In the early morning of the eighteenth day of the official declaration of war between Burgundy and Swabia, Tal Fort was still holding out.

Twenty days ago, the enemy troops wounded in the storming of Tarburg were sent back to Birtenberg for recuperation, and the forty peasant soldiers and fifteen craftsmen who had been forcibly conscripted again were sent to the enemy camp outside Tarburg together with their apprentice craftsmen.

In the following ten days, the enemy camp outside the fort looked like a large carpentry workshop, fifteen craftsmen led dozens of laborers to work day and night in the camp, six long wooden ladders with iron hooks had been made, a large counterweight trebuchet and a shield-top breaker were basically formed in the beating of the craftsmen, and they could be put into use in three or two days.

"Looks like Jeffrey's guy is planning to take Talburg down." Otto accompanied Yat and watched the enemy camp that had been busy for more than ten days at the foot of the hillside, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous and worried.

The outer wall of the fort is built with a stone base except for the stone base, most of the rest are mixed civil structures, such walls are unable to withstand the strong impact of the boulders thrown by the heavy trebuchet, once the enemy's trebuchet is completed, several waves of boulders will fall, and the defenders who have lost the protection of the wall will face face-to-face hand-to-hand combat.

Art looked at the enemy camp down the hill with a serious face, and although he had guessed that the enemy army would continue to besiege Talfort, he did not expect Baron Jeffrey to be able to make such a heavy counterweight trebuchet and shield top ram in such a short time.

Nearly a month after the siege of Talburg, Art received an urgent letter from the county town of Glaru through the Angus team cruising around, Art knew that the Earl of Burgundy and the Duchy of Swabia had started a full-scale war, and the Duchy of Burgundy in the west also sent troops to assist the Count of Burgundy as agreed, since a large-scale conquest had begun in the north, the pressure of the war on the southern border should have been reduced, after all, this is not the main battlefield, and more troops should go north to assemble and fight, But Baron Geoffrey didn't seem to be affected by the war in the North, and only focused all his energy on Talfort......

Art came to his senses and replied, "I didn't think about defending Talfort in the first place, because this place can't be defended at all."

Otto didn't know what Yate was going to do, but the worry in his heart didn't diminish at all, "My lord, but I see that their siege equipment is about to be completed, and it is estimated that they will attack in a big way in the next few days, what can we do except defend desperately?" ”

Art chuckled, turned his head to look at this man who was a few years older than himself, in the past two months stationed in Talburg, he not only had to assist Art in commanding battles, but also training soldiers and managing chores, and his brown hair began to turn white.

"Otto, are you afraid?" Art asked.

Otto did not hesitate at all, and replied firmly: "My lord, I am alone and unconcerned, and I will not blink an eye when my head falls off, but I am a little unwilling to think that I have just laid a foundation with you, and if I die in this abandoned military fort like this."

"It's good not to be afraid of death, and only those who are not afraid of death should survive." Art said something incomprehensible.

"Otto, light the wolf smoke and summon Angus back, and then select fifteen soldiers who are bold enough to be sharp and strong, Jeffrey can't hold his breath, we'll act tonight." Art explained a few words to Otto and walked down the outer wall.

Baron Geoffrey could not hold his breath, and the county town of Tebrun had twice issued orders urging him to either move west within a month and occupy the city of Geraru, a key place on the southeastern border of the Count of Burgundy, in order to deter the northern lowlands, or immediately withdraw from Tarburg and move north to support the Northland army, which had begun to fight fiercely.

Of course, Baron Jeffrey did not want to go to the north, where large-scale battles were taking place every day, with countless soldiers killed and wounded, and his wife and children were still imprisoned in the dungeons of Tarburg, so it was Jeffrey's best choice to capture Tarfort as soon as possible and move westward, so he did not hesitate to force all the craftsmen in the Bilten jurisdiction to come to the Tarburg camp to make siege equipment, in order to accumulate strength to capture Talfort in one fell swoop.

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

In a small cave five miles southeast of Fort Tal, Angus and Ron's team hid for three days, reducing the team's eight to five.

In the twenty or thirty days since leaving Tarburg to attack the enemy army on its own, the Angus squad has killed and wounded eleven enemy soldiers, and the Swabian enemy army, which has established itself, has continuously sent small groups of elite soldiers to clear them. In these twenty or thirty days, although Angus led everyone around and hidden, the team still paid the price of one dead and two seriously wounded, the brothers killed in the battle have been buried on the spot, and the seriously injured two were quietly sent to the county town of Glaru for treatment.

In the small cave, Angus and two soldiers built a very small bonfire to cook broth, in the last ten days, in order to prevent the enemy from discovering their traces, everyone has not dared to make a fire to cook, for fear that the smoke from the bonfire will expose the location of the team, but fortunately the weather is still hot and do not worry about freezing, but after gnawing hard bread and bacon jerky for more than ten days, everyone has been crying bitterly.

In the last day or two, the enemy soldiers stopped searching and pursuing, and Angus and the rest of the soldiers found the small cave, where they built a small campfire and cooked some broth and bread crumbs.

Picking up the small copper pot and drinking a large mouthful of broth bread, Angston felt a pan of relief in his belly, and he handed the copper pot to another soldier by the campfire, and then planned to go out to replace Ron and Jason, who were on guard outside, to come back for a hot soup.

As soon as he got out of the mouth of the cave, Ron hurried back.

"Sergeant Major, wolf smoke is rising in the direction of Talburg! The Lord is calling us! ”

Angus quickly drilled out of the cave and followed Ron to the top of the hill above the cave, looking at the two pillars of wolf smoke rising high in the distance, wondering if Talburg had been attacked by surprise.

"Ron, call Jason back for a few sips of hot soup, and we'll pack up our things and get ready to go around Talburg." With that, he reflexively returned to the cave and commanded everyone to start packing up weapons and supplies.

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

In the inner fort of Talburg, Art summoned several commanders to discuss an important matter.

"Sneak attack on the enemy camp?" Several people exclaimed at the same time.

"Yes, a sneak attack on the enemy camp." Art said firmly.

"The enemy's heavy siege equipment is almost finished, and if they use those weapons to attack the outer walls, we won't even have the strength to fight back."

"But now that the enemy is on guard, with a high fence in their camp and sentries patrolling the camp all the time, how can we sneak up on the enemy camp?" Kazak questioned.

"I know, so I'm going to Baron Jeffrey today to propose Kaejo to surrender." Art uttered the unbelievable word "surrender".

Several commanders were dumbfounded for a moment.

Art smiled and solved everyone's doubts, "Of course it's not really surrendering, now that Baron Jeffrey has heavy siege equipment by his side, he must feel that he is sure of victory, and surrendering now is the easiest to make him believe and the easiest to let him relax......"

…………

After breakfast, the gate of the Tarburg Fort, which had been closed for nearly a month, was opened, and after putting down the improvised drawbridge, Art rode a war horse and led a soldier carrying his blood-eyed wolf heraldic flag and slowly walked towards the enemy camp, stopping at a stone's throw outside the enemy camp.

After a while, Baron Jeffrey rode out of the camp on his black war horse and walked towards Arte, accompanied by two guards.

It was the first peaceful meeting between the two army commanders since the attack on Birtenberg.

"Your Excellency, I request a peaceful negotiation with you." Atrius bowed slightly to Baron Jeffrey on his horseback.

Baron Jeffrey was a true nobleman, he had all the qualities of a nobleman, and although he hated the despicable guy in front of him, he politely replied, "Mr. Sir, I guess you went out of the city and surrendered, right?" ”

Art glanced back at Tarburg behind him, shook his head and said, "No, no, I'm here to negotiate with you, as you can see, Tarburg is still standing here like a rock."

Baron Jeffrey sneered, pointed to the siege equipment in the camp behind him, and said, "In front of them, Talfort is just a pile of sand, I don't have to negotiate with you, if you refuse to come out, I will go in."

Art looked like his little trick had been exposed, and said with a little frustration: "Well, I have to admit that I can no longer hold on to this kind of military fort in the face of these behemoths."

Art adjusted his sitting posture, looked into Jeffrey's eyes and said, "Lord Baron, I have decided to return your wife to you in a moment, and I assure God that your wife has not experienced any grievances in Tarburg."

Art's words provoked Baron Jeffrey's nerves, and his most important purpose in besieging Talburg was to rescue his wife and children.

"Even if you know the times, if you let my wife and children go~" Jeffrey paused.

"You're not going to release my son!??" Jeffrey asked.

"Lord Baron, I'm not so stupid as to let you not take care of it in the slightest, if I don't have a shield in my hand, how dare I leave my back to the enemy."

"Shameless!" Baron Jeffrey spat on the ground.

"Lord Baron, let's talk about the conditions, I'm already planning to give up Talburg, and the two wolf smoke you saw are to tell Talburg in Glaru that it has been lost, and to prepare them for the attack of the Swabian army. My sincerity is very strong, if you can consider my terms, you will take Tarburg without a single soldier, and then drive straight into Glarushire~" Art looked sincere.

"Conditions? The trebuchet and the ram behind me are the best conditions! Baron Jeffrey's heart was relaxed, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to negotiate terms with Art right away.

"Lord Baron, please be appeased. Of course, I am afraid of the siege engines you forged, and even the strongest castles will not withstand their destruction, but you may pay for the lives of many soldiers. And it can also affect the safety of your only child. Art turned into a scoundrel again.

Baron Jeffrey's heart froze for a while, and it took a while for him to squeeze out a sentence from between his teeth: "Tell me the terms of your surrender......"

…………

Otto listened to the "negotiation" returned from the "negotiation" of Art's statement of the conditions of the negotiation and asked, "The enemy retreated twenty miles to let us evacuate safely with all the supplies, and we had to give us 20,000 Fennig's 'military expenses'~ This condition is too outrageous, right?" The enemy forces now have the upper hand, they won't agree to this condition, right? ”

"They didn't say yes, but asked me to hand over the money I had "looted" from Biltenberg. ”

Art smiled and said, "It's normal that the enemy won't agree, but it's not normal if we don't mention it." The more insatiable we appeared, the more the enemy believed that we really intended to surrender. ”

"After some discussion, Baron Jeffrey agreed to retreat ten miles east with his army, and we could evacuate safely with the rest of the supplies after we had handed over 30,000 Fenni to Jeffrey. As a condition, I promised to return my only son to him after a safe retreat early to-morrow morning, and to promise not to destroy all the fortifications of Tarburg, and to hand him over to him in its entirety, together with the flank posts, so that he would not lose a single soldier in battle but would also have a well-fortified fort. He had no reason to refuse such conditions, so the enemy would retreat one after another at noon today. ”

Art stood up from his chair and ordered, "Odo, call the officers above the leader of each squad battle group and the fifteen selected elite soldiers to the inner fort to inform them of my plan, and strictly order them not to spread the word. The rest of the soldiers and peasants continued to hold the city defenses, telling the laborers to pack up and retreat. Not only do you have to act like you're about to retreat to dispel the enemy's suspicions, but you also have to beware of the enemy's tricks to take advantage of the opportunity to raid Talfort, and we can make the enemy do the same. ”

Otto nodded yes.

"Tuba, go and get Baron Jeffrey's wife out of the dungeon, and let her return to Baron Jeffrey's camp with 30,000 gold coins. Also, remember that the Baroness must see the action of packing up supplies and preparing to evacuate in Talburg. ”

"Bass, you and Kazak will lead the troops with me in tonight's night attack, and the fifteen soldiers selected will all be issued with a set of leather (cotton) armor, and then each of them will carry a clay pot of fire oil. After dark, ropes were placed on the back wall to sneak out, and all the soldiers involved wrapped a white strip of cloth around their left arm to prevent accidental injuries from night attacks. ”

"Kazak, you go to the back wall to see if Angus has come back, and if they do, shoot this note." Art said as he picked up a small piece of parchment from the table and handed it to Kazak, the note briefly explaining the mission of Angus's team during the night raid.

Several of them left one after another, not feeling any uneasiness about the conspiracy that was about to begin.

It is no wonder that these people were originally the lowest toilers, and in the battle with the enemy, the honor and etiquette of the noble gentleman were not worth a light arrow in their eyes. That's fine, if you really change to a group of noble lords as subordinates, Art's discredited behavior will definitely be regarded as a great shame by his subordinates, and even make them disobey.

Art sat back in his chair, his right hand tapping on the table, quietly contemplating how to perfect the plot that was about to begin.