In the evening, on the trees on both sides of the road, a few crows made a soft "Ah" sound, and then a burst of dust rose in the distance, and then the earth seemed to be shaking. The dense and silent sound of horse hooves broke the silence of the evening. Several crows flapped their wings and flew away from the branches in a hurry.
At this moment, Rody had already replaced his dazzling silver armor. He was wearing a light leather armor that covered most of his upper body - this leather armor was given to Lant by Nicole before the expedition. My own, it is said to be a family heirloom of the Tulip family. Nicole's father wore this leather armor to fight on the battlefield. Roddy doubted how much protection such a light leather armor could have, but in order to rush on the march, it was of course impossible to wear that dazzling and heavy metal armor. The leather armor he replaced Finally, it became much lighter.
Rody's inner clothes were soaked with sweat, and he felt a burning pain on the inside of his thigh. The bumpy ride on the horse during the two consecutive days was really too much for him.
For a day and a half, Rody led 10,000 elite cavalrymen from the "Thunder God's Whip" on the road without leaving their saddles. When they were tired, they would rest on the horse. When they were thirsty and hungry, they would eat dry food and drink water on the horse. When the horses were tired, they would change horses and continue. Moving forward, each cavalryman has changed his horse twice. The horse that each soldier is riding and the spare horse he carries behind him are exhausted, and some horses are even foaming at the corners of their mouths. It seems that although the horses of the Central Cavalry Corps are the best horses selected in the entire empire, after nearly two days of non-stop galloping, they can't stand it anymore.
The soldiers had tired looks all over their faces, but the Wolf Fang Army led by Sieg was indeed worthy of the name "Thunder God's Whip". Although every soldier was exhausted, their facial expressions were still firm and fierce. People fell behind or complained. In the mighty cavalry team, only the sound of horse hooves was heard, and there was no noise from anyone.
"Sir! The scout cavalry is back!" The messenger next to him suddenly patted his horse and felt beside Rody, and saluted loudly on his horse.
Rody glanced at Siege beside him, who nodded and said: "Send the order to the whole army to slow down!"
In the blink of an eye, the messenger conveyed Siege's order, and the officers conveyed the order one by one. Under the order of neat flags, starting from the front group, the cavalry slowed down, but the entire team was still not scattered at all. Apparently, Sieg was quite strict in leading his troops on weekdays.
The scout cavalry reported that there was a small village ahead, and there seemed to be nothing unusual about it. We are already close to the front line here. I heard that there are often small groups of stray cavalry from the Great Moon Kingdom appearing around, but there seems to be no trace found in the village in front.
Rody sighed and said in a deep voice: "I gave the order to rest for a while in the village ahead. We can't rush on like this anymore. Even if the people don't rest, the horses must rest."
Sieg nodded. He was born in the cavalry, so he naturally understood how important the horse's leg strength was to the cavalry.
When night fell, the Wolf Fang Army finally approached the village. Rody ordered the entire army to stop two miles outside the village, rest by the river for an hour, and then entered the village with two hundred people from Siege.
This is still the territory of the empire, but because of the remoteness of the area, it is relatively far from the town. Several villagers at the head of the village were obviously a little scared and surprised to suddenly see such a pair of troops.
The soldiers under his command found the village chief. The village chief was obviously a stubborn and honest farmer. He stammered and couldn't say anything after seeing Roddy and Zig. Rody asked his two hundred men to divide fifty into police circles at the entrance of the village in the north. He and Zieg followed the village chief back home. The village chief said nothing and just led the way.
As soon as Rody walked into this simple little courtyard, he immediately felt that something was wrong. He frowned and looked around. The village chief had an indifferent expression. Next to him was his little daughter, a pretty girl who was only fifteen or sixteen years old.
When he saw the pile of unfinished firewood in the yard, Rody already knew what was going on.
"Are you two the only ones here?"
"Yes, sir." The village chief lowered his head, his voice still steady.
Without saying a word, Rody walked to the corner, suddenly raised his foot and kicked over a wooden cabinet beside the wall, revealing a big hole in the back. This sudden change made the village chief turn pale with fright, and the girl also let out a scream of terror. Several soldiers beside him drew their machetes and rushed forward, dragging a young man out of the hole.
The young man was wearing simple civilian clothes, his face was pale, and he looked desperate.
"What's going on! You are actually spies!" Zig's face also darkened.
With a plop, the village chief knelt down and hissed: "Sir! He is not a spy. He is my son, not a spy from Dayue Kingdom!"
Rody waved his hand and asked the soldier to let go of the young man. The young man didn't look like a warrior when he walked, so Rody wasn't afraid that he would resist.
"Say, what's going on!"
Seeing that all the soldiers around him had drawn their scimitars, the young man immediately shouted loudly: "Sir, it has nothing to do with my family! You can take me back. I am... I escaped from the front line... "
Rody breathed a sigh of relief and nodded: "It turned out to be a deserter." Zig's face looked a little better, and he just said solemnly: "Are you from the Northwest Army?"
"Yes!" The young man nodded and glanced at his father: "I turned out to be the garrison of Trier Fort not far from here. After Trier Fort was occupied by the Big Moon Kingdom, we were scattered. I ran away and came back..."
Before Rody could say anything, Sieg snorted coldly and said calmly: "Then do you know the empire's military orders?"
"I know." The young man's face turned pale: "Anyone who escapes from battle will be killed."
"No!!" The girl next to her suddenly screamed and wanted to rush forward, but was stopped by two soldiers. She cried: "Don't kill him! Why do you want to kill him! One of my brothers has died in the battle. Oh, are you going to kill my only remaining brother?"
After all, Roddy was leading an army for the first time and he was young. Hearing this, he couldn't help but feel soft in his heart and sighed: "This is the military order of the empire. If everyone is a deserter without punishment, then who else will fight for the empire!"
The girl had a stubborn face and a face full of tears. She faced Roddy without fear and said loudly: "Deserter! My brother is not willing to be a soldier at all! It was you who kidnapped him! One of my brothers, Three He was kidnapped by you a month ago and died. You came here to kidnap him again! We don't want to be soldiers at all! You want to take away our food! Want to give it to you!”
"Wait!" Rody waved to the two soldiers who were about to drag the young man out. He turned around, looked at the girl with a gloomy expression, and said in a deep voice: "You said that your brother was forcibly kidnapped to serve as a soldier?!"
Ignoring her father's horrified wink at her, the girl stared at Rody and gritted her teeth: "Yes! You kidnapped me! My eldest brother was severely beaten by your people because he didn't want to be a soldier. I beat him up and took him away! My second brother didn’t want to, but your people beat up my father and forced him to leave with you! Now that the battle is over, why not let him go? My brother is coming home!”
"There is such a thing!" Rody looked livid and glanced at Siege. Sieg frowned. He had been in the army for most of his life, so he had naturally heard of this kind of thing. In many places, the defenders lacked military strength during wartime, so they often temporarily recruited strong men to join the army. However, recruitment is generally used and military salaries are paid based on head count. But now, according to what the girl said, it was probably the officers of the garrison who embezzled the military salary for recruiting strong men and used violence to force people into the army. This kind of thing is most common among the miscellaneous defenders in those places.
As soon as Rody looked at Sieg's face, he knew that this matter was probably true. Sieg was the most familiar with the tactics of the army. Even he stopped talking. It seemed that what this girl said was probably true. .
"Let him go." Rody sighed, not knowing what he felt. He wanted to rescue the northwest and protect his home and country, but when he saw that even the civilians of his own country looked at the soldiers of the empire with such hatred, he didn't know how to describe his feelings at this moment.
Sieg wanted to say something, but when he thought of what he just heard, he closed his mouth. As soon as the young man was free, he rushed to save his father and the girl.
"Village chief, go and get us some food. Then help me find some food in the village. My soldiers are all hungry!" Rody no longer had any intention of pursuing this family. He winked at a soldier, and the soldier immediately took out a few gold coins from his body.
The village chief looked at the money in the soldier's hand in surprise, but shook his head and said in horror: "Sir, it's not me... there is really nothing to eat..."
"Why!"
"A few days ago, the army from the Dayue Kingdom came here and took away all the food... Now we only have a little ration, and there is really no extra food."
"What!!" Rody slammed the table, stood up, and shouted: "There are troops from the Big Moon Kingdom nearby! Why didn't you tell me earlier! How many people are there! Where are they!"
The village chief's face was full of horror, his face was pale, he was hesitant and speechless. The young man returned and said: "Last time they came there were not many people, probably only a few dozen cavalry, but it seems they dispersed the army to search for food in nearby villages."
"Hmph!" Sieg's face was unkind: "Why didn't you say anything just now!" He was extremely angry. You must know that they were rushing so hard now just to be able to discover the Watt Fortress in the Big Moon Kingdom without anyone noticing. They had previously joined up with the Northwest Army. If the Great Moon Kingdom knew that they were sending troops to intercept, then at this moment Rody and Sieg would only have a mere 10,000 tired troops, which would be very dangerous.
"Is there anything else you haven't said?" Rody motioned for Zig to sit down and looked at the young man fiercely.
The village chief opened his mouth but said nothing. The young man's face was pale and his eyes were a little evasive. Rody felt bad. Before he could speak, Siege said harshly: "I don't need to pursue you for being a deserter. After all, there are reasons. Since I let you go, forget it. But if you conceal military information and don't report it, you are guilty of the same crime as a spy!"
The girl gritted her teeth and stood up, loudly saying: "They came two days ago, robbed all our food, and arrested more than a dozen people. They left a message asking us to inform them if there were any imperial troops. When we pass by, we light straw and the smoke from the chimney will float out... If we don't do that, they will kill those people they captured!"
Sieg's face changed slightly, and he ran out of the door in a few steps. Sure enough, he saw black smoke coming out of the chimneys in several farmhouses around him...
"Where are they! Those armies of the Big Moon Kingdom!" Rody shouted at the young man. He might sympathize with his experience of being forcibly drawn into the army and not hold him accountable for being a deserter, but they actually did such a thing, which made Roddy furious!
The girl was startled by Rody's sudden rage, shrank back, and cried: "They come in from the north of the village every time. I... I didn't burn the straw... After they left, my father also asked other people to burn straw." Don't help Dayue Kingdom, but they didn't listen to my father... I really didn't burn the straw... I really didn't... "
Suddenly, a rapid bugle sounded outside the door. It was a warning sound sent by the men in the north of the village!
"Leave a few people to keep an eye on them! If anyone makes any rash move, shoot them to death!" Zig rushed back into the room and shouted, and then Roddy followed him and strode outside...