Every two hours, there is an explosion

At that time, the earth will tremble, as if the roaring birds before the earthquake will startle from the woods, the water in the buckets will shimmer, and the people will gather around in prayer, and the soldiers will gather in front of the castle, looking curiously at the poor fortification in front of them

There was nothing surprising about the castle, it was built on two concentric walls, and from the outside you could see the first layer of walls and the spire of the inner city, and at this time, the dozens of defenders were almost all crowded on top of the first wall, and those people panicked and shouted

Below them, a group of Creelian slaves were busy preparing oak barrels one by one

The first two explosions were made in the night, which obviously made the lords of the White Dan fortress unprepared In fact, except for these Creelians and Bella, I am afraid that no one was mentally prepared After Tom walked out of the tent, almost all of them were now kneeling on the ground, with crosses drawn on their chests

In the faint moonlight, Tom looked at the gentle slope in front of the castle, where a white mist was drifting away, and the miracle that the seemingly impregnable gate had collapsed in large chunks puzzled people: there was no hope of making the building and the gate like that, without the attack of the trebuchet for half a day

People gathered together and shouted and argued for a long time without any result before the people dispersed on their own

That night, several times more people came to Tom for confession

"The Holy City has this?" When Tom returned to the tent, he asked Bella

"It's still more east," said Bella, "the Salanders are familiar with this kind of thing, these Creelians have only learned some of the furs, and the Salanders have used it when they were fighting the Swadians, and that was more than a decade ago, but it seems that only Rhodok and Swadia have noticed it, and other countries have not."

"That's because they haven't suffered," Tom shook his head, "my God, what plant does that thing grow out of?" ”

Bella pouted, "How do I know?" ”

From the first loud bang, every two hours, the same loud bang is heard

The slaves took advantage of the night to make a siege vehicle-like machine, but this thing is very simple, it is only used to cover arrows and stones, and there is no need to add crash piles to it, so it is very convenient to make the surface of this machine, covering dozens of pieces of raw skin, so that even rockets can not damage it

The slaves seemed to have become accustomed to this kind of working environment, they were busy under the leather shed, and every once in a while, they pushed the leather shed slowly back down the slope, away from the city wall, and after a while, there would be a loud noise, and people craned their necks to look at the city wall, and after each loud noise, the city wall or city gate would collapse in part, and people saw that the iron rope that trapped the city gate must not last long, and soon after, the drawbridge would be the first to collapse, and after that, it would be enough to deal with the city gate with only one explosion

Even a soldier who had never fought before, his eyes were full of excitement at this time, they knew how much convenience this kind of thing brought to them, and the soldiers began to put on their armor, and they didn't know when the city wall would suddenly collapse

Tom was a little curious about why the Creelians didn't blow up the city wall at once, barrel by barrel was too troublesome, every time, after the explosion was over, the leather shed would immediately and slowly push back to the side of the wall, to the front of the trench, and then pile up the vats filled with the kind of gunpowder on the side of the city gate, it is said that this kind of barrel should be fixed with stones, and the angle must be adjusted so that all its power is poured on the city gate, so that the explosion can be considered a success

Once, after the explosion, the Creelians loudly reprimanded his slaves and whipped them a few times, and Tom could see that the walls were still in the explosion, and there was almost no damage

Tom took the war cross and stood in front of the city wall

"Father, is this a miracle?" Several soldiers suddenly appeared next to Tom and asked cautiously

Tom suddenly had an idea, he was silent for a moment, and then he looked back in awe, "Get down on your knees"

Several soldiers looked at each other, and finally did so respectfully, which in the past would not have been possible

"The wrath of God will only come on those who do not believe in Him" Tom turned his back to the castle, like a very devout saint, "Believe in me and honor me, and you will only be blessed, and calamities and diseases will be far away from you"

At this time, another explosion came

Tom was so nervous that he instinctively felt the rocks splash over his head, but he gritted his teeth and looked at the soldiers steadfastly

The young Valan soldiers looked at Tom respectfully, and in the back of the setting sun, Tom and his cross seemed to be shrouded in a layer of holy light, and the fire and flying stones from the explosion were like a great miracle

The soldiers kissed Tom's hand and swore to protect him in any situation

Tom suddenly felt like he was holding some kind of power

Inside the East Lake Forest

The three traveling merchants were sweating all over their faces, and they couldn't bear the progress of our trip

"I said," said one of the fat merchants, wiping his face with a handkerchief, "can we slow down?" Are you in a hurry to go to Baidan? ”

The weather was still very cool, and I felt that the merchant was hot mainly because of the fat on his body, not because of the sun in the sky, and the inside of the forest was still damp, and there were mushrooms on the ground, and the rotting logs in the center were lying in the middle of the road, and the squirrels were jumping in the middle of the road, and the water of a stream had melted away, and there must have been a herd of deer passing by here before we came, and I saw the footprints on the dung and soft mud on the ground

"It's not very quiet around here, friend," Joey said to him, "and we'd better go faster between the castles, or you'll see what happens to the villages behind."

"It's not the same thing," said a butter merchant, "I'm from the Ivangelodes merchant guild, even if I go to the god in a war, it has nothing to do with me and no one will hurt us, don't worry, young man, go slowly, there's nothing wrong" The man's face was pale, I don't know if it was because he was still worried about the tragic scene, I felt that he said that the merchant would not be attacked, and he was more comforting himself

"Really?" Joey asked with some suspicion, "I heard that when I was in the Riverlands, the Valans hanged quite a few merchants."

Joey asked knowingly, and several of the cavalrymen laughed: they had been involved in the hanging of the merchants of the Riverlands

The Burks hired a lot of merchants from the Riverlands to help them raise grain, and these merchants were familiar with the location of the local granaries, and also knew the harvest situation in various places, and for the villages and cities where there was grain, these merchants helped their Berke masters to do a great job, and they squeezed out almost every granary, and when the Valans first entered the Riverlands, they received bounty invitations from all sides, hoping that they would teach the grain compradors a lesson, which was naturally not a difficult task, although the merchant guilds tried their best to protect their members, But the soldiers can't manage much, and there is a large commission for hanging a few fat guys, and it doesn't take much time to think about making such a decision

The three traveling merchants looked at us in horror, as if they had mistaken someone, but we were halfway there, they certainly had no reason to part with us, in fact, even I already knew, Joey, they didn't want free food, and before they got there, Joey and the cavalry were likely to ask for additional 'funding', I was just curious about when and what methods they would use to force these merchants to comply

Joey quietly asked the fat man at the beginning, "What's wrong with you?" Why are you looking at us like that? ”

A few of the horsemen laughed merrily, and amusing the merchants was one of the few pleasures in the woods

The merchant pointed behind Joey, and he looked speechless in horror, and even I couldn't help but laugh when I saw it, it was so fake, usually only when he was deceiving people, he would make this expression to trick others into looking away, and then he would take the opportunity to escape

The three businessmen were very shrewd, and I felt a little sympathy for them

But then, I see that these businessmen are not lying

A merchant suddenly pierced a throwing spear in his chest, and the sound was like a pitchfork piercing through a haystack, and the merchant looked at his chest in disbelief, and the throwing spear was still shaking itself, and the merchant opened his mouth, and blood came out of his mouth, and he screamed and fell off his horse

Joey and a few horsemen immediately drew their sabers and spread out in all directions, I also drew my waist sword, bowed down, I felt the blood rush to my thighs and waist, I felt a cold on my body, and a spear passed by my side, and I saw the two remaining merchants jump off their horses, holding their heads and face down, and one of the horsemen's horses was struck and lifted him down, and the horse ran away on its own

I didn't know where the attack was coming from, time seemed to slow down I only heard the sound of a whooshing sound around me, I knew someone was shooting an arrow at me, and the next second I might be shot to death, I calmly thought that I wanted to jump off my horse, but another thought told me that I had to run away on my horse, or I wouldn't have a chance

I plucked up my courage and looked at the attacking enemy against the flying javelins and arrows

The forest is full of attacking soldiers, dressed in tattered clothes and covered with animal skins, who are attacking us freedmen with inferior bows and crude throwing spears?

That was my first thought, but then I knew that they weren't free people and wouldn't dress up as barbarians

An arrow struck my saddle, sending my mount to the side of the woods, and I saw the man who shot the arrow, wearing a bearskin hat

A barbarian in a bearskin hat?

I was amazed, weren't those barbarians supposed to be in the riverland forest?

Joey looked back at me, "Victor, run"

I saw one of the horsemen being pulled down with a hooked axe by some of the bearskin hat soldiers, who he said his sister was as sweet as a little strawberry, and I felt a sense of fear, and I grabbed my horse and ran after Joey out of the forest

A merchant called something as we fled, but I didn't hear it

A day later, the port of Baidan

Night has fallen

A few minutes ago, the roar was heard and then disappeared, and the people watched the results intently

The slaves seemed to be in trouble, they abandoned the siege engine and ran back in panic

The soldiers were about to call them cowardly, but suddenly, people realized what had happened: the drawbridge was lowered, and the soldiers inside the castle were ready to break through, which was a wonderful thing, and there was nothing better than letting the soldiers inside the castle come out

The horn whined, and the Valan soldiers quickly armed

Hundreds of Varan soldiers began to line up, helmets on their heads, shields tightened, swords drawn and clenched

Under the moonlight, the soldiers are in the forest.