Chapter 392: Ten Days! Ten Days Saves Rapid City!
Standing in a corner of the Holy Grandson's study in the Holy Advent Hall, Halkin stared down at his toes in boredom.

Sitting on a simple armchair with straw mats, Horn handed the last letter to Duvalon: "This is for Shilov. Tell her that I am fine and will be back soon. Tell her not to worry."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Du Valon hurried out of the study with a pile of letters in his hand.

Horn then waved to Halkin and said, "Why are you hiding so far away? It's not like you don't recognize me."

"Hehe, you are the grandson of the Holy Saint, and looking at your face is blasphemy to me."

"Oh, oh, oh, this is getting more and more outrageous." Horn had a disgusting expression on his face and pretended to cover Halkin's mouth.

Halkin naturally bowed to Horn with a smile: "Your Majesty, what can I do for you?"

Removing the smile from his face, Horn entered the working state: "What is the current situation of the Gray Furnace Town Armory?"

"Currently, each armorer can complete a set of armor in four days, which includes a breastplate, a helmet, and a neck guard." Halkin said without hesitation.

Unlike what Horn had imagined, high-tech products such as armor were not made by blacksmiths as in many novels in his previous life, but by specialized armorers.

Making armor is a delicate job. An armorer must not only have the forging skills of a blacksmith, but also be able to process leather, carve, work with sheet metal, assemble, rivet, and even design and draw.

An armorer needs at least five to eight years of apprenticeship before he can become a master, and it has always been a high-paying and high-end profession.

The difference between a blacksmith and an armorer is like the difference between a carpenter and a cabinet maker, both of which belong to higher-level professions.

"What is the monthly output of the Gray Furnace Town Armory?"

"We can complete 80 to 100 sets every month, depending on the yield rate." Halkin explained, "Because the armorers make the armor by hand, sometimes nearly % of the armor and semi-finished products need to be remade."

"How many sets of defective, semi-finished and uninspected armor are there in the warehouse now?" Horn asked while looking at the map, placing a geographical atlas on it.

"95 sets. Some of them are from previous backlogs, and some are not shipped out this month." Halkin, who comes from a businessman background, is very sensitive to numbers and gave the number without hesitation.

"Bring them all out and distribute them to the two regiments of new guards. They will set out tomorrow at noon." Horn snapped his fingers as he spoke, and the secretary next to him immediately placed a prepared warrant on the table.

After reviewing it and confirming that it was correct, Horn signed and handed it to Halkin: "When we leave, ask the armory workshop to send a few brave armorers to accompany the army."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Halkin touched his chest and bowed, then took the warrant and walked out of the room.

However, Horn's work was not yet finished. After Halkin, he successively received seven or eight prominent figures and public officials, both big and small.

While receiving the guests, he kept writing with the feather pen in his hand.

According to these people's reports, Horn signed five or six warrants, such as "Mule and Horse Recruitment Order", "Night Curfew Order", "Jihad Bonds Increase Order", and "Boots and Gaiters Collection Order".

It was not until late at night, when the silver moonlight hanging high in the sky shone through the blinds onto the candle that was about to burn out, that Horn straightened his aching back.

On the table in front of him was a strategic planning map covered with various red and blue symbols and offensive lines.

"After all the squeezing, there are still only five days."

Rubbing his temples, Horn took a sip of cooled black tea and suppressed his sleepiness.

From Heitao Town to Xiaochi City, if you don't take the previous Guell Road but take the King's Road instead, it is about 140 kilometers, which is closer than Jeanne d'Arc to Xiaochi City.

Currently, the Salvation Army infantry usually marches at a speed of about 20 kilometers per day. At this speed, it will take about 7 days to arrive.

But this was obviously not enough. The letter sent by Catherine from Rapid City clearly stated that they could only hold out for two more weeks at most.

If we take the Xiaochi City route at the normal marching speed, it will take 7 days to reach Xiaochi City, and 3 days to travel north by land and water by boat, which will take about 10 days.

It seemed that there was still a lot of room for maneuver, but in fact it was not the case, because three days had passed from the time Catherine sent the letter to the time Horn sent out his troops.

So Horn actually only had 11 days at most. At present, the church faction and the Juano faction in Kasha County were at odds with each other, but the Blago Monastery was fine, as the nobles did not dare to provoke the huge monastic system behind it.

But the situation is different for Xiaochi City, which is the base camp of the Juano faction. Thousands of noble coalition forces are marching towards Xiaochi City.

It takes time to defeat the coalition of nobles, and it also takes time to mobilize ships to the north. After all this trouble, according to the estimates of Jeshka and others, it will take more than two weeks to arrive.

So Horn sent Jeanne out with almost all the cavalry, and asked her to reach Xiaochi within two days to ensure that Xiaochi was not lost, and then recruit ships and horses on the spot.

When Horn was sitting in the Holy Hall, all the legions except the third and fourth guards, two rookie legions, had already marched towards Xiaochi City.

They must reach Little Pond City within 5 days, defeat the enemy within 2 days, and reach Bicester Castle, an important town outside Rapid City, within 3 days.

Then, while tying down the enemy's main force, restore morale and organization.

According to this schedule, the twelve infantry regiments of the two major battle groups of the Salvation Army would need to march at least 28 kilometers every day.

This is equivalent to increasing the original travel speed by at least 40%.

Although hundreds of horse-drawn carriages had been mobilized to transport the cargo, many people still had to wear 10 kilograms of armor and march 5 kilometers for five days.

You know, in the Shen Ai Empire, a daily march speed of more than 25 kilometers is considered a rapid march or even a forced march.

This was different from Horn's previous fortress advancement. The fortress advancement tactic was to set up post stations along the way, so that horses could be replaced and replenished with fodder along the way, and excess manpower could be repatriated on the spot.

This time they were going abroad to fight, so they didn't have much time to set up post stations, but they had to do so.

Horn returned to Joan of Arc to mobilize a large number of mules, horses and crusaders to go into battle with the Third and Fourth Legions of the Guards.

They would first arrive at Heitao Town, meet up with the mules and horses provided by the Ibe Knights, carry seven days of food with them, and speed up to catch up with the ten infantry regiments ahead.

Then use mules and horses to continue to help transport armor and food, try to arrive early, and quickly defeat the noble coalition forces of Xiaochi City.

We can get to Bicester in 10 days, and we can even have 1 day to spare.

But can Rapid City really survive these two weeks?
If Rapid City surrenders early, Horn will be stuck in Bicester.

If Rapids City can hold on, can his side really defeat the coalition of nobles from Kasha County within two days?

Although we have full confidence in the Savior Army, if the other party drags out the time and takes three to five days to resolve the issue, then the plan will still fail.

It’s too tight, time is too tight.

The last time Rapid City sent a letter was half a month ago, in which he vowed that he could hold out for another half a year without any problem, and asked him to fight with Knight Ibe slowly, and not to rush.

How come the situation took a turn for the worse after just one week, as if it couldn't even last half a month?

Could it be that they would lie about such a life-and-death matter before?
Could a fire have caused such serious consequences, or was there something else going on that he was unaware of?

Putting down the quill, Horn let out a breath.

War is simply the most thrilling gamble in the world, with more variables than any other gambling game.

All I can do is try my best not to make mistakes and persevere until the last moment.

"You have eaten up all the blood and tears, but I, the fake saint's grandson, have taken all the fame and fortune." Turning around, Horn looked at the blood-covered cloud hanging on the wall, chuckled, and extinguished the candle with an iron spoon.

"But I can't let you die in vain."

(End of this chapter)