() The Salander soldiers did not attack, they just formed a formation and watched the Valan soldiers.

There are often stories about killing enemy generals directly on a battlefield full of sergeants, which sounds exciting, but it doesn't make much sense. Needless to say, well-trained guards, as long as they are battle-hardened soldiers, can easily take out the assassin in such a situation.

The attacker is not dead, but because of Giovanni's obstruction.

"Kill him!" I didn't see exactly who the attacker was, but the sharp pain in my shoulder left my heart full of vengeful chongdong. I'm starting to become more and more bloodthirsty and savage, but I'm not to the point of provoking people on my own initiative, but once I've been hurt in any way, I won't put myself in their shoes like I used to, revenge is the first option.

I saw a few of the guards draw their swords, but they didn't move.

"What kind of guards are you?" My shoulders began to shake, and I felt the flesh on my shoulders be cut, but I didn't know if it hurt my bones. "Kill him!"

After the Salander soldiers appeared, the Valan soldiers quickly shrank their formation, and stretched out their jungle-dense spears at the Salanders. The point of the spear was like a shining reed on the bank of the river, and the actions of the soldiers kicked up a large amount of dust, and it was not clear how many Salanders there were. The trumpets sounded one after another, and the battle was about to break out.

Giovanni gently moved his fingers to the top of his neck, moving carefully.

"Move again," the man is actually a woman, "and you're a dead man." ”

Giovanni did not heed the danger, "If you were going to kill me, you wouldn't have forced me with a dagger like that." ”

The man's hand deftly untied Giovanni's sword, threw it to the Mamluk, and then gave way to Giovanni's feet.

"Who are you?" Giovanni smiled and said, "If you are undressed and hide in a palanquin to charm me, then I will not be interested at all." But the gift you gave me was very interesting. Go ahead. Tell me who you are before I order you and this group of your friends to be killed. ”

"If I cut your throat, your men will naturally be defeated."

"I only became the leader of this group of unconscionable mercenaries last month, and there are more than a dozen of them vying to kill me. If you kill me, these people will have a chance to rise to power, but as the new leader, they will surely avenge me. At least until all the Salanders are dead. They are with their enemies. Tell me, chick, will your people make it this far? Giovanni looked into the distance, where the armed Salander farmers and soldiers were approaching at the hoarse command of the officers, but the Valans showed no sign of a rout. With all due respect, my Kugit friends will be in a quarter of an hour, and I can control my men, but not them. When the time comes, I'm afraid these Kugit will be happy to strip you naked and let you do a steppe dance or something with them. ”

"I should cut your tongue," the woman's accent was Rhodoc, the tone that Bella and Cruzcard would have when they spoke. She said to Giovanni. "Let's see if it can be trusted after it hits the ground."

"Every word I say is sincere," Giovanni said matter-of-factly. "Chick, what is your purpose?"

The woman paused for a moment and said to Giovanni, "I've come to seek peace." ”

Giovanni didn't seem to be holding back a laugh, "I've heard that you have to pay for something. three turnips, one copper plate; a calf, six silver coins; A chick that isn't worth a penny. Everything in the world can be clearly priced, but what price do you pay for peace? ”

"I'll tell you the news," the woman said, "it's a catastrophe, and if you're prepared, maybe half of your people will survive." If you let it go, after a few months, half a year at most, you and all your people will go to hell. ”

"What about your people?" Giovanni asked rhetorically.

"My people will also die en masse, it's inevitable."

Giovanni seemed to think for a few seconds, then gestured to the dagger still resting around his neck, "Take it away, and I'll take your word for it." ”

The woman withdrew her dagger almost immediately, without hesitation, as if she knew that Giovanni would definitely listen to her.

At this point, the woman was defenseless, and I pulled my knife out of my boot. As I was about to rush over and give her a knife, she stepped on the crossbow as fast as I had time to look closely, and I didn't know when an arrow had already been loaded on the crossbow, and I had to stop, the tip of my nose still almost hitting the arrow. The woman didn't turn her head to look at me at all, and when I stopped moving, the woman turned her head slightly and looked at me from under her black turban.

Her eyes seemed to light up in the darkness.

Giovanni noticed my awkward situation, "I forgot to introduce that this stupid guy who blocked my arrows just now is called Little Loach. Romanov, the illegitimate son of an illegitimate son. ”

The woman hesitated for a moment, she looked at me, then again, and finally turned her head away, "Mercenary captain?" ”

"Mercenary Captain Giovanni." Giovanni said, "But I need to remind you that I have been crowned Prince Valan. ”

"Your Excellency Giovanni," the woman avoided the title of Prince, "I ask you to think carefully about what I say next. It's not a secret, and it won't divide you and your subordinates, so I can tell you right here. ”

Giovanni said, "I haven't agreed to listen to you." ”

"You must agree," the woman said, drawing a smaller crossbow from her sleeve and aiming it at Giovanni's throat, "I won't make the slightest mistake this time. You can kill me, but at the same time my arrow will pierce your throat, and I've encountered worse circumstances, and no one can escape from this distance. ”

"Well," Giovanni pointed to me, "it's closer, but there's a case of a successful escape." ”

The woman's hand was firmly in danger of the two of us, but she couldn't help but look at me again, "Your Excellency, can we negotiate?" ”

Giovanni said, "First with a dagger around the neck and then with a crossbow pointed at me, and you still want to ask me what I mean?" Just say what you want. ”

The woman withdrew her weapon.

By this time, the rumbling hooves of the Kugit were getting closer and closer, and their trumpets were faintly distinguishable.

"Run!" The woman said. "The farther the better, take your people with you. Before you are overtaken by death. ”

The surrounding Valan soldiers looked at the woman with vigilance. The leader had just been taken hostage, and the soldiers had lost face, and until this time, they still felt that Giovanni was just perfunctory to this woman, and they were going to cut her with a thousand knives when the time was right. That's what I thought, too.

"The Kugit are coming," Giovanni's expression became official. "Convince me before they attack."

"It's a disease." "No one can foresee it, no one can hide from it, no one can subdue it." Never before has a disease been as strong as this one among all human beings. If one person dies in a family, the whole family grieves; A family dies in a village. The whole village will grieve; If a city's citizens die in one block, the whole city will be terrified. But compared to this disease, these are nothing. Because the disease does not leave 'one person', no one lives, so no one even grieves. ”

"It is a disease brought by the sailors," said the woman, "from the mud of the harbor, from under the hole in the stone bridge." From inside the garbage heap of the market. People are dying all the time. People cleaned up the sludge and burned the relics of the deceased. Open the windows for ventilation, none of this is useful. In the city by the sea, people are dying in patches. At first, it was said that it was a curse, and that only the guilty would die, but soon the most virtuous imam also died; Again, it was said that it was a disease of weakness, and that the strong would live, but soon the strongest warriors would also be covered with sores and die in the corners; It was said that God was punishing the lowly and that only the commoners would die, but soon Amir and the Pasha died, and so did the princes and princesses of the Sultan, and by the time I left Sharitz, the Sultan was already sick. ”

"In the past, if the Sultan of Salander had contracted the disease, the whole situation would have been turbulent. But now, so many people died, that the yīn conspiracy that was prevalent in the court also disappeared, because the executors of the yīn conspiracy found that the maid who delivered the news was dead, that the wise man who made the yīn conspiracy was dead, that the official who studied the genealogy was dead, that the illegitimate son who had plotted to rob the vassal's property was also dead, and that the enemies and friends of the enemy were dead. The food rotted and stinked in cupboards throughout the kingdom, and their owners died in their beds embraced and died. ”

"This is the flame of hell, this is the curse of the undead, this is the fierce whip of God, this is the cruel wrath of Allah." "I have lost my husband, and I have seen him healthy and thriving on the first day, and then coughing up blood the next day and not being able to afford it," the woman said. There was not a hint of emotion in the woman's voice, "Run, Your Excellency, the disease is about to catch up." If you find someone who has already started to get sick, then the disease has been lurking among you for a long time, and by that time, it is already too late. ”

Giovanni was silent, and everyone around him thought of the Kujittes.

"We're healthy." Before he knew it, one of the Varan soldiers had lowered his sword, and at this time he spoke, "It won't be the same as the Kujits." ”

"Kujits?" The woman said, "I know you've brought in the Kujits, and I hope they don't come from the southern desert and haven't been to the cities where the plague is spreading. ”

The trumpets and shouts of the Kugit have been heard. Everyone suddenly felt that these Kugit people were actually charging towards themselves.

Giovanni stared at the woman deadly, "When did this start?" ”

"I don't know how long ago," said the woman, "it didn't seem serious at first, the disease deceived everyone, and at first it spread only in some port cities and deserts, and even showed signs of being brought under control in some areas. But once it erupts, it's all over. ”

In that village abandoned by the Kugit a long time ago, I had already seen those who had sores; and the sick ointment merchant; Kugit soldiers bleeding above the bazaar.

"Ma'am." I wanted to ask this person what to do if we had already met the Kujits, but I didn't say anything.

A salty and bitter yètǐ gushed out of my nostrils, and at the same time an irrepressible cough came, and I covered my mouth with my hand and coughed violently, my voice hoarse like a broken windmill.

When I took my hand away, bright red blood was running in the palm of my hand.