James galloped through the snow with a few cavalry.
In his arms was a scroll full of numbers, and his breathing was as heavy as a blacksmith's bellows. He was exhausted and panting, some wanted to laugh, and some wanted to yell at some idiot.
Let a castle designer escape from the battlefield with a group of people, does that idiot think he is also a knight who can wield a sword and wear armor? Believe it or not, he just knelt down and begged for mercy when a few war horses of the enemy came after him
James took the last cavalry of Newcana, who had taken the dark passage south of the castle.
James doesn't know anything about the battlefield, he's just an architect who deals with wood and stone all day long.
But even he, in the early morning yesterday, saw that the white-backed salamander flag of the rebel army was raised on the horizon instead of the red-backed rose flag, and he understood the change in the battle situation.
The Duke of Buckingham, who took offense instead of defense, did not return, but a flood of enemies came.
This time the siege was more violent than the previous one.
The time since the last siege was too short, they barely had time to repair the cracked city wall, and the collapsed towers had no time to rebuild. The enemy was not in a hurry to climb the city, but pushed the trebuchet onto the battlefield, specifically bombarding the repaired city walls.
In the rumbling sound, Newcana Castle was crumbling.
The commander stayed on the city wall from morning until evening, commanding with a loud voice. But everyone knew that Newcana Castle couldn't hold back.
The enemy gradually began to climb the city head.
The commander found James at that time with a squad of cavalry.
He pointed to James and said to the cavalry: "He has confidential information on him. Even if you die yourself, send him to the king well."
"I have a fart-"
Before James finished speaking, the commander strode over and grabbed his collar.
"I'm not trying to save you." The commander, who had lost an arm, was breathing heavily, and he lowered his voice, "I'm begging you to save my brother! I'm here, they won't run away! So I beg You run away with them! I beg you to save their lives!"
After the commander finished speaking, he released him.
"Take him away!"
The commander gave an order, and those knights with red eyes came up and grabbed James and withdrew in the direction of the dark passage.
"Tell Your Majesty! The Grundian cavalry has arrived!"
The commander finally said this to him, and then strode up the wall again. He drew his sword and cut down the rebels who had climbed up from the breach in the city wall.
James saw him holding the sword in one hand, raising it high, and slashing hard, cutting off the head of a rebel.
Blood spurted like a fountain from the man's neck, pouring over the commander's body. His hair and face were covered in blood, falling drop by drop. James didn't know if the same blood would splatter out if the commander himself was cut off.
The knights escorted James and escaped from the south side of the castle. The enemy's attack is focused on the north, and there are not many rebels outside the dark passage in the south.
Before leaving the castle and rushing into the snow field, James looked back at the castle he designed himself for the last time.
Vaguely, black smoke shrouded the sky above the castle, which was the fire of war on the battlefield.
Newcana Castle is doomed to fall.
James understands.
After the castle is captured, the rebels will also think about repairing it, and the carpenters and workers in the city will survive. But the commander and the soldiers defending the city, they are sure to die.
Xingye rushed in a hurry, an architect and several cavalrymen rushed to the road.
They came with a commander's final order:
—Tell the king that the Gruendian heavy cavalry has arrived.
They had been driving all night, and James felt like he was going to throw his life on the saddle.
It was a mistake that he came to Legrand, otherwise he would still be a good and comfortable church builder. Thinking like this, James waved his whip and urged the horses under him to gallop forward again.
The war horse ran up a hill, and suddenly, as if frightened, the people stood up high. James was shocked, and he pulled hard on the reins, trying to calm the horse. But not only did he fail, he also rolled off the horse and plunged headlong into the icy, biting snow.
A large mouthful of snow was poured into his throat, and James rolled and struggled to get up from the snow.
As soon as he got up, he understood why the warhorse was frightened.
On the far horizon, smoke and dust loomed. In the smoke and dust, hundreds of blood-red flags unfolded, forming a continuous wave.
James opened his mouth, and the snow in his mouth was cold. He coughed violently, as if to cough out his lungs.
The blood-colored wave ran from afar and rushed to the front in an instant. The cavalry behind James exclaimed. Seeing that James, who rolled on the snowy slope, was about to be trampled into flesh by the war horse, the leading knight restrained the war horse and stopped less than three steps away from James. place.
Behind the knight, all the war horses stopped at the same time, and in an instant, the galloping torrent turned into a still ocean. The flags were rolled up and squeaked, but the war horses had all stood still, and at this time, white air was spit out from their noses.
James escaped from the dead, and stood up from the horse.
Just as he stood up, the knights behind him dismounted and knelt down in the snow.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
Startled, James looked up at the leading knight.
The knight was wearing armor with the light on his back, and his face could not be seen clearly. Now it was dawn, and a faint blue light shrouded the sky and the earth, and now this cold blue light fell on the knight, plating him like a piece of iron that was quenched into ice from a raging fire.
James suddenly remembered that a few days ago, when the Duke of Buckingham led his cavalry into battle, it was also in such a thin and cold morning light.
"You came out of Newcastle Castle?"
The king was on horseback, the people behind him were too far away from him, the people in front of him were kneeling, everyone only heard his voice as calm as usual, and no one saw his hand holding the reins and whip, trembling slightly.
"The city... the city is broken."
The cavalry's voice trembled slightly. He was the commander's squire and the commander's best friend.
silence.
There was silence between heaven and earth, as if not even the war horses dared to neigh.
The cold wind from the north made people's fingers stiff, and the blood in their veins froze. The king felt the ice slag in the air follow his breath and poured into his lungs, so cold that no amount of fire could warm it from the cracks in the bones, and the bad premonition became a reality, the last bit Hope slowly sinks into the abyss.
"Say."
The king's icy blue eyes stared at the cavalry.
"what happened?"
The cavalry took off his helmet and slammed into the snow. James didn't realize until then that he was actually young, and the taciturn knight had a round, childish face along the way.
"Lord Duke has solved the first city siege, and the city wall is damaged and can no longer be defended. Lord Duke is determined to intercept the second army of the rebel army..." The young knight's voice was hoarse, as if every word was bloody, "Lord Duke died in battle, The general swears to defend the city, let us tell your majesty - the Gruendian heavy cavalry has arrived!"
The Duke died in battle, and the Grundian heavy cavalry arrived.
Like two boulders suddenly smashed into the calm lake, bursts of exclamations erupted in the army.
Your Excellency...
die.
The king's Adam's apple rolled, and he gritted his teeth and raised his head. The tiredness that seemed to be from two days and one night of rapid marching suddenly turned upside down, and the world in front of me seemed to suddenly darken and everything turned gray.
tick.
The sound of blood dripping sounded in my ears again, and the gentle, teaching people's breathing became extremely difficult in an instant. That drop of blood... It was the blood of the Duke of Buckingham, the blood of his uncle.
What was in his heart? What was it that froze him little by little
He once had nothing, and when he returned to Legrand, he took on the fate of a country and a family. But he finally had something. How much does he only own? How much does he have to lose? Should he cry out? Should he growl or growl? Who will teach him to roar, who will teach him to roar
In the past years, everyone wanted him to die. He struggled to survive in the hatred and coldness of the world. He has long been neither crying nor weak. Now who will tell him what to do when he is so sad Let the tears flow
too long silence.
A cavalryman stepped out of the line and came to the king's side.
He is the lieutenant of the Rose Cavalry and an old cavalryman who is familiar with the Duke of Buckingham.
When the king decided to carry out military reforms and set up a new royal family, the Duke of Buckingham was still worried that General Sheen was too young and inexperienced, so he appointed him as the deputy general of this rose cavalry.
The lieutenant went to the king, who was looking in the direction of Newcana Castle.
At the first glance of the king, the lieutenant almost thought that the king was about to whip his horse at any moment and rush to the place where the Duke of Buckingham might be buried.
The knuckles of the king's hand holding the whip were clenched coldly pale, and the whip was not swung out in the end.
"Your Majesty..." The lieutenant said in a low voice. At that moment, he felt as if he was not the monarch of Legrand, but just a young man who had lost his last respected elder, just the nephew of the Duke of Buckingham.
The Duke of Buckingham may not be just an uncle to the king... He is the one who guards him with his life. William III died too early. To the king, the Duke of Buckingham should be equivalent to a father-like existence.
What choices will a child who has lost his father make? What choice should be made
"withdraw!"
The king bowed his head, the shadow of the armor covering his face, the always proud and powerful monarch looked only like a sad teenager at this moment. But his voice was clearly the king.
He is the nephew of the Duke of Buckingham...
Also a king!
Anyone can cry, anyone can suffer, anyone can be desperate, but only the king can't.
The army was in a commotion.
The cavalry did not expect such an order from the king.
The Duke of Buckingham died in battle, wouldn't the king avenge the Duke
"I said - withdraw!"
The king roared like a young lion suddenly furious.
"Return to Banz City!"
The lieutenant looked at the king with his head down in silence.
He remembered that he once asked the Duke of Buckingham why he had been guarding the young king for more than ten years. At that time, the Duke of Buckingham said that "because he is the hope of the Rose family, he will be a real emperor".
The lieutenant did not understand at that time.
Now he understands.
Withdrawing troops is what they really should be doing now.
He knew the Duke of Buckingham too well, and he knew the concept of the royal cavalry commanded by the Duke of Buckingham. But the Duke of Buckingham died. And with the fall of Newcana Castle, it would make no sense for them to move forward. The galloping vanguard cavalry did not carry any siege equipment. Not only did they have no way to take the castle back from the enemy, they might even face the heavy cavalry that had reached Gulund.
This is a battle that is likely to be lost for the long-running Rose Rider.
What is the military situation ahead, everything is unknown, and there is no danger in the army. This is what any general who commands an army must do.
The fall of the Duke of Buckingham was a huge disaster for the entire Legrand. At this time, they could not afford a second catastrophic defeat, which would bring the entire Northland war against rebellion into a slump.
so-
They can only withdraw.
Evacuate to the nearest municipality to them now, Banz City. Hold there, waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops.
This is what they really should do.
The lieutenant took a deep breath and suppressed the sourness and sadness. He took one last look at the king, turned the horse's head, and returned to the army.
The king stood blankly in the ice and snow, watching as under his command, the front of the cavalry turned into the rear, the rear turned into the front, and slowly left in the direction where they came from in the snow.
The king stood still, not moving.
Soon, only the king was left on this snowy slope.
He suddenly hissed and laughed.
No tears, no crying, only hoarse and suppressed laughter.
Anger and grief ran through his veins, stirring up the madness of the ancient Rose family, his dead father, his dead uncle, all his dead ancestors... Their wills revived in him.
The king raised his head in the north wind, looked at the vast sky, and squeezed a voice from his teeth. There was so much blood in his voice, as if a terrible monster had broken the shackles and released from his heart, and now the bloodthirsty monster was making its roar.
The old lion of the empire fell into the bloody mud and was replaced by a new bloody king.
"You look at—"
"I want the rose king flag to fly across the continent, the glory that never sets, and the surrender of all the people passing by the golden carriage!"
He wanted the Duke of Buckingham to stick to his long-cherished wish come true! I want the glory of the Rose family to revive on this earth!
Whoever killed the Duke of Buckingham, he will cut off their heads, crush their sinful bones, and make their souls kneel in the grave forever!