Looking at the knight standing in the center of the hall reading the war book proudly, as if the two of them were turning actors, I yawned in boredom.

The bull around him has already been sleepwalking in the world, only Wangcai is still doing his duty as the chief palace minister, listening carefully to every word spoken by the knight, although the old man is from a poor background, but the degree of attention to etiquette far exceeds that of me, a genuine nobleman, any scene must put the fan enough, carefully dotted, so that I will not lose the face of the nobles.

"In the name of the Holy God, I declare that from now on, Baron Lefen and his invincible army will enter a state of war with you, and agree that at noon in three days' time, the battle will begin in the small plain outside the village of Saihan, so that the sword in pursuit of glory will never cease!"

The knight who came to the war book did not look very old, but his messy blonde hair, which had not been washed for a long time, was unkempt like Simba's bad uncle, and his thick beard raised the overall age, giving people the sloppy impression that this person was about to die.

He was dressed in fine fish-scale armor, tightly arranged armor to ensure effective defense against bows and arrows, a piece of chain mail was exposed at the hem, which was good to protect the thighs wearing only a pair of leather pants, wearing a domed helmet with nose protection was sandwiched under his arm, his left foot leaned forward slightly, and his chin was deliberately raised, intending to put pressure on the other party, but he made himself very tired in his concave shape, but it did not cause me any superior pressure, who called me heartless!

"So much rambling, just to inform us at the end when and where to go to the decisive battle? Funny, right? ”

I scratched my head, dazzled by the intricacies of fancy rhetoric and the God who would appear in every word, and turned to whisper to the bull whose mind had wandered to Pluto.

He was awakened by my words, blinked his eyes as if drunk, dispelled the messy little stars in front of him, sorted out his thoughts, and then replied to me: "My lord, this is the main way of aristocratic warfare, everyone does not have a decent and accurate map on hand, especially for the army that fights in depth with the enemy, it is even more blind, often it takes a long time for the two sides to look for each other, wasting the already insufficient supplies, so everyone sends envoys to each other before the battle, and it has become a customary rule to agree on the location of the decisive battle, On the one hand, it was out of the need for aristocratic etiquette, and on the other hand, it also saved the time of searching for the enemy, so why not put an end to the disagreement in a short period of time through a decisive battle? ”

I nodded: "I see!" The suddenness and unpredictability of the war were completely artificially eliminated, and the two sides of the war completely competed with each other on the merits of equipment and the number of knights, and the war became a simple mathematical addition and subtraction, lined up in rows of hula and hula collisions, isn't it too child's play? ”

I really don't understand these medieval people, the states are divided into their own affairs, not to mention the traffic is not good, and they are afraid of getting lost in a battle, and they have to make an appointment with the location first, no wonder they are roaring from the Central Asian steppes with extremely mobile barbarian cavalry, and they can't find it in the north, and they are all over the wilderness again and again, and the tactics of the nomads alone are enough for them to drink a pot.

"My lord, he's done."

Wangcai saw that I didn't react for a long time, so he had to cough lightly and remind me in a low voice.

"Ahh Finished? ”

I looked at Wangcai in confusion, and he gave a positive answer, saying that at this time, as the lord of the participating party, he must say something, so as to let the other party see his determination to fight, boost the morale of the army that is about to go out, and at the same time exaggerate his own strength, so that the messenger who is also on the task of intelligence spying will be frightened, and provide the wrong information to the enemy after returning back, and indirectly guide the direction of the battle.

"Hmm!"

I staggered up from my seat, and almost tripped over myself when I stepped on the newly embroidered coat of arms, and everyone in the hall stared at their wise earl, who dared to be the world, and held their breath in anticipation of the encouraging speech, so quiet that I could hear the echo of a needle falling on the ground, I cleared my throat, propped the long sword on the ground in a decent manner, posed in the shape of the long sword in the movie, and gave a short and sensational order: "Come on, drag him out, cut him down!" ”

"What did you say, my lord? Killing enemy emissaries is a cursed act, and the Church will punish you harshly if it knows it. Wangcai couldn't believe his ears and stumbled to stop me from doing stupid things.

"I said that I dragged this arrogant boy out and cut it down, since he has the courage to appear in the castle of the hostile camp, he must have the courage to bear the terrible consequences of such an act, I admire the warrior, so I decided to fulfill his bravery, only in this way is the best affirmation of the passion of the immortal brave."

I talked about some useless things, but in fact, what I wanted in my heart was to chop the words in front of me that had long been unpleasant to the eye into meat sauce, and out of sight was clean.

Two guards stepped forward to hold down the knight who was struggling to resist, and the latter was quickly subdued, and could only curse in vain, but one of the guards stepped forward and punched him in the mouth, and the broken teeth mixed with dirty blood covered the words beneath him, and then he was dragged upside down the hall like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in a corral, making the chickens and dogs jump in a lot along the way.

"His armor is yours, bull."

I said to the bull, who was excited by the blood, and told the idlers to wait out and wait for orders, and pulled the remaining henchmen in the hall to the table, unfolding the map and preparing for a brief pre-war meeting.

"What's the name of that village he's talking about?"

"The village of Saihan, the fief of your vassals of the knights of Homs, less than half a day's journey from Herusbek, sits on the north bank of the Maas River, where there is a flat riverside meadow suitable for cavalry charges."

As the leader of the Nightingale, Kohler knew everything about the situation in his territory, and soon found the sign of the thatched house representing the village not far southeast of Herusbeck.

"The Knight of Homs has not responded to your call so far, but he has not joined Baron Lefen's crusade, which shows that he may be hesitant in choosing a side, both for fear of offending the imposing overlord and for fear of his own feudal lord's final victory, I think this kind of wall grass is a force that can be fought for."

"As long as he doesn't stand aside and fall into the ground."

The bull stared at the small village not far from his fiefdom and despised the number of soldiers it could provide.

"That Homs knight, at most, can bring his own squire and a dozen poorly equipped cannon fodder peasant soldiers with pitchforks, and it has no direct impact on the entire battle situation."

"He did not respond to the feudal king's conscription order to lead his troops into battle, he had already broken the feudal contract with the feudal monarch, no matter who won in the end, he should understand that he was in a very awkward position, at least in the aristocratic circle, it was difficult to be trusted and reused." Wangcai is not very good at war, but he puts forward some opinions of his own from the perspective of legal principles and feudal obligations.

"How many of the enemy's total strength are there now?"

I looked at the Maas River, which meandered on the map, and a dense green line along the river, indicating the marshland left behind by the flooding of the riverbed, and a bold plan came to mind, and I looked up to Kohler to confirm the situation further.

"There are many knights and lords who have arrived from Flanders, who have joined the ranks of the crusading army, some of your vassals have betrayed their oaths, and have also defected with their peasant soldiers, according to the latest information, the number of the enemy's army has exceeded eight hundred, of which the knights and their attendants are more than fifty, since most of them are from rich territories on both sides of the trade route and along the coast, not only well-equipped but also well-trained, and are the decisive backbone of this army."

Kohler said as he pointed out on the map the country to which the knights belonged, or the location of the family, the intelligence gathering work before the war was very meticulous, the most important thing is that I did not give any clear orders, in today's words, the work is very proactive and forward-looking, as a subordinate, Kohler is indeed very good.

"And how many troops can we muster?" When I learned about the enemy, I turned around and asked about the bull, who was the chief officer of the castle, who had always been in charge of the daily training and preparation of the army.

"The cavalry can barely make up thirty people, but the war horse can't do one person and two horses, the new guard is about a hundred, all of them are the elite who have passed the test, their beliefs are firm and loyal, they will never escape from the battlefield, they can do the orders you request, advance and retreat in an orderly manner, and the combat effectiveness is by no means comparable to the enemy's peasant soldiers who act as cannon fodder, even in the face of the knight's frontal charge, they can ensure that they hold the position and do not take a step back."

Bull is really confident when he mentions the new guards he has trained himself, and the energy and money he has invested for so long can finally be tested on the battlefield with real swords and guns.

I stared at his cheeks, which were flushed with excitement, and I could read between the lines the meaning of inviting credit and competing with Kohler, but it was better to remain silent about this healthy competition between his subordinates, more or less the common motivation for the two to improve, and most importantly, the ultimate vested interest would be me, the so-called leadership art!

"Raising soldiers for a thousand days and using soldiers for a while, we can't just talk about not practicing, it's a mule or a horse to pull out and slip."

"Look, there is a small wooded swamp in the lower reaches of the village, left over from the spring flooding of the Maas River, and since the local Homs knights have not joined the enemy, the enemy must not know much about the situation here, which provides us with a good ambush field, and it will be the burial place of those well-armored knights."

"You're talking about using the swamp to trap enemy knights so that they can't use the power of the swarm charge, what a clever plan!"

Kohler listened to my plan and was the first to understand the mystery, and while agreeing with it, he also asked his own question: "But the enemy has a full 800 men, and even if we ambush us, we will not be able to gain the upper hand in the battle, they are too numerous, and besides, the two sides have agreed on the place of battle." ”

I smiled and shook my head: "Just like the bull just said, the enemy's peasants are just cannon fodder, and the key is to concentrate on eliminating those fifty cavalry, we just need to let those proud knights fall into the quagmire without the protection of the infantry, and it will not be a problem to solve them with superior forces, as for the so-called agreement, to hell with it!" ”

"But how can we separate the enemy's cavalry from the infantry?" This time it was the bull's turn to ask.

"The old way!"

I stared at a few people who suddenly came to my senses: "I will lead the elite cavalry to ambush the enemy once in other places, and then feint and flee to lure the enraged enemy knights into pursuit, I think as the main goal of this crusade, the enemy can't choose to give up when victory is within reach, right?" ”

A few people continued to speak out to stop me, but I once again used such a risky plan, but I waved my hand to interrupt: "I think the time is still to discuss why such a large-scale crusade is being held, but public opinion has agreed to remain silent collectively, and not even the duke of Germany has come forward to intercede." ”

"However, considering that His Majesty the Emperor is building a new castle in Rome with Henry, Grand Duke of Bavaria, then the great nobles who remain in Germany and have the most say are very suspicious."