The ghosts and wolves howled through us, with a strong aura of decadence, their embarrassed appearance provoked the knights on standby to look sideways, and the restless mood began to spread among the crowd, one by ten, ten by hundred, and finally infected everyone.

The battlefield was full of mutilated corpses, and stones of various shapes, some of which had been skillfully carved, and the edges were vaguely recognizable with beautiful patterns and intricate geometric figures, which should have been the pillars or rafters of a small temple, and some of which were sharp and rough, with water stains and dirt deposited over the years, and this was probably a demolished public bath, and the Romans were really armed to the teeth, and mobilized all their forces to resist.

You've been disgraced, and you've left a bunch of drunken depraved ghosts with big bellies to clean up and send knights up to teach them a lesson.

Another voice in my heart said unquestionably!

Knights, knights, samurai on horseback, but can horses climb the walls of a dozen zhang high, their mounts are horses, not the legendary winged dragons, and the third voice that sounded refuted the former, it seemed to have a more valid reason.

Do you send ready knights to the battle? I twisted my eyebrows in a tangled way, and the scorching sunlight swept through every pore inch by inch, squeezing out the remaining moisture under my skin, and they happily merged into beads of sweat, flowing quickly along the furrows of my eyebrows, digging into the corners of my sour eyes.

Obviously, the knights could not ride horses, they had to say goodbye to their beloved mounts, carry the heavy wooden ladder that had been worked all night the night, and rush through the unobstructed open space in front of the city gates for nearly a kilometer, carefully avoiding the rain of arrows and flying stones, and at the same time trying to find a way to wade through the moat a few feet wide.

Under the walls between the Porte de Portay de Porte de Portesai and the Porta San Pancrazio, there is a moat that connects the Tiber to defend the relatively gentle Tiber bank.

This time the trouble was, the knight's armor had sunk them like suckling pigs with spices in their bellies, and they must have swirled immediately when they were immersed in water, and wouldn't it be better for me to wade across the moat than to fill it with corpses and replace them with cheap prisoners of war?

Besides, I hate to face crying widows and orphans, and their greedy relatives who are ambitious to annex their territories, and the cost of using knights to attack the city is too great, and I can't even afford to pay the huge death pension, so I might as well keep them to fight the enemy with dignity.

I gave the order: "Tell the whole army to retreat!" Tell the attendants to prepare lunch......"

I sat in a small pergola that the squires had made up makeshift materials, surrounded by heavily armed guards and knights, and the army retreated out of range of the trebuchets in formation, resting in a backward order to the front, and hurrying to fill up the jerky and wheat cakes that I had brought with me.

A noble knight from Hanover told me that he had never seen anyone who had been halfway through a battle and still be able to return and eat leisurely, especially when the first attack was blocked, and if the commander was not confident, it would only mean that everyone was crazy and sick.

Anyone who likes to fight is crazy, and I wanted to answer him like this, but when the words came to my lips, I swallowed them alive.

"Only when you have enough to eat do you have the strength to think and run."

I took off my chainmail gloves and said, "No one is made of iron and brass, and I don't want my warriors to go into battle hungry." ”

Or become a starving ghost who has fallen into hell, according to Chinese folklore, the hungry ghost will come back to find the culprit to ask for his life, I don't want to not even sleep well in the middle of the night, and my eyes are full of flesh and blood.

After a short while, Bills came in with someone holding a meal that was ready to stop, and if it weren't for the dishonest stomping of the horses on the side, it would have given me the illusion of being in the Imperial Palace.

What did Bills bring? A salad drizzled with ceviche, a thick baked snail stew and corned beef, and a few dried small fish, for those of us who are hungry and frustrated, the variety of dishes is no less than a feast!

"I remember we had only dry bread and corned beef left."

I stirred the steaming soup in the pot, its milky and seductive color mouthwatering: "And what are these?" ”

"It's a salad of wild vegetables and fresh snails, my lord."

Bills rubbed his palms in fear, he thought I was angry: "And the tench I caught yesterday." ”

I handed the wooden shovel that was used as a soup spoon to a few noble knights around me who could not bear it, because they were the heirs of the county, so they had the right to dine at the same table with me.

"Tell me, squire, are you a witch's apprentice?"

I half-jokingly picked up a grilled fish and chewed it, judging by the taste, it should have been freshly roasted in the morning, and although it was already cold, it tasted millions of times better than the dry corned beef.

Beerce's face was red to the base of his ears, and he could hear the ridicule in my words, and understood the Duke's praise of himself in disguise:

"I'm just ...... Random collection of ingredients, wild vegetables were picked from the vegetable fields, the fleeing inhabitants pulled out the unripe turnips, but left more luxuriant wild vegetables, the limes were found from the collapsed warehouse, there was some mold but the taste was just right, as for the snails, the damp wall roots and the wells were everywhere, they were fat enough to the size of sparrows, I assure you that the snail stew with milk tastes unique, the Romans have wasted these crawling fat, but unfortunately we have no milk, my lord, only some moldy cheese......"

I smiled and listened to Bills babble about the small details of finding ingredients, those few aristocrats who were feasting didn't have time to talk nonsense, one by one rudely stuffed food into their mouths, juice splashed all over their hands, they directly smashed snail shells and fragments and swallowed them, the movement of the mouth was comparable to a high-powered blender, I frowned and deliberately cleared my throat, but found that it had no effect, so I had to give up in embarrassment.

"You've done a good job, Bills, and you've tasted great."

Instead of being a waiter and living attendant, it is better to transfer you to Nijmegen Castle as the head chef, Wangcai's wife turns over and over the monotonous skills of those few specialty dishes are lackluster, and it is okay to entertain guests from afar who have not eaten local flavors, but for the duke who needs to often hold banquets to entertain vassals and their relatives, it is indeed a little difficult to get on the table.

"My lord......" Bills said as if he had something to say.

I slurped, sucking the tender meat of the snail into its shell, and didn't have time to look up at him: "Huh? ”

Beers's lowered shoulders trembled slightly, as if a thousand burdens were weighing on him, and his thin shadow had only small circles at his feet.

"Forgive me for my ignorance and offense, Lord Duke, forgive me."

He crossed uneasily, tears welling up in his eyes: "Although I am a peasant's son, I also know the importance of honor and responsibility, and I envy the warriors who can shed their blood for God and the lord. ”

I stopped chewing: "What are you going to say, squire?" ”

Want me to give you a sword? Of course I can meet your request, but that is the power that knights deserve, they have been learning how to kill from birth, and you have learned to mow the grass and herd the sheep, believe me, the majesty of taking up arms is by no means the despair of the enemy taking his life for a long time, man can choose to fight or flee, but not to choose life and death.

"I ......"

The attention of the crowd made him stammer, and I guess it must have been the embarrassment of the nobles with food scraps hanging from the corners of their mouths that frightened the simple peasant boy.

"I, I hope to fight for you, my lord, I want to stand in the siege team, to be with my companions in Basel, even if I die in battle, I will not be alone, of course, staying by your side is something I never dreamed of, it is the glory of my whole family, but I am more eager to fight, my lord, like a man, I am already a man, am I?"

What else can I say about ambitious children?

"I will grant you a spear and a shield, a squire, and the sword belongs to a knight, but I promise you that if you can capture the enemy's sword in battle, I will use that sword to make you a knight myself."

The surrounding nobles let out an exclamation of disbelief, and the attendants stared at Bills with envy, wondering why they didn't have the courage to speak.

"May God bless you, child."

I patted him on the shoulder with high hopes, this thin angular shoulder: "Promise me to come back alive!" ”

"Hmm!"

Bills nodded his head vigorously and knelt on the ground and kissed the tips of my boots, leaving his face dirty with sand, but he became more and more excited and kissed wildly.

Beers's vignette did not dampen the mood for the meal, in fact, the nobles only regarded it as a digestible joke, and no one believed that this peasant child could capture a knight's sword, yes, it was a fantasy that a thin and weak boy would have to face an adult knight with a helmet and armor.

"He didn't even have a chance to report his name, and I bet this kid would have his head pulled off like a chicken's neck before he could see his opponent's appearance clearly!"

A middle-aged nobleman with a big belly said in a loud voice, his red rosacea glowing disgusting: "Like this...... Flutter! ”

With a slight pinch of his fingers, he tore the crispy head of the grilled fish: "Then his meatless half of his body will become a delicacy for crows and wild dogs to compete for, his intestines and heart will be hollowed out, and the poor skeleton will be used as fertilizer for the weeds, and his mother will cry to death when she learns the news, and the chick she has a crush on will have to go to someone else's bed, or she is already on it." Oh, what a tragic story, the knight who slaughtered him even forgot that he had killed such a man, haha! ”

The middle-aged aristocrat pretended to exaggerate and stuffed the grilled fish into his mouth and gnawed it with relish, causing everyone to laugh.

A bunch of fools who don't know how to respect others and are bound to be respected, I slowly pick out the hard spines of the grilled fish, and feel indignant for Bills.

But who is to blame? The aristocracy was born with a condescending sense of superiority and real status, and the life and death of the untouchables did not matter in their eyes, and everyone took it for granted, even the silent Bills did not show the slightest displeasure.

It's the Middle Ages, and I remind myself that after countless bullets and bloodsheds, do you still cling to the ridiculous ideas you had at the beginning?

"Oden!"

I looked at the eldest son of the Count of Basel, whose head was about to be stuffed into the pot, his chic rat beard stained with sticky soup, which caused a few flies to buzz around.

"Yes, Lord Duke, Auden is at your service."

He reflexively stroked his beard, and wiped the dirt on his hands to the edge of the placket that could not see the original color, and the burnt yellow tooth decay couldn't wait to squeeze out his lips, and the green vegetable leaves stuffed between his teeth were particularly eye-catching.

It's just disgusting! I paused for a moment to adjust my mood, and I didn't know if I would be able to vomit yesterday's lunch later.

"You're willing to serve me, really?"

The promise of openness is equally valid, knight, don't underestimate the damage of language flaws: "Then are you willing to continue to lead the army to attack the city?" ”

Auden's face turned pale in an instant, as if the first frost of early autumn had frozen, and then began to change all kinds of abnormal colors.

"Your Excellency."

He bit his lip and replied: "My sword is as firm as my heart, it is the glory of the House of Basel to serve the noble Duke, I am not a coward who fears the enemy like a tiger, but as you can see, my team has collapsed, and the remnants of the defeated army would rather die than return to the battlefield, I am sorry to bring a group of cowards, my lord, I am afraid that Basel will not be able to complete the mission......"

If your brain is as good as your tongue, we would have conquered the walls of Rome long ago.

"I'd rather die than go back to war, right?"

I repeated his words lightly: "Horizontal and vertical are death, don't the people of Basel know how to die well?" ”

Either let your soldiers charge, or you alone to clear the way for the army, vassals have no choice, knights, lords' orders cannot be changed.

Auden understood that he had no choice, and faintly agreed with a cry: "The Basel warriors are willing to be the sharp sword in your hand to slash rebellion, my lord." ”

"Don't worry, I'll send knights to cooperate with your attacks." I soothed evilly.

He got up and gestured to leave: "Then I'll go back and arrange it right away." ”

"Don't be busy, you have time to think about how to set it up."

Filling your stomach is the number one priority at the moment: "We'll talk about ...... in the evening"

The lazy time after dinner is the best time to digest food, and everyone retreats from the noisy pergola to the wind in all directions, and the lukewarm is just right for a rest.

The extraordinary people who can fall asleep on the battlefield, Wei Wuzi, Nurhachi, etc., all have the demeanor of a general with thousands of troops and horses, and I dozed off for no other reason, but I was too tired.

"Let's all go to sleep, save up your energy, there will be a fierce battle at night."

The nobles who heard my command all showed stunned expressions: "God, you heard it right, it's sleeping, don't worry, the enemy doesn't have the courage to come out and sneak attack, and we can't break through the city wall, so we can only stalemate with each other without embarrassment, can we do other meaningful things besides sleeping?" ”

Luca's broad shoulders were just right to block the sunlight from the side, and I was comfortably nestled in the shade cast by Luca, Luca tilted his body slightly, and said in a wooden voice:

"Are you asleep, sir? I...... I also have something to ask of you. ”