On the morning of the eighteenth day when Burgundy and Swabia officially declared war, Talburg was still holding on.
In the past eighteen days, Jeffrey's army never stormed Talburg again, and the number of enemy troops outside Talburg gradually increased. The enemy soldiers who were injured in the battle to storm Talburg twenty days ago were sent back to Biltenberg for recuperation and treatment. The forty peasant soldiers and fifteen craftsmen who were forced again were sent to the enemy camp outside Talburg together with their craftsman apprentices.
In the following ten days, the enemy camp outside the fort was like a large carpentry workshop. Fifteen craftsmen led dozens of laborers and were busy day and night in the camp. Six long wooden ladders equipped with iron hooks had been completed. A large counterweight trebuchet and a shield-top battering ram were basically formed through the hammering of the craftsmen, and they would be put into use in three or two days.
“It seems like that guy Jeffrey is planning to capture Tal Fort in one fell swoop.” Odo accompanied Art and looked at the enemy camp that had been busy for more than ten days on the hillside. He couldn’t help but feel a little nervous and worried.
Except for the base of the wall, which is made of stone, most of the outer walls of the Tal Fort are a mixed structure of civil wood. Such a wall cannot withstand the strong impact of the boulders thrown by heavy trebuchets. Once the enemy's trebuchet is completed, the outer walls of the Tal Fort will inevitably collapse under several waves of boulders, and the defenders who have lost the protection of the wall will face face-to-face combat.
Matt looked at the enemy camp down the hillside seriously. Although he guessed that the enemy would continue to besiege Talburg, he did not expect that Baron Jeffrey could make such a heavy-weighted trebuchet and shield-top battering ram in such a short period of time.
In the nearly one month since Tarburg was under siege, Art received an urgent message from the county of Glaru through the Angus team cruising around. Art knew that the Count of Burgundy and the Principality of Swabia were at full war, and the Principality of Burgundy in the west also dispatched troops to assist the Count of Burgundy as agreed. Since A large-scale campaign has begun in the north, and the war pressure on the southern border should have been reduced. After all, this is not the main battlefield, and more troops should go north to gather for battle. However, Baron Jeffrey seems not to be affected by the war in the north at all, and just puts all his energy into Tarburg...
Matt came back to his senses and replied: "I never thought about defending Tal Fort in the first place, because this place cannot be defended at all."
Odo didn’t know exactly what Art was planning to do, but the worry in his heart did not lessen. “Sir, I think their siege equipment will be completed soon. It is estimated that they will launch a large-scale attack in the next few days. What else can we do besides desperately defending? ?”
Art chuckled and turned to look at this man who was a few years older than himself. During the past two months of being stationed in Tal Fort, he not only had to assist Art in commanding operations, but also trained soldiers and managed chores. His brown hair turned white.
"Odo, are you afraid?" Art asked.
Odo didn't hesitate at all and replied firmly: "Sir, I am alone and have no worries. I won't blink even if my head falls off. I just think that I have just laid a foundation with you, and if I die in this abandoned military fort, I feel a little unwilling."
"As long as you are not afraid of death, only those who are not afraid of death should survive." Art said something puzzling.
"Odo, light the smoke to summon Angus back, and then select fifteen soldiers who are agile and courageous enough. Jeffrey can't calm down anymore. We will take action tonight." Art explained a few words to Odo and walked down the outer wall.
Baron Geoffrey is indeed losing his composure. Teblon County City has twice issued orders urging him to either move westward and occupy the city of Glaru, the strategic southeastern border of Burgundy within a month to form a deterrent to the northern lowlands, or to immediately withdraw from Tarburg and send his troops north to support the Northland Army, which has begun fierce fighting.
Of course, Baron Jeffrey didn't want to go to the north. There were large-scale battles there every day, with countless soldiers killed and wounded. Moreover, his wife and children were still imprisoned in the dungeon of Talburg. Therefore, it was Jeffrey's best choice to capture Talburg as soon as possible and march westward. For this reason, he did not hesitate to force all the craftsmen in the Bielten area to come to Talburg camp to make siege equipment, in order to accumulate strength and capture Talburg in one fell swoop.
In a small cave five miles southeast of Talburg, the team led by Angus and Ron hid here for three days, and the eight people in the team were reduced to five.
In the twenty or thirty days since they left Talburg and formed an army alone to harass the enemy, the Angus team had killed and wounded eleven enemy soldiers, and the Swabian enemy who had established a foothold also continued to send small groups of elite soldiers to eliminate them. During these twenty or thirty days, even though Angus led everyone around and hid, the team still paid the price of killing one person and seriously injuring two others. The brothers who died in the battle were buried on the spot, and the two seriously injured were quietly sent to Galalu County for treatment.
In the small cave, Angus and two soldiers built a small bonfire and cooked broth. In the past ten days, in order to prevent the enemy from clearing them from discovering their traces, no one had dared to light a fire to cook, for fear that the thick smoke from the bonfire would expose the team's position. Fortunately, the weather was still hot and they didn't worry about getting cold. However, after eating hard bread and dried bacon for more than ten days, everyone was already complaining.
In the past day or two, the enemy soldiers stopped searching and chasing, and Angus led the remaining soldiers to find this small cave. They built a small bonfire in the cave and cooked some broth and bread crumbs.
Hold up the small copper pot and drank a big mouthful of broth bread. Angaston felt a sense of relief in his stomach. He handed the copper pot to another soldier by the campfire, and then planned to go out to replace Ron and Jason who were on guard outside and come back to have a sip of hot soup.
As soon as he got out of the cave entrance, Ron ran back in a hurry.
"Sergeant major, there is smoke rising from the direction of Tarburg! The master is calling us!"
Angus quickly got out of the cave entrance and followed Ron to the top of the hill above the cave entrance. Looking at the two pillars of wolf smoke rising high in the distance, he wondered if Talburg was under attack.
“Ron, call Jason back for a few sips of hot soup. We’ll pack up immediately and prepare to go back to Talburg.” After that, he returned to the cave and directed everyone to start packing weapons and supplies.
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In the inner castle of Tarburg, Art summoned several commanders to discuss an important matter.
"Sneak attack on the enemy camp?" several people exclaimed at the same time.
"Yes, sneak attack on the enemy camp." Art said firmly.
"The enemy's heavy siege equipment is almost completed. If we wait for them to use those equipment to attack the outer wall, we won't even have the strength to fight back."
“But now the enemy is on guard. They have set up high fences in their camp, and sentries are patrolling the camp all the time. How can we sneak attack the enemy camp?” Kazak questioned.
"I know, so I went to Baron Jeffrey today to propose surrender." Art said the incredible word "surrender".
Several commanders were stunned into silence for a moment.
Matt smiled and answered everyone's doubts, "Of course it is not a real surrender. Now that Baron Jeffery has heavy siege equipment, he must feel that he is sure of victory. Surrendering now is the easiest thing for him to believe and the easiest thing to make him relax..."
……
After breakfast, the gate of Talburg, which had been closed for nearly a month, opened. After putting down the simple suspension bridge, Art rode a war horse and led a soldier carrying his blood-eyed howling wolf heraldry flag and slowly walked towards the enemy camp, stopping a stone's throw outside the enemy camp.
After a while, Baron Jeffrey rode a black horse out of the camp and walked towards Ater, accompanied by two guards.
This was the first peaceful meeting between the two army commanders since the attack on Bültenberg.
"Dear Baron, I request a peaceful negotiation with you." Art stood on the horse and bowed slightly towards Baron Jeffrey.
Baron Jeffery was a true nobleman. He had all the qualities of a noble. Although he hated the despicable guy in front of him, he still responded politely, "Sir, I guess you went out of the city to surrender?"
Art looked back at Talburg behind him, shook his head and said, "No. No, I'm here to negotiate with you. As you can see, Tal Fort still stands here like a rock."
Baron Jeffrey sneered, pointing to the siege equipment in the camp behind him, and said: "In front of them, Tal Fort is just a pile of sand. I don't need to negotiate with you. If you refuse to come out, I will go in."
Hate looked like his little trick had been exposed, and said with a slight frustration: "Well, I have to admit that I can no longer hold on to this kind of military fortress in front of these behemoths."
Matt adjusted his sitting position, looked into Jeffrey's eyes and said: "Baron, I have decided to return your wife to you in a moment. I promise God that your wife has not suffered any injustice in Talburg."
Matt's words aroused Baron Jeffrey's nerves. The most important purpose of his desperate siege of Talburg was to rescue his wife and children.
"You know the current affairs, if you let my wife and children go~" Jeffrey paused.
"You have no intention of releasing my son!!??" Jeffrey asked.
? "Lord Baron, I'm not stupid enough for you not to take any care of me. If I don't have a shield in my hand, how can I dare to leave my back to the enemy with confidence."
"Shameless!" Baron Jeffrey spat on the ground.
"Lord Baron, let's talk about the conditions. I have already planned to abandon Talburg. The two smokes you saw are to tell the County of Glalu that the Talburg has been lost, so that they can prepare for the attack of the Swabian army. I am very sincere. If you can consider my conditions, you will occupy the Fort without a single soldier, and then march straight into the County of Glaru~" Art looked sincere.
"Conditions? The trebuchet and battering ram behind me are the best conditions!" Baron Jeffrey was already relaxed, but he would not be stupid enough to negotiate terms with Art immediately.
? "My Lord Baron, please calm down. Of course I am afraid of the siege equipment you forged. Even the strongest castle cannot withstand their destruction, but you may pay a lot of soldiers' lives for it. And this will also affect the safety of your only son." Art turned into a rogue again.
Baron Jeffery felt angry for a while, and it took him a while to squeeze out a sentence through his teeth: "Tell me the terms of your surrender..."
…...
Odo Art, who had returned from the "negotiation", stated the terms of the negotiation and raised a question, "The enemy's troops should retreat twenty miles." They asked us to safely evacuate with all the supplies, and they also had to give us 20,000 pfennigs for the "departure military expenses"~ Is this condition too outrageous? The enemy has the upper hand now, they will not agree to this condition? ”
Matt said with a smile: "It is normal that the enemy will not agree, but it is abnormal if we do not mention it like this. The more greedy we appear, the more the enemy will believe that we really intend to surrender."
“After some debate, Baron Jeffery agreed to lead his army to retreat ten miles east. After handing over 30,000 pfennigs to Jeffrey, we could safely evacuate with the remaining supplies. As a condition, I promised to return my only son to him after a safe retreat early tomorrow morning, and promised not to Destroy all the fortifications of Tal Fort and hand them over to him in their entirety, including the flanking towers. This way, he will not have to lose a single soldier in the battle, but he will also have a fully fortified military fort. He has no reason to refuse such conditions, so the enemy will gradually withdraw from the fort at noon."
Matt stood up from his chair and ordered: "Odo, call the officers above the leader of each small team's combat team and the fifteen selected elite soldiers to the inner fort to inform them of my plan, and strictly order them not to spread the news. The remaining soldiers, peasants and soldiers continue to defend the city. Defense, tell the laborers to prepare to pack up and pretend to retreat. You will be responsible for Tal Fort. Not only do you have to act like you are about to retreat to dispel the enemy's doubts, but you also have to be careful of the enemy's tricks and seize the opportunity to raid Tal Fort. We can also use tricks to trick the enemy."
Odoto nodded in agreement.
"Tuba, go and bring Baron Jeffrey's wife out of the dungeon, and ask her to return to Baron Jeffrey's camp with 30,000 pfennigs of gold coins. Also remember, you must let the Baroness see the actions of packing up supplies in Tarburg and preparing to evacuate."
“Bas, you and Kazak will lead tonight’s night attack with me. The fifteen selected soldiers are all issued with a set of leather (cotton) armor, and each of them carries a clay pot of kerosene. After dark, put a rope from the back wall and sneak out. All participating soldiers have a white cloth strip wrapped around their left arm to prevent the night attack from happening by mistake. "Kazak, go to the back wall to see if Angus and the others are back. If they come back, shoot this note over." Art said, picking up a small piece of parchment from the table and handing it to Kazak. The note briefly explained the mission of Angus' team during the night attack.
Several people left one after another, not feeling any uneasiness about the conspiracy that was about to begin.
It’s no wonder that these people were originally the lowest working class. In the battle with the enemy, the honor and etiquette of the nobles and gentlemen were not worth a light arrow in their eyes. This is fine, but if it were a group of noble lords who were his subordinates, Art's dishonest behavior would definitely be considered a great shame by his subordinates, and would even make them disobey.
Matt sat back in the armchair, tapping the table with his right hand, quietly thinking about how to perfect this upcoming conspiracy.