On the main road leading to the north by the Rhine River, the bone-breathing river wind made the soldiers tremble.

Sometimes, the snow on the dead trees on both sides of the road fell on the heads of the marching soldiers, and the lucky winners cursed and handed their weapons and shields to their companions, slapped the snow on their bodies.

Baron Quinier, who was riding in the front and talking to Fox, suddenly grabbed the reins, raised his right hand, and signaled the soldiers behind to stop immediately.

"stop!"

I saw a vague shadow about two hundred meters away on the main road ahead. After a closer look, it was probably an outpost built with stones.

Facing Baron Quinnier's inquiring gaze, Fox thought for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and raised his lips: "It's the border outpost led by Baron Dorsten, I'll handle it."

After saying that, Fox pulled his hood down and his legs tightened his abdomen. The foal ran on the snow on the main road full of ruts and footprints.

"Follow him." Baron Quinier turned his head, and a knight behind him followed him with a servant.

"Stop the person in front!" A loud scolding came from the outpost.

A loose horse-rejecting railing was blocked in the middle of the main road.

Behind the horse-received horse-received stands a soldier holding a spear, a stuffed turban, a warm armed suit and a simple leather-filled armor.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The voice from behind Jimazan was a little nervous. Obviously, the young soldier had seen the army behind the visitor.

"Which lord is the army behind you? Do you have the military pass permit for Baron Dorsten?" On the wooden table next to the outpost, the elderly tax officer wearing a red pointed hat slowly stood up from the chair, his eyes full of vigilance.

"What happened?" The wooden door of the stone outpost was opened, and a lazy-faced soldier walked out of it.

"Don't worry, my friends, dance at midnight in the big wardrobe." Fox wore a hood and lowered his head, and suddenly said something inexplicable.

"Ah, what's that mean?" The young soldier was confused and scratched his head in confusion.

"Wait, your voice sounds a bit familiar..." The old tax official looked at the man who looked familiar with his outfit and voice in confusion, but couldn't remember who he was.

However, the sudden change left him no longer the opportunity to think about this issue.

"Puff!"

The poor old tax officer was locked by his strong arms behind him, and the dagger that followed him penetrated deeply into his heart.

His eyes widened in disbelief, his gray and blue eyes were filled with anger and reluctance, and he struggled to look back at the traitor behind him.

"But did he jump for the dressing table or candlestick?" Hu Soldier Hu and Fox looked at each other and smiled, giving the next sentence of the code.

The old tax officer wriggled his lips with difficulty and wanted to say something. Blood spilled out of the corner of his mouth along his imprisoned throat, soaking the sleeves of the green armed clothes of the Hu soldier.

"Ditel, are you crazy? My God, are you from the same group?" The young soldier looked at the bearded soldier Hu, the damn traitor.

Outnumbered, he immediately made a choice - to leave the spear and shield in his hand in trouble and escape into the woods beside the road.

Seeing this, the traitor soldier named Dieter pulled out his dagger and directly pushed the old tax officer's body to the ground. The snow greedily sucked the remaining warmth that had not yet dissipated.

Dieter ran quickly to the middle of the road, and with all his strength, he carried the horse-received railing to the side of the road.

"Kill that escaped guy and don't let him run away!" Fox said anxiously.

Without Fox's words, the knight behind him smiled grimly, and rode his horse with his servants to chase the young soldier in the direction of the escape.

After a while, a heart-wrenching scream came from the woods beside the road.

"Now, all the people in the trouble have passed away." Fox took off his hood with a smile, clapped his hands, stepped on the kickstand and walked towards Dieter.

"Long time no see, my friend, how are you doing on the other side of the river?" Dieter took the dagger back into the sheath at his waist, reached out to wipe the blood from his hands on the yellow wool robe of the old tax officer's body.

"Baron Quinnier treats me much better than old Coaother." Fox tied the horse's reins to the piping post beside the outpost stone house, walked to the tax collection table, and pulled out the heavy iron closure box under the table.

Suddenly Fox heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the woods. He raised his head in cold sweat. It turned out to be the knight who had just been chasing the young soldier and his servant.

The Knight's body and the war horse under his crotch were covered with dark red blood. His servant's saddle hung an additional piece of armed clothes stained with blood, a broken leather-filled vest and a filthy filling headscarf. This was their trophy.

"Dear Mr. Hunter, please tell Lord Quinnier that everything has been done." Fox said respectfully to the Knight.

The knight did not answer Fox, but just glanced at him meaningfully, a large ball of white air spurted out from his nose, and then drove towards Baron Quinier's team.

Traitors are guarded and despised everywhere, even now they are on the same front.

"Since he can betray the monarch he has followed for many years, who can guarantee that he will betray us without hesitation when interests are not in line? Such villains can be used, but they must be careful." The Knight thought of this on the way back to the Baron's army announcement.

Fox didn't care what he thought. Now all his mind was attracted by the solid iron silence box.

"Next, the key to the box!" Dieter squatted down, took the key from the belt of the old tax officer's body, and threw it to Fox.

"Why is that little money?"

After opening the box with the key, to Fox's surprise, there were not many coins in the box at all. He counted roughly and found that all the coins were worth only eight silver coins in the box.

"Friend, have you not continued to be a tax officer on the other side of the river? You should know that on the day of the Virgin Festival four days ago, we transported all the travel expenses we received in the previous few weeks to the old Baron's treasury." Dieter spread his hands and said helplessly.

"No matter what, mosquitoes are small, they are meat. Take it, this is your reward. As long as you perform well, when we completely control the baron leader, I will give you more rewards, such as a wealthy and fertile farm, a few healthy pigs and calves, a young and beautiful female slave..." Fox said, taking out two Transnier silver coins from the cash box and stuffing them into Dieter's hand.

"Thank you, it's so great," Dieter's eyes were almost shining. "That's really the life I dream of!"

"Yes, yes, so I need you to go back to Dolstenburg now to report the news of the outpost being destroyed, that is, a team of deserters from the south do it. Also, be smarter and quietly hand the letter to my best friend, His Excellency Jonas."

…………………………………………………………

It is not difficult to master the skills of slaughter.

Under the guidance of Bill and the old shepherd, the sixty selected villagers quickly learned how to use this simple but amazingly powerful ranged weapon.

Simon knew that a well-trained archer could basically not threaten the heavy armored soldiers who raised their shields and charged fifty meters away, but the catapult can pose a great threat to them.

If the distance reaches thirty meters, the villagers use the catapult rope to launch larger stones, and up to three or four stones can crush the enemy's wooden shield. It is not difficult to imagine what kind of damage will be caused by such a power.

"Now the village has been busy with all the affairs, and the food and supplies are ready, but I don't know when to go to war." Simon, who was sleepy on the big chair beside the fire pit of the tower, closed his eyes and silently thought in his heart.

The animal oil bought from the caravan last time, the whale oil bought from Baron Red and the pine oil bought at Lange's logging farm, except for part of it being used as a burning agent for fire arrows, the rest were mixed with asphalt by Simon and put into small clay pots.

"I hope my enemies will like this little gift that will turn them into barbecue!"

Just then, outside the tower gate, the call from the gatekeeper came: "Master, Bill is asking for a visit."

"Let him come in."

“Cruff.”

The captain of the Archer Bill walked in quickly.

He must have been running all the way. At this moment, his head was covered with beads of sweat the size of beans, gasping heavily, his face flushed and anxious.

"What's wrong with Bill? There are not many things that can make you come to see me so panic!" Simon said in surprise, cheering up and sitting up straight.

"Master, our archers hunting in the forest to the south discovered that an army of three hundred men was advancing towards us along the main road by the river!"

"What? Is it the enemy's army?"

"I'm not sure, but the point is that the archers identified the man who was talking to the nobles in the army, Fox, the long-lost tax collector!"

"My God, Fox? Don't guess, they are here to attack us." Simon frowned. Fox, the old dog, is really in dispersed. This time, he must chop off his head with his own hands.

"Master, I think so too." Bill nodded in agreement.

"Then be prepared for defense. We have too few people. Even if we ambush them, we may not be able to win."

"I'll call back all the other archers who are hunting."

After a while, the alarm bell in the village sounded "Jingdong".

"Miller, go and drive the packhorse trailer from the Wood Fort to your mill, and transport all the wheat and flour to the granary." Simon strided out of the tower and happened to see Miller coming down the stairs of the Wood Fort wall.

"What happened to my master?"

"The enemy is coming!"

At the door of the armory at the inner castle field in Muburg, Gabriel and Pedi are temporarily distributing equipment and weapons to the unarmed militia for Miller.

All the militia and servants had nervousness and anxiety on their faces. It seemed that the trauma caused to everyone by the last time Norman pirates had not healed yet.

Simon walked out of the tower gate and walked down the hill.

There are already militias maintaining order in the village, but fortunately, there is no turmoil in the village now.

"Ri'an, Lord Simon, your village alarm bell rang. What happened?" Matilda was still wearing her luxurious dress, but unlike the last time she met, she had a gorgeous armed sword on her waist.

"Say hello to you, dear Lord Simon." Matilda's husband Elcle said with a smile.

Elcler looked a little stronger than before. Simon thought that their small life in the village of Folder was much more comfortable and comfortable than their wandering days outside.

"An army of 300 people is coming here. I am very sure that their target is us." Simon spread his hands helplessly.

"God bless, those slaughtered mafia dared to attack even the land of God's sacredness. I curse their dirty souls to die!" Matilda said indignantly.

"It's really the same as the bard said. This lady with great martial arts skills became rude after spending a long time in the caravan." Simon laughed silently and thought to herself in her heart.

"Your Excellency Simon, don't mind. My wife is the habit of speaking and can't be changed anymore," Elcler scratched her head embarrassedly and continued, "I think it's too late for us to pack up our things now..."

"So you?" Simon looked at the couple inquiringly. There were not many people in the village who could fight. If two more experienced players could help, it would undoubtedly be the best.

"As long as you can exempt one third of the fees we are going to pay you, we are happy to serve you as mercenaries. Although we have only two of us, I can guarantee that you will never regret it." Mathil said bluntly.

"Well..." Simon dragged his chin and thought for a while, nodded, "Okay, I promise, may God bless you."

……………………

When Miller returned to the village with a pack horse trailer carrying wheat and flour and his family, the heavy village door was slowly closed.

The soldiers and archers were stationed on the city walls and fort walls, and they opened their eyes wide and kept paying attention to the movements in all directions of the village.

The villagers who were selected as stone-cat soldiers took out the catapult rope assigned to them by Simon from their homes, walked into the pile of stones with stones piled up by the village wall, and stuffed the stones into the large cloth bag at their waists.

Three workers worked hard to transport several rock bullets polished in the previous few days to the roof of the trench corner building. There, Ryan and several workers who had learned how to manipulate the trench were debugging the machinery.

Several militiamen were holding large quiver pots filled with fire arrows and small pots mixed with grease and asphalt, and quickly walked towards the stairs up the village wall.

A large pot was laid up under the village wall on the south side, filled with black and sticky asphalt, which was emitting a pungent smell.

The haze of war lingers on everyone's head.

"They are here."

Simon on the south gate of the village noticed that birds were constantly flying in the forest on the main road on the south side of the village were frightened. This shows that a large-scale army is constantly approaching.
Chapter completed!