The rich night color cannot be wiped away from the air.
In the sky, the moon was obscured, and only a few stars shone brightly. In the woods outside Cuijin City, a caravan was marching with difficulty.
At the center of the caravan were several carriages pulled by horses, which contained valuable goods. One piece of goods was even more valuable.
In order to protect these goods, there were numerous guards protecting the moving carriages with alert expressions. At the end of the team, there were many mercenaries to prevent attacks.
This caravan came from a city called "Newburg" and was responsible for transporting goods to Cuijin City. For maximum safety and speed, take the water route at first. But just as the trip was coming to an end, they were attacked continuously by enemies on the waterway, and a lot of men were lost in a row. The director of the caravan, Duncan, who was in his forties, made a prompt decision to switch from the water route to the land route.
However, it did not become safer once they got to land. Just now, the caravan encountered a small-scale attack. Although the attack was quickly resolved by the caravan, it also cast a dark shadow on Duncan's heart. Looking at the woods ahead, Duncan didn't know how many people with malicious intentions were waiting.
"Damn it, I shouldn't have taken this business. Although the profit is indeed horribly high, it may cost my life. And I clearly promised that it would be kept strictly confidential, but now the news has been leaked. Damn it!" Duncan cursed in his heart. Dao, but did not show this emotion. He knew that he was the backbone of the entire caravan. If he panicked, the entire caravan would be unimaginable.
Taking a deep breath, Duncan tried to calm down and turned his head to look aside.
Next to him was a young man from the caravan and one of his favorite guys. He was eighteen years old today and his name was Luther. Although the other party came out of the slums, he was very smart. Under his teaching, he knew a lot of words and could calculate some simple accounts. In a few years, I will be able to stand alone. The most important thing is that the other party accepts hardships, has principles in doing things, and is extremely polite to everyone in the caravan, making everyone very convinced of him.
Duncan is determined to train the other person to be his successor, and tries to take the other person with him every time he goes out, so that the other person can have more experience and gain insights, which will help the other person's growth. The other party also understood this very well, and while grateful, he worked extremely hard.
At this time, Duncan looked at Luther and said: "Luther, please go down and tell everyone to continue to be vigilant and not to relax."
"What's wrong, Uncle Duncan, is there anything else wrong?" Luther asked with a gleam in his eyes after hearing this.
"No, there is nothing wrong now, but I always feel a little worried. You should have noticed that this time is different from the past. The things we transport are too valuable, so valuable that they can be related to those mysterious wizards. It is inevitable that many people will covet you. Therefore, you can never be too careful. What happened on the ship and the attack just now are examples. We must not make any mistakes."
"I understand, Uncle Duncan. I'm going to tell everyone. Everyone will understand what you are saying."
"Um."
"By the way, Uncle Duncan, do you want to take out the crossbow, string it, and be on guard?" Luther asked again.
"This..." Duncan hesitated. There are many crossbows in the caravan, and they are of good quality. They are mainly used to prepare for emergencies. But... things like crossbows, unlike bows and arrows, especially if they are of a certain quantity and quality, are expressly prohibited by the Jade Kingdom. After all, they may threaten the official rule.
If you are caught breaking the law, you won't be sent to the gallows, but you will definitely be fined a large sum of money. If the caravan is all your own people, there is no need to worry. But this time, because they temporarily took over a big business, they were afraid of being short of manpower, so they hired several mercenary teams. There are a lot of people talking, and the mercenaries are all greedy for money. If you take out a large number of crossbows now, it is inevitable that the drunken mercenaries will spread the news later, or the mercenaries will directly report them for the bounty. Oh no.
After thinking for a moment, Duncan looked at Luther, shook his head and said, "There is no need to do this yet. Just let all the guards check the bows and arrows. As for the crossbows, they are really dangerous. If you take them out again, there should be no delay."
"Okay." Luther said nothing more and turned to leave.
And Duncan suddenly thought of something again, stopped Luther and said, "Wait a minute."
"What's wrong, Uncle Duncan?" Luther stopped, slightly confused.
"Well -" Duncan protracted his tone, his eyes a little sharper, and said, "Luther, please help me tell the captains of the mercenary teams and tell them that I can hire them with a lot of silver coins. , they are not asked to accompany the caravan, but to protect the safety of the caravan.
If they encounter an attack and they don't attack me, but just pretend to shout and let the people in our caravan fight, then they won't even get a cent of the balance, and they will have to spit out the deposit. Although our business group is very friendly, we are not really easy to bully. "
"Yes." When Luther heard Duncan's words, his expression became a little serious. He nodded vigorously, turned around and walked towards the back of the caravan.
"Da da da… "
…
After a while, Luther returned, looked at Duncan and said, "Uncle Duncan, it's all done. Everyone in the caravan understands what you mean and promises to be careful. And the mercenary teams also said, They didn't react before and let us fight. If we encounter the enemy again, they will definitely take the initiative and do their best to protect the safety of each of us."
"Oh, the mercenary's guarantee?" Duncan shook his head after hearing this. "Just listen to what they say. Don't believe them too much. Let's see the details at that time."
"Well, actually that's what I think." Luther agreed.
"That's good." Duncan said without saying anything more.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."
The horses pulled the carriage forward, and everyone followed. The entire caravan moved forward difficultly and carefully through the woods.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."
…
The entire convoy moved forward in silence for about half an hour. The silence was suddenly broken, and someone shouted: "Be careful!"
The entire caravan stopped immediately. "Swipe!" After a while, the caravan guards all pulled out their weapons and looked around vigilantly. Some even picked up bows and arrows, but... they did not attack.
Duncan frowned and shouted: "Who is yelling?!"
"Duncan is in charge, it's me." A man walking in front of the caravan said, pointing to the road ahead, "Duncan is in charge, the road is blocked, I'm afraid there might be an ambush, so I shouted to be careful."
"Um?"
Duncan's eyes flashed and he looked ahead. Sure enough, he saw a dry tree trunk falling not far away, blocking the progress of the entire caravan.
this…
At this time, Luther leaned into Duncan's ear and whispered: "Uncle Duncan, let me go and check the situation." After saying that, he started to leave, but Duncan grabbed him.
Luther turned to look at Duncan, a little confused. At this time, Duncan's face was expressionless, and the look in his eyes was not clear whether it was because of fear or vigilance, and he looked a little cold.
Turning his head, Duncan shouted to the side and called the names of the two guys: "Rick, Sba, you two go to the front to check the situation. If there is no problem, move the tree trunk away."
After a pause, Duncan added: "You two performed well this time. When you get to Cuijin City, I will give you a salary increase. Also, be careful."
"Um, Uncle Duncan, we will be careful." The two guys who were named said, not much scared, but more happy, not sure whether it was because of being cared for or because of a salary increase.
The two walked out of the caravan and walked quickly towards the tree trunk blocking the road.
When they walked to the tree trunk, the two of them were not stupid. They looked around carefully and found nothing unusual before reaching out to lift the tree trunk.
The trunk of the tree was very heavy, and it took a lot of effort for the two of them to move it. As they were halfway through, they suddenly heard Duncan's warning: "Be careful!"
"How ..." The two hadn't responded yet, and the sound of "咻“ "sounded. Many arrows flew out of the sides of the woods and shot the two directly into hedgehogs.
The two fell down with a "plop".
Duncan didn't have time to feel sad and continued to warn and shout: "There is an ambush! Be careful!"
The entire caravan moved quickly to think of ways to defend themselves. After killing the two men moving the tree trunks, the arrows quickly shot towards the caravan from both sides of the forest.
Some people couldn't dodge in time and fell down screaming.
Duncan lowered his head and hid on the side of the car. While pushing Luther's head hard under his body, he shouted an order: "Fight back, fight back!"
After listening to Duncan's words, the security guards in the caravan stood up one after another, holding bows and arrows and shooting in the direction of attacks from both sides. However, under attack from two sides, they were obviously at a disadvantage. After a moment of counterattack, they didn't kill many enemies, but only suffered less than half of their own casualties. It seems that if you continue to stay here, it will only be a matter of time before everyone dies.
"Damn it!" Duncan cursed after seeing it and said to himself, "We can't go on like this. We must find a way to leave. We must let those mercenaries cover us and let the caravan rush out..."
Luther, who was pinned under Duncan, heard this, stood up forcefully, and shouted: "Uncle Duncan, I'm going to inform the mercenaries that I..."
"No, I'll go." Before Luther could finish his words, he was interrupted by Duncan, who pressed his head under him again. Duncan said solemnly, "You can't, you can't go.
First, it is too dangerous now. You are still young and you have to find a way to survive because you have to go back and marry Melissa! I only have one daughter, and she only likes you, so you must not take any chances!
Second, those mercenaries are cowards who are greedy for money. You, a young man, cannot suppress them at this time. Only if I go can I make them obey orders honestly. So, there I go. "
After Duncan finished speaking, he bent down and walked away. Luther's eyes were red and he grabbed Duncan, "Uncle Duncan, I'd better go..."
"Stop being so nagging!"
The two were about to argue when they heard someone from behind the convoy yelling angrily: "Duncan is in charge, Duncan is in charge, damn, those mercenaries have all escaped!"
Um, this...
The problem was solved immediately, and neither of them needed to go.
Duncan's face turned pale with anger, and he hammered the ground angrily: "Damn mercenaries, I knew they were unreliable!"
"Then...Uncle Duncan, what should we do now?" Luther asked aloud, "How about fighting the enemy?"
"Fight?" Duncan's eyes flashed, his gaze fixed for a moment, and he said, "Yes, fight!"
"But..." Duncan's tone suddenly changed again and he looked at Luther, "But it's me who is fighting, not you. Boy, don't get excited yet. I tell you, this is the only way. I will come up with it later. The machine crossbows come and are distributed to everyone, and then a volley is fired to ensure that the damn enemy is temporarily suppressed, and you find a way to break out on horseback. Your breakout is of course not to save your life, but more importantly to do two things .”
Duncan raised his body, groped around on the carriage, took out a white wooden box, stuffed it into Luther's arms, and said loudly: "This is the most valuable cargo in our business. If it is lost, Our entire business group cannot afford to lose it. So the first thing you do when you break out is to protect it and not let it fall into the hands of the enemy.
The second thing you have to do after breaking out is to rush to Cuijin City as quickly as possible, go there to ask for help, and let the official soldiers of Cuijin City come to rescue us. Don't give me red eyes, this is not the time to cry. As long as you do well, we can both live. I will still watch you marry Melissa, and I will not die easily. Do you understand what I said? "
"I understand." Luther nodded vigorously.
Duncan took a deep breath: "That's good."
The next moment, Duncan rushed out like an old leopard and opened a box in another carriage. What was inside was a series of machine crossbows that shone with metallic luster...
…
After a while, the shooting from both sides of the forest continued, preparing to shoot all the people in the caravan to death, but the caravan suddenly burst out with a violent counterattack of arrows, catching the people ambush on both sides by surprise. Several unlucky ones were hit by arrows and screamed.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, a horse from the caravan ran out at high speed. Luther bent his waist almost against the horse's back, holding a white wooden box tightly in his arms. He gritted his teeth and rushed out of the encirclement, out of the woods, and into the distance. Cuijin City.
"Da da da... da da da..."
The sound of horse hooves continued. On the road outside the woods, Luther whipped the horse desperately to increase its speed to the highest level.
He wants to be fast, faster, very fast!
If he delays for a second, one more person in the caravan may die.
Thinking of this, Luther whipped the horse hard again. The next moment he looked forward, he was suddenly startled. Pulling the reins of the horse suddenly, the horse neighed loudly, raised its front hooves high, and then landed heavily, leaving two dents several centimeters deep on the ground.
On the road ahead, dozens of heavily armed cavalry were galloping towards him, approaching quickly, and then surrounded Luther.
Luther was extremely nervous, shaking a little while holding the box in his arms. He swallowed and asked the unknown person, "You... who are you?"
A cavalryman stepped forward, took off his helmet, revealing a head of blond hair and a handsome face. He glanced at Luther and said, "I am Captain Mill of the Third Cavalry Guard of Emerald City. Who are you?" "
Luther's eyes widened immediately after hearing this: "You are a soldier of Emerald City, uh, sir?! My... Lord Myr, hello, I... My name is Luther, and I am from the Bauhinia Merchant Group. I am escorting something here." Cuijin City. We were attacked halfway, and I was the only one who broke out and wanted to seek your help. Now please follow me and hurry up to save Uncle Duncan and the others from our business group, right?"
"Huh?" Mill frowned. He didn't seem to believe Luther easily, and asked aloud, "Please tell me clearly, what did your Redbud Merchant Group escort to Emerald City? Why were you attacked?"
"What our Bauhinia Merchant Group is escorting is a very precious thing. I don't know what it is specifically. However, Uncle Duncan did say that it is related to the mysterious wizard. If it is lost, our entire business group will not be able to compensate. Get up. Because of this, he was attacked..."
"That precious thing is in the wooden box in your hand, right?" Mill suddenly interrupted Luther.
"Uh, yes." Luther said without warning.
"Open it and take a look. I want to confirm what you said. After confirming, I will follow you to save people." Mil said.
"Okay." Luther responded without thinking too much, quickly opened the box and revealed the contents.
Inside the box, there were three crystal-like creations placed in the thick black silk. The volume is not very large, it is round in shape, and the surface is carved with complicated lines. And inside, there is a purple light flashing, which can be seen clearly even at night. "
Luther looked at the strange objects in the box with some surprise.
Mil narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself: "Is it really a certificate for exemption from the exam? Now we are prosperous. Haha, our Luolan family should be lucky."
"Um?"
Luther looked up at Mil. Hearing Mil's words, he felt a little confused, and then his whole body suddenly felt cold.
He suddenly felt a little alert, maybe what was in front of him was not the official army of Emerald City at all.
Otherwise, why is the other party not in Cuijin City, but on the road to Cuijin City? Otherwise, why would the other party be more familiar with the goods than he is? Otherwise, why would the other party have to look at the contents of his box before he saves the person
Luther thought this, and then he saw Mil in front of him suddenly smiled strangely at him, drew out his sword with an unabashed "swipe", and struck at him.
The blood all over Luther's body coagulated, and his mind went blank, leaving only one thought: Uncle Duncan, I'm sorry...
Just when Luther thought he was certain to die, there was a sudden "whoosh" sound, and several arrows flew over, almost grazing Luther's ears, and hit Mill's head.
"Bang", Mil's hand loosened and the sword fell.
"Boom", Mill still kept a weird smile on his face, but he fell straight off his horse.
Luther felt his blood flow resumed. Looking into the distance, he saw more cavalry rushing over dozens of meters away, massacring the cavalry that originally surrounded him.
While the other party was massacring, he said loudly: "People of the Luolan family, you have violated the laws of the kingdom. I am now going to kill you according to the king's order. Those who dare to resist will die. Those who put down their weapons and surrender will not be killed." …”
The new cavalry was obviously very powerful, and the battle was resolved in just a moment. A tall knight arrived in front of Luther on horseback and said: "Hey, boy, don't be afraid, I have been ordered by the king to protect you and your business group. It’s the cargo being transported. Bring it to me quickly, I want to make sure it’s safe.”
"Is this the real official army of Emerald City?" Luther thought as he regained consciousness, subconsciously handing over the box.
The next moment, the sound of more horse hooves was heard further away, followed by more cavalry charging madly. The leader yelled urgently: "The Philip family, you are so bold, you dare to attack other families under the pretext of the king's order. You are trying to start a noble war, you are the real lawbreakers, you all go to hell..."
Luther was stunned, completely stunned, and had no idea who to believe.
The night is still very long, and more and more people are gathering under the cover of night, fighting and fighting for a precious thing...
As for Richard, he was writing quietly on papyrus with a quill in the study room in the courtyard where he lived.
"Shashasha..."
The night is very chaotic, but also very quiet...