On the main road leading to the north by the Rhine River, the biting river wind made the soldiers tremble.
Sometimes, the snow on the dead trees on both sides of the road would fall on the heads of the marching soldiers. The lucky winner would curse and hand over his weapon and shield to his companions, slapping the snow on his body.
Baron Quinnier, who was riding at the front and was talking to Fox, suddenly pulled the reins, raised his right hand, and signaled the soldiers behind him to stop immediately.
"stop!"
I saw a vague shadow about two hundred meters away on the main road ahead. If you look closely, you can see that it is probably an outpost made of stones.
Facing Baron Quinnier's questioning gaze, Fox thought for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth: "It's the border outpost of Baron Dorsten. I'll take care of it."
After saying that, Fox pulled his hood down and tightened his legs on the horse's belly. The pony quickly ran through the snow on the main road full of ruts and footprints.
"Follow him." Baron Quinnier tilted his head, and a personal knight behind him followed with an attendant on horseback.
"People in front, stop!" A loud shout came from the outpost.
A loose and scratched horse fence blocked the middle of the main road.
Behind the horse fence stood a soldier holding a spear, wearing a stuffed turban, warm armor and simple leather stuffed armor.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The voice coming from behind Juma was a little nervous. Obviously, the young soldier had seen the army behind the comer.
"Which lord does the army behind you belong to? Do you have military permission from Baron Dorsten?" On the wooden table next to the outpost, an old tax collector wearing a red pointed hat slowly stood up from his chair. He stood up, his eyes full of vigilance.
"What happened?" The wooden door of the stone outpost was opened, and a lazy-looking soldier with curly beard walked out.
"Don't be nervous my friends, the wardrobe is dancing at midnight." Fox wore a hood, lowered his head, and suddenly said something inexplicable.
"Ah, what nonsense is that?" The young soldier was confused and scratched his head in confusion.
"Wait a minute, your voice sounds familiar..." The old tax collector looked at this man with familiar attire and voice in confusion, but couldn't remember who he was for a moment.
However, a sudden change gave him no chance to think about this issue again.
"Pfft!"
The poor old tax collector's neck was held by the strong arms behind him, and the dagger that followed stabbed deeply into his heart.
His eyes widened in disbelief, his gray-blue pupils filled with anger and unwillingness, and he struggled to look back at the traitor behind him.
"But is he dancing for the dressing table or the candlestick?" The curly-bearded soldier and Fox smiled at each other and exchanged the next sentence of the code.
The old tax collector struggled to move his lips to say something, and blood flowed from the corners of his mouth along his constricted throat, soaking the sleeves of the green uniform of the bearded soldier.
"Dieter, are you crazy? My God, are you in the same group?" The young soldier stared at the bearded soldier in shock, that damn traitor.
Outnumbered, he immediately made a choice—dropping the spear and shield that were in the way and escaping into the woods beside the road.
When the traitorous soldier named Dieter saw this, he pulled out his dagger and directly pushed the old tax collector's body to the ground. The snow greedily sucked in the remaining warmth of the corpse.
Dieter quickly ran to the middle of the road, mustering up all his strength to lift the horse fence to the side of the road.
"Kill the guy who ran away, don't let him run away!" Fox said anxiously.
Fox didn't need to say anything. The knight behind him laughed ferociously, and together with his attendants, he rode in the direction of the young soldier's escape.
After a while, a heart-rending scream came from the woods beside the road.
"Now, all the troublemakers have passed away." Fox took off his hood with a smile, clapped his hands, stepped off the horse, and walked towards Dieter.
"Long time no see, my friend, how are you on the other side of the river?" Dieter put the dagger back into the sheath on his waist and wiped the blood on his hands on the yellow woolen robe of the old tax collector's body.
"Baron Quinnell treated me much better than Old Coothel treated me." Fox tied the horse's reins to the hitching post next to the stone house of the outpost, walked to the tax collection table, and put the reins under the table. The heavy iron money box was pulled out.
Suddenly Fox heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the direction of the woods. He raised his head in a cold sweat. It turned out to be the knight who had just been chasing the young soldier and his attendants.
The knight's body and the horse under his crotch were covered with dark red blood. On the side of his attendant's saddle was a blood-stained armor, a leather-filled vest with holes and filth. padded turban. This is their trophy.
"Dear Lord Hunter, please tell Lord Quinnier that everything has been settled." Fox said to the knight respectfully.
The knight named Hunter did not answer Fox, but gave him a meaningful look, snorted, and puffed out a large cloud of white air from his nose, then drove his horse towards Baron Quinnier's team.
Traitors are feared and despised no matter where they are, even if they are on the same front now.
"Since he can betray the monarch he has followed for many years, who can guarantee that he will not hesitate to betray us when our interests are inconsistent? Such villains can be used, but they must be watched carefully." Hunter said in He thought on the way back to the baron's army to announce the news.
Fox didn't care what he thought. Now all his thoughts were attracted by the sturdy iron money box.
"Then, the key to the box!" Dieter knelt down, took the key from the belt of the old tax collector's body, and threw it to Fox.
"How come you only have so little money?"
After opening the box with the key, to Fox's surprise, there were not many coins in the box at all. He roughly counted all the coins and found that the total value of all the coins was only eight Denier silver coins.
"Friend, haven't you continued working as a tax collector on the other side of the river? You should know that on the Feast of the Annunciation four days ago, we transported all the tolls we received in the previous weeks to the old baron's treasury. Here." Dieter spread his hands and said helplessly.
"No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. Take it, this is your reward. As long as you perform well, when we completely control the barony, I will give you more rewards, such as a rich and fertile farm. Several healthy piglets and calves, a young and beautiful female slave..." Fox said, taking out two Denier silver coins from the money box and putting them into Dieter's hands.
"Thank you, that's great," Dieter's eyes almost lit up, "That's really the life I dream of!"
"Yes, yes, so, I need you to go back to Dorstenburg now to report the destruction of the outpost. Just say that it was a group of deserters from the south. In addition, be smart and quietly destroy this Give this letter to my dear friend Lord Jonas."
………………………
Mastering the skill of a sling is not difficult.
Under the guidance of Bill and the old shepherd, the sixty selected villagers quickly learned how to use this simple but surprisingly powerful long-range weapon.
Simon knew that a well-trained archer was basically unable to threaten the heavily armored soldiers charging with shields fifty meters away, but the sling could pose a great threat to them.
If the distance is extended to thirty meters, the villagers use slings to launch larger stones, and up to three or four stones can shatter the enemy's wooden and leather shields. It is not difficult to imagine the kind of harm such a powerful force would cause to a person.
"Now the affairs in the village have been completed, and the food and supplies are all ready. I just don't know when to go out for the expedition." Simon, who was sleepy on the big chair by the fire pit in the tower, closed his eyes and silently thought in his heart. .
The animal fat bought from the caravan last time, the whale oil bought from Baron Red, and the pine tree oil bought at Lange's lumber camp, except for part of it, were reserved for use as fuel for the fire arrows, and the rest were sent by Simon. Mix it with asphalt and put it in a small clay pot.
"I hope my enemies will enjoy this little gift that turns them into roasted meats!"
At this moment, the call from the gatekeeper came from outside the tower door: "Master, Bill wants to see you."
"Let him in."
"Crunch."
Bill, the captain of the archery team, walked in quickly.
He must have been running all the way. At this moment, his head was covered with big beads of sweat, he was breathing heavily, his face was red, and he was full of anxiety.
"What's wrong Bill? There aren't many things that can make you come to see me in such a panic!" Simon said with some surprise, cheering up and sitting up straight.
"Sir, our archers hunting in the southern forest discovered that an army of three hundred people was marching towards us along the main road by the river!"
"What? The enemy's army?"
"I'm not sure, but the point is, the archer recognized that the man who was talking to the leading noble of that army was the long-lost tax collector Fawkes!"
"Oh my God, Fox? No need to guess, they are probably coming to attack us." Simon frowned. Fox, this old dog, is really haunted. I must cut off his head with my own hands this time.
"Master, I think so too." Bill nodded in agreement.
"Then be prepared to defend. There are too few of us. Even if we ambush them, we may not be able to win."
"I'll call back all the other archers who are hunting."
After a while, the alarm bell in the village rang loudly.
"Miller, go and drive the packhorse trailer in the wooden castle to your mill, and transport all the wheat and flour to the granary." Simon strode out of the tower and happened to see him coming down the stairs from the wooden castle wall. Miller.
"What happened my lord?"
"The enemy is attacking!"
At the entrance of the armory in the fort, Gabriel and Pedi were temporarily replacing Miller in distributing equipment and weapons to the unarmed militiamen.
All the militiamen and servants had nervous and uneasy expressions on their faces. It seemed that the trauma caused by the Norman pirates last time had not yet healed.
Simon walked out of the tower door and walked down the hill.
There are already militiamen there to maintain order in the village. Fortunately, there is no unrest in the village now.
"Good day, Sir Simon, the alarm bell in your village has sounded. What happened?" Matilda was still wearing her luxurious dress, but what was different from the last time they met was that she had a belt tied around her waist. A gorgeous armed sword.
"Greetings to you, Your Excellency Simon." Matilda's husband, Ercle, said with a smile.
Elklay looks a bit more robust than he did a while ago. Simon thought that the small life they lived in Verde Village was much more comfortable and nourishing than the days wandering outside.
"An army of three hundred people is attacking here. I am very confident that their target is us." Simon spread his hands helplessly.
"God bless, those damn bastards actually dare to attack the land where God is holy. I curse their dirty souls to a bad death!" Matilda said angrily.
"It's exactly what the bard said. This lady with strong martial arts skills became naughty after spending a long time in the caravan." Simon laughed dumbly and thought to himself.
"Sir Simon, please don't mind, my wife has this habit of speaking, and she can't change it anymore," Elclay scratched his head in embarrassment and continued, "I think it's too late for us to pack up and leave now. …”
"So you?" Simon looked at the couple questioningly. There are not many people in the village who can fight. It would undoubtedly be the best if there are two more experienced hands to help.
"As long as you can waive one-third of the fees we have to pay you, we will be happy to serve you as mercenaries. Although there are only two of us, I guarantee that you will never regret it." Mathil said bluntly said.
"Well..." Simon dragged his chin and thought for a while, then nodded, "Okay, I agree. May God bless you."
………………
When Miller returned to the village with his packhorse trailer carrying wheat and flour and his family, the heavy village door was slowly closed.
Soldiers and archers were stationed on the city walls and fortress walls, each with their eyes wide open, always paying attention to the movements in all directions of the village.
The villagers who were selected as slingers took out the slings assigned to them by Simon from their homes, walked to the pile of stones beside the village wall, and stuffed the stones one by one into the big cloth bag around their waists.
Three workers laboriously carried several stone bullets that had been polished in the past few days to the roof of the trebuchet turret. There, Ryan and several workers who had learned how to operate the trebuchet were debugging the machinery.
Several militiamen held large quivers filled with fire arrows and small clay pots mixed with grease and pitch in their hands, and walked quickly towards the stairs on the upper village wall.
A large pot was propped up under the village wall on the south side. It was filled with black and sticky asphalt, and it was exuding a pungent smell.
The haze of war hangs over everyone's head.
"They're coming."
Simon, who was at the south gate of the village, noticed that birds were flapping in the woods along the main road to the south. This shows that a larger army is approaching.
"Come on, come on, Tax Collector Fox, let me see who this despicable villain like you has fawned over. Haha, don't think about leaving this time." Simon said with a sneer.
