Chapter 28: The Horn Summons the Rangers
"Sarah, Ralph claims to be the Knight Commander under Count Oden, not a knight... That's the problem itself. An ordinary knight would never introduce himself like this..."
Indeed, most knights would directly report their own names, and at most mention their hometown or territory, such as "Knight of Yuanxiang Territory" or "Lord of Jialing Village".
But he certainly wouldn't call himself 'Knight Commander'.
Knights who were loyal to great nobles did not have the title of Knight Commander - at most they had the title of Chief Knight.
The title of Knight Commander usually appears in local armed forces, that is, various knightly orders. It is a position within the knightly order, not a representation of noble status.
Moreover, as we all know, it is impossible for a nobleman not to fly the family flag.
Especially a knight who needs to lead an army and face life, death and hardships.
The lower the noble status of a knight, the more likely he is to use his coat of arms everywhere - this is a testimony to his lifetime honor, and his descendants will enjoy the blessings he earned on the battlefield for generations, which is worth boasting about.
If you really encounter one without a flag, it means that it has not been produced yet, just like Li Ang now.
It has only been a few days since Le Ang left the House of Nobles. He really hasn't had time to think about making a flag. It's not that he doesn't want to use one - without a flag, the enemy lord may think that you are not a noble but an illegal armed force. If you encounter them on the battlefield, they will kill you.
Flags can save lives in this era.
The nobles may have in-laws with each other, and no one knows whether temporary enemies will become allies in the future, so there is a tacit understanding among the nobles. Unless they commit suicide or die accidentally, they can save their lives by surrendering in time.
It is almost impossible for a garrison commander like Ralph not to fly his own flag - unless he is not a noble and has no right to use a flag.
Sarah recalled carefully and then expressed her approval of Leon's observation and memory.
"Perhaps he is a commoner. But, sir, what has this got to do with letting him buy this camp?"
Sarah only agreed with Leon's keen observation. She didn't quite understand Leon's intention. Her delicate face was full of confusion. How could this business be negotiated?
I'm afraid it's not easy to be the foreign affairs officer of this lord...
"A commoner became the commander of the Changhe Town garrison, commanding thousands of men. What do you think is the biggest possibility? Moreover, he is a so-called Knight Commander."
Li Ang shook his neck and asked Sarah.
"This means that he is not an ordinary civilian... nor a knight in the conventional sense ... Wait, sir, you mean that he is the Knight Commander of the Horn Summoning Rangers?"
Sarah began to understand a little. This was the only explanation.
Changhe Town has a unique armed force, which is a powerful force for patrolling and defending the border. It was also the basic force for the rise of Count Oden.
This unit is called the Horn Call Rangers.
When Duke Alfred the Fierce Lion seized power and established himself as king, most of the knightly orders loyal to the old Kingdom of Pendor were forcibly abolished, leaving only the Lion Knights, a national knightly order.
The Lion Knights may indeed be powerful, but the Kingdom of Sarleon once faced invasions from the Bacchus Empire to the south, pirates to the west, and the Jatu people to the east, leaving the only legitimate knightly order in the kingdom struggling to keep up its efforts.
Changhe Town was still a border town at that time. To the northeast was the vast Jatu grassland. The Jatu cavalry often entered Changhe Town to burn, kill and loot.
These steppe barbarians were extremely powerful in combat and their methods of looting were horrific—they would take away all the women and property, including food and tools.
Apart from the women, whom they regarded as property, any male taller than the wheels would be slaughtered.
Moreover, the Jatu people, who were all cavalry, came and went like the wind. When the lords from various places hurriedly arrived with their armies, the Jatu people had already returned with full loads.
This kind of unscrupulous looting finally made some local knights in Changhe Town unable to tolerate it anymore. They spontaneously formed the Horn Summoning Rangers to specifically deal with the Jatu people.
These knights would patrol the border of Changhe Town in small teams. Once they spotted the Jatu cavalry, the patrol team would charge while blowing the horns they carried with them.
The nearby knight squad will rush to support immediately after hearing the horn.
This highly efficient mobile defense system successfully prevented the Jatu people from looting border villages. The Horn Summoning Rangers became famous and these knights became the patron saints in the eyes of the local people.
At the same time, it also became the official and legal knight order recognized by the Kingdom of Sarleon.
And Count Oden was said to have received the full support of this armed force - Oden was a native of Changhe Town, and he might have been a member of the Horn Summoning Rangers, and even the Grand Commander.
Over time, the Horn Call Rangers gradually developed into a very distinctive group. They would wear iconic green armor and equip their horses with green horse clothes - in the grasslands and forests, this protective color can give them the upper hand in scout battles and encounters.
At the same time, with victory after victory, the kingdom's territory - or the jurisdiction of Changhe Town - gradually stepped into the grassland border. They began to introduce a large number of various good horses for breeding and bred castrated horses unique to Changhe Town.
These war horses, which were not in heat, not easily startled and extremely docile, gave them the upper hand even in terms of horse riding and archery when facing the Jatu people who were good at riding and shooting.
This was probably why Ralph thought it was "natural" to capture or kill the Jatu cavalry after hearing about the Jatu Centurion Corps.
They do have the ability to quickly destroy those Jatu raiders.
Although it is also called a knightly order, the Horn Calling Rangers have a very significant difference from other knightly orders on the continent - their core members are not necessarily noble knights.
As long as they are determined to protect their homes and have sufficient skills, any citizen in Changhe Town can start as a sentinel and gradually become a core member of the Horn Summoning Rangers.
In contrast, this order of knights does not particularly care about status and position, which may have something to do with Count Oden.
Of course, the Grand Commander can only be a noble.
This must be the case with Ralph, the Knight Commander - he is not a noble knight in the ordinary sense, but the Knight Commander of the knight order called the Horn Summoning Rangers.
This is actually rare, as there are still a large number of nobles in the Horn Calling Rangers. Ralph must have an extremely outstanding record to become the leader of those nobles.
"Sarah, do you think Ralph would feel uncomfortable as a commoner in a place like Changhe Town, facing a power struggle between two high-ranking nobles?"
Li Ang twisted his neck and spoke slowly.
Sarah was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood: "Sir, Ralph doesn't seem to be very good at being a bureaucrat, otherwise he wouldn't be cheated by you... and wouldn't provide you with so many supplies..."
Li Ang smiled and nodded: "That's right, he is a warrior, an outstanding warrior. I can see his skills are probably better than Klose's... His stage should be the border battlefield, not the intrigues among the nobles."
As he spoke, he looked at Sarah, but there was no businessman's philistine in his eyes, but rather some worry.
"Sarah, I think you can convince him to buy this place that the Jatu people must pass through, and use it to station his elite sentinels...Here, he may very well become the second Earl of Oden!"
Sarah's eyes gradually widened, and the clever vixen had already figured out the meaning of Leon's words.
"Sir, do you think that the Jatu army will launch a massive attack on the Kingdom of Sarexo from here?!"
Yes, so Leon could only say these words to Sarah. Before the defense of the camp was organized, he couldn't let the mercenaries hear it, otherwise most of them might run away.
