Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation Two days later, the Duke's army in Northern Field Town finally made a move. The gates opened, and a hundred light cavalry scouts swarmed out. They split into groups of ten and galloped in all directions. Soon after, more than five hundred leather armored cavalrymen slowly walked out in a formation of four riders. Behind the cavalry were three platoons of foot soldiers. The first platoon was made up of sword and shield soldiers, the second platoon was made up of pikemen, and the third platoon was made up of longbowmen.
After the three infantry platoons, there were about fifty four-wheeled carriages. There were all sorts of items piled up on the carriages, probably tents and other supplies. There were about one platoon of foot soldiers in the carriages. Other than the two soldiers in the front, there were about seven or eight soldiers sitting or lying on the carriages.
After the carriages passed by, there was another platoon of pikemen. But what made Laurist feel strange was that this platoon of pikemen were not as orderly as the first platoon. Their formation was messy, and the soldiers on the horses were laughing and joking around.
After the platoon of pikemen passed by, the gates of Northern Field Town were closed. A row of soldiers with horns appeared on the walls and started to blow the horns to send the troops off. The pikemen who were left behind turned their horses around and cursed a few times, then turned their horses around and followed the troops in front of them.
It had been an hour since the troops left, but the gates of Northern Field Town were still closed, and the city walls were heavily guarded. Laurist lightly jumped down from the tree and said to Redi who was waiting for him with his horse: "Let's go back to camp."
After leading their horses to the back of the forest, the two of them mounted their horses. Not long after, they saw six riders galloping out from behind a mound in front of them. When the leader of the riders saw the two of them, he raised his spear and bellowed, "Kill!"
At this moment, another dozen or so riders appeared from behind the mound. Laurist smiled when he saw them. The six riders in front were the first batch of light cavalry scouts from the duke's army, and the dozen or so riders behind them were the mercenaries he had hired. However, Laurist did not expect these mercenaries to be so brave. They were less than 500 meters away from Northern Field Town, yet they still chased after the light cavalry scouts.
In just a few blinks of an eye, six javelins had turned six aggressive light cavalry scouts into six corpses. The pursuing mercenaries stopped their horses and saluted Lollister while staring greedily at the six corpses on the ground.
"Redi, go see what's on those corpses … …" Buckingham was puzzled as to why the mercenaries were so interested in the corpses on the ground.
Redi returned quickly with six horses, six swords, and a few flying axes. Lastly, he brought back six bulging money pouches.
He opened one of the pouches and saw dozens of silver coins, a dozen gold coins, and even two or three gold coins. Loriste suddenly understood. The four major families of Northern Field Town were extremely wealthy, but they had nowhere to spend their money as they were located in a remote area. There was no doubt that every family in the town was wealthy. Now that the duke's army had massacred the residents and occupied Northern Field Town, these soldiers had made a fortune from the looting and looting. No wonder they were not excited when they saw the soldiers heading out to battle in the morning. They did not care what their superiors thought. They only wanted to go back and enjoy their wealth. If they were to die in battle, they would not be able to enjoy anything.
It was no wonder that these mercenaries chased after the light cavalry scouts. Perhaps in the eyes of these mercenaries, the soldiers of the duke's army were like a walking treasure trove. Laurist laughed. He was confident that he could defeat the duke's army.
"Which mercenary group are you from?" Laurist asked.
"My lord, we are from the Night Bat Mercenary Group." The leader of the mercenaries replied respectfully. He recognized Laurist. First, he was the person who hired them. Second, he saw Laurist kill six light cavalry scouts with a javelin. He could not help but be shocked. That speed and strength … even he would not be able to withstand a single javelin.
"Well done. The corpses on the ground are yours to deal with." Laurist turned his horse and left with Redi.
Even though Redi took away the mounts, weapons, and even the money pouch, the mercenaries were still very happy. After all, the leather armor, shoes, and other miscellaneous items were worth quite a lot of money. They might even find a surprise like a necklace or a ring. There were also the six heads. Laurist had set a bounty of one gold coin per head of an old man in the Empire.
The camp that Laurist wanted to go to was in the forest of a small hill. It was near the place where he was ambushed the first time he went to Northern Field Town. Laurist chose this place because he wanted to rely on the terrain to isolate the duke's army from Northern Field Town.
This was the middle of the distance between Maple Forest Manor and Northern Field Town. It was a big bend, and neither side could see this place. It was either hidden by the hills or the forest, and no one would be able to discover what was happening here. Even if Laurist was discovered, the reinforcements from both sides would need at least ten to twenty minutes to reach here. That was enough time for Laurist and his men to retreat safely.
Vasimir came forward, and Laurist got off his horse. When he saw that the camp was empty, he asked: "Did they all go out?"
"Yes, my lord." Vasimir replied: "This morning, the Five Swords Mercenary Group went out to patrol and met ten scouts from the duke's army. They injured seventeen of their men before they managed to take down the ten scouts. In the end, when they searched the corpses, they found that the scouts had a lot of money on them. When they returned, all the mercenaries were dispatched to look for the scouts from the duke's army. "
"Money really moves people's hearts. I've ordered the mercenaries to take the initiative to attack, but they always make excuses and think of ways to take advantage of the situation. Now that there's money, they all flock to it. "Laurist sighed.
"My lord, the mercenaries are not trustworthy. They are all cowards who are afraid of death and forsake justice at the sight of profit. We shouldn't have hired them. "As a knight, Vasimir had a natural prejudice against mercenaries.
Laurist shook his head: "The difference in strength between us and the duke's army is too great. With these mercenaries, we can at least strengthen our morale. Although they are a motley crew, they are still good against the enemy's light cavalry scouts. Their experience and individual skills are much stronger than our family's soldiers. We can only use their strength to deal with the duke's army. "
"Did Paul Binns follow them?" Laurist asked.
"Yes, my lord. He will monitor the duke's army until they finish setting up camp. He will only return, "Vasimir said.
"They're finally out. It's been five days. As long as they come out, we can find a fighter. I don't know how long this war will drag on. "Laurist returned to the tent and sat down.
"My lord, we will definitely defeat the duke's army," Vasimir said.
… …
Duke Lujins's army's attack on Maple Forest Manor was not going well …
On the first day, they set off from Northern Field Town at nine in the morning. They walked for more than two hours before they reached the castle of Maple Forest Manor. After lunch, they began to set up camp. They even sent a Silver-tier knight to show off in front of the castle, shouting for the Norton family to quickly come out and surrender. In the end, Josk shot the unlucky knight and his horse dead in front of the drawbridge, casting a shadow of blood over the duke's army that had not yet launched their attack. Now, every soldier in the duke's army knew that the Norton family's Gold Sharpshooter was in the castle they were about to attack. They anxiously prayed to the gods that they would not be killed during the siege.
At night, only fourteen light cavalry scouts returned. They reported to the Gold-tier knight, Chevany, that they were being chased by the Norton family's light cavalry. Chevany frowned. He could not figure out how the Norton family could have so many light cavalry that could take down more than eighty of his light cavalry scouts. It was only when a light cavalry soldier reported that although the light cavalry that was chasing them were wearing the Norton family's leather armor, their behavior was very similar to mercenaries that Chevany finally understood. It must be the young head of the Norton family who hired mercenaries to fight with him. After robbing Viscount Gammus's private stash of 100,000 gold coins, he naturally had the money to hire mercenaries.
The next day, Chevany's army split into two groups. One group sent out a platoon of leather cavalry under the leadership of more than ten Silver-tier knights to sweep the surroundings, preparing to eliminate the mercenaries hired by the Norton family. The other group was personally commanded by him to launch an attack on Maple Forest Manor.
The platoon of leather cavalry searched for the whole morning, but they did not find anything. This was mainly because they had the advantage in numbers. No mercenary group would be stupid enough to bump into them. They all avoided them and only watched from afar. In the end, the platoon of leather cavalry found a ravine and rested for two hours by the stream. When they gathered again, they found that more than ten soldiers were missing. Looking at the traces left behind, they seemed to have been kidnapped. The Silver-tier knight leading the team was furious. He gathered the cavalry to follow the traces and almost got lured into the Black Clay Swamp. If not for the other Silver-tier knights' vigilance, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The attack on Maple Forest Castle was also futile. Chevany ordered his men to push out three ballistae, which were seized in Northern Field Town. Even Chevany did not expect to be able to seize three killing machines in such a remote town in the north. Thus, he brought them out as a guarantee for attacking the castle. In the end, one of them was destroyed by an arrow from Josk, who was on top of the castle, before they could attack. The other two ballistae had retreated rather quickly, avoiding the fate of being destroyed before they could even launch an attack.
Chevany was furious and ordered the longbow platoon to shoot at the castle. However, the castle was already prepared. They set up wooden rafts and wooden sheds. Josk also used the wooden rafts as cover to shoot at the longbowmen below the castle. After shooting for a day, he was completely fine, but 53 longbowmen below the castle had died.
Chevany did not make any preparations for attacking the castle during the five days he was holed up in Northern Field Town. He had already ordered his men to prepare some siege equipment in advance. For example, two movable suspension bridges and a small crash cart. They were all dismantled into small pieces and transported on a cargo carriage yesterday. They had already been assembled before the attack in the morning. The so-called movable suspension bridge was two large flatbed cars with a long wooden raft on top of them. Push the flatcars to the moat, then put down the wooden raft to form two bridges across the moat. Then let the soldiers push the crash cart across the bridge to break open the gate.
However, the terrain of Maple Forest Manor was dangerous. Other than attacking the castle at the front, the walls on both sides were steep slopes. It was impossible to deploy troops to attack from multiple points. The guards only had to defend the castle at the front. Chevalier Chevalier commanded the soldiers to launch three attacks on the castle gate. In the end, more than two hundred soldiers were killed or injured. The two suspension bridges and the crashed carriage were even burned down by the Norton family's guards with kerosene.
On the third day, Chevany did not continue to attack the castle. He sent a large number of soldiers to cut down trees and prepare to rebuild the siege equipment. In the afternoon, Chevany received reports that the soldiers cutting down the trees were attacked. There were dozens of casualties. Chevany had no choice but to personally lead a platoon of leather armored cavalry to protect the soldiers cutting down the trees and transport them back to the camp.
After a tiring day, everyone returned to camp and slept soundly. In the end, the camp was attacked at night, and there were more than a hundred casualties. This was because there were not many enemies attacking at night, and they were only there to harass them. The most infuriating thing was that the wood that they had painstakingly gathered in the afternoon was thrown in the corner and poured with oil, turning into several extra-large bonfires.
Chevany was a strong-willed and obedient knight. He promised his lord, Duke Lujins, that he would definitely make the Norton family submit, so he would not be defeated by the difficulties he faced. He felt that whether it was the sneak attack on the soldiers cutting down the trees or the night attack, it was all because the Norton family was desperate. This clearly showed that the Norton family did not have the strength to face his army head-on. They could only use these schemes to make them struggle at death's door and delay for more time.
So early in the morning on the fourth day, Chevany brought the soldiers to cut wood again. After returning to camp, he rearranged the guards and then rested in peace.
Unexpectedly, after lying down for a while, he heard the soldiers outside shouting something like "night attack". After putting on his armor and going out to take a look, he almost crooked his nose in anger. You call this a night attack? Above the castle in the distance, there was a flash of fire in the distance. A fire arrow crossed a distance of nearly a thousand meters and stabbed into the ground with a "pu" sound. All the soldiers in the camp looked up at the sky, guessing where the next fire arrow would land.
Josk was mainly bored. The duke's army had not attacked the castle for the past two days, so he had nowhere to use his strength. Last night, Lollister's night attack on the camp had given him a wake-up call. He had tried it before, and with his special longbow, he could shoot an arrow a thousand meters away. Of course, he was not accurate at all, and he did not know if he had the strength. However, the duke's army was only a thousand meters away from the castle. With such a large camp area, as long as they were in the right direction, it would be fine. Shooting a fire arrow over there might be able to burn a few tents, and it would not be a bad idea to let the duke's army not sleep well. So Josk decided to shoot ten fire arrows at night to see what effect it would have.
When Josk finished shooting the arrows, Chevani, who was lying on his bed again, could not fall asleep. He was angry, and he felt that nothing would go smoothly.
On the fifth day, the duke's army still did not attack the castle. Chevani, with two dark circles under his eyes, supervised the soldiers building the siege equipment. At night, Josk still shot ten fire arrows at the same time.
On the sixth day, they continued building the siege equipment. Because the Northland Army was a regular army, they did not want to use the simple and crude climbing ladders. The siege equipment they wanted to build was a bridge car. It was a tall wooden building with a drawbridge above it, and it could be placed directly on the top of the castle. The soldiers would first go up the wooden building and attack the guards on top of the castle through the drawbridge. Below the wooden building were four big wooden wheels, which could be pushed to the enemy's castle.
Chevani planned to build four bridge cars because the front of the castle could only accommodate four cars. He believed that one of the bridge cars would be able to get close to the castle, and then he would be the first to attack the castle and settle the score with the golden godly archer.
At the same time that night, Josk shot another ten fire arrows at the camp.
On the seventh day, the four bridge cars were completed. At night, all the soldiers looked up at the ten fire arrows landing on the ground before they could rest.
On the eighth day, Chevani planned to let the soldiers have a good rest, so that they could start the siege tomorrow.
At the same time that night, all the soldiers looked up at the sky.
One fire arrow, two fire arrows … Four fire arrows …. The sixth fire arrow …. The seventh fire arrow came ….
Josk suddenly felt very bored. There were four tall bridge cars in the enemy's camp, and they would attack the castle tomorrow morning. He had nothing to do, so why would he shoot fire arrows at the enemy camp? Resting early was the right thing to do. So he patted his butt and went to sleep.
The soldiers in the camp looked at the sky in a daze, and anxiously muttered, "There are still three more fire arrows, why haven't they been shot yet? When are they going to shoot … They have been waiting for more than two hours … "
…
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