We advanced all the way with great momentum, and finally reached the limit, and the heavy booty of the knights seriously slowed down the march of the large army, and the increasing size of the army was also the reason why we could only march a dozen miles a day.

In short, while our bloated army was at a loss for how to cross the rushing Lake River in front of us, like an inflated balloon, the city of Utrecht was ready for defense, and sent messengers to agree on the date of the decisive battle, asking us to retreat five miles and make a clear space sufficient for the Frisians to set up their formation.

"Ya took me as Song Xianggong."

After listening to the messenger standing in front of me, dressed in a fine cashmere uniform, and reading the letter in my hand in a low voice, I barely bothered myself, covered my yawning mouth, and pointed to the city that I could not see at all in the distance, and said to him:

"You insidious villains, who once took advantage of my defenselessness to sneak up on Herusbeck Castle and brutally treat my fiancée, and now you still have the face to run over and ask for a fair decisive battle? It's wishful thinking, please help me convey that every resister in Utrecht will be crucified and confess to God for their crimes under the scorching sun! ”

"I am very sorry for your answer, my lordship, that Friesland does not really want to be an enemy of Nijmegen, and that we are also being bewitched by people with bad intentions, and that our lord is more than willing to have an open and honest conversation with you, in order to put an end to the relations between the two countries, which should be good neighbors, please think twice."

The messenger rolled up the letter and tied it again, and then tried to hand it to our personnel, only to find that no one wanted to take it at all, so he could only force himself to tidy up his clothes and decide to find a place for himself.

"Is that your final answer, Lord Earl? The strong Frisians will leave you in this strange land. ”

Looking at his outward and middle-strength threats, it was as funny as seeing a tuberculosis patient in a sturdy shell, threatening to defeat a boxer, I squeezed the corners of my mouth and tilted my head to look at the courier with a nervous look in his eyes, and several of my men and Flender's knights, enraged by his threatening warning, pressed the hilt of my sword and raised my eyebrows, I shrugged my shoulders and deliberately pretended not to care and said to him:

"Originally, I wanted to leave a message, but now I am not in a very good mood, I am afraid that I will not be able to save your life, rest assured, Nijmegen will send someone to return your head to those strong Frisian people, and remind them of the serious consequences of angering the Count of Nijmegen."

After speaking, I waved my hand and let the two subordinates drag the messenger out with a dead face, and first cut off the head to sacrifice the flag, which can be regarded as to stimulate the morale of the troops before the battle, and before the real sword and gun, it is much better to see a little blood than to promise an empty check that is not boundless.

Seeing the peasant with the messenger's head and reply stumbling away, Kohler retracted his full bow and arrows, and we randomly found a peasant to deliver the letter, and the hillbilly who had never seen the world was frightened and ran out of sight, I stomped on the solid ground under my feet, and sighed at the green grass that was about to become a battlefield:

"It's a pity that this good land, if the sky was vast and the cattle and sheep grazed would be so pleasant, but the blood is about to defile this place, forgive me, God."

In my reply I agreed with the Earl of Friesland, made a decisive offer on this side of the Lake, and promised to retreat overnight to give their army plenty of room to maneuver.

Fearing that the siege would destroy the prosperous commercial district under Utrecht, the Frisians had no choice but to send their soldiers out of the city for a decisive battle without a geographical advantage, or to delay as long as possible to ensure that the owners could move most of their possessions into the city smoothly, in a sense they were the real masters of the Frisian city, and their influence was so great that they could influence the will of the counts and get rid of the growing bourgeoisie.

Ordered the whole army to retreat five miles, choosing to camp on an open flat land facing the battlefield, the soldiers began to set up improvised tents, and prepared to cook in a hurry, on the eve of the decisive battle, they were entitled to slaughter cattle and sheep caught along the way to fill their stomachs, but it was strictly forbidden to drink alcohol, the Flemish people have always emphasized that this is a tradition that has been followed since ancient times, but in my opinion, it is more like the severed head meal eaten by the executed prisoners in ancient China before they were executed, and it is obviously not a good omen.

The soldiers neatly packed up the lambs and roasted them over the fire with spear shelfs, and as time went on, the lamb gradually took on a wonderful aroma and attractive color, and the soldiers who waited on the side gathered in a circle, watching the wrestling with themselves, cheering them up loudly, shouting obscene curses, and the noise was even farther than the smoke of the cooking.

I lowered the curtain of the tent and walked back to join the halfway banquet, and the knights in the tent were not necessarily much more noble than ordinary soldiers, they wore armor crookedly, rudely tore the leg of mutton and chicken in their hands, played vulgar jokes with the people around me, and would bang on the table like crazy when they were excited, or gather together to wrestle their wrists and compare their strength, causing the knights around them to kick off the table in front of them and join the crowd of bets on who will win.

I ate the diced meat on my plate with the same taste as chewing wax, and I didn't want to add to the rice, so I simply hugged my arms and thought about whether the group of armed thugs in front of me could win the battle tomorrow.

"Rest assured, Lord Count, the knights of Flender will not disappoint you, we will clean up the cowardly Frisians like chickens, it will be as easy as strangling an ant, see how I tear off their heads to show you, and by the way, drag them out with their colorful intestines to feed the dogs, haha!"

A drunken knight, burping, staggered toward me, shouting with his glass, echoing his words with a deafening noise.

I barely squeezed out a smile, pretended to be moved, toasted, and then drank it all in the cheers of the crowd, and the atmosphere of the banquet reached its peak, and everyone continued to beckon the attendants to add wine and meat, and waved the sharp dagger in their hands to make me tremble, for fear that they would not say a word and draw their swords against each other, and fight in their nests first.

In the dead of night, the moon was unusually bright and bright, covering the earth with a silver veil, the soldiers were already asleep, the extinguished bonfire was still emitting fine green smoke, several soldiers in charge of the night vigil, carrying spears and yawning and chatting together, the night banquet in the tent was even more messy, the drunken nobles were stacked on top of each other, the loud snoring was like thunder, and the table shook like a strong pulse earthquake, and it was impossible to get them back, so they had to let these strong men sleep on the ground, As long as you don't delay tomorrow's battle.

"I really don't know how Flender dominated one side with these rude knights, the ability to fight has not yet been seen, and the ability to rob and drink is not inferior to that of professional robbers." Kohler rolled his eyes in disgust, laboriously pulling his feet out of the gap between the two drunks, staggering to find a place to stay.

"Are we really going to face the Frisians tomorrow? Just this point of the knights who have not sobered up plus the cannon fodder army, a gust of wind can blow away hundreds, what to take and fight the enemy? "Even the bulls, who have always been known for their recklessness, have no confidence in this fight, and ask me if I have any plans.

I stared at the Flanders knight, who was smeared with greasy barbecue residues on his face, turned over and muttered a few words to continue sleeping, shook his head in disappointment, and motioned for Kohler and the others to come out and go to another tent next to him to discuss.

"Of course I have a second plan, this group of lambs pretending to be lions in front of them, and the wine bags and rice bags in front of jackals can't be counted on at all, tomorrow's battle will depend on our own manpower to turn the tide, after all, now my eldest brother has no news, I don't know if we can turn the tide of the battle in time as originally planned, we must delay enough time to attract the enemy's full attention."

I took the menorah and pointed out the location of the army on the map that Rollo had just laid out, which was a simple march map drawn by Leonardo's spies, and many places were only of reference value.

"The plain where tomorrow's battle will be fought is very suitable for cavalry charges, and the enemy must be ready to counterattack, so you can't bet all the treasure on the knights, once their attack is blocked, when the morale of the cannon fodder army escapes, it will disrupt the infantry formation, giving the enemy a chance to take advantage of the weakness."

"Nijmegen's infantry has only two hundred newly trained Ravenna pikemen with some combat effectiveness, and your guards cavalry is too small to take on the heavy task of charging head-on." Kohler asked, frowning.

"I am not the benevolent Song Xianggong of women, watching the enemy cross the river and attack me."

I traced my finger along the lines of the map marking the Lake River, and the corners of my mouth hooked wickedly: "You and the bull led the pikemen across the river overnight to lay in ambush, waiting for my signal to act." ”

The next day, the sun rose very early, I didn't sleep all night with a long sword, clothed in the faint morning light, sitting lonely in a mess, a little unbearable began to doze off, even so, I am afraid I am also the most sober person in the whole barracks, scarlet eyes are bloodshot, eyelids are heavy as falling lead, but my sense of hearing is as sharp as water, and I can even catch the small sound of small insects taking off in the dew.

The knights of Flanders were sleeping in the tent behind me, the early soldiers in the camp were busy cleaning up the garbage that had been thrown on the ground at last night's feast, and a few crows flew up and down around the leftover sheep skeletons, and while the soldiers were not paying attention, their wings quickly tore off a piece of mutton residue, and then flew away with a strange scream, and the whole camp was like a crime scene after being ransacked, and the soldiers lying on the ground were the owners of the house who had been slaughtered!

(End of chapter)