“Sir, it seems that guy Jeffrey is completely crazy!” Odo raised his shield to resist the arrows shot from outside the city.
Baron Jeffery was indeed completely crazy. He never imagined that the garrison of Tarburg would take a detour and sneak attack on his rear camp in the dark night. He thought that since the shameless man came to surrender for peace talks with his own heraldic flag, at least there would be a trace of knightly honor and faith left. However, the shameless guy actually set up a conspiracy trap from the beginning.
The temporary camp was destroyed, all the siege equipment and food and baggage were burned, the craftsmen in the camp were slaughtered, and most of the dozen or so soldiers were killed or injured. The peasant soldiers and hard laborers in the camp were dead, injured, or fled. When Baron Jeffrey arrived at the camp, there were only wails all over the ground and a sea of fire that could not be extinguished.
Baron Geoffrey has lost his mind again.
That night, he led more than twenty cavalry, forty infantry, a dozen archers and all the surviving peasant soldiers and hard laborers to storm the gate of Talburg at all costs. In the absence of siege equipment and shield guards, Jeffrey's army withstood attacks from both directions of Talburg and the flanking towers. After leaving seven or eight corpses behind, Jeffrey had to blow the trumpet to withdraw his troops and drag the wounded soldiers out.
But Jeffrey did not give up the siege. He commanded all his archers and cavalry (knights) who could shoot with bows to keep shooting at the outer wall of Tal Fort, regardless of the consumption of arrows.
After some diffusion, Jeffrey saw that there was no movement in Tal Fort, and not even a light arrow was fired back, as if he turned a blind eye to Jeffrey's army below the city.
Jeffrey's stubborn temper rose again. He knew that he could no longer capture Tal Fort. Early the next morning, he began to organize soldiers to storm the tower on the flank of Tal Fort.
20 or so dismounted cavalry (knights) and dozens of infantry archers took turns to attack the waiting platform. A squad of farmers and soldiers were stationed at the waiting platform. They failed to defend the waiting platform without the trap (which had been successively dismantled and filled up by the enemy) under the enemy's strong attack. They could only lower the rope from the side of the waiting platform and retreated to the Talburg under the cover of the tower's crossbows. However, before retreating, they poured kerosene and set off a fire to burn the wooden waiting platform.
At noon on the second day after the rear camp was attacked, Baron Jeffrey stood on the base of the flattened platform and fired a shot of arrows at Talburg.
Matt raised his shield to block a few arrows shot from the hillside on the flank. He then took a heavy diamond-headed arrow wrapped in a cloth strip handed over by Ron. He raised the horned bow, put on the heavy arrow, and fully drew the bow string to aim at Baron Jeffrey.
"Whoosh——"
A heavy arrow flew towards Baron Jeffrey in a famous arc. The captain of the guard beside Jeffrey quickly raised his wooden shield to block the baron.
"Duh~~" The heavy arrow with a trembling tail was nailed to the shield.
After a long while, Baron Jeffery pushed aside the captain of the guard who was blocking him, broke the heavy arrow nailed into the shield and took off the letter from the arrow shaft -
"Scrounged up 60,000 pfennigs within one month to redeem his only son. - Your despicable enemy."
Baron Jeffrey's blood-red eyes began to turn black, and then his mind became confused. He fell to the ground with a plop. Several personal guards quickly carried Jeffrey down the hillside.
傍晚，围攻塔尔堡近一个月的施瓦本军队抬着昏迷不醒的杰弗瑞男爵垂头丧气地离开了塔尔堡……
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In the city of Glaru County, thirty miles southwest of Talburg, Viscount Herreth held a letter sent from Talburg. The main content of the letter was to report that the Swabian army that besieged Talburg had been defeated and had withdrawn to Biltenberg.
The sharp sword hanging over Lord Glaru's head was finally lowered, and Viscount Herreth breathed a long sigh of relief.
During the nearly one month of Tarburg's siege, everyone in the county of Galalu was in danger. Viscount Herreth kept recruiting soldiers from the territory to stock up on food and baggage. The county of Galalu, which is located in the mountainous area, was not as prosperous and rich as Biltenburg. Excluding the troops transferred to the northern front, the remaining standing troops in the county were less than 100 people (there were still some outposts that needed soldiers to garrison), and the county town of Galalu had only Less than eighty soldiers were stationed, and the total number of peasant soldiers and manor guards in the villages and castles in the county was only one or two hundred. There was neither rugged and steep terrain to block them, nor abundant supplies of food and grass. Even the number of soldiers stationed on the ground was low. Facing the Swabian Principality's army that could invade the country at any time, Viscount Herreth was really sweating. He also cursed the bastards in Talburg who had stabbed the lion's butt countless times.
Curses are curses. During the siege of Talburg, Viscount Herreth still squeezed out a small army of twenty people from the Galalu City garrison, led by a direct knight, to support Talburg. However, this army was intercepted by eight cavalrymen sent by Jeffrey as soon as it approached ten miles west of Talburg. In addition, he also tried to transport a batch of arrow weapons to Talburg through the mountain trails. However, this batch of arrow weapons eventually became an assist for the Swabian army to attack Talburg.
Although he knew that Tal Fort was a strong line of defense for Galalu County, Hereth never dared to bring all the few defenders to support Tal Fort, so he could only silently pray that the group of guys stationed at Tal Fort could hold on for a little longer, preferably until the palace could spare the energy to send troops to support Galalu County...
Such days of fear continued until the arrival of this letter of victory.
Viscount Herreth felt ashamed of the despicable methods of the guy in Talburg, but in any case, Talburg was defended, and the crisis in Glaru County was basically resolved. As for the enemy troops coming from the southern trade road of Glaru County, he was not so worried. After all, there was a county town and two castles in the south to resist, and the enemy could not easily reach Glalu County.
Viscount Herreth took a long sip from the silver wine glass on the table. After putting down the glass, he said kindly to Ron, who was delivering the message: "Young man, go back and tell Sir Art that I congratulate him on his achievements. I will express his outstanding military exploits in the victory letter submitted to the palace. In addition, I will prepare some labor supplies and city defense weapons. You can take them back together."
Ron saluted Viscount Herace, and then said: "Thank you, Lord Viscount, I will definitely bring your generosity to my master. In addition, there is a lack of medicine in Tarburg, and during the siege by the enemy, a group of wounded soldiers have appeared in Glalu County for treatment. Please show them mercy."
"Of course, they are the bravest warriors and deserve the best treatment." Viscount Herace readily agreed.
After handing over the letter and arranging for the wounded, Ron led the remaining members of the Sentinels, Jason and Red, and rushed back to Tarburg with a four-wheeled carriage loaded with arrows, spears and other weapons, as well as food such as fruit wine and bacon...
……………
Two days later, in the palace of Besançon, ninety miles northwest of the county of Glaru, an urgent letter from the southeastern border county of Glaru was delivered to the desk of Count Baldwin, deputy minister of the palace, through layers of palace guards and clerks. Baldwin picked up the letter on the table and opened it. The letter briefly wrote about the main achievements of the Tarburg garrison, and then reported that the Swabian army had been defeated and retreated and that Talburg was safe and sound. Of course, Viscount Herreth did not forget to add his prominent role in the defense of Talburg in the letter. According to the words in the letter, it seemed that the defense of Talburg depended on his strategizing. Although he knew that the letter would be false, Earl Baldwin would not care too much at this time. Anyway, Talburg was defended, the Swabian army was repulsed, the crisis in Glaru County was resolved, and Earl Baldwin no longer had to deploy troops from the fiercely fought northern battlefield to rush to aid Glaru County.
Count Baldwin called his bodyguard, handed the letter of victory to the bodyguard, and said: "Give this letter to the clerk and ask him to record the military exploits of everyone in Talburg. In addition, you go and tell Dean that the peasants, soldiers and weapons and supplies do not need to be sent to Glaru County, but directly to Wald City in the east, where they will soon face a large-scale attack by the Swabian Northern Army, and they need more support."
As for the Glalu County side, you ask the messenger to go back with a message and ask them to continue to support Talburg. Tell Herith and Ater that they must strictly guard Talburg and not let the northern line be threatened by the enemy's condescension."
Old housekeeper Cooper has returned here with six empty iron-lined four-wheeled double carriages. In addition to the two caravan members, the old housekeeper also came back with four coachmen from Andermatt Castle.
It turned out that after completing the trade of goods brought out of Talburg with the army caravan half a month ago, Cooper returned to various places in the south to purchase southern goods. Cooper left Salt and Lawrence in charge of the affairs of the army caravan. He himself went to Andermatt Castle with a caravan guard and a small trader who was familiar with the roads and asked Baron Antayas to send someone to help him get the six carriages hidden in the Swabian border back to the wooden castle in the valley.
Baron Antayas read Art's handwritten letter and gladly accepted Art's gift of a long steel sword and a set of leather armor. He then readily agreed to Cooper's request and found two traders who had been doing small business in the southern border of Swabia. They accompanied Cooper and his party with a few mules and horses and entered Swabia in disguise to retrieve the carriage. For safety reasons, Baron Antayas also sent five of his elite city guards to secretly protect Cooper and his party.
On the way back, Cooper and his party also encountered several groups of bandits who blocked the road. Thanks to the five soldiers sent by Baron Antayas who rushed out in time and killed the bandits, Cooper and his party were able to return to Andermatt Castle safely.
Baron Antayas was quite generous. In order to ensure that Cooper could return safely with the carriage, he not only lent Cooper a few animals to pull the empty carriage, but also sent several strong coachmen to accompany him with weapons~
“Scott, you don’t need to ask. The master is fine and Ron is safe. We’ll talk about the rest later. You first have someone hide the carriages. These are treasures. Each of the Swabian army’s baggage carriages can pull two thousand pounds of cargo.”
"By the way, please quickly send people back to the castle to prepare some meat and wine. These coachman brothers are sent by Baron Antayas to escort the vehicle. Let them eat, drink and rest well. Tomorrow they have to return to Andermatt Castle with their mules and livestock."
While Cooper dusted himself off, he ordered Scott and Lynn, who had received the news in advance and came to greet Cooper.
Scott arranged for someone to unload the carriage and hide it in the dense forest, and then took Cooper and his party back to the wooden castle in the valley.
Since Art left the wooden fort with his army, Scott arranged for several fort guards to be stationed here.
Now that all the wheat in the farmland in the valley has been harvested, the grain produced in more than one hundred acres of fertile land has filled the warehouses of the valley wooden castle. Only part of this grain is the spring plowing grain returned by the farmers to the wooden castle, and the rest is the farmers' own food. These grains all belong to the farmers, but considering that it is unsafe to store a large amount of grains in simple shacks in the valleys, after leaving sufficient rations, the rest of the grains are temporarily stored in the warehouse of the wooden castle, but the farmers can take away these grains at any time.
"Old housekeeper, where are they now? How are they doing?" After returning to the wooden castle in the valley to settle everyone's food and accommodation, Scott couldn't help but ask Cooper a few questions.
Cooper drank a big mouthful of fragrant broth and wheat paste, wiped the soup from his beard, and patiently said to Scott: "The master led an army to an abandoned military fort on the southeastern border. They also raided the Swabian border and gained a lot of loot. When they left with the army caravan, the master and the others were stationed in the military fort."
Cooper paused for a moment and continued: "Ron is also safe and sound. He has achieved a lot of military exploits in the battle. The master appreciates him now, so you and Emma can rest assured."
Scott felt relieved when he learned that Master Art and his son were both safe and sound. However, before asking more questions, Cooper changed the subject and asked about the affairs of the wooden castle in the valley, and Scott answered them one by one.
“Now that the wheat has been harvested, people in the valleys have to continue to cultivate wasteland and build villages in the valleys. Now that farmers have some food in their hands, they can build some more thatched houses in their spare time. Once they have wives and children The female farmers can live alone. Secondly, after the master comes back, he will definitely continue to recruit refugees to farm in the valley. We also need to provide food and accommodation for the new refugees coming later. "
Scott nodded.
"The merchant I brought back is called Neil. He was rescued by the master from the enemy. He has injured legs and feet and is unable to move, so he cannot work with the caravan for a long time. Although this man is a bit of a merchant, he is still honest and reliable. The most rare thing is that he can read and write some words. I will let him work in the valley. In the future, I can let him do the registration of personnel and materials in the valley. I will provide him with food and accommodation, and his salary will be temporarily paid to the peasants and soldiers of the fort defense team."
“Okay, I’ll arrange it,” Scott replied.
Cooper took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Scott, saying: "This is a private letter written by the master to Mr. Galvin and Miss Lottie in Sapp. You sent someone to send it to Sapp along with the jewelry and silk I brought back to Mr. Galvin. Call it the greetings my master brought back from the battlefield."
"I will let Lynn take someone to go to Sapp personally." Scott replied.
"By the way, Ron also asked me to bring you something back when we left Tarburg. It's in this bag. You can take it home later." Cooper said, getting up and taking the bag at the door and handing it to Scott.
A smile appeared on Scott's face, but he complained: "This guy spends money in vain." After saying that, he smiled and took the bag from Cooper's hand.
Cooper looked at the smile on Scott's face and said, "Ron is a good boy. I was right about him at first." Son, please accompany me to the valley. I don’t have time to go to the border outpost. You ask Linn to go to the outpost when he returns from Sap. Ask Linn to tell Simon that their master is well and ask him to guard the border outpost..."
"Yes..."