"If we encounter a well-defended castle or fortress this time, we will take a detour and leave!" These are what Andre said before leaving, but the Moon Shield Mercenary Regiment had already taken a border fortress the day after departure.

Andre, Eddie, and Feder stepped on the land of the Winter Country, standing in the hall of the fortress, chatting leisurely. The other squadron leaders went to count the booty in the fort - a lot of war supplies and letters.

On the second night of departure from the City of Honor, more than 6,000 members of the Moon Shield Mercenary Regiment had crossed the border between the Republic and the Kingdom of Cose, but the first fortress they encountered was only guarded by about a hundred soldiers - and while André and Fide were standing on the walls of the fortress, a large number of people were still sleeping, and they were captured alive without knowing it.

The fortress was still a short distance from the Disha Castle mentioned on the map, and was supposed to be built as an outpost fortress, but the small number of troops stationed here surprised everyone in the Moon Shield Mercenary Regiment.

Despite this, the captains were happy that they had just made such a gain, and André even had Alain send a raven to tell the good news to the Archon Manle in the City of Honor.

At this time, the two brothers, Marcus and Matthews, pressed an officer from the Kosai Kingdom into the fortress hall, and the other party was obviously not a high-ranking officer.

"Get down on your knees!" Matthews kicked the officer, who had stabbed him in the arm with a dagger before being captured.

The officer's face was as dead as ashes, and his head hung down.

"Didn't you expect us to fight back when you attacked our republic before?" Andrei asked in a loud voice, sitting in his chair.

The officer raised his head, looked at the other party blankly, and said, "Sneak attack on the Republic? We don't know!" When he said this, his expression relaxed, not like he was lying, "Isn't it your Marvil Republic that suddenly attacked us?!

Matthews immediately slapped him, and the officer was knocked out of a few teeth at once, and his cheeks were red and swollen all at once, and he didn't dare to say more.

And Fidel, who was standing next to Andrei, had also read the letters that were in contact with the outside, he took the letters in his hand and said: "He may not be lying, the letters of the last month have been about the invasion of the Oguna Empire," Fide found out the reason why the number of guards in this fortress was so small, "and at the same time, the Duchy of Mageni, which borders the Oguna Empire and the Kosai Kingdom, also sent an army to attack the Kosai Kingdom in the south. ”

"Oh?!, it looks like he's trying to take advantage of the fire!" Eddie said disdainfully.

Fide nodded and continued: "Here's a letter mentioning that this fortress, which was originally guarded by five hundred men, had sent four hundred men to fight on the front line, so we took it so easily. ”

"I see, the upper echelons of the Kosai Kingdom did not mention the attack on the Republic to their soldiers," Andrei stood up and motioned for the brothers Marcus and Matthews to take this officer prisoner and put him in the prison of the fortress like the other Kosai Kingdom soldiers, "Is this because they don't believe that the Republic will fight back against them?"

"It's possible, it's also possible that they simply don't have the ability to go to war with three countries at the same time, so they brought back forces to the west," Fid said. ”

Andre slapped his palm, "Okay! Now that the enemy has taken away the troops from this side, even if there is only one mercenary group of us, we can go straight into and take these castles and fortresses!" Everyone thought that Andre wanted to take one more city and go back to be rewarded, only Fei De knew that he was anxious to find Russell. Now that the marsh principality of Mageni is also sending troops to the kingdom of Cose, if Russell is really hiding in the castle to the south, then he will choose to stay away from the war, which helps André.

The other squadron leaders also took some supplies, and they all agreed to Andrei's proposal to go straight to Disha Castle, a castle built on the plains southwest of the Kingdom of Kosai.

After a half-day break, the Moon Shield mercenary group began to move on, while the cavalry squadron led by Eddie set off first. They split into three teams to attack due east, southeast and northeast, first probing the rear and surroundings of Disha Castle before returning to report.

Andrei quickly approached Disha Castle with his main force. On the way, several passers-by in the countryside were captured, but they did not provide any information, nor were they Russell that André wanted to find, so they had to let them go.

This large plain is rarely inhabited, and the countryside under the rule of Disha Castle has not been discovered, and the Moon Shield Mercenary Group is walking alone on the main road.

Sherry returned to the formation first and reported to Andre what she had gathered.

"Disha Castle was sitting fifteen kilometers ahead, there was nothing suspicious nearby, and there were no forests or hills to be seen, so I couldn't understand why this castle was built in such an open area. ”

Andrei nodded and said, "You don't know, Disha Castle used to be surrounded by forests, but it has been cut down by his lord," he had already gathered information about Disha Castle before leaving, which was a territory called Sir Monta in the Kingdom of Cose, and this Sir Monta has always lived in this castle, and it seems that he never takes a step out of the castle, "I heard that the castle walls are very thick, and the fortifications are very good, I just hope they don't know about our arrival." ”

As he spoke, Fidel noticed a crow flying overhead, heading for Disha Castle, fifteen kilometers ahead, and he noticed that the crow was released from within the Moon Shield Mercenary Regiment.

"Anyway, you go tell Eddie about them, let the cavalry squadron continue to patrol the perimeter of Disha Castle, and contact us as soon as there is any situation. Andre waved his hand, and Sherry left.

The Moon Shield mercenary group continued to advance, and soon saw the outline of Disha Castle.

It was afternoon, so the sun in the west illuminated Disha Castle clearly. The castle is a medium-sized castle, and it is estimated that there will be a small number of dwellings and markets in the castle, and the huge arrow tower, wide moat, high battlements and looming inner city trebuchets all declare the strength of this Disha castle - even if it is isolated on the plains, it can hold on to attacks from all sides.

André stood there, his hands on his hips, looking at the quiet castle of Disha from afar, unable to say a word for a moment.

It was also the first time that Fed had participated in siege warfare - he had made a number of suggestions for defending the city during the previous defense of Gansha City, and he knew that it would not be easy to storm a well-fortified fortification, and that it would not be possible to take the opponent by his own bravery.

Andrei asked Alain, "In your opinion, is it appropriate for us to attack head-on?" This time, the Moon Shield mercenary group did not bring any siege weapons, not even a decent long ladder. The only ones who have the ability to attack fortifications are the 1,300 archers under Captain Alain, and under the cover of these elite archer mercenaries, they can still let their soldiers try to climb the city wall.

"It's hard to say, we don't know what the other party's fortifications are, but from here, no one in Disha Castle shows his face, so be careful of deceit. Alain pointed to the battlements and arrow towers of the castle that Disha said, but there was no one in sight, and the gates were closed and silent, and there were no soldiers standing guard even on the watchtowers.

Julian said, "Maybe they've all fled, leaving behind an empty city!"

And Bisluvis said: "This castle can accommodate up to two thousand soldiers, and Monta is a viscount, it is estimated that it is not bad to be able to raise seven or eight hundred men, so there is nothing to be afraid of." The leader of the Sword and Shield Squadron had been urging Andre to speed up, and he also knew that this time as an advance reconnaissance force was to find Russell, and he should not waste time elsewhere.

"Why don't we get around this castle, there's a huge defensive trebuchet in there. Alain saw that Disha Castle was not as easy to take as he thought.

"How can this be, we just gave up without even trying?" snarled Julian, who had always been dissatisfied with Alain's cautious manner.

At this time, Feder said: "We can send some people to find out the truth, but this person is the candidate" Fetter glanced at Julian and Bisluvis, "Everyone knows that we are now out of the range of the other side, and it is safe to speak here." ”

Julian snorted coldly, and Bisluvis didn't offer to let his men pass.

Andre waved his hand and said, "In that case, I'll ask Greif to bring a hundred two-handed swordsmen over to investigate," he turned to look at Alain, "Captain Alain, please also allocate a hundred archers to cover them." ”

"Yes. ”

Then Greif led a hundred two-handed swordsmen, who carried two long ladders, slowly approached Disha Castle, while a hundred of Alain's archers followed, drawing their bows and aiming at the battlements of the castle.

At this time, the faces of several soldiers were revealed behind the battlements, and then they quickly hid back.

"Fire!"

Greif heard it clearly, and someone shouted from inside the walls.

The giant trebuchets that had been set up in the inner city were suddenly pulled, and some thick wooden bars were tossed into the sky by the trebuchets and flew over Greif's head.

"Hurry back! Hurry!" Greif shouted as he commanded the two hundred mercenaries to retreat, the large wooden bar at the front falling downwards and rolling onto the heads of the three two-handed swordsmen. Their heads were crushed along with their entrails, and their two-handed swords were distorted by the flying bars of wood.

One of the sticks flew towards Greif, who immediately raised his huge three-pointed harpoon and aimed it at it. It's like sticking a fork into a sausage, but the impact of this "sausage" is too great, and although Greif has a strange force, the wooden bar is also pierced by the three tips of the harpoon, but it still knocks Greif to the ground.

"No, we don't have a chance of winning head-on. Feder looked at the trebuchets that kept "raising their heads", and they were spitting out thick "sausages" "in their mouths".