Thirty-nine knots change abruptly

"Ashrufat is not dead. Cut, there are really people in this world who walk shit luck......" Luke looked slightly pale even in the firelight, and a sarcastic smile appeared on his face. "Could it be that fate is against me, even if there is a 99% success rate, I will always meet that 1%?"

"Your Excellency!" said one of the men beside him. "So what do you ...... planned?"

"Well, the first plan was a complete failure. Ashrufat came back unharmed, so even if Leo drank the bottle and was poisoned to death, it wouldn't mean anything to me. Let's go according to the second plan. We don't have time, so let's do it tonight!"

At this time in the big tent, Leo had already re-capped the bottle.

"More than a hundred years of wine, even kings can hardly drink!" Leo said, holding his glass, carefully admiring the color of the liquid. This kind of thing is not something that can be obtained with wealth or power, and it should be said that it is more appropriate to say that it is impossible to find it. It's too luxurious to drink this kind of stuff in one sip, and it's best to savor it slowly in small sips.

Ashrufat also stared at the cup. After years of ageing, the wine is no longer golden, but darkens in colour and becomes an amber liquid with no blemish. A strong aroma emanates from the wine. If William Daley were still alive, he would probably be excited to stare out his eyes.

"Master, I have analyzed the bad ingredients ......," Carrie said suddenly, in her mind.

"William Daley, how happy you should be if you're still with us. Leo muttered with a sad smile on his lips. He continued to stare at the liquid for a few seconds, then tried to bring it closer to his lips.

A hand held him back. Before Leo could react, Ashrufat had already snatched the cup.

"The wine is poisoned. Ashrufat whispered.

"Poison?" Leo asked in confusion. It's almost impossible. The bottle was intact, and the cap was opened by his own hand, so how could it have been poisoned? Unless the wine had been poisoned more than a hundred years ago, when the bottle was sealed.

Eshurufat snatched the bottle and looked closely at the cork.

"Look at this, it's a needle mark. Someone pierced the cork cap with a hollow thin needle and added poison to it. Ashruphat explained to Leo. "Who gave you this wine?"

"A knight...... He said it was a ...... captured in the enemy camp before"

"I'm afraid we've got some mixed up in our army...... Spies of the Paro people. Ashrufat analysis. If Leo is right, the current coalition is not only mixed in with some mercenaries, militia pretending to be imposter knights, but also some Paro spies.

"I'll take the guards to get that guy right away!" Leotten stood up.

"Nope. "Aerufat stopped Leo. "The spy has probably escaped. If we arrest people with such fanfare, it will attract unnecessary attention from other knights and make people suspicious. ”

"What then?"

"I immediately went to strengthen the camp and forbade the soldiers to leave. You immediately go and inspect the camp, focusing on seeing if the spy has escaped. If he runs away, we pretend nothing happened. Tomorrow is a general attack, and it's better not to let anything happen tonight. ”

Leo thought for a moment. If you don't catch the spy, but instead make the knights suspicious and distrustful of each other, it will be a big loss. At this critical moment, it is better to hide from others.

It turned out that Ashrufat's estimate was not superfluous. The knight was gone, and it was impossible to ask the others, the only thing that was certain was that the spy had left after setting up camp.

After some time, the two men met again in the big tent. You don't need to speak, just see the other person's expression and know the result.

"Our camp today is set up relatively simply, and that guy should have left before the camp was finished. Ashrufat said.

As he spoke, Ashruphat heard a commotion outside. It was a loud noise, and normally it would not be seen in the barracks.

The two men glanced at each other and immediately rushed out of the big tent. The sound came from Thomas's tent.

Big things did happen there, hundreds...... No, hundreds of knights gathered around Thomas's tent. It is important to note that in order to keep Thomas safe (and to cover up his injuries), Thomas's tent was a separate and protected by a small group of loyal and reliable militia led by the prophetess Phil. At this moment, Phil was in the way of the knights.

"We want to see General Thomas!" someone shouted, followed by a number of voices.

"General Thomas is not in good health and cannot see you!" Phil repeated again. Although the knights were all emotional, no one dared to do anything to Fei'er. After all, she was a prophetess, a messenger of the gods of nature.

Eshuruphat and Leo arrived just in time and stood in front of Phil, looking at the group of knights in front of them. All of these knights were Casilos, and there was no mix of the knights of St. Jean. In fact, there were very few St. Jeans in the coalition army, and even the knights and militiamen with archers were less than 1,500.

Seeing Eshurufat and Leo appear, the momentum of these knights decreased slightly.

"What are you going to do?" asked Ashrufaat aloud, as he swept his eagle-like gaze over each knight's face, and for a moment the knights looked at each other, none of them coming out.

"We heard rumors," said a gray-haired, rather old knight at the end. "Princess Irina has formed the court of St. Jean, and all the ministers are St. Jeans!

"It doesn't take Master Thomas for me to confirm this. That's true, yes!" replied Ashruphat aloud. As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed that Leo was desperately glaring at him, but it was too late.

Ashrufat's words were like a barrel of gunpowder falling into the crowd, causing an instant uproar. The knights exchanged glances with each other, discussing with each other in the dialect of Cassilos.

"Wait a minute, guys!" Leo shouted desperately. "This was not the princess's intention! things were rushed, and traffic was cut off by the Paro people......"

"Let's go! we don't need to continue following the princess of St. Jean!" I don't know who shouted, "Casilos's royal rule has not been severed!"

The knights dispersed, went back to pack their belongings, and gathered their original retinue to leave.

"Ashrufat, this is ......" Leo stomped his foot urgently. "They're leaving!"

"Why is this happening?" said Ashrufat, who couldn't come back to his senses for a moment.

"You know too little about the past. Leo replied, "It's really over!"

"Tell me what?"

"Trouble with the Cassilos!" replied Leo. "Once upon a time, His Majesty Rangier entrusted the affairs of the state to his son-in-law, King Casilos. But that one had only Cassilos in his eyes, and there was no place for the Saint Jeans in his court...... So you know the way...... The people of St. Jean were reluctant to fight for that one, and the knights were willing to defend their territory and not take the initiative. Otherwise, how could a mere 10,000 greyhounds have the opportunity to penetrate deep into St. Jean, and it was not until we broke out of the mountains and informed all sides of the return of His Majesty Rangier that the knights of St. Jean were willing to join the war. So Casilos knew that the court of Princess Ludao had been established, and now he was afraid of being treated in the same way...... Anyway, that's all this, do you understand?"

"I'll go and chase the knights back now!" said Ashrufat. "You can't let them go!"

"It's useless, if we do this, it will only lead to an immediate civil war and even greater losses!" Leo tried to stop Ashrufat. "Those knights are no longer willing to fight for us, so let them go. ”

"Don't worry, I won't use force. I will try to convince. Ashruphat tossed his sword aside, as if he didn't know what he would do with it.

It took a while for the commotion in the barracks to subside. The coalition army, which originally had a total strength of 30,000 troops, was seriously reduced all of a sudden. More than three thousand knights and twice as many militiamen left.

"We'll ...... tomorrow I'm afraid I won't be able to do a siege war. Leo sat at the table, looked at Ashrufat who had buried his face in the palm of his hand, and said with a wry smile. "Who the hell is spreading this kind of news in the barracks and stirring up the hearts of the army?" General Thomas......" he whispered the name, his voice full of unwillingness and anger.

"......No," Ashruphat said suddenly, staring at Leo with an indescribable determination on his face.

"Tomorrow's siege...... Everything was carried out according to the plan. ”

"But we don't have any troops. Knights...... Now we only have 3,000 knights! Unless you can turn the militia into knights, we won't be able to take this castle!"

"Then we'll turn the militia into knights!"

"Do you want to ......," a terrible thought crossed Leo's mind. "Are you supposed to ...... I want to use the canonization power granted to Thomas by Her Royal Highness the Princess...... Although the seal of Thomas is in our hands...... But ......"

"Leo, how much captured armor are in our logistical baggage?" Ashrufat asked, smiling in return, and the tent was immediately cold as if it were about to form a layer of frost.

In previous battles, they captured a lot of loot. As is customary in war, small things like coins naturally belonged to those who found them from corpses, and militiamen and archers were allowed to keep one or two weapons as trophies, and if conditions permitted, they could exchange their leather armor for new ones, or even chain mail. But large and valuable trophies, such as horses, vehicles, and armor, must be confiscated. This is actually an inevitable choice, and it is not uncommon for armor to damage horses and die in battle, and such materials must be used to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army.

"We have seven or eight thousand sets of knightly armor. But Eshurufat, I warn you, not a man can be considered a knight by putting on a piece of armor. It also requires courage, martial arts and honor. Leo struggled. "And if you do, then you're ...... Will be hostile to all knights. The knights would not allow their honor to be tarnished by their lowly bloodlines. Even if it was Thomas, under the condition of complete legality, he was attacked by many people after canonizing just two militiamen!"