I swallowed in disbelief, caressing my belly with palpitations, fortunately I was always marching and fighting, eating and sleeping in the open, and I didn't have time to indulge in women's sex, and there was only a slight bulge in my lower abdomen, which was still under control, and a little priest ran over and grabbed the horse, and I jumped down and handed the reins to him.

Bishop Gailius took me by the hand and sat down on the pier that the clergy had set up on the side of the road, while the Templars stood silently around us not far from us, closely monitoring any disturbances in the woods, like dozens of panoramic cameras working twenty-four hours a day, constantly clicking and filming all the dead ends.

"A very good warrior, who lives entirely for the faith, who has spent his life diligently seeking a cure for original sin, who is truly born for the Lord." I tasted the mellow wine in the gold glass, and in the lush woods where birds chirped happily from time to time, I tasted a different kind of fresh taste.

The Archbishop of Berlin smiled proudly, put down the cup in his hand, pulled off a piece of finely baked white bread from the small table in front of him, stuffed it into his mouth, and replied vaguely while chewing:

"They are all orphans who have entered the Church since childhood, thanks to the mercy of God to live until now, in the process of growing up to hone martial arts and recite the Bible, with the purest hearts and the most tenacious will in the world, I am ready to sacrifice them to His Holiness the Pope, to take on the heavy duty in this holy war, to wash away their innate original sins with the blood of the infidels, to prove their piety."

What the? These eye-catching warriors are about to become the Pope's sinister young men? Visually inspect at least a hundred powerful strong men, and there are these war machines that kill people without blinking, although there are not many of them, but they are enough for me to drink a pot!

"You are the most faithful servant of His Holiness the Pope, Your Excellency."

I still had a knowing smile on my face, and I raised my glass to praise the piety of Bishop Gailius: "This time you go to the Vatican to report on your duties, according to reliable sources, it is very likely that His Holiness the Pope will be left in the central commission, you know how dirty and evil minds are under the red robes of those Italian bishops, who spend their days in intrigue, without the slightest fear of God, but are deeply rooted in the heart of the Holy See. ”

"Humph! I knew it! ”

The Archbishop of Berlin slammed his glass on the table, pretending to be indignant, as if he were afraid that others would not know what a good man he was.

"Those people will only play right and wrong on the spire of power, and I will definitely eradicate them and the hotbed on which they live, and give the most holy and supreme Holy See a pure sky on earth, I will do what I say."

I waited for him to echo this, and quickly stood up and clenched his fists in anger to express his approval: "I believe that you will be able to fulfill the great dream in your heart, Nijmegen will be waiting for the call anytime and anywhere, and we are equally willing to sacrifice our lives to defend the faith, this is the knight's innate mission!" ”

Bishop Gaiulius nodded in satisfaction, beckoned me to sit down, and began to discuss the human geography of Italy with me in a vassalic manner.

The crusaders in Nijmegen took only fifteen days from the mobilization of the grain and grass army to the march on the road, and at my suggestion, the whole army wore a black cross on a white background, and carried the same heraldic banner, which looked like a cloud falling on the earth from a distance, to show the lords along the way that they were crusaders, and at the same time hoped to inspire the fighting spirit of the soldiers with solemn and rigorous attire.

Before leaving, Leonardo kindly reminded me that I need to go to Berlin first to pick up the Archbishop of Berlin who is about to leave for Rome to report on his duties, looking at his still eyes, I understand that the cat behind this is definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface, but since he is so sure, he is also happy to be a hands-off shopkeeper, and it is not bad to follow the archbishop to cheat and eat and drink all the way, there will definitely not be any lord who dares not to entertain, even if the heart trembles, he must open the door to welcome the archbishop from afar, Exempting my army from the hardships of eating and sleeping in the open is indeed very much in line with my appetite.

Just as we were discussing whether the women of Venice were beautiful or the women of Rome were beautiful, and Bishop Gaiulius was blushing and waving his fists to hit me, the Templars around me suddenly froze, and all of them drew their swords out of their sheaths, staring in one direction with blazing eyes, and the rest gathered around the bishop to form a human wall.

Feeling strange, the two of us stopped arguing and walked to the side under the protection of the samurai and watched.

Rollo was beating his horse desperately, and was running towards us, anxiously looking as if there was some flood beast chasing him behind him, I didn't take him with me when I met Bishop Julius, anyway, it was only a few hundred meters before and after, and in his own team, there was no need to bring an attendant to protect him like a great enemy.

"My lord, report urgently!"

Rollo saw me squeezing out of the Templar's broad shoulders, and jumped off my horse with a beautiful turn, ran a few steps forward, and said to me breathlessly:

"The soldiers who were exploring the road ahead were attacked by an unknown enemy, they were very strong, they looked like a well-organized army, all heavy cavalry in vests, trampling them into a pulp in a sea of cutting troops, and Lord Bull was galloping with heavy infantry to help."

"Heavy cavalry?"

I scratched my head and wondered, now we were marching in the forest of Brabant, and in two days we would be able to join the Flemish crusaders, who had been waiting at the predetermined place for a long time, and this was already the sphere of influence of the Count of Flanders, so the soldiers were a little slack, and even I began to look forward to entering the city, enjoying a comfortable hot bath, neglecting the necessary vigilance, and being ambushed by the enemy lurking in the shadows at such a juncture, and making good use of the gentle slopes of the mountain valley to dive and attack, I have to admire their cunning.

"The enemy's heavy cavalry rushed into the ranks of the soldiers, and they lost the advantage of charging, and could only fall into a struggle with the infantry, and there was no need to continue to send reinforcements to the past, as long as the cavalry detoured their escape route, and the heavy infantry slowly formed a phalanx to surround it, but it was just a group of turtles in an urn, and now it was necessary to prevent the enemy from attacking the east."

After a long period of immersion on the battlefield, I keenly judged that the enemy was likely to use the trick of attacking the east and west, using powerful heavy cavalry to lure us into making mistakes in judgment, constantly sending reinforcements to cause the defense of the formation to be weak, and then being directly beheaded by the elite of the enemy who had been in ambush for a long time.

"Are you sure you can defeat these dastardly sneak attackers?"

Bishop Gaiulius trembled with fear, grabbed my arm and shook it and asked, "Why don't we retreat, isn't the castle where we spent the night last night very close to here?" With the walls, I can feel a little safer. ”

I despised the cowardice of this greedy bishop in my heart, but it was difficult to show it, so I could only comfort: "Don't worry, the army in front is all experienced mercenaries, and it is the elite of Nijmegen who protects you, and the enemy will not be able to fly in even if he has wings." ”

With that, I symbolically patted the back of the bishop's hand and pulled his arm down to the little priest who was waiting beside me.

Taking care of the frightened and incoherent Bishop, I took the reins of the horse handed by Rollo and turned over, and issued a majestic order: "Let Kohler transfer the archers to prevent any ambushes from rushing out of the woods on both sides, and protect the Bishop with your heart, you follow me to the front to have a look." ”

With that, I glanced back at Bishop Gaiulius, who had been helped into the carriage by the little priest, and galloped up with a kick.

Along the way, I am still very satisfied with my team's ability to adapt to unexpected situations, and of course I allow myself to be a little proud.

In the case of a sudden attack by an unknown enemy, the mercenaries at the front of the team showed a super high degree of adaptability and strong professional quality, and were completely worthy of the large amount of gold coins I had scattered, and began to organize a counterattack without hurrying, as if they had been bitten by mosquitoes.

The attacked swordsman unit immediately tangled with the enemy heavy cavalry that had lost its impact, and several men worked together to pull the rider off their horses to buy time for the allies behind to regroup their ranks.

The pikemen immediately formed a dense phalanx, surrounded the archers in the center, to prevent the scattering of the long-range strike force due to the ambushed enemy in the shadows, and to launch another cavalry charge, and also formed the first line of defense, and the subsequent heavy infantry automatically supplemented it, encircling the heavy cavalry who were trapped in a hard battle from the inside out, cutting off their possible escape routes, and the remaining light infantry lined up in a skirmish line to search the surrounding forests to ensure the safety of their flanks.

In contrast, the Nijmegen army did not react so quickly, showing that the recruits were at a loss for the first time, but unlike most lords' cannon fodder armies of this era, they immediately turned into a flock of frightened ducklings when they were ambushed, and the effects of the long training began to be highlighted.

Although the pikemen were still looking around in panic, at least they did not lose their weapons, they leaned closely on their comrades, subconsciously leveled their spears, looking like a hedgehog stretching their waists from a distance, discharging a loose formation, and the archers shot arrows in all directions indiscriminately, causing the leaves to fall down in a row, startling the birds in the depths of the jungle to flutter their wings and fly away.

Although Kohler rode his horse and shouted at them not to waste firepower aimlessly, it still did not help, and doing something to make the soldiers feel more or less at ease, not to mention the other ambush that was exposed in the forest, these ambushers, composed entirely of heavy infantry, with shields and battle axes, rushed down from hiding with a tiger-like roar, and crashed headlong into the phalanx of pikemen, and immediately resounded with the roar of swords and soldiers.

(End of chapter)