Simon's father, Keother von Dorsten, now had a headache.
Originally, I was living a peaceful and pleasant winter afternoon as always. Unexpectedly, the outpost in the southern part of the barony was destroyed by a group of troops of unknown origin.
According to Dieter, the curly-bearded soldier who escaped, they were numerous and well-equipped. They shot the old tax collector and another soldier with arrows without even saying hello.
Dieter said with a look of fear that he was in a near-death situation at that time. He held up his shield to block several arrows and fled into the forest before finally coming back with his life.
The old baron asked the butler to take Dieter down to comfort him. As a result, not long after they left, a man claiming to be Simon's cavalry brought news that Fort Fuld was being besieged by an army of about three hundred people.
Interestingly, the cavalry specifically mentioned that Fox, the former tax collector of the village of Verde, also appeared in that army.
This made old Couther frown—a man who knew his territory as well as his own home had become a traitor, and God knew what trouble was going to happen.
"If I had known that he just took it home as a cover, but actually secretly defected to my enemy, I swear I would definitely draw my sword and kill him!" Old Coose thought bitterly in his heart. .
"Fortunately, the tolls collected by that outpost last quarter have been transported to the treasury on the Annunciation four days ago. It is really a blessing among misfortunes." Financial Controller Jonas said expressionlessly, and then continued Cooking wheat porridge with the minced meat strips in his bowl.
Old Keoser didn't speak. He seemed to have a poor appetite.
Although the large long shelf table in front of him was covered with a piece of clean white linen, the glass was filled with fine wine from Burgundy, and the roast venison on the plate was exuding a charming aroma, he only moved a few times. mouth, and put down the knife.
"Father, the town of Dusseldorf was besieged by Count Lowen. Count Berg's messenger brought an order. The count asked us to fulfill our obligations as vassals and immediately assemble the army to relieve the siege." Lange said the rabbit in his mouth He swallowed the meat, and then said softly to Keother.
"Ha, now that our territory is also under attack, we have to ask Earl Berg to fulfill his obligation as a monarch to protect his vassals!" Eric, the military director of Keother, said sarcastically, While chewing the chicken, he raised the wooden cup and took a sip of the sweet wine to help his throat.
"Yes, it is impossible for me to fulfill my obligations to my monarch when there is a fire in my own backyard! We have to defeat the enemies besieging Foldburg before we can free up our hands to relieve the siege in Dusseldorf Town." The old man Keother sighed and made his final decision.
"Eric, you are responsible for gathering the army. Jonas, you are responsible for allocating food and grass. Lange, you go back to your fief and bring all your men and horses to Dorstenburg. When everything is ready, we will go together. Fort Verde comes to the rescue!”
"Yes, my lord!"
"As you command, Your Excellency!"
"Okay, Father."
After making his decision, old Cooser regained some of his appetite and started eating again.
I have to say that the chef in the lord's kitchen is really good at cooking, and today's food is as delicious as ever. The cook has been serving the Dorsten family loyally for more than twenty years, and during this period, he can count on one hand the days when someone has complained that the food is unpalatable.
After Keoser and his courtiers had had enough wine and food, they began to go about their own business.
Jonas hurriedly walked through the dark corridor towards the clerk's room with two brand-new volumes of parchment in his arms.
Soon after, the young clerk in a long blue robe sealed the written order document with fire paint, picked up the engraved seal, printed the coat of arms of the Dorsten family, and then walked out of the tower and headed towards the stables. Go to the hut next to it.
As the sky grows dark, the servants have already lit the torches fixed on the castle walls, and the cheerfully dancing candles have begun their long night life.
The last trace of the setting sun lingers in the sky and is reluctant to leave. The cobalt blue sky color palette is dotted with a touch of burgundy, which is intoxicatingly beautiful.
"Your Excellency Jonas has an order. These two orders must be sent out urgently, one to Wolfen Manor and the other to Fieldhausen Ranch." The young clerk opened the door of the cabin and waved his hand with some disgust. To wave away the stench that hit his nostrils, he handed the two documents to two sloppy couriers.
The messenger put the file under his arm, rubbed his sleepy eyes and picked up the large satchel. Then he picked up the saddle from the wall, walked into the stable, and put on the harness for his partner.
Seeing the messengers disappearing on horseback, the young clerk turned around with relief.
However, he did not go back immediately, but took a sneaky look at the entire inner fort. After making sure that no one was likely to notice him in the dim light, he nimbly walked around to the back of the cabin next to the stables.
"I've been waiting for you here for a long time," Dieter, the curly-bearded soldier, said with some resentment. "My God, this place absolutely stinks. How can the place where those messengers live be better than the shepherds who haven't had a bath in years?" People still stink?"
"Don't complain. Writing is a delicate job. I don't feel any better than you in the clerk's office. Let's get down to business. Did you bring the letter?" the young clerk said in a low voice.
"Of course, here you go," Dieter said, taking out a small roll of parchment sealed with fire paint from the cloth bag on his waist, and handed it to the young clerk, "Also, please ask Jonah on behalf of Lord Fox. Say hello to Sir Si!"
"Don't worry, I will deliver it." The young clerk took the letter and carefully poked half of his head out of the wall to see if anyone was passing by the inner fort. "You should leave quickly, and be careful. When you act, don’t show your flaws.”
"Of course not, don't forget that people call me Cunning Dieter!"
……………………
As night falls, the heat given to the earth by the sun during the day is losing little by little.
Bonfires were lit everywhere in Baron Quinnier's siege camp four hundred meters away from the southern wall of Verde Village. There was no doubt that all their wood was chopped from Simon's forest.
Many soldiers gathered around the campfire, sniffling and worriedly discussing the next day's attack.
Attacking walled villages and towns means huge casualties. Everyone wants to be a successful person who enjoys victory and spoils, rather than becoming an unknown corpse who died on the offensive.
The soldiers chatted, and many began to fall asleep.
Not every poor soldier and serf soldier owns a piece of clothing to keep out the cold. When the sun shines lightly on everyone's face the next morning, some soldiers with thin clothes will never get up.
"Lord Quinnier, five serf soldiers froze to death last night." Sir Hunter opened Baron Quinnier's warm tent and reported to his monarch.
"I know." Baron Quinnier rubbed his temples with a headache.
Now, the dilemma they face is not only the problem of keeping soldiers warm from the cold, but also the problem of rapid consumption of supplies and grain.
He had not expected that the food and fodder would be depleted so quickly.
The food and grass they looted all the way after entering the Earl of Berg is now only enough to last for three days. Maybe they don't have to wait until Simon's village is besieged until they run out of food. The hungry soldiers on their side who have no food to eat have already fled. Eighty-eight.
He had no way to retreat. In addition to quickly capturing Fordeburg in a short period of time, he also had to send out another grain collection team to plunder the villages, manors and pastures under the jurisdiction of Baron Dorsten to obtain grain and grass supplies. .
In addition, he had to send scouts to keep an eye on the movements of Baron Dorsten's army. He didn't want to be attacked from both inside and outside.
"Is the siege ladder ready?" Baron Quinnier looked at Sir Hunter inquiringly.
"Of course. Their village wall is not high, so the ladder can be made very quickly, but Master Carlo said that the siege engine can only be made the day after tomorrow at the fastest."
"Very good, we can organize an attack now. But Hunter, I have another important task for you to handle." Baron Quinnier said, standing up from his chair.
"My lord, what mission?" Sir Hunter was a little strange.
"I need you to lead all our cavalry to plunder the villages under the jurisdiction of Baron Dorsten, kill their people, and plunder their food, grass and property. Let Fox lead the way for you."
"As a result, Baron Dorsten will be faced with a situation where he has no troops to recruit and no food and grass to recruit." Sir Hunter nodded in agreement, "I will go and gather the troops now!"
………………………
"Master, look, their cavalry seems to be making some movement. It seems they are heading east."
On the village wall, Peidi was carefully observing every move of the siege camp opposite.
He noticed that the well-equipped heavy cavalry and light cavalry wearing Norman helmets and chainmail mounted their horses one after another. Under the leadership of a noble knight and the traitor Fox, they marched towards the village road to the east. .
"It seems that their target is Xinkser Village and other manor villages in the barony." Simon looked into the distance with cold eyes and analyzed Baron Quinnier's intentions.
Although the number of cavalry in Baron Kunir's camp has been greatly reduced now, Simon still dare not act rashly and open the village gate to go out to meet the enemy.
The sixty mercenaries who were eyeing him looked like they were not easy to mess with, not to mention that there were nearly two hundred free people soldiers, poor serf soldiers and archers in his camp.
With only thirty-eight soldiers and twelve archers, Simon had no choice but to hold on to the village wall.
"Woo~"
The long sound of the horn came from Baron Quinnier's camp, which was the horn of assembly before the attack.
"Fat man, let everyone get ready!" Simon shouted to the fat man who was sitting by the bonfire under the village wall to keep warm.
"As you command, Master!"
After a while, the alarm bell in the village rang. On the south wall of the village, which originally had only a few soldiers on guard, many ready archers and militia soldiers with shields and spears came up one after another.
"Rian, if the enemy does not dispatch siege engines, siege towers or heavy infantry, there is no need to use our trebuchet." Simon grabbed Ryan who was running towards the trebuchet turret and explained to him road.
"Gabriel, take a few people to garrison the west and north walls of the village. We can't be left undefended!"
After everything was arranged, Simon turned his attention to the direction of the siege camp again.
At this time, a loose battle formation composed of a large number of poor serf soldiers and mercenaries was slowly pressing towards the village.
The battle formation was mixed with some handymen carrying siege ladders and large defensive shields.
A shield is a movable cover, mostly made of wooden boards, that can protect archers who enter the castle's shooting range. A shield can probably provide cover for three archers.
"Archers prepare!"
When the enemy entered the range of the bow and arrow, under Bill's order, the archers on the village wall raised their arrows and aimed at the densely packed soldiers on the farmland outside the village wall.
"Fire the arrow!"
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
The crisp sound of bowstrings sounded on the village wall, and deadly arrows flew towards the serf soldiers and mercenaries with a whistling sound that broke through the air.
The mercenaries raised their shields skillfully, and the arrows had no way to hit them.
However, those serf soldiers who only wore simple warm clothing were in dire straits.
Most of the serf soldiers were not equipped with shields. They only held simple wood-chopping axes, wooden hammers, sickles and pitchforks in their hands. They had no ability to defend against long-range weapons.
Despite this, the first round of ejection did not cause them many casualties.
"Try to shoot those serf soldiers without shields and those handymen who charge with ladders!" Bill saw that the first round of shooting had little effect, only knocking down three unlucky serf soldiers, so he gave the order to the archery team. new instructions.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
"Oh!" A bearded serf soldier was shot through the throat by an arrow.
He couldn't help but throw away his weapon, knelt on the ground, touched the arrow in his throat with his dirty hands, and coughed up blood, as if he wanted to save his life that was about to be lost.
Some serf soldiers who were hit by arrows in the chest and abdomen were staggered and fell to the ground by the huge kinetic energy and severe pain of the arrows. Blood slowly flowed out from the wounds uncontrollably.
"What the hell!"
An old handyman who was carrying the end of the ladder saw with his own eyes that the young man in front of him who was carrying the front end of the ladder was shot in the face by a deadly flying arrow, and a gorgeous flower of blood bloomed on his face. He looked like He suddenly lost all his strength and fell to the ground, twitching continuously.
"Concentrate your firepower and shoot those who are carrying the ladder!" Bill saw several serf soldiers taking over the dead servants and continuing to carry the ladder. He couldn't help but shouted anxiously to the archers next to him.
Soon, the heavy ladder turned into a baton of death cursed by the devil. After the serf soldiers carrying the ladder were shot to death by bows and arrows one after another, no one was willing to touch it anymore.
But at this moment, the huge defensive shield had been carried more than a hundred meters away from the village wall by the handymen who were following behind. The archers following the defensive shield had begun to gradually move towards Fuld on the village wall. The village archery team returned fire.
"Be careful!" Bill saw the enemy archer leaning out from behind the shield to draw his bow. He turned his head and shouted to the members of the archery team who were shooting enemy light infantry unscrupulously at the crenels around them.
"Da da da……"
Densely packed arrows fell on the wall stacks like raindrops and were inserted into the wooden shields of the soldiers on the village wall.
The members of the archery team, who received Bill's warning and took shelter in advance, crouched down and hid behind the walls. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
"Slingers ready!"
Simon at the village gate saw that many enemies had entered a distance of sixty or seventy meters from the village wall. He immediately turned his head and shouted to the villagers holding slings under the village wall who were eager to try.
"I hope you can enjoy this stone feast!" Simon said coldly, looking at the mercenaries wearing leather armor and holding shields in the enemy battle formation.
