Chapter 698 Starry Night
While the defenders of Soronborg were excited about the news that the palace was about to send troops for reinforcements, at this time, the palace prime minister far away in the capital Milan was worried about it. Two days ago, urgent military information came from the direction of Soronborg, saying that the defenders of Santia City and the Guards Corps, which was one day away from Sauronborg, had begun to move south one after another, marching in the direction of Sauronborg.
This news exploded in Milan like a bolt from the blue. On that day, a large number of distinguished and wealthy businessmen left Milan with their families and valuable belongings, heading further south to escape the scourge of war.
At almost the same time, another urgent message came from the west. Tens of thousands of troops from Provence marched eastward after capturing Fort Arci, and then captured several castles and fortresses in the Lombardy plains. In just a few days, the Provence frontier army in the west advanced eastward with thunderous momentum, attacking cities and villages along the way, with the intention of completely annihilating Lombardy.
Before receiving these two urgent military reports, the Duke of Lombardy still hoped that the two groups secretly sent to Besançon and Provence could stab the two powerful enemies behind. But after waiting for a long time, even more disturbing news came back from the front line.
At this point, the Duke of Lombardy had no choice but to order the forced conscription of men of appropriate age in the territory to go to Solonborg and the Western Territory for support, and those who evaded military service were sent directly to the dungeons.
As the Duke of Lombardy relied on him, the task of recruiting troops naturally fell on the shoulders of the palace prime minister.
However, after several rounds of recruitment, there is now an extremely shortage of young people of suitable age. In order to make up for the shortage of soldiers on the front line, the age limit has been relaxed many times, and the conscription age was once raised to 48 years old. Nowadays, the treasury is empty, trade is withering, wars are rampant, the people are in dire straits, and citizens in various territories are either dead or fleeing. The Duke of Lombardy's plan to send an additional 3,000 reinforcements to Sauronburg is simply not feasible.
The Prime Minister of the Palace walked back and forth in the hall where the royal meeting was held, thinking hard about how to complete Duke Witote's conscription plan. With the little strength of Sauronburg, it was impossible to stop the Burgundians from moving south. If rescued, there would be no way to recruit soldiers. If we don't save it, after the iron hooves of the northerners crush Soronborg, Milan's door will be completely opened. At that time, Lombardy will face the risk of national subjugation, and even the position of the palace prime minister will not be guaranteed.
At the end of the day, the palace prime minister suddenly thought of the autonomous city-states within the territory again, and decided to seek help from those wealthy merchants and nobles to meet their urgent needs.
Immediately, the palace prime minister walked quickly towards the inner court~
In the inner court of the Milan palace, in the study room where the Duke of Lombardy was. The firewood in the fireplace had burned to ashes, and occasionally there was the sound of sporadic coals exploding.
As the temperature in the room dropped, the Duke of Lombardy, who was leaning on the lounge chair, lifted the goose down coat covering himself.
After the court meeting in the morning, he returned to the inner court alone and stayed in the study for half a day.
Having a quick meal at noon, after reading a large pile of official documents on the table and the military information coming from various places, I drank half a glass of wine and felt sleepy suddenly~
In recent days, riots have continued in various places, and the situation on the front line is not optimistic either. Perhaps this period was the most difficult since he sat on the throne.
· Coupled with his age and poor health, he had insomnia all night long. What followed was continuous nightmares and extreme fear after waking up.
The military situation coming from the north in the past two days made him restless and panicked all day long.
The sound of snoring could be heard from time to time in the study room with the wooden door ajar, sometimes mixed with heavy breathing and dreams.
The servant waiting outside the door cautiously glanced inside from time to time, for fear of not hearing the moody Duke's summons.
After a while, the Duke of Lombardy trembled slightly, took a deep breath of cold air, slowly opened his slightly closed eyes, and looked at the fireplace that had long been extinguished.
"Are you all blind?" A burst of anger came from the study.
The Duke of Lombardy grabbed the goose down coat and threw it out, hitting the servant who walked in on his hands and feet in the face.
"Your Majesty the Duke~" The servant trembled and asked in horror: "What are your orders?"
"You bastard, do you want to freeze me to death?" The Duke of Lombardy's blood boiled up and he pointed at the servant's nose and cursed.
The servant fell to his knees with a plop, tears streaming down his face, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! I was afraid of disturbing your rest, so I didn't dare to come in to add more firewood~"
"You bitch, you still dare to quibble!" The Duke of Lombardy scolded and walked straight towards the dagger hanging on the wall~
"I was wrong, please spare your life, Your Majesty the Duke!" The servant's eyes were full of fear, and he kept begging for mercy, and the body kneeling on the ground kept moving back.
"You trash, what's the use of raising you!"
The Duke of Lombardy pulled out his dagger, threw the scabbard aside, raised his right hand high, and stabbed straight into the servant's neck~
"Help me," the servant begged for mercy with his last breath of strength.
But the dagger that passed through his throat had made him unable to make a sound.
The Duke of Lombardy grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands, put a force on the servant's chest, and pulled out the dagger. Suddenly, the servant's throat sprayed everywhere like a fountain.
The Duke of Lombardy wiped the blood-stained sword on the servant and threw it on the table.
At this time, the palace prime minister, who was already standing not far outside the door, witnessed everything. Seeing the large area of bright red blood flowing on the ground and the servant's twitching body made him feel sick to his stomach.
After taking a deep breath, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and silently left the inner court. At midnight, a tavern near the Free Market in Solonborg was extremely hot at this time.
Since the news that the palace will send more than 3,000 people to support Sauronborg spread among these low-level officers and soldiers, the haze that has been above these guys for many days has been swept away.
One second these soldiers stationed at Soronborg were worried that they would not survive the week, and the next moment they took the rewards and went straight to the taverns in the city in groups to get drunk.
"My lords, your meat and wine is here~"
The steward of the tavern, Ross, opened the curtain of the back kitchen, personally brought a large bucket of beer to the table, and greeted a few people politely. The two servants who followed him followed behind, carrying a large bucket of boiled pork offal and a few pieces of rye bread to make a rich soup.
After the two waiters put the food on the table, the steward filled several people's glasses with beer and said, "My lords, this thick soup and wheat paste is a gift from me. It's freezing cold today, and you guys have been working hard to defend the city all day long. This is my little thought, and I hope your lords will not dislike it -.
"Hey, Brother Ross," one of the fat soldiers patted Ross on the shoulder, "except for you, none of the other tavern stewards in Sauronburg are so generous. Don't worry, once we drive the northerners out, we will definitely not forget your contribution~"
Afterwards, the other soldiers sitting around the table also expressed their opinions~
"That's right, warm-hearted Ross!"
"We will not forget you, man~"
The steward lowered his body and said to a few people: "Then I would like to thank all the adults first! You use it slowly, use it slowly."
After the steward left, the soldiers picked up the wine barrel and kept pouring into the glasses.
After drinking a large glass of beer, everyone started talking and laughing~
"..Now we don't have to worry about the barbarians from the north outside the city. When the palace's three thousand troops arrive, we will attack from both sides and drive all these bastards back into the mountains!"
"I heard that this Earl of Wells was a ruthless man. Not only did he scare Walder Burley out of his courage, but he also captured the cunning old guy Von Byron alive and captured most of the Patriot Army. It is said that Von Byron did not die, but was seriously injured and was escorted to the unknown valley in the north~" A thin and bearded soldier said calmly.
"What do you mean by this? I heard that the more than three thousand mercenaries that the Duke spent a lot of money to invite from overseas were slaughtered in one day.
Hardly anyone was left alive. In the end, even the Duke's more than a thousand cavalry were defeated by him -"
"There is nothing to be afraid of, as long as he dares to come, we will let him die here!" A soldier with rotten teeth and wearing cotton armor became full of energy after drinking a few sips of beer. He took out the dagger from his waist and slapped it on the table.
The other guys also burst out with blood and courage under the influence of alcohol, and they all agreed.
While several people were chatting in a lively manner, a figure tiptoed and walked quickly from behind the curtain towards the backyard. "Quick, go out from the secret passage immediately and inform Lord Lodge that the Lombards will soon send 3,000 troops to reinforce Sauronburg——"
"Yes, Lord Steward!"
When the soldiers garrisoned in the front yard were drunk and dizzy, Ross quietly opened the wooden board under the chicken coop in the backyard and put a tavern boy down.
Later in the middle of the night, a dark figure appeared in a dense forest outside Soronborg, running quietly along the path to the north. Count Terman, the Lombard leader who was stationed at Soronborg, would never have thought that he was in front of him. The news that the feet had just been released reached the ears of the Northland Earl without anyone noticing the next day...
In the early morning of the second day, before dawn, the Southern Expedition Army camp was ten miles north of Sauron Castle.
Because the Chinese army command camp yesterday ordered the entire army to march towards Solonborg at sunrise this morning, the soldiers and servants in the central part of the army began to make meals early in the morning to prepare food for the thousands of soldiers in the camp who were about to go south to fight.
At this time, in the Earl's military tent on the hill to the west, Art was still immersed in sleep.
Last night, Art summoned a group of high-ranking officers from the Wells Corps and the Palace Guards Corps, and held the last military meeting before the war on the deployment of the attack on Sauronburg on the second day.
It was not until the early hours of the morning that Art dragged his exhausted body back to the tent and fell asleep.
While sleeping, Art vaguely heard conversations coming from outside the tent. Just as he was trying to open his tired eyes, a familiar figure appeared at the door - "Master!"
Matt suddenly sat up from the bed and took a deep breath, "Ron?"
“Sir, Sir Rocky arranged for the man from Solonborg to come over night and say that he has something important to report!” Ron lowered his voice and said to Art, “Solonborg~”