Chapter 744 Blood Sacrifice
.-His name and the mercenary army under his command were once famous in the Southern Continent for their fierce fighting style, making any enemy fearful. He led us to win the battle for succession and defended his honor and status. He is unsmiling, but his brave fighting style is deeply admired by the soldiers; he knows rewards and punishments clearly, and will never let his men bleed in vain! "
"But," Art wiped the rain off his face and continued, "this excellent commander, a responsible and responsible monarch, a monarch deeply loved by the Burgundians, was conspired to be killed by the insidious Duke of Lombardy. Tell me, what should we do?" Art's roar spread across the entire sky above Soronborg.
“Revenge!”
Thousands of soldiers roared loudly and spoke righteously. The impact of the sword against the armor erupted with a loud noise like lightning and thunder~
At the same time, Yat pulled out the stainless steel sword from his waist and struck the sky in the air. "That's right! We vow to make the Duke of Lombardy pay the price for his stupidity! Only revenge can calm the anger in our hearts! Only revenge can comfort the heroic spirit of the monarch! Only revenge can let the enemy know that the Burgundy Kingdom is no longer the bullet that can be slaughtered by others. Land!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Everyone raised their arms and waved their swords, spears, axes and hammers, and shouts of killing came and went.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Art winked at Angus beside him.
After a while, several Lombard noble officers, whose hands were tied with ropes, were escorted to the city gate by soldiers.
The leader kept struggling and screaming, trying to escape, but the two strong soldiers behind him locked his arms and pushed him step by step towards the makeshift execution ground.
The remaining viscounts and barons of Lombardy who followed him were driven in the same direction by the soldiers. The appearance of the wolf and fox is enough to illustrate what these Lombard nobles have experienced in recent days. At this moment, the fear and uneasiness in the hearts of these military nobles became more and more intense. The gallows not far away would be the end of their lives.
Compared with other captured Lombard noble officers, these guys who were sent to the gallows were definitely hard-core. No matter how the officers in custody tried to coerce or induce them, they remained unmoved.
Surprised, Art gave up his plan to persuade him to surrender. They decided to use their lives to pay homage to the dead souls of Flanders and start a new journey for the southern expedition in the form of blood sacrifice.
“Kneel down!” the escorting soldiers behind Telman shouted loudly.
Embryo!
Terman turned his head and spat at the soldier wolf.
The furious soldier's blood suddenly surged and he kicked Terman's knee hard.
With a "boom" sound, Telman knelt on one knee on the ground. Another soldier saw this and added another kick, subduing the arrogant and arrogant count, the leader of the Lombard court, to the ground. When he was about to get up, the two men had already held him down tightly, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
When everyone was sent to the gallows, Art on the city wall spoke again and loudly said to the soldiers under the city wall: "Today, we gather here to pray for the departure of the king. Tomorrow, we will continue to go south until the iron hoofs of the war horses crush the city wall of Milan!"
"However, before we go on the expedition, we must tell the Lombardy court with actions that the Burangans will seek justice from them for the death of King Flanders. No matter who stands in front of us, they will have only one fate, and that is to be sent to the gallows!" Art pointed to the prisoners below.
Hang them!"
Hang them!"
Kill them~~"
The soldiers demanded the execution of these Lombard nobles.
Since the Welsh Army went south, this battle was the most difficult, and the battle losses were also the largest in all previous campaigns. In addition, Teerman almost killed Art, so everyone was extremely hostile to these guys who refused to surrender.
Matt raised his right hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet, and then spoke again, "I gave them a chance. As long as they were willing to swear allegiance to the Burgundy court forever, I could spare them from death. However," Art's tone suddenly became serious. Su solemnly, "Not only did they refuse to surrender, they also insulted the monarch. As the southern count of the Burgundy Kingdom, I will never tolerate it!"
The air at the scene suddenly solidified~
Everyone was waiting for Art's order.
Slowly, the drizzle stopped, and as the breeze blew, the air was filled with the smell of blood soaked into the earth.
Under the gallows, except for Terman, who was unmoved, the other Lombard noble officers seemed to smell the breath of death, and were obviously more anxious than a moment ago. Helpless eyes looked around, but no one could help them get free.
As the leading count of the Lombard court, Termain still vowed not to surrender. Even when facing the gallows behind him, his face remained as calm as ever. Looking at the trembling bodies of several subordinates beside him, Terman shouted, "Listen to me, as Lombards, you should have the courage not to be afraid of death! Although we are defeated today, we have never betrayed our country and people. After we die, everyone will remember that we gave our lives and blood for Lombardy. If we surrender, we will become sinners in history, and our descendants will never be able to hold their heads up!"
After hearing what Terman said, the officers raised their heads and gritted their teeth as they looked at the Burgundian soldiers in front of them. The uneasiness in his eyes a moment ago gradually turned into anger, and he seemed to have made up his mind to commit suicide.
On the city wall, Art thought that a few fearful ghosts would stand up and beg for mercy, but the result was beyond his expectation.
In this case, there is no need to waste your time on these stubborn guys. Then Art began to pronounce the sentences on the Lombard prisoners.
"Now, in the name of the guardian of the southern border of the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Earl of Wells, the military deputy of the palace, and the commander-in-chief of the southern expedition, I sentence you to hanging. Execution immediately, swordsman!"
After receiving the order, the executioner soldiers immediately pulled several people to the gallows and skillfully put on the noose.
When the soldiers watching the execution saw this scene, they all had smiles of satisfaction on their faces.
When the twitching thighs of several people stopped struggling, the hanging was completed.
Looking at the several corpses hanging on the gallows, Art calmly said to Odo beside him: "They can be considered loyal and brave people. Such people should not be thrown into the valley to feed the wolves. Instruct them to go down and find someone. The place will bury them alive. "
"Sir, please don't worry, I will do it right away~"
".—What did you say! That bastard detained the palace minister in Sauronburg?"
"Yes, Your Majesty the Duke. He also confiscated the gold and silver we brought with us."
In the inner study room of the Milan Palace, Duke Witote's eyes almost rolled out of his eyes after he had just learned what had happened to the peace envoy. He did not expect that the shameless man not only confiscated several carts of gold and silver for peace, but also detained his own court officials on the spot.
The pot-bellied baron who stood aside to report the unfortunate news swallowed his saliva when he saw the Duke of Lombardy was furious. The cold sweat on his forehead kept falling to the ground, and his trembling legs made him almost fall to his knees cough~
Cough cough cough~
The Duke of Lombardy was furious, and the violent coughing almost made him breathless.
本以为宫廷首相北上能带回点好消息，结果一同前去的大肚子男爵却给他带回了这个不幸的消息。
As the right-hand man of the Duke of Lombardy, the Prime Minister of the Palace has always played an irreplaceable role in recruiting troops and raising money.
Now that the palace prime minister is detained, it is equivalent to cutting off an arm of the Duke of Lombardy.
Such a result was something the Duke of Lombardy had never expected. After calming down for a while, the Duke of Lombardy continued to ask: "Tell me,
What message did that bastard ask you to bring back to me?"
The pot-bellied Baron slowly raised his head, not daring to look directly into the eyes of the Duke of Lombardy, and replied hesitantly: "He... He asked us to pay a huge ransom before he would let the Prime Minister come back."
"How much?"
The baron with a big belly stretched out two fingers and said uneasily: "Twenty thousand pounds of gold coins~"
Crack!
The Duke of Lombardy smashed the wine glass on the table to the ground. "Twenty thousand pounds of gold coins! He actually wants to exchange the palace Prime Minister for twenty thousand pounds of gold coins?"
At's move made the Duke of Lombardy so angry that he almost vomited blood. You know, Lavati only paid 10,000 pounds of gold coins to buy out the city-state's autonomy. Now that the heretical count is extorting 20,000 pounds of gold coins from the Lombard court, it is really incredible.
Lombard gasped for air and shouted angrily: "What if I don't give it?"
“The earl of the Northland said that if the 20,000 pounds of gold coins are not seen within ten days, the head of the palace minister will be placed in a wooden box and sent outside Milan~” The pot-bellied baron tremblingly said these threatening words.
The Duke of Lombardy closed his eyes slightly, and the fingers of his right hand with bulging veins left a deep scratch on the armrest. He knew very well that this person was completely different from Flanders. To a certain extent, this Earl of the North is more cunning and sinister, without any sense of honor at all. If he didn't do what he said, the other party would probably send the head of the palace prime minister to him.
But it was extremely difficult for the Duke of Lombardy to come up with 20,000 pounds of gold coins. In order to recruit mercenaries to resist the coalition forces of the Principality of Provence and the Marquis of Burgundy, the Lombardy treasury was almost exhausted.
The house leaked and it rained all night, and the Duke of Lombardy was in a dilemma.
But what the pot-bellied baron said next made him completely give up on the palace prime minister.
"Reporting to the Duke, the Earl of the North also claimed that he would lead a large army to conquer Milan and avenge Flanders."
After hearing this, the Duke of Lombardy suddenly stood up and grabbed the belly of the baron. Collar, roared and asked: "What did you just say? Revenge for Flanders? Is it possible~"
"Yes, Sir Duke, Flanders is indeed dead."
The Duke of Lombardy was overjoyed and laughed wildly. But after a while, the laughter stopped.
The Duke of Lombardy suddenly realized that Flanders's death did not become a weapon to disintegrate the fighting spirit of the soldiers of the Burgundy Kingdom, but instead became a catalyst for the war.
Suddenly, the Duke of Lombardy's vision went dark and he fell to the ground.
"Your Majesty the Duke! Your Majesty the Duke~"