"Look, my lord, the Poles have retreated!"

Kohler's voice was torn into staccato fragments by the jolt, and he could only shout to me as loudly as he could, "He left the trapped knight and fled on his own, and the bull and men chased after him, and they were running in the direction of the ambush circle." ”

"Good!" I looked back at the soldiers who were busy cleaning up the battlefield and picking up equipment, and there were very few who followed, forget it, fortunately, there are not many remnants of the enemy, and the people on hand can still deal with it.

"Let's not chase after us, is there a shortcut? Find a way to copy it in advance. ”

Kohler nodded, grabbed the reins to stop the mount, slightly discerned the position, turned the horse's head and ran in the other direction, before the battle he had led people around, he had already been familiar with the size of the surrounding paths, I was the second to catch up, and the soldiers behind me also followed with weapons and slanted down the hillside into the woods.

The white fat man must be very worried at this moment, I insisted that he must follow Bolesław, although their brother because of the succession problem, very unhappy, but after all, they are a mother's compatriots, the younger brother lost the battle to defect to the elder brother, Bolesław has to be taken in by reason, and the face is also better, the hunger for power has long made these two people lose the minimum moral bottom line, but the white fat man is worried that he will use himself as a bait to lead his brother into the trap, and it will be too late to run away, was pulled on the back by his brother who was skilled in martial arts, and he became a ghost in a daze.

As we approached the ambush area, we made contact with the killers hiding in the shadows, the Poles had not yet entered the designated place, and there were secret posts in Nijmegen along the way to relay the latest news to each other in order to ensure that the mission could be completed according to plan, Kohler learned of the situation from his own men and hurried to report to me: "They shook off the bull's pursuit, and ran this way desperately, leaving many soldiers behind, and Bolesław was left with only a few attendants. ”

"Then let's go over and have some fun, I suddenly have a new idea."

The so-called cunning rabbit three holes, Poke can't be all bet on the white fat man, his heart is too small, he can't do anything big but always wants to take advantage of others, it's not good to sit firmly and turn his face and don't recognize people, he must make another plan, I thought of this step, and shook my head at Kohler meaningfully, the latter saw my secretive expression, and immediately cooperated with the soldiers to get on the horse and stand by.

The defeated Poles rode on horseback one by one, and the bull's pursuers were far behind, but the noise of their pursuit could still be heard through the layers of jungle, so that no one dared to slow down, regardless of the fatigue of the bumps, and followed the procession closely.

The man in the elegant armor at the beginning must be Prince Bolesław, a good battle of annihilation has been fought like this, which makes him chagrined, and his brow twisted like an intricate old tree root, and the white fat man carefully swallowed his anger beside him, afraid of provoking the fire and put himself in it.

Counting the number of defeated soldiers, I nodded at Kohler, who was close to me, and gave the order to attack, he quickly drew an arrow and aimed it at Bolesław's warhorse, the tight bowstring trembling slightly, and the others also mounted their bows and arrows, looking for their respective targets, waiting for the time to attack.

A small green bird, unnamed, fluttering its wings, flew over our heads, attracting everyone's attention, and the Poles looked vigilantly to the right and left, and the first few of them wrapped the reins twice around the back of their hands, as if they were about to escape.

When it was too late, Kohler let go of his hand holding the bowstring, and the arrow, which had been eaten with sufficient strength, hit Bolesław's mount accurately, and the beautiful horse squirmed, and staggered to leap two steps forward, but with a bend of his front legs, he fell to the ground, throwing his master on his back far away, and it was too late for the rest of the Poles to try to find cover.

Arrows were fired from the woods, and the Nijmegen soldiers who followed them were more like divine soldiers descending from the sky, dragging the enemy off their horses and surrounding them, just a flurry of stabs and spears, the muffled sound of metal cutting into the skin, and in the blink of an eye, eight living squires became eight blurred pieces of flesh.

There was only one Polish who fled, and that was Mieszko, the fat white man, and I told the soldiers to aim at his horse's buttocks, and the sore war horse ran madly into the woods, and soon disappeared, and as for where to run and find his own people, it depended on whether he had enough money for the sake of God.

Bolesław was twisted before me by two warriors, his face wounded, and he was staring at me angrily, as if he could have eaten me alive with his eyes.

"Prince Bolesław, I'm glad to meet you."

I stretched out my hand with a hippie smile: "I guess you don't need to introduce yourself, you have already investigated me clearly before the war, do you want to say anything about our fight?" ”

He turned his face angrily and didn't answer, it seemed that he was a grumpy guy, I shrugged my shoulders indifferently, slowly paced up to him and continued: "Since we don't want to get entangled in the issue of war, let's talk about ransom, what kind of price do you think His Royal Highness is willing to pay to redeem his beloved son?" ”

"Either you will observe the courtesy of the nobility, give me the due treatment, and send someone to negotiate a ransom with my father, or I will follow the established rules and wait honestly for the result, or I ask you to stop humiliating a prince and send me to God in a dignified manner, preserving my noble dignity."

Bolesław finally stiffened his neck and spoke, and every word was spoken with a sonorous force, and he was full of aristocratic scores, but it was a pity that the person he met was me, a notorious despicable person in aristocratic circles, who had never had much honor to speak of.

"Maybe you can try to think about a third way, and that's to work with me." I stood in front of him with my hands behind my back.

"Never thought about why you fell into a trap and became a prisoner so coincidentally? Or why was it only Mieszko who escaped? You are a smart person, I don't want to say much nonsense. ”

"Now that you've cooperated with that bale of straw, I'm afraid my presence will ruin your plans, right?" Bolesław asked.

"You can't put all your eggs in one basket, that's a truth that all village women in the countryside understand."

I paused so that the other party could hear the rest of the sentence: "I can't guarantee that Mieszko will be able to defeat you 100% to get the inheritance, so I have to find someone else to bet on." ”

"Do you think I'm such an easily controlled puppet?" Bolesław roared upside down, in my opinion all useless bluff.

"If you don't say yes, you'll be in a different place at once, and you will hardly even be in contention for the throne. Think about it, after so many years of hard work, you finally let an idiot you despise the most pick up the cheap, are you willing? I asked, staring playfully into his twinkling eyes and deliberately lengthening my voice.

Bolesław raised his head and looked at the dark clouds slowly drifting in the sky, fearing that it would soon rain: "May I ask what exactly you want?" ”

I smiled slightly, and looked at the sky like him: "I haven't thought about it yet, but there will always be a day when I will look for you for a reward." ”

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"You just let him go, don't you really want anything in return?" On the way to the Emperor's camp at Dresden Castle, Kohler rode up to me and expressed his doubts.

"I beg all due respect, once Prince Mieshko learns the truth of the matter, he will gradually turn away from us because of your rebellion, and I am afraid that when the time comes, both sides will not please me, and I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses."

"You think so?" I shook my head comfortably with the bumps on horseback, this battle was won beautifully, and I was naturally in a good mood, and what made me even happier was the brainy Kohler, who was trying to develop his IQ and stride towards the road of all-round development.

"Bolesław is a smart man, he definitely doesn't want to be controlled by others, and he knows our cooperative relationship with Mieshko, coupled with his too upright character, he will never allow Mieshko to pass through foreign countries, and he will be more squeezed out of his unsuccessful brother in the future, the battle for inheritance is about to become white-hot, it was originally a competition under the table, and it has become more and more naked, if you are the boss, will you be in a good mood?"

"Of course it's terrible, the two sons are not fuel-efficient lamps, one is more than shrewd but has the bearing to be a king, a little smart but lacks leadership skills, the brothers don't want to think about how to work hard to restore the country, and even openly and secretly tear each other down, how can the country entrust them in a hundred years?"

Kohler thought for a moment and vaguely grasped the crux of the matter: "Your purpose is ......"

"What is the fastest way to bring down a country? Not a complete conquest, but a complete conquest, but to let it collapse from the inside, tighten the noose around its neck, and we just helped hand over a stool, which is like an apple rotting from the core, and no matter how shiny it looks, it will sooner or later be bitten through by moths. ”

I folded my arms over my chest and continued leisurely: "The previous plan was a little too hasty for quick success, and I was still speculating on new phenomena with the old thinking, and it was only after I fought with the Poles that I realized that they were a rising force, and it was difficult to defeat them quickly, and the work of digging up the foot of the wall and mixing the sand seemed a little too low-level, and improvise was the priority. ”

"You want to fatten up and then kill?" Kohler listened to me and asked.

"I won't do this for the time being, leave a behemoth to contain the Slavic tribes of the Elbe, and besides, someone can make some trouble for Emperor Henry from time to time, and he won't have so much time to find out how to deal with me, and when everyone notices that the threat from the Poles has become a problem, the rest will be a natural thing."

With a slight snort, I scratched my neck that was a little tickled under the chain mail, and found a lice that was sucking blood with relish, grabbed it out and cut it off with my fingernails, and splashed a finger of yellow blood from the swollen belly.

"The eldest man is disappointed that there are only two ways, either take advantage of the energy to marry a little daughter-in-law and have a baby, and send the two unsuccessful sons away, or bet on choosing an heir, focusing on cultivating talents, and suppressing the other at the same time."

"But no matter what he chooses, it will not change the fait accompli, and Poland behind him will surely be mired in civil war, and when everyone is exhausted, Nijmegen will have the spare hands to clean them up, and the rich shores of the Baltic Sea will always be coveted by me."

(End of chapter)