Bella woke up

The house inside the castle was very cold, and she could only sleep on the floor of the castle hall with most of the people, and at night, the servants would get up and add firewood three times to ensure that the people lying here would not be frozen

Occasionally, someone coughed, someone staggered to get up, peed or drank, and most of the time, it was the sound of snoring, and Bella was no stranger to these scenes, and on the way to the Holy City, this was how the pilgrimage procession she followed came all the way, but at that time, they were all lying in the courtyard of a monastery or a merchant guild

The most unbearable thing is that some fornicating men and women can enter the castle to rest, all of them are people who have a certain status in the Valan army, the young people of the three Valan families, the promoted subordinates, the shrewd scribes and the like, these people often come back with women Every night, the people here will be drunk, some people play the shamisen, the fire is dim, and there are many pairs of men and women in the shadowy corners.

Bella had seen a man twitch a woman against a wall, but after a while, an old Valan reprimanded the man and woman severely, and they quietly ran outside

The Count had no objection to this, and he would occasionally come down from the room on the second floor, chat with the boys, have some wine, and then go back upstairs to sleep The priest named Heck followed the Count all the time, and the incomparably pious Bella did not like the priest, because the first time he saw Bella, he pointed out that Bella was a heretic, and drew a cross in the air, and wanted to expel Bella

Bella is just because she wears gray-black linen clothes and often doesn't take a bath, but these are not enough to say that Bella is a heretic, Bella's herbal knowledge may be a disadvantage, people know that witches are usually clever herbalists, but that kind of knowledge can indeed cure diseases and save people

What's more, in the Holy City, Bella also personally cured a priest's constipation with a potion, boiled a pot of porridge out of the bark of an arbor, and then added some coarse grains to make that kind of therapeutic decoction The priest refused to eat this kind of food with unknown ingredients at first, but when he finally drank the doubt, his stomach began to rattle, and after an hour he emptied his intestines smoothly, and Bella was very comfortable, and Bella had a certificate written by the priest to prove that she was not heretical

At this time, Bella looked at Tom again

Tom sleeps with a group of soldiers, these soldiers seem to like Tom very much, Bella finds it strange that Tom is a difficult person to associate with a decent priest figure, in fact, it is true, Tom does not seem to have any taboo things, especially things that other priests find unseemly, Tom often does not shy away from Bella all the way, only those wandering monks can have Tom's attitude: not proud at all, but a little cautious

Bella doesn't know if Tom can be relied on, but at least he looks pretty good at the moment

The men were all a little restless that night, and the 'that' sound was particularly loud, but today there was no one to blame them and tell them not to make any more noise

Because it is not dawn, these men will go out of these low-ranking officers and the castle The text inside has known this order in advance, and after the earl has given the order, he will close the castle, and only enter and leave the city The next morning, these officers will go out of the city, and they will wake up and inform all the soldiers within an hour, and go straight to the southwest without breakfast, and it is said that there is a group of enemy soldiers who linger there, and burn several villages, and are now approaching the port of Baidan

Bella crept up to Tom's side and tried to wake him up, but Tom didn't sleep at all, and Tom opened his eyes as soon as Bella came over

"It's you," Tom said

"Tomorrow morning, there will be a war?" Bella asked him

"This time we don't have a numerical advantage"

"We're going to win," Bella said, "but a lot of people are going to die."

Tom was silent, as Bella often said

"Am I going to die?"

"No," said Bella, adding in a straight voice, "your soul is strong, and it is far from the time of death."

Tom laughed, he thought it was the comfort of a panicked little girl before the war began, "Oh, that's good, I can sleep peacefully"

"No, you don't understand what I mean," said Bella, "you're certainly not going to die, so you're going to the most dangerous place tomorrow."

"Huh?"

"Let all the soldiers see you, see your cross, see you on the front line and inspire the soldiers," Bella said, "You will be remembered by all the people, you will be fine anyway, so you have to muster up the courage to go forward"

Tom patted Bella on the back, "Okay, go to sleep"

"You don't believe me"

"We'll know tomorrow night, won't you?" Tom stopped talking

Morning... Somewhere, somewhere, a few men began to put on their armour, and they made a loud noise, and many servants were running around, and the sleepy-eyed people were busy, and many were awakened, and the people who slept in the hall yawned and got up, and their armor and helmets and weapons were set aside

Several oil lamps were lit, and black gas swirled above the wick, and the lights exploded from time to time

The men in the thick cotton garments looked sloppy, their faces were puffy, their bodies dirty, their beards were unkempt, and their heads were clumped together, but when they hung the chain mail on their bodies, tied the belts on the chain mail, and put on the armor, they were all heroic men, and the shimmering scales of the Vecchian style made the whole hall swell with waves of metal sheets

When all the men had been lined up, the Count appeared in the middle of the hall in his armor, and he called out the names of each of them, beat them on the chest, and asked them if they were too old to hold their swords, and then the Count ordered the castle to be opened, and the officers rushed out, found their horses in the stable, and began to gallop towards their respective men's quarters

Within a quarter of an hour the long trumpets began to sound from the barracks on the entire hillside, and the soldiers heard the rallying horns, and all jumped out of the tents and cottages, and they were armed with their weapons and armor, and returned to their ranks with the roar of the officers

The infantrymen dragging their spears, the cavalrymen refueling their boots as they went, the militiamen carrying javelins, the quartermasters with shields, the bald mercenaries who drank a large bag of wine with their necks up, and the crossbows and crossbows on their belts with their marching hoes and daggers pinned to their belts, the whole army was being quickly formed

An hour later, the troops, led by a group of torch-wielding cavalry, began to break through the night and set out before dawn

Under the dim starlight, the ranks of soldiers were like a sparkling snake, quickly pounced into the distance

Somewhere in the forest, on the edge of an abandoned village

I cowered behind a stake, a huge oak tree, I don't know what kind of work had people cut it down, it was almost an adult's diameter, and last night a couple of barbarian warriors who were guarding us drank on it, a snatched woman, we were tied to a tree, and a couple of slaves with knives watched over us

Joey was beaten up for always talking, amusing the two horsemen behind him and scolding him

After moving the barrels, we were already tired and half dead, but Joey still didn't joke lightly, which made me cry and laugh a little that we didn't have any wine, and after watching those barbarian soldiers get drunk, there was only this chain in our hands and those tall black slaves between us and freedom

I'm a little curious about which side those slaves will be on, we are all slaves, wouldn't it be good for everyone to run together? These black slaves were fat, they were castrated when they were bought, and their only pleasure came from food, so they would stuff their bellies whenever they could, their arms were thick and strong, their muscles bulged tightly, and I felt that we had no advantage at all in strength when they fought

I began to rub the chain in my hand, trying to try my luck, but the chain was very skillfully tied, and as soon as I pushed a little harder, it was tied tightly, and the grass on it pierced my hand very painfully, even though my hand had been swollen and numb for a long time, but it still felt a sharp pain, and I had to give up this plan

A little girl came and fed me half a bowl of water, and I nodded gratefully, but she seemed to be afraid of me, and ran away after a while, and she brought me more water, a few berries, and a few slices of cheese and dried fish, which were left over from the barbarian soldiers, and the old man who was in charge of the slaves asked her to collect them and feed them to us

I don't know what these barbarians will do tomorrow

"This old loach," said Joey, "is it time to let these dogs run around?" ”

"The Earl is in Little East Lake City," I said angrily

"Old loaches must be around here," Joey said affirmatively, "Doesn't he get rid of these people, dare to go north, what will these people do if they give him a **?" ”

The idea was encouraging, and the Count would soon come against the barbarians, but I knew that such a reverie would not help

I didn't know how to answer Joey, but it was a while before I said, "Where's that guy Giovanni?" ”

At this time, the sky was already slightly translucent, the sky was like a clean pond, the clouds with a clear color and slightly stretched were reflected red by the morning sun, the dawn began to descend from the east, and the wind on the field poured in from the cracks in my cloak, which made me tremble and the drunken barbarian soldiers also began to wake up, they didn't even have a camp, they simply relied on the village to station, at the entrance of the village, they used a few big trees to fall sideways at the crossing, to prevent the enemy from attacking The sun today will be hotter than yesterday, I licked my lips, I felt a burst of thirst in advance, although I had just drunk water

Something was shaking in the woods, and for a moment I thought it was a wolverine or a wild boar, but soon it dawned on me that it could not be an animal, for the whole forest was squirming in the mist

I tapped Joey with my crutches, but he was already staring into the forest, and the two horsemen beside him were undoubtedly there

Suddenly, some of the barbarians' scouts came out of the forest shouting, and fled in panic, while blowing the barbarian horn, and the soldiers in bearskin hats were still sleepy-eyed, they had just been woken up, and were looking around in a mess to see what was going on

A cavalryman leaped out of the forest, and he sprinted lightly across the edge of the forest, stabbing his spear in the back of an escaping scout, who fell to the ground

Boyar cavalry

The man raised his spear, and the long banner fluttered in the morning light

All of a sudden, the sound of several horns shook the forest and startled countless birds

Countless soldiers rushed out of the woods screaming.