The Count of Hesse reluctantly sent us a long way away, and if he hadn't finally stopped at a small river on the border between Hesse and Franconia, I would have thought that this emperor's dog-legged man, like the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, would have to follow the army to monitor our movements.

The earl who was crippled by the Lorraine people really couldn't take out anything decent, and the thirty knights who had finally contributed only had one war horse to ride, and the attendants fled to death, and they had to carry their own guns when they marched.

Therefore, the count, who felt ashamed when the two sides said goodbye, slapped his chest vigorously to ensure that the expenses of the Hessian knights' overdue service were all borne by themselves, and they would not participate in the division of the spoils, which seemed to have made a big concession.

The whole army dragged across the Lan River, which surrounded Marlborough with abundant water, and it is said that the name was taken from the purple orchid that bloomed in the bend of the river, because now the war in the country was continuous, resulting in the rise of displaced people and thieves, and it was no longer safe to take the land route, so water transportation became more and more frequent, and basically navigable rivers were sailed in the kind of flat-bottomed boats with a shallow draft but large cargo load, transporting goods that had become more scarce during the war to closed towns and cities.

In order to increase the speed of crossing the river, we forcibly requisitioned several small cargo ships that were anchored here to transport expensive horses and supplies, and the merchants with sad faces were both angry and helpless, and I couldn't bear to see it, so I told Luo Luo to pay them casually, and the other party was obviously frightened.

I didn't expect that the aristocratic lord who was high up on weekdays and took everything for granted was so generous, this kind of phenomenon was even rarer than angels falling into the mortal world in the dust, one by one flattered and pounced on the tips of my boots and kissed me wildly, so disgusting that I was sick to my stomach, and when they opened the pocket containing the coins, their expressions were obviously sluggish, of course the Nijmegen army paid with Nijmegen coins, could it be that he was given Byzantine gold coins? The latter silently tucked his pockets into his sleeves and began to weep again.

Passing through the fertile valleys on both sides of the Lan, the Earl of Hesse is beyond the reach of the Counts of Hesse, and in front of you is the important town of Dylanburg, which stands at the foot of the Westerling Mountains.

Unfortunately, with the death of Duke Dietrich, the Lorraine army guarding this place also gave up this easy-to-defend hilltop fortress, and was immediately occupied by Yaroslav, who was chasing and killing his ass, and now the garrison is the twenty Slavs he left, they found an unknown army from a distance, and immediately raised the drawbridge and beat the war drums to be on high alert, until Rollo led the attendants, carrying the flying dragon battle flag of Nijmegen to negotiate, the other party did not understand the identity of the comer.

Because the castle is built on the top of the hill, the volume itself is not large, the main building is just a two-story small tower, the two dukes' guards are barely crowded to live, and the rest of the knights and ordinary soldiers can only surround the castle, looking for a place to camp and sleep in tents, fortunately, Leonardo's logistics support ability is strong enough, and he has hoarded a large amount of materials, grain and grass in the castles he occupied along the way for emergencies, so the army of nearly 10,000 people did not go hungry, not only did they get a piece of dry rye bread, Each battalion was also rewarded with a pot of ale.

The fatigue of the day's bumps melted away in the carnival atmosphere, the soldiers were either drunk or shirtless, having a good time, lying unconscious drunk around the campfire, wine and tomahawks were the feelings that every Frankish man could never let go of, and many people staggered to the foot merchants on the edge of the camp, bargained with the lewd-looking bosses, and then sold some of their loot cheaply, and eagerly got into the dirty and tattered tents, and rode on the plump prostitutes to vent their excess energy. Outside, many impatient warriors shouted and cursed with their pants raised, everyone scuffled due to quarrels, and a group of disheveled men scuffled and grappled, the scene was not only messy, but also weird.

I stood against the wind against the wall, letting it drive away the drunken smell of alcohol on my body, and at this moment the noise inside and outside the city had nothing to do with me, only the bright moon in the night sky and a few stars that were invisible, and the sentimental sadness could not stop the anger, I sighed, and I missed my wife and children in Nijmegen a little.

"What are you doing? Homesick? ”

The Duke of Hanover, still holding a glass of wine in his hand, came to me with two steps and three steps back, his center of gravity unsteady as if he was dancing some fashionable foxtrot, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he burped a full wine, and the strong smell suddenly shattered the sadness of homesickness.

"God, am I dazzled? Why do you have three heads? I see, you're an extraordinary monster! The old duke said gibberishly, and stretched out his hand tremblingly to count how many heads I had, but I didn't stand firm and almost fell on my stomach.

Before I could step forward and hold him, the old duke stood up quickly, and without saying a word, took out the close-fitting golden cross from his neck, lifted it to my eyes lightly and heavily, and almost stabbed it in the eye.

"Tremble before the power of God, demon!"

He muttered the holy name like a mad woman dancing a great god, but he was illiterate, and he knew the obscure Latin word of the Bible on the skin, and the ghost who was chattering at the moment knew what it was, and a cool wind blew after nightfall, which seemed to sober the old duke, and he muttered and took the cross back, and said to himself:

"It turned out not to be a monster...... How could it be, this guy is so weird......"

"Lord Duke, it's me, Randy, how can it be a demon with three heads?"

I stretched out my hand and shook it in front of the old duke, making sure that his misty eyes were no longer in focus, and finally gave up helplessly.

"How do you know I'm here? What's the matter? ”

"Well, am I okay?"

The old duke threw away the wine glass in his hand, scratched his hair ignorantly, and tried to recall his original intention of coming here: "Oh. By the way, what's going on, tomorrow...... Maybe it's the day after tomorrow, we will divide our troops and advance, the knights are all for you, yes, they are all for you, but I'm afraid you will forget, Speyer's castle was built on top of the abandoned fortress of the Romans, which is a fortified fortress that can never be attacked, coupled with the expansion and addition of successive lords, it has long become like an iron barrel, you have no heavy weapons, and you have no craftsmen, is it God's favor that makes you more and more arrogant? The knights are brave and powerful, but the sword and armor still can't cut down the stone walls, my lord ......"

After saying these words, the old duke suddenly threw up on the city wall, and the filth fell and threw off the people under the city, and they scolded and hurriedly avoided it, and I clenched my nose and leaned over to pat the old duke on the back, and called out to the attendants not far away, who rushed to help, and so that the strange night ended in a chaotic atmosphere.

I slept until noon the next day, I was very reluctant to be woken up from the bed by a hungry stomach, the warm sunlight shot straight in from the huge window hole in the south room, shining a lot of fine dust flying up and down, half asleep and half awake moments, I thought I was in a trance in the small attic rented when I graduated, all the experience of Jin Ge Iron Horse was all a dream of the ethereal Nan Ke, Luo Luo lightly put the clean shirt and pants at the head of the bed, I subconsciously reached out my hand, and my fingertips touched the rough fibers of the clothes, Wandering thoughts suddenly return to reality.

After a simple light meal, the old duke, who had a hangover and flush on his face, said goodbye to me, and the soldiers outside the city were busy packing up their tents and horses, and many knights were ready to stop and gather under the banner of Nijmegen, and the old duke said to me with emotion while holding his belt:

"Commanding so many knights is a feeling I've never experienced, just looking at it makes people's hearts surge, may God bless you, Randy."

"God is always on the side of justice and piety, my lord, and may God bless you!"

I cast my gaze on the torrent of iron armor that was slowly converging in the distance, and a sparkling armor light stung the eyes of the seeker: "The fate of you and me will be decided after this war, and the fate of many others, all we can do is to devout and give everything to God, and the final judgment is only in the hands of the great Lord." ”

The rest of the march was nowhere near as sleek and epic as it was portrayed in later films, and the pace was much slower than I thought.

There is no way, even if each person is equipped with at least one war horse that can be transferred, carrying a fully armed knight still consumes a lot of physical strength of the horse, the team has to stop and go in order to store horsepower, and the sun is always hanging in the sky without cooperation, and the power is gradually becoming more and more vicious, and the knights stuffed in the tin can are tantamount to a special sauna march, and they have to endure the disgusting smell of the horse's dung as they go, and they have to lead the horse on foot when they encounter the steep mountain road, and the speed is naturally not fast, Rao is like this, The horseshoe of Nijmegen also set foot on the territory of the Count of Speyère on 16 July, six days before the feast of Our Lady.

The shadowy village was nestled among the branches of the dense forest, in the valley at the foot of the hilltop where I was, so close that I could even hear the dogs barking, and there were not many peasants working in the fields on the other side of the river, but an old man wielding a whip drove the flocks of goats to this side.

"This shouldn't be a central village, and it's not capable of self-defense."

I pushed my helmet against my head, revealing my steaming and sweaty forehead, and commanded the few men gathered around me waiting for orders: "Divide the troops into pieces with twenty knights, destroy every village that belongs to Speyer, burn down their crops and houses, and take food and livestock, and make as terrible as possible, and remember, drive the panicked peasants to the count's main castle, like the old man who sings a mountain song, and let not a single sheep be spared." ”

(End of chapter)