The city of Gerdos is not too far from the Burdock Manor Castle, and the Lancers can arrive in a day and a night. But instead of the garrison brigade, they have to march for three days and two nights, and the messy peasant and soldier troops of nearly 2,000 from a few vassal nobles have dragged down the entire army's schedule. Count Cobili regretted it now It was too late, so I could only order two squadrons of Lancers to set off as forwards.
The army left for a day, and as soon as they set up camp at night, Earl Cobili received a message from the Lancers. Unfortunately, this was bad news. His lord lost two illegitimate sons, one of gold rank and the other of silver rank. Facing the enraged Lord Earl, the Lancer courier who got this unlucky job due to the failure of the lottery recounted the incident tremblingly.
Just this afternoon, two spearhead squadrons of Lancers spotted the enemy camp on Meuse Hill, just blocking the way to Burdock Manor Castle. The commander of the Lancers transferred back from William Mills Castle is also the illegitimate son of Earl Cobili, with a golden level of grudge strength. He went up to watch and found that although the enemy's camp occupied a favorable location and was condescending, it still couldn't get rid of the problem of bandits setting up a fortress. Rough, rudimentary, with imperfect defenses.
The illegitimate leader of the golden rank thought that as long as he led the Lancer squadron to charge, he would be able to break through the camp and kill the bandits in front of him. So he did the same, only when he led the team to rush into this crude camp, he realized that the camp in front was just a cover, and the real enemy camp with perfect defenses was in the back. And those bandits also used the front camp to set up a trap. When the Lancer squadron rushed into the camp, they were shot by the bandits who had ambushed, long arrows, crossbow bolts, and this huge crossbow bolt...
The Lancer courier offered a long crossbow like a spear. It was pulled out from the body of the illegitimate commander who had snatched it back. Even if he had the strength of a gold-rank fighting spirit, it couldn't stop twelve arrows from being aimed at him. The crossbow arrows shot by his crossbow even killed a silver-ranked illegitimate brother beside him.
The Lancer squadron that rushed into the camp suffered heavy losses, and only two squadrons ran back, and dozens of them escaped with injuries. Fortunately, those mountain thieves only relied on the defense of the camp, and did not dare to go out of the camp to pursue them. So another illegitimate commander of the golden rank did not dare to act rashly after gathering his troops. He could only set up a large camp opposite the bandit camp and wait for the arrival of the successor troops.
"This is the crossbow bolt from the crossbow..." Earl Cobili, who had experienced many battles, was well-informed and quickly recognized what the huge crossbow bolt in front of him was. But what made the earl angry was, where did those bandits get such a powerful weapon
Generally speaking, although the crossbow is powerful, it is bulky in shape, inconvenient to move, difficult to maintain and expensive. Even if a crossbow is not used much, the arm of the crossbow must be replaced after a year or two, lest the aging of the wood affect the power of the crossbow. Especially the crossbow strings, which need to be replaced after shooting a dozen arrows, and these crossbow strings need to be customized, which is very expensive. Except for the regular legion of the kingdom and some large cities that need to deploy a few for defense, the nobles of the territory will not toss about any crossbows, one is unaffordable, and the other is too troublesome.
Unfavorable start of the army, the loss of a general, and the bad news that the bandits had a crossbow in their hands kept Count Kobili awake at night. When the sky was still bright, he couldn't wait to urge the garrison brigade to leave and recruit several vassal nobles After the farmers and soldiers who came were abandoned, they finally arrived at the camp set up by the Lancer Squadron at noon.
After resting for two hours, Earl Cobili ordered the sword and shield soldiers and longbowmen in the garrison to launch a tentative attack on the camp set up by the bandits with the cooperation of a squadron of Lancers. Then the Earl discovered that the attack It was very easy to enter the front camp, but after entering the camp, they were in an open field. The bandits shot arrows like raindrops from the back camp. Withdrew from the front camp.
The earl did not find any traces of the crossbow. Sure enough, bandits were not able to play with this thing. It seems that after using the crossbow yesterday, the strings of the crossbow were probably scrapped, and it would not be useful today. It's good news. Although the tentative attack in the afternoon cost more than a hundred troops, the earl had already learned the details of the Highwayman. It just depends on the terrain and the strength of the bow and crossbow. After the peasants and soldiers of the vassal lords arrive in the afternoon, with these cannon fodder, it will be a breeze to capture the camp behind the bandits.
The Earl asked those peasants and soldiers to rush to make hundreds of wooden row carts overnight. In the morning of the second day, the peasants and soldiers pushed the wooden row carts and walked ahead to block the arrows, and soon broke into the camp behind. Seeing that the situation was not good, the bandits fired a burst of arrows indiscriminately to stop the Lancers' pursuit and fled quickly.
This time the capture of the camp was extremely smooth with minimal losses. It was only when Count Cobili arrived at the second camp that he realized that there was another camp a few hundred meters ahead blocking the middle of the avenue, and the banners were flying on the hills farther away, and it could be vaguely seen that it still looked like a camp. .
Moz Hill does not refer to the name of a hill, but a general term for more than a dozen hills, large and small, in this area. As for why it is called Moz Hill, no one knows, but there is such a name on the handed down map. The avenue from Gerdos City to the Burdock Manor Castle passes through these large and small hills in the Moz Hills. These large and small hills, which were originally inconspicuous, were blocked by various rough and simple camps set up by bandits, and they became the key points to control the passage of the road.
Earl Cobili found sadly that if he wanted to reach Burdock Manor Castle, he had to conquer the dozen or so camps blocking the road ahead. This discovery made the earl so angry that his nose was not his nose, and his face was not his face. It's disgusting, isn't it? He obviously couldn't resist the earl's attack, but he set up these camps to respond to people. If you ignore them, he can hide in the camps and shoot arrows at the road, and you can't pass. To be reasonable, you have to attack camp after camp, which takes time and effort and you have to lose some troops.
The Earl really wanted to send troops to flatten the few camps in front of him, but if nothing else, it would take several hours for the hundreds of wooden row carts to block the arrows to push the distance of several hundred meters, and he didn't sleep last night. The peasants and soldiers who attacked the camp again were exhausted and let the garrison and lancers attack the camp, but the Earl was reluctant to use up his own strength, so he had no choice but to rest for a night before talking.
The next day, under the great reward of the Earl, the peasants and soldiers marched forward bravely and conquered three camps in a row. Although more than 200 unlucky ghosts died, these peasants and soldiers were cannon fodder after all. As long as the losses of the guards and cavalry under one's own are slight.
But on the third day, those peasants and soldiers started to dawdle, the reason is very simple, the earl did not fulfill the promise he made yesterday to reward a bandit camp with an imperial silver coin. The earl can't do anything about it. Whoever goes out to suppress the bandits still carries thousands of imperial silver coins with him, so he has to promise again that he will pay the bounty when he arrives at the Burdock Manor Castle. However, the peasants and soldiers felt as if they had been fooled, and it took a long time to capture a camp without energy. Although the loss was smaller than yesterday's, the Earl is not happy. There are still seven or eight camps in the future, and they will be delayed for five or six days at today's efficiency.
The Earl wrote a letter and decided to send a small group of Lancers back to the city of Gerdos, first to prepare a batch of food and grass, because the Earl did not expect that the bandits would have to conquer camp after camp. Before he set off, he only brought the food and grass that the troops needed for seven or eight days. It was an idea to fight quickly. Besides, dealing with these bandits and mobs was very simple and easy. It was really like going to a big war. people joke.
It's just that these bandits set up so many camps and dragged the Earl to Moz Mountain. What the Earl is worried about now is that after all the camps are captured, his bandit suppression troops in the Moz Hill area will have no food and can only go back home. That's the real big joke. The earl is planning to let Gerdos City transport a batch of food and supplies that are enough for the troops to consume for fifteen days.
The second is to bring some property over, and first distribute the rewards of those farmers and soldiers, and let these farmers and soldiers cheer up and be willing to be cannon fodder. After eliminating those bandits and mobs, Lord Earl will naturally settle accounts with these farmers and soldiers, and let these stinking guys who are open to money understand that Earl's money is not so easy to get.
The third order is to let my illegitimate son of the golden rank who stayed in the city of Gerdos increase the recruitment of the territorial people. This is an intuition that the Earl feels faintly uneasy. The habit of grabbing a handful and leaving, even learning to build a camp against the earl's bandit suppression troops, what is the reason for these bandits to have such confidence? The Earl seemed to feel that the battle against the bandits that he had expected had changed a lot. Maybe this battle against the bandits would be very difficult.
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This squad of Lancers returning to the city to deliver the letter fell into heavy siege by Lorist. First, the Lancers at the head were thrown half dead by a tripping rope that suddenly appeared on the road, and then they ushered in the team of Terman Knights. When he wanted to turn around, Lorist's more than 30 spears killed more than 30 Lancers. A few lucky Lancers managed to break out of the encirclement of hundreds of infantry, but were killed by the Josk shot. The remaining 20 Lancers dismounted and surrendered to save their lives.
Lorist looked at the order letter sent by Count Cobili to Gerdos City in his hand with satisfaction, and said with a smile: "With this letter, Gerdos City is already in our possession."
Mr. Tim also put on a suit of mail, and he complimented: "Baron Norton is really thorough. Even Earl Cobilly would send someone back to the city to deliver a letter. He can guess that, let us ambush here. I thought we bypassed it. The army of Earl Cobili will directly attack the city of Gerdos."
"Hehe, it's very simple. After Earl Cobili's army set off, our scouts found that he didn't bring many vehicles to transport food and supplies. In addition, we let him delay for a few days in the Moz Mountains. His food must be in a hurry, no What else can he do if he sends someone back to the city to transport grain and grass? With this letter, we can open the gate of Gerdos City with a big swagger."
"Okay, everyone put on the clothes and equipment of the Lancers and guards, and now let's go to the city of Gerdos. El, these prisoners of the Lancers are under your care, watch closely, and kill anyone who wants to escape." Luo Rist ordered.
This time Lorist brought El and two squads of guards from the main battalion, Terman's knight squad, Yuri and two squads of light cavalry scouts, and Mr. Tim and his 800 soldiers with large troops. The soldiers in the bag, together with Jost, the sharp archer, formed a force to attack the city of Gerdos.
When Earl Kobili led the bandit suppression troops to attack the first camp, Lorist spent two days with this sneak attacking troop, carefully bypassing Earl Kobili's army and ambushing behind him. Then, after waiting for a day and a night, they finally waited for the arrival of this squad of Lancers who were returning to the city to deliver the letter.
In the evening, a small group of Lancers and a squadron of guards appeared in front of the gate of Gerdos City. The captain of the garrison guarding the city gate didn't have any suspicions. When he learned that the Lancers and garrison below were returning to the city to escort food and grass under the order of the Earl, he quickly lowered the drawbridge and opened the city gate. Then the squad leader of the Lancers came in and asked where the illegitimate son of the earl who was sitting in Gerdos City was staying, and waved his hand. One of his subordinates was tightly bound, and a rag full of bloody smell was stuffed in his mouth, which made the captain so sick that he wanted to vomit.
Lorist ordered: "Yuri, El, you go and control the other three gates immediately, leaving a small guard at each gate. Terman, take the knight squad and follow me to the Duke's Palace in the center of the city, Joe." Sk, you come too. Mr. Tim, restrain your soldiers, and we will gain when we control the entire city, don't you understand that because of small mistakes?"
"My lord, please rest assured, we will not let you down." Tim said.
Perhaps it was because the always stern Earl Cobili went out to suppress the bandits, the illegitimate son of the golden rank sitting in the city of Gerdos was unrestrained, unrestrained, and was holding a naked meeting with dozens of men and women in a side hall of the Duke's mansion . Hearing the guard's report that the Earl had sent someone to deliver a letter, the illegitimate child was a little drunk, got up from his white and tender body, shook his head, and was naked while picking up a wine glass Continue drinking while ordering the messenger to come in.
Lorist and Jost entered the side hall, while the conscientious guard had his neck broken by Terman outside.
Looking at the smoky atmosphere in the side hall, those naked men and women entangled together, and even two couples of unsightly scenes, Lorist and Josk were a little dazed.
The big man in front of him was naked, holding a silver wine glass with his drunk eyes open and his mouth open and he was smiling: "Look stupid, bring me, my father, the letter from my father, and you can also take the clothes. Let's take it off, let's have fun together, have fun, it's okay, we're all from our own people, you can find a man, a man or a woman, you can... "
Lorist and Josk looked at each other, and instead of taking out the letter, they drew out their swords at the same time...