I stood at the bow of the ship and looked at the pier in the distance.

My hair hadn't been cut in a long time, poking around in a mess, and Cesar covered my head with a bowl and shaved the hair around it with a knife. I asked him where he had learned this technique, and he said it was a habit of the Rhodok navy. I told him that I had seen them do this with the Wikibians and the Valans. Cesar was very curious about this, and he guessed that this habit came from the Zenda period, and it must have been a craft handed down by the soldiers at that time.

Now that I had changed my clothes, my scalp was chilling because of my short hair, and I looked at the pier for a long time, and the more I looked, the more strange I felt: there were fifty or sixty cavalrymen on the pier, practicing charging with rifles without the tip of a spear; Soldiers in all sorts of armor lined up in a large clearing, and some officers were hoisting different flags, explaining to them which flags represented which orders; Many people carry wooden poles or ropes on the docks, where they pack various materials and load and unload their goods. There are all kinds of flags in the sky, some look like Swadian flags, some are solid black flags or green flags, the only thing I recognize is the flag of an Eastern Wikiasian noble family, but the flag of that family was originally a red bear on a gold background, but this flag is a golden bear on a red background, presumably the illegitimate son of that family. I saw that most of the soldiers wore helmets, which was amazing, because I couldn't think of any lord who had the financial resources to make all the soldiers so well equipped, and when I was with the Valans, only three people could get a leather helmet, and the most elite troops could have iron helmets.

I've seen these helmets, Rhodoc style, and they're generally half-helmets. Cover your ears and the back of your head, and cover your neck with a thick leather or flannel cloth underneath to keep you warm in winter and remove it freely in summer. There are also some saucer helmets. It looked like a large platter, and the soldiers wearing such helmets were mostly archers, and the discipline was rather loose, and most of them sat on the ground in groups of three or five. There were also many spearmen. These men were generally dressed only in upper body armor, armed with a zither-shaped shield in their left hand, a short spear in their right hand, and an axe or dagger at their waists.

This is what I'm most curious about, there are a lot of Salander-style things here. For example, there is a huge tent, which resembles a circus hall: a wide bottom. The curve slowly rises. constitutes a dome. Above the tent was a flag fluttering with Salander script written on it that I could not read. In front of the tent, there were more than a dozen soldiers covered in armor. I couldn't see these soldiers too far away. But I know that the armor on these people is intimidating. When I looked from the bow of the ship, these people were covered in a new color, like guards made of molten iron. Later, when I got off the ship, I heard the whispers of the sailors and realized that these people were Mamluks.

Mamluks I have heard that the Sultan of Salander gave his slaves to the soldiers from an early age, provided them with food, clothing, and weapons, and made them convert, and treated them like fathers from an early age. But how can there be Mamluks here? Around that strange tent there were many Salanders, who were praying, and their weapons were placed beside them, and these men had almost no armor, only strips of cloth wrapped around their foreheads, and leather boards and even wooden armor with scriptures written on them, and most of their weapons were spears or pikes, and apart from that, fine swords and thick shields, they had none of them. I even suspect that all the money of these Salanders was spent on these Mamluks.

The barracks are like stinking markets, and I'm very familiar with places like this. I even heard a couple of Vykia soldiers peddling 'wolf hair' wine, and a couple of Rhodok crossbowmen decided to buy a bottle together, and the price was agreed, and one Rhodok crossbowman took off his helmet, and his partner threw the money into his helmet, and he turned the helmet over and poured all the coins into the pocket of the Vecchian soldier. The Vicchian soldier then reached into a square pile of hay, grabbed a black bottle of wine, shook it, kissed it, and gave it to the Rhodocs;

On the other side, a group of Salanders lined up to find a lean old man to write for them. The equipment of these Salanders was so tattered that they could only hope that God would save them. They asked the old man to write the verses of God's Coming and Aid on their leather armor or wooden boards, and then tied the God-blessed armor to his shoulders with ropes. The old man clearly marked the price: write a line of scripture and half a loaf of bread; If you add a piece of bacon, you can add two rows; It would be a great deal if there was an egg boiled with that precious tea leaf, and the old man could be asked to write all over the front and back of a board. The old man boasted that if he wore such armor, any archer who dared to aim at him on the battlefield would soon have sore eyes and tears, or eat too much and die, or suddenly die at the age of eighty. Everyone wants to have such a piece of armor, but the war is raging, tea has not appeared in the market for a long time, who can get tea so luxuriously. But a line or two of scripture is pretty good.

Others could not tell which nationality they were, and seemed to be mercenaries. These people don't have the same equipment as the Rhodoks, Vecchians, or Salanders. Some wore bells and whistles, red cloth for their left leg and blue cloth for their right leg, some dyed their hair green, some wore ornate armor and carried a crossbow on their backs, while others were dressed in garments and yawned with a wood-chopping axe. The camp of these people looked like piles of shacks, and no one knew where they were sleeping tonight. The whole camp was in shambles, but the camp was even worse, and I even saw the prostitutes and the bards in it, and the prostitutes were beating the poets, and the poets thought that last night was all about love, and the prostitutes thought it was a business, and the two sides could not agree at all, and they could only fight together.

"Who are these people?" I asked Cesar.

"More than 300 Rhodok crossbowmen, more than 200 Vecchian cavalry, more than 900 Salanders. More than four hundred mercenaries from various countries," said Cesara, "and in addition to more than twenty Mamluks. More than 500 people. There were more than 300 sailors on the sea, who were pioneers. ”

I saw a dozen pioneers, and these people were wearing cloaks and were easy to identify. Walking around the camp, on the watchtower, there are also quite a few pioneers there to observe.

"What are these more than 1,000 soldiers doing?" I asked curiously, "Are you in the same group as the Nords?" ”

"Sort of." Cesar thought for a moment, and seemed to think that he couldn't explain it for a while, "But we can't control Jill." However, our goal is broadly the same. ”

"What goal?"

The loud voices of the Salanders praying were heard throughout the camp. Some of the surrounding soldiers looked at the Salander with curiosity, some slept with a dress over their faces, and some imitated the Salander. Make the people around you laugh.

Cesar did not answer me. Instead, he asked me a different question. "Will you be like them," he said, pointing to the laughing Rhodok soldiers, "to laugh at the Salanders?" ”

"No, it won't."

"Why?"

"Maybe one day. When the war was fought, a Salander stood by my side. And one of the horsemen happened to rush from behind. If he remembered that I didn't laugh at him, he would have helped me. I said to Cesar, "There is no good in laughing at others." ”

"But for most of the world," said Cesar, "no matter how much you insult the Salanders and their religion, no one will say anything." It's the same when we come back, the Salanders don't mind what their people slander us. ”

"yes." I don't know what Cesar meant by this, "It has nothing to do with me. ”

"Then one day," Cesar's attendant brought him two horses, and he gave me the reins of one of them, and laughed as he watched me get on my horse, "if one day there would be no more such unwarranted hatred and arrogance in the world." A Rhodok would feel as if he was being ridiculed when he was ridiculed by the Salanders. At least, people don't think it's right. What do you think of such a world? ”

"Impossible, in times of disaster, we will fight side by side with the Salanders, and once there is peace, we will be bloodied again." I said to Cesar, "I don't laugh at people, just because it's not good and it's dangerous." I have met a Valan, who had an unclean mouth, who was always laughing at others, and one day he was stabbed in the stomach and his intestines were running all over the place, and he howled for most of the night, and no one helped him. As long as the little man is determined, then he can always find an opportunity to kill the big guy, let alone the companions around him. ”

The hostess and Cesar would inadvertently tell me some empty truths, which at first sounded good, but after a long time, they would get bored.

"Haha," Cesar laughed at what I said, "Madame is right. You don't believe that the world will be like this in the future. ”

"I believe, Captain Cesar." I said to him. "But certainly not now."

"Naturally not now," said Cesar, "a hundred years ago, Swadia soldiers scalped the Vycians in the steppe, and now that the Vycians have settled in the Swadia capital, no one will find anything wrong." The world is always changing. But it doesn't change on its own, it has to be pushed hard by countless people. And even if someone gives their life for it, the world may not move at all. Some people think it's stupid, and some people think it's worth it. ”

"My father thinks it's worth it," I said to Cesara, "and he expects everyone to be noble, as his mistress said, right?" You like to hear me say this, and so does the hostess. ”

Cesar said, "You underestimate your father. If you don't want to hear it, I won't say any more. In the afternoon, someone will take you out to the desert, you can find a place to sleep, and of course, you can come to a meeting. ”

"What meeting?"

"You'll find out when you come." He blinked slyly.

I wandered around for a while, and the mistress made the maid find me, gave me something to eat, and showed me where we were resting. The soldiers here haven't seen a woman for a long time, and when they see this chubby maid, they also think it's very good-looking, and people keep coming to talk to her, which makes the maid feel a lot better. In the past few days on the ship, she has been having nightmares and yelling, and the three people in the cave have stimulated her too much.

In the afternoon, it is a horse-drawn carriage ride into the desert. When you get to the first oasis, you can change to a camel and take a break in the car.

I thought about it for a moment and decided to go and hear what it was all about.

When Cesar found out that I was looking for him, he commanded me not to speak. Took me inside that strange tent.

There were three Rhodoks here, and one of them had a small pendant on his chest with a tiny sunflower painted on it, and the man's hair was gray. His crossbow looks very simple, but it is twice as big as a normal crossbow. This man was the leader of the Rhodoks. On the other side, there are two Wikibians with tall cylindrical felt hats, these two people are dressed as cavalrymen, and their tight leather clothes make them look decisive and capable, I have seen the heroic posture of the Wikirian cavalry when they charge, they will bow their waists, charge forward with their swords, and let out a terrible cry from their mouths. Two gray-haired Saland Mamluks sat on one side. It looks old and dim. It even reveals a pitiful sense of decadence. They didn't seem to be able to sit down for a moment, and the cushions behind them held them up, so that they didn't fall. Finally, there were the four pioneers. The men gathered around a map, their chins pinched. Whispered discussions. When Cesar brought me in, the men frowned, as if unwilling to see outsiders.

Cesar pointed at me and said, "Copernicus's attendant." ”

The men looked annoyed, but didn't say much.

"If the pioneers," said the leader of the Vecchian cavalry, "can transport our horses to the south, I will agree to attack from there." Otherwise, I wouldn't agree. My men don't want to go out into the desert and hike forward. ”

"The south is the weakest point of Saran," said an old Mamluk, his voice like that of a duck pinched by the neck, "and the Anak fortress is separated from the royal city by a desert but close to the sea." It would be difficult for the Puppet Sultan to support there, but we could send a steady stream of soldiers from the sea. ”

"Nonsense," said the leader of the Vecchian cavalry, "after landing on the seashore, there is still a half-day ride to the fortress of Anak. If one shepherd spotted us along the way, we would be stopped by the heavily armed fortress when we arrived at the fortress of Anak, unable to make it north. ”

"Then shoot any civilians you come across." Mamluk said, "We still have to teach it, aren't the Rhodoks good at this?" ”

"If there is an order," said the youngest of the Rhodoks, "we will shoot naturally." ”

The leader of the Vekia cavalry pointed to the other side, "You have to make us infantry, and that's no problem. But have you ever wondered if it is easier to raid an undefended fortress or to force an attack on a heavily fortified fortress? If we advance from the mountains, no one will find us until we get out of the pass, and even if we do, the news will reach Anak very late. Once we had walked out of the pass, we were under the city in less than an hour, and at most half of the defenders would be ready. Most of the people didn't have time to get into the city. ”

"The amount of food consumed will triple, and we will lose a lot of people when we walk through these mountainous areas." A pioneer said. "A long march will be a big blow to morale."

"But the fortress is easier to capture." The Wikibians were stubborn, "How much food will you need when you find more than two hundred soldiers standing on the walls in full armor waiting for you?" Five-fold? Ten times? King Salander received the report," a Mamluk protested and shouted 'Puppet King,' but the Vycians ignored him, "and when his cavalry appeared, did we fight with them more casualties on the plains, or did we lose more troops when we climbed the mountains?" ”

I'm at a loss for these people and don't know what they're talking about.

From beginning to end, only the middle-aged Rhodok man remained silent. He seems to have clear eyes and a simple mind. When he noticed that I was looking at him, he glanced at me, and I instantly felt a wave of fear, as if a rabbit had been targeted by an eagle.

The discussion eventually turned into an argument, with the Rhodoks leaving first, followed by the angry Mamluks, and the Vicchian cavalry yelling and leaving. Only a few pioneers were left shaking their heads and sighing, and it looked like the discussion would continue.

"What is this?" As I walked out of the tent, I asked Cesar.

"Someone's strawberries have been snatched," Cesar smirked as he grinned, "he's been waiting for years, and now he's decided to take back what belongs to him." ”

"Strawberries?"

"A strawberry named Salander." Cesar sighed, "It's worth a fortune." ”

ps：

I'm sorry, something went wrong yesterday, and there was a situation where the lines were copied. Today's chapter has been posted to the public chapter for free viewing. This chapter is for the purpose of filling in the gaps.