The morning was cold, and with a hint of loneliness, the Northern Coalition army walked into a peaceful village. This was the third village they passed through, and although the Erlengrad rebellion had devastated the entire kingdom of Kislev, the war had only been fought in a few places, and people were still living peacefully in more villages and towns.

But this does not mean that the villagers have no concept of the Legion and the war, and when the mighty Northern Coalition forces drove into this peaceful village, all the villagers closed their doors in horror to avoid the Legion's attack. From the gaze of these innocent villagers, Rhodes saw their fear.

Because the arrival of the army means the collection of food, and there may even be forced conscription...... The army often paid very little money to the peasants when they requisitioned grain. Once a family is requisitioned for food, they will not be able to recover from this "disaster" for a whole year, and some will even become beggars from then on. Sometimes, the requisition of food is not enough, and if the army losses are relatively large, the officers will also recruit on the spot, and it is conceivable that some families have only one male in the prime of life, and if they are captured as soldiers, the family will be abolished, which can also explain why there are so many women who have lost their footing in the territory of the human forces in the Old World. Some are willing to degenerate, because selling themselves is faster than working as coolies to make money, while others are forced by life and have no choice but to do so.

Although Rhodes would like to put an end to this kind of thing, at least the price of your grain should be kind, and you can't drive people to a corner...... But after all, he was not the commander of this legion, and he had no choice but to watch the soldiers knock on the door from door to door, like bandits, rushing into the house and begging for dry food.

In the cold morning mist, the northern coalition army was like a group of robbers, knocking on the door vigorously, and many villagers, although they were unwilling, but under pressure, they still opened the door to "receive" these kingdom troops from the north. Rhodes followed the duke's grain convoy into a peasant's house, where the wooden planks of the door were a little dilapidated, and the only valuable thing in the house was probably the old furniture. The soldiers did not take their swords, and the man of the house was already sitting in the corner trembling, and it could be seen that he was unwilling to hand over the grain, and that the spring equinox had not yet begun to sow the grain, and that they would turn in the grain at this time, and what would they take to sow the seeds?

However, the grain conscription team did not care about this, and they took out the grain requisition order of the Duke and the duke, which clearly stated the laws and regulations, as well as the price of the requisition.

The market price of barley was 13 silver shillings per pound, whereas under the regulations of the grain requisition order, the purchase price was only 8 silver shillings per pound. The man said all the good things, but the people of the grain team were indifferent, and even glanced at the poor hostess behind the man, and her underage daughter.

Rhodes stood outside the door, his heart heavy. The medieval world is also a side of the dark world of the Middle Ages to some extent, there are not so many romantic stories of princes and princesses, more of a history of people constantly fighting for survival, commoners are like this, and the nobility is the same, free love is just written in fairy tales to deceive people, in the real world, princes and princesses get married, and the main purpose is political alliance......

And the civilians at the bottom sometimes can't even find a wife......

"Don't rub it off, it's not for your family, friend, you should understand, we are also acting impartially, hand over the food, we give the money, it's that simple. ”

The guard led by him took a step closer, although he did not move, his eyes understood that it was impossible to escape, and only by obediently handing over food could he be spared.

"The land has not yet been sown this year, so please leave me some more for the sake of the gods. ”

In the early morning, the helpless pleas of the man and the cry of the girl in the room form a sad elegy. Rhodes knew that if it weren't for the legion passing by, they could have lived peacefully, and now, the peaceful life was shattered and it was no longer possible to put together a complete home.

"I didn't write the law. The captain of the guard yelled, "Hand over the food, don't waste our time." ”

"At least you should have a little more......"

"How dare you bargain with the Duke's legion?" said the fat David, and the little girl hiding behind the mistress cried even harder. There was innocence on her immature face, and from time to time she wiped her tears with the corner of her mother's skirt.

"Please...... This little food is really not enough for us to live. ”

The man pleaded, but the soldiers of the convoy were no longer impatient, and they pushed the man away, walked straight to the granary, and began to carry the wheat bags that were already scarce. Several soldiers of the Duke's personal guard even took a fancy to the mistress of the house and forced the woman into a corner. The girl's crying was heartbreaking...... Finally, Rod couldn't hold back any longer, stepped forward quickly, and pulled away a few arrogant guards.

"Enough, give them back the food. How much I give. ”

Rod growled. The woman hid in the corner, looking at the scene in front of her in horror, tears dripping from the corners of her eyes.

"What are you, my lord?"

The guard asked, surprised. Anyway, Rod's identity is indeed higher than them, although he is a member of the Duke's Guard, but these people are only at the level of soldiers after all, and Rhodes belongs to nobles and is considered a lord, so in front of Rod, several guards suddenly behaved. But what they couldn't understand was why the Black Hammer Keep Lord was intervening in this matter.

"I said, let them go, and I'll pay for the food for them. ”

"Lord Lord, these untouchables don't deserve your sympathy, there's no way, you know, the grain is not just for them, everyone has to hand over the grain, otherwise, what will we eat?"

When the guard asked, he almost said, "You can save one family, but you can't save them all." This is true of the whole village, wherever the legion passes...... But in front of Rod, the guards did not dare to say much, after all, it was he who saved the entire legion, and the title of Chosen One had already spread throughout the entire Northern Alliance.

"Half of the grain will be levied at the market price, and the rest will be returned to them. ”

But Rhodes doesn't care, although he is a little impulsive, but since he manages it, he has to manage it to the end.

The guards had no choice but to compromise. They knew that once the lord in front of them was angry, everyone would not be able to eat and walk around.

Seeing this, the man and his wife quickly knelt down and thanked him, and even the little girl knelt on the ground and looked at Rhodes with frightened eyes.

And Rod just waved his hand, didn't even bother to say comforting words, and walked out of the door. Indeed, as the guards said, he could save a family, but not everyone. This is the law of war, without so much mercy and sympathy, if they don't pay food, the army will go hungry, it's so simple......

......

The dinner party in the barracks was held after seven o'clock in the evening, and it was said that it was a dinner party, but in fact, several lords and commanders got together, ate better food than ordinary soldiers, and discussed the next step.

The Bloody Hand Mercenaries were temporarily repulsed, but after the coalition left, the towns around Errengrad surrendered to the rebels, and the siege of Vallowburg was lifted, and the flames of rebellion grew stronger and stronger, so much so that the Ice Queen had to personally bring the kingdom's elite legions to the front. This is also the first time in twenty-three years that the Ice Queen Catalina has left the Winter Palace and gone out in person. The last time the queen left the palace was because of the presence of a large number of rat men underneath Erlengrad.

"Lords, thank the gods, we are about to join the Queen's elite legions. Erlengrad's rebels are ultimately just a bunch of bandits and bandits, and they will be crushed in the face of the Ice Queen's powerful magic and legions. ”

At the dinner, Cohen held his glass and praised the Queen's greatness. However, most of the lords silently despised him in their hearts, as the spokesperson of the queen, as the commander of the legion, in the end, it was up to the queen to come out herself...... What's the use of this general? It's not as useful as the Lord of Black Hammer Castle, who has been unknown until now, and if it weren't for him, the entire Northern Coalition might have fallen apart long ago. Of course, Rod's meteoric popularity has also made some lords reluctant, such as Count Cyril, who has always regarded himself as the king of the North.

"Thank you to the gods, thank you to the Queen. ”

Despite the contempt in their hearts, everyone raised their glasses in a friendly way to celebrate the impending victory.

Rhodes was a little sad, he was still thinking about the scene during the day, if the entire army of Kislev was like this, and the army and the people could not be united, then, in the future, how could this country stop the pace of the chaos army? Will it be directly bulldozed as in history? Fortunately, there are still decades before the end of the Middle Ages, which is enough to do something for himself......

"But what we must see is that the crisis is still there, the enemy is still there, many of the castle lords who are not self-sufficient refuse to support us, we should have completely defeated them and crushed their castles, however, the Ice Queen is so merciful, she wants us to give them a chance, a chance to mend their ways, and turn to the light. ”

Grand Duke Cohen continued to spit at the dinner table. Of course, most people still just listened, his prestige was declining day by day, if it weren't for the status of the Grand Duke of Kislev, these northern lords didn't want to listen to him talk nonsense at all, they wanted to hear Rhodes say a few words of truth......

"What's new?"

Edmund, Lord of Ice Castle, asked directly. Cohen was disgusted with this man, who, like Rod, always had a prickly head, and although there was no disrespect on the surface, there was already a deep sense of displeasure in his words and tone. According to the information of the secret agent, Edmund and Rhodes seem to have a good relationship, and the two often get together for drinks and comparisons.

Smelly and smelly...... Cohen cursed to himself.

"Yes, new mission. Duke Cyril, Baron Edmund, Rhodes, Baron Deguer...... "Cohen read everyone's name, but when he read Rod, he didn't even have a name, and a wise person could hear this deep malice."

"Tomorrow I will leave here and head to Winterscar, where I will join Brooks' army while waiting for the Ice Queen's army. And before that, we have one more thing to do, and that is to take in Grizzly Castle. ”

Cohen took a sip of wine and said aloud.

"This castle is located between Wintermark and Kislev, damn it, we can't let the Ice Queen pass by this castle and send someone to eradicate it, right? ”

Cohen read. The lords of the north are not stupid, almost all of them know that this is not the truth, judging by Katarina's character, in the past, anyone who dared not support her will be exterminated and bloodily suppressed. The reason why this time was not done was just that the kingdom's army could not take care of it, and the siege of the city required a lot of time, manpower and material resources, and the war was urgent, and even the Ice Queen herself did not want to waste time on attacking these small fortresses, so the beautiful name of benevolent persuasion was just because the forcible siege of the city outweighed the losses.