When Rodrigo woke up again, he was already in a building. The clean beams above his head, the body covered with blankets and the down cushions on the bed; after the bloody and cruel escape, this huge contrast made him feel a little unreal for a while.
However, in the end, Rodrigo slowly remembered that after the army that suddenly appeared and repelled the herdsmen and the herd, he was amidst the screams of exclamation due to the fatigue and pain accumulated from the hard work. lost consciousness. Has he become a prisoner of the other party?
However, he did not feel any signs of restraint or imprisonment. Even the only soldier standing outside the door was leaning against the wall and chatting and laughing with others. And the person he was joking about was even Simone, the freckle-faced little maid who followed him all the way.
Then, Rodrigo saw the tray placed beside the bed, which contained several utensils; there was still a faint trace of yellow ointment. Rodrigo just smelled it and determined that it was an ointment from sea animals, and it was also a special medicine used to treat and repair the blood of knights.
At this time, some fragments of impressions emerged in Rodrigo's mind; during the long period of time when he was unconscious, he seemed to accidentally wake up and saw a woman crying and muttering to herself. What, while applying ointment to him without hesitation.
"Simone?" Rodrigo couldn't help but think of the name in his mind, but he was a little unsure; because along the way he could be sure that this former fiancée who was now a married woman undoubtedly hated him to the core; How could it be possible to do these private things.
However, as he slowly stood up and dressed, and walked to the terrace outside the door, no one came to stop or stop him; he didn't look like a prisoner in a foreign country at all. However, Rodrigo felt a little distracted when he looked at the noisy and noisy city in front of him.
Pontac is the name of this city; it is also the place where he once stationed after being demoted as a border guard. It is a small border town in Oloron County, part of the Holy Kingdom of Aquitaine and the Hautes-Pyrenees Province; it is also twenty or thirty miles away from the nearest Kingdom of Zealand.
"Could it be that the territory of the Holy Kingdom has been invaded?" Roderigo, who was full of mixed feelings, couldn't help but murmured to himself: Then he laughed at himself. After all, he was now a treasonous heretic of the Holy Kingdom, and there were What qualifications and position do you have to consider this issue?
"We are not invading, we are here by invitation." However, a rough voice took the initiative to answer his question. Roderigo couldn't help but turn around and saw a general wearing sapphire blue walking in the garden. Wearing an official uniform, he looked like a tall and unusually tall bald man.
The ribbon across his chest and the necklace around his neck represent his status as a regiment commander or provincial garrison commander; and the weapons hanging on his belt are not the common bayonet, saber and cross. A straight sword; but a heavy fine steel leaf hammer and mace on the left and right,
Therefore, even if he was not wearing armor, just standing there gave him an indescribable sense of shock and oppression. After he dismissed the officers surrounding him with a few words, he crossed his arms and continued to Rodrigo: "Because, the Holy Kingdom has abandoned these places."
"This... is impossible." Rodrigo argued involuntarily and instinctively: "How could the Holy Kingdom abandon its subjects so easily? What happened... In the name of God, please tell me. What?"
"My name is Porthos, and I am also the commander of the Pyrenees Corps and the provincial garrison commander." The bald man still crossed his hands and said with pity and ridicule in his eyes: "Just a few months ago, in the Holy Kingdom, A large number of people fled, bringing news of help."
"Because there have been a large number of mutations and alien attacks in the Holy Kingdom, the court in Bordeaux has ordered, in the name of the principality, to shrink and prepare the various knights and garrisons, and to abandon some unimportant border areas and difficult-to-reach areas. A remote mountainous area where we are stationed.”
"So, in the process of executing the order, the entire Basque and other indigenous settlements outside the mountains have been completely abandoned by the provincial officials. They even sent troops to block the roads to prevent these mountain settlements from entering the city. Active migration and escape from the town.
"
Hearing this, Rodrigo couldn't help but feel dumb, and felt a bit sad and helpless; of course he knew that as the oldest indigenous people and descendants of the mountain people in the Pyrenees, the Basques had a close relationship with the Romans, the Franks, and the Salans. Sen people, a long history of resistance from foreign conquerors throughout the ages.
I also know that in the Song of Roland sung by the world, the ancestors of the Basques play a disgraceful role. Therefore, after establishing the United Kingdom of Holy Britannia, although Saint Laurent pardoned other Basque ethnic groups, he also laid the roots of discord and estrangement.
Therefore, in the long years after the establishment of the Holy Kingdom, the Basques, who were sometimes rebellious but difficult to completely eradicate, also became a worry and hidden danger under the Principality of Aquitaine. What's more, they still have a large number of their own people in the Kingdom of Zealand outside the country, called Gascons.
Therefore, the chivalry army launched by the Holy Kingdom can certainly cost a huge amount of money and adopt targeted clearing methods to remove most of the Basque strongholds and villages in the Pyrenees mountains; but it cannot be maintained for a long time. Suppressive garrison in difficult and dangerous places.
What's more, it couldn't stop the groups of Gascons who crossed the border and rushed to join the conflict in the Pyrenees Mountains in the form of mercenaries. If it were elsewhere, it would be sealed for a long time; but as the north-south passage, the Pyrenees Mountains are of fundamental and indispensable importance to the Holy Kingdom.
Once something goes wrong, there will be a huge crisis of being cut off from Brittany and Aquitaine in the north, as the core territory of the Holy Kingdom, and Catalonia in the south. So after the Sixth Pyrenean War, the Holy Kingdom came to an agreement with the Basques, who suffered heavy casualties.
In what is known as the "Pamplona Agreement," at the expense of limited ethnic autonomy and intermarriage among the upper class of the royal family, most Basque villages were moved to relatively gentle mountains and gentle slope areas; the Basques For the first time, I have a nominal co-owner.
Then, there was a long period of integration and cultural influence; some upper-class children were absorbed into the local court and joined the Holy King's regiments and knights; most Basques gradually gave up confrontation and rebellion; and Gascony outside the country People naturally experience rejection and alienation.
But now the actions of the provincial officials have torn the Holy Kingdom apart again. The wounds that have been covered up and the illusion that they have worked hard to create have destroyed the results of many years of inclusive coexistence/absorption and transformation. Perhaps in the eyes of those radicals in the principality, this is an opportunity for a once-and-for-all solution?
"What about Pontaque?" However, Rodrigo quickly came back to his senses and asked: "This is not a city dominated by the Basques, right? Why is it also occupied by you..."
"Because there is an unforgivable rebellion in the local area!" Portos, the commander of the bald regiment, looked at him with a strange look and said: "Many people from the border guard stationed there secretly left the team and went south to seek refuge. and answered the call of rebellion."
"So the remaining members of the garrison were also reviewed for loyalty by the Knights and the Church; as a follow-up disciplinary measure, most of the officers and non-commissioned officers were arrested and sentenced; and most of the soldiers were disarmed and exiled to the salt of Andalusia He went to do hard labor in the mines."
"Therefore, when the representatives sent by this city once again asked us to send troops to take over the local area and swore to accept the rule and laws of the Free Army, all the officials, wealthy people, merchants, and church members in the city had already fled, leaving only A group of citizens who can’t get far.”
"You have never seen that scene. After entering the city, there are hungry eyes everywhere; there are not many strong men at all. The streets are full of skinny women and children, and there are dead people in every house. In broad daylight , and there are alien activities in cemeteries and churches.”
"That's enough!" Rodrigo couldn't help but interrupt him: because at this moment, he realized his own weakness more and more deeply. Just like the legion commander whom he met once, said to him: Any practice and maintenance of justice requires sufficient strength and authority.
"God in heaven, please forgive me for my rudeness and gaffe." Then Rodrigo softened his tone and apologized to Porthos: "I only have one request left now, and I ask that I can see you as soon as possible. That army commander."
"God in heaven, please forgive me for my rudeness and
Gaffe. Roderigo then softened his tone and apologized to Portos: "I only have one request left now. Can you arrange a report for me as soon as possible and meet with the commander of your army?"
"You are mistaken. There is no legion commander now, only His Majesty the Knight King who has just ascended the throne." The bald man Porthos grinned and said: "If others make such unreasonable requests, I will definitely not pay attention to them. , and he will be severely interrogated.”
"However, our beloved King of Knights also specifically told me that if Roderigo, who is a model knight, comes to seek refuge, then we should provide him with all possible conveniences."
At the same time, thousands of miles away in the city of Lance. Madurand, the legion commander who was dressed in dust, had just returned from the Central Suppression Legion on the Central Plateau and had traveled day and night just to accept an impromptu secret questioning meeting in the name of debriefing his duties.
