"God bless Nijmegen!"

The sergeant replied resolutely with a thumping chest, and a wound on his face that cut off his right eyebrow and the bridge of his nose, like an ugly caterpillar crawling past, made the whole face look eerie.

Although the Nijmegen army was well paid, the battle loss rate was extremely high, and the replenishment of troops was overstretched, except for the mercenaries who spent a lot of money, and many local volunteers who joined the army were often minors, who formed a squad with the ties of their fellow villagers or relatives, and were captained by experienced veterans, who were called sergeants, a honorific title with a sense of honor, and also officers with a slightly higher status than ordinary soldiers.

The promotion of non-commissioned officers is generally based on military age and merit, and the war dead are naturally replaced in second order.

The sergeant looked young, but the calmness and pride in his bones were far better than those of panicked recruits, who were small in number, all of them were the mainstays of the army, like sturdy rivets that connected parts into efficient machines.

Entrusting the loose violets to the sergeant, I rode away and rushed to the line of defense that Owen Hyacinth had laid out on the bank of the river, which was not far from the base camp and had a great view, but unfortunately the road was in poor condition and had to go down the slope of the valley, which was a real delay.

"Your Excellency, you're here."

Owen waited early on the side of the road to help me hold the reins, and several soldiers hurried around, seizing the last chance to replenish the weak link in the line.

"How's it going?" I asked without waiting to dismount.

"As you can see, the fog is heavy, the visibility of the river is quite poor, and the torches have been there for a while, but apart from the noise of the movement of men and horses, the other party does not seem to have any intention of crossing the river."

He tilted his head, his ears keenly pricked up:

"Listen, it's just the usual sound of water waves."

I listened carefully, and sure enough, there was nothing unusual:

"Then we have to be vigilant, we can't be sloppy at all, maybe the enemy is waiting for us to relax."

Owen's eyebrows squeezed strangely, as if to say:

What are you kidding, my lord, the water is turbulent and the river is wide, and it is impossible for the enemy to fly with wings in an instant if he attacks suddenly, and sooner or later he will be exposed to the range of the archers, and it is they who should be vigilant.

I read what he meant, and the faint uneasiness of last night intensified.

"What is the old earl's real purpose?"

I racked my brains and thought about it, even to the point where the sparks were flying, but I still had no clue.

"The unpredictable use of soldiers should be my patent......"

"I heard that Gao De led the army downstream to fight the fire, and many enemies smuggled in at night, is it true?"

Owen waved his fist in annoyance after receiving my nod of affirmation: "It's so cunning! ”

Before he could finish speaking, he immediately asked, "What about Schneider?" He was on the enemy's side, and he was like falling into the Colosseum where the lions were kept. ”

I pondered for a long time, and found a milder word to describe my decision to give up on rescuing Pansy.

"They've somewhat pinned down Earl Richfield's forces upstream, otherwise we'll have more enemies to deal with at the moment."

I stared into Owen's gloomy eyes, and he understood what the Duke meant.

"Martin's outcast, right? It is used to cover the king who is seen to death by his opponents. ”

The knight's Adam's apple trembled, and his emotions fluctuated slightly: "As your follower, I absolutely trust your judgment, as your vassal, I unconditionally carry out your orders, and let me give up my close comrades, you assure me, my lord, by God's witness, you have a way to save Schneider, and he will come back alive!" ”

Come back alive? I smiled bitterly, the hesitation and loss in my heart cannot be eliminated by simply building self-confidence, and I seriously think about it, from the discovery of the enemy, how much role did my series of chaotic commands play?

A meeting that fell victim to a trick......

Recklessly, send out pansies......

Arrange a defensive line along the river in a hurry......

Blindly disperse the cornflower to guard the retreat......

I am like a fledgling gambler, confused to teach the other family to play around, playing cards one by one, until the end of the circle is suddenly realized, but I have no capital to turn the tables.

"What's wrong with you, Randy, what the hell are you afraid of?"

I touched my heart and tortured my soul as if I were repentant, the source of life beating tirelessly as ever.

"You're afraid of failure, aren't you? For the first time, you have the despair of fear of failure, and the confidence that comes from the confidence that you can still come back even if you lose, but now? Dongshan is gone, how can we talk about it again? ”

"When is this damn fog going to fall!"

Owen interrupted my thoughts with a sharp jumping foot scolding, the inferior bean meat ham rose and swelled, gradually changing shape, becoming a failed omelette of the little daughter-in-law's stall with bad cooking, the melted sugar heart was yellow with red, and the liquid could break the skin and flow juice at any time, the sunrise of the new day was still unstoppable, and Xue Feng stretched his charming figure, hiding behind the pink veil and flattering us affectionately.

"The sun is out, why hasn't the fog dispersed."

Owen puffed up his arm to dispel the morning fog that he would not leave, and the light of the torches on the other side succumbed to the threat of the sun, and gradually weakened slightly.

"If I were Earl Richfield, I wouldn't have a chance to cross the river again!"

In the valley or basin in autumn and winter, due to the long nights and the chance of cloudless wind, the ground heat dissipates more rapidly than in summer, resulting in a sharp drop in ground temperature, which makes it easy for the water vapor in the air near the surface to reach saturation and form fog in the second half of the night to the morning.

When I went to school with the above meteorological knowledge, the geography teacher had taken the trouble to mark the key points of the exam, but as I grew older, all the rote things were returned to the school, if I knew so much, I would not have waited stupidly by the river all night to see through, but chose to take the initiative, with the help of the cover of the morning fog to surprise him, but now it is the scheming Earl of Richfield, they call this life experience.

"Why hasn't you heard from your people for so long?"

I asked into the void, Codename Four looming, her black clothes not only blending perfectly into the darkness, but also suitable for the vast white mist.

"It is estimated that they will not be able to cope with a difficult opponent for a while."

Her voice was mechanically cold, soaked in moisture that penetrated into the bone marrow and sent chills down my spine.

"I have no more men to send, whether I live or die, I can only rely on God's blessing and their own efforts."

After a pause, the cold-blooded Assassin leader added, "But I don't believe in God anymore, because he can't hear the prayers of ordinary people." ”

"Anyway, I want to get news of Schneider and Pansy, I really can't go there yourself."

Owen listened to my words and was a little excited, and his shoulders shook violently as he turned his back.

"I had a bold idea, but I needed accurate information to back it up."

"Please don't leave this range until I'm back."

She walked around me, like Sun Wukong taking a golden hoop stick to draw a protective circle for the three Tang monks and apprentices.

"Promise me, don't step out, or my people won't be able to guarantee your safety."

The code name beckoned with four moves, and the other three people came over from different corners, the same black robe, the same unsmiling, although the ordinary ones could no longer be ordinary, they exuded a powerful aura.

"One hundred and seventy-three, five hundred and eighty-six, seven hundred and seventy-two, do you know what to do?"

"Understood!"

The answer was concise and to the point, and the three men in black who did not know their names and only their code names disappeared again, as mysterious as their appearance.

Owen stiffened his neck unconvinced, and he subconsciously leaned towards me, not daring to get too close to the dreaded assassin leader: "Do you treat us as decorations?" Rest assured! ”

The place of Codename Four Station was empty, Owen's voice swirled in place, and suddenly disappeared, when a person doesn't take you seriously at all, the anger of the psychological gap can be imagined.

"This bastard!"

The knight gritted his teeth and stamped his foot, suddenly realizing that something was covering his mouth, and looked around weakly, and the ubiquitous Enides was likely to repeat his words to Code Four.

"Come on, isn't she just such a person, cold on the outside and hot on the inside, with a look of rejection on her face."

I patted Owen on the shoulder and forcibly pulled his attention back to the battlefield: "How deep is this river in front of us, according to your estimate?" Is it difficult to force a crossing? ”

"I probably observed it when I was camping yesterday, and the river was ...... Fifty or sixty paces wide. The rocky beaches on both sides of the river are not suitable for landing, and the water in the middle of the river is gentle, and the closer you get to the shore, the more turbulent it becomes, and the depth of the estimated center is not shallow. I threw a stone into it, and it took a few breaths before it echoed, and it was supposed to be about seven cubits deep, so to speak, and the river was not up to my chest at most on horseback. ”

The knight reported 1510: "On the surface, it seems that it is not very difficult to cross, but the undercurrent under the calm water is bound to be fierce, coupled with the temperature of this season, I really want to know how the Earl of Richfield made the decision to attack head-on, no boats and no tools, crossing the river is equivalent to death." ”

You said you would miss the opportunity if you didn't cross the river......

I shrugged my eyebrows, and the noise of the people on the other side of the river flickered and flickered, bringing with it a sense of urgency.

"They've got some time to prepare, right?"

Thinking of this, I seem to grasp a small thread among a thousand threads.

"Strange, it's been a long time."

Smart people don't have to talk nonsense, it's a little bit broken, Owen's eyes widened, and he understood my hint clearly.

"...... you suspect"

"That's why I sent Codename Four to implement the situation on Ned's side, which is a series of calculations, just like last night's negotiations."

I rubbed my hands uneasily, like a nervous shareholder facing a computer screen:

"The two suspicious soldiers are intended to mislead our judgment in order to conceal their true intentions, and Count Lechfeld must have also discovered the shoals upstream, which is a guarantee to minimize the danger of crossing the river, and he wants to copy Nijmegen from the flank, avoid the frontal defensive line, and go straight to the core once and for all."

"If you're right, Schneider ......"

"Either the whole army is annihilated, or the hard fight is supported, in short, it must be in danger, he is my unintentional move, but it is the key to the situation of the war, if the pansy is still insisting, the old earl will not be able to attack completely with confidence, he has to take care of his rear."

As I spoke, I became excited, as if I saw Schneider, who was fighting hard, smashing the swarming enemies.

"Schneider is like a flea in the crotch of his trousers, biting the old earl upset!"

We looked at each other tacitly, and together we looked at the mist-shy river, which was calm and deep, and held countless unknown little secrets, much like the habitat of the legendary Sirens.

"Do you believe there are enemies in full gear behind this morning fog?" The torrent was gushing, I asked softly.

"Yes or no, who can guess."

Owen pressed the long sword hanging from his waist, his eyes narrowed into a thin slit:

"I remember you said at a banquet in Nijmegen that when you feel that the whole world has abandoned you, don't give up, because God often opens a window for you when he closes a door, and I get drunk and don't think about what you say, and now it seems that God has opened the window."

I nodded, I couldn't remember the chicken soup for the soul that I tirelessly instilled in them back then, thanks to the boring peeks of the "Youth Digest" in class, which helped me speak amazingly on countless formal occasions and earn a lot of face.

"We have to start early, God doesn't always have a window for us."

Having made up my mind, I turned and walked briskly towards the herald who was leading the horses in the distance, and two Enides appeared almost instantaneously, sandwiching me one after the other.

"You're out of the circle, ...... adult"

The knight pointed to the non-existent confinement on the ground, and pouted with an exaggerated expression: "Herald! Heralds! ”

He got out of the center of the storm just in time for me to go berserk.

"What do you command, my lord?" The herald arrived.

I measured my hand to the thickness of my arm and said, "Order the camp to gather all the wooden poles and ropes for building tents and bring them in, without delay!" ”

The sun followed its established trajectory to seize power, gradually expelling the remnants of the Night King, the omelette became more and more dazzling and bright, and the sky was dyed a few faint clouds in a beautiful red, dancing for the sun's domination, and the temperature of the air rose significantly.

A group of people who were busy on the battlefield were in full swing, arranging the wooden poles neatly and tying them with ropes, and the wooden rows were beginning to take shape, and Owen checked the quality of the finished products back and forth, squatting down from time to time to tighten the rope ends.

"Keep it up!"

He patted the dust on his body and urged the soldiers to do the work.

The smell of blood! I was immediately alerted that the three Enides were moving faster, and even the daggers were already sharp!

"It's me."

Codename Four came from the morning mist, his clean black robe became tattered, his white cheeks were stained with blood, his whole body curled up and trembled, and his left arm hung abnormally, leaving a long trail of blood in the snow.

"Are you alright?" I reached out to help, but Codename Four shook his head to stop.

"Schneider's pansy is surrounded by enemies several times his size, the situation is extremely dangerous, I met him in the siege, he asked me to bring you a message, I hope not to take it seriously, every soldier of Pansy has the consciousness of death, willing to be a bait to lure the enemy."

Blood filled the gaps between the fingers, lingering on the fingertips: "We have lost three men, and the cruelty of our opponents is far greater than we can imagine, they are trying to kill Enides and blind Nijmegen's eyes and ears. ”

She smiled seductively: "Hehe, they almost did it......"

"What are you doing stupidly! Take her down to heal! I pushed Enides in a daze, but the man in black didn't move.

"It's useless, his job is to stay on your side until the order changes or he dies."

Codename Four stared at me in a fit of rage, and proudly held it up: "This is Enides, their loyalty is comparable to that of a golden stone." ”

"You can't joke with your life, hurry up and heal your wounds."

I was so anxious that I couldn't speak incoherently, and Owen stood silently behind him, his eyes showing sympathetic admiration for the first time.

"The enemy besieging Schneider is at least five times larger than Pansy, and they are of high quality and well-equipped, they are by no means ordinary levies, and they should undoubtedly be their main force."

Codename had weak legs and stumbled two steps slightly, but Owen grabbed her first:

"Thanks, I said I didn't need to help."

The stubborn leader of the assassin swept his hand away without humility or arrogance:

"By the way, there are fifty knights among the enemy......"

"Needless to say, my lord, you were right."

Owen's palm was stained with blood, red like an abrupt birthmark: "Give the order!" ”

The morning light stretched my shadow to an unbelievable length, but it was helpless against the hazy mist.

"Cornflower replenishes the position, and the rest of the whole army goes out to attack and cross the river!"

(End of chapter)