The morning light of the next day revealed that Simon's men were all full of energy and seemed to have had a good rest. Even the faces of the soldiers who had caught colds and fevers were much rosier than yesterday.
Simon simply assigned the tasks - he asked the army servants to cut wood and chop firewood, clean up the excrement in the camp, wash and cook the food. Afterwards, he left Bill and two longbowmen to supervise their work. These lazy guys would find ways to be lazy as long as they weren't looking at them for a moment.
In addition, there are many people in this woods, and there are strange soldiers everywhere. Although we are all nominally friendly forces now, the dirty and petty theft behavior of those soldiers cannot be stopped. Simon needs a few sharp and good-sighted people to guard him and his property. .
As for the remaining people, without exception, they took picks and shovels and walked out of the woods and came to the wide plain beside the river.
Fatty and Miller were responsible for supervising the soldiers' work. Today, the soldiers' task is to dig a long horse trap that is at least 100 meters long, two meters wide and half a meter deep.
Simon thought that a pit half a meter deep would definitely not be enough. At the same time, he felt that the width of two meters was also dangerous for his soldiers. Not to mention horses, even a lightly-dressed person can easily jump across the two-meter distance.
This trap pit took several days to dig, and it was obviously unrealistic to expect the soldiers to complete it in one day.
Seeing Simon's soldiers digging enthusiastically in the open space, Baron Winter, who had a good relationship with Simon, was a little puzzled. He heard the voices of his men making random speculations. Soon, someone said that Simon was a pessimistic man. He had lost his faith in God and believed that this battle would be lost. Look, he was now digging graves for everyone.
"Shut up, do you know what you are talking about?" Baron Winter scolded the soldier who was talking nonsense. The latter lowered his head in embarrassment and muttered something someone else told him.
Baron Winter impatiently motioned with his eyes to the soldiers in front of him who were still trying to defend themselves. He decided to walk out of the woods in person and go find Simon to ask for details.
…………………………
"Sluggard, your shovel is not powerful at all. If the dirt you shovel out every time is used as food, it probably won't be enough to fill your stomach!"
"Hey, you! Stop looking around. I'm talking about you. Can you be more diligent? Oh my god, are you plowing the soil? If I catch you being lazy again, don't eat lunch."
Under the "friendly and gentle" supervision of Fatty and Miller, the soldiers dug the trap pits in an orderly manner.
They piled the excavated soil beside the pit. When enough soil is piled up to form a small mound, the soldiers standing side by side on the small mound holding spears to defend will have a certain terrain advantage. Although it is only a little bit, it is better than nothing.
Simon stood on the grass nearby, looking at the calm river and plains in the distance. He knew that maybe in a few days, the empty grassland on the other side of the river would be crowded with Magyar people, and the visual impact brought by an army of tens of thousands of people would be very shocking.
"Hey Simon, my friend, what are you and your people doing?"
The familiar voice of Baron Winter came over. Simon turned around and saw his friend walking quickly towards him holding a pointed leather hat to protect the sun.
"A trap pit for our damn enemies." Simon said straightforwardly.
He had planned to tell all the nobles about this at the next Duke's dinner table, so he had nothing to hide now.
"So that's it," Baron Winter nodded, "You don't need any chivalry when dealing with pagan enemies. No matter what means you use, just be able to win."
"Yes. I will not show any kindness to them, and I will not let them come and go comfortably. When the time comes, I will insert a sharp stake at the bottom of the pit. I guess they will like this gift."
"Haha, they will love it so much that they will disembowel them and rip their hearts out," Baron Winter laughed bloodthirstyly. Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, "But if the enemy sees the trap, choose to change direction. What should we do if we attack other friendly forces or simply stop advancing?"
"My plan
The plan is to have the soldiers stand in front of the trap pit when the enemy charges. When the enemy's cavalry charges to the point where there is no possibility of turning back, the soldiers will then return to the rear of the trap pit from the path reserved in the middle to array. "
"This requires good timing," Baron Winter said sharply. "If you retreat too early, the enemy will have a chance to turn around. If you retreat too late, the soldiers who have not had time to return to the back of the trap will be killed by the enemy. The cavalry crashed into the trap pit and became a stepping stone for their attack."
"So, I think my people need to be trained," Simon said, holding his chin with his hand. "When the trap pit is dug, I will let my light cavalry scouts act as imaginary enemies and train with everyone to try to find the soldiers to withdraw from the pit. The best time."
"Count me in," Baron Winter patted Simon on the shoulder. "This afternoon, I will ask all my soldiers who have nothing to do to come over and dig a hole with you. Of course, the length of the hole must be extended. I People will defend this line of defense with you and give those damn Magyars a big surprise!"
"no problem."
Simon and Winter talked about other details of the arrangements, such as the soldiers' formation coordination training and how to deal with possible unexpected situations. Simon doesn't like to improvise on the battlefield. He likes to plan everything in advance, including all possible situations and corresponding countermeasures.
This will give him the feeling of being in control of the entire battle.
Simon knew that he had to command orderly on the battlefield. Once the sense of proportion is lost, the casualties of the soldiers increase, and the morale of the soldiers is shaken, that is the most dangerous moment for the entire team. As long as someone starts to flee, the situation will soon evolve into a thousand-mile embankment penetrated by ant nests, and everyone will flee back in unison. This is the failure of a battle.
Many times, cold weapon wars are fought in one breath. Whoever gets discouraged first will lose everything.
…………………………
In the afternoon, Baron Winter's men also joined the excavation team.
However, the rumors circulating in the camp in the morning did not stop. Instead, it seemed that an invisible hand was behind them, and an uncomfortable fear spread among the soldiers in the woods.
"Hey, have you heard?" A middle-aged soldier wearing a tattered armed uniform, a hood with a slit on his head, and a rusty hatchet on his waist was drinking mead. "They are digging a grave for all of us," he said to the young soldier leaning against a beech tree.
"You're talking nonsense." This young soldier was a subordinate of Baron Karl. He had heard from the old soldiers in the territory that his lord and Simon had fought side by side, so he had a pretty good impression of Simon. "I don't I know you, please go away."
"Ha, after drinking this glass of mead, we are considered acquainted." The middle-aged soldier reached out and handed the wooden wine cup to the young soldier.
Looking at the sweet and clear mead in the wooden cup, the young soldier licked his chapped lips. The opportunity to be invited to drink is rare.
"Okay, friend," the young soldier smacked his lips, took the wine glass, and drank the mead in one gulp, "This is really the holy water of nectar sprinkled from heaven!"
"You really didn't leave anything for me." The middle-aged soldier smiled bitterly and took back the empty wooden cup from the young soldier's hand.
"My name is Ludwig." The young soldier wiped the corners of his mouth and said with unfinished meaning.
"My name is Hans, my friend."
They began to talk word by word. Their topics always revolve around daily life, women, good wine, the lord's luxurious life, and anything worth talking about that happened in the village. Finally, they spoke of their concerns about the battle.
Speaking of this, Hans, who was dressed in rags, looked at Ludwig, whose cheeks were already turning red, and an imperceptible smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.
"Ludwig, my friend, look at those guys digging three feet into the open space. Although you have lost your father and are full of negativity about life, I dare say that you are not the most pessimistic. People, they are.”
"Why, why do you say that?" Young Ludwig felt his tongue getting bigger.
It's a little awkward to speak.
"I heard that these people are preparing a retreat for us." Hans said, pretending to be mysterious. As he expected, this piqued Ludwig's interest even more.
"What kind of escape plan are you preparing?"
Instead, Hans kept silent about it. He took out a small strip of dried meat from the dirty cloth bag tied around his waist and broke it in half with force. He stuffed half into his mouth, chewed it, and handed the other half to Ludwig.
"People will always die, it's just a matter of time."
"I agree with this." Ludwig fully understands this point. After his father died unexpectedly, his mother often warned him about this.
"From this point of view, it must have been wise to let the soldiers dig the pit. He knew that the outcome of this battle would be the same no matter what, so he began to prepare in advance." Hans sat on the stone next to the beech. While making chewing sounds, he said, "The soldiers digging in the soil said they were preparing a trap, but in fact they didn't know that they had been deceived by the pessimistic Baron Simon."
"How did you know?" Ludwig was obviously a little panicked. Under the influence of alcohol, panic grew in his heart and was written directly on his face.
"You just need to see what he is doing now." Hans was satisfied with Ludwig's fear. He pointed to the open space in the distance. "Perhaps in the heart of this pessimistic baron, the attack sounded by the Magyars The trumpet is our death trumpet, and the charge of the Magyars is the attack of the devil. In the end, you and I, and everyone, will be buried in the big pit they are digging until the day of judgment."
"It's terrible. I didn't expect Baron Simon to be such a person."
"Don't imagine everyone so well, kid, you are too naive. You have to see through the appearance of a thing to see the essence." Hans knew that he had achieved his goal. He stood up and patted his butt. of dust, ready to leave, "I think it is necessary for me to let more people know the truth. Take care, my friend, I hope you will be well in the future, and I hope that the next time I see you, you will not be in that pit. inside."
Hans did not strike while the iron was hot, or explicitly instruct Ludwig to tell others about the incident. He knew that doing so would make people doubt his own motives.
His current behavior, to put it bluntly, is just making a new friend, chatting about his opinions, and then leaving. This rarely raises suspicions, and at the same time sows the seeds he wants among the soldiers, it really kills two birds with one stone.
This is a new idea that Langer came up with. In addition to Hans, there are a dozen people who do the same thing as him, wandering among the camps in the woods. They spread their opinions against Simon carefully and without leaving any evidence.
The soldiers in the camp had nothing else to do. Their biggest pastime was chatting and drinking. If nothing else happens, the rumors they spread will soon spread throughout the camp, and not just limited to the soldiers of Duke Cologne.
Now, Lange has learned a lesson. Since he can't win over his brother verbally in face-to-face confrontation, let's play some dirty tricks behind the scenes, starting with spreading rumors to damage Simon's reputation.
