"Welcome to Sticht County, Lord Simon." The scar-faced soldier handed the blood certificate back to Simon, saluted, and together with three other soldiers, carried the horse to the roadside.
Simon stuffed the pedigree certificate back into his boots, stepped on the stirrups and mounted the horse, leading the men and horses through the checkpoint.
Only then did Simon notice that there was a small wooden table behind the checkpoint, and sitting in front of the table was an old man wearing bright red clothes.
On the table in front of the old man was a piece of parchment with dense writing and an ink bottle with a quill.
"Sir, because you are a noble, you do not have to pay tolls. If the village chief leads the team this time, he will definitely be charged one-tenth of the goods on the carriage as tolls." A guard soldier looked at the half-century old man , said to Simon.
"This noble lord," the half-hundred-year-old man stood up at this time, "I have something I want to talk to you about."
"Huh?" Simon was a little confused.
"I have long heard about the Dorsten family in the Earldom of Berg in the south. They are an honorable and trustworthy family." The old man walked to Simon's horse. "My father, Baron Iser, is negotiating with the Northwest The Baron of Arnhem is fighting a war nearby, are you interested in joining my master’s camp as a mercenary?”
Simon stroked his beard and thought. Little Klein and the guards on the side also looked at Simon, waiting for Simon's decision.
"Don't worry, sir, the generous Baron Iser will hire you and your team with three medium-quality Denier silver coins per day." The old man looked at the soldiers behind Simon who were wearing armor and looking fierce. I estimated the hiring price.
"Okay, I admit that I am somewhat interested," Simon nodded, "but I have to meet your lord and understand the situation in detail before making a decision. I can't just hand over the lives of myself and my men so casually. out."
Three medium-quality Denier silver coins every day is already a very good income for a small team like Simon. You know, if you want to buy a Norman helmet in Berg County, it will cost roughly twenty or thirty Denier silver coins. To buy a draft horse, you have to pay fifty or sixty Denier silver coins.
However, for those relatively wealthy nobles, the annual expenditure on food alone is nearly two to three hundred Denier silver coins.
"Of course, Sir Simon. If you continue walking north along this road, you will probably reach Isselburg before evening. Then you can rest there for a night and talk to my master about mercenary warfare. "The half-hundred-year-old man took a step back and saluted Simon.
"By the way, Sir, you may be passing through a war zone, please pay attention to your safety!" The half-century-old man seemed to have remembered something and shouted at Simon's leaving back.
Simon responded and continued moving forward with his troops.
This is a very flat, poetic and beautiful plain. Scattered small patches of woods and trees are scattered on this "green cloth", as if dotted with stars in the night sky. Unknown wild flowers bloomed among the green grass, and bees and butterflies flew among them.
If the soldiers at the checkpoint and the half-hundred-year-old man collecting tolls hadn't mentioned it, it would have been difficult to connect all this with the war.
"Look!" When they reached a fork in the road, a guard soldier pointed at the billowing black smoke that was vaguely visible in the distance.
"Master, there is a small group of people in front of us coming towards us!" The guard soldier walking at the front wearing tattered mail armor squinted his eyes and looked at the figures getting closer and closer on the dirt road in the distance, and said loudly.
"Everyone on alert, form a shield wall!" Simon waved his hand and stopped the horses together with Klein.
The guard soldiers who were chatting and laughing just now immediately took off the round shields from their backs, held the spears tightly in their hands, stood in a row in front of Simon and the pack carriage with their shields, and looked nervously at the approaching people.
The leader was a young, muscular man with an impressively large hooked nose. He wore an Anglo iron helmet with a gill guard and a neck guard that had been polished and looked like it had been well maintained. Zijia.
However, he was wearing a dirty and tattered black burqa, which looked so awkward no matter how you looked at it.
"Master." At this time, behind the leading man with a hooked nose, a brown-haired man carrying a battle ax dripping with red blood and wearing bloody cotton armor came forward.
"I mean, boss, boss, you want to take them with you..." After being glared at by the hook-nosed man, this guy patted his head and hurriedly changed his words.
"Don't worry, let me ask." The leader, the man with a hooked nose, waved his hand. Behind him were twelve guys who were pulling two carts full of food and trophies. They were neither soldiers nor bandits. They just relaxed a little. .
"Who are you and where are you going?" The leading man with a hooked nose looked unkindly at the carriage full of rich goods behind Simon's shield wall and licked his lips.
Simon quickly calculated in his mind.
This is the territory belonging to Baron Iser, and the black smoke in the distance may be the villages that have been plundered in Baron Iser.
From the leader's equipment and the guy who just stepped forward and called him "Sir", we can deduce that these guys who are carrying a lot of food and dressed like bandits must be Ana who is fighting Baron Iser. The food collection team, or looting team, under Baron Mu.
"Real robbers don't have the time to polish their mail so clean and shiny every day." Simon sneered in his heart.
"Bah, you lowly and humble road bandit, you are worse than my hunting dog. Who gave you the courage to be so rude to a nobleman!? Do you know how serious a crime it is to premeditatedly rob a nobleman?" Simon looked at these A soldier who deliberately dressed himself up as a gangster simply used his tactics to get the better of him.
To be honest, Simon was also a little uneasy.
He was actually betting that these grain collectors did not dare to delay with him for too long or were worried about losing the manpower to transport grain in the confrontation. He was betting that Baron Iser also saw the thick black smoke in the village and sent cavalry to pursue them.
If this group of soldiers really had no scruples or worries at all, then Simon could only choose to fight with all his might or sue for peace.
"You..." Sure enough, the leading man in front of him, a hook-nosed man wearing bright mail, had veins popping out on his forehead and his face was distorted. His hand was tightly grasped on the hilt of the sword at his waist, and he immediately wanted to talk back to Simon.
However, he soon realized the role he was playing now, and with reluctance, he tried to calm down the anger in his heart.
"I am Wolf, the Wolf, and we are brothers of freedom. You should be aware of your current situation. Hand over the supplies on the carriage behind you, and I can let you live." The hook-nosed man pulled out the sharp German gun from his waist. Jian, "Otherwise, I will still get the supplies behind you, but I will get them by stepping on your corpses."
"What if I say no?" Simon smiled slightly, also drew out his sword, and looked at the group of soldiers coldly.
Simon already had an idea in mind, because the scorched soldiers and bandits behind the hook-nosed man had exposed their situation.
As soon as Simon finished speaking, the six guard soldiers in front arched their bodies and looked at these guys with stern faces. Little Klein also set up his bow and arrow, aiming at the hook-nosed man at the front.
"Sir...Boss, these guys seem to have seen blood, and they are very difficult to mess with. We can't delay it any longer. The cavalry of Baron Iser is probably on the way." He first asked the leading eagle. The brown-haired soldier of the hook-nosed man was whispering in his ear.
The leading man with a hooked nose had a look of uncertainty on his face.
However, after making a quick decision, he still chose to let the fat hedgehog go and quickly transport the stolen food and baggage back to Baron Arnhem.
Otherwise, when Baron Iser's cavalry arrives, not only will he not be able to complete the task assigned to him by the Baron, but he may also be captured by Baron Iser's cavalry.
At that time, as a knight, his deeds of pretending to be a robber and robbing villages will be widely spread. Not only will his face be disgraced, but his family's honor will also be lost.
"What a ghost!" The hook-nosed man gripped the hilt of his sword angrily.
Not only because he let such a rich load of goods go, but also because he was humiliated by Simon deliberately as a low-class thieves but couldn't express his anger.
"Okay, very good, very good," the hook-nosed man laughed angrily, almost squeezing out the words through gritted teeth, "May I ask what your name is, sir?"
"Simon von Dorsten." A faint smile appeared on Simon's lips. I just like the way you can't stand me and can't kill me.
"We will meet again! Let's go!" The hook-nosed man waved his hand, and several bandits quickly stepped forward, raising their spears and axes to confront Simon's guard soldiers against the shield wall to prevent Simon's soldiers from passing through. Suddenly attacked.
The soldiers leading the packhorse carriage behind them glanced at Simon's goods greedily and led the packhorse loaded with food onto a small dirt road by the side of the road that entered the woods.
After both carriages entered the woods, the soldiers and bandits cautiously backed away from Simon and his party, and soon disappeared into the small woods on the roadside.
"Let's keep walking and try to reach Isselburg before evening. It's really unsafe here." Simon rode ahead.
Several guard soldiers, who seemed to be surviving a disaster, were sweating and breathing heavily.
