"Sir Otto, we didn't catch him and he ran away."

Beside the commercial road to the north of the manor, Jason, who was leading a patrol team to hunt down the sentry tower commander, reported the battle situation to the deputy captain of the patrol team, Odo.

"Trash! You can't catch up with someone who's been hit by an arrow. How do you train on a daily basis?" Odo's scolding sounded.

The ambush battle personally commanded by Baron Balian was victorious. When more than twenty patrol soldiers ambushing on both sides of the trade road rushed out, the greedy wolves chasing the prey turned into slaughtered rats. In less than half an hour,

There were six corpses of enemy soldiers lying on the ground, and the patrol team only had four minor injuries. But the commander who was shot in the left chest by Art was able to escape in the melee. Once this guy led the enemy group,

If the soldiers pursue them, the huge convoy will be extremely dangerous.

"Odo, there is no need to blame him. Hurry up and let the convoy pass quickly and enter Kalkburg as soon as possible. If we are caught up by the pursuers in a while, so many of us will not be able to escape."

"Good Lord Baron"

Odo turned around and yelled at the two men who were directing the soldiers to replenish their wounds: "You two, Baskarzak, clean up the battlefield quickly and take away everything you can. Weapons, armor and valuables will be left to you for safekeeping.

"

"Jason, you ride to the north and tell Tuba that they will bring the convoy over quickly..."

The three of them took orders and went about their business.

Spencer was also very busy. According to the custom of the patrol, all weapons, armor and valuables worth more than twenty pfennigs when cleaning up the battlefield after the battle must be turned over to the patrol for distribution at their discretion after the war. However, in order to motivate the soldiers

Fighting bravely also allows them to keep some odds and ends and less valuable possessions.

As a veteran of the patrol, Spencer was also the important "first striker" in this ambush battle. Of course, he had the privilege of selecting the spoils first. At this time, he was rummaging around on an enemy soldier that had been poked into a sieve.

He won't move at all to find weapons and armor, not because he abides by military discipline, but because he is really not interested in those things. The money bag has been rummaged through, and all the dozen copper coins have been accepted; what he is looking for now is

Soldiers usually carry holy crosses with them. Some rich soldiers' holy crosses are made of silver. But Spencer searched for a long time and found no sign of the holy cross.

"You bastard, you don't even have a holy object on your body. No wonder God didn't protect you and allowed you to die miserably here." Spencer didn't care that the enemy soldiers wearing holy crosses didn't survive either.

Colin walked over to Spencer angrily and yelled: "Spencer, you bastard! When we were fighting, you were afraid of death, but when you were searching for property, you turned into a damn warrior."

"I told you not to throw away the grain bags. You have to throw them away. Now it's okay. Lord Odo asked us to pick up all the goods thrown away on the road."

"Huh?" Spencer looked up in surprise.

"Let's go, why are you still waiting? You expect me to go alone."

"I~I still have to clean up the battlefield as ordered~"

Colin would be deceived by Spencer's excuse, pick up a stone on the ground and throw it at it, "Do you believe I will smash your dog's head?"

"Okay, okay, I'm going! I'm going!"

“What a pity for the good things in this place~”

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

"What a pity for this good thing."

Ron stood by the crenellated wall of the sentry tower, looking at a broken crossbow in his hand.

Ron was one of the three men in black who followed Art into the tower. After Spencer and Colin pretended to be a caravan to lure the enemy soldiers out of the tower, the three of them quietly entered the tower.

.

Perhaps no one dared to attack this checkpoint for many days, so the people in the tower were very relaxed. When the three of them closed the tower door and went up to the stacked wall at the top of the tower, the two soldiers who stayed behind were still standing by the stacked wall.

Smiling and watching his companions chasing prey.

At first leaned down and sneaked behind a soldier, piercing his throat with a sword; Ron, who was following behind, was half a step too late. The soldier in front of him was already on guard. When Ron slashed over with his sword

, the soldier blocked it with the crossbow in his hand, and the bow was split by the broadsword. After joining forces with Art to kill the soldier, Ron picked up the broken crossbow on the ground and cried out in distress. This crossbow is a military weapon.

Medium and heavy weapons are usually controlled by the elite armies of some large castles and big lords. Even Tyniec only has six or seven such heavy crossbows in his arsenal.

"Okay Ron, you two stay here and observe the surroundings. If there is any enemy situation, call the police immediately. I'll go down first to take a look at the situation over there." After saying that, Art went down the wooden ladder and went down the tower.

It was already dark. An empty truck was parked in the manor. Seven or eight soldiers from the patrol were counting the war gains in the sentry tower. This sentry tower was probably set up temporarily. Everything in the manor had been looted by the enemy soldiers.

, except for a small amount of food supplies, there were no other weapons or property in the tower. After searching, they only found a small half barrel of beer, a few bags of rye bread, and some fragmentary belongings of the soldiers, plus some items from the killed enemy soldiers.

What was seized was only two thousand douphenni coins, eight sets of weapons and armor, and two war horses.

Looking at the weapons and armor stacked on the carriage, Baron Balian pulled Art aside and said: "Art, I want to discuss it with you. You know that I have recruited so many soldiers, but there is a lack of weapons and armor in Fort Kalk.

, the weapons in our inventory cannot yet equip all the newly recruited soldiers. So I wonder if you can sell me the weapons captured this time, especially the crossbow. I only have eight of these weapons for city defense.

I'm willing to pay a thousand pfennigs for this crossbow, and I'll also buy the broken one. You set the price for the other weapons, and I won't bargain."

"Lord Balian, it was your idea to pull out this checkpoint this time. You should have shared a share of the loot. As for the other weapons, I only left four pieces of leather armor, and the rest will be given to you. As a condition, those two

All the horses are mine, how about that?" Art also lacks weapons and equipment, but now Baron Balian needs these things more than Art.

In the end, Art got four sets of thick leather armor and two war horses. Of course, Baron Balian still paid Art a thousand pfennigs for the weapons.

Everyone did not stay in the manor for too long. After cleaning up, they immediately set off for Kalk Castle...

When we arrived at Kalkburg, it was just dawn.

In the past, this inconspicuous castle in the north of Aosta has turned into a real Shura battlefield. The city walls are full of signs of damage, and there are some damaged siege equipment under the city walls.

Groups of soldiers on the city wall were patrolling, and the archers on the arrow towers stared nervously into the distance. The brown background Pegasus flags fluttered in the wind at the top of the city, and many antlers were set up in front of the closed city gate.

The soldier Ka, who was guarding the gate, saw the convoy slowly approaching. After careful observation, he found that the leader of the convoy was carrying the flag of his baron, and quickly reported it to the commander guarding the city.

After a while, the door opened and several cavalrymen rushed out of the door.

The leading knight hurriedly jumped off his horse and came to Baron Balian, "Sir, you are back. Last week, more than a hundred enemy troops came to attack the city, and we almost lost Kalk Castle."

"Let's not talk about it until we enter the city. It's not safe outside the city." After Baron Balian said this, he led the convoy into Fort Kalk. Waves of warm cheers rang out in the fort...

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

As soon as Art led the patrol into Kalkburg and lay down in a thatched hut, a series of warning horns sounded from the fort wall, and a group of Barentian cavalry rushed towards Kalkburg from the northern trade road.

Came over.

Regardless of the fatigue from traveling all night, Art struggled to get up from the straw bed, called up Ron and Jason who were sleeping in the house, and walked out the door.

"Ron, go wake them up."

Ron put on his armor and hung up his sword while running towards another straw shed~

Art climbed up the city wall. A stone's throw away from the city wall, more than thirty cavalrymen lined up to confront each other. Thirty people were not too many, but thirty cavalrymen was not a small scene. Arter was surprised.

Due to the responsiveness of the Lombard army, the cavalry had already caught up with them in just a few hours. Fortunately, they did not stop at the manor for too long, otherwise the consequences would have been disastrous.

The thirty or so cavalry outside the city were led by a guy with a grizzly bear heraldic flag. Art was familiar with the Lombard noble system, but he didn't remember any family in Lombardy that used the black bear heraldry. Maybe

It is a new military honor that appeared in this war.

The leader of the cavalry drove his horse alone to a stop about fifty paces outside the fort gate, and shouted bitterly at the people on the wall: "When Kalk is captured, I will kill you all."

The leader's words contained an intoxicating sense of courage and murderous intent. Jason couldn't help feeling a little sore in his feet, "Sir, how come these guys are even worse than those tough bandits?"

"More scary than gangsters, right?" Art smiled and glanced at Jason beside him, and had to admit that these cavalrymen under the city did have a murderous aura that had been through battles for a long time. This kind of murderous aura could not be achieved by just killing a few gangsters.

What is obtained can only be possessed by those who crawl out from among the dead.

"Art, it seems you won't be able to leave in the past two days." At some point, Baron Balian was already standing behind Art.

"Lord Balian, should you send troops to fight?" Jason asked weakly. In his memory, this kind of occasion should be like what the bard said, with the brave guardian leading the army to rush out.

Drive away the intruders.

Baron Balian and Art laughed at the same time, "Young man, you can't believe the boasts from the bard. It would be a fool to go out to fight at this time."

"Strengthen the defense and guard against sneak attacks." After giving the order to the people around him, Baron Balian descended the city wall.

"Art, let your people go back to sleep and recuperate. I will hold a banquet in the inner castle tonight and invite you and your commanders to attend."

The cavalry outside the city kept cursing and provoking in the wind, and the soldiers on the wall remained unmoved despite the scolding outside the city. The enemy soldiers lost interest and had to fight their horses and leave.

Art looked around at the young and strong soldiers in armor on the city wall, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart - it seems that Provence still has elite soldiers, and Lombardy's ambition to occupy Provence in one fell swoop may not be so easy to realize...

In the evening, there was a burst of jubilation in Fort Kalk. Baron Balian's trip north brought back scarce food to Fort Kalk and recruited more than seventy soldiers. Although these temporarily recruited soldiers were not elite, they had some

There is no problem in defending the city led by veterans who have spent their remaining lives in battles.
Chapter completed!