Chapter 189 The Second Battle (Part 1)
The weather in Innadri in mid-November was not too cold, and John was not wearing much. He wore a pair of cropped trousers tied at the waist with a cotton belt, a cotton pullover with many holes on his upper body, and a sleeveless linen waistcoat - the shoulders of this kind of waistcoat are usually made of old cloth folded together and sewn into shoulder pads of a certain thickness, which can slightly protect the shoulders when doing odd jobs that require lifting heavy objects.
He had no defense in such clothes, and just a few kicks made him lose the ability to resist. He huddled up in a ball, holding his stomach, and didn't even dare to groan too loudly - that would hurt his stomach.
Then, a big hand wearing a leather glove grabbed his semi-long curly hair, which he had no energy to trim and take care of, and pulled it up again. John, grimacing in pain from his scalp, had to force himself to get up and stagger forward to obey the person who was pulling his hair.
On one side of the sidewalk were parked several square-headed carriages used by the city police to transport criminals.
This square-headed carriage is somewhat similar to the iron carriage of Westham Coach Company. It has a wide body and the driver's seat at the front is wrapped to prevent people from attacking the driver. However, the chassis is much lower than Westham's iron carriage, and only the frame is made of steel bars, while the carriage is still made of thick wooden boards.
When John was thrown into the square-headed carriage, there were already quite a few people locked up inside - he was so knocked down that he saw many pairs of feet.
The frightened, bewildered slum youth struggled to raise his arms and head, looking fearfully at the people standing crowded together with equally .
They were all young and middle-aged men about his age. Some of them were dressed like him, looking for work. Some were cleaner and tidier, but their shoes were also dirty, and it was obvious that they were not respectable people living in a good neighborhood.
"Don't get in the way, stand still!"
Hearing the shouting and cursing from behind, John was so scared that he quickly got up and squeezed in with the people in the carriage.
Then, John saw Sanji, Tommy, and Bobby being dragged into the car one after another by their hair and necks, like chickens and ducks...
With the four of them, the square-headed carriage was full. The city police's men slammed the door, locked the chain, and the carriage started moving.
As the wheels rolled, John heard the city police outside discussing which block to go to to arrest another group of people...
"Where will we be sent?" The youngest, Sangji, was terrified and sobbed softly.
No one answered him. In the dim, windowless carriage, all the people who were crammed into the carriage just swayed numbly and frightenedly as the wheels rolled.
A few minutes later, people in the carriage heard a commotion outside. A man was asking, "What do you want to do?" and a woman was crying, "Please let him go."
The carriage was still moving, and the people inside became even more panicked.
"What's going on? What's going on in the city? Gentlemen, do you know what's going on?" John couldn't help it and mustered up the courage to ask the neatly dressed city people in the car.
“…I don’t know.” A young man wearing a restaurant waiter’s uniform under his coat whispered, “I was just going to work as usual…I just walked to St. Joseph Street and was arrested like everyone else.”
"I'm a buyer for a leather workshop." Another middle-aged man, also wearing a long-sleeved coat, smiled bitterly and whispered, "Damn it, I thought I met a robber... but it turned out to be the city police chief who is more terrifying than a robber."
After this was said, no one in the car would question it.
For those who make a living on the streets, no matter they are odd workers, have stable jobs, or even small workshop owners and shop owners with certain assets, no one is willing to deal with the city police chief - they are more greedy and treat people less as human beings than street gangs. At least the gang members will not take your life, but the city police chief will.
In the unbearable silence, the carriage finally stopped.
The car door was opened, and a city police officer holding a large iron lock with an iron chain shouted at the lazy people in the car to get out.
John and his friends helped each other get off the carriage and were surprised to find... that they were taken to the west gate.
The square inside the west city gate is also a market area when the mule and horse market is open. Every summer and autumn, John and his friends would go to the fields outside the slums to collect wild fruits and nuts, save them up and sell them at the market. He is very familiar with this area.
When John and his companions were shouted at to gather at the side of the square close to the city wall, he found that there were many square-headed carriages parked around the square. Each carriage contained twenty to thirty young and middle-aged men, who were all driven off the carriages and gathered in the same direction.
Under the city wall, there were at least a thousand people waiting, either sitting or standing.
Although there were not many city police on duty, these people were very quiet and obedient... John guessed that the reason was probably the dozen people tied with ropes and hanging in the air on the city wall behind the crowd - he was so scared that his legs went weak when he saw those people.
John and others were taken to the edge of the crowd. The huge, burly city policeman glared at them and warned them not to walk around, move around or talk without permission. He pointed at the row of people hanging on ropes on the city wall and threatened them that if they didn't obey, that would be the fate they would face.
The ready-made example was very effective, coupled with the city police chief's "reputation", no one in John's car dared to take any risks, and they all squatted down quietly.
John, filled with fear, huddled together with his three friends, watching more and more people being forced to come to the square under the city wall...
By the time it got dark, John could no longer tell how many people had been brought here. As long as he straightened up a little, all he saw was a sea of heads.
On the other side of the square, a bonfire was lit and a large pot was set up. People from the town hall brought cartloads of potatoes and threw them into the pot to cook, still skinned and muddy.
John got two greasy potatoes without any salt. They were thrown into the crowd by the people from the city hall who were carrying a pot and let people pick them up by themselves. When the potatoes were distributed, the city police with long knives stood by with a covetous look. If anyone dared to stand up and fight for them, these city police would hit them hard with their sheaths.
Two potatoes are not enough to fill the stomach of a young man. Fortunately, the poor in this world are used to going hungry... Even Sangji, who has a big appetite, would not say that he can't hold on.
However, the late autumn night was indeed a bit chilly, and people who were forced to stay in this open-air square had to snuggle up to each other to fall asleep.
In the middle of the night, John, who was dozing off, heard someone howling in a state of emotional collapse. He opened his eyes and saw several city police rushing into the crowd, picking up a man whose face he could not see clearly and dragging him out of the crowd. They scolded him, kicked and beat him, and then tied the man's hands and waist with ropes and dragged him onto the city wall...
John's scalp was tingling and his face turned pale. He covered his hand tightly to his friend Sanji who was almost crying.
Sang Ji's frightened tears fell on the back of John's hand. John, who was also extremely frightened, tried hard to comfort him in a low voice: "Don't make any noise, just bear with it...it will be fine after you get through it, it will be fine after you get through it."
They struggled until dawn, when people from the town hall came and distributed potatoes to them again.
As John was munching on potatoes in anger, he saw several very luxurious carriages driving onto the road in front of the square. Many people in armor were escorting the people getting out of the carriages and walking up to the city wall.
There were so many people surrounding him that John couldn't see who was being supported. He could only vaguely see a small piece of golden clothes.
John suddenly hated the color gold.
He stared at the faintly visible golden cloth in the dense crowd, and he had already vaguely understood in his heart that the extremely difficult night that the people in the square were forced to spend was caused by this small piece of golden cloth.
What's outside the West Gate? There's the undead army of Westram, and everyone in the city knows it.
Yesterday, the noble lords' army was defeated by Westram's undead army, and everyone in the city knew about it.
So many people were driven to the square inside the west city gate, and they were all young and middle-aged men... Even a slum youth like John who had never been to school and had little vision could guess what was going on - the army of the nobles was useless, so they were sent to fight.
This kind of thing is a semi-open secret among the lower-class people who used to be farmers. Who’s family doesn’t have a few elders who were taken away by the nobles and never returned?
John stuffed the last bit of potato in its skin into his mouth angrily.
There is no way he would work for these guys who don't treat them as human beings at all, not to mention that the people on the other side are Mr. Patton and his men!
"Listen to me, Sanji, Tommy, Bobby." John asked his friends to get closer to him, lowered his voice, and whispered, "Whatever they ask us to do later, we will do it, and never resist... Once we are out of the city gate, stay away from those who will beat us at will, and run as fast as you can to the other side!"
Sanji, Tommy and Bobby were all children from poor families who had to take on family responsibilities from a very young age. They were not stupid and nodded vigorously.
Mr. Patton was right across from them, so of course they were not afraid - Mr. Patton was so nice to them and would not hurt them!
After a while, hundreds of people in armor and on horseback came to the square.
The city defense corps commander Horn pulled the reins of his horse, turned his head to look at the densely packed local young men in the square under the city wall, and turned away again.
Horn no longer had any hope of winning this battle. Since Mr. Gould hoped to create an unmanageable mess for that illegitimate son of Charlie Rex in the end...he would try his best to cooperate, which would be an explanation for his friendship with Mr. Gould over the years.
He had already taken the time to send all the young people of the Horne family out of the city and to the town of Newin overnight. Even if he himself was ruined in this transfer of power, at least the next generation of the Horne family could start over.
In this second battle, the city defense army no longer served as the main force, but acted as supervisors - Adela III was well aware that the Bartles family had gone to someone else's territory, and if he did not have sufficient military force at hand, he would be meat on the chopping board of others, so he had to preserve the troops on hand.
Under the watchful eyes of the city police and the city defense forces, the young and strong men who had been sitting under the city wall all night were called up and led out of the city gate in batches.
At this moment, some people in the crowd who could not imagine that they were forced to be conscripted had to accept the reality. Many people lost control of their emotions, shouting or crying loudly.
There is no country in this world that can truly maintain long-term stable peace. Even in the Rhine Kingdom, which is located in the inland and does not have many international conflicts of interest, territorial wars will break out somewhere every few years.
As long as there is war, people will die... All unrealistic romantic fantasies about war will only appear in the minds of those who have never been exposed to war and do not understand war at all.
No matter how much these lower-class people resisted, they could not fight against the armored city defense troops and the city police who never showed mercy when it came to beating people. No matter if they were paralyzed with fear or crying bitterly, they could only obey the arrangements and leave the city in an orderly manner.
When they left the safety of the city walls, the only "weapon" they received was a sharpened wooden pole, not even covered with iron sheets - the Bartles family originally wanted these people to die and let Rex's hands be stained with the blood of the locals, so of course it was impossible for them to provide decent weapons.
John was separated from his friends when they left the city in batches. Because he had been doing hard labor for many years, although he was dark and thin, he was tall and his physique was barely strong, so he was arranged in the first group.
John suppressed his fear and meekly accepted the "weapon" like everyone else. Under the scolding of the city police, he followed the crowd out of the city and was placed at the front.
From a distance of several hundred meters, John saw... that there were already many undead moving around in front of the Westram camp opposite.
John, who only had the word "surrender" in his mind and didn't want to fight at all, began to sweat with his hands holding the sharp wooden pole.
"It's okay... It's ... The undead aren't scary... They can even help us..."
John, whose legs began to tremble uncontrollably, repeatedly tried to comfort himself psychologically.
It took quite a while for nearly 10,000 people to line up to receive "weapons" and to form a queue to leave the city.
During the tense and almost nerve-wracking wait, John, who was arranged to sit at the front, heard people around him sobbing quietly.
"Don't be afraid--" John wanted to speak out to comfort the people around him, to persuade them to surrender with him, but when he really opened his mouth, he found that his voice was as thin as a mosquito, not even louder than the sobbing of the man behind him.
John wanted to swallow his saliva, but he found that his mouth was dry and there . The mucous membrane at the throat was sticky by his tongue and it actually pulled his entire mouth so hard that it hurt.
Never mind... Never mind...
John could only repeat it to himself in his mind.
When the sweat from the roots of John's hair slid down his dark face into grooves, the conscripted young men finally finished lining up.
John tried to move as slowly as possible and carefully turned his head to take a peek… He found that the city police and the city defense army had drawn their weapons and were standing in formation behind the crowd, staring at them ferociously.
"Listen carefully, you can only move forward, you are not allowed to retreat!" A loud-voiced city policeman brandished a long knife that gleamed with cold light and shouted, "Anyone who dares to take even a single step back will have his head dropped to the ground!"
"rush!"
John's overly tense nerves prevented him from responding to the command for a while. It was not until the person behind him bumped into him that he half-heartedly started to run.
After running several dozen meters numbly, John finally regained his senses.
He looked back again and confirmed that those "supervising the battle" were only blocking the city gate and did not charge with the young men. He immediately threw away the sharp wooden pole in his hand without hesitation, raised his hands, and ran at full speed towards the Westram camp, shouting with all the strength he had accumulated for a long time: "Don't kill me, I surrender! I surrender!"
