Chapter 674: The Only Way Out

When they hear that the lineup of interceptors and pursuers is so overwhelming, everyone else looks ashen. Only Arius remains calm. Arius lowers his head and looks at the map. "Where are the pursuers now? Which army is marching fastest?"

"After the Fearless Sword Legion crosses Yundu River, which direction are they advancing?"

"Mark all of it on the map for me, and calculate their marching speed."

Windson sighs inwardly. A person who can befriend Henwell truly has extraordinary bearing.

Even at a time like this, Arius remains calm and composed, always keeping a clear head.

After Windson briefly sorts through the intelligence, he points out several positions.

He also tells Arius that the Blood Lion Knights are currently the fastest pursuers.

Arius waves a hand. "Do not count the Blood Lion Knights. They won't launch an attack against us."

"Most of their members are noble heirs, and some are knights and nobles formally enfeoffed by the kingdom."

"They absolutely don't want to carry the reputation of killing a prince."

"They are only here to show where they stand. They won't truly act."

Windson points to the map. "Then the fastest force that can intercept us is the cavalry group of Duke Marcus's East Mist Legion from the Eastern Regions."

Arius shakes his head in denial. "Duke Marcus is coming to see whether I am still alive. He also won't attack me."

"Although he very much wants to, he has to consider my wife's return to Yosui City and the retaliation against his territory."

"More importantly, he doesn't want to be the first bird to stick its head out and kills me. That would offend Henwell badly."

Windson says, "Then the fastest will be the Seventh Cavalry Legion. These more than six thousand cavalrymen are closest to us."

Arius carefully studies the Seventh Cavalry Legion's position, then takes out a ruler and measures the map carefully.

After a long silence, Arius raises his head. "We depart in half an hour. Bring two days of supplies."

"Next, we won't have any chance to rest."

"Before the morning after tomorrow, we must reach this position."

"Otherwise, the Fearless Sword Legion and the Seventh Cavalry Legion will directly trap us."

Seeing Arius's finger land on the position of a city on the map, Windson has to sigh again. This young prince truly is formidable.

Before coming here, Windson discussed this with his colleagues.

Only that position offers a slim chance at survival and a possibility of waiting until Henwell's reinforcements arrive.

It took several outstanding intelligence officers half a day to calculate this conclusion.

Yet under such dangerous circumstances, Arius's mind is exceptionally clear, and he finds the only way out so quickly.

Windson looks at the mark on the map named Cellarwine City and decides to add one more layer of insurance.

If Arius truly manages to reach that place alive, then Windson and the others will help him once more.

Next, Arius and his people strip the knight's household where they are staying of supplies.

Of course, they take only food, water, medicine, and other supplies.

That night, Arius and the others set out through the night and hurry toward their destination without stopping.

During the day, when they rest near the official road, many noble cavalrymen watch them from a distance.

But no one truly comes to intercept Arius. Even when they pass a kingdom garrison, the other side only follows from afar for a while.

No one is foolish. At this point, everyone has realized that Arius and his people have reached a desperate situation.

Provoking a desperate army filled with violent hostility is obviously not a wise thing to do.

After all, they have about two thousand cavalry. They aren't an armed force any single local power can withstand.

Finally, on the night of the second day, the exhausted Arius and his people arrive at Cellarwine City.

This is a small city of only tens of thousands of people, and it was originally quite unremarkable.

Although it lies at the center of Vorry Kingdom and borders many major noble powers, it has never developed.

No side wants anyone else to control this place.

Its trade has also remained lukewarm. But because of its convenient conditions, the city is known for fine wine.

The entire region makes a living by brewing wine, and most of the merchants who come and go purchase goods here.

Because many powers have interfered here, its public security has always remained below average.

There are many bandits, and the the locals are also extremely fierce.

This situation continued for more than a hundred years, until Peace Haven appeared.

Both this place's geographical position and Yundu River to the south are key points for Peace Haven.

Therefore, Peace Haven had already made arrangements here long ago.

After Henwell launched the demonstration zone population recovery plan, Peace Haven even obtained several areas here.

It was also then that Cellarwine City began to develop.

The city was reinforced, and the roads and buildings within it were also rearranged.

Several broad trade roads were built, and three canals were opened to guide water from Yundu River to the area around Cellarwine City.

All this investment allowed Cellarwine City to change completely in only a few years.

It has now become one of Vorry's trade hubs, with an very important geographical position.

Originally, the kingdom wanted to strengthen its control over this place, but the same problem remained: there are too many surrounding powers.

They don't want the kingdom to occupy this place, and more importantly, none of them wants the kingdom to monopolize this new trade city that now brings in gold every day.

So, amid all the wrangling, Henwell proposed that the city's administrative affairs be handled by representatives from every side and that no garrison be stationed in the city.

Nor would anyone be allowed to station troops in the surrounding area. The place would become a pure trade center.

Every year, all sides would take different shares of the profits from this place.

As for how the shares were divided?

Naturally, whoever had the strongest fist took the most.

The kingdom had the biggest fist, so it took the largest share.

Although Peace Haven was powerful, the surrounding powers more or less excluded Peace Haven from intervening here.

In the end, the share Peace Haven received was completely out of proportion to what it had invested.

As compensation, every side allowed Peace Haven to establish several demonstration zones and undertake Cellarwine City's various infrastructure projects.

For the latter, investment had to be made in advance according to each side's share ratio.

Although Peace Haven has not established a complete military and political system here, when it comes to governance and development, no side can compare with Peace Haven.

So, little by little, the various administrative affairs of Cellarwine City have fallen into Peace Haven's hands.

Everyone still has the same meaning: as long as Peace Haven doesn't deploy military force here, everything is negotiable.

But no one expected that today, this trade-center city would become a strategic location that changes the kingdom's future structure.

When Arius's army reaches the outskirts of Cellarwine City, Arius is originally prepared to trick the city gate open.

But to his surprise, Windson rides out, directly sends up a signal firework, and exchanges a few coded phrases with the city officer.

Just like that, the city gate opens.

Arius turns and looks at Windson. "It seems you people have hidden quite a bit."

"What if I had chosen the wrong place? Or if I had not arrived in time?"

Windson shrugs. "Then we would have had no choice but to quietly leave on the road like other deserters."