Howell was very nervous because so many days had passed and the enemy on the other side of the river had not appeared once. This was not necessarily a good thing, because the enemy might be planning something, such as taking over his defense zone with a thunderous force.

All the defensive preparations in the defense zone are ready - trenches, stone walls, earth walls, beams, fences, arrow towers, pits, rolling stones, reserves, engagement areas, ambush areas...

Howell believed that no matter when the opponent came, he would be able to react in the fastest time, and then take advantage of the enemy while they were climbing. As for what the result would be after the opponent rushed up, Howell could only say that he would try his best to get the best out of it. Fortunately, there was some consolation - Gosmondo's urgent letter arrived yesterday, saying that if they really could not resist the enemy, Howell would be allowed to lead a small number of people to evacuate.

After reading the letter, Howell felt relieved but also a little sad, because Gosmondo's decision meant that most of the soldiers would not be able to leave the defense zone alive.

But that's war...

Compared to Howell's trepidation and worries, Dicaprio on his return trip was full of joy. The Assyrian city's captives consumed six carts of gifts that he had saved up for several years, but it was worth it.

With Woolley's two letters and the obscure hints before leaving, Dicaprio was very perceptive and made friends with Qi Yuan and Connor, and successfully concealed his own little tricks, making these two high and mighty people think that he came to show his loyalty and seek dependence. In addition, Saint Lean of the temple also gave him many honors for surrendering prisoners, and even gave him a pardon board, which is an incredible good thing.

Compared with the time they came, Dicaprio's team had grown four times larger, and that didn't include the endless supply convoy. It's worth mentioning that only half of the extra 4,100 people on the return trip were arranged by Connor and others, and the rest were "forced" to be recruited by Dicaprio - the captive offering ceremony made many people think that the Salt Marsh Army was an army favored by the god Amon, otherwise how could they have won such a glorious military exploit? Therefore, many small and medium-sized nobles who wanted to take advantage of the situation found out where Dicaprio was staying, and then scrambled to send their "spare manpower" over.

Don't think that these people were sent here to win military merit. It's useless for them. Some of them even told Dicaprio directly that it didn't matter whether they were paid or not, as long as they could let their people join the Salt Marsh Army.

Of course Dicaprio understood what these guys meant - the Salt Marsh Army's repeated victories meant that this army could constantly create opportunities to seize spoils. According to convention, ordinary soldiers could keep 20% of the spoils on the battlefield for themselves. Although this 20% might not seem like much, if it could be obtained continuously and accumulated over a period of time, it would definitely be a considerable income.

Although he knew that these guys had their reasons for being so enthusiastic, Dicaprio couldn't find a reason to refuse. In his opinion, since Wu Lai was so good at fighting, the more soldiers he had, the better. What's more, in addition to the supplies that Qi Yuan gave to Wu Lai, Connor also got a lot of practical things for Wu Lai in the name of the Supreme Council, including food, weapons, cotton and linen cloth, and medicine. Dicaprio converted all the prison cars into trucks and still couldn't load them all. Fortunately, there were many car dealerships in Assyria, and he spent some money to finally get all these things back.

In the team brought back by Dicaprio, there are three very eye-catching people, one is the Silver Medal Temple Knight Sarestobiya who once fought against the enemy with Wu Lai in Salt Marsh Town, and the other is the High Priest Shelley Oliver specially assigned to the Salt Marsh Army by Saint Lean. She is only 21 years old and is not only one of the three legendary priestesses of the Assyrian Temple in the past 200 years, but also she has been among the high priests four years ago when she was only 17 years old. She is the youngest high priest at that time and is also the only oracle priest in the Assyrian territory. It is said that she possesses extraordinary abilities and can skillfully use a very ancient divination technique. Saint Lean's move to assign her to Wu Lai not only caused heated discussions in the temple, but also spread widely in the city of Assyria. People who know the news say that the move of High Priest Saint Lean once again proves that Wu Lailindo is a person favored by God.

However, there were also people who were worried and unhappy about this, such as Loli and Eddie. Loli also brought Elise with her, because Shelley was not only extremely capable, but also a beauty. With such a beauty next to Wu Lai, who could say that something wouldn't happen between the two...

The third person is another old acquaintance of Wu Lai - Odoritius, one of the special students of the Assyrian Citizens Academy, the honest big guy known as the Shadow God of War. Although his height has not increased anymore, he has "also developed a lot horizontally." It is worth mentioning that this time Odoritius brought two hundred young and strong men from the family to follow Wu Lai. People who know about this regard this as a gesture of goodwill from the Lytius family to Wu Lai, but no one is sure why the Lytius family chose to do this, because although the Lytius family has always been low-key, its strength is definitely good.

Although he didn't know whether the content of the Woye Army's battle report was enough for him to take a bath, Dicaprio, who was somewhat worried, still returned to Kayikede City as quickly as possible. However, when he excitedly led a large group of troops and supplies into the city, Wu Lai was not in the city.

To be precise, Wu Lai was giving classes to commanders of all levels of the Salt Marsh Army in the army's new base.

There was a reason for moving the Salt Marsh Army's base from the Second Legion's Kayikede City garrison camp here. Firstly, Wu Lai felt that stationing the Salt Marsh Army in the city would inevitably lose its mobility, because if the enemy launched a blitzkrieg after breaking through the gap defense zone and suddenly arrived at the city, the Salt Marsh Army would have to be obedient and serve as city defenders like turtles in a jar even if they were unwilling.

Can the Salt Marsh Army defend the city? The answer is of course yes. Even if they can't defend it in the end, they won't have any problems holding out for a while. But Wu Lai doesn't want to do that, because what he hates most is defending the city, especially when the opponent is the Hulett First Army, which is the best and most enthusiastic about siege warfare. It's not Wu Lai's style to fight hard when he knows it's difficult.

Secondly, even though Date was very polite to him, and even though no one in Date's camp dared to say anything about the Salt Marsh Army, Wu Lai still felt that he was dependent on others. In addition to this reason, Wu Lai also felt that there were many inconveniences in training in the Second Legion garrison camp. Although his soldiers came from various sources, after these people gathered together, unless they were annihilated or defeated or had to disband due to other major changes, in time, they would definitely take off the hat of the Salt Marsh Army and become the real Ninth Legion. Therefore, Wu Lai had to deploy training from the perspective of the legion and requirements, but these should not be made public, because if the details were discovered by someone with ulterior motives, the consequences would be unpredictable.

The new camp is located in the south of Kayikede City, about fourteen or fifteen miles away, and is separated from Kayikede City by a large jungle. Although there is no formal horse trail, there is a shortcut that can be used by ox carts, but it is a bit difficult to pass by ox carts.

There is a small village near the new camp. The biggest reason why Wu Lai set up the camp here is this small village. Because this small village with only more than 20 households and less than 200 people is surrounded by not only large open areas, but also a village name that Wu Lai is familiar with - West Point.

This easily aroused Woolley's evil taste, so he not only built a new camp here, but also built a simple military school. Many years later, this military school became a military holy place on the continent and was officially named - West Point Military Academy.

However, the reason that prompted Wu Lai to open a military school was not because of the name of the village, but because it was indeed very necessary. Although the requirements for admission to the Assyrian Citizens' Academy were not harsh, it did not mean that everyone could get in. Wu Lai was able to enroll because of Seneca's recommendation. Many noble children with good qualities could not become a member of the Assyrian Citizens' Academy because their family was not prominent enough or for some other reasons. For example, among the regiment commanders under Wu Lai, only Huo Yi was a student of the academy, let alone the battalion commanders.

Moreover, becoming a student at the Citizens Academy does not necessarily mean that one will learn a lot about military matters, because although the academy offers military courses, most of what is taught is superficial. Only those students with particularly outstanding performance and obvious talents will receive extra favor from the academy and learn skills that can be truly useful on the battlefield.

The most important point is that civilians will never have these opportunities.

Such a situation undoubtedly blocked the path of many people. It is almost certain that many geniuses were blocked on the other side of the class barrier and would never be able to glimpse the scenery on this side.

All commanders under Wu Lai were civilians at the company level, and in Wu Lai's war philosophy, it would become normal for companies and platoons to fight alone, so he decided to break this barrier within his ability. He built a military academy and offered courses to allow civilians to attend lectures, take notes, and ask questions like citizens.

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While Wu Lai was teaching the officers, Pu Ya and the special company led the thousands of soldiers in training. When Wu Lai's course was over, their own military officers took over and directed the exercises to increase the tacit understanding between officers and soldiers.

After entering the city, Dicaprio naturally went to find Wu Lai first, but he was surprised to receive the news that Wu Lai had led his troops to leave. He couldn't help but feel nervous, and quickly sent someone to check out the Salt Marsh Army's grain purchasing point. The person who went to do the job was quite thoughtful and invited Bailey, who was in charge of the purchasing point, to the official residence. After asking him in detail, Dicaprio finally felt relieved.

"Please wait a moment, everyone. I will ask someone to bring General Woolley here right away." Dicaprio said with a smile to Oddo, Sares, Shelley and others.

"Lord Dicka, let me go." Bailey said quickly.

"I'll go with you." Oddo said with a laugh.

"And me." Sareth took two steps forward with a smile, "I haven't seen Master Wu Lai for some time, and I really miss him."