L.F-Hist.Novelist #563 - Horn arrives at his loyal Flying Fort
#563 - Horn arrives at his loyal Flying Fort
"Did he wet his pants?"
Looking at the dark, damp stain gradually appearing on Barney Force's robe, Horn wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Jeanne glared. "If it weren't for him, Danji wouldn't have died. Brother, what are you going to do with him?"
"Lock him up for now. He has a lot of useful information in his head. Let's interrogate him first." Horn waved dismissively, signaling the military police to take him away. "To prevent him from escaping, break his legs with a rack first."
"Yes, Your Grace."
The military police squad leader thumped his chest and dragged away the man Horn once hated and feared the most from the dock.
Barney Force was, after all, the nominal supreme bishop of the Thousand River Valley Church, and naturally had his special significance. Killing him casually wouldn't make the most of his value.
After settling Barney Force, Horn instructed the boatmen and then walked briskly onto the streets of Coarse Rice Town.
The local residents in the houses on both sides, though afraid to go out, still peeked at the warlock Horn from behind the cracks in their doors and windows.
Contrary to the rumors of a three-meter-wide green-skinned monster, the Holy Grandson actually appeared somewhat small and thin.
Standing with the guards, who were all over 1.8 meters tall, the visual effect was like a peculiar '凹' character.
But although short, his bearing was extraordinary, incomparable to other soldiers.
Although he wore a fitted military uniform and knee-length jacket, he had modified the collar into a stand-up collar, both for warmth and to appear more dignified.
A purple silk sash ran from his left shoulder to his right waist, and he wore shiny black leather riding boots. A faint smile played on his face.
Surrounded by military police and guard monks, Horn walked with crisp, powerful steps to the commanders standing at attention.
"Reporting, Your Grace, we ambushed the enemy Edict Company in Black Lettuce Village, killing 245 and capturing 159. The number of escapees is countless." As the main commander, Laurent tapped his left chest twice. "The Holy Father blesses us, we have already captured the Edict Company's camp on the outskirts of Swiftflow Fortress."
"You always manage to surprise me." Horn laughed and shook hands and embraced each of the commanders.
Horn and Jeanne were originally scheduled to arrive at Coarse Rice Town with the second batch of reinforcements at noon tomorrow.
But he feared that the Salvation Army monks, lacking cavalry, would not be able to cope with the Edict Company, so he specifically brought Jeanne and 100 Holy Musket cavalry.
He originally thought they would be lucky to defend Coarse Rice Town, but they not only didn't defend, but also launched an attack.
One ambush eliminated seventy to eighty percent of Prince Condé's remaining forces. Seeing this power, Swiftflow Fortress surrendered without a fight.
"This is not entirely our credit." Laurent coughed. "It was the Salvation Army leaders Andre and Valentine Taylor who lured the Edict Company here."
Only then did Horn turn around and shake hands with the complex-looking Valentine Taylor and the grinning Andre, introducing himself.
But the two sides did not exchange pleasantries for long. Horn excused himself and went to the war monks.
For these victorious soldiers, the Holy Grandson patiently shook hands with them one by one, asking their names and praising their achievements.
Horn even took the initiative to greet the wounded soldiers, even rolling up his sleeves to help the medics change their dressings and apply bandages.
He seemed not to notice the dirty blood splattering on his clean clothes and beautiful sash.
Valentine Taylor and Andre followed Horn, quietly watching him do these simple and tedious little things.
Valentine Taylor's expression became more and more relaxed, while Andre's became more and more solemn.
Valentine Taylor saw Horn's love for the common soldiers, but Andre saw something different.
He saw that most of the black-clad soldiers who had been greeted were extremely excited.
Although they were standing on the street in the cold wind in the middle of the night, they didn't complain at all, and even seemed to enjoy it.
Andre had personally witnessed how brave these black-clad soldiers were, and how firm their will and morale were.
Generally speaking, the more valiant an army is, the more unruly it is. Talented people are always proud.
If there were no direct officers, Andre asked himself, it would take at least two or three months to command this group of veterans.
But Horn was just standing there, and these soldiers were like seeing the Holy Lord descend. The heartfelt reverence and obedience were rarely seen in strong soldiers.
This kind of control over the army was too rare.
The priests used to say that Horn used mind magic to control the soldiers. Andre didn't believe it, but now he was starting to wonder.
It wasn't until he shook hands with the last wounded soldier and comforted him that Horn stood in front of Andre again.
"Sorry for the delay. Let's go inside and eat while we talk."
Andre rarely showed such low emotional intelligence, directly asking the question he wanted to ask most: "Are you going to enter Swiftflow Fortress next?"
Horn's eyebrows twitched. He once again looked up and down at this mysterious leader of the rebel army, revealing a meaningful smile:
"Not enter, wait."
At noon on March 9th, the second batch of four legions, including two Guard legions and two Black Champion legions, had arrived.
Along with them came the third-generation Holy Grail Cavalry Regiment, consisting of 400 Holy Musket cavalry, 500 Hussars, 300 Norse cavalry, and 300 Kush cavalry.
The reason it was called the third generation was that the Holy Grail Cavalry Regiment had two predecessors.
The first was the Holy Grail Knight Order during the Gulag era, consisting of two cavalry companies, totaling two people.
The second was the first-generation Holy Grail Cavalry Regiment, which evolved from the Holy Grail Knight Order during the Daze Township period. At that time, there were three cavalry divisions with a total of 150 people, a troop increase of 7500%, all of whom were cuirassier Holy Musket cavalry.
The third generation was the current full version of the Holy Grail Cavalry Regiment, led by Jeanne as the cavalry regiment commander, with four cavalry battalions under her command, totaling 1,500 cavalry.
Jeanne herself served as the Holy Musket cavalry captain, Grush served as the Orc Hussar captain, Myra served as the Norse cavalry captain, and Perini served as the Kush cavalry captain.
With the addition of the hundred-man mage corps and the Protectorate Army, there were already around 7,200 troops gathered near Coarse Rice Town.
The tiny Coarse Rice Town could not accommodate so many rough troops.
So on the morning of March 10th, the Kush rangers and Orc Hussars began to disperse in all directions, surveying the terrain and mapping roads.
The public farmers and refugee villages around Swiftflow Fortress could see black and red flag knights rolling up dust on the country roads.
They immediately reported to their lords that the Salvation Army was advancing towards Swiftflow Fortress.
Upon receiving the news, the bishop, citizens, and city nobles of Swiftflow Fortress busily prepared flowers and ten boxes of jewelry and gold pounds.
As for Matteo, he had been tied up by the bishops while he was asleep last night and was being held at the entrance to the city.
It wasn't that the bishops lacked the will to fight, but the city walls weren't tall enough.
Due to its long prosperity, Swiftflow Fortress had long lost its function as a fortress.
The previous archbishops had deliberately demolished part of the city wall on the port side for commercial convenience.
This part of the city wall had not been repaired during the two years of the war, but the floods of 1444 and the rebellion of seven of the nine counties in 1445.
In two years, the Thousand River Valley diocese's tax revenue was cut in half, and Prince Condé swallowed most of the tax revenue like a whale. The church couldn't afford to repair the city walls.
If the nobles were still on Prince Condé's side, with their support, they might be able to defend for three or four weeks with the surrounding fortresses and the city's blockhouses.
But the local nobles had rebelled, and the church couldn't even muster enough troops to fill the blockhouses and castles. There were also a large number of refugee spies in the city waiting to 'open the gates to welcome the leader of the church'!
Was there any need to defend the city?
In any case, after selling Barney Force and Matteo, the senior bishops and nobles in Swiftflow Fortress had fled to the countryside, preparing to return after Prince Condé recovered Swiftflow Fortress.
Although a large number of shops and workshops outside the city would be lost, as long as they didn't lose the privileges in their hands, re-accumulating wealth would be a piece of cake.
So on the morning of March 11th, the procession to welcome the supreme Holy Grandson Pope Horn to his loyal Swiftflow Fortress was already waiting by the side of the road.