Sure enough, after I left Augsburg with the others, the Count Henry, who claimed to fight the invaders to the end, defected to the Duke of Carinthia, and at the same time, two feudal lords also secretly left our ranks, and countless knights and peasants left the army without permission.

I sat in the shabby and dilapidated hall of Landsberg Castle, with gloomy faces and did not speak, the nobles sat at the table, or in pairs or in a decadent manner filled with inferior liquor, and some could not stand the oppressive atmosphere in the room, and went out of the city to hunt, in short, everyone was in a very low mood, like a group of condemned prisoners waiting for the verdict, waiting for the fate that they already knew.

"I really didn't expect Earl Henry to betray us for such a trivial matter and trap us in this field."

The bull, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly threw his cup violently, and the Count Landsberg's cup was not of gold, and the stoneware material fell to the ground and shattered.

"I really misjudged him at the beginning!"

The room fell silent instantly, everyone's eyes were focused on him, and then turned to me, but no one dared to speak, this atmosphere was the same as the state of the princes of the Eighteenth Route of Kanto who crusaded against Dong Zhuo in the Three Kingdoms, and they were in a state of intimidation in front of the Bishui Pass, and they urgently needed a hero like Guan Yu to boost their morale.

"It's ruined your good marriage."

I smiled bitterly and said to the bull: "Now that the two envoys of His Majesty are estimated to be coming, we are at an absolute disadvantage, and we will not have too many chances to turn the tables in the subsequent arbitration, and the most likely result is to maintain the status quo and leave Bavaria to the Carinthians for nothing." ”

"Is this the result of a thousand-mile rush?"

The bull asked unconvincedly, as if he was asking all the nobles in the room: "With the current strength of the coalition army, there is no chance of turning defeat into victory in the field, as long as you give an order, everyone is duty-bound!" ”

I cast my eyes on the nobles seated below. With a little hesitation, he asked, "Do you all think so?" My Lords? ”

The crowd was silent for a moment, unable to find an answer, and the bull stared at everyone expectantly, but it gradually turned into disappointment and helplessness, and at that moment the Count of Verheim stood up suddenly, and puffed out his cheeks with excitement and was speechless, his territory was mountainous and barren, but it had a strong peasant army.

"Let's go out and have a good fight with the Carinthians, lest the world see a joke that we Bavaria are all soft-boned bastards!"

The old earl's beard was pale, and he made a decisive decision in his gestures: "I am already a handful of years, and I have never bowed my head to admit defeat no matter how powerful I have met in my life, not to mention that I was bullied to the door of my house this time, Lord Duke, the people of Weilheim are poor, but they are not afraid of death when they fight, and my old life will be handed over to you!" ”

"Old Earl......" I looked at him with emotion, not knowing what to say.

"Lord Duke, count me in!"

"And me!"

"I'll go too!"

Led by the Count of Verheim, the nobles finally rekindled their fighting spirit, and one by one they scrambled to stand up and express their attitude, and the gloom in the room was swept away, and the morale was exactly what I wanted.

"In that case, let's listen to the plan!"

I motioned for everyone to be quiet, and told Rollo to spread an old map from elsewhere on the table, which, judging by the edge of its rotten parchment, was definitely older than the oldest nobleman in the room.

"Before the arrival of the two Majesties of the arbitrators, we still have a chance to compete with the enemy, the main force of the Duke of Carinthia is still hovering in the area of Kelheim, the forward has only just arrived in Pfaffenhofen, the road from Augsburg to Swabia has not been blocked by the enemy, it is better to send little Otto to take refuge with the Duke Hermann, who has a good friendship with Nijmegen, and then free up his hands to find fighters, the Duke of Carinthia is not afraid of heaven and earth, it should be impossible to tear his face and pull Swabia into the water, he can't afford that kind of pressure."

"I agree, Lord Otto is too young to be taken care of during the march, he is the only bloodline of Duke Charles, and he must not be sent to Swabia in the slightest."

The Count of Wilheim was the first to raise his hand in approval: "But we can't all go to escort, someone must stay to draw the attention of the enemy, since it is your proposal, then the Duke will go there himself, and I will lead everyone to continue the confrontation with the Carinthians." ”

"This can't be done, the castle may be mixed with the enemy's spies, Nijmegen is a big move, the slightest move will inevitably be known, and we have to cover up and send little Otto away safely, it is best for you to send troops to escort it, and I will lead the rest of the army to take the initiative to advance to attract and contain the enemy." I said it word by word, making sure that everyone in the room could hear it clearly, and hopefully the next person who played a key role would understand.

In order to prevent leakage, the castle implemented a curfew, strictly controlled the entry and exit of personnel, and the knights in charge of escorting the transportation were selected at various levels, all of them were brave men, and there were three identical carriages in the team, and even the Earl of Wilheim who led the team did not know which car the little duke's mother and son were in, so this arrangement could confuse the enemy to the greatest extent and increase the probability of Otto escaping in distress.

Early the next morning, the army of Nijmegen, which had been prepared all night, went out first, together with more than 200 knights of Upper Bavaria, and more than 2,000 bloated peasants, and the target of this trip was Pfaffenhofen, a hundred and fifty miles away, where the main force of the Carinthian army was stationed, and we would confront the enemy at close range to cover the transfer of the little duke.

I rode on horseback to say goodbye to the Count of Verheim, who patted his chest firmly and promised: "Don't worry, Lord Duke, I am here, and I will be dead, and the knights of Verheim will definitely live up to their mission!" ”

"You must live, Lord Earl, for the battle ahead will require the knights of Verheim to charge."

The atmosphere was so solemn that I pretended to be relaxed and joked with him: "The Count of Allgäu of Swabia is a good friend of mine, and it will be safe to send little Otto to him." ”

The old count nodded, and I took one last look back at the low stone towers of Landsberg Castle and the troika parked in the courtyard, and turned away to catch up with the large army that had already gone far, and the Count of Weilheim and they would escort the carriage out later, and go west through the rugged mountain road trodden by shepherds at the northern foot of the Alps, and bypass the main road under Augsburg to the Aargau, an important town in eastern Swabia.

"Your Excellency, are you so sure that the Duke of Carinthia will appear?"

The bull crept up to me, pulled the leaves that hung down to my face, and asked suspiciously, not only for him, but also for the Nijmegen soldiers who were lying in ambush in the grass to my left and right.

The dragon flag representing the Duke of Nijmegen flutters in Rathgan, a small village on the banks of a tributary of the Danube, a little-known village on the banks of a tributary of the Danube, which has long been emptied and occupied by the advancing coalition forces, and five miles down the river is the castle of the local lord, whose dark shadow is faintly visible in the mist, especially the double lion battle flag with a yellow background inserted on the top of the tower, which is very striking to inform everyone that the Duke of Carinthia is here.

Unfortunately, in fact, the Duke of Carinthia and I were not there, and the bluffing-for-tat was all smoke bombs for each other, and little Otto was the trump card in the hands of Nijmegen, the universally recognized Bavarian heir, and the only obstacle to his annexation, so I deliberately revealed the transfer plan, and lured him to take the bait through the transmission of information through enemy agents lurking within us, with my knowledge of his temper and character, how could I let go of such an opportunity?

It is estimated that even the tragic scene of the robbers attacking the carriage and falling off the cliff has been planned, and we are waiting for our convoy to throw itself into the net, but what the Duke of Carinthia does not know is that the praying mantis catches the cicada and the yellow finch is behind, which is a tried-and-true trick in Nijmegen, and he is not the only fool who has fallen into the trap.

The intelligence system, taken over by the bull, continuously gathered the news of the Duke of Carinthia's march, and we were able to analyze and finally determine the ambush location.

After half a day of passing through the mountain path on the outskirts of the village of Vogelson, the convoy escorting little Otto will pass the sheep's gut trail at the foot of the mountain, and the enemy will appear in a forest somewhere in advance.

It is said that the Carinthians who came out of Augsburg in the morning removed all the signs that would allow the other party to judge their identity, while the anxious duke threw his army and baggage at the castle, accompanied by Count Henry of Augsburg, and led only the knights directly under the family and the local knights as guides, and nearly two hundred knights took a shortcut with light equipment, anyway, the purpose was to take advantage of the chaos to push the troika down the path, and the steep cliff on the other side, causing the car to be destroyed and killed.

"Be patient, there is still half a day to wait, hurry up and catch up on sleep."

I lowered the straw hat on my head, leaned against the roots of the tree and closed my eyes: "There is a situation to wake me up, if there is no movement, don't disturb my dreams, last night's roller coaster toss, almost tossing me upside down." ”

The bull froze, apparently struggling with what the roller coaster was again, and I rolled my eyes and ignored him, tilting my head and falling asleep.

It was a long and bizarre dream, with a lot of familiar people in the fragmented fragments, and when I reached out to hold them, I was dragged and shook from behind, no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't get out, and I could only watch those familiar faces slowly disappear.

"My lord! Wake up, my lord......"

The bull's big rough face burrowed into the slightly open eyes, and I instantly woke up, and the afternoon in the mountains was unusually dark, and as soon as the sun turned to the top of the mountain, the forest was gone, and the gray darkness fell.

"Coming?" I rolled over and stared at the path in the distance.

"It's coming!" The bull replied in the affirmative, pointing to the horsemen who had the head of the race.

"It's the knights of Wilheim, and the first carriage is behind them."

I squinted my eyes and looked at it carefully, and only then did I discern the faint light of the small lantern hanging under the eaves of the carriage, and then I asked as if I remembered something, "What about the Carinthians?" ”

"Over there!"

The bull pointed to a wooded field far away from us, the view was wider than here, and the gentle slope was suitable for cavalry charges, and their sudden jump out was enough to frighten the tail of the convoy to the end, not to mention the purposeful attack of two hundred professional thugs armed to the teeth, and I could think of it with toenails, and wait for the Wilheim knight to be used as a decoy to be dismantled.

"May God bless you, old earl!" I prayed in my heart without sincerity, and reached for the sword at my waist with my backhand.

(End of chapter)

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