After two rounds of bombardment, a white flag was raised in the stronghold.
The knights cheered for their victory. The knights of Gisoleiox had formed a team and wanted to enter the stronghold to show off. They wanted to use their actions to warn the serfs that betrayal would eventually lead to the most terrible punishment.
However, when they entered the stronghold, the scene in front of them made their jaws drop.
Corpses of the serfs were everywhere in the stronghold. The corpses of the rebellious serfs were placed carelessly on the ground inside the stronghold. Those who died in battle, those who died from starvation, and those who died from the cold could be seen everywhere.
About a hundred serfs were huddled together in a thatched hut in the village, struggling at death's door. They were all yellow and emaciated due to hunger, and their eyes were sunken. Old people, women, and children, they could only huddle together and use their body heat to keep each other warm. The room was full of stench, and feces and feces were everywhere. Thatch, a few tattered blankets, and a few unlined clothes were the only things these serfs had to keep out the cold.
Seeing the knights rush in, the serfs were deeply numb. Many of them had an indifferent expression on their faces, as if the knights' trial was something they did not care about.
Sir Coulson's mouth was full of anger when he entered the stronghold. He wanted to ask the serfs why they rebelled. Why did they rebel? Why did the serfs choose to betray the knights when they were fighting the invasion of the undead at the frontlines? Why did the knights sacrifice their lives in exchange for victory?!
What right did they have to do this?!
But now, the knights were at a loss. More than twenty rangers from Gisoleiox walked forward in a daze. The stench of rotting corpses filled the stronghold. Seeing the knights, the serfs staggered and struggled to walk towards the army. Many of the serfs had deformed feet and their bodies were frozen like the living dead. Some serfs were thinner than bamboo.
The serfs were terrified when they saw the knights. Then, they began to beg. Several serfs who were starving knelt in front of the knights and begged for mercy. Most of the serfs were stupefied. They retreated in a daze, not knowing what to do. Obviously, the knights were here to suppress the rebellion. Their fate was almost doomed.
Kalad walked among the corpses. There were starving serfs everywhere. The expeditionary knight opened his mouth but did not know what to say.
Was this the way of the knight?
What have we been protecting?
"Where is your leader?" Bertrand sighed. He found one of the serfs and asked, "Where is your leader?"
"Up in the tower, sir. It blew up." A serf, who appeared to be in his forties, and whose eyes were black with hunger, knelt before Bertrand and wept uncontrollably.
"Why did it become like this? Why? " The furious Raymond rushed over and grabbed the serf's shirt as he shouted crazily, "How can you watch your fellow citizens starve to death?"
We can only eat rats and gnaw on tree bark. The remaining food has been given to the healthy men because they have to take up the defense. There are bandits, Orcs, and Green Dwarfs in the mountains. This is our last fortress. We can only wait here and wait to starve to death. "
"You can surrender to the Knight Lords!" Raymond continued to roar.
"Rebellion is a capital offense. You'll be hanged. You'll be sentenced to collective punishment, Mr. Sergeant." The serf even laughed as he replied to Raymond, "Why is it all death? My dear soldier, why is it all death?"
The serf covered his face and wept. He had no tears left to cry as he said, "That's it, Lord Knights. You can execute them as you wish."
"My Lady, please." Kalad said in a low voice, "We have to help them. I mean … the serfs need help."
"We have to distribute food, boil water, and find a way to get more food from the nearby towns … and blankets! Go! " Belega's expression was ghastly. The Dwarf King suddenly felt deep regret for giving the order to fire the cannons. "Go!"
"I want to tell the Duke about this!" Sir Coulson felt that something was broken. He was embarrassed and regretful as he paced back and forth in the stronghold. "D * mn it, d * mn it! Why did it become like this? "
In the entire camp, all the escaped slaves were brought out. The soldiers tried to open some wooden houses, but there were only piles of corpses inside. The Knights leaned against each other in silence.
The soldiers who were suppressing the bandits set up camp outside the stronghold. They boiled water and cooked porridge. It was a chaotic scene. The starving serfs fought for food as they felt that it was their last dinner.
Pairs of bloodshot eyes and shivering arms in the cold wind made Sir Coulson, who was in charge of suppressing the bandits, feel as though his heart was being pierced by a knife. He muttered to himself, "I want to tell the Duke, I want to tell the Duke …"
"Don't let them eat too much at once! They have been hungry for too long. If they eat too much at once, they will die! " Bertrand ordered his soldiers loudly. Looking at the miserable scene in the stronghold, the rebellious serfs hugged the bodies of their loved ones and cried. The knight had mixed feelings. After he finished speaking, he let out a long sigh and wiped his tears. "Come on, we must concentrate on burying the corpses and praying. Otherwise, they will become undead!"
"Sir, I think you need a towel." A hand holding a towel reached out from the side. The Expedition Knight Kalade's face was dark. He forced a smile and sat down next to Bertrand. "I thought this would be a bandit extermination trip. Now, it seems that we are a team from a poorhouse."
"What the mortals have to face is far more than you Knights can imagine, Sir Kalad." Bertrand looked at the bonfire in front of him and said self-deprecatingly, "Just like the famous serfs who don't eat cake, many knights don't understand the hardships of the serfs."
"The serfs don't have bread to eat? Then they can eat cake! "
— Queen "Beauty" Mary of the previous Knight King, "Tyrant" John II
"Under the jurisdiction of the knights, the serfs have to face heavy taxes. However, at the very least, they can ask the knights for protection. In this kind of rebellious situation, the serfs have to arm themselves to protect themselves. There are too many enemies in the mountains. There are Green Dwarfs, Wild Orcs, bandits, and some undead. Anything that can't withstand a single blow from you is the greatest enemy of the serfs." Bertrand said to Kalade, "In winter, the serfs lack food, so do the Orcs, the Green Dwarfs, and the bandits. Usually, they can enter the mountains and forests to try their luck. But in winter, they can only hide in the stronghold and wait to starve to death. As you know, we encountered a Wyvern looking for food on the way."
"Now I understand why the Earl asked us to bring more food when we set off." Raymond had cried. The Company Commander of the Halberd Company wiped his tears and said, "Is this the fate of the serfs? If I didn't bring my mother and brother out of Lyonasser, would I have been hanged or starved to death? "
Not far away, carts of serf corpses were transported out of the village. The dwarves dug a pit and prepared to cremate these serfs. Preliminary calculations showed that there should be two or three hundred serfs dead, and there were still more than a hundred living people left in the village. Now, these surviving serfs curled up in the corner of the village in panic, waiting for their judgment.
"What's so strange about that?" The tall Ugor leader, Ivan, held a bowl of pork soup. His Low Gothic wasn't fluent, but fortunately, he could still understand. "Do you know what's the situation north of Kislöw, north of the Linsk River?"
Without waiting for Kalad's reply, Ivan continued, "Eternal war. To the north of the Linsk River, there are hundreds of Wugol tribes. We graze and hunt in the wasteland. The only land that can be farmed can only grow a small amount of food with the help of the ice witches. Every year, we have to fight with the barbarian tribes from the wasteland in the north. Every year! Victory is not something to be happy about, because we all know that next year, the barbarian marauders will come back. If we fail, then we will be destroyed. The barbarians are not merciful. They will kill all of us, old people, women, and children. They will take away our cattle and sheep, burn our houses, and drink our vodka. "
Speaking of drinking Photovoltaic Vodka, Ivan's face was filled with extreme hatred. His face turned red as he cursed in the language of the Ugors.
"According to the serfs, there is a stronghold over the mountain. There are more people there. There are five or six strongholds like this one nearby." Sir Bertrand said, "We may not have so much food. I hope Duke Hagan can help us."
"Survival is the only prize we can get in the war against the darkness," Kalad said. The expeditionary knight suddenly felt that he had grasped something. It was the glory of chivalry. He continued, "But we can't be shaken because of this. Knights are the last line of defense between helpless civilians and endless evil."
Kalad suddenly understood something as he clenched Durandale with both hands. He raised the sword and put the hilt against his forehead. "You think so too, don't you, Ulles?"
Kalad was left with the dwarf's cry. "Enemy attack! A green-skinned tribe appeared in the distance! It's the green-skinned boar riders! "
"There are about 150 of them!"
"Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle! "
Everyone immediately stood up and prepared for battle. Kalad's face showed a cold smile. He motioned for everyone to sit down. "You don't have to go. Give me 20 minutes. I'll be back soon."
The expeditionary knight mounted his horse and roared. He rushed out of the stronghold with his horse. Under the surprised gaze of the dwarves, the expeditionary knight killed five or six green-skinned boars and rushed to the middle of the group of green-skinned creatures.
"Ahhhhhh! Accept the anger of the lady! Green-skinned scum! "
Fifteen minutes later.
Kalad came back with a green-skinned warlord and a few green-skinned big bosses. The green-skinned warlord's head was dripping with blood in his hand, and his face was full of fear. "The problem is solved."
"The problem is not solved." Belegar appeared from the side. The dwarf frowned and asked Sir Coulson impolitely, "This is the promise your master, Duke Hagan, made to the dwarves? A group of half-starved serfs? God knows how many people we can save? "
"This … I didn't know things would turn out this way. King Belegar, we've sent a messenger to contact Duke Hagan. The Duke will give you a satisfactory answer." Sir Coulson was in a difficult position. He didn't have the final say in this matter, and he couldn't make a decision. He didn't expect this situation to happen.
"The green-skinned creatures eat Humans, the Orcs eat Humans, Chaos eats Humans, and Humans also eat Humans. God of Nature, Tal, may you guide us. Humans shouldn't fight over such meaningless matters." Bertrand closed his eyes in pain. He picked up the Sacred Emblem of the God of Nature, Tal, and prayed silently, "My Scimitar and bow exist to protect and serve the Count."
…
After spending two weeks, the bandit suppressing army swept through several rebellious serf settlements near the Blackstone Stronghold. The allied Humans and Dwarves didn't delay any longer. They arrived near the Stronghold and immediately asked for surrender. The rebellious serfs who refused to surrender were bombarded by the Dwarves' cannons until the defenders were forced to surrender.
Then, 2,000 rebellious serfs were gathered and surrounded by a large number of soldiers. Duke Gisoleiox, Hagan, came to the scene and sat on one side with an ashen face. King Belegar of Eight Peak Mountain was expressionless as he sat on the other side.
"Oh! God! The final moment is coming! "
"Hanging, it's definitely hanging!"
"It's our destiny!"
Most of the serfs cried in despair as they waited for their own judgment. In the imagination of many serfs, today was their doomsday.
But it was different from their imagination. A young Halberd soldier came before them and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have bad news for you."
"Before I tell you the bad news, let me introduce myself first. My name is Raymond, and I'm from Lyonnesse!"
"Unfortunately, I have to tell you one thing. The Duke believes that all the rebellious serfs must be hanged immediately!" Raymond announced Duke Hagan's decision loudly and cruelly. The noble Knight of the Holy Grail nodded in front of everyone. "Under any circumstances, rebellious serfs are not allowed by the Brittany law! Hanging! All of them, no doubt! "
Suddenly, the crowd burst into tears. The serfs cursed and roared crazily. Many serfs held their loved ones and cried.
"But …" After saying this, Duke Hagan's ashen face showed a hint of unwillingness. "Unfortunately, you traitors, your trial may be postponed or even temporarily canceled."
"???" The rebellious serfs were stunned. They stopped crying and cursing.
"I have an agreement with King Belegar. This respected dwarf friend needs people to help him farm and harvest food. In return, he will provide protection for these people." Duke Hagan said "seriously". "This is very difficult for me, because I have no more people to arrange for King Belegar!"
Belegar pretended to raise the hammer in his hand. "Yes, Duke, you can't break the agreement between us!"
"So I have no choice!" Duke Hagan looked like he was in pain, but in his heart, he was thinking about something else.
My acting should pass, right?
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