Lorist took Pat and Reddy into the mercenary camp.
Reining in the horse, he saw Steward Kedan and the two mercenary leaders Husky and Jim coming up to meet him.
Lorist came here today to determine the address of the military stronghold at the junction of the two mountains, so that construction can start as soon as possible. Yesterday, I received a report from Kedan's steward that the mercenaries had surveyed the address and were waiting for Lorist to make a decision.
After entering the tent, Halski took a map of animal skins and showed Lorist the address they had set, but these maps of animal skins were drawn by the mercenaries themselves, and they were not very standardized. Lorist looked at it for a long time before realizing that it was a cliff terrain.
"Let's go and have a look at the scene." Lorist said.
It takes more than three hours to ride a horse from Huyangtan to the junction of the two mountains. The junction of the two mountains is not like the rocky castle in the Morgan Hills where the mountains close together, but two mountain ridges one behind the other, with a small stream and a large and winding forest valley in the middle, stretching all the way to the devil. The depths of the Dragon Mountains.
The site chosen by the mercenaries to build the military camp was on a cliff beside the creek. Lorist shook his head and rejected the site selection: "Hoski, do you think I spent so much money to hire Are you just here to play the role of a sentry tower? Seventy or eighty of you are here and you are going to find the mountain barbarians. Just light a beacon and report a letter and it's over? I want you nailed here as the first line of defense against the mountain barbarians .For the small number of mountain barbarians, you should take the initiative to attack and get a high reward for yourself. Although your general camp was built on the cliff, although it has strong defense, it loses the initiative to attack. Wait until you come down from the cliff The barbarians have already run away."
Haoski blushed a little but still argued forcefully: "My lord, we have few people. If we set up a military camp in the valley below, it will be difficult to resist the large-scale siege of the mountain barbarians. You don't want us all to die here... on top of us We can find the traces of the mountain barbarians in time. Although it is inconvenient to attack, our survival and defense are guaranteed... "
Lorist laughed contemptuously: "Wrong, your survival and defense will be greatly threatened if you build a military stronghold on the cliff. Let me ask you a simple question, how are you going to get water on the cliff?"
"My lord, isn't there a creek under this cliff? I chose this cliff next to the creek because of this. If we are besieged by the mountain barbarians, we can put down buckets from the cliff and carry them from the creek. water… "
"Don't think the enemy is so stupid. Although the mountain barbarians are savages, it doesn't mean they have no brains. They just need to block or divert the stream on both sides of the cliff. Where are you going to draw water from?"
Hawski is speechless...
If there is no food, you can kill horses and eat leather for a period of time, but if you cut off the water, you can't last for three days. Lorist pointedly pointed out the biggest mistake made by the mercenaries in choosing a location.
"Go there and have a look." Lorist said, pointing to several small mounds in the valley.
There seemed to be traces of broken walls on the largest small mound. Steward Kedan rode to Lorist's side and explained in a low voice that for nearly a hundred years, the ancestors of the Norton family had thought the same as Lorist. , I want to set up a military stronghold or a sentry tower for early warning at the junction of the two mountains, so as to defend and discover the mountain barbarians who invaded the family territory in advance. It's just that three attempts have failed. This mound is one of the traces left by setting up a camp. About 60 years ago, only four of the more than 20 family soldiers stationed here survived.
"Then here it is. This mound is only more than 80 meters away from the creek. If you drill a well on it, you can get a clean and safe water source, and the biggest problem will be solved." Lorist made a decision.
"My lord, how do we solve the problem of defense?" Halski, who had just heard what Steward Kedan said to Lorist, had a very bad expression on his face.
"Hehe, don't worry, I won't let you defend the simple camp. I'm going to build two towers here, and then surround them with a city wall seven or eight meters high. You don't need to worry about manpower and material resources. You are mainly responsible for guarding. Just one In a month, you will have an extremely defensive military stronghold," Lorist said.
Husky still wanted to talk, but Jim next to him patted his chest and said, "My lord, as long as you build the military stronghold, we promise to nail it here firmly, and prevent small groups of mountain barbarians from invading your territory."
…
After deciding on the location of the military camp, everyone relaxed, and Lorist was going to rest here for two hours before going back. The mercenaries are worthy of survival in the wild, hunting and fishing, and soon got a large number of prey, and grilled them by the stream.
With a red face, Jim pulled Hawski and a few mercenaries over.
Jim said excitedly: "My lord, I told them that you killed Captain Adams at the first sight, but they didn't believe it. They also said that you took advantage of the long-term exhaustion of the Adams regiment. You are not even silver, why? You can kill so many Feiyu mercenaries, they still want to compete with you... "
Lorist threw down the pheasant bone in his hand, stood up and said with a smile, "If you don't believe me, you don't believe it, it doesn't matter."
"But my lord..."
Hawski stopped Jim and bowed to Lorist: "My lord, please don't blame Jim. The main reason is that they praised you to the sky after they came back last time. It's hard for everyone to believe such a fact. White-haired Adams The captain is well-known in the kingdom's mercenary circles, and his strength is very strong. Especially his two adopted sons are also famous shield guards. Jim and the others said that the twin brothers died under the sword of the adults, which is really difficult. Believe me. If your lord doesn't think us lowly mercenaries are presumptuous, can you show us your master's swordsmanship... "
"You..." Pat was angry, and he stood up and prepared to reprimand these mercenaries.
"Pat!" Lorist waved his hand: "It's okay, I just have time, so let's try it out. Captain Huski, mercenaries are not cheap, please remember this. In Morente City, I also I have been a mercenary for five or six years... How about this, you choose ten mercenaries with the best swordsmanship and skills to compete with me, and it doesn't matter if you are a silver rank."
Hawski and the mercenaries thought that Lorist was going to compete one by one. Although it was a round-the-clock battle, Jim and the others boasted that Lorist really had great strength, so they began to select the manpower for the battle.
All his companions knew everything, and soon nine mercenaries were selected to stand with Halski, and the rest of the mercenaries gathered around and began to bet on how many Lorist could handle. Jim was the banker, and he and the mercenaries who came back from Rock Castle unanimously bet on Lorist's victory.
"Leddy, give me your sword." Lorist said.
Because of Reddy's strength, Lorist specially made him an epee. This is just a competition. Several selected mercenaries are all black iron ranks, and they can't inject grudge into their weapons yet. Lorist didn't want to use his saber to cut off the weapons of these mercenaries, so as not to embarrass everyone. They can be knocked away with Reddy's heavy sword without damaging their weapons.
After trying the epee in his hand a few times, Lorist said with satisfaction: "You guys go for it together."
"What?" The mercenaries were stunned. Isn't it a wheel battle, one by one? How did it become let us go together
"Since your lord said so, we will do it. Everyone, please be more energetic, show your unique skills, don't let your lord look down on us, and don't let your lord down..." Haosky was angry, he looked down on others too much, a right Ten of them still refused to use their own swords, which clearly did not take them seriously.
Husky kept an eye out, as the captain of the mercenary team, he has the ability to command and organize. He assigned a few mercenaries to go up to test it first, and after seeing Lorist's strength clearly, then he could make a response.
It's just that Halski didn't expect that the four mercenary masters would get down one after another as soon as they fought against Lorist. He blinked twice quickly, and didn't see what Lorist did at all.
Immediately afterwards, Lorist rushed towards the remaining six mercenaries in reverse, and the two mercenaries at the front swung their swords one after the other and slashed at the pounced figures. Haosky finally saw it clearly. Lorist blocked two swords with his horizontal sword, but his figure cut in between the two mercenaries. Shakingly fell to the ground.
The mercenaries at the back suddenly realized that Lorist was too close to him, almost face to face, and they backed away in shock, wanting to distance themselves. Unexpectedly, just less than a foot away, the sword handle that Lorist retracted had already passed his chin, so the mercenary also fell to the ground.
Halski was taken aback, it was too fast, six mercenaries fell to the ground in a blink of an eye, and now there were only four of them left. Halski hurriedly summoned another silver-ranked mercenary and two black-iron-ranked mercenaries to form a defensive formation to face Lorist's attack together.
The four mercenaries adopt a diamond-shaped position. As long as the front point is attacked, they can retreat, press on both sides, and the rear point can cross-change with the front point to resist attacks in turn. This was originally a defensive battle formation for the mercenaries to deal with the attack of a single powerful monster, but it was used against Lorist.
Of course Lorist is not a magical beast, he won't just stare at one person and launch an attack. He wandered around the battle formation, erratically, and his swords always went towards the two black iron mercenaries on both sides of the battle formation. As a result, Halski at the front and the silver-ranked mercenary at the back seemed very embarrassed, and could only use their swords to help their companions resist, so the battle formation fell apart and became three mercenaries Fighting against Lorist, the last mercenary was blocked behind and couldn't do his best.
Lorist moved to the right while fighting, and his speed was getting faster and faster. The silver-ranked mercenary who was acting as the axis obviously couldn't resist Lorist's fast sword, so he took a step back involuntarily. As soon as he retreated, the three joined forces It was broken, revealing a gap. Lorist inserted himself among the three of them without hesitation.
Haoji felt something was wrong, he wanted to draw the sword but was blocked by his companions, he hurriedly moved to the side, just as he moved away, he saw the three partners in front of him and around him pounced on the ground one after another, and the one standing in front of him It is Lorist...
Haosky looked around, the sword in his hand fell to the ground, and said bitterly: "We lost..."
In this competition, Lorist didn't use his internal strength very much, he just relied on his body skills and quick sword to win. Otherwise, he could have used his internal strength to forcibly break through from the front. It's just that it would make the mercenaries lose face and hurt their self-esteem. Lorist didn't want to do it, after all, it was just a friendly competition, not a battlefield of life and death.
…
The mercenaries dispersed after discussing the wonderful competition just now, but Husky stayed behind: "My lord, I have a question..."
"Tell me." Lorist patted the big rock beside him, motioning for the mercenary captain to sit down.
Hawski was not polite, and sat down: "Master, in fact, the Norton family is very powerful. The Kenmes family chose to be hostile to the Norton family, which can be said to have kicked the iron plate. I jumped out of that vortex, and I don’t need to be hostile to the adults anymore. What I don’t understand is, the Norton family is so powerful, why did they hire us? I have been wondering whether the adults deliberately let us die... "
"That's why you chose to set up an army stronghold on such a high cliff to protect yourself? Tell me, why do you think our Norton family is strong? In fact, I hired you because there is no one available." Lorist said.
"No one can use it? Impossible, my lord, among the more than 2,000 laborers preparing to build the city in Huyangtan, there are two or three hundred young and strong people who have awakened their fighting spirit, not to mention the two hundred guards. A few are silver steps..." Haosky almost cried out, he didn't believe Lorist's words.
Lorist smiled wryly: "Captain Hawski, it's no wonder you don't believe it, but don't you find that the relationship between the garrison and our Norton family is a bit strange? I can explain the reason to you, but please promise not to spread the word. It’s not a glorious thing for the family.”
When Lorist and Hawski explained the relationship between Beiye Town and the Norton family, Hawski seemed to listen to Tianfang Yetan: "My lord, I don't even know what to say. I have never heard such absurd things , I can only say that your ancestors were too...too kind. It is a blessing to meet such a lord, and only such a lord can get used to such a wonderful garrison."
"I can understand what my ancestors did. You also understand the situation in the Northland. What is lacking is people. No matter whether the ancestors of the garrison were refugees, thieves, liars, robbers or criminals, as long as there were people in the Northland at that time Baby, my ancestors also wanted them to live and work in peace and contentment in the territory and contribute to the family, so they gave them such generous conditions. I just didn't expect that they would take advantage of the loopholes, and they have been dragged down for generations..." Luo Rist sighed.
"Then with the strength in the hands of the adults, the defense teams in Beiye Town should be able to be wiped out. That Josk knight has stabilized the silver heads of the defense team, and we can also help..." Hawski said.
"If you concentrate the strength of the family, plus you mercenaries, you can indeed wipe out the garrison in Beiye Town. It's just that the casualties you pay are not worth it. Don't look at me like that, no matter how good I am, I can kill a success in one go Thousands of people? What's more, these people in Beiye Town have a deep relationship with our family. Many people in Fenglin Villa are related to some families in Beiye Town. The hearts of the people are scattered. Although the situation of the garrison in Beiye Town is like this, they still belong to our Norton family in name, and I don’t want to kill them without openly rebelling, so I can only force them to submit step by step. If they openly I can only wish for a rebellion, so that there will be an excuse to remove this cancer.”
"Then everything my lord is doing now is a planned arrangement, I understand. A few days ago, some of the laborers who had awakened their grudges came to want to be mercenaries. I was afraid of causing conflicts, so I rejected them. Please," Hawski said.
"It's okay, if they can bear the hardships of mercenaries, they can accept them. After a while, our family will also select a group of them as the newly formed family guard soldiers. Building a military camp here is also a test for them..." Loris Special said.
"Okay, thank you sir, please rest assured, we will be the Norton family's first line of defense against the mountain barbarians like nails." Haoski solemnly promised.
…