It was around five in the morning when Lorist took Pat and Jim, three horses, to Rock Castle.
The big camp outside Rock Castle was brightly lit and full of voices.
Butler Boris and Papa Barek, who were notified by the guards, rushed out to greet him.
"How's the situation on the front wall?" Lorist's first question was about the defense of the city wall.
Papa Barek replied: "It's okay, my lord. The army of the Kenmes family launched two attacks yesterday. After being repelled, they stopped attacking again. They began to set up camp one square away from our city wall, and did not wait until evening." The tossing is over. Last night was very peaceful, and there was no warning signal from the city wall in front."
A gray is a unit of length for the subcontinent of Galintia. It is said that in the earliest age of elves, the basic unit of length was the mag, that is, the distance between two horses when elf light cavalry lined up. Later, in the era of magic civilization, Mag was changed to Gemmi by magicians. One grid is equal to one thousand grid meters. Two thousand years have passed, and although these units of measurement in the era of magical civilization have continued to the present, there are also many abbreviations in the names. Gramme is called a meter, and Geli and Li both mean the same thing.
Lorist heaved a sigh of relief: "Why is it so lively in the camp?"
Butler Boris said: "My lord, we are making a shed."
"Make a wooden shed?"
"Yesterday, the longbowmen of the Kenmes family caused great casualties to the guards on our first city wall with lob shots. Master Siluoba came up with an idea to build a wooden shed on the city wall, so that there will be no fear The longbow fired. As for the direct shot, we have the cover of the city wall at a distance of 100 meters, and the siege crossbow can also counterattack." Papa Barek said.
"Master Ciroba? Is his idea credible?" Lorist was very skeptical.
Butler Boris and Papa Barek laughed. Butler Boris said, "My lord, we adopted this suggestion after discussion and found that there was no problem."
"Then what if the enemy burns these wooden sheds with rockets, and then launches an attack when the smoke obscures the sight of the guarding soldiers?" Lorist asked.
"It's okay. After the wooden shed is built, we will use a thick layer of green clay to coat the outside, so that the rockets will not be effective against the wooden shed. Another advantage is that rain and snow will not affect the first city wall." It will affect the guard soldiers." Papa Barek explained.
"Alright then, keep busy, I'll go to the front wall first." Lorist got on his horse again and galloped towards the front wall.
…
Alvekis was snoring leaning against the wall of the room in full armor, but he slept very alertly, and opened his eyes as soon as Lorist walked in.
"Go ahead and rest, don't worry about me." Lorist patted Ovekis on the shoulder twice: "Thanks for your hard work."
"My lord, I'm fine. I slept for more than two hours just now. I didn't go out to make an inspection and saw that I had nothing to do before I came back and continued to sleep..." Aovikis said bravely, staring at his bloodshot eyes.
Lorist was not reluctant: "How many casualties are there?"
"My lord, the two archers of the Kenmes family are too powerful. They launched a lob shot at our first city wall from more than 300 meters away, and the arrows were like rain. Our guard soldiers have nowhere to go. You can hide. A small team was reimbursed in less than a quarter of an hour. There were not many sacrifices, only twenty-seven, and they were all shot to the point. The rest were all lost. I sent another small team with shields to save them After returning home, more than 30 people were injured. Fortunately, we were all wearing armor, otherwise the casualties would be even greater... "
Ovekis talked about yesterday's battle situation incessantly: "We withdrew the second city wall, and the soldiers of the Kenmes family took the opportunity to attack the first city wall. A large iron gate connecting the two city walls. We launched a counterattack against them in the house with the siege crossbow. The first city wall was full of enemies, and often shot down two or three with one arrow. The enemies who came up collapsed and quickly fled back."
"That Viscount Kenmes was stupid and ruthless. He beheaded the first few soldiers who fled back in public, and then ordered a second attack. This time they climbed the first city wall and gave the city ladder to them. I pulled it up and wanted to climb to the top. But I brought dozens of people to guard the top, and I went up to kill one by one, and the siege crossbows below continued to show off their power. This time the attack lasted a little longer than the first time. Yes, they fled back again. There are 259 corpses left on and below the first city wall, plus the wounded, I estimate that the casualties of the Kenmes family are around 400 to 500."
"The Viscount Kenmes still refused to give up, but the soldiers below seemed to be clamoring, and even drew their swords at each other. It took a long time before they calmed down and took the troops to camp over there. I let Mr. Barek Dad led a team of laborers to collect the bodies of their soldiers who died in battle. They originally wanted to send them to the back for burial. But in the evening, a messenger came over there and asked to return the remains of these soldiers. I let people pick up these bodies Give it to them and save us the trouble of burying it... "
Lorist was speechless. This bearded Ovekis is worthy of being a bandit, and he has become a habit of picking up corpses.
"Did the casualties of the two attacks on our guards be heavy?" Lorist asked
Ovekis opened his mouth and laughed: "There were no casualties. We were in the house when they attacked the first time, and they couldn't attack us. The second time, the guard soldiers I brought were covered by the city wall and wore iron armor, condescending. When they climbed up, they had to worry about the crossbows in the house, which could not pose a threat to us at all. After they escaped, the two squadrons of longbowmen shot at us again. But I already had Prepare, everyone who went up brought a big shield, leaning on the city wall and using the big shield to protect well, except for one unlucky guy who got his foot exposed and got shot by an arrow, everyone else was fine."
…
Papa Barek came to the city with his laborers. The wooden shed they wanted to build was very simple. First, a wooden column was erected every three meters on the first city wall, and then a wooden frame was attached to the column. , and then spread two fingers of wooden planks on it. The wooden planks protrude from the city wall by one meter and slope slightly downward. The workers above had safety ropes tied around their waists, and while they were laying, they applied a thick layer of blue glue on the wooden boards.
Lorist went to the house to have a look, and found that the wooden shed did not affect the firing range of the defensive crossbow. Going up to the platform wall on the roof again, I saw many laborers building a herringbone-shaped wooden shed with a steep slope. Papa Barek said: "The wooden shed above must prevent snow accumulation in winter, and the slope is large to allow the snow to slide down. The main reason is that the wooden shed below is easy to clean, and the person above is not easy to go up."
Lorist nodded, saw the pair of crossbow makers father and son inspecting a siege crossbow, and walked over.
There are several feathered arrows inserted into this crossbow, which should be the place where the longbowmen shot at it after the soldiers of the Kenmas family that Ovekis said had retreated for the second time.
"What's wrong with this crossbow?" Lorist asked.
"Oh, my lord, this crossbow is almost useless. You see, this kind of feather arrow was specially made in the former empire. It was used by longbowmen to deal with defensive equipment during siege battles. This kind of arrow is square. Shaped, like a small shovel, the arrow is heavy, and when it is lobbed from top to bottom, it increases the power. You can see that four arrows hit the crossbow, and there are four small cracks. It may be okay to shoot a few arrows, but maybe it will be shot down. With one shot, the crossbow will burst, injuring the operator..." Master Falin replied.
"Oh..." Lorist sighed. Together with the fourteen siege crossbows arranged on the first city wall, they were all scrapped before an arrow was fired. Although they were simple versions, so many crossbows were still a great loss.
Nearly a thousand laborers built the wooden shed very quickly, and it was basically completed when the sky was bright. This is mainly because the city wall in front is only seventy or eighty meters long, and all the materials are processed in the camp outside the city. As long as it is assembled, it will naturally be very fast.
The abnormal situation here was also discovered in the camp armed by the Kenmes family. The longbowmen of the two teams hurried out of the camp and came to a distance of 300 meters from the city wall and began to shoot with their bows. The feather arrows shot in the first round and the second round were densely inserted on the wooden shed. In the third round, they started to use rockets, but the green clay on the wooden board was very thick, and the rockets burned themselves after being inserted for a while and then extinguished.
Not long after, a knight in gorgeous armor led dozens of attendants out of the camp and came to the rock castle to inspect for a long time, then ran to the longbowmen team and talked for a long time, and finally returned to the camp helplessly.
Lorist thought to himself, that should be Viscount Kenmes.
The two captains, the archers, had failed in vain, and followed Viscount Kenmes back to the camp. Father Barek ordered the laborers to continue to work. This would be to apply green plaster to the round wooden pillars erected on the first city wall and the ceiling of the wooden shed, and ordered a few laborers to go up to collect the intact feather arrows. Get up, and use blue glue to repair the place hit by the arrow.
On this day, Viscount Kenmes did not send any more troops to attack, and there was chaos in the camp.
In the evening, Paul Binns and Suedkamp rushed to Rock Castle with a squadron of family soldiers in a carriage. Lorist finally let go of his heart, now the Rock Castle is impenetrable.
The Kenmes family did not launch a night attack at night.
At noon the next day, three armies with hundreds of people each came to the rock castle and set up camp next to the camp of the Kenmes family. Papa Barek recognized the insignia on the flag of one of the houses. It was an old territorial nobleman in the Northland called Earl Spencer. If the second prince hadn't enshrined more than forty territorial nobles in the Northland, then the Earl Spencer would be the closest neighbor to the Norton family.
The other two were recognized by the steward Boris. Like the Kenmes family, they are the new territorial nobles who were conferred by the second prince to the Northland. The Pegasus emblem and banner is said to be a wandering knight. During the civil war between the three kings and the Empire, he took refuge with the second prince. He was ordered to lead a temporary knight order and performed well. He even saved the life of the second prince in times of crisis. After the civil war ended, he donated a large amount of the wealth collected during the war to the second prince, and then he was named a baron of the territory.
The badge on the family flag is a golden three-petal flower. Butler Boris smiled. This was originally a court nobleman who married a very beautiful wife. Then his wife hooked up with the second prince out of compensation. , the second prince granted him to go to the north, but left his beautiful wife in the capital...
Everyone laughed. Butler Boris said that this incident was very famous in the capital of Windbury. Many people said that it was worthwhile for a beautiful wife to change hereditary land, so many people brought their sisters and daughters , my wife looks for opportunities to meet the second prince every day, messing up the court atmosphere.
On the morning of the third day, four more territorial nobles arrived with an army of hundreds of people. This time, they were three old northern land lords and a new territorial noble.
Lorist was very puzzled, thinking that the Kenmes family was planning to organize a coalition of nobles to attack the Norton family? The combined army brought by the nobles of the seven territories is less than 2,000, which is useless. Could it be that the Kenmes family wanted to use the troops brought by these nobles as cannon fodder for the siege
Lorist hadn't figured it out yet, but saw another large army coming in the distance, with many vehicles and many troops, estimated to be more than 2,000, but the flags and banners were too messy to make out.
However, this army did not camp next to the camp of the Kenmes family. Instead, they chose a flat place to camp on the side. The place they chose formed a triangle with the camp of the Kenmes family and the Rock Castle.
Lorist felt that this army was very strange, and Jim beside him laughed: "It's good now, some people are playing."
"What do you mean, Jim?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, this is a battlefield merchant group, organized by merchants. They are neutral and do not participate in the war. On the one hand, they appear near the battlefield to do business, such as providing food, weapons and other materials. Of course, the price is relatively high. The other On the other hand, they also buy the spoils of the victors. They also provide food, wine, women, and gambling halls in the camp. No matter which side you are, you can go in and spend money. As long as you follow the rules of the camp, you can play with confidence. Also, look, The banner of the Blood Moon is the Blood Moon Mercenary Group, one of the three major mercenary groups in the Kingdom of Iberia. They are as famous as the Feiyu Mercenary Group. However, the Feiyu Mercenary Group is gone now, and there are only two remaining mercenary groups gone."
"My lord, you can see that the Blood Moon flag is the highest, which means that the safety of the Merchant Group in this battlefield is in charge of the Blood Moon Mercenary Group. Whoever attacks this camp means that they are against the Blood Moon Mercenary Group. Well, Blood Moon The Moon Mercenary Group likes to do business in the battlefield merchant group the most. It is said that they themselves also account for a large share of the merchant group. There are one, two, three, and four mercenary group flags under the Blood Moon flag, which means that the battlefield There are four mercenary groups in the merchant group that can be hired by the warring side. Let me see, the spear mercenary group, the night bat mercenary group, the Cromwell mercenary group and the five sword mercenary group are all old I know you." Jim was very excited.
"Are these four mercenary groups very powerful?" Lorist asked.
"It's about the same as us, except that the number of people is a bit larger than ours. The four mercenary groups add up to about six or seven hundred people. If the number of people recruited by Hulkes and I was more than one hundred, we could form a mercenary group. It's all Haukey's fault." Si said that we need to choose reliable companions, so we can only form a mercenary team with about 60 people." Jim replied.
Lorist thought for a moment and asked again: "Do you think Viscount Kenmes will hire them to attack our castle?"
Jim shook his head: "No, even if Viscount Kenmes wants to hire them, they will not agree. Attacking our castle is death. No leader of a mercenary regiment is a fool, let his regiment attack us A solid city wall won't do it, and the most accepted employment is to escort food and grass to spy on the enemy's situation."
"Well, let's get in touch when you have time, and find out what the hell the Kenmes family is doing these days. I think there should be someone from their side going to the camp of the Battlefield Merchant Group. If you see the right time, invite a few Get a glass of wine out of their mouths." Lorist ordered.
"Yes, my lord."
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