The kingdom of Tristram was a kingdom that was somewhere between slavery and feudalism. The entire kingdom consists of territories directly under the royal family and territories of various noble lords to form a large kingdom. With the exception of the direct crown domains, the methods used by the noble lords to acquire their domains varied - either by virtue of their loyalty to the crown for generations, by performing great feats, or by merging with other noble powers in the kingdom by voluntarily taking the oath of allegiance.

For these noble lords who nominally belong to the kingdom, but are actually controlled by the noble lords in various places, the royal family is naturally preparing to be vigilant while wooing them.

If someone who is interested can get a map of the distribution of aristocratic territories throughout the Tristram Kingdom, it is not difficult to find that there are several interesting features in the distribution of aristocratic territories outside the royal territories in the kingdom: first, the kingdom's territories are not blocked by the local nobles' territories, and secondly, the territories of the local nobles are directly bordered by the royal territories in at least one direction. The former can prevent the territories directly under the royal family from being secretly invaded by the local nobles due to the inconvenience of communication, and the latter can quickly dispatch troops to extinguish the rebellion when the local nobles rebel, and will not irritate the local nobles as much as possible.

Such a layout is the Prairly collar of the Leopold family and the Manchado collar of the Bilgaard family.

Breitnia is the southern border county of the kingdom, and the territories of Leopold and Birgard are in the southernmost part of the county. The southern and eastern parts of the Prailly Territory of the Leopold family are the borders of the Kingdom, and most of the eastern and northeastern areas are adjacent to the Manchado Territory of the Bilgard family, and the other directions are bordered by the Crown Domain.

Therefore, the area where the Leopold family and the Bilgard family have been at war for many years is in the area where the two territories border each other.

And the location of the Hump Fort, is located here.

Due to the irregular and uninterrupted conflicts between the two families for nearly a hundred years, it is difficult to define the dividing line between the two families. The current situation is that the Leopold family now occupies the Hump Fortress due to the fact that the Leopold family had the upper hand in the battle between the two families a few years ago. Ironically, the fort was originally built by the Birgard family to have a bridgehead in the fight against the Leopolds. Unexpectedly, it was taken by the opponent in a conflict between the two families shortly after the fort was built, and it has been occupied by the opponent ever since.

The terrain on which the Hump Fort is located is on a hill in a plain. The relative height of this mountain pack is about 20 meters, and the shape is a long and narrow oblique line in the northeast-southwest direction, of which the slope in the northwest and southeast directions is steep, and the slope in the northeast and southwest directions is gentle. However, the northeast-facing slope is more open, while the southwest-facing slope is narrower.

Despite its name, Hump Fort is actually more of a humble mini-outpost. After all, the purpose of the Bilgaard family was to build it only to build a springboard for an attack, from which logistics could be transported in time, not to rely on it to hold on in the event of an invasion by a large army. Not only are there no bed crossbows for defending the city, but even the rolling stones and timbers used to defend the city have not been fully prepared due to the lack of stone mines and woods in the surrounding area. Despite this, in terms of geographical conditions alone, the location of Hump Fort is the only 'precipitous' (relatively speaking) place and commanding height within a radius of tens of miles. It is precisely because of this that for decades now, the Leopold family has been defeating their opponents again and again in battles between the two families, relying on the Hump Fort as a defensive point.

Today, the fortress will once again face war.

The rudimentary dirt roads are lined with fallow fields, where birds hop and search for the grain grains that farmers have scattered after harvesting, and the occasional small insect that pecks at them triggers a scramble among the birds. Suddenly, the birds searching for food raised their heads, and the intuition of the animals made them suddenly feel as if they felt something, and then they all flew up at once, circling back and forth in the air, and let out a frightened cry.

Dozens of horses galloped in the distance, and as they roared across the plain, even the ground seemed to tremble slightly.

"Speed up! We're almost there. Luna-Maria Hawke, who had galloped at the very end, looked up at the sky in the saddle of her saddle, and then turned to the riders behind her.

"Be vigilant," Resa Barrel, who was staggered to Luna Maria, shouted to her men, "an enemy attack could happen at any moment. ”

"Yes! My lord! The riders behind the two replied loudly.

After receiving a messenger from Humpfort asking for help, Kasha immediately issued a territory-wide mobilization. Since it takes time to assemble a large army, and Humpback Fort is in dire need of support, Kasha sent a vanguard of about 30 people led by Luna Maria and Lesa as the deputy to Humpback Fort to cooperate with Lord Woosack stationed in the fortress to defend against the invading enemy.

At the same time, one of the riders looked at his companion who looked uneasy and comforted him, "Meiling, don't worry." It's going to be fine. ”

The riders who comforted their companions were dressed differently from most of the horsemen, and the cloth of the armor was particularly unique in a pile of armor, and the shape of the sword on the back was very different. This rider is none other than Shi Jinxin, one of the traversers.

Meiling Hawke, who was traveling with her, nodded to acknowledge that she had heard, but the worried look on her face did not subside at all.

Shi Jinxin knew what Meiling was worried about. According to the information provided by the courier, the number of known invading enemies has exceeded five hundred, and more than ten of them have appeared in knightly combat power (medium and high-ranking fighters). And judging by the fact that they only laid siege to Hump Fort and set up camp and made siege weapons instead of rushing to attack, this team was mostly the vanguard of the enemy, and there were only more enemy attacks to follow. At present, there are only more than 100 troops stationed in Hump Fort, of which there are only five knights. It would be difficult to defend against an enemy force five times as large as this alone.

Just when Meiling was worried about the safety of her uncle, Lord Wusack, who was stationed at Humpback Fort, the horse team turned through a small forest. Suddenly, Zhang Boyin, another traverser who was walking at the back of the line, suddenly noticed that there was something wrong with the ground on the road in front of him, and shouted: "Be careful of the ground!! ”

However, his reminder was a step too late. Luna Maria, who was rushing to the front, was unable to pull her horse back, and her mount stumbled on the rope and fell forward. The riders who followed followed vigilantly reined in their horses, but caused a stir in the whole procession. At this moment, a rain of arrows flew from the trees on the side!

The horsemen who were attacked quickly removed their shields to fend off the arrows, but due to the confusion of the team, there were still many gaps between the shields used to defend against the arrows. After a round of arrows, at least five of the horsemen were hit, but fortunately, the wounded were protected by armor, so that they would not be fatal even if they were injured.

When the attack occurred, Shi Jinxin turned his hand and pulled out the long sword on his back and pulled out a sword flower to shoot down the arrow in his direction. "Everyone, be careful!" Shi Jinxin shouted angrily: "These guys use crossbows!" ”

Compared with ordinary bows and arrows, crossbows are not only cumbersome to manufacture and more expensive, but they have the advantage of being easy to use and far more powerful than ordinary bows and arrows. The cost of training a good archer can be several times greater if you use it to train a crossbowman. However, in the kingdom of Tristram, crossbows are controlled military items, and according to the kingdom's regulations, only regular legions within the direct domain of the royal family can be used in large quantities, and nobles in other places are not allowed to hold them. However, this regulation has never been strictly enforced, and every year there are always several batches of smuggled goods secretly flowing out of the workshops specializing in the manufacture of crossbows. Entered the black market and was bought by unnamed buyers.