We searched downstream for a whole day and a night before we finally found the bull unconscious on the beach at the mouth of the sea.

His face was pale, he seemed to have choked on a lot of water, and his body was as hard as wood, but his breath was still there, and there was hope of rescue, compared to the others who were not so lucky, and the mudflats formed by the impact at the mouth of the river were full of drowning Nijmegen soldiers, and occasionally among their corpses, they found Utrecht people whose limbs were tripped and had no time to escape.

Several corpses floating on the water with the ups and downs of the tide have been soaked and swollen and deformed, the abdomen is strangely bulging, and even traces of sea beasts can be found in the soft places of the body, and the white flowers and flesh that have been washed clean by the sea water are floating around, making the whole scene look creepy.

After the war, we had to retreat more than ten miles, looking for a piece of high ground close to the main road, easy to defend and rearrange the camp, erected a lot of antlers and thistles inside and out, and the remnants of the defeated generals who were collected one after another also gathered a lot, but the peasants who were temporarily captured to fill the strong men took the opportunity to flee a lot, and the residents of the surrounding farms basically either hurriedly hid in the city because of the war, or fled with their families, so it was difficult to obtain reinforcements in the same way.

The predicament made it theoretically difficult for us to conquer Utrecht, and now all hope can only be pinned on Flanders' sea reinforcements, which will come in time before a third party intervenes to make things more complicated, and end this unfortunate war in one fell swoop.

For the next two days, Utrecht did not launch any decent attacks, but only sent a part of the infantry, set up camp not far from us, and sent out scouts or small groups of soldiers to harass us every day, and under the cover of the woods, they dodged and spied on us.

In order to prevent the enemy from discovering the truth, I ordered more dazzling flags to be erected in the camp, and if I could not find the fabric from which the flags were made, the sackcloth clothes from the corpses were substituted and mixed with other colorful flags.

The daily patrols were strengthened in number and frequency, and all the active soldiers moved around the camp repeatedly, creating the false impression that we still had many warriors, and in addition, when the pot was cooking, the stove was more than doubled, and when it was time to cook, the camp was full of smoke columns.

On the evening of the third day, the bull finally woke up from his slumber, and he had not eaten a drop of water for the past few days, only Rollo forced his mouth to pour him some vegetable soup.

The bull's whole cheek was completely sunken, like a shrunken apple, the sallow color was completely unrecognizable, and there were no fatal scars on his body, except that he choked too much water in his lungs, coupled with excessive fright and physical exertion for a few days, he was somewhat malnourished, and in the absence of a decent doctor, he completely relied on his strong physique to endure it.

When I got the news and walked into the tent, I just opened the curtain and saw the bull smiling tiredly at me, full of apologies for not being able to complete the task, and that feeling made me feel very uncomfortable.

"It's fine if you're okay!"

I held back the tears that were about to well, patted the bull on the shoulder, and handed over the bowl of mushy porridge that was still steaming, and comforted him:

"You can recuperate with peace of mind, the current situation is still under our control, although there is no strength to fight, but there is still the strength to protect yourself."

The bull stood up eagerly, as if to say something, and I waved his hand back into the bed and put the mushy porridge back in his hand:

"Now is a sit-down battle, if the enemy does not offend me, I will not offend, it is the time to bite the force, if you really want to help, recover your strength quickly, by the way, pray to God to let Flender's fleet come sooner, Utrecht is already at the end of the crossbow, not much stronger than us, besides, there are still such large cities to defend, the strength and energy must be stretched, as long as we work harder, the final victory will definitely belong to us."

The bull no longer argues anything, my words have always been true, and since the Earl has guaranteed victory, there is no need to worry, he is indeed hungry, and his stomach is empty, and he picks up his rice bowl and pulls it up with all his might.

When I fell asleep late at night, I was woken up by a sudden noise, and hurriedly got up in my clothes and asked outside the tent, "What's wrong?" ”

The people outside didn't expect me to get up, and I was in a hurry for a while, and after a while Luo Luo took a well-made letterhead sealed with lacquer and lifted the curtain and entered.

"This is the information that the scout just sent, and the inside line of Lord Leonardo, who was connected with him, said that it was an urgent matter of 100,000, and you must read it yourself, and it was about Flender's reinforcements." As he spoke, Rollo handed me the letter, written on a small piece of Nijmegen paper.

Hope not bad news!

I subconsciously comforted myself in this way, and slowly opened the note, given my limited literacy ability, so the letter was written very simply, I could recognize the words on it, and without thinking about it, I interpreted the meaning of this concise note in my mind:

[The Flender army is attacked at sea and the whole army is annihilated]

Very good! Sure enough, it's rare good news!

When I learned the truth, my eyes were dark, and I fell backwards in a dejected manner, and I accidentally sat on the ground, almost losing the ability to think, and the expression on my face was estimated to be more ugly than eating flies.

"Mistress Leonardo also brought a message."

Rollo lowered his voice and walked to my side, and said in his ear: "Our march route and battle plan have been betrayed to the enemy, and all signs indicate that Normandy and Friesland have been prepared, but we have accelerated our march along the way, and suddenly fell from the sky to disrupt Utrecht's position, while Flender's fleet was lost in the ocean in a daze. ”

Strange to say, when I heard the news, I didn't jump to my feet and scold excitedly, but calmed down instantly, and my thoughts were clearer and clearer than ever.

Who is the person who leaked the news? What is his purpose? None of this is important, at this moment is the key to thinking about whether to advance or retreat, I am making difficult trade-offs, both the enemy and I are defeated, we are only one foot away, there is still a little hope in my heart, no one wants to succeed.

I have made up my mind, I feel confident that I have returned to my body, and there is still a chance that I can't win and run, or why do you think I chose to camp next to the mainland, and specially instructed my attendants to take care of the few remaining war horses?

Now that the matter has come to this, Frisian has lost his vitality, and sooner or later it will be the meat on Nijmegen's plate, and it is impossible for the cooked duck to regrow its wings and fly away.

"Contact the nearest inside lineman and say I have to see Leonardo right away, they have their own channels to inform him as quickly as possible."

Since I couldn't sleep anymore, I put on my armor and told Luo Luo with great vigour: "Double the torches in the camp at night, secretly pull the army out in the early morning, and then swagger back from the main road after dawn, hoping that this trick will be able to hide from the sky and the sea, so that the enemy will mistakenly think that we have added reinforcements, confuse their judgment, and at least dare not act rashly until I think of a good way to attack the city." ”

When I was a child, the little trick played by Dong Zhuo in Chang'an in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was copied by me and bluffed foreigners who had not read the four famous novels.

Leonardo's intelligence network is indeed well-connected and efficient, compared to Kohler, who is just starting out and is a medieval intelligence chief, is really worth learning.

On the night after the news was sent, Leonardo appeared in front of me in the dust, and the wrinkles on the old fellow's face were more dense after a long time, like an old bark crawling with folds, and it seemed that Nijmegen had been troubled by all the trivialities of this time.

"I've brought with you, perhaps just what you need, craftsmen who can make trebuchets and timber that has been urgently brought in through the channel, as well as a hundred experienced Saxon mercenaries who of course have a high price."

Leonardo took off the shawl around his forehead, revealing his mottled gray hair, sat down unceremoniously in front of me, and took the flask on the table and poured water to himself.

"The Flender reinforcements have been destroyed, and we should be grateful for the help of the Friesians."

"Why thank them? Isn't it enough for us to suffer? I was a little annoyed that he was only half-talking, self-righteous, and a little uncomfortable in his tone.

Of course, Lao Jianghu could hear the faint anger that I felt mocked, so he put down the cup and explained to me unhurriedly: "Of course, it is to thank them for acting in advance, saving us the trouble of doing it ourselves, and staining it with blood that is difficult to leave a trace." ”

"With all due respect, if the eldest son of the Count of Flanders dies, your son will automatically be promoted to the rank of third in line to the throne of the Count of Flanders, and of course, if you can hurry up and make a son for us with Madame Serena, those foreign relatives of Flanders will not be a problem at all, and the gold coins and blank checks plus iron tools will be enough to keep them silent and have no objection to the inheritance of Nijmegen."

It turned out that he had this layer in mind, and he began to plan for the future of Nijmegen in advance, marrying Princess Flender for this reason, and marrying the Duke of Lorraine for this purpose, all of which were for one purpose, and it was chilling to be scheming.

"These are things that can't be rushed."

When it comes to having children, I am the first two old, and the private life of Princess Serena's little sister in the Middle Ages is really true, I don't want to continue to delve into this issue, so I hurriedly diverted the topic:

"Let's think about how to get through this difficult situation in front of us, a hundred Saxon mercenaries is just a drop in the bucket, at most it can boost the morale of decadence, but to completely conquer Utrecht is tantamount to a fool's dream."

Leonardo smiled, put on a scowling expression, shrugged at me and said, "Isn't that what your lord came to me for?" If you think of a viable idea, I'll take care of bringing it to life, and that's where the old Leonardo comes in. ”

I rolled my eyes, snatched the flask he was holding in my hand and poured myself a glass slowly, and poured my head up depressedly, while the old guy watched me go crazy with interest, tapping my fingers on the table, as if beating the beat with fun.

"In any case, let the craftsmen assemble the parts of the trebuchet first and make sure that they are ready to call."

I wiped the wine juice from the corner of my mouth, and suddenly stretched out my hand to Leonardo with bad intentions: "Anyway, Utrecht's city defense map must be available to me, right?" I'm going to study its layout tomorrow morning......"

(End of chapter)