War will never be as impassioned and exciting as the bards say. After the initial excitement, what is left is endless panic and suffering.

On the fifth day after leaving Kitzby, a convoy of more than 120 people drove non-stop and arrived at a small village on the edge of the Aosta war zone in the evening.

Here everyone can truly feel the power of war to destroy everything.

This village named Michael was originally a large village with more than 200 permanent residents. It was only two days away from the city of Aosta. With the support of the north-south trade road, it became a temporary place for business travelers to settle. If not

War, this place may become a prosperous trading town in the near future.

Today, the former hotels, taverns, shops, and businesses have all turned into piles of burnt black peat. The smooth roads in the village are covered with brown-red bloodstains left after being washed away by rain. There are only a few red eyes on the bustling streets in the past.

The wild dogs with snarky mouths and empty stomachs dragged out the corpses that were not completely decomposed in the ruins, biting and gnawing at them. The wild dogs were almost crazy. They were not afraid of the crowds pouring in beside the ruins, and they kept tearing at the corpses.

He took out the rotten liver, intestines and lungs from his belly and started chewing them~

"Whoosh~"

"Woo~wu~wu~"

An arrow flew out from Jason's riding bow and pierced the belly of a wild dog, causing the wild dog to wail and struggle. The other two wild dogs were frightened by the sudden arrow and took two steps back.

He stared at the group of people not far away, twitching his nose and making a low sound from his throat. Seeing that there were too many enemies, the two wild dogs faced off with the crowd for a while and then had to look at the uneaten corpses and fled into the ruins~

"Master, this is too much. I remember that in the early autumn of last year, although there was some chaos here, it was still a prosperous place. However, in more than half a year, this place has turned into a hell." Ron was so shocked by the scene in front of him that he couldn't say anything for a long time.

speak out.

Art didn't answer Ron's words. He knelt down on one knee with Baron Balian, holding the cross around his neck, hanging the Holy Cross on his chest, chanting prayers to God in his mouth, and everyone behind him also made signs of the cross and bowed their heads.

Pray quietly.

Baron Balian got up and returned to Art, and ordered: "The team will camp here tonight. After you arrange the sentries in the evening, you can choose two more clever cavalry to follow me to the south to scout. Now we have entered Lombardy.

In the area controlled by the army, be careful in everything you do and don't be careless in the slightest."

Art took the order and asked: "Sir, should the team go to find a hidden forest outside the village as a camp? Is it dangerous to camp here?"

Baron Balian looked around and replied: "The Lombard army cannot control all the areas around Aosta, so those bastards turned this place into a scorched ruin. Since they have burned this place, they should not come back easily.

.You ask people to find a few more complete houses so that all the soldiers can sleep in the houses and recuperate. Be careful when lighting the fire, and try to let the broken walls block the fire..."

"Okay sir!"

Art turned around to make arrangements for setting up camp, resting and scouting.

............

Night had fallen, and six cavalrymen riding horses with hooves wrapped in cotton appeared on the business road leading to Kalkburg.

It was only a day's journey from Hades to Fort Kalk, but the closer to the core of the war zone, the greater the possibility of encountering enemies. In order to prevent the convoy from being targeted by large groups of enemies, Baron Balian decided to take advantage of the night to lead people to find out the enemy's situation.

.

The three Barons of Balian led Art and Ron, who were unfamiliar with the road, and the three Jasons each formed three two-person sentinel teams. One group went south along the trade road, and the other two groups were two miles away from the trade road.

Heading south to scout, the three groups of people agreed to rush back to Hades before sunrise regardless of whether there was an enemy or not.

Art and Baron Balian are personally responsible for the most dangerous trade routes.

The two drove their horses all the way south and arrived at a small manor ten miles outside Kalkburg at the zenith of the moon. This was originally the private farm estate of the lord of Kalkburg. It was managed by Butler Borg. The main body of the manor was

There is a stone tower about thirty feet high. There are several huts in the low wall below the tower. All the residences outside the wall have been burned and razed to the ground.

There were a few flashes of fire in the tall tower, and a few shouts of drunken men floated out.

There were two torches stuck on the wall at the top of the tower. An unlucky guy who had been ostracized by the superiors was squatting and dozing by the wall. He smelled the smell of beer and meat coming up from the tower downstairs. The unlucky guy had already cursed them in his heart.

Several times.

The guy with half-squinted eyes did not expect that two heavily armed enemies were already lurking less than two hundred yards outside the manor.

"Sir, is Kalk Castle already besieged? Otherwise, how would it be possible to set up checkpoints here to block the road to Kalk." Art asked, staring at the manor tower in front of him that served as a checkpoint.

Baron Balian was not sure, but he knew that the Lombard army was insufficient in number and the siege of Aosta was somewhat difficult. How could he still have the strength to send troops to set up a jam here when besieging Fort Kalk?

"Art, I think Kalk is not besieged. I guess they just want to cut off Kalk's communication with the outside world, so that the people in the fort lose hope of foreign aid, and then they can concentrate their efforts to attack."

"Come on, let's go around here first and scout out the front. If there is really no siege, we can come back and find a way to kill these watchdogs~" Baron Balian said.

The two of them returned to the haystacks where the horses were hidden outside the manor, and led the horses around the manor towards Kalk.

As a result, as Baron Balian thought, Fort Kalk was not besieged, but the surrounding arteries were successively blocked by the Lombard army. Many surrounding villages were massacred, and the enemy attempted to cut off all supplies of materials and personnel to Fort Kalk.

When Art and Baron Balian rode back to Hades, the sky had begun to turn white. The other two groups of sentinels had already returned to Hades.

"Sir, we arrived about a mile outside of Fort Kalk in the middle of the month. We found no enemy checkpoints or patrols along the way. We passed two scattered small settlements, both of which were in ruins. Jason's group

Pretty much the same.”

After confirming that Fort Kalk was not surrounded, Baron Balian summoned his attendants and several commanders of Art's patrol team to discuss in the tent how to remove the sentry blocking the trade route to Fort Kalk.

tower......

It was daylight, and after discussion, everyone formulated a more feasible action strategy.

It was close to noon, and the southbound convoy lazily broke camp and hit the road. By the time everyone reached a hill two miles north of the manor tower, the sun had already set, and there were only some dim lights around them under the afterglow of the setting sun.

Most of the convoy stopped and hid in the shelter behind the hill. Tuba's team and an attendant of Baron Balian were here to guard the food and newly recruited soldiers. The remaining people of the patrol were led by Baron Balian.

A four-wheeled carriage loaded with grain, salt, ale and other goods was heading towards the manor on the south side of the road.

At dusk, two soldiers holding crossbows on the crenellated wall on the tower of the manor were laughing and talking about their wonderful experiences in the past when they burned, killed, looted and raped prostitutes in Provence.

While they were arguing about who had slept with the most women, a four-wheeled carriage and two grooms appeared on the north side of the road.

"Stop!!" A soldier shouted over there in broken common language. Another soldier quickly went downstairs to report to the checkpoint commander.

The four-wheeled carriage stopped and shouted towards the manor about forty paces away: "Is this Mr. Berg? We are merchants delivering food to Fort Kalk. Please let us pass."

Standing at the gate of the manor, the sentry commander in iron scale armor and a pointed iron helmet was so happy that he was so happy that he had just been stationed here for seven or eight days when a fat sheep came to his door.

"Haha, Mr. Berg has turned into a dead dog. You don't need to go to Fort Kalk. Just leave the goods here."

The commander's words with an obvious Lombard accent woke up the ignorant coachmen. They realized that this place had been occupied by Lombard enemy troops, and quickly turned their horses and ran back the way they came.

"Leave two people behind and let me catch up with the others!!"

"Sir, could it be a trap?" a soldier next to the commander reminded.

Just when the commander was hesitating, the soldier on the tower clicked the crossbow in his hand. Driven by the huge tension of the crossbow, the crossbow arrow quickly swooped towards the carriage. A jar filled with ale on the carriage was shattered by the crossbow arrow.

The fragrant wine flowed along the carriage to the ground, and soon reached the tower commander's nose.

The commander raised his head and loudly asked the soldiers on the wall: "Is there an ambush ahead?"

The soldier on the wall looked along the distance where the carriage was going. He couldn't see clearly in the gray distance. He looked at the carriages going away, and felt anxious in his heart. "Sir, there is no ambush. Hurry up."

If you catch up, you'll run away if you're too late."

The commander no longer had any worries and called the six disheveled soldiers in the tower to get on the only three horses in the stable. The three horsemen and the four rode in tandem following the aroma of ale spilling on the ground.

Chase all the way north of the road...

The seven chasing enemy soldiers had just left the tower when three men in black holding short swords quietly entered the tower~

On the carriage on the north side of the trade road, Spencer was racing the horse while desperately throwing the grain on the carriage to the ground.

Colin saw this guy keep throwing the goods in the car to the ground, and quickly stopped him: "Spencer, what are you doing, why are you throwing it to the ground??"

Spencer pushed Colin's hand away and replied: "Throw some goods to attract the fish and keep it from decoupling."

"You are just a bastard coward. You obviously think the cargo is too heavy and you can't run fast. Our mission is to lure the enemy into an ambush. What if you run too fast and the enemy can't catch up?"

"Can't catch up? Look back, you're almost biting your ass. Get out of here, don't block me." He threw another bag of grain to the ground.

The commander who was following closely behind was really worried about a scam ahead at first, but when he saw the heavy objects being thrown down one after another from the carriage, he was sure that the people on the carriage were indeed running for their lives, and finally strengthened his determination.

"Guys, hurry up and chase! There must be something good on the carriage in front. Whoever grabs it will get it!!!" After saying that, he kicked the horse's belly a few times, and the horse under him quickened the pace, and several soldiers behind him also like

The hungry man was as excited as seeing the woman and chased after her.

How could the carriage pulling goods outrun the war horses? Seeing the carriage that was sixty or seventy paces ahead at the beginning getting closer and closer, the commander of the sentry tower who was leading the way screamed with excitement and drew out the broad sword in his hand.

He made a gesture ready to kill.

Suddenly! At the corner of the business road, the carriage stopped abruptly!
Chapter completed!