Chapter 299 6.47 Stone Forest County and "Rainy Highlands"

The English Islands are composed of four large islands.

Among them, Wessex, relying on its strong national strength, occupies the best position.

This "best position" is the English Channel located in the extreme south of the archipelago.

Looking at the entire Western Continent, the English Islands are an isolated island independent of the continent. The connecting area between this island and the inland is the narrow English Channel.

The narrowest part of the strait is only 34 kilometers, and this distance can even be crossed by swimming for the sturdy Viking seafarers.

On the other side of the strait are the powerful Duchy of France, the Free City of Visigoths, and the "Bavaria Region" and "Lombardy Region".

All goods exported by the seven countries of the English Islands must be transported to other countries in the Western Continent through the English Channel.

And other commodities needed by the seven countries, such as ironware, minerals, glass, and tea, all rely on ferries on the English Channel to Wessex, and then cross the border of Wessex to Mercia, Wales, and Northumbria deeper in the archipelago.

The English Channel belongs to Wessex.

For all ships that try to cross the channel, whether they are buyers or sellers, Wessex has various ways to control prices or impose tariffs. Relying on its strong national strength, they can easily stockpile goods within the borders, causing shortages in the other six countries, and then take the opportunity to sell them at high prices.

Or contact all purchasing merchants through the Chamber of Commerce to collectively lower the purchase price.

The other six countries are angry but dare not speak out against the powerful Wessex. Because they know that the reason why this country dares to be so bold is because they have the more powerful "Duke of France" behind them.

It is precisely because of this cooperative relationship that the rulers of France, the "Plantage Family", are willing to teach the "Dragon Language" to the dragon knights of Wessex.

Even if the rulers of the six countries dare to provoke Wessex, they will never provoke the powerful France, which is now ruled by the "Plantage Family" on the other side of the channel.

Because there are not 10 dragon knights in this country, but nearly 500!

Not to mention, they also have the "Pegasus Cavalry", "Griffin Cavalry", and hundreds of "Battle Angels".

After crossing the border, Loki's army stood on the edge of a steep cliff, which was called the "Mercia Stairs" and was nearly 100 meters high.

Below the stairs is the first province of Mercia and Wessex, the Stone Forest County. This place is famous for its rugged mountain roads and towering stone mountains that seem to grow upright.

**

A thousand years ago, when the Saxons had not yet crossed north from the other side of the English Channel, the English Isles were still the land of the wild "Celts". The Celts, who believed in Shennong "Massenuk" and the tree demons and druid culture, had magical powers.

They can make all things in the world grow through "natural magic".

This includes not only animals and plants. The druids under the "Massenuk" temple can even "modify" the immovable mountains and rivers, and even the stubborn stone hills into what they want. With the blessing of this divine power, the English Islands, which were blessed with good weather and good harvests, were transformed by them into a paradise with lush trees and extremely favorable geographical conditions.

Unfortunately, they eventually attracted migrants from the south of the English Channel.

According to the "natural faith" cultivated for a long time, the druids believed that "life" was the most precious gift given to mankind by the god of agriculture. "Killing one's own kind" was considered disrespectful by the Celtic people, so the number of warriors among the tribe was extremely scarce.

After just a few decades of war, they lost all their homeland and were driven to the cold plateau in the far north of the English Islands.

Due to the high dimension, it was a wasteland that was no different from the Scandinavian Peninsula in terms of barrenness. None of the 7 kings looked down on that piece of land, so they let the Celts fend for themselves.

The magnificent stone mountains and stalagmites left in the 7 countries, as well as the winding rivers full of natural beauty, became the proof of their existence.

This included the magnificent "Stone Forest City".

Unlike the huge castles built by giants on the Scandinavian Peninsula, which are of amazing scale, and the "Sea Fortress" built with the full spirit of human craftsmanship, "Stone Forest City" is a city located on thick stone pillars of different heights.

The main urban area of ​​the city, "Falling Rain Highlands", is a flat stone pile raised from the ground, with an area of ​​about 2 square kilometers. Connecting "Falling Rain Highlands" and "Mercia Stairs" is a flat stone bridge with a width of 12 meters and a length of 400 meters.

According to Ulysses Elan, the Celts thousands of years ago also made the lifeless stalagmites "grow" a bridge that can be used for connection through the unremitting efforts of several generations.

Before the appearance of this bridge, the towering Wall of Mercia stood on the north side of Stone Forest County, like a giant wall! Camel caravans that wanted to enter Mercia from Wessex could only sail in the sea and go around the coastline.

Since the Celts used natural magic to "grow" this stone bridge, caravans can climb up the Falling Rain Highlands through the stairs built around the stalagmites, and then climb the stone bridge to enjoy the magnificent landscape of the Stone Forest County and enter the Mercia Plateau.

When Loki stood on the edge of the cliff and looked at the deep canyon and the winding karst landforms in front of him, he sighed softly. The vertical height of the cliff is nearly 100 meters. If his army wants to avoid walking on the stone bridge which is only 12 meters wide,

The only way was to climb down the cliff and enter the dark gap in the stone forest.

Anyone with a brain knew that this was a dangerous move. On a cliff 100 meters high, the English could throw down some gravel at random, and when it landed, it would cause considerable damage due to the terrifying acceleration.

Not to mention that if they used gunpowder to blow up the stalagmites, it would be a disaster at the bottom of the canyon.

In this case, he had to find a way to pass through this arch bridge.

However, the Wessex people were not fools. In the middle of the arch bridge, visible to the naked eye, seven or eight huge wooden barrels were tightly tied to the bottom of the arch bridge. It can be imagined that these barrels were not filled with fine wine or spices.

In all likelihood, these were barrels of black gunpowder from the Tang Dynasty in the East!

The Viking army was approaching, and compared with the wealthy castles and nobles in the Kingdom of Wessex, a stone bridge could be completely abandoned. It is certain that as long as Loki dared to lead his troops onto the stone bridge, they would definitely blow this bridge formed by fragile rocks into two sections.

Looking intently at the dangerous stone bridge, Loki began to think quickly.

The sea must not be visited.

The Kingdom of Wessex certainly did not use all their sea power, so once the sea battle began, the Viking longship had no chance of winning.

Climbing down the valley was not realistic either.

The Wessex people tied the barrels to the bottom of the stone bridge without hesitation, just to force him into the deep canyons.

"Okay, it's really good!"

With a gentle wave of his hand, the Satyr who followed Loki silently came forward and smashed the blood-red stone statue on his back to the ground.