"Damn, what do you say you should do? The Holy See is coming to an end, and I will be hanged in the city of Rome, and you will not be able to escape. ”

The circle of cardinals standing below all turned their faces, not daring to look at the Pope's Holy See like a fierce beast, and finally in the last position, Robert, the head of the mercenaries from Switzerland, walked out, bowed respectfully to the Pope's Holy Seat, and waited until Innocent III sat back on his throne, and waved weakly, indicating that he could speak.

Robert saluted again before he began to speak......

Robert, a 40-year-old Swiss with an angular face and short brown hair, has been a mercenary since he was 14 years old, like most Swiss people.

After 30 years as a mercenary, Robert moved across Europe......

France, Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Poland, Eastern Rome......

In the end, with his own experience and talent, he recruited a group of fellow villagers who were also born in Switzerland, and formed a mercenary group of several hundred people, everyone worked together, fought together, and made money together to support their families, with the unique tenacity, unity, and excellent credit of the mountain people, they made a name for themselves in this industry, and were valued and hired by the Holy See to become the Swiss Guard, in charge of all mercenary forces in the Papal States.

Robert has been famous ever since!

Noble titles, territories, and money are all available.

Robert also knows how these things came about, he has been conscientious and extremely loyal in the past few years as the commander of the Swiss Guard, in short, the Pope is what he says, even if he commits suicide, because of this, he has been in this position for several years, and he has fought many times with the Eastern Roman Empire, and the two sides have won and lost each other, and Robert is also famous, becoming a pivotal figure in the Apennine Peninsula and the Papal Domestication.

"Holy See, I think that even if no reinforcements come in a short time, we will be able to withstand the attack of the Eastern Romans by our own strength alone." After Robert said this, the other cardinals immediately whispered, most of these guys have been frightened by the Eastern Roman Empire, and some even think that if they do not have more than ten times the number of troops, they should not fight against the Eastern Roman Empire at all.

"Holy see, the Holy See now has 5,000 valiant soldiers from Switzerland, 5,000 mercenaries from northern Italy, and 10,000 soldiers conscripted by the Papal States itself, all of whom are well armored and well equipped, and Genoa and Venice are able to arm 20,000 to 30,000 mercenaries, so that we have about 50,000 soldiers, and if this army were to be concentrated, it would be ......"

"Concentrate on whom? You? Robert's words were quickly interrupted by a bishop, followed by a burst of mockery in the papal chamber.

The clergy simply look down on these mercenaries!

Robert bowed his head and did not speak again, and such behavior was also considered by the bishop to be subdued, and the ridicule was louder.

"If ......"

At this time, the voice of Innocent III came, and the papal hall was immediately silent.

"If you become the commander of this army, do you have the confidence to drive the Eastern Romans away?" Innocent III asked.

Before Robert could be pleased, the entire papal hall instantly boiled.

"Holy See!"

"How can such an important task be entrusted to a Swiss?"

"He's just a mercenary nouveau riche."

"He can't be trusted!"

Seeing the excitement of the audience, Innocent III sighed silently: "Let's stop here for this matter first, and then send an envoy to mediate the relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the Norman Kingdom, I hope it can be useful!" ”

After saying these words, the entire papal hall was silent again, looking at the clergy in the group, who were watching their noses and noses, and did not know what they were thinking, Innocent III was so angry that his hands trembled, and he couldn't stay any longer, so he turned around and left directly.

Seeing the pope leaving, the bishops also dispersed in twos and threes, I don't know which country's secret envoy to discuss betrayal, the whole papal state is a scene before the end of the world, the trees are scattered, and the catastrophe is coming.

Among them was Robert, the leader of the mercenaries, who also began to wonder if he should leave with his brothers and find a new employer.

"There are still six months left in the employment contract signed with the Papal States, and if you wait another six months, it will be considered benevolent and righteous at that time."

Just as Robert was thinking about this and was about to leave here and go home, he heard a voice: "Go to the secretary's office, the Holy See is waiting for you there." ”

Robert was suddenly startled, he didn't know who came to him so silently, the vigilance cultivated by his years of mercenary career actually disappeared completely at this moment, Robert quickly grasped the hilt of his sword, and his eyes swept away, staring at a priest wearing a black priest's robe and a mediocre-looking priest.

The priest smiled and nodded to Roberton, proving that he had indeed stopped Robert.

Robert was about to open his mouth to ask, when he suddenly realized that this was not the place to speak, so he closed his mouth and nodded to the priest, and then followed the priest in the direction of the secretary's office.

Robert thought as he walked, "Could it be that the Holy See has changed his mind?" That's right, I can't talk about that state just now, and now I must find a place with fewer people to discuss with me alone, so can't the plan I think of be implemented? ”

Imagining himself as a mercenary, commanding an army of 50,000 to fight against the infidels and defend the Holy Land of Christ, such a great feat will surely go down in history, and Robert began to boil his blood at this point.

It's just that at this time, there was a sudden accident, and after walking to an inaccessible corner, the black-clothed priest suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong? Keep walking, it's not good to keep the Holy See waiting for a long time. Robert asked curiously.

At this moment, an arrow flashed blue light and shot at his throat, it happened so suddenly, the mercenary leader did not expect that he would be assassinated in such a place, and he could only tilt his head slightly, but there was still a bloody mark on his neck.

Robert was about to draw his sword to fight back, but he felt a pang of paralysis all over his body, and he couldn't move at all.

"I'm sorry, big hero!"

The priest grinned wickedly and withdrew his Hidden Arrow, drew his dagger, and slashed Robert's throat.

After such an assassination operation in the Norman kingdom, the kings of other empires also began to carry out the next step of the layout, the Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II laughed, sarcastically mocking the Catholic kings as a group of people who only knew how to compete for power and profit, and could never unite the wreck, and at the same time assured and boldly continued to attack Hungary, after several field battles, the Eastern Roman army was large in number and well-equipped to defeat Hungary one after another, and finally completely surrounded the city of Budapest, and the 100,000 army surrounded Budapest and attacked day and night in batches.

From the partition of Poland to the attack on Hungary, from the request for annexation to the attack on the Holy See, Basil II was ruthless and left no room for error, decisive, murderous, and the entire empire in his hands like a high-speed machine.

Basil II, too, was like a skilled, overtime worker, completely oblivious to letting the machine run at its speed......

"Budapest, Rome, Venice, Genoa, and then the Germanic peoples."

Basil II looked at the towering walls of Budapest and muttered to himself, and with a wave of his hand, a large number of Roman engineers began to get busy, assembling heavy torsion catapults, Roman soldiers shouted to put lock sleeves around the necks of mules and horses, connected to catapult winchs, and another group of soldiers carried large stones prepared in advance, Roman technology was always the strongest.

At the head of the city of Budapest, the Hungarian king, wearing heavy chain mail, a scimitar at his waist, a compound bow on his shoulder, and a crown on his head, looked at the Romans who could not see the edge of the city for a long time.

The prominent cheekbones, emaciated cheeks, and short black hair mixed with white prove that this person has the blood of the Oriental steppe people, and the calluses on his hands, as well as the inadvertent movements revealed in every move, and the slightly looped legs, prove that this person is used to fighting right away.

This was the unborn king of Hungary and one of Basil II's main opponents in the first half of his life, King Attila of Hungary.

It's just a pity that because of a series of excessive conquests, the manpower of the Kingdom of Hungary has been greatly weakened, and the grand occasion of being able to pull up 100,000 iron horsemen with a casual wave from the steppes of Eastern Europe is no longer repeated, and the former conquerors are now the stepping stones of the new conquerors.

The general mobilization of the whole of Hungary was only a little more than 40,000 troops, and after months of fighting, most of these 40,000 troops had been lost, and now only 17,000 soldiers were gathered in Budapest.

"The slings have to be thrown off! Vajk! ”

"Yes! Your Majesty! ”

A Magyar man responded to the call of the monarch, and as the king's confidant, he naturally understood the meaning of the king, and after beating his chest with his fist, he trotted down the city wall, quickly gathered a group of elite cavalry, shouted to open the city gate and rushed in the direction of the catapult.

"Hungarian cavalry!" The Greeks shouted in surprise.

This is the light cavalry that the Hungarians are proud of, wearing light chain mail, armed with long swords, scimitars, small cavalry shields, and compound bows, elite cavalry troops, with excellent mobility and physical strength, both long-range and melee combat, this cavalry force is less than 2,000 men, but the momentum is better than thousands of horses, these cavalry from the steppe nomadic tribes, is the backbone of the Hungarian army.

Two thousand Hungarian cavalry, in this way, carrying the banner of the cross drawn on a brown background, rushed in the direction of the catapult.

"Humph......"

It's just that for these cavalry, Emperor Basil obviously doesn't look down on them.

"Ironclad paladiers, show them your power!!"

Under the orders of the Eastern Roman Emperor, the Holy Cavalry, holding high the banner of the Holy Trinity, even the men and horses wrapped in heavy armor, silently and with an extremely terrifying, almost suffocating momentum, rushed towards the Hungarians.

Compared with the monotonous military flags of the Hungarian cavalry and the messy family heraldic flags, the banners of the ironclad paladazions are more ornate and beautiful, the golden double-headed eagles represent the chief sequence of the main army of the empire, the purple inner ring represents their status as royal guards, the extra laurels compared to the eagle heads of other legions represent their combat experience under the emperor, the thorn cross represents the removal and blessing of the Great Sanctuary of Sophia, and the crossed swords represent the number of decisive battles they have participated in. The red tassel represents the blood shed for Christendom under the guidance of the holy spear.

Clustered around the banner were the priests holding aloft the Guardian of Constantinople, the archangel Jemer, who wielded a two-headed snake spear with poison and fire, and the symbol of the soldier St. Paul, who were therefore qualified to gather under this banner, the so-called Byzantine Ironclad Paladins.

After Basil II succeeded to the throne, he tried his best to expand this powerful heavy cavalry force, paying them three times the military salary, giving them land, serfs, and the right to wear weapons in the court, strictly selecting soldiers, and training them more strictly, so that this heavy cavalry force of less than 3,000 people was expanded to 5,000 people, and the strength was more than doubled.

Excellent morale and training, as well as iron-blooded discipline that the feudal knights of the Catholic countries did not have, made this heavy cavalry unit the strongest heavy cavalry force in medieval Europe.

Despite only a thousand ironclad paladers, Basil II seemed unusually easy, and there was no doubt that victory would be his own.

The commander of the first wing is also Basil II's confidant, the young and handsome general Dulusus, although he is a slave-born lowly commoner, but because of his own efforts to successfully stand out, in more than a dozen battles have a good performance, and finally by Basil II, he was exceptionally promoted to the commander of the first wing of the ironclad holy cavalry, which can be described as young and promising.

And just like that, an elite vs. elite, henchman to henchman battle begins!

Seeing that the opponent sent out the ace Ironclad Paladins, Vajk roared and ordered the cavalry to speed up, hoping to use the speed advantage to break through the formation of the Ironclad Paladines in the first round, their purpose was not to have a battle with the Ironclad Paladins under the city, but to destroy the torsion catapults that had great destructive power on the city walls.

"Break through them!" Vajkla raised his bowstring and fired an arrow into the eye socket of one of the ironclad paladers at the front.

The first time the two sides met was when they were nearly 100 meters away, and the range and power of the powerful compound bows equipped by both sides were basically the same, but there was one thing that was different, and that was protection!

A sharpshooter like Vaik shot an arrow, hitting the only unarmored eye socket of the ironclad paladier and shooting directly through his head, and the ironclad paladier didn't snort, falling directly from the horse, and was trampled into meat sauce by the ironclad heavy cavalry behind.

However, not everyone had such good archery skills as Vajk, and most of the Hungarian cavalry did not even do the slightest damage to the ironclad paladiers.

However, the ironclad palsaders were different, their powerful compound bows made the Hungarian cavalry fall in a large area, and the formation was also destroyed, after approaching, the two sides retracted their compound bows, drew their sabers, maces, and long swords, and began hand-to-hand combat, and in the melee, Vaik still shouted forward!

He did his best to avoid the attacks of the Ironclad Paladin, but one of the Ironclad Paladins struck him in the shoulder blade with a mace, and the heart-wrenching sensation made Vajk realize that his arm was probably useless.

The long swords and maces of the Ironclad Paladins inflicted great damage on the Hungarian cavalry, but the Hungarian sabers could not cut through the heavy scale armor of the Ironclad Paladinas, and even if they could cut through the heavy scale armor, they could not cut through the fine chain mail, and even if they could cut through the fine chain mail, they could not cut through the innermost layer of leather inlay.

If anyone could cut through three layers of armor with a one-handed saber, then he must be a great Hercules, but unfortunately, whether it was the Huns, the Magyars, the Bolgars, or other steppe nomads, they were known for their speed and horsemanship, not strength.

It was a one-sided slaughter!!!!!

(End of chapter)