Chapter 106: Drunkards
The strong men hurriedly grabbed Mrs. Bella's hands, but Mrs. Bella kept struggling desperately.
Klose grabbed her arm, but he didn't expect that Mrs. Bella was so strong. As she struggled, the small wounds on her arm all peeled off, and her whole arm became bloody red flesh.
But even so, she was still laughing, without even the human body's instinctive contraction reaction, still intending to pierce her own chest, and even using her hands to pick at the wound that had just been stabbed.
"How could she have such power!"
Even the two strong men, Klose and Sammer, could not control her together. Her withered arms without any muscles were actually able to defeat two muscular men!
“Bang!”
Amy stood behind, holding the hammer that the woman had dropped, and knocked the crazy Mrs. Bella unconscious with one blow.
Fortunately, this crazy old woman would at least faint after being beaten.
But what should I do now?
The kidnapping was considered a successful one.
But I really didn't expect this situation...
Although Leon and she had analyzed Alma's process of seizing Changhe Town, neither Amy nor Leon had expected Mrs. Bella's situation.
This is clearly a follower of the evil god.
The female soldiers who died in the battle downstairs were obviously also fanatical believers of heresy.
But how could Archduke Alma allow these heretics to exist?
None of his soldiers approached the main building, probably because Duke Alma did not allow them to approach Madame Nella.
And Fothert outside did not chase in. He withdrew his soldiers and closed the inner city gate. He should also know the situation inside.
But Fotherg is a Lion Knight, and aren’t the Lion Knights tracking down heretics?
I haven’t been able to buy any food yet, and now I’m trapped in the inner city and can’t get out.
The only goal achieved was that they were temporarily safe, but if nothing unexpected happened, something unexpected might happen soon, because Mrs. Bella was already dying.
But Amy's mind was confused now, she really wished the lord was here.
If the teacher was here, he should be able to analyze the results quickly...
…
The lord has just arrived in Kwen Village and of course he can't save poor Amy.
In fact, the lord himself is now overwhelmed by lawsuits - ever since the purchase of grain changed from wholesale to retail, he has been worried and overwhelmed.
In order to negotiate business, he simply threw out five thousand dinars and placed them in the center of the village, indicating that no matter who it was, they could just take the money and leave after the deal was done. The lord would purchase grain on a payment-first-come-later basis.
At market prices most of the time, five thousand dinars would be enough to buy half a million pounds of unprocessed wheat.
The lord only planned to collect more than 200,000 pounds here, which means that he could buy it at least at twice the price.
Of course, you can ask for a higher price, money is not a problem.
But the problem is that the estates of these great nobles don't buy it at all.
It’s not that they don’t want to make money, they just find it troublesome…
There are more than twenty manors, and most of them have several thousand to ten or twenty thousand pounds of surplus grain. However, the market price of ten thousand pounds of wheat is only one hundred dinars, and the purchase price of the lord is doubled, which is only two hundred dinars. The people living in these manors are all nobles above the rank of baron, and they really don't care about this little money.
In the past, they only needed to let the farmers and servants store the grain directly into the warehouse and they didn't have to worry about anything else.
But if they sell the grain in advance, they have to calculate the harvest in advance, and then send people to load it after the harvest, and then transport it, and arrange various trivial matters...
Ten thousand pounds of food is only enough for dozens of people to consume for half a year, which is not much.
But it would take ten carriages to load all of it!
Most of these nobles live here in their old age. They are a group of wealthy retired old men and women who just want to kill time and live their lives. They think this small business is too troublesome.
The lord was not unwilling to offer a higher price, but when he was about to double the price, the Countess stopped him.
"Sir Leon, I'm not trying to persuade you to save money - if you raise the price of food too high, many people here may starve to death!"
Li Ang knew this principle. If he charged twice the price, it wouldn't cause much impact as long as the price was not outrageous.
If the price is raised tenfold, the grain may be received sooner, but it will also cause a surge in grain prices in the surrounding area within the year.
The truly destitute or artisans, those who had no land and had to survive by buying food, could not afford this price - they would literally starve to death.
Li Ang now misses his little apprentice very much - if Amy was here, relying on her parents' face, these nobles would definitely help...
Of course, it wasn’t that the message was completely rejected. The Countess was able to persuade a few of her good friends.
These people did not intend to let the lord spend extra money, so they only took the dinar corresponding to the market price.
But we only agreed on 50,000 pounds in total, and I had to send a truck to pick it up in half a month ...
That’s okay, it’s better than having nothing at all, at least there is food for the next season.
…
Two days later, the lord planned to say goodbye to the Countess, so he had to hurry and look somewhere else.
If it really doesn't work, he will go back to Maixiangling to mobilize the masses.
The Countess also said that she could help him write a letter to ask Ms. Bella if she could spare some food.
The lord knew that this was impossible. There were many fields around Changhe Town. It was not normal to buy food when there was no shortage of food.
And since Duke Alma purchased the grain in the name of Madam Bella, he would definitely not give it to me. Maybe all the grain merchants in Changhe Town would be out of food...
However, the Countess had good intentions, so the lord still accepted the favor.
But just as the Countess was writing the letter, a knight hurried in and reported the situation to the Countess.
"Ma'am, there is a group of disorderly people coming from the north of the village. They look like a group of soldiers, but also like a group of bandits. There are a lot of them."
The knight was probably one of Baron Leofric's men. He was wearing a red griffin robe and looked quite uneasy.
"Tell me clearly, are they soldiers or bandits? How many are there?"
The Countess had seen a lot of the world, and she was not panicking at all. After all, all the families in the village could form a force of at least a hundred people, so she was not afraid of small groups of bandits.
But the knight was obviously panicking: "Madam, I didn't see all of them, but the ones I saw alone were at least several hundred people! They were all noisy and messy. They might be deserters. Anyway, they are not good people!"
If he is a deserter, he is equivalent to a robber.
The Countess was a little nervous now, and turned to look at the Lord: "Sir Leon, every harvest season is always a little uneasy. If your troops can help, I think the manor owners here will definitely be willing to supply you with food for free."
Um?
The lord suddenly became alert.
It seems that the goddess has not forgotten herself...
I originally thought that encountering a large number of criminals here would be a trouble, but it turned out to be a good thing!
That's right, if nothing happened, most of the noble estates in Kwen Village would probably not bother to pay attention to me.
But the problem is, I only have thirty cavalrymen with me. Can I save them?
"Have they any flags? What sort of people are they?"
Leon asked the panicked knight that he needed to get some information before he knew what to do.
"I saw a bull flag... Most of them were soldiers, about a dozen on horseback, and the others were dressed in everything! So I thought they were a motley bunch of bandits and deserters."
Seeing the calm lord, the knight seemed to calm down a little and walked out with Leon.
On the street in the center of Kwen Village, clear trumpets sounded, followed by trumpets from various manors - these were the trumpets from various lords summoning militia to fight.
In fact, the horn sounded first from the north of the village, which was the territory of Baron Leofric.
The knight who brought the news was originally arranging tax collection there.
The village is too big. It extends all the way to the Tongtian River in the north, more than ten miles away from the center of the village. No one knows what the situation is there now.
Also because of the large area, it takes a long time for each noble and knight leader to recruit soldiers.
The knight who brought the news, along with the lord and the cavalry, arrived at the bridge north of the village twenty minutes later.
This bridge is the bridge leading to the Lion Lake City area in the north of Kwen, and it is also the only bridge in the entire upper reaches of Tongtian River.
Moreover, this is a cable bridge made of iron chains, built across the narrowest channel of the entire Tongtian River.
The river here is only about 40 meters wide, with cliffs on both sides of the river and a very deep canyon in the river channel.
This bridge may have been built by shooting a rope from a crossbow to the other side, and then using the rope to pull an iron chain.
The height of the bridge is very scary. The river under the bridge is at least hundreds of meters deep, and the water is gushing violently. If you fall into it, you will most likely end up with no body left.
Because it is a cable bridge and is suspended relatively high in the air, the turbulent water flow under the bridge will bring strong winds, so the bridge deck is always shaking violently. Animals such as horses may not be willing to walk on it.
There was a large mess of people on the other side of the bridge, and this was probably why they didn't cross the bridge...
There were some guys on horses over there, and they were probably figuring out how to get their horses over there.
When the lord saw this group of people, he understood why the knight who reported the news could not clearly tell whether they were an army or bandits...
It was a bull flag with a yellow background and a black pattern. Near the flag were at least 800 troops of various types, with a variety of equipment and from various sources...
There are militiamen from the Fierdsvain, wearing their signature studded leather coats;
There are also militiamen from the Kingdom of Ravenstern, wearing the iconic northern kilts;
There are also many militiamen in the Fierce Lion Territory, and their red soft armor is very conspicuous;
There were mostly Sarleon infantrymen, but they looked like deserters—they wore their tunics over their chain mail inside out, obviously not wanting to reveal their original emblems.
There were about twenty guys on horseback leading this mess of troops. Judging from their appearance, they were probably some young rogue nobles.
They are also the ones who are currently studying how to get the horses onto the bridge.
Under the flag there was a guy wearing a bull's tunic, a light helmet with a crested feather, and a huge mace on his back. He seemed to be the leader of this "troop".
This man was quite tall and strong, and looked a bit like Klose in terms of his build. His yellow coat of arms robe made him very conspicuous standing under the flag.
But this guy didn't ride a horse, probably because he was too big and an ordinary horse might not be able to carry him.
The number of people is indeed large, more than 800, but the lord is not very afraid.
Because, the combat effectiveness of this team does not seem to be very strong...
Just by looking at the composition of the opposing troops and their current appearance, one can tell that this is a motley crowd.
A large number of militiamen and deserters from various places were noisy and undisciplined, standing all over the place, and some even sat on the ground waiting.
From the looks of it, they are not much better than the gangsters Rainier brought in at the beginning...
But soon, the lord discovered something was wrong.
The big guy leading the group on the opposite side stepped onto the bridge and tried walking a few steps, then turned around and started leading the horses.
Or it's called a horse trailer.
It was obviously not his horse, and it didn't listen to him, but the horse stuck its four legs on the ground stubbornly, but he still dragged it onto the bridge...
Then, the horse's foot seemed to get stuck in a gap between the wooden boards of the bridge deck, and then the horse's leg slipped out.
Then a terrifying scene appeared...
This guy actually held the horse's belly with both hands and lifted the horse up!
Yes, he lifted a thousand-pound horse out of the gap and placed it steadily on the bridge!
This inhuman power made the Lord's eyelids twitch...
This power is too scary!
A true world weightlifting champion!
The knight who brought the news was shaking with trembling legs: "Lord Leon...how about we just run away..."
To be honest, My Lord also wants to run away now.
Regardless of whether this group of people is a mob or not, the leader is quite powerful...
But at this moment, a gruff voice came from the other side: "Aha! Look, it can pass! The winery is just across the street! Brothers, there will be wine to drink soon!"
Then the other side suddenly started to cheer with high morale: "Wuhaha! Hail to the new king!"
A large mob was shouting in a chaotic manner, making a huge commotion.
The Lord sighed. They were heading for the Countess's winery. They couldn't just run away without saying hello. The Countess had been helping them these past few days...
Let’s try it first.
Perhaps they didn't care about the thirty-odd cavalrymen, or perhaps they didn't notice them, but the other side seemed to ignore the lord's group, and the group of noisy drunkards began to cross the bridge.
The knight who brought the news had his legs and teeth trembling as much as the shaking cable bridge opposite.
"My Lord, what should we do?"
The Lord glanced at him and said, "Fight! What else can we do?"
After saying that, he drew his sword: "Brothers, prepare to fight!"
The thirty cavalrymen dispersed and spontaneously formed six groups.
Five people form a group and take turns charging to avoid getting into a chaotic battle. Cavalry can only be lethal if they charge.
This is the experience the new recruits gained from two months of confrontation drills.
In fact, if archers and infantry were also here, the two lords would form a mixed combat unit with archers as the core, because coordinated combat is much more reliable than an array of the same type of arms.
But at the moment we only have cavalry, so we can only use simpler tactics.
In addition, these people have only been trained for two months and their tactical awareness has not been developed, so the simpler the better.
The Lord's order was simple: "Brothers, charge and block them on the bridge!"
"ha!"
The shouts seemed to cheer up the knight whose legs were shaking. He gritted his teeth and rushed out on his horse. Then he circled around and ran back... His followers followed him.
"Lord Leon, I'm going to find reinforcements..."
The guy's voice came from far behind.
The lord was in a state of confusion. In this situation, they would surely be able to defeat the enemy if they defended the bridgehead. But this was a shaky cable bridge, and the enemy could do little to no good on it, so why would they run?
How can the cavalry defend the bridgehead?
Of course, we would swim along the river bank, at a 90-degree angle to the bridge, and then take turns cruising back and forth along the river bank.
Yes, you just need to clear the river bank horizontally, especially for a cable bridge like this which is narrow and shaky and cannot be walked fast.
Kill every enemy that comes down from the bridge. You don't have to kill them, just shove them into the river. After you shove a few of them, the enemy will naturally not cross the bridge easily.
Don't be confused by various games. The cavalry's attack target is not directly in front, but to the side in front.
The target directly in front of you will only be knocked away by the horse - if you encounter something that cannot be knocked away, you will be knocked away by yourself.
Lance and spear are used to stab forward and sideways, saber and sword are used to cut from the side.
Cavalry marching back and forth along the river bank is actually one of the most reliable ways to block the river bank - unless there is a very skilled sharpshooter on the other side.
But obviously, the other side didn't.
This is not the kind of calm river surface near Fletcher Village. The wind is very strong in the cliff and canyon. It is difficult to shoot accurately from a distance and the arrows will fly around randomly, which requires very high technical skills.
And judging from the situation on the other side, they are probably all drunkards. What can a drunkard shoot accurately?
My Lord, please charge forward boldly now.
The cavalrymen followed behind in groups.
The first horse to cross the bridge was the one that was lifted up by the big man in the lead. After seeing the cavalry rushing over, the horse cleverly ran away...
Behind the horses were a few staggering fellows, as if walking across the rickety bridge had taken all their balance.
The lord rushed forward with a lance in hand and with one shot, he stabbed the unlucky guy walking in front into the river.
Then the rough voice was heard again, which sounded extremely harsh even amid the sound of horse hooves and the river rushing violently under the bridge.
"Who are you! Bastard! Who has wine? With wine I can get through this smoothly..."
The big guy was still in the middle of the bridge, slowly moving step by step, holding on to the thick iron chains on the side of the bridge - the middle of the bridge was shaking the most.
No one responded to him, and it looked like all these drunkards were out of stock.
"The guy on the other side! Do you have any wine? If you have wine, I won't kill you..."
The big guy was still shouting.
I'm afraid he hasn't sobered up from the last meal?
"Don't ride a horse when you're drinking, and don't drink when you're riding a horse... Don't come over here, or don't blame me if you all fall into the river!"
The lord had already rushed forward and turned around to let Alice walk slowly for a few steps and rest. He heard the drunkard shouting again and responded.
But this warning seemed to have no effect on the group of drunk guys, and they continued to cross the bridge.
And now, the lord on the river bank has actually smelled the bad smell coming from them.
In this windy environment, the smell of ale, beer, and overnight sour water still hit his face and went straight to his forehead, making the lord roll his eyes.
Li Ang sneezed before realizing that he seemed to be downwind...
So the lord charged again, pushing another unlucky guy who had just crossed the bridge into the river. The cavalry behind him followed suit and cleared the river bank.
"Can you please not come over here? It won't do me any good if I drive you into the river. I won't even get any spoils..."
The lord finally got to the upper hand and started to speak.
