April 17, 865 AD.
The renamed "Henry Hagen" followed his grandfather Cockburn to the southern counties and entered the borders controlled by the former king "Osbert".
The title of "Kingdom Sheriff" assigned Qyburn four spear infantry, four light infantry, two archers and one of his own apprentices and Henry.
The simple task given to him by the royal family is to maintain the peace of the five villages along the border.
This cannot be accomplished without one or two hundred people.
With the money Cobain gave, Henry could barely get a very ordinary dark horse to follow Cobain all the way.
After arriving at the border, the village Qyburn defended was invaded by a small nobleman under Osbert, and five villagers were killed.
When Qyburn entered the village, the enemy soldiers who had been robbing the territory had already retreated.
The villagers begged Coburn to take action. On the one hand, Coburn looked sad and gave these villagers hope. On the other hand, he unceremoniously enjoyed their remaining food. He stayed for a symbolic three days, then patted his butt and prepared to leave.
"Grandpa, the villagers said that the enemy's army is stationed not far from us and only has 17 or 18 people. Why don't we give it a try?"
"What are you fighting for? We want to take revenge on the 'Iron Arm', and we have to risk enough profits. What is the mission of the Kingdom Sheriff? You tell me."
"Guarding the peace of the border, five of them died and most of the food was robbed."
"As an elder, you must listen clearly to what I am saying now. These farmers are uneducated and cunning. You can only listen to less than a third of what they say. Maybe they died because of a private fight. these people.
I always say that I can't survive, but next year, the population of this village will be more fertile, and the ground will be full of children running around. "
Cobain's words made Henry speechless.
Qyburn continued, "The border is dangerous, but there are opportunities hidden in the danger. We can conduct various smuggling trades, quickly accumulate wealth and build a manpower loyal to us.
I definitely can't do it alone, but with the swordsmanship you demonstrated to me, I dare say that no one among the royal knights is your opponent. Don't waste your time and energy on lowly peasants, and remember the roads and roads along the border. Collect troops and wait for the opportunity. "
Thirteen years ago, Coburn also served as a peace officer and relied on this memory to teach Henry.
He hesitated to speak, and finally Henry sighed.
The next day, Coburn and others entered another village and met up with the team of another fat vigilante. The two groups gathered nearly thirty people.
This Sheriff had shaggy hair and a chubby body. Coburn felt that he looked a bit like King Ella, like a younger version of the king.
His name is "Osa Winks".
Friendship between men can be established through just a few small things, such as drinking together, sharing the spoils, or killing people together!
So, after a day of greetings, it was their turn to grab Osbert's border territory.
The villagers who were still laughing at first had no time to hide when they heard the warning bell in the square.
The soldiers around Henry were like hungry wolves crossing the border.
They entered the house at will, kicked open the wooden door, and found any valuable property or women with passable looks.
And even if some people in this village fled into the unbuilt wooden church to avoid danger, there was no chance of them being spared.
Ossa glanced at it and entered decisively with his sword.
He said to the young priests holding wooden crosses, as well as the old and weak, "Hand over all the valuable things."
"How dare you disturb God's peace!" The young priest held up the "cross".
The fat Sheriff approached, grabbed it with one hand, and took a look.
The wooden one was then returned to the young priest and he said, "All glory to the Lord!"
Just as the little priest was about to say a few words, he was punched so hard that the acid in his stomach nearly burst out, and he collapsed holding his body.
Osa also kicked him, "The false king's men are traitors. Now I declare you guilty."
Then these villagers were dragged out of this dilapidated and simple country church and stripped naked.
Henry couldn't help it after watching it several times, but Cobain stopped him, "Don't be impulsive, just wait for the harvest."
Henry threw away Cobain's hand, but heard again, "Think of your brother who was swallowed up by the fire, and the countless relatives and subordinates who had their hands and feet chopped off by 'Iron Arm Baldwin' and whose bodies were nailed to the square."
Coburn didn't want to be like this, but after living for so many years, he knew that every place has an unwritten rule of first come, first served.
The family was destroyed, the castle fell, and all kinds of cries for help and cries flashed before Henry's eyes...
He watched all this quietly and stopped moving forward.
After a while he replied,
"I understand. We rob this place and Osbert's soldiers don't care. Their people rob our territory and we don't care either. So this is a kind of 'order' and 'tranquility' on the border."
"Yes, you learn quickly."
"Grandpa, how long do you plan to take me to stay at the border?"
"At least create a regular team of thirty people, and preferably a few horses. As long as we have these people and equipment, we can attend the battle meeting, which is equivalent to being a real knight. Then..."
After the battle, Qyburn and Ossa's team left. After a few hours, they returned to their village territory at "midday".
In the village chief's big house, Osa drank ale and had fun while holding the village chief's daughter.
This time during the robbery, he took advantage of the large number of people and only gave Cobain a few worthless clothes and a few bags of wheat.
The girl who was forced to accompany the drink kept resisting. After Osa slapped her in the face, the girl ran out crying. Not long after, the steward personally brought the girl in.
For many parents, their children are just production tools they use to increase their wealth, and are no more valuable than the cattle and horses used for farming and hauling goods.
In an era of scarcity, "fertility and reproduction" is one of the most important entertainments for civilians. If you can give birth to a strong boy who can join the army to serve the nobles, or a girl with good looks who can be used as a plaything of the upper class, then It can also quickly improve your life.
"You little bitch, take it off."
Ossa looked at the girl's face and thought of the fiancée who betrayed him and his cousin (the knight's retinue).
After another glass of ale, he scolded the girl (fiancée), "I have been so good to you, but you and your aunt came here from Mercia with your servants and homeless (to escape the war between Wessex and Mercia) , I funded you, but you betrayed me, thought I was ugly, and left (eloped) with that bastard..."
His speech was unclear and no one could make out what he was saying.
"Bitch! Come here quickly!"
Ousa has a ruthless look on his face, and his lustful and thick body looks like a ferocious beast in heat. The former kings and nobles in the border area often call him "Wild Boar Ousa".
Seeing this, Coburn stood up and said he felt a little dizzy, and was about to leave the big house with his men.
Henry didn't move. Ossa glanced at it and said drunkenly, "Boy, you are really good-looking. Come here so I can take a look at you..."
Henry, who was born into a family of Frankish earls, had just turned twenty. Even though he had been on the run for several months, his heroic spirit had not diminished and his skin was not dull. He had been fully rested in the past few days and his energy had recovered a lot. Some angles were longer than this. Farm girls are prettier.
"Let's go." Qyburn urged again.
Henry finally moved, got up and walked out with his grandfather.
As soon as he stepped out of the door, Henry heard laughter and "a huge cry" from the girl.
"That kid (Henry) had a bad look in his eyes just now. Next time, I'll remind him." Ossa laughed.
The door was ajar, and you could see what was about to happen.
"Find me some more women!" Henry shouted to the door.
"Does this person have a backing?" Henry stopped and asked after walking more than twenty steps.
"He has been a peace officer for three years. Who is a capable person who can't stop doing this kind of banditry?"
Qianbain found out yesterday that Osa had raped and killed a noblewoman from the Mercia region out of lust, and his own cousin was also killed by him.
Although there was no definite evidence to convict him in the end, the rumors of killing his relatives and abusing his daughter ruined his reputation, and he could only rely on his vicious reputation to intimidate others on the border.
When Henry walked out of the eaves and the sun shone on him, the family motto came to mind.
"The gorse is in bloom, as powerful as a flying bird, bright and magnanimous."
Bright and magnanimous...the words he had heard since he was a baby made him feel sick to his stomach at this moment.
Henry felt that the sun today was so damn dazzling that he could hardly open his eyes...
He didn't want to leave.
Osa just laughed at his words, which made Henry decide to do something.
Then, he quickly moved forward, grabbed the knight's sword from Cobain's waist, and turned back.
"what are you doing?"
"From now on, I will be the most ferocious (knight) here!"
A few seconds later.
bump!
The ajar door was kicked open!
Most of Ousa's drunkenness was kicked away by this kick.
"What do you want to do?"
bump!
The door closed again, and within a few minutes there were all kinds of screams.
When Henry's face was covered with blood and he walked out panting, he looked at Cobain's stunned face and squeezed out a smile that looked like he was crying.
"Grandpa, Osa said, from now on, I will have the final say here..."
After more than ten days, in the former king's territory on the border, the story of a "knight partner" began to spread. There was a fierce-looking knight who always liked to use the hilt of his sword to smash the teeth of young losers and cut people's faces. Destroy.
"I hate pretty boys," he said.
Another young knight who was his partner would always leave a flower on the enemy he killed after the battle, and then light a flame.
Rumor has it that someone asked him why, and he said,
"After a hundred times of tempering, the flower (gorse) will be reborn from the fire. At that time, I will return like lightning!"
The words spread with the wind, and I don’t know whether this person said it or not, but gradually, he became known as the "Knight of Flowers".
The Flowers Knight's methods are more ferocious than the Wild Boar Knight's. As long as he fails to fight with him, he will chop off both arms of the challenger, and then chop off the head with one sword.
The ferocious methods of these two knights quickly increased the reputation of this security team, and even attracted landless criminal knights and criminals to join them...
…
April 15, 865 AD.
Oran and Ghazi's soldiers moved forward and entered the border of Baron Dasif. This made the Dasif camp no longer able to ignore them.
Above the hall, Mrs. Rowling held the young baron in her arms, listening to the opinions of the castle steward and the knights.
The little baron was still innocent and clapping his hands and singing with his puppets. He didn't understand the adult world. As long as someone played with him every day and coaxed him before going to bed, he was carefree.
"Mother... play, play."
"Dasif!" Rowling got tired of hearing this and asked the servant to take him down.
Then he asked everyone, "Can it be defended?"
Rowling wanted to give a definite answer, but no one could guarantee it. The knight who was asked only said that he would work hard to fight off the powerful enemy.
As the sister of the hostess and the only female knight in the castle, Bol is much braver than the men. She patted the knight's sword on her waist and said, "I will live and die with the castle!"
But these words made several male knights not take it seriously.
They didn't like this female knight dressed as a man. She relied on Mrs. Rowling's status to talk to old knights like them with no respect.
Women should do farm work and raise children, that's all.
"Boll, don't say that, I'm scared!" Rowling touched her forehead with her hand. She had a terrible headache.
A letter also arrived at this moment, the third letter sent by Oran.
Rowling could only understand half of it, but her face was already livid and she said tremblingly, "Olan Vijay said that by the time we saw this letter, he had already led people into the border village. If we don't respond, he will launch a 'legal action' against us." war'."
"Dharma", simply put, means "since ancient times".
This is a very formal letter of surrender in classical English.
Mrs. Rowling finally asked the castle priest to study with a knight for a while before she could read it out completely. The priest raised his voice and said.
"Since my great-grandfather, the sky over Durham has been circled by white eagles. This place is owned by the Vijay family and is sacred and inviolable. Later, due to the Vikings' disturbance from the east, the country was in turmoil... To this day, I hold the king's edict in my hand, Integrate the county leaders and those who disobey orders will be helped by this uncle to sleep in the cemetery for the rest of their lives. Don't take any chances and don't say that your words are unforeseen. The only owner of Durham - Oran Vijay writes."
