The muddy and rainy weather along the way made the soldiers of the Knights, who were already in high spirits, complain, and their morale became more and more low.

Falling behind was a constant occurrence, and sometimes soldiers from a village refused to move forward after finding a large tree or rock to shelter from the rain. No matter how the officers of the guard beat and scolded, these people did not move a single step. There were also quite a few soldiers who fled, and the cavalry of Taivi were able to catch many archers and even infantry fleeing to the rear every day. A knight was beaten up while trying to stop a group of peasant archers from leaving the queue, and his armor and horses were robbed. Two days later, the leader of the peasant archers, who had led the trouble, was hanged from a tree, but the punishment did not stop the soldiers from escaping. Those citizens who participated in the battle to defeat the nobles were generally promoted by soldiers who were more morale and did not easily escape. Refugees and pilgrims who join the Order in a moment of brain fever are often severely divided: some are extremely religious and fanatical, and can silently endure any suffering; Some people always complain that they are always unable to keep up with the march of the army, and it is easy to fall behind and flee. @

While crossing a stream, six mules were drowned by the surging water and washed downstream, and the carts were distributed among the soldiers. This burden made the resentment among the soldiers even stronger, because of the fear of food, many soldiers began to steal the food from the carriages, and some secretly threw away the arrows and stakes they carried.

The punishment is also becoming more severe.

A week after leaving the monastery, I sat on a wet stone with a thick blanket over my head. Drinking fish soup cooked by the Kugit people with helmets. A pilgrim a dozen yards away from us was inciting his fellow villagers to return to the monastery with him, saying they had come to serve God. Instead of carrying a burden to death. Several peasants listened to his advice and began to destroy the bows and arrows in their hands. They cut the bowstrings with daggers, scattered grain all over the land, and after causing confusion, they fled into the woods to return to the monastery. When the cavalry heard the news, they immediately followed. Two hours later, Tevi Knight's men emerged from the woods and brought back six bloody human heads. It was the harshest punishment ever imposed on the soldiers, around the makeshift camp. The heads of these disturbing creatures were displayed in all directions, and the soldiers were frightened or disgusted, and for a moment no one spoke. When the rain had subsided, the marching horn was blown, and we tore the rain blanket from the campfire, doused the fire and departed. I'm a little reluctant to light these bonfires, which take many times more effort than usual to light them, and waste more fire cloth. Most of the firewood found was unusable, and when the bonfire was lit, a lot of black smoke would come out, and people would cry.

Giovanni had only told me about the date for a few days, and we were just over halfway there.

It's still raining.

Of the 1,200 soldiers at the time of departure, only a little more than 1,000 were still in the ranks. Some of the grooms who had lost their carriages were added to the soldiers. But the morale of these people was even lower, they were only hired to drive the horses, and they did not know whether the monastery would compensate them for their wagons and mules or pack horses. On the way. We occasionally encounter pilgrims, whom the Oak Knights invite to join us. Not for combat, just to help carry baggage. There are very few people willing to join us, and anyone who looks at our demoralized army knows whether they should join in or not.

There are still people left behind and fleeing.

But the speed has slowed down, and there are not many people who still have the courage and strength to flee now, after all, the heads of those who have fled have been displayed everywhere by the knights, and now they are too far away from the monastery to reach the monastery if they flee. The knights had sent messengers to the monastery to inform the defenders there, and to expel the soldiers who had fled from the front as soon as they found them, and rumors spread throughout the army that all the fugitives who had returned to the monastery had been hanged.

A few days later, we approached a tributary of the Ryazan River. But by this time it was past the date that Giovanni had told me.

From this day on, I couldn't sleep. I don't know if Varankov has fallen, and even if it is still holding out, the situation inside the city is something I don't want to imagine.

Soon after, we were discovered by parliamentary soldiers.

A group of scouts first looked at us from a distance, thinking that we were reinforcements from Kalinin.

But when they discovered our oak flag and the prophetic flag of the Eastern Church, they were taken aback. A boyar came and shouted at the Tavi Knights, asking us what we were here for.

Knight Tevi replied: "By order of the Eastern Church and by the commission of Bishop Philip, we have come to demand an immediate cessation of the civil war. ”

Boyar was dumbfounded, "Teach" will? How the fuck can the Eastern church have an army? How I haven't heard of it. Your Excellency, what you say is true? ”

"An angel sent down a miracle of a sword in stone." The tone of the Tavi Knight did not seem to be lying at all, in fact, he had fully believed in the revelation, "It's time to end the feud of the nobles." ”

The scouts spent more than an hour observing our procession, did not dare to make a mistake against us, and left in the direction of Varynkov.

"Will the nobles withdraw their troops?" I asked Tavi Knight.

"If we withdraw, the scouts won't count our numbers. Of the 1,000 men, only 500 of whom had never been to the battlefield, they only had to look at the peasant archers to know that we were vulnerable. The Tavi Knight's voice was calm, but it spoke directly about our danger, "Get ready for battle." The nobles will definitely come to attack. ”

This scout made me feel that it was impossible to resolve the siege peacefully, but in other words, it was a blessing that the parliamentary soldiers were still arranging scouts, indicating that Valankov had not yet been breached.

The swollen waters made it impossible to cross the past few shoals, and we marched towards the march for a day and found a shoal guarded by council soldiers. The soldiers seemed to have received orders not to allow us to cross, but the Tavi knights were dismissive of them. When he drew the sword in the stone and led the soldiers to force his way across the river. The soldiers guarding the river beach were once full of bows, but in the end we were allowed to cross the tributaries of the Ryazan. A fanatical pilgrim immediately went to preach to the soldiers the miracle of the sword in stone. And said that it was a gift from God to the Eastern Church and that he would use it to end the civil war in the Eastern Church. When the council soldiers guarding the river beach heard this, several of them drew crosses on their chests. When they heard that Shi Zhongjian led a group of citizens to defeat more than three hundred noble soldiers, these council soldiers all widened their eyes, and the news in the barracks was closed, they didn't know about this war. In any case, it is amazing that citizens can subdue a group of well-equipped noble troops.

After crossing the shallows, we went down the river. It took us two and a half days.

The scouts followed us all the time, not knowing where we wanted to go.

When they saw us camped near a river and a ridge, many of them immediately returned in the direction of Varykov.

Lothar did not build a camp, and the stakes were not meant to be built: at the bottom of a steep slope, Lothar ordered everyone to join in, unload the stakes from the cart, and plunge them diagonally into the earth, which he demanded must be pierced deep enough, and the other end was raised. The tip is aimed at the person's waist. These piles have many rows, each of which is staggered with adjacent piles, making it impossible to pass quickly. Due to the loss of some of our stakes on the road, there was a shortage of stakes at this time. Some of the cavalry set out in search of woodland, but found only some burned woods. There aren't many remnant trees that can be used inside, but it's better than nothing.

The next day. A boyar arrived at the bottom of our hillside with thirty horsemen, and the soldiers who were building the stake camp immediately fled behind the stakes. Confront them. This boyar looked at our stakes with contempt and spat at them, and he cried out loudly to our rabble to withdraw at once to the other side of the tributaries of the Ryazan, otherwise severe punishment by the nobles would be inevitable.

The knight ordered his soldiers to continue building stake positions and had them practice their formation behind the stakes, placing the archers at the ends and the better-equipped infantry lining up behind the stakes.

"One fire will burn your bullshit fences! You peasants! This boyar felt that this kind of rejection of horses was a joke, and could not resist the charge of the army at all, "You are all going to be finished." ”

The thirty cavalrymen galloped back and forth several times and then left the place.

"Will this really stop the cavalry charge?" I asked Lothar a little skeptically, "How did you come up with this?" ”

"I have been captured by the Burkes. When the Berks attacked the Creelians, I saw the Creelians use this tactic to break the Berk army. ”

"How many to many?"

"Two thousand men defeated four thousand."

"There are more Creelians than we are, and there are fewer Burks than parliamentary soldiers." I said to Lothar, "Will this tactic work?" ”

"But our positions are better." "The Creelians had only half a day to build their positions before they came into contact with the enemy, and we had much more time. Fortunately, the parliamentary soldiers were just as arrogant as the Burkes. Go and tie the stakes, Victor, I don't have time to talk nonsense with you! ”

It takes three people to work together to lay a stake, one person digging a hole with a shovel and tongs, two people erecting the stake, tying the stake with two sticks and ropes, and then hammering the two staggered sticks with a hammer until the stakes break, and the stake will be firmly rooted in the dirt. The rain hindered our march, but it made it easier for us to tie up the stakes. The first row of stakes is somewhat crooked, but in the second row, the stakes are able to stay consistent on several lines and stagger at an angle to the first row. When the third and fourth rows of stakes were erected, even a thin soldier had to be careful to pass through the row, and he was often caught in the stakes or poked in the stomach. If a large number of people flocked to this row of stakes, they would have been stopped by these stakes.

My hands quickly developed blisters, but I was much luckier with those who dug deep trenches in front of the picket positions. Lothar ordered more than a hundred soldiers to use shovels to dig a trapezoidal ramp in front of the pinnacle, each end of the 'staircase' was knee-high, which would have to make the soldiers attacking from the front have to bend down to climb to reach the pinnacle. The archers were constantly shooting arrows at the ramp behind the stake position. Remember in your mind how far away the clearing in front of the stake position was. In the middle of the two long pointed pile ramps, there is a passage made up of sparse wooden piles. This is the only place where soldiers can pass quickly, but Lothar has the best of the heavy infantry here. The soldiers in the first two rows were armed with the heaviest iron armor. And the men were equipped with a shield, and behind them several rows of soldiers, armed with short spears and spears, in addition to throwing spears and javelins. It would be a big headache for me to command a group of soldiers to storm the position here, and in order to reduce casualties, I would probably abandon the attack, or at least take a detour to the flanks and rear. Although I know that this position can give us a big advantage, but from the front. It's just some prosaic rejection of horses, nestled in a muddy field, looking vulnerable. That's a good thing, it looks disorienting.

In order to test the stakes, Lothar arranged for more than a dozen of his strongest soldiers to use all means to open a path, and it took them a full hour to tear out a zigzag path under the watchful eyes of the other soldiers. Straight to the top of the picket position. At this time, even the clumsiest archer could not help but think that in the space of an hour, anyone could shoot to death the attackers who tried to remove the pointed stakes. Even if these people reached the end of the picket position. Elite knights and heavy infantrymen, armed with axes and spears, awaited them as the attackers reached the top through the narrow passages. It may be that one sword will have to face the attack of three or even four swords. Such an exercise has encouraged many people, although not many people believe it so far. This position can defeat the council army--- after all, it is a defensive position, and we lack cavalry--- but use it to protect ourselves. But it's relatively safe.

On the night of the second day, we finally confirmed that all the pointed wooden piles had been installed.

After I repeated the signal that Giovanni had requested, Tyvi called a group of soldiers and signaled to Valankov after nightfall: every hour, a bonfire would be lit once in a while, then extinguished, and in the second hour, it would be lit again.

We didn't rest all night, and all of us were holding their breath and staring at Varankov's front.

At dawn, we would light a thick smoke, and every hour we would burn a bonfire, filled with wolf droppings and all sorts of strange fuels, and the black smoke would shoot up into the sky.

Once again, the boyars' cavalry came to us, this time approaching our stake position, and they drove a group of men to try to dismantle our stakes. A group of more than 120 archers fired three rounds of arrows, and these arrows fell on the people so densely that six or seven of them immediately fell to the ground and slipped to the front of the position, and the rest of the men fled. Instead of considering our stakes, the angry cavalry scolded their men for being cowardly, and these horsemen approached the front of the stake position and shouted insults at us. When some impulsive archers tried to release their arrows, the officers of Lothar stopped them.

In our rear, the soldiers continued to fire the signal.

Every hour, there will be a clear signal to Varankov: break through as soon as possible and get closer to us! Break out as soon as possible and get close to us!

At night there is a bright bonfire, and during the day it is a dark column of smoke.

Tevi sent three emissaries to demand that Kalinin immediately abandon the siege, but these emissaries did not return, and Kalinin was placed under house arrest.

At first, we would stand nervously whenever cavalry approached us, but later we found that the boyars and his cavalry were getting smaller and smaller, and that they always came to retreat in the direction of Varyakov with a single scolding. We stopped paying attention to them, and every three hours, we got an hour to sit and rest. This alternating rotation of standing and sitting day and night makes us all nervous and grumpy. Every once in a while, Tavi would send scouts in the direction of Varykov, and as soon as they came into contact with the patrols of the parliamentary troops, they would immediately retreat.

I was in a half-asleep state, I had a bow in my hand, wrapped in cloth, it was an improvised hunting bow, not very strong, and I could barely pull it away. I blinked my eyes tiredly, and sometimes fantasies would arise as the rain fell all the way down on my helmet and flowed down my neck into my clothes. The rain soaked my clothes and felt very uncomfortable against my body, and hunger and sleepiness mixed together a strange feeling, and for a moment I felt that the siege of Varakov was over, as if we had reached a decades later, and things were long over.

I was surrounded by silent archers, their shafts wrapped in a tarpaulin to keep the rain out. But no one can say how much of this protection will be, because the tarpaulin has also become drenched. The world is a swamp soaked in water, and if we keep waiting, we will probably be flooded to our necks.

While I was thinking nonsense, a scout of the Tevi Knight let go of his voice and ran from a distance: "Breakout!" Breakthrough! Breakthrough! ”

My scattered eyes froze on the scout from near and far.

Then, I involuntarily stood up, and beside me, countless soldiers stood up one after another in a daze. The officers shouted orders for our men to prepare hot soup and food at once, for us to eat before the Varan soldiers arrived, and to prepare a bite to eat for the remnants of Valan.

Carefully pulling their horses, Tyvi's squad of knights walked from the passage to the front of the position, and as soon as they formed a group, they ran in the direction of the siege, and they were to guide the troops of the Varan breakout to us.

"Varan Breakout!" "Varan Breakout!" "Varan Breakout!"

The sound of trumpets, the orders of the officers, the beat of the drums, the neighing of the horses, the shouting of the various ranks of trumpets, countless sounds resounded through our positions.

I took my bow from the tarpaulin, took a bowstring from my waist bag, I hung one part of the bow wood in my mouth, and then bent the bow hard, and after the bow was bent at a suitable angle, I spit out the bowstring and hung it on the other part of the bow wood.

I took a breath and looked into the distance at Valankov, where smoke was rising and the last soldiers of the Duchy of Valan were desperately trying to survive.

I am a soldier of the Duchy of Valan, I take my bow and arrows, and soon I will use them to defend my Duchy!

The rain ticked on my helmet.