In the military tent of the Duke of Vladis in Aosta, the deputy minister of Varys was reporting on the situation of the envoy to the Count of Burgundy in the north: "Lord Duke, the Marquis of Yvreas has refused the request for reinforcements and rescue, but he has also promised not to attack the northern border of Provence, according to our eagle-eye scout, there is indeed no large-scale army build-up in the northern border. ”

"Ivrea is a cunning old fox who is waiting for us to lose both of Lombardy and then he will profit from it. However, we don't have to worry about the stability of the north for the time being, as long as we stabilize the situation on the central front, he will not invade the north. ”

The deputy minister continued: "In addition, when I went north, I saw many refugees from Provence fleeing north across the border to the Count of Burgundy. ”

"Varys, I know all of this, but for now we have to focus all our energy on the central front, and let's wait for the war to slow down a bit. Now that the palace minister has gone to the north to collect money and grain, you will temporarily take charge of the palace affairs. ”

As soon as the two had finished talking, the squire came in and reported to Baron Berrion that he had asked for an audience.

"Bring him in."

Baron Berrion walked into the military tent with his sword on his armour, and without too much greeting, he directly reported the battle situation to Duke Vladis: "My lord, after more than ten days of fighting, Fort Carrk has resisted the enemy's attack. That guy from Lumbivon returned to Vilno ten days ago with two hundred remnants, but we also suffered heavy casualties, and the one hundred and fifty men I brought with me were less than a hundred after the field battles and sieges outside Kalkburg, and after the capture of Kalkburg, I recruited a group of farmers, but in this siege I lost nearly half of them, and my knights also lost two, and now there is only one knight and less than eighty soldiers left in Kalkburg. ”

Duke Vladis comforted: "You have done a good job, Berion, holding Fort Cark we have flank cover and strategic depth. Fort Cark must hold on, but I can't give you reinforcements right now, the snow is heavy in winter, the supply lines in Lombardy are beginning to be cut off, and I have ordered the entire central front to turn to a counteroffensive, and in a few days I will attack Vilno with half of the army in Aosta. ”

"Attack Vilno! My lord, it's winter, it's cold, how can you march and fight? Berrion exclaimed.

"You don't think it's freezing to march and fight, and the enemy doesn't think I'll march at this time. Witot has already transferred 2,000 troops to the central front, and now that the defense of Vilno is empty, I will take it by surprise and strike first. ”

......……

"Before those guys get to the bottom of us, we have to strike first." Art whispered to Otto and Ron who were around him.

Not long after the procession of displaced people carrying the grain cart south passed through Lane Village, a shadow began to fall far behind the team, and there were already some fluctuations among the displaced people.

"Odo, you take Kazak to sneak around the back to see the tail behind us, and be careful not to be spotted by them."

"Ron, you ride my horse around and don't go too far. Go and go back. ”

"Bass, watch out for the homeless and let them not panic. Go and get Lawrence here, and in a moment you will take some of the iron spears from the cart and hand them out to the bolder men. ”

Sensing that danger was approaching, Art quickly responded while the team was repairing.

The man who had been rescued by Yat outside Tignats a month ago followed Bas briskly and said anxiously, "My lord, what do you command?" ”。

"Lawrence, you've done well all the way, and now I'm going to tell you that we're being targeted by robbers. In a moment, Bas will give each of you a short spear to each of you who are brave enough to lead them around the crowd, one more guard, and the other to guard against our own crowd riots. You know what I mean? Art said to the lean middle-aged man in front of him.

"Don't worry, sir, you saved the lives of my wife and daughter, and I will do your bidding."

"Okay, now you go with Buzz and get a short sword, and then you'll get an iron spear for each of the five people you've picked out."

Buzz took Lawrence to carry out Art's orders.

After a while, Otto ran back with Kazak, and he said to Art: "My lord, the tail is gone!" ”

"Sir, there is no one around." Ron also rode back.

The situation was beyond Art's expectations, and the tail behind him had been following him for a morning, and there was no reason for it to disappear suddenly.

Art looked around, combing his thoughts, and when he looked to the south, he suddenly realized: "They're going to do it, and the location is in the woods to the south." ”

Art made a decisive judgment.

"Then what to do, we can't get around the woods, but if we enter the woods, we will be ambushed." Ron was a little anxious, he was still scared of the last time he was ambushed in the woods.

"My lord, could it be that they pretended to be in front of us to lay in ambush, leading us to divide our forces to clear it out, and then attack the outcasts behind us." Otto, who had been silent for a long time, questioned.

Art glanced up at Otto, and he was amazed that this guy who had been in the low-level labor for many years could have such a clear mind.

"Odo, if they want to induce us to divide our forces, they should deliberately reveal their intention to retreat south to prepare an ambush, and will not leave quietly. But the situation you're thinking about can happen, so we're ......."

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

The snowflakes in the sky were still falling, and on the white earth, a straddle rider in a bearskin coat with four strong men with spears and four strong men with spears was walking on the trade road leading to the birch grove in the south of Lane Manor, the rider on horseback scratched his thighs that were itching from wound healing, glanced sideways at the few lines of footprints in the southwest that were gradually blurring, and muttered: "Can the master's method work?" ”

The rider's muttered old man was crouching at the edge of the woods to make out the footprints in the snow, and at this moment, he was transformed back into the forest hunter who fought wolves and beasts in the nameless valley.

"Your Excellency, you are right, they made a great circle from the west before entering the woods." Kazak stepped on his feet and looked up, a line of messy footprints stretching from the west side of the tree line to here.

"There were about nine of them, and a horse." Art carefully scanned the messy footprints on the ground.

"If you can get horses, you can track and set up ambushes, this group of people is not ordinary outcasts and robbers, everyone should be very careful for a while. Remember, our main purpose is to drive them away, and if we can't do that, we'll have to retreat in time and find another way. Art's instincts told him that the gang was not easy to deal with.

"Lawrence, you're not my soldier, I'll give you a chance to quit, you can go back and defend the other outcasts with Ron." Art said to the farmer who had volunteered to join the sneak attack.

"My lord, I won't go back, we won't be able to get through this forest if we don't get rid of these people, and my wife and daughter will continue to be homeless." Lawrence spoke firmly, and when Art asked at noon if any outcasts would follow him to attack the robbers, he was the only one who stood up bravely.

Art walked over and patted Lawrence on the shoulder, untied the small leather round shield tied around his waist and handed it to Lawrence.

Looking around at the crowd, Otto wore a single-layer cowhide armor, carried a battle axe in his hand, and hung a short sword around his waist; Bas carried a sledgehammer brought from Luceson on his shoulders, and Ron's wooden-handled dagger stuck in his belt; Kazak held a long, single-edged knife in both hands, and Lawrence held a short sword in his right and a round shield in his left.

He examined the weapons of the people one by one, put on and fastened the semicircular helmet that hung around his neck, arranged the leather armor shoulder straps, drew the steel knight's sword from his waist, touched the dagger and quiver, took off the riding bow from his back and tried it.

When everything was ready, Arte burrowed into the woods first, followed by the four behind him.

After following the footprints all the way, after reaching a mound of earth, Art stopped and motioned for a few people behind him to sit down and rest for a while, and said softly: "You guys wait here, I'll take a look." So saying, he drew a light arrow from his quiver, put it on the bowstring, and felt it for the place where the trade road passed through the woods not far away.

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

On the trade road in the woods, three strong men were dragging a few felled birch and pine trees to the middle of the road with dead branches to set up a barricade. On both sides of the road, behind the grass and trees, there were several large men armed with long and light weapons such as battle axes, short spears, and broadswords, and under a protruding rock on the opposite side of the road, there was also an archer with a quiver and a short bow.

Arte crouched behind a dead tree that had fallen to the ground, and quickly looked up and shrunk back, so that he had basically figured out the situation of the bandits, so he turned and moved to the boulder where Odo's men were hiding......

Returning to the boulder where he was hiding, he took the water bladder handed over by Kazak, Yate grunted and poured a big mouthful, put down the water bladder and wiped his mouth, and said to the few people who were staring at him: "The situation is not good, the enemy is stronger than I imagined, they have eleven people lying in ambush on both sides of the road, each armed with heavy blades, and an archer. ”

The crowd gasped.

"Then our previous plan won't work, there are only five of us, if the other party is a strong soldier, once we are glued, we won't be able to run." Otto analyzed the situation.

"But if we continue like this, even if we avoid the ambush, once this group of people finds out our truth, we will still not be able to resist the attack when the time comes, and the remaining homeless people will be sheep to be slaughtered." Bass came up with his own idea.

The disparity in the strength of the enemy and us exceeded Art's expectations, and the attack would inevitably cause heavy damage, but if they were allowed to continue to fall in the wilderness, once they found out the reality of the southbound team, they would still choose to attack.....

A sense of powerlessness that the situation was out of control gradually came over Art, like the wolf pack on the moors last winter.