Sir Hunter's temporary camp was set up in the dense forest east of the Opalhausen logging camp, which was already very close to the territory of Fieldhausen Ranch.
In the past few days, Feng Hexue has changed from a young man with unlimited vitality to an old man in his twilight years, and there is no longer new snow on the ground. Layers of old snow are beginning to melt, and in some places you can even see dry grass on the grass after the snow has completely melted.
This is undoubtedly good news for the invaders, but their only complaint is that it is much colder when the snow melts than when it snows.
Hunter's temporary camp was very simple - it leaned against a small cave, with several tents set up with tarpaulins around it, and several guards and secret sentries posted to guard the camp.
Hunter and his men would spend the night in the cave wrapped in comfortable woolen blankets, while the prisoners who were tied up tightly outside were miserable. Hunter was not even willing to let the prisoners get close to the campfire to warm up - he was afraid The prisoners approached the flames late at night and burned the ropes tied around their wrists to escape.
"Lord Hunter, what a good harvest!" Outside the temporary camp, sentries wearing armed clothes and thick cloaks greeted their returning companions.
Under the leadership of Hunter and Fox, the cavalry carried supplies and dejected prisoners and returned to the camp with their heads held high proudly.
Hunter rode the horse outside the cave, stepped on the horse and dismounted. A private soldier took the reins from his hand and tied the horse to the hitching post.
"How are the prisoners?" Hunter took off his heavy gloves, rubbed his hands and walked towards the bonfire.
"Two more people froze to death, my lord." The private soldier said as he walked behind Hunter.
"Then strip their equipment and throw their bodies outside the temporary camp. We are about to head back to Lord Kunir's siege camp, and we don't have time to deal with such nonsense."
"Yes, my lord." The private soldier responded and walked towards the direction of binding the prisoners.
"Legor, go arrange for someone to carry the grain and grass on the back of the pack horse and put it on the trailer. Fox, have someone bring over a fan of the bacon we just captured. Damn it, I'm so hungry right now that I could eat a whole cow alive." !”
Lunch time soon came, and two bonfires were set up in the camp. The billowing smoke broke through the bare forest without any obstruction and shot straight into the sky.
The soldiers in the camp held wooden bowls and wooden spoons, sat on the ground, talked and laughed, and ate steaming minced meat, beans and wheat porridge to replenish the calories and energy they had lost on the snow.
"We just light a bonfire in the enemy's territory without any concealment. Aren't we afraid that their troops will come to our door?" A soldier wearing a strappy leather hat said worriedly.
"It doesn't matter, we beat them to a pulp, let alone knocking on the door. I guess they won't have time to hide from us now!" The soldier next to him said nonchalantly, wiping his mouth with his golden braid.
"With so many prisoners captured this time, how much ransom will be required? These nobles have really made a lot of money!" A middle-aged soldier with a brown mustache looked at the tightly tied people at the camp with eager eyes. The prisoners said enviously.
"It must be a lot. Come on my man, land, money, wine, slaves, women, you will have all of these. Look at that guy Bowers, he just fought a few great victories with the lords. How cool are you living now?" The golden-braided soldier said while chewing the tiny piece of meat in his mouth.
"You're right. Look at his big farm, his beautiful slave girl, and the life he's living now. To be honest, I'm almost envious of him." The middle-aged soldier with a mustache said in a softer voice, and there was a sense of smell in the air. There is a slight sour taste.
"I just hope that after this war is over, I can change to a better helmet." A soldier with a stubble on his face glanced at his rusty and pitted segmented helmet next to him, and shook his head helplessly. , "I don't ask for much, just a good-quality Norman helmet with nose protection will be enough."
"Ha, I think you should just find Baron Quinnier to find a new home. You don't need much, just a stone castle will be enough!" The soldier with blond hair in braids said sarcastically, making the soldiers next to him laugh. laughing out loud.
The stubble-faced soldier who was being ridiculed blushed and put down the wooden bowl. He was about to reply a few words. Unexpectedly, a white feather arrow flew through the air and was inserted into his back without saying a word. His words turned into blood, which couldn't stop flowing out from the corners of his mouth.
"Enemy attack!"
The soldiers who had been laughing and joking just now immediately threw their bowls on the ground and wanted to get the wooden shields they had piled beside the tree. At this moment, the feather arrows that followed began to shuttle rapidly among the crowd.
"Whizzing……"
"Pfft!"
"Hey, hey..."
"Ahhhhh!"
In an instant, the whistling sound of arrows piercing the air, the muffled sound of sharp arrows hitting human bodies, the crisp sound of arrows hitting chain mail, and the mournful wails of the injured resounded throughout the temporary camp.
"Where are they?"
"In the outer forest..." A soldier who had just picked up the shield from the ground was hit in the chest by an arrow before he had time to raise the shield.
His chainmail made a sharp friction sound. Although it was not broken, he was still hit with huge force and fell to the ground, moaning softly in pain.
"What the hell, where do the enemies come from?" Sir Hunter, who was having lunch in the cave, looked horrified. He immediately threw away the wooden bowl, put on a Norman helmet, and fastened his mail gorget.
"Damn it!"
Fox also did not expect that the temporary camp would be suddenly attacked at this time. He had set up a secret sentry, but he didn't know what went wrong. The soldiers who posted the secret sentry did not warn the people in the camp in advance.
"I will lead a breakout immediately. Don't forget the packhorses that have already loaded the food!" Sir Hunter held up the shield with his family's crest and walked to the entrance of the cave while turning back to face Fox explained after getting dressed.
"Okay, Mr. Hunter!"
When Fox poked his head out of the cave entrance obscenely, a stream of arrow happened to hit the rock wall next to him, and the flying small earth and rocks hit his face, making the guy tremble in fright.
"Don't be afraid, don't hesitate. You still have the nerve to say that you are the son of a knight. Now it seems that you are worse than a farmer!" The knight following Fox said with a smile.
Cowardly and cowardly nobles are undoubtedly a shame and a joke in the circles of these martial nobles.
Fox found that his body could not stop shaking because of fear, and the mocking laughter from the knight behind him made his face turn red to the roots of his ears.
He gritted his teeth, raised his shield, ran towards the horse bolting post beside the cave, and shouted loudly to the surrounding cavalry who were weighed down by arrows and could not lift their heads: "Everyone, break out, mount your horses, break out! "
But at this time, many serf soldiers holding pitchforks and spears and private soldiers of the Dorsten family took the opportunity to rush into the camp.
As soon as some cavalrymen untied their reins and stepped on their horses, they were poked or beaten back to the ground by soldiers holding long pole weapons. They were then killed or captured by serf soldiers who swarmed up.
As a result, some cavalry gave up the opportunity to mount their horses and flee, and simply raised their shields and swords, causing a wave of bloodshed among the serf soldiers.
The cavalry fought as bravely as dismounted knights, and their clean swordsmanship caused heavy casualties to Dorsten's soldiers. For a time, timid farmers like the Dorsten family and private soldiers with poor sword skills did not No one dares to approach them anymore.
The battlefield is full of uneaten rice bowls, broken limbs, arrows stuck in branches, soil and corpses. Bloodstains and wounded and corpses can be seen everywhere.
The crows on the branches looked coldly at the senseless killing of the bipeds under the tree, planning to wait until all this stopped to continue enjoying the precious meal time that had not yet ended at noon.
"What are you waiting for? Kill them all!" As the war cry rang out from behind, the serf soldiers and private soldiers re-energized their morale and attacked the few elite cavalry left in the camp who were fighting on foot.
Since the soldiers from both sides were now fighting together, out of consideration to avoid accidentally injuring friendly forces, the dense rain of arrows always stopped temporarily.
"Fox, damn you, where are you? We have opened a gap, bring people here quickly!"
A distant shout came from the woods southwest of the camp. The hesitant and anxious Fox seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and quickly led a few cavalrymen on pack horses loaded with food to ride toward the southwest.
However, when they just rode out of the camp, the arrows were like sharks smelling blood, and they rushed towards them at high speed one after another.
"Hiss!"
A poor packhorse was hit by two arrows, taking with it the food on its back and the panicked cavalry, and fell to the ground neighing in pain.
The fallen cavalryman was like a piece of fresh meat thrown into a pack of hungry wolves. He immediately became the target of fire. When he just stood up and struggled to sit up from the snow, the arrows coming from the wind made him regain his strength. He fell to the ground again and never got up again.
Since the ambushed archers outside the camp were far away from Fox's escape gap, most of the arrows were blocked by trees except for intercepting the unlucky cavalry. The archers could only sadly listen to the sound of horse hooves. Fading away.
The battle in the temporary camp was coming to an end at this time.
The dozen or so dismounted cavalry who stayed behind and were unable to break out noticed that there were fewer and fewer companions around them, and the heads gathering in the dense forest in the distance knew that their defeat was certain.
"Stop, I surrender!"
Life is a precious gift from God to man, and battle does not have to end in death. These cavalry can regain their freedom by paying the price of money or equipment, and they will have the opportunity to make a comeback in the future.
"Tie them up first. I'm not sure if the people who follow the traitor Fox will honor us!" Eric, the military chief, said as he put the blood from his sword on the armor of a dead cavalryman. After wiping it, he put the sword back into its scabbard.
"Jonas, count the casualties and captured trophies!" Lange shouted loudly, and at the same time he untied the tightly tied mail gorget and breathed in the cold air mixed with the thick smell of blood.
"Okay, young master!" Jonas, who was hiding behind the archer line, saw that the battle was over and knew what he was going to do next, so he trotted over.
Under the supervision of private soldiers, the serf soldiers took off the equipment of the deceased and piled them in the open space in the center of the temporary camp to facilitate the financial manager Jonas to make statistics.
The archers collected scattered arrows in and near the camp.
Some enemies who were not dead were killed one by one by the soldiers - they couldn't survive anyway, so instead of enduring severe pain before death, it was better to be relieved.
"Master, Fox and their leading nobles escaped with at least half of the food and supplies. We only recovered the food and supplies in the cave and on the trailer that they had not had time to take away just now." After a while, Jonas, who had finished counting, returned Arrived at Lange's side.
"Well, no matter what, this can at least solve our current urgent need." Lange shook his head helplessly.
On the day when Fort Verde was besieged, the fat old man who was the supervisor of the lumberyard rode over in a panic and told him that some lumberjacks had seen a group of marauding squads consisting of elite cavalry flowing through the baron.
At first, Keoser and Lange did not appreciate the power of this robbery team.
Until these two days, the levies from the two wealthiest villages in the barony were attacked by this group of bandit cavalry on their way to Dolstenberg with grain and grass, and then all the grain and grass were robbed. This made Keother very angry.
Judging from the familiarity of this group of cavalry with the territory, they should be led by the traitor Fox.
What is even more outrageous is that just the night before yesterday, a fire broke out in the granary in Dorstenburg.
Although it was discovered early, it was a pity that after all the soldiers, grooms and servants in the castle tried their best to save it, half of the food and fodder was still lost.
This made Keoser wonder if there were spies within his own camp who had not yet been exposed, but he did not have any evidence for the time being.
At least, he really couldn't stand this group of rogue bandit cavalry now.
According to reports from forest rangers in the territory, this group of extremely arrogant guys set up camp in the dense forest east of the Opalhausen logging camp.
So Keoser decided to let the military chief Eric and Lange, together with his private soldiers, other assembled archers and levies, raid their temporary camp. He wants to teach these lawless guys a lesson.
"We killed twelve people and captured ten. However, we also lost twenty-eight serf soldiers and two archers. Most of them were killed when the enemy's leading noble led a breakout." About Nas's voice brought Lange out of his thoughts and back to reality.
"Ha, we caught them off guard. Compared to their battle losses, this is acceptable." Military Director Eric nodded and motioned for Jonas to continue.
"We captured ten pieces of mail armor, fourteen pieces of armor, ten iron helmets, nine iron swords, fifteen cavalry shields, and twenty lances. In addition, we also captured eighteen horses, including Two of them were dead.”
"The harvest is not bad," Langer nodded with satisfaction, "We have to take the loot with us now and return to Dorstenberg as soon as possible."
"Aren't we going to chase the fleeing cavalry and let them take away the food and grass?" Jonas asked carefully.
"Those cavalrymen have most likely returned to the siege camp outside Fort Verde. After this raid, I only have seventy or eighty men left to fight. How can I fight that piece of shit Baron Quinnier? "Lange explained to Jonas impatiently.
"Okay." Jonas, who seemed to know nothing about military matters, nodded.
