Johnny was terrified.
As a free farmer in the barony of Quinnier, he chose to join the baron's army to join the Earl, and then rampaged into the Earl of Berg, singing all the way, as if no force could stop them. Those local nobles and soldiers who tried to resist seemed to be blocking the car with their arms, not overestimating their own capabilities.
However, everything changed after Baron Quinnier was defeated and captured.
He had been locked up in a vacant house in the village of Verde with other prisoners of war for about a week, but the expected ransom from his hometown was still far away.
He thought that if the family could not raise the ransom or the ransom met with an accident on the way, he would eventually either be trapped and die in this smelly shabby house, or become a serf of the lord of this village, or be sold to a slave trader. If you go to a foreign country, you may be taken out and slaughtered like a dog...
In any case, this ending was unacceptable to him. He is still young, has his own land, has an equally young wife who loves him, and has a lovely son who was born not long ago.
Yesterday morning, the vicious village militia ignored the pleadings of the cavalry and the baron's private soldiers and roughly tied them to a long rope and took them away.
When the sounds of pushing, cursing, begging for mercy, and the sound of horse hooves gradually faded away, an atmosphere of extreme uneasiness spread among the prisoners.
The prisoners, who had lowered their heads in frustration and did not want to waste energy talking, began to talk quietly, probably discussing what would happen to the private cavalry who were pulled out. Some sobbed, while others clasped their hands in prayer.
A serf soldier with a shrewd and cunning expression on his face stood by the window, trying to bribe the militiamen guarding the door and want to know their fate next. But he emptied his pockets and found nothing of value that could be used as a bribe—like most people, he had nothing.
Johnny thought, this serf soldier is really stupid.
Even if he has money to bribe the gatekeepers to tell them their next fate, does it have to be the truth? If this lord named Simon intends to execute them, he will never let the news out in advance, otherwise these prisoners of war will definitely rise up desperately, which will not be of any benefit to them.
In this way, the prisoners of war spent another day and night in fear.
Some prisoners of war were discussing escape plans, while more prisoners of war were desperate, leaning against the wall or lying on the ground without resistance, numb and ready to accept whatever fate had to offer.
"Kacha~"
The wooden door of the cell rang and the latch was opened, but no one moved, including the guy who was discussing the escape plan just now.
The militiamen who were armed to the teeth walked in. They looked evil, wearing strong chainmail, holding sharp armed swords, and holding a long rope in their other hand. All the prisoners of war swallowed back their thoughts of resistance. inside.
"You, stand up and turn your back." The armed militiaman pointed at the young man closest to the door and said. The young man seemed to have fallen into an ice cave and was trembling all over.
In this way, the prisoners of war in the entire room were strung on a long rope, and were taken out of the harsh prison cell under the guard of several eager militiamen.
After leaving the house he had been used to for so many days and breathing fresh air, Johnny realized how much he stinked. He bet even the urinal in the tannery's shop, used to soften leather, smelled better than he did.
They were taken out of the village.
Johnny saw the battlefield two weeks ago. Now there were many farmers working on the vast land, and some strange people were dumping excrement into the pit and then inserting crosses. This place doesn't look like it has been through a war at all.
They were taken to the river, and Johnny saw a small cargo ship.
"My God, is that the slave ship that slave traders drove from the Wadden Sea along the Rhine? Oh no, dear Maud and Little John, I may never see you again!" Johnny felt His legs went weak and he almost fell to his knees on the ground.
"Hahahahaha, look how scared these guys are!" A kid with blond hair and a bow and arrow on his back pointed at them and laughed.
"Stop laughing, little Klein. I'll go learn riding with Gabriel later." Next to the blond child, a young man who looked like their lord rubbed the child's hair, and then walked over to the commander of these militiamen. He said in front of him, "Miller, let's get started when you're ready."
"Okay sir."
Johnny was a little confused, but he still followed the prisoners of war forward. One by one, they walked onto the sampan and entered the cargo ship, waiting for their next fate like helpless chickens.
When the last prisoner of war was pushed onto the cargo ship, two armed militiamen laboriously put away the sampan and the ship began to move.
However, to the surprise of all the prisoners of war, the boat did not move along the current to the lower reaches of the Rhine River, but slowly crossed the wide river and headed towards the other side, which was the direction of home.
Some smart prisoners of war seemed to realize what was going to happen next, and their numb faces were filled with joy.
When the boat reached the other side, the militiamen put down the sampan and roughly kicked the prisoners out one by one. However, no one complained this time. Their faces were full of excitement and gratitude.
"Now, I will untie you one by one and let you go. If anyone dares to change their mind, we will not hesitate to slit all of your throats. By then, no one will be able to leave. Listen. Do you understand?"
Miller's vicious threats were music to the ears of the prisoners of war - they were finally certain that they were about to be free.
No prisoner of war would be stupid enough to make a mistake at this juncture. Not only these well-equipped militiamen would not spare him, but all other prisoners of war, including his fellow villagers, would not spare him.
When he stepped on the soil of his hometown and the prison rope that tightly bound him at his wrists was untied, Johnny finally smelled the fragrance of freedom.
It is no exaggeration to say that he was so excited that he wanted to give these "brutal" armed militiamen a big hug, then bow deeply and give them the most beautiful words of praise he could think of.
"Remember, you have to thank the kind Lord Simon von Dorsten, who decided to release you unconditionally." Miller shouted loudly to these free prisoners of war.
"Long live Lord Simon!"
"Thank you kind Lord Simon!"
The grateful prisoners cheered loudly, and even Simon, who had walked back to the wooden castle across the river, could clearly hear the cheers and praise of these former enemies.
"Ha, you just got lucky this time. This is just a hopeless solution." Simon smiled coldly and continued walking towards the tower without looking back.
The income from selling those elite private cavalry yesterday has been sent back. Simon first asked people to strip off all the armor on their bodies and store it in the warehouse, and then asked Miller to take twenty armed militiamen to send them to the slave merchants in Abeldoorn Port to squeeze out the last bit of value from them.
The well-informed Gabriel and Simon discussed this matter while drinking. Simon could already foresee the fate of those captives - they would either be sold to Britain as slave soldiers in the Viking Sea King's army, or they would be sent to Scandinavia, the home of that group of pirates, became slaves to the local Vikings.
One is a war-torn place, and the other is a poor place. As well-nourished and strong men, they should be quite popular.
"When these damn bastards rode around in Dorsten's territory, burning, killing and looting some time ago, they should have thought about their own fate." Simon didn't have any sympathy and even wanted to applaud.
As for these released prisoners of war, they were just ordinary free farmers and serf soldiers. They did not participate in the previous robbery of Dorsten's territory, so there was nothing wrong with letting them go.
"Now we just have to wait for the decisive battle with Count Lowen." Simon thought as he took a glass of warm red wine from the fat man's hand.
………………………………
At this time, the situation in the town of Dusseldorf, which had been besieged for many days, was not good at all.
The streets were littered with piles of unhandled feces, and the urine almost formed a stream and flowed toward the low-lying town gate.
The streets were deserted, and the businessmen who had not escaped were drinking in taverns to relieve their sorrows every day. But what makes them extremely frustrated is that the wine in the town is about to run out. From the past few days, the tavern will no longer sell wine. These wines will be given priority to the soldiers guarding the city, unless these businessmen who cherish their lives like gold are willing to leave with their swords. Go up to the town wall.
The church in the center of the town was filled with injured soldiers, as well as some who had lost too much blood and could not survive. The skin of the dead soldiers began to turn gray and their limbs began to become stiff, but the busy monks had no time to pay attention to them.
The door of the Dorsten family's pottery workshop in Dusseldorf was tightly closed by the old butler appointed by Kooser and blocked with all kinds of debris - he was afraid of those in the town who liked to take advantage of the situation. Gangs would steal precious clay pots from workshops.
The town was in short supply of grain, and Earl Berg had to "kindly" request to borrow grain from the grain merchants stranded in the town, but this could not last long.
However, good news kept coming from the outside, boosting the morale of everyone in the town - Baron Quenier was indeed a waste and was finally defeated by Sir Simon, Earl Lowen's baggage train was robbed, and Baron Wolfe was besieged. Baron Abbate was defeated and died in battle.
"Your Excellency, we have contacted Baron Wolfe and Baron Karl. They revealed in the letter that they will join forces with Baron Dorsten at that time. It is expected that a force of 180 people will be lurking near the siege camp. When Count Loon attacked us, he sneaked up on their backs, cooperated with us inside and outside, and defeated them in one fell swoop."
In the Lord's Tower, the spy leader, who was wearing a hood to hide himself in the darkness, whispered into Count Berg's ear.
"Okay, very good," Earl Berg couldn't help but put down the wooden cup filled with inferior beer, patted the table and stood up, "As long as we succeed this time, we can completely crush Earl Loon's dream, and it may even be possible. Counterattack their territory! Hahaha!”
The last batch of wine in the inventory was all consumed last week. Even if he is a noble earl, under such difficult conditions, he can only drink the bitter and inferior beer that ordinary people drink.
Count Berg did not complain about this, but silently turned the bitterness in his mouth into resentment against Count Loon while swallowing every sip of inferior beer.
"Yes, Lord Earl, I hope everything goes as planned." Even the unsmiling spy leader had a brisk smile on his lips.
