Chapter 171 The sky has changed, and so has this city.
Karak City is located on a platform, with a huge gap from the surrounding areas. The southeast direction is the steepest, while the northwest has a ridge extending outward. This is the gentlest slope of the platform, making it easier to launch an attack.
The dull drum beat sounded, and accompanied by the long trumpet blast, the besieging legions organized an unprecedented siege.
Under the scorching sun, weapons and armor were burned by the sun. A detachment of nearly a thousand people set out from the northern camp of Karak City and launched an attack on the closest city wall.
On the city wall, the scorching sunlight cuts every stone brick like a blade.
Lorien's hand holding the longbow trembled slightly. He stared closely at the mighty enemy army outside the city. The soldiers hundreds of meters away could not see clearly, but they seemed particularly oppressive.
"So many people..."
Waldo beside him patted his shoulder and was about to string the heavy crossbow and place it on the city wall. He tried to boost his morale, but he was still trembling.
Now, Garris was no longer with them, nor was he on this city wall. The figure who made them feel at ease was busy with more important matters in the city, leaving them to face the enemy.
Lorien closed his eyes, took a deep breath, tightened his palms, and straightened up again. The figure in the shabby robe who guided them on how to shoot arrows reappeared.
Then he whispered to Waldo beside him: "I don't want to be a slave."
"Me too." Waldo responded solemnly.
They don't want to be slaves, they just want to live uprightly in this world and taste the taste of freedom standing here.
In fact, from the very beginning, Frankish cities in the Middle Ages had to build walls to compete with the wilderness outside the city and the tyranny of the lords.
From the beginning, the citizens tried to pursue the freedom and privileges different from the serfs.
First, they demanded personal freedom, which ensured that merchants or craftsmen could travel and live where they wished, and free themselves and their children from dependence on the power of the lord.
Secondly, they demanded a unique municipal council to get rid of the complicated and inefficient feudal management.
Secondly, the city will establish its own judicial system, maintain its own public security, and revise the criminal law in the interests of the city.
Immediately afterwards, the citizens will demand the abolition of taxes that hinder the development of industry and commerce, so as to protect themselves from being exploited by the lords.
Finally, a city will demand the broadest political autonomy and local self-government that they are capable of.
Without freedom, citizens would not be citizens.
Without freedom, walls are nothing but prisons.
Now, Adil, Stephanie and the rich people in the city want to kick the citizens and poor people back to the slave age for the sake of their freedom!
When this principle is repeatedly emphasized and demonstrated by Garris, in many cases, personal choices become clear and unmistakable.
When the enemy approached the two hundred meters range of the city wall and entered the extreme shooting range of the longbow in Lorien's hand.
He stretched the bow and string, injected the panic and anger in his heart into the arrows, and then shot the first arrow to defend the city.
……
Garris's perception of the world has become different since he woke up and merged his memories.
He can capture the singing voices of all things in the world and listen to their tunes.
Whether it was the gentle breeze blowing through the leaves or the clash of swords, it all reverberated in his ears like music.
Similarly, Garris can also change the tempo of the song to put himself into a state that is difficult for ordinary humans to understand.
Most of the time, the rhythm of reality is chaotic and rapid, like an uneasy rhythm of seven or eight beats.
But to Gareth's ears, it could be simplified to minimalist light music in four-one beats.
Even when he was injured and his adrenaline surged, the world seemed to have been put on pause for him.
When Stephanie gave the order to attack, Garris climbed over the fence of the bell tower and jumped from the church bell tower.
The sound of the wind gradually dissipated in his ears, and all the movements around him slowed down in his perception.
In full view of everyone, he fell from the sky and landed on the square in front of the church.
However, before those people could exclaim, the world was pressed on the pause button.
In the square, the faces of the citizens were full of panic, fear, and fear, and they were trying to remain calm.
Amedei is upright and ready for what comes next.
The soldiers of the city guard pointed their spears at the lord sergeant who was about to charge.
As for the armored sergeants, their weapons were drawn out of their scabbards one by one. Their faces were ruthless, indifferent and ferocious, or they were shocked and confused by Garris falling from the sky.
Many of them opened their mouths to each other, but they just opened their mouths wide, and the sound could not reach Garris's ears.
In fact, for Garris now, the world has been completely silent, not a single note has been played.
Garris, who fell in the middle of the two forces, stood up and walked towards Stephanie's position.
Borrowing a sword from the sergeant's hand beside Stephanie, the sword's blade reflected a holy brilliance in the sunlight.
Before Stephanie could react, the sharp blade had already touched the fragile skin of her neck.
The long river of time flowed again, and for a moment the noise of the world flooded into Gareth's eardrums. Stephanie's cold and bloodthirsty orders still echoed.
However, when she finished giving the order, she saw a figure falling from the sky and disappearing into nothing
When Stephanie realized where the man appeared, the cold sword blade had already cut the main artery in her neck.
Blood gushes like a fountain.
Stephanie stared at Garris, her mouth opened wide, she wanted to say something.
Garris thrust his sword directly into her mouth again, suppressing her last words before she died.
"There is nothing to say. When you order a crackdown on the unarmed people, we have nothing to say to each other."
"People like you will not repent. I am not like the anointed one."
"I am the one who must destroy people's lives. He is the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, but I am the whip that strikes the sheep."
Time seemed to freeze again, but this time it was not the power of Garris, but the trembling deep in people's hearts.
The soldiers and citizens were all silent, their hearts beating as fast as drums.
With the cold blade and the decisive cutting, they witnessed with their own eyes that Lord Stephanie had her blood vessels cut open the moment after giving the order to attack, blocked her last words with a sword, and fell on the stone slab of the square. .
They were shocked by the appearance of Garris and this understatement of the sword.
So decisive, so ruthless, as if all the shackles in the world disappeared in that moment.
The sky has changed, and so has the city.
Blood soaked the stone slab, and the scepter in her hand and the halo on her head fell into the dust.
All power and prestige dissipated because she tasted Garris's blade.
A heavy silence fell over the city, and low murmurs echoed in the wind.
The bells on the tower are still ringing continuously, urging the new generation to come quickly.
In this dead silence, Garris asked softly:
"Now, who else wants to surrender? Want to sell his brothers from the same clan in exchange for his own freedom?"
……
Karak City is a small city. The wall of such a small city is less than three thousand meters, so the attack and defense surrounding such a city seems quite petty.
The number of those long ladders can be counted with two hands. The trebuchet in the distance is like a toy, launching some stones against the wall from time to time.
Waldo led a few people and used long forks to push a long ladder.
The heavy wooden ladder swayed in the air, then lost its balance and fell down with several enemy soldiers who had not yet climbed to the top of the city.
However, at this time, a group of enemy archers fired a burst of arrows under the wall. One of them landed on the body of a comrade next to Waldo, spattering a flower of blood.
Lorien Waldo and the others could feel that this attack was different from the past. These Saracens from Egypt were really going to attack the city seriously.
Although the Saracens failed to successfully attack the wall, they still caused many casualties to the defenders on the wall through trebuchets and arrows.
The passage of time seemed to be extremely slow. It was clearly already evening, but the sun refused to set.
At such a juncture, Lorien heard a burst of footsteps coming from behind him.
Turning around, he saw that it was Garris rushing up the wall with a team of fully armed armored sergeants.
As he passed by Lorien, Garris patted him lightly on the shoulder.
"Well done, now take the people down to rest and leave this place to me."
For the Saracens outside the city wall, the attack and defense of Karak City, which was originally slow and more like a game, suddenly became bloody.
The crossbow bolts and arrows became denser the moment the soldiers guarding the city alternated their defenses.
Those tricky arrows hit the soldiers' faces one after another.
Looking towards the top of the city, the soldiers who were originally wearing armor or cotton-padded armor had been replaced by all-colored chainmail armor, dazzling under the scorching sun.
Finally, the Saracens who were attacking the city retreated. They did not successfully attack the wall, but instead suffered more than a hundred casualties on their own side.
After this battle, Adil also received a gift, which was sent from the city of Karak.
Some people held white flags and approached Adil's military camp to attract the opponent's attention. Then they stopped outside the range of the arrows, put down a few corpses and a wooden box, turned around and fled back to the city gate.
The corpses were all dressed in bright red clothes, and the wooden box contained a woman's head.
Adil didn't recognize the woman's head for a moment, but then he thought that Humphrey was in the army and asked him to come over to help identify it.
First update, I’m not in good condition today. I guess I’ll have to take off my original extra update.
(End of chapter)