The city of Mulhouse is located on the west bank of the Barne River, and with the convenience of water transportation, it has become a transportation hub connecting all directions, and it is naturally quite prosperous.

It originally belonged to the Kingdom of Anvalon and was an important town in the eastern part of the kingdom.

When the army of Semitic and human vassals slaughtered here, the lord of Mulhouse and the nobles in the city immediately chose to surrender without hesitation, and in exchange for the appreciation of the Semitic people, they continued to dominate this kind of city.

April was supposed to be the busiest time in Mulhouse, with traveling caravans taking their goods to rest in the city before continuing on their way.

At this time, the Barn River was flooded with large and small boats, trafficking goods from the north and south, and at the same time bringing a good income to the Mulhouse people.

But today, under the shadow of war, the city of Mulhouse is in a depression.

The transportation industry, on which they usually depended, was almost cut off, and no merchants came back to the city.

In addition, most of the vehicles and ships were forcibly requisitioned by the Semitic army to transport military supplies for them, and I don't know how many died under the Semitic leather whips and steel knives.

With the successive defeats of the Semitic people, the news that Lord Lorraine's army was about to crush the territory came, and the atmosphere in the city became very strange.

On the surface, it looks calm, but the underground tide is raging.

Originally, this was the rear, only responsible for the transfer of materials, so there were basically not many soldiers in the city, but now, this place has become a huge barracks, and most of the soldiers in simple military uniforms come and go.

From time to time, huge war fortresses roar through the sky.

Due to the privileged location of Mulhouse, the important surnames here are self-evident.

Not only does this place have the wide Bath River as a natural barrier, but the marina facilities are extremely complete and the throughput is huge. It is possible to take advantage of the well-developed water transportation system of the Barn River to mobilize a large number of troops in a short period of time to contend with the enemy.

Emperor De Rossi, who was annihilated, was ordered by the High Priest to reorganize the defense line on the Western Front.

It is precisely because he values this that he regards the city of Mulhouse as the focus of his defensive line, preparing to resist the attack of the human coalition led by Lorraine.

Emperor De Rossi also gave this defensive line that stretched for thousands of miles a very nice name - the Iron Wall.

The city of Mulhouse was one of the centers of the Impregnable Defense, where Emperor De Rossi had stationed more than 200,000 troops and vowed to build it into an impregnable wall that the coalition forces could not overcome.

'Knock, knock. With the sound of the morning drums, groups of soldiers marched into ......the streets.

They lined up in a long line and gathered on the streets of the city for a regular morning feast.

Private Hu Ge stood crookedly in the queue, looking at the prison officers in front of several columns of people, listening to his hoarse tirade in his ears, and couldn't help but yawn silently.

The words of the prison army are just a few sentences over and over again, what escapees are killed, disobedient beheading, the enemy must not be terrible, they have strong reinforcements behind them.

After listening to it for two months in a row, Hu Ge would memorize it himself.

He was wearing a new military uniform of the De Rossi Empire, which was actually just a blue coarse cloth shirt.

Hu Ge put his hand into the pocket of his military uniform, wanting to touch the potatoes he had brought out in the morning, but his palm was directly in the pocket.

I don't know when a big hole was broken at the bottom, Hu Ge scolded secretly, shook his hand and wanted to take it out, but he heard a stabbing sound and tore the entire pocket.

Hu Ge couldn't help gritting his teeth, and secretly said in his heart: Damn the annihilation merchant~!

This set of old cloth that I don't know how many years old it has been used, and the military uniforms that can be torn with a little force, are not yet issued, but bought with their two months' military salary.

And it's not okay not to buy it.

For convenience, the above directly deducted the general's salary, and then threw them this set of rags.

It is said that in the procurement of military uniforms, the wise and wise Emperor De Rossi adopted the most popular, cost-effective and efficient bidding scheme.

The contract for the production of military uniforms for the soldiers was taken away by the lowest bidder, thus saving a large amount of military money, for which he was also appreciated by the high priest.

However, the grapevine said that the vendor who won the bid was actually the younger brother of Emperor De Rossi's mistress, and he bid forty-five copper plates to make two million military uniforms.

However, Hu Ge couldn't figure out how a military uniform worth forty-five copper plates could be turned into a gold coin in his hand, and how the tattered piece on his body was not worth forty copper plates.

As a soldier until now, Hu Ge and the 200,000 soldiers in the city have not received a penny, but they have put a lot of money into it.

Because not only were the clothes deducted from the salaries, but the weapons were not distributed, they bought them themselves.

The officers demanded that everyone have a weapon, otherwise they would be whipped, and if they dared to disobey, they would even have their heads cut off.

Moreover, it is possible to purchase the winning weapons produced by the specified manufacturers.

All of them are expensive to death, what Damascus steel knife, it costs five gold coins, a well-forged long sword costs three gold coins, and a Longinus spear also costs one gold coin, how can these little soldiers afford it?

Don't think about armor or anything, at least twenty gold coins.

Fortunately, the quartermaster of the company was a good man, and he sold everyone copycat goods, and pasted the brand of the winning weapon on the cottage weapon, and turned it into a political axe to buy standard weapons.

A large knife only sells for two silver coins, and the spear in Hugo's hand only costs fifteen coppers, and it is the price of conscience.

The price is clearly marked, and the child is not bullied, which is simply a model of an excellent businessman.

Although it is a little simpler, at a glance, you can tell that it was rushed to make it, the wooden shaft of the spear is still wet, and a simple flat spear head is installed at the front end, Hu Ge suspects that he can bend it with a little more force, but it is also a weapon is not ~!

And looking at this craftsmanship, Hu Ge knew that it must have come from the hands of the old man with dysentery in Wuliqiao Village outside the city.

The prison army had to talk for most of the day, and finally shouted: "Long live the emperor, long live the throne of the gods~!"

Hugo and the soldiers suddenly came to their senses.

They also shouted loudly, and then they could be disbanded, usually at this time everyone went home to have breakfast, because the barracks did not have food, and they had to solve it by themselves.

Emperor De Rossi used this kind of extensive management method of only pulling people and nothing else, and the soldiers prepared their own to pull up an army of millions within a month.

Just by virtue of his hand-pulling strong men, he can be called a master of the extreme violent soldier flow.

His efficient and frugal approach won the admiration of the high priest and the high-ranking lichs, who unanimously praised Emperor De Rossi for his wisdom.

But they just looked at the soldiers...... Well, there has been a huge increase, but as this labor force has been withdrawn from all walks of life, the whole machinery that keeps society running has become more and more difficult, and it has come to the brink of collapse.

The market is depressed and prices are soaring. Civilians were displaced and cursed...... All of these negative situations were ignored by the top brass of De Rossi...... Precisely, they turned a blind eye to this and allowed the situation to continue to deteriorate.

Hugo hung his head and walked out weakly, he had to stand guard on the city wall before eight o'clock, and if he was late, he would be fined by the officer.

Of course, it's okay if you don't want to go, as long as you pay some money, someone is willing to take over.

Hu Ge was such a person in front of him, he was wearing the same military uniform, he was standing in the center of the street, soliciting business everywhere, and said in a loud voice: "Stand guard for the shift and do miscellaneous work, you squeak if you have something to do, twenty copper plates for half a day, and eighty-five folds for the whole day." ”

His shouting was quite loud, but the prison officers were on their horses and passed by, as if they were not heard.

Hu Ge knew this guy, and immediately quipped: "Sauer, how is business in the past two days?"

"Hey, don't mention it. Sauer pursed his lips and said, "I haven't opened for two days, and if it goes on like this, I'll have to drink the northwest wind." ”

"I've heard that you've made a lot of money, and you've been beaten away by you, and you're now a monopoly. ”

Sauer rolled his eyes and said, "Don't talk nonsense, they weren't beaten away by me, they are...... Forget it, don't you know, the officials take sixty percent of the money I earn, do you think it's for nothing?"

As he stopped to talk, the road was a little crowded, and the people behind him immediately urged him. Hugo shrugged helplessly, said goodbye to Sauer, and slowly walked east along the flow of people.

At this time, there was a sudden commotion from behind, and someone shouted: "Prison law enforcement, get out of the way, get out of the way~!"

When the soldiers in the street heard this, they all retreated to the corner of the wall and huddled together to look in the direction from which the sound came.

A team of hundreds of black-clad prison guards slowly walked down the street with several prison carts, and the faces of the prisoners in the prison cars were like ashes, and they trembled with fear.

Among them was the conscientious quartermaster whom Hugo knew, who was sturdyly tied and curled up in a cage, shivering with fear.

The prisoner cart passed through the crowd and went straight to the execution ground in the square, and the curious soldiers all followed to see the excitement.

The prisoners were pulled out and lined up on the execution ground, and they fell to their knees on the guillotine, while the executioner next to them raised his broadsword and prepared for execution.

One of the overseers shouted to the soldiers: "These people have embezzled military funds, resold military supplies, and filled their own pockets, which is a heinous crime, and we execute them in the name of His Majesty the Emperor."

His Majesty ordered five times, no matter who broke the law, we found it together, investigated and punished it together, and executed it together. We will never tolerate corruption and dereliction of duty, and we will cut ~!"

With an order, the big knives in the hands of the executioners fell, and more than a dozen heads rolled all over the ground, and the blood spurted out instantly stained the ground of the execution ground red.

Hu Ge was secretly frightened, and secretly shouted in his heart that something bad was a big deal, this conscientious logistics officer was slaughtered, where would he go to buy cheap knockoffs in the future?

The crowd in the square gradually dispersed, and Hu Ge saw that it was not early, so he hurriedly ran to the east of the city, and if it was too late, he would have to pay a fine.

Bumped into countless passers-by along the way, and finally rushed to his post at the moment when the bell rang at eight o'clock, showing a triumphant smile to the officer who was waiting for the fine.

The little officer next to him glanced at him angrily, and he would definitely find fault with him and make some trouble for Hu Ge.

But he had just cut off more than a dozen heads today, and he had to weigh them carefully, so in the end he could only snort hatefully and turn away.

Hu Ge gasped, looking at the back of the little officer with a disdainful expression, this guy was determined to pat the sycophants of the people above, and scolded in his heart: You wait, it's not that you don't report, the time has not come.

As soon as the officers left, the soldiers on the city wall became lazy and lazy, holding weapons and gathering in groups of three or five to talk nonsense, no one cared anyway, if there were overseers coming, they would pretend to be and stay up until noon.

Several soldiers in the same class are lamenting the wrongful death of the quartermaster, he is doing a small business, a dozen coppers and a spear, how much money can he make?

I'm afraid that the cost is only a few coppers, and I can only earn two gold coins during this period of time, so why do I kill them?

A veteran of the city defense army before the fall blinked, smiled slyly, and said profoundly: "You don't understand this......

Then he kept silent and hummed a minor tune leisurely.

It wasn't until a curious soldier stuffed him with a piece of bread that the veteran weighed it and said leisurely: "That guy is confused, do you know whose money he stole from?"

"Who's?"

"The city lord's money~!" the veteran slapped his thigh and said in an accentuated tone: "Then can you not kill him." ”

Hu Ge was a little puzzled and asked, "How did he steal the city lord's money?"

The veteran glanced at Hu Ge like a rookie, and said: "The standard weapons designated by the political axe are sold with the city lord's share, and the quartermaster sells his own knock-off goods privately, so that the standard weapons set by the city lord cannot be sold, but he is stealing the city lord's money." ”

The little soldiers suddenly realized that it was no wonder that so many big people were greedy and slaughtered a small person.

"Then he really deserves to die. Everyone said in unison, instead of squeezing money from the common people, but going to the money of the black officials, this is not what it is to die.

The veteran snorted coldly and said, "Actually, the one who should be killed the most is our city lord." ”

Hu Ge hurriedly waved his hand and said nervously: "Don't talk nonsense, if people know about it, we will be unlucky with you." ”

"What are you afraid of," the veteran said proudly, "they don't have a few days to live, and Lord Lorraine's coalition is about to kill." I tell you, our military uniforms should be free, but the city lord has to collect two months' worth of our military salary, how much does he make for this alone?"

Hu Ge calculated in his heart, one gold coin per person, 200,000 people in the city is 200,000 gold coins, this number startled him, 200,000 gold coins, no matter where it is placed, it is a huge amount of money.

Hu Ge smacked his tongue and said, "So many, that old guy really deserves to be killed~!"

The veteran sneered and said, "And that old guy is still on empty salary, if you want me to see, there will not be 200,000 people in the city, and our whole city is less than 100,000 people, and 200,000 troops have already crowded this city."

The officials all know that they don't have much to say, and now they are all desperately trying to get money. By the time Lord Luo came over in the future, they would have already slapped their butts and ran away.

So, we little soldiers, our eyes are still a little brighter. Don't throw away your life for those dog officials. ”

The surrounding soldiers smacked their lips with different expressions.

Hu Ge sighed helplessly, now the city is full of strange ideas, but whenever there is a way, they are changing their ways to make money, but these little people are so wandering, struggling to survive, just hoping to have a way to survive in the troubled times.

"Their good days are running out, and our good days are coming soon. The crowd didn't know that the soldier was muttering under his breath.

Hugo nodded approvingly.

"What should you do when Lord Lorraine calls?"

"What else can I do, of course, it's surrender.

According to the standard of the red and black list of His Majesty the Pope, I have carefully calculated, I am ten~!" the soldier said triumphantly.

"Almost, I'm nine, even if the humans call, I'll be fine, when the time comes, throw the guy away, and tear the military uniform. ”

Although Hu Ge didn't speak on his face, he was secretly happy in his heart, he was also very good, a small soldier, he hadn't done anything bad, and it was okay if the coalition army came back.

Maybe he will be a leading party, catch a few heinous crimes, and make a bounty, so he has already targeted a few people in the city who are dogs and legs for the Semites.

However, it is estimated that it is not only himself who will target those people, and it is estimated that the competition within the party will be fierce when the time comes.

Even if these people were talking openly about surrendering, no one cared, and the soldiers were not worried about being reported.

Most of the people here are more than five points, and they will not be held accountable by the Holy See, but if they report others to the prison army, there will be no bounty, not to mention, and if they have a proper red name, they will inevitably be cut off their heads.

At this time, everyone in the city knew that it was impossible for them to stop Lord Lorraine's coalition army, and it was important to leave a way back for themselves as soon as possible.

The more days of the officials are the day, and the grinders who are soldiers surrender when they only wait for the coalition forces to come.

However, only Emperor De Rossi did not know, and after listening to the report of the people below, he was full of confidence in his million-strong army, and Emperor De Rossi thought that even if they could not fight in the field, it would always be no problem to defend the city.

At ten o'clock in the afternoon, Hugo, who had been rumbling with hunger, was finally able to be laid off and dragged his spear home.

At this moment, I suddenly heard an excited and loud shout: "The coalition forces are coming~!"

There was a great chaos in the city.

"The coalition forces are coming, and we are about to liberate~!"

"Brothers, catch the red name and receive the bounty~!"

"Don't let the officials run. ”

The soldiers on the street ran around like rats that had fallen into a pot of boiling water.

While Hu Ge was still in a daze, a large group of overseers ran out from the direction of the center of the city, brandishing their swords to drive away the panicked soldiers on the street, and shouted viciously: "Go to the city wall, go to the city wall, and those who disobey the military order will be killed." ”

Regardless of whether the coalition forces killed them or not, the gang came first, and the soldiers who encountered immediate danger were driven by the prison army to the city wall.

Hugo was caught in the middle of the crowd, running back and forth involuntarily, he had just returned to the city gate, only to see a group of people at the city gate suddenly tear the inferior military uniform, revealing the white gold cross symbol inside, and drew a bright sword.

A banner of the Holy See was raised in the crowd at the same time, and one of the leaders raised his weapon high and roared: "For the sake of light, the rebels are here, and that one dares to come and send him to death?"

Brothers, follow back and liberate Mulhouse~!"

Then he rushed to the prison army first, followed by hundreds of white-clothed soldiers.

The soldiers around him seemed to see a savior, shouting: "Uprising, uprising~!"

"Kill the demon cubs and the human annihilation. ”

Then the white-clothed warrior who followed him rolled back like a tidal wave.

When the thousands of people in the prison saw that the entire street was full of people brandishing weapons and screaming at them, as if they were about to tear them to pieces, they turned and fled in fright.

The city of Mulhouse was bustling with activity like a pot of oil in the water.

Hugo shrewdly broke away from the group, turned and ran towards the city gates, he had to see the coalition forces before anyone else could lead the way.

Several soldiers were working together to open the gates, and Hugo joined them, pushing the heavy gates of Mulhouse open, and then waving a white cloth desperately at the coalition forces outside the city.

Two miles outside the city, a captain of the reconnaissance cavalry of the coalition army looked at the city gate, looked back at the more than 20 cavalry behind him suspiciously, and said blankly: "They are...... Surrender to us?"

The cavalry looked at each other, there were only more than 20 of them, how could they be surrendered?

Seeing that the coalition forces could not pass, Hu Ge and the others took the initiative to run over while waving the white flag.

Several people surrounded the reconnaissance team, stretched out their hands to pull the horses of the reconnaissance cavalry, and hurriedly said: "Quick, I'll take you to arrest people, and the one who is an official will run away when it's late." ”

The cavalry captain was taken aback by their enthusiastic attitude, looked innocently at these enthusiastic Mulhouse leading the way, and said in a low voice: "That, actually, we, are just here to reconnoitre." ”

(To be continued)