Chapter 117 Early Ignition
Leofric's journey was relatively smooth.
According to Li Ang's instructions, he stopped when he could see the lights of the Prophet's Legion camp with his naked eyes - this location was about three miles away from the Prophet's Legion.
Then, he used the Artemisia annua to wake up the Doombringer and asked Morgan to explain that "they rescued her from the enemy and had to report the situation to the Prophet as soon as possible."
Then Leofric said that he was commissioned by the Countess to deliver food to Lady Bella. On the way, he met Morgan who was chasing a group of kidnappers, so he helped.
The acting skills of the two were probably not that good, but at least their statements matched perfectly. Although the Doombringer felt something was wrong, after seeing hundreds of horse-drawn carriages carrying food, he did not doubt Leofric - the baron only had three hundred soldiers under his command, driving three hundred carriages, and those soldiers were all dressed lightly, and it seemed that they were indeed here to deliver food.
Morgan had now fully realized that these women were not only not normal people, but they were not necessarily human beings - his 'baby' had been hit hard on the head by Leon a few hours ago, was strangled and had her face completely twisted and then pulled back together, but she seemed to have felt nothing and only remembered that she had been knocked unconscious.
Normal people will always have some pain left, right?
But the doom bringer immediately felt his entire body and found no injuries, and then he did not move any further.
Apparently, this is because their bodies have no sense of pain!
Moreover, the Doombringer even claimed that she was attacked while she was sleeping, and that those 'thieves' must have been attracted by her beauty - obviously, she didn't know what happened after she fainted, and didn't want to arouse Morgan and Leofric's suspicion.
So, with Morgan's active cooperation, Leofric pretended to be very interested in the beauty of the Doombringer and the guidance of the Three Prophets. He expressed his desire to obtain the power bestowed by the gods so that he could establish greater achievements in Brave Shield Castle - this was the line given to him by the lord.
Because this is a very common request, there must be many nobles who would ask for the guidance of the Three Prophets with such a wish, especially the border lords who are in their thirties and in their prime.
After all, every young man desires to become an invincible hero.
So, the doom bringer quickly found another taller woman - if Amy and Klose were here, they would definitely recognize that this tall doom bringer was the one next to Lady Nella.
She was here to confirm the situation and act as a 'guide'.
It was indeed she who was in charge of purchasing the grain for Lady Bella—because she did not ask a single question about the grain, but instead took the initiative to give Baron Leofric a chance...
She said that Lady Bella was with the prophet and asked Leofric to go in with her with the food - she was lying to Leofric, but this was exactly in line with the lord's plan!
Leofric certainly knew that Madam Bella had been taken away by Fothert a few days ago. He immediately understood why Leon said that his operation would go smoothly this time - the Prophet's Legion was waiting for the arrival of the food bought by Madam Bella.
In the early morning, when it was just a little light, Baron Leofric entered the Prophet's Camp from the north gate, which was closer to Changhe Town.
There were no knights camping in this direction, probably because the women had specifically requested it, perhaps to make it easier to observe the situation in Changhe Town.
Just as the convoy was moving towards the prophet's camp, the ghostly owl calls of "hooohoo...hooohoo..." rang out one after another, and the night owls passed the message back in a relay manner.
The coalition forces began to advance towards the Prophet's Legion and quickened their pace.
The three prophets still did not show up, but they set out tea sets at the door of a luxurious tent, apparently to entertain Leofric.
From a distance of dozens of meters, Leofric saw the legendary three prophets with his own eyes.
The faces of these three witches were indeed stunningly beautiful, and the armor they wore looked both gorgeous and peculiar. The dark red lining did not look like cloth or metal, and no one knew what it was made of.
As soon as they entered the camp, they smelled a strong fragrance, and the soldiers driving the cars started coughing.
Leofric also secretly stuffed some of the grass foam that Leon gave him into his mouth, resisted the stimulation of the Artemisia annua and did not cough, and looked around.
He smelled a faint scent of blood.
Perhaps the fragrance was meant to cover up the bloody smell.
The tall Doombringer walked up to him and said that the Three Prophets would like to invite Baron Leofric to have a cup of tea.
However, Leofric cleverly said that he was too dirty after the long journey, and it was inconvenient for him to drink tea with his armor on, so he would unload the food and change his clothes before coming back.
Then he followed several female soldiers and brought the grain cart into the granary in the camp. There was a tall tent covered with waterproof oilcloth, and the sacks inside were piled up like a mountain. It was easy to tell that this was a material warehouse.
But perhaps the fragrance in the camp should have had some effect, or perhaps Leofric's direct run to the granary aroused the suspicion of this doom-bringer - she smiled sweetly and showed the Serpent Heart Stone next to Leofric!
However, with the lord's reminder and Leon sending people to find him a lot of Artemisia annua, Leofric certainly knew what this meant.
Discovered!
Then do it now!
Of course the snake heart stone would be useless. After entering the camp, he and his soldiers all had cross-leaved wormwood in their mouths, and even the draft horses were chewing it.
The coughing sound was not caused by the fragrance, but by the stimulation of Artemisia annua.
Fortunately, almost all the grain trucks had entered the camp at this time, so the short undercover plan was executed in advance in front of the three prophets!
"Get in the car! Start the engine!"
Leofric ignored the Doombringer beside him, picked up his black iron spear and sped up his horse, galloping wildly in the camp, shouting at his men to act immediately.
Three hundred soldiers acting as coachmen lit the pile of firewood covered with tarpaulin behind them.
Then everyone did the same thing - they pulled out a piece of lit firewood and hit the draft horse's butt hard. The blindfolded draft horse, in severe pain, began to run wildly while pulling the burning cart, crashing around in the camp.
Then, just as the habitual criminal Li Ang had instructed, they jumped onto the draft horses and cut the shoulder straps of the cart with a knife, freeing the horses from the cart.
Led by Leofric, the draft horses began to gallop in the same direction - south.
They entered from the north gate of the camp, and now there were carriages on fire behind them, so they could only flee south.
The four-wheeled carriage without its draft horses was still moving around rapidly due to inertia, and the dry firewood on the carriage was burning rapidly due to the wind brought by the movement!
Three hundred unmanned carriages that were on fire were running around, and soon the entire camp was turned into a sea of fire!
The main force of the Allied Forces had also seen the flames rising into the sky.
In the early morning, the fire is as eye-catching as the sunrise!
At least dozens of carriages were burning in various places of the Prophet's Legion's granary. The waterproof sheds made of oilcloth were soon all ignited. The rising flames quickly evaporated the morning dew into white mist, and then spread everywhere at a terrifying speed.
The oilcloth tents where supplies were stored were almost instantly engulfed in fire, and then gradually turned into volcanoes several meters high.
Flying sparks and thick smoke soon filled the entire camp.
At the same time, the soldiers on draft horses also lit the last fire - they threw the burning firewood in their hands at the tents and curtains that served as walls that had not yet been ignited by the carriages.
The curtains on the wall outside the camp soon caught fire. Blindfolded draft horses rushed out from the burnt curtains and went straight into the camp of the knights to the south of the camp.
Most of these knights had been awakened and came out of their tents to check what was going on. Some of them were shouting "Fire!"
But the early morning is when people are most tired, and they simply don't have time to put on their armor - the knight armor of this era is quite cumbersome to put on, and it is very difficult to put it on by oneself. Even if someone helps, it will take at least several minutes.
This is why these knights must send out squires to keep watch at night and gather intelligence on the surrounding areas. The consequences of a night attack on them are often disastrous!
Besides, the fire can no longer be put out.
The Prophet's Legion's camp is a huge camp with an area of 200 meters square. There are more than 50 large tents and at least 200 small and medium-sized tents, as well as two huge stables and a warehouse nearly ten meters high.
Now almost all the tents were engulfed in flames. The hay piled up in the stables and the grain in the warehouse had been connected into one piece of flame, and the sky was filled with flying sparks.
In some places, there were even small-scale explosions - for example, when the piles of flour bags were burned through by the raging flames, and a large amount of dry flour floated away with the heat.
Various cloth scraps, firewood dust and the like were lifted up by the fire, burning into the air, and then continued to fall, spreading around the sea of fire, and even ignited the tents of many surrounding knights.
The huge camp was filled with flying flames. The flames burning near the storehouses and stables were seven or eight meters high. Your face would feel hot even if you were dozens of meters away. It was impossible to get close.
With this kind of fire, there is no need to think about putting it out unless a modern fire brigade comes through.
The Prophet Legion reacted quite quickly. Seeing that the fire could not be saved, the female soldiers fled the fire scene in all directions.
Many female soldiers have chased south and started shooting arrows.
But these walking female warriors could not catch up with Leofric who was fleeing on horseback.
Fortunately, the lord had reminded that each soldier who came in to set the fire carried a shield on his back, and arrows shot from behind would occasionally hit them, but they either hit the shield or the horse's butt, so there was very little casualties.
Shooting the horse's buttocks can also speed up the draft horse - the buttocks of these large animals are very thick, and the arrows shot in the same direction during the chase are relatively weak, so they do not cause much damage to the draft horse.
Leofric led his soldiers to easily fight their way through with spears. Facing those panicked enemies who had just woken up from their sleep with incomplete armor, he probably felt the feeling of being an incomparable god of war.
Only the Doombringers around the knights were difficult to deal with, but there was no need to deal with them. These women who only held one-handed shields and hammers did not have time to ride horses, and they could not stop hundreds of heavy draft horses.
After a while, a team of doom-bringers seemed to be organized together and chased out on horseback.
Their horses are certainly much faster than draft horses, but in an environment full of small tents and camps, it is not easy for them to catch up with the soldiers riding draft horses - their war horses will be smart enough to circle around the camp to avoid hitting tents or other wooden frames.
This was also the reason why Leon encountered them patrolling the outermost area of the entire camp before, with small camping sites everywhere.
But the draft horses are different... they are all blindfolded...
Even though the draft horses pulling the carts were not agile, they were generally large horses. They could simply crash into the small camps built by the knights outside. Those small tents could not stop such a big beast weighing one or two thousand pounds.
In fact, with shock-absorbing springs or rubber and instead of wooden wheels, these draft horses could have pulled nearly two tons - they were very strong workhorses.
It’s just that draft horses are only big and strong, but they are generally timid and slow. They are afraid of fire and noise, and are easily frightened on the battlefield.
In fact, a small number of these draft horses may have been frightened - although they did not see the fire, the chaotic noises and shouts around them were already very loud.
But even so, it was no problem to run forward with his eyes blindfolded, because Leofric's mission had been completed, he just needed to run forward, and Leon also told him not to look back.
The people who are actually entering the battlefield to fight have arrived!
During the time when Leofric entered the Prophet's camp, set fire and ran away, the Allied Forces had already advanced a long distance quickly. With the help of the blazing fire, they could clearly see the chaotic camp of the Prophet's Legion with the naked eye.
The main force is now less than two miles southeast of the Prophet's Legion and can be seen with the naked eye.
In fact, the Prophet's Legion also saw the troops of the Allied Forces - the female soldiers who were chasing Baron Leofric changed direction, and some knights on the periphery no longer tried to put out the fire, and began to gather to the side in a noisy manner.
"All troops, move forward and prepare for battle!"
Godric raised his sword and shouted, then he drove his horse forward and took the lead in trotting forward, slowing down the horse's pace.
This is not an order to charge. A charge will only be initiated when one is two or three hundred meters close to the enemy. Too long a distance will make both people and horses tired.
In fact, Godric was no longer prepared to lead the army to charge.
This is the order to engage in battle. Control your speed and jog for two miles. Hand over all the heavy equipment to the logistics escort. The escort in charge of logistics will not move forward any further.
In fact, if it weren't for the sudden suspicion of the extremely tall Doombringer, Leofric would have set the fire again when the coalition forces arrived - with a strong army attacking outside and undercover agents setting the fire inside, he would most likely be able to kill the three prophets in one wave.
If the fire is lit in advance, the Allied Forces are still two miles away, which probably gives the Prophet Legion about three minutes to react.
A lot of things can actually be done in three minutes, such as recalling elite troops under your command, reorganizing a part of the chaotic team, and allowing some knights who are putting on equipment to complete their arming.
Moreover, some troops can be quickly deployed to the front line for defense, buying more time for the main force.
Therefore, there was no need to charge forward and engage in a melee at this time. Burning the Prophet's Legion's food was already a predetermined result.
In fact, the Prophet Legion did not waste these three minutes.
The three prophets quickly abandoned the camp that had become a sea of fire, and rode fast horses to lead their team through the messy camp quickly. Hundreds of female soldiers surrounded them tightly, as if they were hiding something.
The three prophets also recalled all the doom-bringers at the first opportunity.
The three prophets recalled these doom bringers in order to issue an order - to have them deceive the knights and their followers outside the camp to resist the rapidly approaching coalition forces.
In fact, they were just using those brainwashed knights as cannon fodder to buy time for their female soldiers. Those female soldiers had scattered after the fire in the camp and needed to regroup.
The role these doombringers play in the ranks of the Three Prophets is roughly like that of knights under the nobles.
But the problem is that the knights and their men are not even wearing their equipment, so they are actually unable to form a fighting force...
Moreover, there was a sudden fire, and these knights and their followers were now in chaos.
These guys who were not very sane were actually difficult to control in such a chaotic environment, especially after the Doombringers were recalled by the Three Prophets and left them for a short time.
These two hundred knights did not know each other. It was like a large group of tourists camping in a scenic area and encountering a natural disaster. They were all running around in disarray, and the scene was basically the same as a disaster scene.
Some were shouting loudly, probably looking for their "baby" like Morgan before; some were running for their lives in panic, probably frightened by the fire; and some were harassing other knight teams, apparently trying to steal some equipment to arm themselves.
There were even some who ran naked into the team of the Three Prophets - there were hundreds of beautiful women there, all of whom looked stunning... but these fools who ran naked over there were all killed directly.
But two minutes later, after most of the Doombringers received orders to return to the ranks of the knights, some of them quickly calmed down.
I don’t know whether they are doing this to protect the beauty around them, or for their own dreams... or maybe to prove their choice.
Anyway, many men picked up their weapons and gathered in front of these "beauties" of the Prophet's Legion.
Even though most of them were only in their underwear.
Of course, there were still many people who were running around in disorder and refusing to obey orders, especially the miscellaneous armed forces brought by the knights.
One of the three prophets, a witch holding a strange-shaped saber, led hundreds of chain-mailed female soldiers holding foreign two-handed sabers or short-handled spears and axes, and directly started killing the men who did not obey orders. More than a dozen men who were running around were chopped to the ground in an instant.
This was the right thing to do. The Prophet's Legion had to control the chaotic situation, otherwise even their own female soldiers would find it difficult to complete pre-war preparations - most of the female soldiers were scattered to various camps outside because the main camp was set on fire, and were dispersed by these messy men.
This team of trusted female soldiers began to roam around, and would attack any men they saw running around in confusion, with a very resolute attitude.
Subsequently, more and more female soldiers gathered behind them.
The slaughter of their own people by these female soldiers did calm the chaotic scene, but it also caused many knights to collapse directly - they were just panicked at first, but after seeing the slaughter of the female soldiers, they became afraid...
Because a small number of knights died at the hands of the Doombringer, with whom they had been in love before.
