In Simon's memory, when he first met Ludwig in the tavern, the old boy was only slightly fat. And now that he owns a newly built manor outside the village of Keoser, this guy who has lived an increasingly comfortable and nourishing life has actually grown a conspicuous potbelly.
The job of the spymaster did not change Ludwig's optimistic attitude towards life and the amiable temperament exuding from his whole person. However, Simon read a different feeling from the smile that always hung on his face. .
It can be said that everyone who meets him cannot associate this humorous fat uncle who always releases kindness with the cunning and cruel spy chief.
"This is a document drafted for the alliance, my friend. Once Baron Karl's seal arrives, we can officially sign the document," Ludwig gently placed a roll of parchment in front of Simon. On the table, the conversation suddenly changed and he said, "However, I have some bad news - our sentries at the southern border of Fort Verde sent back news. In the early hours of yesterday morning, they were surprised to find that Duis in the south The direction of the fort radiates a sky-high firelight.”
"That means... that Magyar raiding team is already very close to my territory?" Simon said with a headache.
"I'm afraid you are right. Except for those heretics who commit crimes by burning, killing, looting, and robbing, I can't think of anyone else who could make such a big fuss in the territory of Baron Karl of Duisburg." Ludwig Nozomi said with a worried look on her face.
"How's the arrangement of the sharp wood and horses that we made some time ago going?"
"I heard from Ryan two days ago that the arrangements have basically been completed."
In order to prevent these damn Magyars from rushing into the village without any hindrance and killing a large number of subjects who were too late to react and failed to enter the manor for refuge, Simon sent several messengers to convey his warning and warning to each of his vassals. The solution - fence the village with loose pointed logs.
After all, it would be too expensive to build strong wooden walls like the one in Forte for each village, not to mention that the distance between houses in some villages is very large, and the cost of including them all within the wall would be bigger.
Therefore, in order to prevent these nomadic raiders on horseback from rushing directly into the village without any effort, the seemingly loose but airtight barrier for the cavalry became the best choice for Simon and his vassals. s Choice.
In this way, when the Magyars appear near the village and the militiamen sound the alarm, the villagers can use the cover of sharp timber to hide behind the strong walls of the manor and raise raging wolf smoke towards Esbai. Fort and Fort Verde issued warnings and awaited rescue.
What these Magyar raiders are best at is fast and mobile mounted shooting tactics. Regarding sieges, Simon did not think they could break through the walled manors in each village territory in a short time.
What's more, they are not fools. For the tricky hedgehog, they will not think of spending time and risking their lives to defeat it, but will decisively look for the next undefended "vault".
In addition, most of these nomadic bandits go into battle lightly, and almost no one wears heavy armor, because this will not only reduce the high mobility they rely on for survival, but heavy armor is also a huge burden on their ponies. Therefore, only a few of these pagan bandits wore light scale armor, and most of them were unarmored. This means that their casualty rate will be astonishing under the heavy fire of arrows and slings.
"Our soldiers need to be equipped with a large number of spears," Simon said thoughtfully. "Those pagans are people on horseback, and spears will be the best weapon to deal with them."
At this time, another weapon that frightened the armored cavalry also appeared in Simon's mind - the Gutentak Spear.
This weapon probably appeared in the 13th century. At that time, the Flemish people thought of many ways to deal with the heavy cavalry charges of the Kingdom of France.
Unlike King Robert of Scotland who took advantage of the swamp terrain to defeat the numerically superior English heavy cavalry with a large number of poorly equipped Scottish spearmen, the Flemish method was to combine the two weapons of spears and maces to beat the French Knight of the Kingdom.
When the enemy's heavy cavalry charges, the spear can be stuck on the ground as a spur. Before the enemies who fell off their horses could get up from the ground in embarrassment, the soldiers were already waving heavy spears with iron blocks on the front like maces and smashing them at them.
The name of the Gutentuck Spear is also quite humorous. It comes from the Dutch "Goedendag", which means "good day" or "good day".
It is not difficult to imagine that when the lowland militiamen in the 13th century used the "Good Day Stick" to knock French knights off their horses and beat them to pieces, this was how they greeted the invaders. Way.
According to historical records, in the Battle of the Golden Spur in 1302, the Flemish people used a militia of 9,000 craftsmen and farmers to fight against the traditional feudal army of the Kingdom of France of 8,000 people. Among them, the French army had 2,500 well-equipped noble cavalry, 1,000 crossbowmen, 1,000 spearmen and 3,500 light infantry.
However, in this battle that everyone thought would turn into a one-sided massacre, the French army was unexpectedly defeated. Even the supreme commander Robert II of Artois lost his life in the battle.
According to rough estimates, at least more than 1,000 noble cavalry were killed by Gutentak's spear in that battle.
The result of this battle shocked the whole of Europe. The Flemish victory shattered the myth of the invincibility of heavy cavalry. Although the Gutentak spear has a simple structure, is easy to make, and is low-cost, as long as it is used properly, even in the hands of well-trained militiamen, it can defeat well-equipped armored heavy cavalry.
After this battle, this cheap and effective anti-cavalry weapon quickly became popular throughout Europe.
In the era where Simon lived, it was the era when heavy cavalry was prosperous. In order to fight against the Magyars, the Germans spent a lot of money to form heavy cavalry troops, and the Norman knights who would frighten infantry throughout Europe in the next few centuries had also begun to take shape.
Simon thought that using the Gutentak spear was obviously more than enough to deal with the Magyars. This short and heavy spear was suitable for bluntly breaking armor and piercing protection, and was most suitable for dealing with heavy cavalry. Facing the Magyars who were almost unarmored, ordinary spears were enough to send them to meet their Tengri god.
"My friend, don't forget, the most abundant thing in our arsenal is spears." Ludwig reminded with a smile.
Indeed, the most common weapons stored in Simon's armory are spears and various short axes, followed by shields and various armed swords of varying quality. Most of these weapons were captured from Count Lowen's defeated army during the Battle of Dusseldorf.
"Go and tell Sergeant Hann that I need him to send someone to count the spears and shields in the armories of Esbaiburg and Foldburg, load them onto carriages, and then take twenty armed soldiers to escort them to various locations. In the armory of the village manor, each manor should be allocated 20 shields and 20 spears." Simon tapped the table with his index finger and said to the servants behind him.
"By the way, after meeting Sergeant Hann, you can cross the river and go to the church in Fort Verde to find little Klein. Ask him to ride a horse to the village of Dihes and invite Krieger over. I have some ideas. We need to communicate with this excellent carpenter. In addition, when they come back, let little Klein come to Esbaiburg to resume his life. I don’t know what this kid has learned from Father James recently." Simon called He stopped the servant who was about to leave and added.
After the attendant hurriedly put on his gray hood and left the tower hall, Ludwig pulled out a chair from the shelf table and sat down. He said to Simon with interest: "Speak of little Klein." This smart young man, Ryan is always praising him when chatting with me recently!"
"Oh, really?" Simon sat upright and picked up the decorated silver cup filled with red wine from the table next to the armchair.
"Yes, my friend," Ludwig nodded, "Last time, Sir Bill Tokrig customized a high-quality longbow for little Klein. I have to say that this young man is worthy of playing. He grew up with a bow and arrow, and he has amazing talent in archery. The long bow seems to belong to him from birth. No matter how fast the deer or the small and agile hare can escape from his arrows. "
"It seems that this kid still can't forget his old profession with Father James!" Simon laughed and shook his head helplessly.
"Don't be disappointed. He is also good at Latin. Of course, this is partly due to Ryan. He once studied in Italy. Of course, if you want little Klein to be your clerk in the castle, I think he can definitely do it.”
"This is really beyond my expectation," Simon said with some surprise. "He is a lively and active child. I thought he would not be able to calm down and study!"
"He is already a young man, no longer a child, my friend," Ludwig said with a smile. "He is as strong as a calf now, and he always likes to go to the tavern to show off his mastery. Love poetry. It is no exaggeration to say that the girls who chased him in the territory could line up from Würdeburg to Duisburg.”
"Aha, I guess all the love poems he mastered were taught to him by you, the shameless old bastard." Simon took a sip of red wine with satisfaction, pointed at Ludwig and cursed with a smile.
"Don't mind. Since I can no longer be a bard, at least the poems in my mind must be passed on to a young man as handsome as I was." Ludwig took a sip of red wine nonchalantly. Immediately afterwards, the two of them laughed in unison.
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