathering these nobles here is so we can hear everyone's opinions."

"Whatever they say is fine, and I, Hernand, am not a narrow-minded person!"

"Look, as soon as you speak, they dare not say a word!"

"Haha! Duke Hernand, I am simply stating the facts!"

"In the past, when we dealt with orc invasions, we would assemble a massive army and drive them away quickly; this minimized our losses!"

"But you demand that this year we abandon our traditional methods of combat and instead use cities as strongholds to steadily reclaim lost territories!"

"Therefore, I am merely stating the facts!"