"My Lord, we just heard from the merchants that Count Milno's troops were collecting food, but because they couldn't find any, they let the knights loot everywhere..."
"Yes, my Lord, some of them heard the news and fled here in advance to seek refuge."
It was natural to hear all kinds of gossip while guarding the city gate. True and false were mixed in, and there was no meaning to refer to them.
As they were talking, a caravan arrived at the city gate. There were about twenty mercenaries and coachmen escorting the caravan, and they formed a line that was dozens of meters long outside the city gate. The city guards did a routine inspection, and the leader of the caravan stuffed a bag of silver coins into the caravan with a flattering smile on his face before they were allowed to pass.
After the caravan passed, Wright smiled and pointed, "Look at them, they don't look like they were looted at all. You guys, don't just listen to the wind! "
"Yes, yes, my Lord is right! There were two other caravans that came in the morning. How could there be so many caravans on a normal day? Isn't it prosperous now? "
How could the city guards dare to disagree with Wright's words? They took out half of the coins and gave it to Wright as they laughed and chatted about other things. However, they did not see the hidden eye contact between Wright and the caravan leader. Instead, they were curious as to why the guard captain was still here.
They did not dare to ask why the guard captain was wasting time here, and could only chat about the upcoming Holy Prayer Festival. However, in less than ten minutes, they noticed something strange in the distance.
The area where the Holy Cathedral was located was a plain, and the visibility was excellent during the day. Therefore, when a few plumes of black smoke suddenly appeared in the distant village, everyone could see it clearly.
"What's going on... What's on fire?"
There was more than one column of smoke, and it quickly increased from two to five. Judging from their positions, they were basically in line with the surrounding villages. The two city guards at the gate were puzzled, as they had never seen such a scene in their lives. They could only instinctively look at the guard captain, Wright, as if asking for help.
The guard captain's expression was grave, and he quickly made a decision, "You guys clear the people at the city gate! I'll bring the guards to check it out later! "
"Yes! My Lord! "
The two city guards did not suspect anything and hurriedly ran to disperse the pedestrians near the city gate according to their orders. As for Leit, he turned around and hurriedly ran towards the barracks where the guards were located. However, what no one noticed was that the corner of the guard captain's mouth curved into a sneer.
"Get ready to begin …"
Wright rushed back to the camp where the Temple Guards were and reported what he saw to the bishop in charge of defense. The latter had also seen the black smoke and heard the warning bell in the city. Without a doubt, he immediately ordered his troops to provide support. Thus, the Holy Cathedral Guards who had not been out for many years finally had a mission. They hurriedly gathered their horses, including Wright and the other four guard captains, and each of them led around forty guards on horseback to check out what happened.
Currently, there were about six hundred mounted soldiers in the Sanctum City. This was the result of multiple reductions. Hence, when the two hundred Templars charged out from the city gates, there were less than four hundred cavalrymen left in the city, and a little more than three hundred infantrymen.
As for the City Defense Army … The only thing these young men who had never fought in a war could do was to stand on the city wall and look out curiously.
*****
"These stingy bastards, they would rather sell their food to those vermin than sell it to us!"
"Don't talk so much nonsense! Just rob it! "
Similar scenes were playing out in the villages outside the Sanctum City. The Sacred Army knights, who had messy equipment and no teamwork, were no different from bandits. Or rather, many of them had been bandits before, so it was very easy for them to rob food.
The villagers did not expect that there would be so many knights on horseback raiding them. For a moment, they panicked and ran away. And among the unrestrained knights, there were naturally some who had been cooped up for many days, and there were many who got off their horses and grabbed women to satisfy their 'personal needs'. In a state of war, they were no different from beasts. After some resistance, some finally could not hold back and started killing. Not long after, someone set the village on fire after the raid …
"Damn it! Who set the fire!? "
Zach who was raiding a village cursed out loud. He looked at the pillar of smoke not far away and wanted to rush over and kill the person who set the fire. Kill, rob, rob, what was the meaning of setting the fire? Were you afraid that others would not know that you were causing trouble?
This kind of behavior was very stupid, so no matter what the Holy Army knights did, they did not set the houses on fire. But naturally, they did not know that when the Holy Army came out to 'collect food', they had already become an important chess piece of the Viper Cross.
The Viper Cross believers hidden within the troops had set the villages they were in on fire, so when the Holy Army knights discovered it, it was already too late to stop the fire from spreading. They could only watch as the black smoke rose into the sky as they hastened their pace of raiding.
The number of knights that came out to collect food was not many. Each village had about 20 to 30 of them. For a village, 20 fully armed knights was enough to eliminate all possible resistance. Following them were some auxiliary troops that were prepared to transport the food, and there were about 40 of them. A total of seven villages near the Holy Cathedral were attacked and looted. In the end, all of them were set ablaze with black smoke. Therefore, when the Holy Sanctum's cavalry arrived, they blocked the Holy Army who were robbing the village from entering or exiting the village.
Looking at the burned villages and the murdered villagers, how could the Holy Knights not know what was going on? However, the temple guards who understood the situation did not attack immediately because they knew that the bandits were nominally part of the kingdom's army, and their superior was Count Mirno, who was currently in the limelight.
If they were to fight with the bandits, it would not be as simple as the village being raided. Instead, it would escalate to the question of whether the Rose Cross still respected the Cullen Royal Family.
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