Chapter 269 The battle that overwhelms the country!
Walking silently among the houses that were charred by the fire, Horn accidentally stepped on the carbonized bones.
He squatted down and gently touched the ground. There was still a faint residual heat coming from the ground, and a few dark red sparks fell from the houses with only wooden frames left.
In the spring breeze, the bodies of the Skitarii members were hung on the trees that were burned black, swaying in the wind.
The five people were stripped of their clothes, and the word "屮" was carved out on their foreheads with a knife. Their eyes were gouged out, leaving only bloody holes.
On the chest and belly, written with a knife in bloody French letters were "Be grateful, farmer" and "The fate of the betrayer".
Three crows stood on their shoulders, tearing off strands of flesh from their faces with their gray beaks.
Having lost the protection of Meliati and becoming the accomplices of short-haired devils, these knight-like devils once again showed their original faces.
"This is the third village, right?" No emotion could be heard in Horn's voice as he stroked the ruins.
“Yes.” Madeleine squeezed out the word through her teeth.
"Have you found any survivors?"
"We found fifteen survivors in the vegetable cellar, all children and teenagers."
In the thick smoke that has not yet dissipated, ten Several young people, big and small, lined up in a neat queue, numbly and staggering forward towards the carriage.
Starting from the 26th, these despicable extraordinary knights began to raid and massacre the people under their rule.
They were very careful, prepared a large number of rangers, and only took the main roads.
Horn prepared several times, but failed to ambush them, only killing and wounding a few rangers.
The survivors from the three villages gathered in Ashheard Town, but this time, Horn insisted on coming to see for himself.
"Your Majesty, we have to leave quickly, otherwise we will be caught by the rangers of Fort Joan of Arc, and we will have to go through a lot of trouble."
"Let's go." Horn The dull voice sounded again.
Hulking the saddle and climbing onto the horse, he could feel the depressed expressions on the faces of the people around him.
Horn knew that his face looked depressed, but he couldn't cheer up.
In the setting sun, the last house collapsed in the village in flames.
Horn lowered his head and walked on the country road without saying a word until a noisy shout came.
“Hey, what are you going to do?”
“Grizzle, come down quickly!”
Looking in the direction of the sound, Horn saw a young man who was unable to stand firmly on a hill on the side of the road.
His left arm was severed at the elbow. It had just been wrapped with gauze, but it was still bleeding.
The bright red blood fell drop by drop on the green grass blades.
His face was pale, his cheeks and eye sockets were sunken, but his eyes were so energetic that they seemed to pop out in the next second.
He raised his right hand high, holding a thin branch with a large blouse tied to it.
This smock from his father was blackened by smoke, and there was a large blood stain on the top of the smock.
The corners of his mouth turned down, his upper teeth bit his lower lip until it turned purple, and his whole body was trembling.
He seemed to be crying and roaring hoarsely. The sound was simply oozing out of hell.
"The Salvation Army, victory!"
With no one accompanying or responding, like crazy, the boy named Gretz kept waving the flag in his hand under the sunset, using broken The gong voice repeated over and over again.
"The Salvation Army, victory!"
"The Salvation Army, the victory!"
"The Salvation Army, the victory!"
The roar of crying echoed behind Horn's back , pricking his back like spikes.
"The Salvation Army, victory!"
The shouting continued from the village until Horn returned to Ashheard.
Until he sat in front of the assembled senior members of the Salvation Army, he could still hear such shouts in his ears. "The information we have detected so far is that the extraordinary knights formed a glorious cavalry team to carry out riding raids on the villages where the Skitarii were located.
According to the regulations of Fort Joan of Arc According to the situation, there are currently three forces in the city, namely the French King's Knights, the Church and the Order Company.
There are 500 King's Knights, but 150 of them have gone to Kasha County, so now. There are only 350 people.
They have tried to communicate with us before, leaving behind the message that as long as they do not attack the passing French merchants, they will not attack us, and are even willing to sell weapons and food to us. "
"Is it credible? "Jeshka asked with a frown.
"We can't be sure. We'd better pay attention. Armand shook his head, "Your Majesty, what do you think?" Your Majesty? "
"Do you think we are ready? "This was the first thing Horn said when he looked around at the people in front of him.
At this moment, all the senior officials of the Papal State and the Salvation Army were present, and there were always twenty people, but at this moment they looked at each other, and no one answered. .
This is a habit they have developed long ago. Whether it is a long journey of hard work or Qiumu Island, Horn makes the decision in everything.
How many crises they experienced, they all relied on the holy grandson in front of them to get through them one by one.
Many of them, many "smart people" saw Horn's tricks from the beginning, but they needed to rely on Horn to unite people and take responsibility.
After taking responsibility again and again, making decisions again and again, and getting out of crisis again and again, Horn has become the true "Holy Grandson" and "Eye of God" in their hearts.
To put it in Horn's hometown dialect, it is "the one who suffers the filth of the country is called the master of the country."
"The weapons have been repaired, but the armor is not ready yet?" Armand asked tentatively, "And the phosphorus stone and concentrated wine you asked us to prepare have not yet been assembled."
Horn still has not As he spoke, he looked around, and everyone was still looking at him.
He suddenly laughed.
Look at these bishops, Madeleine is a fugitive baker, Armand is a monk from Yenbi, Grampvin is a clown, and Chilvis is a bootlegger.
As for the army commanders, Jeshka and Hakuto are both wanted criminals, Coleman is a homeless man who carries bags at the dock, Victor is a sheep herder, Monser is a manure collector, and Rudy Luo He's a scoundrel.
As for Horn himself, he is a farmer who pretends to be crazy with his village girl Jeanne.
Horn couldn't help but think that without him, Madeleine would have been executed by the church, and Frick and Danji would not have died.
Armand will starve to death in the village of Moulin Rouge, Grampwin and Chilvis will still be part of the refugee army, but Townley will live a good life.
As for these legion commanders, their lives may not be as good as they are now, but they will not be as dangerous as they are now.
If it were the situation like this when they first met, Madeleine would have been obsessed with going to Cacha County, Armand would have followed Cosset in a daze, Grampwin might have joined the uprising in Rapid City, Chil Weiss will most likely run away.
The Papal States at that time, including Horn himself, were all insects, a "country" composed of cowards, scoundrels with evil intentions and cowardly peasants.
In this small Papal State of theirs, every battle is a battle to destroy the country, and they must use all the strength of the country to move forward in a confused manner.
This shabby boat, full of mistakes and leaking water from top to bottom, has now turned into a warship with 60,000 subjects and 5,000 troops.
The encounters in life are really the joint advancement of personal struggle and historical process.
“From the beginning to now, when have we been ready to live?” Horn stood up and faced everyone present with a smile, “We have often fought wars to destroy the country before, which battle are we ready to fight? ? Isn’t it all about chasing ducks?
It's better to say the other way around, if you feel that there is nothing to prepare for, that is a precursor to failure, because there is never perfection.
Our enemies are 300 of the most elite imperial knights, 100 rural extraordinary knights, 120 temple knights, more than 300 armored sergeants and more than 3,000 night watch guards.
It is even possible to add 350 French knights.
But as I predicted before, if we don't go to war, what awaits us is Castle Joan of Arc turning into a hell.
This is a battle that cannot be retreated. We have no retreat, no help, and no rope bridge can drown so many knights!
We may use all our strategies, pick the right battlefield, pick the right date, but in the end, we can only deal with it head-on. "
Gently stroking the walnut table, Horn stared at everyone with his burning gaze.
"Everyone sitting here today, including me, may die, because our In front of him were more than 500 extraordinary knights and nearly 3,500 infantry.
But I don’t ask if the weapons are ready? Don't ask if the phosphorite and wine are ready?
Now, I only ask one question, are you ready? ”
After a short but long silence, the bench and Maza were moved with a crash, and everyone present stood up one after another.
Unconsciously, the planks of the leaky boat have grown into solid oak boards, and the long sails have been woven from linen into canvas.
“We are ready!”
(End of this chapter)