Twenty miles east of Vaal City, in a village at the foot of the mountain, three flag-bearing baggage teams with daggers on their waists led six or seven Welsh regiments to collect grain and baggage in the village. There were three such grain collection teams, each collecting grain and baggage within ten miles of the military camp.
“Sir, please, please, we have handed over military rations twice this year, and we really have no food to hand over.” A skinny old man who looked like a farmer kept tugging at the leader’s armor, pointing at the shivering old woman and child in the corner, begging the leader to spare his family.
头目一把推开了老农，瞪圆了眼睛，「既然你都交了两次了，那为什么不肯交第三次？」
「我说你个老东西是不是看不上我Welfare Corps? No food? How come you didn't starve to death without food? I've been a bandit, and I've seen a lot of cunning old guys like you. Besides, we bought it at a high price. You don't know what to do, do you think the dagger on my waist is for peeling apples?"
This carriage soldier was transferred from Redoan's bandit team to the second infantry carriage carriage. He is still a bandit at heart, but this kind of person is most suitable for this kind of work, so Odo temporarily appointed him as the commander of this food collection team.
This task is just a trivial matter for him. Under his leadership, the grain collection team searched for grain from farmers' homes with ease. In less than half a day from yesterday evening to now, when the sun was just shining, his grain collection team had scraped away the grain of two villages. The two carriages assigned to them were full. He also "borrowed" an ox cart in the village to haul the baggage.
"You bandits, steal my food and kill us all together!" The old farmer kneeling on the ground was obviously a stubborn donkey and wanted to fight for his life.
With a stabbing sound, the leader pulled out the dagger from his waist and was about to chop it down, but the old farmer on the ground closed his eyes and made no move to dodge.
The leader almost chopped down, but the dagger stopped halfway down. Before setting off, Adjutant Odo's repeated military orders not to kill civilians indiscriminately still stayed in his ears.
"You desperate old bastard!" The leader cursed loudly, put down his dagger and shouted.
"If my master hadn't told me not to kill innocent people, you would definitely have seen me today..." The leader suddenly realized that he was talking nonsense and quickly stopped talking.
As expected, the old farmer on the ground became more courageous as soon as he heard that he would not kill innocent people. He hugged the leader's leg tightly and refused to let go.
"Old guy, get out of my way. If you get in trouble, I'll really kill you."
"You black-robed soldiers are just robbers. Unless you return my food, I won't let go."
The leader was really angered. He sheathed the dagger and kicked the old farmer away. Then he jumped up and kicked the old farmer repeatedly. The old farmer begged for mercy. The old woman and the little boy who could not recognize his gender also knelt down and begged for mercy.
The leader kicked him again before stopping to take a breath, "You must let me teach you how to be a good person."
The leader saw that his subordinates had rummaged through all the food hidden in the house and loaded it on the oxcart outside the door. He just took out a dozen copper pfennigs from the money bag around his waist and threw them to the old farmer, "My lord is kind and will not take your food in vain."
After finishing speaking, he added, "Don't pretend to be pitiful. There must still be food hidden in the ashes under the fireplace, but we are not bandits, so we will leave you with a little ration. If we are defeated and the Western Army rushes in, you will have no chance to eat this ration."
"Oh, that's right."
"Let's go, guys, there are still two households left. We can finish this quickly and go back to the camp to have lunch and catch up on some sleep." The little boss called a group of men and left the wooden house.
...
In a village in the valley between two low mountains south of Vaal City, screams could be heard endlessly. A dozen Western soldiers wearing worn cotton armor were killing people in the village.
These Western Army soldiers were ordered to plunder grain and supplies around the enemy city of Vaal. They were also tasked with guarding against enemy attacks in this valley, because the commander of the Western Army had noticed that a reinforcement force from the Eastern Army was approaching the city of Vaal.
This group of soldiers is weak in combat, but they are invincible in front of civilians.
Only a group of old, weak, women and children were left in this village where all the young men were drafted into the army. The Western Army soldiers harvested heads like melons and vegetables, killing innocent people, then loaded bags of old wheat grains soaked in brain blood and pitifully few valuables on carriages and transported them back to the camp, and then burned the stinky demon hell to ruins...
"There are two households left. You guys should go and kill them for me. Master, I'm in a hurry to get back to the camp and get some sleep." A squire-like officer of the miscellaneous soldiers loudly ordered to a few of his henchmen "private soldiers" around him.
The four soldiers who were sent on the massacre mission suddenly beamed with joy. The two houses at the east end of the village seemed to be newly built. The owner of the house should be a wealthy owner, and this would be a good job.
The four soldiers tightened their belts, pulled out the notched daggers from their scabbards, picked up the short curved spears leaning against the wall, and walked towards the two houses in the east of the village with bared teeth...
The four soldiers from the Western Army hummed a lewd country tune and turned around the corner to the first wooden house on the east side.
He kicked open the door of the wooden house with a sharp kick, but the expected screams and howls did not appear. Just as the four soldiers curiously poked their heads out to check, several short knives with a metallic luster stabbed out. Then four or five black figures rushed out of the wooden house, throwing the four soldiers to the ground. The short knives cut the throats of the soldiers and stabbed through their hearts.
Three miscellaneous soldiers didn't even see the appearance of the enemy clearly before they died and went to hell. The remaining soldier had his mouth covered with a big hand and a short knife was pressed against his chest.
"Stop screaming, or you will go to hell with them!"
The soldiers whose mouths were covered widened their eyes and nodded in horror.
The big hand covering his mouth was released, but the soldier suddenly shouted for help and kept struggling to get free.
“Bastard!” The man in black robe who was holding the soldier down grabbed his hair and slashed the soldier’s throat with a short knife, and warm blood spurted out.
· The man in black robe pulled over one of his men and said, "Hurry up and report to Mr. Kazak that there are only a dozen enemy soldiers in the village. I will lead people to hold them back and let Mr. Kazak immediately lead the men to attack and annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop." After saying that, he led the remaining people and ran towards the village...
· ... ......
Eighteen cavalrymen have been assembled in the open space between the dense forests and are on standby. Several more cavalrymen are patrolling outside the dense forest on sentry duty. Two cavalrymen were lost during the field reconnaissance and battlefield shielding in the previous two days. Recently, the cavalry team received an order from the outpost battle and prepared to clean up the enemy's outer defense line before the infantry of the Wells Army rushed to the battlefield.
With the help of a servant, Lusignan put the plate armor on himself, tied it with a cowhide rope, and hung up his knight's sword.
Lusignan, who had finished adjusting his armor, glanced at the two deputy captains beside him and ordered: "Jafar, in a moment you will lead the first team to the left alone and clear out the enemy soldiers on the left wing." The second team will follow me on the right wing;"
"Our two teams will advance from the left and right wings to the center. If we encounter a small group of enemy cavalry, we will fight. If there is a large group of enemy soldiers, we will withdraw. However, we cannot let the enemy soldiers cross this dense forest in any case. Most of our troops are expected to be stationed on the battlefield before sunset."
"Yes!" Jafar and Reyek both responded and returned to their respective teams to once again check the equipment of the cavalry horses.
The Cavalry of the Welsh Legion was restructured from the original Sentinel Cavalry, with a total of twenty-five cavalry, including the deputy company-level captain trainee knight Lusignan, the flag-level deputy captain knight Reyek, and the knight squire Jafar. The cavalry was divided into two cavalry squads, four ordinary cavalry plus two squadron-level sergeants and six cavalry.
Since the Wells Army did not have abundant financial resources when it was formed, and the location was not suitable for the use of heavy cavalry, the cavalry was temporarily positioned as light armored cavalry, and its main tasks still remained in field sentry, battlefield shielding, cavalry raids, flank cover, and interference with enemy formations. Only in a few cases would it play a role in counterattacks.
Ordinary cavalry wear a half-helmet with a nose guard (including mail lining), a gorget, an armor (lined) with long sleeves and chain mail, and long chain mail socks on the legs; weapons: lance, long sword, short sword, dagger, hammer/mace, cavalry kite shield, and a few sergeants also have a crossbow and two quivers hung on their saddlebags;
The weapons and armor of the three captains and deputy captains must be excellent. Some of them are basically knight equipment: a head hood (lined) with chain mail with a gorget, a barrel helmet, long-sleeved chain mail (lined with an armed jacket), hands and elbows protected by small iron pieces or whole iron pieces, a plate armor coat, leg chain mail stockings (iron knee pads), a kite shield; weapons lance, knight's sword, mace, battle axe, dagger, and a heavy fine riding bow and quiver.
After a while, amidst the neighing of war horses, about twenty riders on tall war horses left the cover of the dense forest and advanced westward in a longitudinal line. After exiting the forest area on the edge of the mountain, the team divided into two parts, each riding towards the left and right wings...
…..
The offensive and defensive battle of Vaal City has entered the most brutal stage. More than a thousand Western troops attacked the city from the east, west and south. Six giant roller trebuchets and a dozen small and medium-sized catapults kept throwing stones into the city of Vaal. The defenders at the top of the city threw stones down from the crenels, and arrows and kerosene also poured down on the Western troops below the city.
In just ten days, more than a thousand Western troops launched five large-scale attacks on Vaal City.
It is also a county town, but because it is located in the rich northern land, Vaal City is more than twice the size of Tyniec County City. The county town is surrounded by double-layer high stone walls, with two inner and outer gates on each side.
Yesterday, during the fifth offensive and defensive battle, the Western Army had already entered the outer gate of the South City, and a giant trebuchet smashed a gap in the South City wall wide enough for two people. Fortunately, the outer wall was breached, and at least the defenders mobilized all the defensive troops from the north and more than a hundred young men and women to barely drive away the incoming enemy troops.
Today is the continuation of the fifth attack of the Western Army. Although the intensity of the attack has been much smaller, the defenders are still prepared for pressure. The enemy's fighting power was fierce. Ten consecutive days of uninterrupted attacks caused the first regiment of the Yona Army to defend the city to lose more than 180 soldiers. Dozens more were stabbed and knocked down by stone arrows and short spears and long swords by the Western Army who ascended the city, losing their combat effectiveness.
At the arrow tower on the west wall of Var City, Baron Walter, the commander of the first regiment of the Jonah Army, had personally engaged in the defensive battle. He took an arrow from his bow and shot at a head that had just climbed up the crenellation. The arrow bounced off the round helmet on the head.
Walter drew an arrow again after missing an arrow. Just as he was about to draw the bow and draw the string, a messenger climbed up the arrow tower and shouted a warning.
"Lord Legion Commander, the outer wall of the south city has been breached again. The breach could not be blocked. The enemy rushed in through the breach. The second company can no longer support it!" The messenger's ears were bleeding. When he ran across the wall just now, a flying arrow grazed his ear and cut his flesh.
Walter retracted the bow and arrow in his hand and shouted loudly: "Let the rear guard go up!"
“Sir, the rear guard has already gone to reinforce the east wall. The enemy has concentrated the trebuchets outside the east gate to attack!”
h As soon as Walter finished speaking, the baron guards who had been waiting in the second echelon of the Western Wall had rushed up to the wall and drove away the heavy armored infantry of the Western Guards Corps who jumped on the top of the wall. Once the heavy armored infantry was allowed to gain a foothold, it would be difficult to drive them away.
"Get out of here! Bastard!" Walter yelled.
"Command all the handymen in the city and the wounded soldiers who can barely pick up weapons to come up to me and block the gap in the south city first!"
"Yes~" The orderer covered his ears and jumped down from the arrow tower in a few steps to deliver the order to the city.
Walter glanced in the direction of the east city, "The reinforcements we promised haven't arrived yet~"
Just after saying a few words, two more Western heavy armored infantrymen climbed up the wall. Walter threw away the bow and arrow in his hand, pulled out the sword from his waist, jumped off the arrow tower and rushed over...