"Attack first? Then we won't attack the Vikings, Your Excellency?"
Even Adisha didn't know what Oran was thinking.
"Things come first. Between the second and third village forts is the 'Black Forest'. This is the best natural barrier. As long as enough fortifications and traps are built here and here, Nanding's two hundred people can , enough to defend two to three times the enemy.
When we laid down the second village fort, I contacted "Xi Zuo" in Earl's Castle in advance. He would find a way to persuade 'Earl' to personally lead the team to take over the town.
And how many people can Earl have under his command now?
One hundred, two hundred, three hundred?
As long as he dares to leave the city, if everything goes well, Earl and the castle will fall into our hands in less than a day. By then, more than 80% of the entire Yewei land will be under our control, and only a few villages and castles will be left behind by Haman and the Vikings. in hand.
And our territories are already connected, why should these reckless men fight with me?"
At this point, Oran was furious, "Haman chopped off the legs of eighty people. That's good. Once Bember is free, I will crush him!"
Only a few people around Olan knew that Clayton and Nanbei were working together.
Many people secretly guessed which knight noble was bribed?
Nine hundred people worked hard for one day. At noon on the second day, Olan led 700 people to change their direction.
On the same day, the Castle of Earl sent out a team, led by three knights, plus servants, a total of sixty-six people.
Entered the second village fort that night.
Before entering the village castle, this team had some expectations.
Since Oran had rebelled against the Vikings, the space for those who accompanied Earl to hide in the castle had been reduced to one place.
Now go out as a winner again, straighten your chest and take a big breath of fresh air.
The guard tower is guarded by the soldiers left behind by Oran, who are only wary of the Er soldiers.
When he saw the person coming, he asked a few questions, and after confirming his identity, he asked his companion inside to open the door.
The main gate of the tower opened slowly.
The knight in the team cursed, "These country bumpkins don't understand etiquette at all, and they treat the nobles so rudely."
"Look, why is it so dilapidated?"
In the team, a young man with a clean face and a suit of mail quickly walked through the lord's hall, square, chapel, blacksmith shop and other places. The most conspicuous building in the village was not only empty now, but also had a dilapidated air. The stench can be smelled everywhere.
"You!" The young man pointed at a man wearing a "mask" who was commanding the soldiers, and asked this man to come over.
"Take off the mask." The young man said.
"Sir, I have suffered serious facial injuries, which will scare you."
"what is your job?"
"Your Excellency Oran asked me to lead people to guard here and wait for the Lord Yewei County."
"How long have you been taking this place?"
"Four days."
"Where does this stink come from?"
“The Vikings performed a large number of blood sacrifices before they left. They slaughtered livestock and mixed it with human blood, leaving horrific blood on the front entrance, windows, eaves, and even square walkways of every prominent house.
It's much better now. In the past two days, I would even step on a fallen eyeball or ear while walking. "
The masked knight's words made the young man feel disgusted and cursed, "Damn old Viking, I will let my sister..."
Ahem, someone beside the young man reminded me that if you talk too much, you will make mistakes.
Then he said, "Sir, I have already told you, don't take any risks, just let me and Knight Clayton handle it."
The man had obvious injuries on his face and arms, and he tried to persuade the young man.
"Danzig, you always treat me like a child. I turned thirteen two days ago. At this age, my father has already gone into battle three times and led fifty men in battle.
I have also been baptized as an adult. I am a strong warrior. My sword is polished brighter than anyone else. "
Originally there was nothing wrong with the previous words, but the last sentence made Danzig frown and advised, "No matter how bright the sword is, it cannot avoid danger. Caution, caution, and caution are the truth."
The young man is "Chukeng", the son of Earl.
Danzig, the scarred knight, was his swordsmanship teacher and was once a knight of "East Anglia". However, he lost a lot of wealth during the Viking invasion and was robbed by fellow knights.
In anger, he killed these people and accidentally injured a priest, and was sentenced to a heavy sentence. He was unwilling to be burned on the stake, so he became a wandering knight and came to Yewei County three years ago.
He was good at swordsmanship, and Earl regarded him as a bodyguard and his son's teacher, and used more than ten acres of land to keep him.
"Sir, let's rest first. It's getting late." Clayton brought someone over and said, "I just looked at it all, and there's no big problem."
"Okay, I'm tired too. Let's talk tomorrow."
The wind picked up that night, and then there was thunder in the sky and heavy rain.
This village fort, which originally had hundreds of people, had almost no residents after the turmoil. There were only 25 soldiers left by Oran, seven craftsmen who were repairing the village fort, and 22 people who had not suffered from the Scriptures. The leader of the poisonous hand.
People like Chuken suddenly appeared, and they treated everyone as servants, letting them light fires, cook, and call around.
August is not the wet season in Northumbria.
But the rain tonight was heavy and fast, just like the previous few days.
Knights Danzig and Chuuken were staying in the lord's hall. Danzig took advantage of Clayton's absence and said privately, "My lord, be on guard tonight and pay attention at all times."
"What are you afraid of? There are so many of us. Look at the people left behind in Oran. They are short and listless."
"What Oran said in the letter is that after the village fort was captured, most of the people did not flee, and we need to send people to help them. But look at this desolate and terrifying scene. A rain will cover up many sounds. If you sleep to death , I don’t even know it with the sword on my neck.”
"Are you saying the Vikings will attack us by surprise or that these people in Oran may do something evil to us?"
Qiu Ken was a little nervous when he heard this, but then his stomach started to drum up. When a person is hungry, he doesn't bother to think about anything.
Soon, there was a knock on the door, and a resident came in with hot vegetable soup and dry biscuits.
Qiu Ken was full of expectations, but when he saw that the person serving the food had greasy hair, a foul odor on his body, fleas running on the coarse cloth, and even when he was serving soup, his black-oiled nails and fingers were inserted into the bowl.
"You bastard, is this food for pigs?" Qiu Ken felt nauseated.
As the son of an earl, he has no appetite for this kind of food no matter how hungry he is.
"Sir, all the fields in this area have been burned down by the Vikings. These precious foods were transported by Mr. Oran at the fastest speed from Haizhen and the southern villages. You can try it. He also Eat these.”
As a citizen of the Earl Territory, this man was born with a sense of awe towards the people of the Earl family. Starting from his father, he paid taxes to Earl Earl.
He lowered his head and picked up a bowl of wheat porridge to please Qiul Ken, but the mess on his body disgusted Qiul.
"Get away!" Qiu Ken pushed it away with one hand, and the porridge spilled out.
The leader lowered his head in fear, but also felt sorry for the food. If there was no one in the house, he would kneel down and lick it clean one by one.
Food is too precious, something that can keep us alive.
Qiu Ken cursed a few times, and before kicking him out, he added, "Call the masked knight."
When the masked knight entered the lord's house, Chuuken said angrily, "I am the son of the count and the owner of this land. Now I order you to prepare clean food. Hurry before my anger gets out of control."
The masked knight looked at the wheat porridge on the ground, moved his "shoulders", then lowered his head and retreated.
"Look, as long as you are fierce enough, others will not dare to look down on you." Chuuken looked at Danzig proudly, this was a method he learned from Earl.
Danzig could only sigh to himself.
Half an hour later, the masked knight brought the food himself.
"Huh?" Danzig noticed something was wrong.
The way the masked knight walked was too cautious, going straight in and out.
Always keep your eyes on people, and when exiting, use a frontal posture, as if to prevent a sneak attack.
Intuition tells Danzig that this is a master!
But this time, Chuuken didn't say anything. After quickly finishing the food, he found other knights to discuss the subsequent land acceptance.
"The people in the territory have run away too much. It is almost the autumn harvest time. We need to stabilize the territory before September and find those who have escaped. We can give them seeds and farm tools. We will not collect taxes this year, but when they wait Just bring back the harvest twice as long as you don't let them starve to death. You know, these rough guys will forget who is their master if they eat too much."
Leading a team alone for the first time, Qiu Ken was so excited that he didn't feel sleepy at all, completely forgetting that he was the one who escaped.
And all of this was Clayton's idea.
When he failed to persuade Earl Earl to lead the team himself, he asked his soldiers to spread rumors that Master Chuur was already thirteen years old, but he was still hiding behind his father and sister, and would even run to his stepmother Nanbei's bed at night. Seeking milk.
When these words reached Chuuken's ears, he was ashamed and angry.
And Clayton secretly told Chuken, "Let your father and sister see that you are no longer a child. You have excellent swordsmanship and strong body. You will use the sword to establish your reputation."
These words deceived Qiu Ken and placed him by his side as a retinue.
When Danzig discovered it, the team had already arrived outside the village castle and had no time to go back.
The meeting lasted until midnight before Qiu Ken asked everyone to leave, lie down on the bed, put his body in a large shape, and fell asleep lightly.
Danzig stood guard outside the house, close to the wall, his sword could be unsheathed at any time, not relaxing at all.
At three or four o'clock, it was almost dawn, but Danzig thought that once it was dawn, he would have to let Qiuken go back first by any means.
At the same time, the masked knight was outside the village fort guard tower, looking into the distance.
He was waiting for Olan to come.
A dark figure approached quietly, and the masked knight judged it to be Clayton from the size of the figure.
"According to the time, it should be here tomorrow morning." Clayton approached, picked up the wine bag, took a sip and threw it to the masked knight.
"No, it's almost there, from what I know about him."
"he?"
"I say Your Excellency."
"I'm suddenly curious about your appearance. I've asked about all the knights in Your Excellency Oran's territory, but I can't guess who you are."
The masked knight spoke in a lowered voice, and his voice sounded a bit old. Clayton guessed he was thirty-five or forty years old?
During the chat, the masked knight put his finger to his lips to signal for silence, "Here he comes."
At this time, the rain stopped for a while, and Clayton found several fire spots in the distance, distributed in a straight line.
"You guessed it, they traveled all night!"
"He will not let the enemy have a chance to breathe. He can kill during the day and will never leave it until night." The masked knight said as he turned around, "Get ready to take action."
Half an hour later, the soldiers who were ordered to be on alert by Danzig were secretly dealt with by the masked knight and Clayton, and then the troops who had been traveling all night were let in.
There are nearly 200 people in this troop, which is the elite part of the 700-strong team.
For the soldiers who couldn't catch up, Oran asked them to catch up later.
Oran himself was among them. He hurried on as hard as he could. Before the black moon passed, he ran dozens of kilometers fully armed to the outside of the village fortress.
The rain fell on the equipment and the weight increased, making Olan feel uncomfortable all over.
When the torch on the guard tower lit up, Oran looked over and saw a White Eagle soldier standing up straight and saluting him downstairs with his hands.
Everyone was soaked in the rain for most of the night, their armors and boots were all wet, but their hearts were warm because they knew that this was a night of murder.
Hundreds of people looked at Olan, waiting for him to touch his lips lightly and spit out the words, "Kill!"
Oran raised his left hand, and then...Haqiu!
"Fuck, I'm so cold." After Olan breathed out the fragrance, he said to take action.
The soldiers around him filed in, and the masked knight who came out to meet them whispered to Kunsang and others, then dispersed and headed to various houses in the village fort.
bump!
Every wooden house was roughly kicked open. Soldiers holding torches illuminated the houses, followed by soldiers holding heavy axes and iron swords.
The screams were like the light of meteors flashing in the sky. When roaring, the sound was extremely loud, and then became dull.
Oran walked to the square, with him as the center, followed by sixteen people, all holding small shields, surrounding him for protection.
Oran saw Clayton approaching "covered in blood."
"Where's Earl?"
"He didn't come, but his heir came, as did several of his trusted knights."
These people were all Clayton's former partners. After he killed three people, his shoulders were like lead-filled iron blocks, too heavy to lift.
A sneak attack at night, with support and several times more people, the White Eagle soldiers won the night battle with overwhelming force.
stop!
Two arrows flew towards Oran, but were blocked by his shield soldiers.
More than a dozen torches shone in the direction of the arrow, and then moved forward to surround them, illuminating the face of the person who was shooting the arrow.
"Who is that?" Oran asked.
"Danzig, a master of swordsmanship." After Clayton finished speaking, Chuuken poked his head out of the house and hid behind Danzig. Several soldiers also broke through Oran's attack and came to meet Danzig in front of the lord's house.
But they were at the end of their strength. Among the more than sixty people, those who refused to surrender were all killed by random swords. Fifteen people took the initiative to lay down their weapons.
There are still six people left around Chuken, who have to face at least 200 people from Oran.
On Oran's side, just staring with his eyes can scare Chuuken out of his wits.
Chuuken held his sword in fear, and his earlier heroic words were gone. When he saw someone pointing a longbow at him, he was even more frightened and immediately squatted down, but Danzig immediately pulled him up.
"Claden, you bastard!" Danzig yelled.
"Make a fire and make porridge. Everyone must be hungry." Oran ordered some people to retreat and prepare.
Then he took a few steps forward, pointed at Qiu Ken, and stretched out his finger, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven?"
"Seven men, seven swords? How scary."
After Oran finished speaking, Tuman drew a full bow and shot one man in the knee.
"Now it's six." Oran pointed at Chuuken, "You are braver than your father."
"Your Excellency...let me go, I'll leave right away." Qiu Ken held back for a long time, only thinking of these words.
More than fifty torches surrounded the outside of the house, and the light was bright enough to see people's movements and appearance clearly.
"Put down your weapons, I'm only going to say this once." Oran raised his arm, and the archer was ready to go.
No one is afraid of death. Chuuken immediately put down his weapon, but Danzig pulled him up, fled into the house, and then rushed out from the back door.
Like a cat chasing a dead mouse, victory is only a matter of time.
Among Olan's men, the fastest ones are the Masked Knight and Kunsang.
Danzig and Chuuken, who was already frightened, could not run far and were caught up as soon as they reached the outside of the village castle on the other side.
"The count saved my life, I will give it back to him."
Danzig stopped running. He had a lot of loyalty as a knight.
He faced the two of them with his sword, while Qiu Ken stood aside in shock.
Kunsang didn't do anything, just looked at Chuuken, this was what Olan wanted.
The masked knight drew his sword and coughed a few more times because of the weather.
Although Danzig still used a knight's sword, his posture when holding the sword was weird, like "holding a needle" to stab.
"Needle sword?" The masked knight said blankly.
"Have you seen it?" Danzig was also a little surprised.
"I heard from Clayton that you are a knight from East Anglia. You should have learned it from the 'Needle Sword Sigis'."
"You know him too?"
"We competed once before."
The masked knight turned his body. The previous injury was still not healed, so his movements were a little stiff. Then he stopped again, gasping for air, but did not take off the mask.
"You are hurt."
"I've killed you enough."
Mask walked over quickly, his steps quickening.
Without any hesitation, either kill someone or be killed!
Ten meters...five meters!
When the two of them were extremely close and within the killing range of both sides, Danzig smiled.
But the smile froze in an instant, and the masked knight swung his body and struck out with a sword that was much faster than he imagined.
Danzig collapsed, eyes wide.
It turns out that people can be so fast.
The masked knight walked over and struck a blow with his sword, making sure he was dead.
Qiuken was so frightened that he wet his pants. He rolled around and tried to leave, but was trapped by the soldiers who were chasing him. After Kunsang walked over, he kicked him to the ground without saying a word, and then used the handle of his sword to cut his fingers. The joint was smashed down, destroying one of his palms.
Geng said to the masked knight, "When you recover from your injury, I will defeat you in front of everyone and let you know that he does not need you, a bastard of Viking descent."
"Then you can prepare the cemetery in advance and think about what eulogy you want to write. If Nanding can't do it, if you can't do it alone, it will be the same for everyone."
