Fifty miles northwest of the city of Besançon, where the mountains meet the plains, it belongs to the northeastern border of the province of Jonne, eighty miles to the north is the border of the Duchy of Burgundy, and fifty miles to the south is the city of Besançon.

In the darkness of the night, a glimmer of a bonfire shimmered in a desolate grassland beneath the mountains.

A man in a long cotton armor, a sheepskin jacket, a rabbitskin felt hat, sheepskin boots, and a crossbow sword at his waist walked towards the fire from the dense forest line at the foot of the mountain, holding a large stack of collected firewood in his arms.

The man returned to the fire, tossed the firewood in his arms, glanced at the rye bread and the half-baked bacon that had been baked by the fire, and said to the other scar-faced young man who was feeding the horses black beans and wheat bran, "Sir Ron, come and eat and rest for a while, and I'll feed the horses."

Ron opened the bran bag and lifted it, and asked the horse to put his mouth into the bag and lick the bran, and got it: "Aaron, you eat first, and after you finish eating, you will sleep for a while, and you will keep vigil in the second half of the night." ”

The man, Aron, was Ron's direct subordinate and belonged to the Legion of Wales, a herdsman who worked as a groom in a caravan selling horses before being recruited as a soldier. Because he is good at riding and can ride and shoot, he was selected by Ron to be one of Art's guards.

He was familiar with the roads of the Northlands, especially the Duchy of Burgundy and the Kingdom of France, and Ron chose this soldier to follow him when he was ordered to fly back.

The shortest distance from Paris to Besançon was 380 miles, and in order to find a convenient way to ride a horse, Ron chose to go east from Paris, across the border of the Duchy of Burgundy and down southeast to Besançon, this route was wide and flat for horseback riding, but the distance was more than 450 miles.

Arte's order to the two men was to rush back to Besançon as quickly as possible to report to the Count of Balwyn and the Bishop of Orloff, so that they slept for no more than four hours a day during the four days after leaving Paris.

Needless to say, it must be in a hurry during the day. In order not to run out of horses until they found a farm to replace the horses they had purchased, they would stop every six miles during the day to let the horses drink and graze for a while.

In the morning, just after dawn, I set off to hurry, because most of the horses replaced along the way are ordinary riding horses, and I can't continue to run after running for up to sixty or seventy miles during the day, and the sky is basically dark at this time, and it is no longer suitable for riding horses, so the two will take advantage of the night to pass the road forward, and people can walk horses can also rest a little, and after walking five or six miles at night, it will basically be late at night, and the two will stop to find a place to live or sleep in the wilderness, raise horses, and check the shoester. Then make a hasty fire, make some food, swallow your stomach, and fall asleep for a few hours.

After running all the way for four days and four nights, and replacing three horses on the way to the border of the Count of Burgundy, Ron had such an experience once, but this time the journey was even more difficult, Rao was used to riding horses, Ron's inner thighs were still worn out several layers of skin, and Aaron, who was traveling with him, was no better, and even had to walk.

Before the campfire, the soldier Aron did not have a polite relationship with the commander Ron, he grabbed the toast by the campfire, broke it in half, took off the sheepskin water bladder from his waist and put it around the campfire to heat it slightly, took out a wooden bowl from the saddle bag sitting next to him, chopped the toasted bread with a knife little by little, put it in the wooden bowl, and when the water was warm, poured it into the wooden bowl and mixed it into bread batter, and sucked a piece of toasted bacon into his mouth.

After gobbling up the dishes, he wrapped himself in a wool felt blanket, and his head rested on the saddle for a moment, and there was a burst of snoring......

Ron had already fed the horses, and he returned to the campfire with his hands full of dirt crumbs, lifted the hem of his cotton armor, unfastened his breeches and stockings, and let the worn bloody flesh dry a little in front of the campfire.

After a while, he lifted his trousers, picked up half of the rye and a large piece of roasted bacon, sat down in front of his saddle, and chewed the bacon and bread slowly, staring at the southeast, and said to himself, "Besançon, you must arrive tomorrow at noon." ”

............

On the last Friday of December, when Arte set out from Paris with a bill of exchange, two fast horses had arrived on the outskirts of Besançon, the seat of the court of the Count of Burgundy.

Ron told Aron to stay in a tavern outside the city to look after the horses, changed into a peasant's costume and wrapped his head in rags to keep out the cold, then went out and spent three copper fennigs to buy a willow-framed charcoal from a woodcutter who was about to enter the city to sell charcoal, and walked towards Besançon......

Ron didn't know that Earl Balwin's mansion was already being watched by Bernard's eagle eyes, but out of security and caution, he didn't intend to enter through the main entrance of the Earl's mansion with great fanfare, but carried a willow-framed charcoal and hobbled towards the back door of the mansion like an old man.

Boom~

Knock knock~

"Master~The best charcoal, buy some~" The voice was very low and hoarse, like yes

It was as if he had not eaten enough for many days.

knocked on the wooden door a few more times, "Master~Buy some charcoal~"

Creak~

The back door of the mansion opened, and a middle-aged man who looked like a miscellaneous servant walked out, "You pariah! This is the Earl's Court, and if you dare to knock on the door again, I'll have your fingers broken. ”

"Sir, have pity on me, just exchange this box of charcoal for two rye bread~"

The hunchbacked man felt that he was still worried that the other party would be too expensive, so he quickly changed his words and said, "Rye, rye bread is fine."

The middle-aged slave glanced at the black and dirty willow frame and the good quality charcoal, "Okay, go in and put it in the firewood shed and pile it up." I'll go and get you bread. ”

As he spoke, he opened the door, avoiding the dirty old man, closed the door, and walked towards the room.

Hearing the sound of the door closing, the old man straightened up and threw down the willow frame on his arm.

The handyman, who was holding two rye loaves of bread, was startled and the bread in his hand fell to the ground.

Ron lowered his voice and said, "I'm not a bad person!" If I don't move, you immediately call the head of the mansion to see me, and say that there is an urgent matter for a friend in the south! ”

The slave retreated into the house in panic and ran towards the mansion, not knowing if he heard Ron's words.

Apparently the enslavement frightened that he didn't hear Ron's words clearly, he led two mansion guards armed with short swords through the house to the backyard to take Ron.

Ron closed his eyes and knelt down with his head in his hands, letting the mansion guards hold him down......

............

"Brother Ron, I'm sorry that those slaves and guards don't know you and make you suffer." In the hòu tíng of the Earl's Palace, the head of the Earl's Castle in Ballwin kept apologizing while untying Ron.

"But you're too dressed~" The manager smiled and handed Ron a clean set of clothes.

"Boss, there's no way, the past two months have been too dangerous, I don't dare to be careless." Ron ripped off his rags and put on the clothes handed by the steward.

"Hmmm! Your caution is not superfluous, and Bernard's old fox has recently laid a lot of eagle eyes around the mansion, and if you enter through the main entrance, you will definitely be targeted. ”

"Hurry up, Lord Earl is waiting for you in the official room." The steward pulled Ron and walked to the inner mansion......

............

“...... That's the way it is, Lord Count. My lord suspects that the Paris Inquisition will soon arrive in Besançon to begin the investigation and trial, and he advises you to start acting immediately, and we will start fighting back as soon as the Inquisition arrives. In the secret room of the Earl's mansion, Ron told Earl Balwyn exactly what Art had said.

After listening to it, Balwin repeatedly studied the secret letter written by Art himself in his hand. He already knew in advance what Art was going to do in Thorne, but he didn't have much hope at first, after all, Thorne was Bernard's lair, and it was rare to imagine that he wanted to take the heretics in his lair.

But Art did it, which made Balwin feel like an opportunity to take him down.

"There have been heretic and heretical incidents in the city of Thorne, and it is impossible for Bernard to completely get rid of the relationship in any way. I will arrange for someone to collect all kinds of evidence of Bernard's crimes, and take advantage of this heresy to kill the opponent, even if I can't bring down Bernard and the people in the inner court, it will be no problem to cut off a few of their arms. Balwyn expected that Bernard must be prepared, and it was difficult to find evidence that could directly point at Bernard, but the other minions in Bernard's camp could never have the same power as Bernard, so he planned to cut off the group of minions around Bernard and weaken the opponent's strength.

"Bishop Orlov, you send a letter to him immediately, and I will do it on the palace side. As for what your family plans to do, you can start immediately, and the palace has me to deal with it. ”

"Once the Inquisition is stationed in Besançon, I will see who has the guts to protect the Dean family!"

Balwyn placed the secret letter on the candle flame and lit it, and a scorching stench emanated from the secret room, "Sir Ron, you have done a good job, go to the steward and get a bounty and go back immediately." ”

Ron completed a mission, saluted, and left the chamber.

After a while, a hunched old man left through the back door of the room, with two large sprigs of hot rye bread stuffed in his bosom......

............

At noon the next day, the two arrived in Lucesen, where Ron infiltrated the Khwofh Cathedral disguised as a praying believer and handed over Arte's handwritten letter to Bishop Orlov.

Bishop Orlof was aware of the importance of this matter, and as soon as this happened, both the Bishop of Thorne and the Archbishop of Besançon (Archbishop of Besançon) would be affected, which, if done properly, could not only weaken the Bernard's camp, but also destabilize the position of Archbishop Besançon......

Leaving the Hwoff Cathedral, Ron sent Aron to find Kenneim, the steward of the Lucean South Merchandise Store, to prepare four good horses and instruct him to control Hawkeye in the Northlands, keep an eye on Besançon's movements, and send back the news in time.

After a short rest in Luces, Ron and Aron rode south on snowy roads in the early hours of the next morning.

Two days later, in the evening, three horns sounded in Boulder Town, a wasteland in southern Tignats.

"Sir Obote, there are four cavalry in the north, no, it seems to be two cavalry......"

............