The Magyars were extremely arrogant. They seemed to be on a pleasant outing, slowly fixing the bulging bags to the horses' backs with ropes, and chatting easily. They were sure that the rats on the village wall only dared to watch from a distance and did not dare to come out to fight with them.
The Magyar man who fell into the manure pit leisurely led his horse to the river and tied the horse's reins to the hitching post in front of the tax collector's cabin on the wharf. Then, after his companions were disgusted, Under his gaze, this sloppy guy with a foul smell all over his body jumped into the water with a plop. He wiped his body in an attempt to clean away the fermented feces on his body.
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At this time, at the Esbai Castle on the other side of the river, Simon's private soldiers and the conscripted militiamen from the Esbai Village had already dressed and picked up weapons. The three to four meter long spears in their hands were as dense as a forest. The reflection of the pointed metal in the sun is like shining stars.
Little Klein, no, he is a young man now. He is only seen wearing a chainmail turban and a light but strong leather armor vest. At this time, the private soldiers are playing with him fondly. longbow.
The strength required to draw a 150-pound longbow is astonishing. Klein has almost no lack of nutrition since following Simon. Therefore, his muscles are more developed than farmers and ordinary soldiers. His entire upper body Shapes into a standard inverted triangle.
"Those Magyars are almost all lightly armored or don't wear armor. It's a waste of energy to shoot them with a longbow, and the rate of fire is not fast." Simon, wearing a burqa and mail, held up a 100-pound recurve weapon. The war bow was handed to Klein, "Since you can draw the longbow easily, you should be more comfortable using this recurve bow."
The advantage of the longbow is that it has a long range and is very powerful. It is almost impossible for ordinary chain mail to withstand its arrow edge. However, its disadvantage is that it consumes a lot of physical strength each time it is drawn, and the rate of fire is not as fast as that of a recurve bow. If they were to fight hand-to-hand in the forest against the Magyars who had little armor, the recurve bow might be a better choice.
"Sir, maybe you are right," Klein took the recurve bow, pulled the bow string casually and tried it before continuing, "With an ash longbow, I can shoot more than twenty arrows at a time before I start to gain strength. It’s no longer possible, but it’s much easier to draw this war bow, as easy as drinking water. If conditions permit, I can shoot all those one hundred Magyars to death one by one.”
"Aha, then I'm relieved, but they won't stand still and use it as a practice target for you. This is not the same as hunting." Simon said, handing over the cowhide quiver hanging on his waist. Klein, it contains thirty-six light arrows.
"By the way, where's Krieg? Didn't anyone go to the village of Kooser to inform him of the assembly? I need his help now!" Simon suddenly remembered this Celtic forest hunter. Maybe he would give himself more chances of winning. .
Krieger has made nearly thirty high-quality longbows for Simon, and assisted Bill in training ten longbowmen in Dibes Village. Therefore, Sir Bill mentioned in his previous letter to Simon that Krieger was a trustworthy person, and perhaps Simon could transfer him back to Esbaiburg to allow him and his talents to play a greater role.
So, a few months ago, Simon transferred Krieger back to Fort Esbai. He was well-known among most villagers in Esbai Village. In addition to his excellent carpentry work, he was also a good mediator. So Simon simply made him the mayor of Esbai Village, replacing Du. Ascended to the position that had been vacant since his execution.
In the past two months, except for Old Gordon, who is also a carpenter, he has been requesting to meet Simon and complaining to Simon that Krieger used obscene means to take away his carpentry business in the village. Kevin also began to praise him as a competent village leader. Therefore, Simon always asked Old Gordon to find the reason in himself instead of coming over like a girl to cry, make trouble, and hang himself.
"I'm here, sir," Krieger was wearing a green armor with hard leather and scale armor nailed to the vital parts of the chest. He had a pot of sharp cone-headed arrows on his waist, and his hands were full of calluses. Holding a hunting bow, "I heard from your messenger that there was a hunting activity, specifically hunting heretics who do all kinds of evil, so I quickly put down what I was doing and came over!"
"Great," Simon smiled and walked up and patted him on the shoulder, "Pack your things together, we have to go."
Simon left twenty elite private soldiers and crossbowmen to garrison the castle, and left an order - during his absence, the gate of the castle should always be closed. Except for the castle's internal personnel, no strangers are allowed to enter the castle, regardless of whether the visitor is a commoner or a noble.
He knew much better than these medieval people about the tricks of seducing the east and attacking the west. Although there was almost no possibility of other enemy forces attacking Esbai Castle during this period, being cautious would not do him any harm.
There were sixty soldiers accompanying Simon on the expedition, twenty spear-bearing privates and thirty spear-bearing militiamen, as well as ten village militia archers. These militiamen were farmers and serfs whom he had recently taken the time to train and had no actual combat experience before.
They wore tattered armor and leather armor distributed by Simon, and carried a long or short spear and a dented shield in their hands. Some of these cowards might turn around and run away when they see the enemy, but Simon decided to take them on the expedition. After all, soldiers always grow up in the flames of war.
He planned to dedicate some of his men to join him after crossing the river and arriving at Fordeburg. By then, he should have seventy or eighty spear-bearing infantry.
In addition, he had sent messengers to inform his vassals to leave the necessary defense forces and gather troops to support him.
"Everyone, line up and take the nearest path to the ferry in Keoser Village!" Simon, with the help of his servants, mounted his horse and ordered to the soldiers who were ready to go.
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The Magyars, who were like passing locusts, had plundered everything of value on the pier. At the ferry pier on the side of the village of Kooser, the fat merchant who unloaded the goods from the ferry looked at the people in the distance. The beasts who show off their power are filled with hatred.
He had tried his best to load valuable goods such as jewelry, spices and dyes onto the ship. Most of what the Magyars plundered were tools, food, poultry and raw silk.
"Child, stop looking. It was too dangerous just now. It's good to be able to save your life. God has forgiven your life and mine, but in exchange, He has not forgiven your property. This is inevitable. ." The old tax collector and the young clerk got off the boat carrying a long oak money box. The former patted the fat businessman on the shoulder to comfort him, and then he and his assistant walked to the Sheriff Old Kevin's house one after another. residence.
Old Kevin lived on a hillside not far away. His house was surrounded by a simple low wooden wall. It was usually guarded by two soldiers. It was the closest security point to the dock. The old tax collector wanted to Before Lord Simon sent someone over, he temporarily placed the half-full cash box in a safer place.
Thick black smoke rose from the river bank on the Fort Ford side. As always, these pagans who couldn't change their ways of eating shit chose to set fire to everything after the robbery, but this time they could all All that burned were the revenue hut and a crude stable next to the dock, as well as a semi-ground hut for the ferry porters.
Even so, this group of barbarians still did not intend to let them go. The orange firelight reflected on the triumphant faces of the pagans, and the pleasure brought by looting drove them to raise their torches and cheer like wolves.
At this time, the "shit man" had also taken a bath. He put on wet clothes in the fiery red reflection on the water, and spat disdainfully in the direction of Foldburg in the distance. No one could listen. He cursed a few words in a language he didn't understand, then mounted his horse and evacuated with his companions toward the forest from the direction they came from.
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"I curse those damn heathens to hell! Damn it!"
A private soldier who got off the ferry smelled the smell of burnt wood in the air. He cursed and took the empty barrel handed over from the ship by his comrades. He placed his spear flat on the damp wooden floor of the dock and leaned over to fill the barrel. filled the river with water, and poured it with force upon the still burning roof of the tax collector's hut.
"My lord, there are nearly eighty pagans, all on horseback. They have just left." Sergeant Hann came with a dozen militiamen carrying buckets to put out the fire. He saw Simon and trotted up to him. "They basically traveled lightly and didn't bring anything with them when they came," Panghui reported. "I speculated that they had a camp in the forest."
"Let these ten militiamen stay here to put out the fire." Simon didn't need to say more. The militiamen brought by Sergeant Hann had already rushed to the dock to get water, so Simon continued, "You didn't attack rashly just now. This was a very wise choice. The garrison of Fort Verde is not enough to fight against eighty light cavalry. Now, I need you to return to Fort Fort immediately to gather twenty private soldiers with spears. We can find the heretics as quickly as possible before they slip away. Their camps and then destroy them!”
"Yes, my lord!"
While Simon was waiting for the second ferry to transport soldiers, he asked the spear-bearing infantry to form a line formation, and a not-so-wide "spear wall" appeared in front of the pier.
This is to prevent the Magyar light cavalry from coming back again. The behavior of these barbarians cannot be speculated with ordinary thinking, so Simon can only cautiously prepare in advance.
If the sound of hooves really sounded like thunder, the militiamen in Simon's army who had not been tempered by war would be frightened to the point where they would not even be able to form a formation. After all, not all infantry had the courage to resist a frontal charge by the cavalry. Therefore, Simon asked them to prepare a spear formation in advance.
Soon, the second ferry brought thirty spear-carrying soldiers back to the ferry. At this time, Sergeant Hann also led twenty spear-carrying private soldiers out of the gate of Fort Ford and joined Simon.
"They fled in that direction, my lord," Sergeant Hann pointed to the direction where the Magyars finally disappeared in front of the forest. "Following the tracks left by the horses' hooves, we can find them soon, provided they are still there." Didn’t slip away.”
"Since there is a camp, it will take time to pack up and leave. We can't walk over slowly. The main reason why most of the attacked lords failed to catch them is that the marching speed is too slow. We can't follow in their footsteps. Simon said thoughtfully, holding his chin in his hand.
"Everyone, form a square formation and run forward!"
At this time, Simon's usual training of these soldiers came in handy. The soldiers started running all the way. The square formation they formed was generally neat and uniform, and there was no sense of chaos like other medieval armies running around like a mob.
However, what is different from training is that private soldiers usually wear light armor such as armed uniforms and soft armor, but now they wear heavy armor such as chain mail and scale armor. Running and marching will consume their energy very quickly. Physical strength will definitely have an impact on combat operations behind enemy lines.
Simon thought that this was all he could do now in order to break into the Magyar camp before they escaped.
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