On the sixth day after the Feast of the Mass, the time has turned to the first month of the New Year.

It was the seventeenth day that Ate had gathered troops outside the city of Genesburg, and the siege was fought almost every day, except for three or four days when the attack was halted by heavy snowfall, but the Swabian flag still flew over the head of Genesburg.

Such a slow progress of the battle was really unexpected by Art, and the reasons were many, in addition to the increasingly cold weather, the main one was the will to fight of the enemy and our armies.

Art expected that the army garrisoned by the Schwabians in Fort Gené should be good enough, but he did not expect that their will to fight would be so tenacious, and that less than 300 defenders would be able to rely on the very dilapidated fortifications of the city in the face of an almost non-stop offensive of more than 1,000 siege troops.

Art also expected that the combat effectiveness of the improvised army under his command would be really average, but he didn't expect it to be so ordinary.

First of all, the patchwork of more than 1,000 local troops on the border, the Burgundians have never been united enough, and have always been scattered with their own hearts, and this inferiority is vividly demonstrated in the team formed by Art. At the beginning, the noble officers who led the army were still able to twist into a rope under the command of Viscount Jörn and Knight Otto to complete their respective tasks and launch a fierce attack on Fort Genet, but as the cold winter spreads day by day, the offensive is fierce day by day, and the casualties are increasing day by day, those lord officers who lead their own troops can begin to think carefully.

Anyway, they are paid daily to enjoy the military rations, and these mercenary-like armies began to passively respond to the battle and pass the buck to each other, they are not willing to let their soldiers as the main force in attacking the fortifications, and they have fought for some second-line combat missions such as making siege equipment, feint attack assistance, and flank cover.

Odor was unable to control himself, and Jonn did not want to offend the lord's officers too much, and he never managed to bite the castle of Gené for more than ten days.

The second is the more than 500 prisoner soldiers, the combat strength of these prisoner soldiers is more than those improvised local border troops, not to say how strong the fighting quality of the prisoner soldiers is, the main thing is that their fighting enthusiasm and will to fight are significantly higher than those local border troops who "spare their lives".

Over time, however, the prisoners began to waver.

After several battles, especially the one on the periphery of Fort Gennet half a month ago, the prisoner soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and nearly 100 of the more than 500 prisoner soldiers had been killed, and those who were seriously wounded could not survive.

The reason why the prisoners dared to fight hard was because they wanted to live to gain a free identity, and as the casualty ratio increased day by day, the prisoners felt more and more that the chances of survival became smaller, and their hearts began to move slightly.

The most important thing is that Yate's three-month service period is getting closer and closer, and they see that the war is still stalemate, and the heartstrings are getting tighter and tighter, and the combat power is naturally getting worse and worse; As a last resort, Art has already begun to plan to maintain their combat effectiveness by paying the prisoner soldiers.

Finally, there was the army subordinate to Art himself, that is, the soldiers of the various divisions of the former Wells Legion.

The Welsh Legion is the core of Art's fighting force, sharing the honor and disgrace with Art, they are the most elite and brave warriors, but at the same time they are human beings and have their own emotions.

When they set out on the Northern Expedition, it was still an unusually hot summer, but now it is a cold winter with cold wind and snow. After more than half a year of going on the expedition, the soldiers were exhausted from the arduous battle every day, and such high-intensity battles squeezed the morale of the army little by little, especially those ordinary soldiers who had families in the valley, and they really missed their wives and children.

Such a decline in morale could not be stopped by a lavish dinner or a military reward of a few copper coins.

Art was very anxious, more than 2,000 soldiers and hundreds of horses, mules, donkeys and livestock consumed a huge amount of grain and grass materials every day, and the daily military expenditure of the entire army had exceeded 15,000 fennig, and the baggage teams responsible for collecting grain and grass and the caravans that went out to buy grain became more and more inconvenient, not only because the snowflakes that often fell blocked the road, but also because there was less and less food to be collected and purchased nearby, and they had to run farther to raise food and grass for the army.

The most fatal thing is that news has come from the battlefield on the Western Front that the city of Besançon is about to be captured, and the Liberation Army will soon enter the court of the Count of Burgundy.

Time is running out for Art......

On the third day of the first month of the New Year, the weather was cold and snowy.

Arte returned to the Burgundian garrison outside Fort Gennet with 720 cavalry and infantry, and arrived at the fort almost at the same time as Arte's own army, along with the former Welsh Regiment heavy infantry, crossbow corps, and a banner team of soldiers transferred from Valonia, and another 150 local frontier troops were transferred to Wallonia.

At this time, the total strength of the garrison camp in Fort Gennet was nearly two thousand.

Three days earlier, Arte had led a mixed army of 700 cavalry to repel the rescue army of the Count of Landi fifteen miles east of Fort Genet, killing 35 of the enemy and wounding 15 of his own. After resisting Swabian reinforcements this time, Arte could no longer stand the rhythm of the battle in Geneburg, and he led his army back to Genneburg, intending to organize the siege himself.

He should have returned to command the siege himself, but the key to the battle was to fend off Swabian reinforcements, so Art had to be trapped on the outskirts.

But now he can't care about that much, so he can only take advantage of the heavy snow to close the road and quickly return to the city with the elite to personally command the siege.

It was cold and snowy, but the Burgundian garrison camp outside the Fort of Gené was bustling with activity.

The first thing Art did when he returned to the garrison camp was not to hold the besieging army responsible, but to slaughter all the few remaining pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks in the camp and turn them into hot mist and fragrant stew in a dozen deep barrel cauldrons.

Ordinary soldiers could eat a delicious stew of wheat cereal, and officers and lords of all ranks gathered in a military tent in the middle of the camp that could accommodate forty or fifty people, enjoying delicious food and wine.

After three rounds of drinking, the lord's officers had already begun to get slightly drunk, and drunkenness had climbed up their faces.

In the bustling military tent, the dozen or so officers subordinate to Art always only lowered their heads and ate food occasionally, taking a sip of wine out of politeness, they couldn't get drunk tonight, because Art, who was sitting in the military tent master and drinking with Viscount Jon, was never drunk, and his eyes scanned the people in the camp from time to time.

The atmosphere had reached its peak, and Art raised his glass to Viscount Jorn, drank it in one gulp, then poured it again and stood up to face the crowd.

"Everyone! Everybody! Gentlemen, gentlemen! ”

The sound of cups and lamps in the tent gradually stopped.

"Guys, who are you fighting for?" Art asked suddenly and softly.

Everyone didn't expect Art to suddenly ask such an inexplicable sentence, and they didn't understand what Art wanted to express for a while, so they were a little stunned, and everyone whispered two sentences.

"For the court~"

"For the East~"

"For Burgundy~"

The crowd replied sparsely.

Art didn't speak, walked to the two red-faced officers on the side of the camp with a wine glass, and laughed lightly, "Morris, who do you think you're fighting for?" ”

Maurice was the leading knight of the Jonah border, originally the commander of the garrison of a military fort east of Fort Genet, and now this military fort has been burned to the ground by the Schwabians, but this guy ran to the rear with his army to hide, if it were not for the sudden appearance of Art's army in the east, he would probably have led his thirty or forty routs to become a group of bandits.

I heard that this guy was recruited after Yat called the army to fight, and of course a guy like this could only come for a salary.

Morris burped and said in a heavy voice: "Of course, for the sake of the entire East, we are going to pierce the Swabian with the iron sword in our hands, haha!" ”

Morris laughed and pinched the cone-shaped glass and drank it in one gulp, causing everyone to laugh.

Art didn't laugh, he patted Morris on the shoulder, the smile on his face became colder and colder, "Morris, you are not fighting for the East, the guardian of the East is Lord Earl Balwin, not me Atwood Wells. Your food is mine, and your pay is mine. ”

Maurice's drunkenness was still gone, "Yes, yes, we received our salary from Lord Art, and I want to thank Lord Art for his generosity!" As he spoke, he looked for a barrel and poured wine.

Art ignored Maurice, he paced in the tent, and said in a loud voice: "Maurice, in the past ten days of attacking Fort Gennet, I have disobeyed orders twice and fought passively three times, and when I attacked the north gate of Fort Gené five days ago, I received the enemy and repulsed it, resulting in the failure of the feint attack, and the Kazak banner team that attacked head-on was besieged by the enemy on the north wall, and five were killed and eight wounded. ”

"The Judge Advocate General, drag Morris down and behead him, and hang his head at the gate of the camp. Morris's army was immediately detained, and those who dared to resist were killed on the spot! ”

Art's voice was not loud, but the military tent was suddenly silent.

Before everyone could react, a group of soldiers in heavy armor had already rushed in from outside the tent......

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Chapter 364: Kill and make an example