Chapter 549: Mountain Road

"This hell weather, it's only been more than six months, it's so hot, who can stand it next......" Carmen complained weakly, sweating profusely, the spear made of fine iron was used as a crutch by him, and the helmet had already been thrown behind his back, and at this moment he wanted to strip off the fine iron armor he was wearing. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Haven't the scouts in front found water? I'm dying of thirst!Carmen, give me a drink of your water bladder...... Beru stuck his spear under the tree and spread it out in the shade of the tree. He was even more unbearable than Carmen, gasping for breath like a fish on the shore.

"No, who told you to drink all the time, don't forget that half of the bag of water in my water bladder was poured into your water bladder, and you drank it all. If I can't find a water source in front of me, my small half-bag of water won't be enough for me to drink. Carmen refused.

"Carmen, don't forget that we grew up together when we were young, and I helped you with everything, and I carried it for you to fight with people, isn't it worth a few mouthfuls of friendship after so many years?" Belu said angrily.

"Okay, okay, every time you say this, you are not annoyed, and I don't want to think about the time you helped me win a fight, in the end, it was not that I was beaten with you, I kept thinking that if there was less fighting, maybe I would be beaten lightly, and when others saw that you were a big man, it was easy to be heavy-handed, and I would suffer with you...... Give you two more sips and open your mouth. Carmen carefully carried the water bladder and poured two mouthfuls of water into Beru's mouth.

With these two mouthfuls of water moisturizing, Belu was visibly more energetic, sat up on his stomach for a while, leaned against the tree with Carmen and watched the soldiers of the Armed Legion of the Free Alliance, equipped with the same equipment as him, stick out their tongues and trek through the rugged mountain path.

"I always thought that we would wear armor and wield spears and bravely charge into the enemy's battle line, which is our mission as a soldier of the Free Alliance. But who would have thought that we would have to do nothing but walk around the mountains and march in circles every day, and the enemy would be bombarded by the artillery of the Norton family. We wipe their butts every day like the cleaners who collect the garbage......" Belu said.

"Silly big man, don't bother others if you want to die yourself, don't think that you will definitely survive and become a hero if you charge into battle, you must know that it is a stunned boy like you who dies the fastest in the battle array. Also, why are you two boys running so fast that I think something is wrong?" said this by a middle-aged man with a beard on his face.

"Uncle Good...... Carmen and Belu hurriedly stood up, this is their captain of the hundred-man team, Good, who is nearly fifty years old, is an experienced old mercenary, silver two stars. After the Business Alliance abolished the Mercenary Union, he also washed his hands. This time the Freedom Alliance reorganized, and he was invited by a friend to join the Legion and become a centurion.

"Get out of the way, let me take a break. Uncle Goode wiped the sweat from his forehead: "People are old and useless, ten years ago, mountain roads like this were like flat land for me, it was not difficult to walk for a day and a night, but now I feel that I can't walk after walking for a morning." ”

Carmen and Belu moved out, leaving the middle spot under the tree to Captain Good.

"Come, Uncle Good, sit here, it's cool here, and the mountain breeze blows from time to time, it's very comfortable. Carmen slapped her ass: "Uncle Goode, did you come to find the two of us on purpose?"

"Of course, don't look for the two of you to find anyone, you must know that your parents asked us to take care of you two skin monkeys when we went on the expedition, who told me and your two families to be neighbors, since I was a child, I have watched you two bare-bottomed boys grow up slowly, and now they have grown into two young men. ”

Uncle Goode took out his water bladder and poured a few mouthfuls of water, and Belu watched from the side and swallowed his saliva, but he didn't dare to ask Uncle Goode for it, just watched with a blank eye. Uncle Goode drank the water and threw the water bladder to Belu, who was overjoyed and lifted the water bladder and gulped it up.

"Tell me, what's the matter with you two, as you walk and suddenly pick up speed, leaving our team behind, and pulling away for nearly an hour, what do you want to do? If you don't have a good reason, you will have to give each of you ten lashes......," Uncle Goode asked solemnly.

"Uncle Goode, when we set out in the morning, Belu forgot to fill the water bladder, and in the heat he drank all the water left from yesterday, and drank most of my water bladder, and was still thirsty. So we wanted to walk quickly to the water source in front of us and fill it with some water. But who knows that after walking for so long, we haven't seen the water source sign marked by the scouts, we just want to replenish some water. Carmen quickly explained.

"Silly big man, why don't you ask me when there is no water?" Uncle Goode unceremoniously gave Beilu and Carmen a head chestnut: "I have walked this mountain road before, and there will be no water source until the evening, but with our current marching speed, I don't know if we can get the camp at night." However, when I set out in the morning, I had already prepared for it, and I filled two large wooden buckets of water and tied them to the donkeys of the rear team, which was enough for our team of 100 to drink. I told you two that you two don't have to be so frightened, so I thought you were going to go ahead and take risks......

"So what do we do now, do we want to go back?" Belu finally put down the water bladder.

"Just rest here," said Uncle Goode, "they'll be here anyway, and we might even take a nap here......"

The rumbling of cannon in the distance was like thunder, and all three of them fell silent. After a while, Carmen spoke up: "Uncle Goode, is that artillery really so powerful, the castle fortress where we camped two days ago was about to be bombed into ruins......

Belu next to him hummed and said: "What I can't figure out is that since the Norton family's artillery is so powerful, then the Norton family's armed forces alone can attack their targets, why do we have to come with the armed legion of the Free Alliance, anyway, we can't make it hard, so it's interesting to march around every day......?

Uncle Goode laughed: "Silly boys, this is to let you experience what the battlefield is, and familiarize yourself with actual combat, which is much more effective than training." Don't look at us now that we're on the march all day, it's because the Norton family's armed Guards have taken over all the missions. After they have swept away the defenses and castle fortresses deployed by the enemy in the hilly areas in front of them, they will leave some slightly weaker enemies for us to practice in order to achieve the purpose of training you rookies. ”

"But I think it's because they look down on us as if they were giving us alms. Belu complained, "Actually, what is better than us, isn't it just an extra artillery? If it's the right one, I'm sure I'll be able to overturn four or five of them." ”

Uncle Goode gave Beilu a chestnut again: "What nonsense, silly boy, don't look at you and Carmen are now twenty-three years old and have the rank of three stars of black iron, one against one, maybe you can still have an advantage, but if you want to be one against two or one against three, I guarantee that you will die quickly." The army is not a mercenary duel, nor is it a place for individual bravery, the elite of the Norton family's armed forces lies in their discipline and battle formation, and they cooperate with each other tacitly and treat death as home. Even without artillery, we, the Armed Legion of the Free Alliance, are no match for them. Don't forget that so many of the Merchant Alliance's forces have been defeated by their men......"

"But Uncle Goode, didn't Captain Haske of the First Corps say that we shouldn't follow the Norton family to attack the Commercial Alliance this time? We should refuse to stand with the Nortons, because the Nortons are representatives of a barbaric and backward lordship that has no freedom, equality and independence. We should ally with the Business Alliance to drive the Norton forces out of the Plains of Falis and the City of Moronte, so that the Free Alliance can truly be free. Carmen said to Uncle Goode.

Uncle Goode was furious: "Didn't I tell you not to listen to that idiot at Haske? That guy has a sick brain, the Norton family practices a lord system, isn't the lord system practiced by the business alliance the same lord aristocratic feudal system? Have you two forgotten the hard days of three years ago? You two catch mice in the sewers every day!

Use your brains to think about why your parents resolutely refused to let you join the Merchant Alliance's armed forces at that time, but your parents allowed you to join the army after the Freedom Alliance was established last year, and even I, an old man who is almost fifty, was willing to get a job as a centurion in the Armed Legion of the Free Alliance. Quite simply, because we joined the army to protect our Freedom Alliance, an alliance of the people of Moronte themselves, not a business alliance controlled by the Great Chamber of Commerce that treats us as slaves and cannon fodder!

I'm an old mercenary who has been in the city of Morent for more than thirty years, and I've seen it all the time. Don't look at us people of Moriente who proudly claim to be free Morientes, but to those big chambers, we are just another form of slave, but we don't have a sign on our heads who our lord is. Think of the three years of life under the ration system, which is what free people have, and we are prescribed to eat whatever and how much we eat, and we have to work hard for more than twelve hours a day to eat this food. That's really free, we can choose not to do it, and then the whole family starves to death.

Don't listen to that idiot Haske, you should think about it, without the Norton family's armament, you two would still be catching rats in the sewers. Why did we drive out the Norton family, did he rob us of food or drink? No, not only did they do nothing to us residents of the city of Moldon, but they also gave us free food, brought countless goods and goods, and lent us a huge sum of money to the Freedom Alliance, and finally brought the city of Moronte back to its bustling state, restoring the style of the first commercial city on the mainland twenty years ago.

People must know how to be grateful, and they must also learn to be tolerant. Even though the Norton family practiced a lordship system, they had the grace to reinvent us in the city of Morente, and without their liberation, we would still be slaves to the commercial alliance. Why should we hate them? Just because they have a different system than we do? The Nortons didn't take our city of Moriente as their own territory, they didn't loot us, they protected us from the threat of the business alliance against us, we didn't support them and drove them out, is that what people do?

It's an idiot like Haske who would say he wants to form an alliance with a business alliance, and I'm sure we'll be the unluckiest if we do what he says. The Business League treats us as rebels, and if they return to the city of Morente, those of us who serve the Freedom League will be raided and imprisoned, and at best we will be sent to the mines and plantations until we die of exhaustion. And our families are also affected by us.

No, how did an idiot like Hasker get into our legion, and did he harbor some evil intentions? Carmen, Beru, you two tell me when did Haske say these things in front of you, and what else did he say besides them? Did there be anyone else who listened to him at the time besides the two of you?"

Seeing Uncle Goode's somewhat anxious look, Carmen and Belu panicked.

"It's not that serious, Uncle Goode. Carmen muttered, "Even the night before yesterday, when Belu and I were on duty at the camp gate, and the patrol led by Kate, everyone complained about the difficulty of the march, and then Captain Harske passed by at night, and told us this, and there were many words that mocked the Norton family, all of which were jokes about how stupid the lord was and was tricked by the people, and we just took it as a pastime, and didn't pay much attention to it......"

"Uncle Goode, you're making too much of a fuss, Captain Haske, he has any evil intentions, it's just that he is straightforward and fast-talking, and he never speaks through his brain, haven't you commented on him a long time ago?" Belu also spoke: "His parents died on the battlefield of the last resistance to the invasion of the Krisson Empire, and he was raised by his grandparents since he was a child, so he has always hated the empire in the north. When he grew up, he became a silver teacher at St. Marchie's College, and when the college closed down, he had to work odd jobs in the city to support his wife and children.

Later, the merchant alliance recruited troops in the city, and he signed up, and after two years of bloody battles with the Kingdom of Andinac in the Plains of Falli, he survived. Then the Norton family armed occupied the city of Moriente, he was ordered to participate in the counteroffensive, but ran to the city and surrendered to the Norton family as a prisoner, and finally was forced into the city defense force by the Norton family forces, and now he has been reorganized and transferred to the legion as a centurion like you, everyone knows his experience, and they also know that he hates northerners, and the Norton family is no exception. Besides, Captain Haske, that is to say, he doesn't have the courage to oppose the Norton family. ”

Uncle Goode sighed: "Forget it, I won't say more, anyway, you don't mix with Haske in the future, if he continues like this, he will soon be unlucky." Stay away from him, lest you be carried away by him. The Norton family is armed and the Grand Duke of Norton is not something he can laugh at, to be honest, there are many famous high-ranking people in the Norton family who are from our city of Moriente, which is why the Norton family is so friendly to us people in Moriente City. ”

"No, Uncle Good, do you know the Norton family well? Carmen asked curiously.

"No, I don't know the Norton family, it's just that I know Grand Duke Norton, the new Sword Master. When I met him, he was just like you, just a low-level mercenary with three stars of black iron. At that time, Archduke Norton was not yet twenty years old, and he was studying at Dawn Academy, because of the civil war between the three kings in the northern Cresson Empire, he was cut off from his family, and had to work as a black iron mercenary to earn tuition. No, the backpack you are carrying now was designed by the Grand Duke of Norton, and I was his first customer......"

A large group of people walking in the distance were waving at the three of them, and Uncle Goode stood up: "Let's go, our team is here, it's time to return after resting for so long, and we have to rush to the camp at night, otherwise we will have to sleep in the wilderness." When I have time, I'll tell you the legend of Archduke Norton, who was known as Black Iron Lock, invincible in silver......"

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