Forty verses of selection

"There's no time to think about it anymore!" replied Ashrufat in a low voice. "I asked Phil today, and there is no hope, tomorrow is the day after the worst day! Thomas showed signs of gangrene in his wound...... If we don't get 'myrrh' tomorrow, then we can only watch Thomas die! Even if we get 'myrrh' tomorrow, Thomas only has half a chance of recovering!"

"You really ...... Why do you want to do this!" After a long hesitation, Leo said suddenly.

"Either I'll take the Wolf's Mouth Castle tomorrow, or I'll die tomorrow on the battlefield!" replied Ashrufat. "Help me, Leo! you must help me now!"

"Why did you sacrifice yourself to this point for General Thomas?" asked Leo. You've only known him for a year!

"If you ask me...... I don't know what to do. Ashrufat replied. "But I know that I would rather die than watch him die in front of me like this. No matter how risky it is, I'm going to take it!"

"Of course I'll help you!" Leo replied. "Do the best I can!"

The hands of the two men were clasped tightly.

......

Here is the open space outside the camp, enough to hold seven thousand people. Although it was not early, the militia did not feel much sleep. The commotion of the knights leaving after dark had a great effect, and for a moment the people were panicked. Now they have been summoned to this clearing outside the camp. No one knew what was going on in Commander Lu's head.

In front of the clearing, there was a large rock more than a man high. Ashrufat stood on the stone, condescending, looking at the assembled militia. Several flaming torches were stuck near the large rock, illuminating his figure.

All these militias were not ordinary militiamen drawn from among the peasants, but were well-trained from a family of militiamen. It was not difficult to separate these people from the militia, and any general knew that although these people were far inferior to the knights, they were much stronger than the improvised strong men. So they were originally regarded as the elite independent formation of the militia.

"First of all, Warriors of Casilos and St. Jean, thank you for all the battles you have been fighting for your country. But I want to say that you are all militias, and your fathers and grandparents are militias. And if nothing goes wrong, your children and grandchildren will be militias. Always. You, your fathers, and your children, will follow behind the knights. In peacetime, he is a retinue of the knights, and he charges with the knights in battle. You must bow your head in front of the knights as a sign of respect, and you must walk while the knights are riding. In short, you are only the servants of the knights. I don't know if you ever had the ambition that one day, you will have a piece of your own land, and you can walk on your land as a master, without bowing your head to anyone. You will have a castle or estate of your own, and when you return home, the doors will be solemnly opened for you. You will have stables with your own horses and cart horses. All of this belongs to yourselves and not to others. Your children will thrive on the vast lands, not crammed into a small house! When they reach adulthood, you can prepare your children with horses, armor, and weapons to serve the nation as probationary knights. ”

"I'm giving you a chance now! This is a chance you have never had before, and you will never have again! It's not just you! It's a unique opportunity that your ancestors have never encountered, and your children and grandchildren will never encounter! Let you break away from the low status of the militia and join the knights!"

Ashrufat paused, shaking a large document in his hand. Under the light of torches, this document stands out.

"I see suspicion in the eyes of many people, but Lord Thomas did receive from Princess Irina the legal power to canonize knights! and Lord Thomas entrusted me with this power! This document records your name and origin, and as long as I stamp it, then you are officially a knight. You will legally acquire a fief from Her Royal Highness Princess Irina, and become a true knight with your own territory!

The sound of the entire clearing completely subsided. All the previous whispers were gone, only the rustle of the wind. All eyes were on Ashrufat, without exception.

"Tomorrow, I will lead all the knights to attack the Castle of the Wolf's Mouth! All those who think they cannot take on this responsibility can leave now. I'm not going to stop it, but I'm going to cross out his name right away!"

No one moved, not a single one, and all the militiamen stood still, looking at Ashrufat, waiting for him to continue.

"But I warn you that from the moment you become a knight, you will not only own land, rights and status, but you will also bear the corresponding responsibilities! I don't know if you have heard of the Court of Honor, when you are a militia, you will never have to deal with the Court of Honor, because the Court of Honor will not judge a militiaman. But once you become knights, you will be the target of the Court of Honor's overseers. As long as a knight challenges or charges are brought before the Court of Honor, then you will have to stand trial. If the court decides that you are not worthy of this honor, then you will be stripped of your knighthood. There is only one type of knight that can be an exception. ”

Ashruphat remembered Duncan's sad and resolute face before the raid out of town that day. He continued.

"That's the knight who died in battle. If the knight dies on the battlefield, then all doubts and trials against him will be canceled. For no one can judge a knight who has died for his country on the battlefield, and no one can question his courage and honor. The widow of a knight who died in battle will receive the benefits of his domain for the rest of his life, and his children will be able to obtain the status of apprentice knight directly when they reach adulthood. If he does not have a wife, then his children will be sent to the noble academy to study and live for free until adulthood. ”

"You have no armor now, no horses. It doesn't matter, the army will be responsible for replenishing the knights in the war. I go to the baggage camp now, and will be there until the moon rises above the top of the treetops, waiting for all those who are willing to accept this honor and responsibility. ”

Ashrufat jumped off the stone and walked in the direction of the baggage camp. Leo should have been there with all the arrangements in place.

He heard footsteps, and many people followed him.

......

"Siege Tower?" In the mist of dawn, several gray ominous shadows appeared in front of the Wolf's Mouth Castle. It was only after a short time that the Paro soldiers defending the city realized that they were three siege towers.

Yesterday it was clear to everyone that the coalition forces did not carry any siege weapons. Even if they had a sufficient number of craftsmen, there would be no trees nearby. Even if they had brought a sufficient amount of timber with them, it would have taken three to five days to build a siege tower.

There were no familiar war drums outside the city, but the siege towers were moving towards the city walls little by little. Sneak attack? It's a surprise attack!

"Woo...... Whining...... Woo ......" sounded the horn of warning at the head of the city. The Paro soldiers rushed up the city walls and looked in amazement at the three siege towers that seemed to have fallen from the sky.

In addition to the three siege towers, there is another, smaller thing, which is a city breaker. The Breaker slowly approached the gates, and the siege towers rushed straight towards the walls. Due to the recent change of hands, the trench outside the Wolf's Mouth Castle has not yet been re-dug, and both the battering tower and the battering ram can charge directly at the target.

Whether it is a battering tower or a battering ram, it is located in the dead end of the cannon at the head of the city. Cannons can't do anything.

Above the city, there was a great roar of gunfire and a rain of arrows. But this individual weapon poses little threat to large war machines. The battering towers and rams were filled with arrows, but they continued to push as if they were unconscious.

"Rockets!!" someone shouted hoarsely.

But this trick is also useless. The machinery of war was covered with wet cowhide. Moreover, the enemy used several demon-breaking scrolls, completely depriving the mages in the city of the ability to cast spells.

Due to the damage to the city gates, the current Paro people could not send troops out of the city to attack these siege equipment, and could only watch the siege towers against the city walls.

Thankfully, the siege towers were slow, giving the Paros time to deploy their troops on the walls. By the time they finally approached, the soldiers on the walls were ready for melee combat. The Paros also knew very well that the strength of the coalition army was actually similar to theirs, and even if they could not take advantage of the advantages of the city walls, they would not necessarily lose.

"Soldiers, you have no way out!you must hold the walls, or we will all die here!" shouted Paro's officer.

The siege tower was against the wall. All who rushed up the walls from the inside were knights, one by one, brandishing their weapons, and with an unimaginable fury and madness, they pounced on the Paros who were waiting at the head of the city.

That's not the usual knightly way of fighting. These men in knightly armor are not so much knights, but rather that they are the barbarians of the northern ramp, those cultists of evil gods. One by one, the knights who rushed forward were like war madness, and they didn't know how to retreat and dodge. They were cut down by the Paros with axes and swords, pierced with spears, and broken bones with war hammers, but without any hesitation or retreat. Knights with axes or swords held aloft and slaughtered the dense enemy army without hesitation, rushing into the battle formation of the Paro people, killing three or five Paro soldiers before they were finally killed.

More knights rushed to the walls through the siege towers. Some of the knights roared, more silently, and slammed into the Paro line in a posture that was more like a death search than an attack. This kind of fearless posture is really terrifying.

Ashruphat jumped onto the wall, his withered sword clenched in both hands. With more strength than a human being, he jumped into the middle of the enemy line and unleashed a bloody storm of slaughter with his greatsword. He led a group of knights along the city walls and was invincible.

At this moment, the hand-to-hand combat on the city wall is without any pretense, naked courage and strength. Every second lives are lost. Death blew out life like a gust of wind, and dying moans burst out of his chest. The sparkle in a pair of eyes dimmed, and countless fresh lives were cast into the eternal night.

When the two armies met, the brave won, and the Paros began to retreat. No matter how hard their officers tried to push their men to resist, the soldiers were still pressed back by the crazy knights.

"Hold on, hold on! the enemy doesn't have so many knights, kill them all and win!" shouted Officer Paro.

But the truth seems to be the complete opposite, and wave after wave of knights rushed up the walls along the siege towers, killing batch after batch. Nearly every knight attacked the Paros with this spirit of death that did not care about their own safety. drove them off the walls. On the other hand, the breaker has begun to pound the huge and heavy iron-clad gates.