The Luoan people, who seem to be forever on the move and never far away from war, have an old proverb - "Those who are unwilling to spend money for their own army will eventually have to spend money for the enemy's army."
This simple and crude logic is one of the evidences cited by the White Church and the Otolo Empire when they destroyed the country. Barbarians and pagans, fanatical and bloodthirsty people, need to be tamed and civilized.
But like many simple and crude things that can be passed down through the ages, it always has its own correctness in it.
The group manages to catch up to the courier, which should never have happened.
The messenger on horseback should move much faster than on foot. In addition, the messenger set off early and the four Henrys still needed to bypass the large army below.
All this can be accomplished in addition to the sage's excellent navigation ability to choose a shorter route based on terrain judgment, and also because these are just Ashigaru messengers riding not serious war horses.
Crescent Continent is mostly mountainous, and horses are animals that live on grasslands.
In fact, no matter how much emphasis is placed on its orthodox locality and no matter how big the first impression of appearance is, the war horses ridden by the warriors of Crescent Continent and the tall horses of Rigar have a common ancestor——
Absera steppe horse.
These hoofed animals can run freely only in areas where alternating dry cold and hot temperatures prevent the growth of any vegetation except tough plants like grasses. And only in that area, which is close to the ancient behemoths and various equally ferocious predators that roam the Nornstein Wasteland, can these creatures be spawned to push their speed to the extreme.
In addition to the influence of the local environment, another reason for the small size of the Crescent Continent war horses is that the horses that came across the ocean are really precious, so they were mixed with the more easily obtained local horses.
This short and bad-tempered creature is unique to this isolated continent.
It is a more primitive and early type of horse, and even in the early stage, the hooves cannot be completely called hooves. There are also two stubby toes beside the hooves, so it is also called a three-toed horse.
This kind of horse is short in size and lives on the edge of mountains and grasslands. Its running endurance is far less than that of a serious war horse, and it is more like a goat that is good at jumping. In addition, it has a bad temper and is stupid, so it may not be as good as a donkey as a mount.
When used to pull plows, they are too small and not as powerful as oxen; when used to carry goods, they are not as fast and have poor endurance as donkeys and mules. This kind of horse, which plays little role as human livestock, has therefore been left alone to remain wild. Except for some minority hunters who secretly kill it for meat and skin, it has not been disturbed most of the time.
"The First Minister of the Ming Dynasty"
As for why Ashigaru's messenger would ride such a nondescript mount, in the final analysis, like most reasons, it is nothing more than funds and politics.
An ashigaru is a samurai's attendant, a being who is nobler than ordinary civilians but not a samurai.
So they can theoretically ride a horse, but not quite.
The hard and menial task of delivering messages should not be done by samurai, but letting them - even temporarily - ride on noble-blooded samurai horses just because they are required to deliver messages is obviously against tradition and Treasonous.
So this kind of horse looks like a horse, sounds like a horse, and is just not as good as the warriors in every aspect. You only need to hire a few hunters and give them a few ounces of silver to catch them in the mountains and castrate them to control their violence. A creature with a temper that can barely act as a mount naturally becomes an "excellent choice" in the eyes of warriors.
Solving problems is not as important as maintaining one's dignity. This is not a rare phenomenon among nobles in any country.
Henry knew all this because they had done it two hundred years ago.
Real taming is an industry that requires a lot of manpower, material resources, and space for a long time. To catch wild animals, castrate them and then ride them reluctantly, you only need to spend some money to hire a hunter when needed.
Differentiating themselves from noble war horses, preserving their honor while barely having something to use and saving money. It was a plan that just scratched the itch of Kazuto who was subtle and particular, so it naturally continues to this day.
The group of people who were careful not to step on the branches walked straight through the forest, while the ashigaru riding the three-toed horse could only take a detour through the longer auxiliary road.
What made their actions of intercepting each other even more natural was the stubborn temper of this mount. Far away from their superiors, the ashigaru's muttered curses gradually reached their ears through the silent forest.
"Stupid beast" and the like, if the superior warriors who respect horses hear the words that at least they will be punished with whipping, and when the sound gradually amplifies and they get closer to a visual distance, it will be quite joyful. A scene appeared in front of the four people.
Winter has arrived, but in the relatively warm south-central area, not only coniferous forests but also evergreen broad-leaved forests exist. Perhaps due to the influence of the climate, the fruit of the low trees along the road was delayed, and the ends of the branches drooped due to the weight of the fruits - just to the point where the three-toed horse could reach it by raising its head.
And this stubborn creature just tried to bite it with its lips curled up and its long front teeth exposed. The ashigaru above wanted to complete the task as quickly as possible, so it pulled the reins desperately to make it turn around and walk onto the road.
The two were in a stalemate like this for a long time, so much so that he didn't even notice when Henry and his party approached Ashigaru.
"Oh my god!" I felt the hair on my back stand on end. I turned around and saw a stranger who was taller than me sitting on the horse. This frightened the ashigaru so much that the horse sat down on the ground, and he had been holding the reins. The moment he let go of the three-toed horse and ran towards the fruit, his hind leg stepped on Ashigaru's thigh.
Even though the body was smaller than the Crescent Continent War Horse, this kick still caused the ashigaru's entire face to twist in pain.
The merciless sage watched this scene and stepped forward decisively, stepped on his back and pushed the ashigaru to the ground, then tied his hands behind his back. The Luoan girl also wisely stepped forward and pulled out the knife from his waist, and threw it into the bushes on the roadside.
"What are you doing! Hiss! Oh my god, it hurts! What are you doing!" Ashigaru, who didn't even know whether to cry out in pain or struggle, became quiet after a rag was stuffed into his mouth, while Henry grabbed his back armor with one hand. He lifted the whole person up with one hand and carried it on his shoulder like a piggy.
"Go back." His tone was still calm, while Master and Lao Qiao looked at the three-toed horse that had finished eating the fruit and then started to eat the leaves. Their faces said, "That's it? Is this the end of the capture?"
They didn't even have the slightest admiration for Henry's ability as usual, because this so-called capture of the messenger really seemed to be a free gift for the other party's stupidity.
The three-toed horse, which seemed to have returned to its wild state, was munching on something with abandon, while the group of people walked through the woods as if they had never been there before.
While passing through the still bustling samurai camp below, the captured ashigaru twisted wildly on the sage's shoulders and made a "woohoo" sound in an attempt to attract the attention of his own people below, while the Luoan girl walking behind Henry At the right time, he pulled out the Otolo-style long sword at his waist and revealed the shining blade. This silent threat immediately put the ashigaru at ease.
He obviously knew who they were, because after returning to the camp and hearing the feudal accents spoken by the samurai among the team, the ashigaru's expression changed drastically.
It was a complex expression of winning a jackpot and being unlucky, because these people were exactly what they were looking for. If he had discovered them, it would have been a great achievement to report them; but now he has fallen into the trap. In their hands.
This group of evildoers includes all the bad guys, even evil spirits and witches——
Miko?
The moment the great miko walked over, the ashigaru's expression froze.
His series of rich emotional expressions did not escape the sage's eyes. He walked over to Sakura and whispered something, and then the sweet-sounding former oiran came out with a potion and asked softly. Where was this Ashigaru injured?
What happened next became a matter of course.
The ashigaru, which almost fell in an instant, almost completely believed Henry's embellished story in the face of a miko who was recognized by the people as the spokesperson of the Great Moon God.
They are a complex team with a heavy mission, and the samurai force of the prefecture that Ashigaru belongs to is the bad guy who secretly cooperates with the evil domain army to stop them.
"I knew it! I usually think they are not good people!" The clear-cut words immediately changed the attitude of this low-level ashigaru, who had a lot of resentment towards his boss, followed by a message mixed with many complaints and complaints. If they needed to be tortured, he would automatically tell them in a long and verbose manner.
The sage listened patiently and picked out a few key and useful information, such as the opponent's troops, total number and purpose, and Ashigaru, who felt better under Sakura's careful treatment, continued to chatter quickly. .
He had obviously suffered a lot, but like most other samurai from the prefectures, he had never actually experienced a war.
People who have never experienced war will always have a strange longing for war, looking forward to fighting for justice, making great contributions, and returning home with a glorious name for their ancestors. The young master next to him looked at him. Although his status was different, he still vaguely had some shadow of his past.
After a lot of complaining, this native of Ashigaru in Central and South China, who had no nostalgia at all, patted his chest and announced that he would join this army of justice.
Henry raised his eyebrows, even he had never thought that this kind of thing would be so simple. After sharing so much information and coming into contact with one of his own, he originally thought that if he didn't deal with this person, he would have to use the influence of the great witch to try to convert him to his camp, even if it was useless to monitor him. It will also be easier.
However, the reason why he changed his camp was probably not just a righteous sense of honor in words - because he was just an ashigaru and did not have the deep-rooted sense of honor that a samurai had. Judging from the man's constant glances at the former oiran who had just applied the medicine on him, it was obvious that the moment of gentle temptation had caused some profound misunderstandings and illusions on his part.
But no matter what, whether the other party gave it to them for free or used skills to achieve their goals, for now, as long as it can help them alleviate some difficulties, there should be no ambiguity in using it.
Thus, after adding an unexpected member and obtaining the necessary information, the group set out on the road again.
According to the newly obtained information, he silently bypassed the supposedly seamless encirclement and disappeared into the forest.
But what they didn't know was that half a day after the group left, a Yi hunter with an arrow wound took a few state warriors to find the three-toed horse that had finished eating and started to sleep.
And with the flash of the setting sun, they also successfully found the waist knife that Mira had pulled out and discarded in the bushes nearby.
"He was caught." The leading warrior in gorgeous clothes judged this at a glance.
The warriors in the direct-administered states generally lacked war experience, which meant that they would make some mistakes, but making mistakes was not the same as being stupid.
If they can put aside their arrogance and discrimination and cooperate with professionals, they can also have combat effectiveness in unfamiliar fields.
Those who hope to win by relying on their enemies to be stupid will often prove themselves to be big fools in the end.
"In which direction?" the samurai asked, while the injured barbarian said that he had to continue to inquire.
The cold wind is blowing, and a kind of white flowers that exist in both Rigar and Crescent Continent, but theoretically only grow in colder areas further north, dot the surface of the mountains in the central and southern part of Crescent Continent.
The people of Suomir, a country far north of Rigal, gave it a beautiful name.
Dryas.
In the middle of the white petals is a golden stamen, which is pure and beautiful.
No one would associate it with destruction.
Even Henry had not noticed that this kind of flowers seemed to start from the ruined shrine where they had a fierce battle with the Placia swordsmen, and evenly distributed in a straight line from north to south on the east and west sides.
as if.
It seems to grow on both sides of some kind of crack.
