I don't know how long it took, I was dejected and hugged the body of the old earl, the sunlight in front of me was suddenly blocked, and a few blurred shadows occupied all the space, and I shivered all over my body when I didn't come, and felt cold and biting.

"Your Excellency."

It was Owen's eternally enthusiastic voice that drove away a lot of chills and gloom in his heart.

"These are the ...... What's wrong with you, my lord? You okay? ”

"It's okay, but the loss of an old friend is just too grief."

I smiled dryly and asked tiredly, "What were you going to say?" ”

"That's right, the knights under the command of the Earl of Richfield saw that the situation was not right and wanted to break out, and we tried to stop it without success, and a dozen horsemen fled westward."

After Owen finished speaking, he dodged and let go of a few people next to him and introduced me one by one.

"They are the commanders of the mercenary regiment, and they are willing to surrender unconditionally, and they want to come to pay their respects to you." Before the words fell, several middle-aged people dressed in bells and whistles bent down and saluted in turn, and their attitudes were quite respectful.

"Lord Duke, God-favored, it is my honor to witness your majesty."

The leader was dressed in chain mail with very fine locks, and obliquely clothed in expensive leopard skins, which were not produced in the country, and were mostly sold from the East by Saracen merchants, and it was estimated that the means he obtained would not be too glorious.

"I'm the chief of the Black Forest Mercenary Regiment, uh...... You know, in order to facilitate business with a great nobleman like you, I have called the priest of the Cathedral of Mainz by a well-known name, de Wald, which he means by the words of a man who lives in the forest. ”

"May God bless you, Lord Duke Nijmegen, I am the infantry captain of the Black Forest Mercenary Regiment, Mad Donkey." Another shorter stout man introduced himself.

"I'm the Captain of the Black Forest Mercenary Regiment, Hawkeye, Honorable Lord." This time, the speaker was tall and thin, with slender and beautiful fingers, and was definitely suitable for playing the piano.

"We ......"

The self-proclaimed commander-in-chief de Wald, twisted and untied the Saracen-style scimitar hanging from his waist, which may have been the harvest of his business, and the Holy See and various countries have clear regulations that non-knights are not eligible to use long swords, otherwise they will be punished for blasphemy and transgression, so this mercenary group leader who is in charge of hundreds of people has to take the pagan sword to make up the number.

"Please accept the surrender of the Black Forest and put an end to this senseless fight, Lord Duke." The commander of the army fell to one knee and raised his scimitar, decorated with feathers and velvet, above his head with respectful hands.

I gladly accept the surrender, this exotic weapon is quite appetizing.

"Stand up, Captain de Wald, and I declare in the name of the Duke of Nijmegen that we are no longer hostile to each other."

The leopard-print man nodded and stood up, and I stared at his eyes that kept rolling with nervousness, and said, "How many of your people are left?" ”

"Huh?"

The sensitive commander raised his eyebrows imperceptibly, and the cunning that flashed in the corners of his eyes was very similar to that of a Jewish dealer who smelled a business opportunity.

"You...... Want to hire us? ”

"Bastard! The Duke will answer whatever you ask, what so much nonsense! Owen scolded angrily, and the old man was full of style.

"It's me who is abrupt, sir."

The commander-in-chief who is crawling around in the rivers and lakes is naturally a person who knows how to observe words and feelings, and immediately apologized humbly: "The specific number of people has not had time to be counted, but in a general estimate, there should be no less than 100 people who can fight without missing arms and legs, right?" ”

"A hundred?" This number is basically what I expected, a hundred mercenaries who can fight and kill are better than nothing.

"At what price did Earl Richfield hire you in the first place?"

At the mention of money, the leopard-print man's eyes suddenly lit up, he secretly exchanged glances with the other two commanders, and replied flatteringly: "One copper coin per person per day, five heavy infantry, and a few of our leaders are counted separately, to be honest, Lord Duke, the earl only paid the commission for the first fifteen days, and promised to make up the balance with the local transit tax after arriving in St. Galle, but he broke his promise, saying that the tax was insufficient during the war, and only took out less than one-fifth of the balance. ”

"I'll double the price, and make up the arrears of the commission for Earl Lechfeld." The mouths of the three mercenary captains involuntarily grew, and Owen secretly tugged at his clothes, reminding me of the embarrassing financial situation.

"Let's talk about it first, my down payment will have to wait until I take St. Gar and give it to you, do you hear clearly?"

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When the term Yamaguchi is mentioned, people's minds tend to make up such a picture......

The towering headlands on both sides stand like knives and axes, and there is only a narrow path in the middle that can only allow people to pass, and when you look up from there, you can see a beautiful first-line heavenly wonder, which is simply a natural danger that cannot be opened.

In fact, everyone misunderstood, the above description is closer to the Yadan landform of the northwest desert, rather than the traditional sense of the mountain pass, of course, the kind of glimmer of heaven often appears in the magic epic, where the heroes are alone against strong enemies, composing a legend that can be sung and cried.

As one of the main transit points over the Alps, the St. Gal Pass has become a bridgehead and springboard for northerners to invade Italy because of its relatively superior geographical environment.

Saint-Gall is located on a flat hillside, below the surrounding snow-capped peaks, with the crystal clear Lake Constance in the background, and the lake's ferry connects to Constance at the other end, the seat of the diocesan bishop.

The Alps are like a reliable man, with his thick shoulders to protect the delicate and delicate lover in his arms, the harsh climate and the snow that never melts behind him, every time he follows the road built in Roman times through the mountains and reaches St. Galle, the first thing that catches his eye is the grass covering the slopes and the blue-purple irises characteristic of the Alps.

Speaking of the origin of the name of St. Galle, we have to mention the first monk of Tyrius, who first discovered this pure land, a learned man from Ireland who swore to dedicate himself to God, traveled thousands of miles to find the truth, and settled here after half a lifetime, and built the first prayer room with the help of the local residents, a small fishing village of only ten families at that time.

During the reign of D'Gobert III of the Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Archbishop of Constance appointed Father Gall as bishop of the small parish, which had been expanded into a monastery, and built the magnificent church and its annexes on the basis of the prayer room of Tirius.

Make the ancestors. Sant. Gallen rose to prominence as the religious center of the nearby area, gradually gaining more and more local power and power.

After his death, he was canonized by the Vatican for his outstanding missionary deeds, and the name of St. Gal was derived, and his former residence and tomb became a pilgrimage destination for the faithful, and many witty, pious, profound quotations and sacred experiences about him were handed down.

In the Carolingian dynasty, Emperor Lothair I, believing that the prayers of the monks would bless the country, issued an edict in the last year of his life to exempt the monastery from the obligation to pay taxes, and from then on, the Abbey of St. Galle, which already enjoyed many privileges, was completely separated from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Constance, that is, the Vatican, and at the same time did not have to obey the orders of the secular feudal lords, and obtained all the autonomous powers.

The monasteries, which were free of their hands and feet, became uncontrollable like a burst of banks, and they made a fortune by controlling the busy trade routes, the salt mined in the mountains, and the abundant iron ores, and fed a large number of monks, freedmen, and ownerless serfs who came to the monastery, and they were so obsessed with building the monastery bigger and bigger, more and more extensive, and more and more magnificent, so that Emperor Otto always had to spend a few days every time he passed through Rome, and I knew the abbot Father Bruni at that time.

After successfully naturalizing the Black Forest, I immediately led the army to the battlefield in the lower reaches of the river, and helped Iris, who was almost completely annihilated, to defeat the enemy who crossed the river and attacked him.

De Wald, the head of the Black Black Forest mercenary group, kept whispering in my ears all the way, just to make sure that I would really pay double the price and make up the arrears of the commission for Count Lechfeld, his mouth was more dexterous than it seemed, and he could explain the same thing in a different way, no wonder he could surpass the strong crazy donkey and the steady eagle eye and become the chief of the mercenary group.

"My lord, do you know Dean Bruni well?"

The leopard print man de Wald's chatter is once again the subject of conversation.

"Uh...... With all due respect, the Dean is a serious old man, I mean the old man, he guards money as much as he values his own life, are you sure you can pay for it? ”

"If you don't feel at ease, commander, you can tie me up now and give it to the king of Paris to receive the reward, anyway, you are outnumbered, and it will be easy to clean up my remnants of the army." I was impatiently digging through my ears, as if they were filled with all the nonsense he was talking about.

"Hehe, no kidding, sir."

De Wald smirked, and his two big rough hands subconsciously rubbed together, like a fly that couldn't eat in the face of food.

"Isn't that worrying...... No, no, I'm worried about you, I swear to God that I'm telling the truth! ”

"If you say one more word, I will pay one less copper coin until it is completely deducted."

I couldn't bear it anymore and shook my index finger with a straight face, putting on a long-winded expression to scare him.

"You're a bard in this business, aren't you?"

"Your Excellency is a god, you are right, my father is indeed the most famous bard in Bavaria......"

The leopard print man looked up and saw my tiger face, and immediately swallowed the second half of the words, maybe not only half of them, into his stomach, and smiled flatteringly and ugly.

I clamped the horse's belly and urged the mount to go quickly, and without looking back, I put down a sentence: "Twelve copper coins, your twelve subordinates are not paid today, how sad they should be when they know......"

When the beautiful town of Saint-Gal is reflected in the blue waters of Lake Constance, the fourth bell of the midday prayer is ringing from the monastery tower on the hillside, representing the fourth prayer of the morning and the arrival of noon, and the arrival of the first meal. I touched my stomach as if I was cooing in protest, and I remembered that the last meal was last night, and I was immediately dizzy with hunger.

Earlier than the delicious meal were the town's guards, most of whom were residents of St. Gal and tenant farmers of the monastery, who had to fulfill their duty of service, and the hundreds of foreign troops caught the attention of the guards very early, especially the ones who came were obviously not ordinary armed passing caravans, they sounded their horns vigilantly, calling the peasants who were working nearby to take shelter in time, reminding the monastery to prepare for defense, and then methodically closing the gates, if the low stone wall could be regarded as a wall, Why can't a simple fence made of logs be called a city gate?

"Good day, friends from afar, please accept the best wishes of St. Gall."

There were three guards who came to negotiate, of different ages, and the Shiba Inu who was talking with an angry roar was probably their leader.

"I don't know what to call you, friend?"

Owen rode out of the procession, deliberately flashing the knight's sword in a prominent position: "Pious Defender and Loyal Imperial Knight, Wise Bannerman, Pagan Nightmare, Master of the Coastline between Friesland and Denmark, Duke of Nijmegen canonized by His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Pope, Randy. Adrian. Nijmegen. Reggio Calabria. Lord Hoffman arrived, and didn't hurry up and humbly kiss the dust under his feet! ”

"Lord Duke?"

The guard with the dog was shocked, not knowing whether it was out of awe or surprise at my sudden arrival, and he was stunned for a moment before he bowed down tremblingly, not caring about the angry glare of Owen next to him.

"Please forgive you, my lord, I will immediately send someone to inform the dean."

"Not busy."

I motioned for him to excuse himself, and the Shiba Inu couldn't understand why his master was so in awe of the man riding the four-legged monster in front of him, and grunted in confusion.

"Your name, civilian." Not knowing the identity of the other party, I considered using a relatively neutral civilian.

"I am a freeman who pays taxes for Lord Dean, and my name is Nadur."

He held his head high proudly, and the free people spoke very loudly, after all, in this era when the peasants were generally dependent on the feudal lords, it was not easy to become a free people.

"May God bless you, Mr. Freeman."

I changed the wording and addressed him as Mr. to show his approachable posture and good upbringing, as is the saying that circulates among the people......

Not even the Roman emperor could order a freeman to kneel!

"My troops are too tired, first find a place for them to eat and rest, as for the dean's side, they haven't been long after the lunch class has started, so it's inconvenient to disturb, and I'll visit the soldiers in person when they settle down."

"Of course, everything is as you wish, Lord Duke, the gates of St. Gal are always open for close friends and friendly guests, please come with me." He and his companion retreated to the side of the road and respectfully invited me to go first.

The leopard-print man jumped out and affectionately grabbed Nadur's arm, and said happily: "Hey, my old friend Nadur, don't you remember me?" Son of the Forest. Wald! As he spoke, he patted the freedman on the back out of nowhere, as if the two men knew each other well.

"It's you! bandit leader! ”

Nadur took two steps back and glared at the mercenary leader viciously: "I said how to look familiar, but I didn't expect it to be all your people!" ”

"Wait!"

I stopped the Saint-Gal and the Black Forest mercenaries who were about to do it.

"Is there any misunderstanding between you?"

(End of chapter)