Brother Linde is a learned and rational man, which is why he was elected by the monks to temporarily serve as chaplain in the army.
Simon could feel a unique temperament from him. In fact, everyone has his own temperament - either rude or shrewd. Brother Linde, on the other hand, is calming, and Simon's worries and anxieties gradually subside as he talks to Brother Linde.
"I'm glad that Brother Lange didn't do anything stupid and cruel to you in the past two years. At least, he hasn't turned into "Cain" yet. I never want what happened to Abel to happen to my brother. On my body. Oh, thank you to my merciful Lord!" Brother Linde clasped his hands together and devoutly made the sign of the cross on his chest.
The Cain mentioned by Brother Lynde was the first son born to Adam and Eve, and Abel was Cain's younger brother. Cain was irritable by nature, so he and his brother Abel offered offerings to God at the same time. Abel's offering was accepted by God, but he was not, so he held a grudge and brutally murdered his brother in the fields.
"Lange is an ambitious man," Simon felt a little more relaxed, but not completely. There was no one else around. He breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "He can be driven by his greed for power and his desire for territory. He is eager to do irrational things, but at present, he has not yet reached the point of trampling on the bottom line and losing his humanity.”
"You are right, I think he still has a chance to be redeemed." Brother Linde nodded, and a breeze swept by, blowing his brown St. Peter ring hair.
"Lenger now always likes to seize every opportunity to provoke me, ridicule me, and attack me in order to weaken my influence and reduce my reputation." Simon shook his head and sighed.
"All of this is just a means for him to achieve his goal. I think if there is one person in the world who wants you to die most, he must be Lange. In this way, your title, territory, and everything you have will belong to him. But, until now, you have never encountered his assassination, right?"
"Let me think about it, um... it seems to be true."
Simon thought about it carefully. In the past two years, Lange had only sent people to his territory to investigate and monitor him, but he had not made any actual move to assassinate him. Could it be that Lange really couldn’t do it? Simon recalled the way Lange looked at him every time, but there was always a shuddering feeling of uneasiness.
What Lind, Simon, and even spy chief Ludwig didn't know was that Lange had indeed planned to assassinate Simon. He bought an elite gang of robbers before his wedding and planned to finish Simon's wedding. The wedding started on the way back to Esbaiburg from Tonysburg, but all this was secretly resolved by Sir Julian, who was grateful to Simon.
"After all, you are his biological brother. As we all know, people who kill their brothers cannot go to heaven after death. It seems that Lange firmly believes in this. Since he did not listen to the devil's slander and still believes in our God devoutly, I think there are still many things we need to do. For example, we need to make him realize that many of his actions are sinful and need to atone for his sins and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness. He needs to change, at least never Let’s start by attacking you verbally.”
Simon thought that Brother Linde's views were very unique, but he knew one thing very well - the situation is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change. He did not dare to expect that he could change Lange and turn him into a model Christian with good moral character. In his opinion, this was not as practical as building a rocket to send knights and princesses to the moon for dates.
"What can be done to change Lange?" Simon replied with some hopelessness.
"Repay kindness with evil, my brother," Linde's words made Simon tremble. Although he was a little uncomfortable and reluctant, out of respect for Brother Linde, Simon still chose to quietly listen to his teachings, "Matthew It is said in the book, Don’t fight against evil people. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him on the other cheek as well. If someone wants to take your underwear, let him take your coat too. If someone forces you to walk away for a while, If you walk two miles with him, then you will walk two miles with him. There will always be a day when you can influence them."
"I think the villain who slapped me in the face will only become more successful, the villain who took away my underwear and coat will only become more proud, and the villain who forced me to walk will think of me as a
An obedient slave. I think Lange is like those evil people. His nature and cognition limit his view of everything. He will think that the poor guy who sticks out the left cheek after being slapped on the right cheek is a pathetic coward. Take it away. His underwear and outerwear were the trophies he deserved, and that idiot who was allowed to go one mile but chose to go two miles must be a good and obedient donkey. "
Simon spoke candidly about his thoughts. In this cruel era where the weak prey on the strong, retaliating with kindness often has no good end. The weak party takes the initiative to show weakness and surrender to the strong party, which often results in more unreasonable and excessive demands and more cruel ravages.
"This is wrong, Simon, my brother, we must firmly believe in human nature. What's more, from the current point of view, Lange still has human nature." Brother Linde is still trying to persuade Simon to accept this point of view.
"Let me give you an example. If the violent Norman pirates invaded Deventer Church and they wanted to chop off the head of the old priest for fun, would you stick out your heads together and let the pirates chop off your heads too? ?" Simon decided to use an extreme example to make Lind give up his naive idea.
"If this can make the pirates feel unbearable and feel pity in their hearts, and then influence them so that they will no longer be bloodthirsty and murderous, I think my brothers and I will be very happy to die for this." Brother Linde's eyes. Determined, Simon lamented in his heart, he did not want his wise brother to become another old-fashioned man who took Christian teachings as his rule of life.
"If these pirates also have human nature, they will also love their families and support their friends. However, when it comes to killing, the ideas and education they have been instilled in them since childhood prevent them from having even the slightest disturbance in their hearts. The thinking of killing is limited. They understand and view the killing itself. What I want to say is, if your generous martyrdom is just in vain in front of these cruel but still human pirates, what would you think?"
Simon keenly caught Brother Linde's pupils shrinking suddenly, and he knew that he had successfully planted a seed in his heart, a seed that could penetrate the hard wall of his heart in the future.
"In any case, there is some truth to what you said. I will listen to your advice and try to change Lange. Now, my brother, I can't stay here for long. My lords and colleagues need me, and I have to Catch up with them as soon as possible."
"Oh, okay, okay," Brother Linde obviously hadn't recovered from the brainstorm yet. He nodded quickly, "Take care on the road, my brother. I believe we will meet again soon. I wish you the best." You and your warriors will finally be able to return to your territory safely, and I will pray for you day and night!"
"You too. Take care, my brother!" Simon patted Lind's shoulder hard, turned around, and walked towards Lucky, who was grazing leisurely not far away.
…………………………
Simon's men found the large force stationed by the Unstrut River in the evening.
In addition to the messy footprints on the ground, the smoke rising into the sky from the woods also helped Simon a lot. Since they were going to fight to the death with the Magyar army, there was no need to hide the smoke.
Not all the royal troops gathered on the riverside. The deployment of personnel in a major battle needed to consider many factors, such as setting up defenses on both wings and on small roads where the enemy might sneak around and attack behind.
Just now, Simon encountered the army of Count Worms, vassal of the Duke of Franconia, at the intersection of the main road by the river and a forest path. He told Simon that in the king's strategic arrangement, the Duke of Cologne and his infantry had to contain the Magyar cavalry from the front. If Simon continued to move forward, he would be able to reach the woods next to the road in about half an hour. Joined the Duke of Cologne's army.
"This is the most difficult deployment position in the entire battle and has the greatest casualties." Simon thought silently in his heart. He had to think more about ways to save the lives of more of his men during the defensive line building stage.
Count Worms was right. After continuing to move forward for half an hour, Simon saw the temporary checkpoint set up on the road. The woods beside the road were constantly puffing out clouds and mist as if they were smoking cigarettes and drifting towards the dusk starry sky. God knows how many soldiers there were in this large forest.
"We are stationed here, Simon." Baron Winter of Fancombe noted
He noticed a new group of people arriving on the road and recognized the leading noble as his friend, so he quickly walked out of the woods and waved to them.
"How is the situation here, my friend?" Simon dismounted, handed the reins to the soldier on standby, and walked side by side into the woods with Baron Winter.
"The soldiers are exhausted and many are sick, including the handymen. We are now very short of manpower, no one has set up tents, there are not enough cooks, there are no woodcutters and enough firewood, the monks and doctors are very busy... Let alone building a defense line, it is not easy for us to survive here first. You have the foresight, Simon, and I should let my people rest before going on the road." Baron Winter helped us tiredly. Hold your forehead.
"Since the situation is already so bad, don't regret it anymore. We have to find a way." Simon looked at the soldiers resting against the trees nearby. What they needed most now was to light a fire. "Now we have to let everyone Those who still have the strength to cut wood and chop firewood, the current few fire piles are far from enough. If more people fail to dry themselves before going to bed tonight, more people will fall ill tomorrow morning."
