Chapter 592, Different Choices, Different Fates

Led by the old guard, with a small number of local noble knights and serf infantry supported by Ryan, the counter-insurgency army led by Baron Biocari Juan Carlos Sun Watcher swept across the entire Lyon In the south of Nasser, the rebel strongholds were uprooted one after another.

Since Juan came to Ryan's command, he has been deeply influenced by Ryan, and he also listened to Ryan's careful guidance before he set off. He was born in the Sun Knight and has a very keen eye for strategy and tactics. He fought against the rebels one after another. After a few battles, Juan immediately judged that the rebels looked powerful, but they were actually vulnerable. They were able to develop and grow amidst the strangling of the local nobles, mainly relying on the following aspects.

First, they are rebels when they take up arms, and serfs when they put down their weapons. Many rebels are cunning, but knights are hard to distinguish. After all, serfs with pitchforks may really just want to fork grass.

Second, the rebel serfs knew how to hide. As soon as the knights came, they hid in the strongholds, hills, and forests, playing hide-and-seek with the knights. After a long time, the number of troops was insufficient, and there was a serious shortage of food. The knight lords can only choose to retreat.

Thirdly, the rebel serfs generally received the sympathy of ordinary serfs. This is very important. In Ryan's words, this is called "mass base". Although Juan didn't quite understand why it was called that, he understood the meaning.

In fact, this problem is not very troublesome, the key lies in trust, and the previous Duke Alderaer of Lyonnaise made a major mistake in this matter. After all, the Duke Alderaer was too young to kill prisoners Such stupid things as killing and surrendering had a great impact on the rebellious serfs. Although it served as a deterrent and saved food, it also made the serfs lose their trust in the knight nobles.

Therefore, after discussing in detail with Earl Durin and Count Larotte, Juan ordered the distribution of relief food first. Give it to the local knights and nobles, because it will definitely lose part of the rescue food when it is handed over to the serfs, and secondly, the serfs should not be allowed to receive it by head, because it will take a long time, and the rebellious serfs are likely to get in and mix in the food and cause damage. confusion.

Juan remembered Ryan's instructions. He sent people to investigate the population of the nearby villages, calculated the ratio, and then asked the villagers to bring people to receive bags of black bread. By the way, he warned these villagers that if there was embezzlement and corruption among them, That can only trouble the old man to apologize with his own head.

Immediately afterwards, Juan announced strict military orders, strictly prohibiting all looting, and if there are military supplies, food or coin compensation will be given according to the price.

Originally, the army was strictly forbidden to go out to mess with men and women, but the problem is that now it is not these soldiers who want to go out to mess around, but those serf women, and even some small noble women take the initiative to post them. After years of wars, there are so many widows, Juan thought After a long time, he could only listen to the advice of Earl Durin and Earl Larotte, and took a step back, saying that he must be responsible for what he did.

just right

A typical serf infantry soldier was found. A serf infantry soldier who had fought with Duke Ryan for many years couldn’t resist stealing a few eggs from the local serf’s house to eat. Juan took advantage of the situation and severely punished him by whipping him twenty times in front of the serfs in the village. , Beating this serf infantry who was a bit smug to the point of death, he was dying.

This severe punishment not only made the three armies awe-inspiring, but also caused a sensation in the entire old Musillon collar. Rumors spread wildly among the serfs, saying that Duke Lane's army was different from other knights and lords! He is the embodiment of chivalry virtues! We are saved!

Now, when some rebel serfs came to the village to seek sympathy and supplies, the attitude of the local serfs immediately changed. Not only did they not sympathize with these rebel serfs, they also tied them up roughly and escorted them to Juan.

Moreover, Bellega also taught Juan a very damaging move. Bellega instructed Juan, saying that you should not wipe out all of them in one battle of annihilation, and remember to let some people go properly to ensure that they escape to the remaining rebel serfs.

Sure enough, in the past few days, although there were still tens of thousands of rebel serfs, the argument that "the old guard is invincible" has been spreading wildly among the rebel serfs, no matter how the rebel leader banned it, it was useless.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Juan led a team of old guards, two serf infantry regiments, a team of dwarf artillery, and the knight army led by Count Durin and Larotte and set out to attack the last strongholds of the rebel serfs. .

The pressure like the peaks of the Pale Sisters began to slowly press down on the rebel serfs. The terrifying pressure almost made everyone feel suffocated. Under the huge pressure, the remaining 30,000 or so rebel serfs were forced to concentrate Standing up, the rebel leaders raised their voices and quickly split into two factions.

One faction is of the opinion that the counter-insurgency army should be confronted immediately. Since the troops from the south must cross the river if they want to continue marching, they advocate that they simply deploy defenses along the river to resist the counter-insurgency army's offensive before they are completely defeated.

Another faction advocated retreating to the strongholds near the Arden Forest, gathering troops to hold out, and waiting for the counter-insurgency army to run out of rations as usual.

The two sides quarreled for a long time without any results, so they simply divided into two factions, those who wanted to defend along the river, and those who wanted to retreat and defend.

In this way, about 10,000 rebel serfs defended along the river, and the remaining about 20,000 rebel serfs retreated towards the final stronghold.

When the rebel serfs arrived at the river, they were lucky, because the anti-rebel army led by Juan just rushed to the other side of the river. It was midsummer, and the river was flowing very fast. In his opinion, the river was flowing so fast that the knights on the opposite side would definitely not dare to cross the river until they had collected enough boats.

It can only be said that the decision of the rebel serfs to deploy defenses along the river was correct, but the low level of knowledge and very narrow insight made all this futile. They didn't even know that there was something called a dwarf pontoon in this world , this pontoon bridge does not need boats.

With the help of the dwarf engineer Dugan Tiehan and the fishermen who were familiar with hydrology among the local serfs, that night, Juan and the two counts led the army to build a pontoon bridge six kilometers upstream and successfully crossed the river.

At this time, most of the rebel serfs were still asleep.

Juan was still very patient. He signaled the army to wait for a while, and waited until the dwarven artillery had finished crossing the river before officially ordering the attack.

The gunfire blared, then the knights charged, and finally the old guards led the serf infantry into the battlefield. These veterans, through countless blood and fire experiences, and with the addition of sophisticated equipment, the old guards let The rebel serfs realized what a real professional soldier was. The gangsters who used to rely on long spears and large wooden shields to entangle the knights for many years finally collapsed.

No one knows who shouted "The old guard is coming" directly caused the bombing of the camp, which eventually led to the chain collapse of about 10,000 rebel serfs.

After a night of fierce fighting, more than 10,000 rebel serf troops collapsed. Only less than 2,000 people escaped, and the rest were all captured.

Out of the thirst for population, Juan strictly prohibited the army from killing prisoners and surrendering. The baron looked at the thousands of rebel serfs kneeling on the plain, begging for their lives, and felt very happy.

This is labor! Fresh and lively workforce.

After placing the prisoners and leaving a part of the army to take care of them, Juan ordered the army to strictly prohibit killing prisoners at will according to Ryan's instructions. After these people were the labor force to resume production, the army continued eastward.

The villages along the way are full of empty houses, dilapidated walls, white bones, covered weeds, and evil beasts come and go.

As the army walked away, the faces of the soldiers and knights became more serious.

Among them, Raymond felt the saddest.

After a lapse of several years, he finally returned to his village, where he was born and grew up.

But what was waiting for him was a piece of white land. The whole village had been abandoned for a long time due to wars and looting. Perhaps in the eyes of others, this was just another destroyed village on the marching road, but in Raymond’s view, this is his home.

The home is gone.

Looking at the village that was almost burned to the ground, it is almost impossible to recognize any traces of the past among the ruined walls. Weeds and shrubs have covered the place.

Raymond's house had already collapsed for a long time. When the old guard came to his door, he found that the door had been smashed open and everything inside had been looted.

The former Leona Sai escaped slave shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, there is nothing valuable at home."

"This is the village you used to live in?" Juan, the Baron of Biocari, came up. This baron was even younger than Raymond. Under the golden sun burning ring helmet, there was still a bit of immature face. He was full of vigor and confidence, and after taking a closer look, he said, "Yes, I remember that many people escaped from Lyonnaise back then."

"I'm used to staying in the Duke's territory, I almost forgot that not every place in Brittania is as rich as the Duke's." Raymond said cautiously and sadly: "This Villages are the status quo of most villages."

Hearing this, the dusty Earl Durin understood.

This kid is a runaway slave!

This fugitive slave turned into an old guard? !

The veteran aristocrat suddenly felt a little sour. After thinking about it, he decided to take the initiative to speak up, even though in the past, a nobleman like him never directly talked to the serfs, because it would lose his identity.

But both Earl Durin and Earl Larotte understood better than those old Musillon nobles who were still twitching. Instead, he took the initiative to strike up a conversation: "Listen to your accent, you are also from Lyonnaise! Brat, Let you escape, do you know how many people died on the way to escape?"

"Uh...hehehe~" Raymond smiled awkwardly after hearing this. After all, he was a fugitive slave, and he was born with a guilty conscience when facing this kind of local nobleman, but the old guard knew that he represented the face of Duke Ryan. I can only nod my head and say nothing.

Earl Durin didn't pursue too much, he just continued, with a heavy tone: "The situation is like this, some people like you escaped successfully, but some people were forced to rebel and launched a rebellion. Enter the knight's house, open the warehouse, and attack the guards. After a long time, the serfs gathered and formed a rebellion. Wherever they passed, there was no grass growing. Except for the shrine of the lady, they dared not touch it. They not only plundered the homes of knights and nobles, They even robbed the serfs of a little bit of food, and the bandits crossed the border. The local serfs also suffered a huge disaster. They had to rebel after being deprived of all their rations and property. After a long time, the rebellion of the serfs was like a snowball Rolling bigger and bigger."

"Let's resolve the rebellion as soon as possible." Juan also sighed. He once thought that Britannia was ruled by Ryan: "Try to make as few killings as possible. These are the population."

"Hmm!" The crowd suddenly responded.

Three days later, the counter-insurgency army surrounded the last stronghold of the rebel serfs in the south of Lyonnaise.

At this time, the rebel serfs in the stronghold had already learned of the failure of the defense plan along the river. About 20,000 rebel serfs crowded into a very small stronghold. Unable to withstand the counter-insurgency army, these rebel serfs really have no confidence.

Worrying all day long, and worrying about the slightest disturbance for a long time, this is the true portrayal of these rebellious serfs.

Inside the crowded and foul-smelling stronghold, several rebel leaders were discussing what to do. They originally planned to surrender, but after all, they knew that the former Duke of Lyonnaise, Alderlad, had killed prisoners and surrendered. There were only more than 2,000 troops who came to suppress the rebellion (we had to divide troops to garrison along the way), and there were more than 20,000 on my own side. Immediately, the argument of advocating "fighting" and trying again gained the upper hand.

"Aaron, can we really defeat His Excellency the Duke's army like this?" Several little bosses asked unconfidently: "That's the old guard!"

One of the leaders of the rebel army is called Alan, also a young man in his twenties. It is said that when his father was too tired to be crushed to death when he was serving the knight, he launched the rebellion in anger. .

"What's the matter with the old guard!" Alan's face was covered with scars, his hair was messy and knotted, and he lost an eye. He said a little unconfidently: "That's all rumors, we Haven't seen it with my own eyes."

"But..." The other rebel serfs were frightened when they heard the name of the old guard.

"The enemy only has more than 2,000 people, and we have more than 20,000. What are you afraid of?!" Aaron said impatiently: "After fighting a battle first, if we can win, maybe Duke Lane is willing to recruit us! When the time comes No matter what, you can be a freeman and a sergeant, maybe you can be a knight, don't you think?"

"..." The rebel serfs fell silent.

On the second day, the gate of the stronghold was opened, and thousands of rebel serfs led by the strongest first warrior in the rebel army, using simple weapons and wearing tattered equipment, launched a charge towards the counter-insurgency army .

The counter-insurgency army didn't seem to respond. They just stood there, lined up in three rows, without saying a word.

The rebel serfs were a little surprised just now, and before they had time to think about it, there was a sudden flash of dazzling white light and hundreds of puffs of white smoke from the counter-rebellion army, and then, there was a thunderous gunshot!

"Boom~ boom boom boom!"

In an instant, the rebel serfs who rushed to the front fell down in groups. In front of the dense barrage, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and screams were endless.

Afterwards, the serf infantry regiment opened its formation, and an army dressed in gorgeous military uniforms, half plate armor, bearskin hats, red and blue epaulets with braids around the waist, and leather boots joined the battlefield. They either held halberds, Either holding a long-barreled firecracker or a large sword, they join the battlefield row by row.

The strongest number one warrior among the rebel army, the warrior who had defeated several strongholds and led dozens of people rushed to the front of this army, but the old guard officer easily dodged him sideways Then he chopped off his head with a halberd in his hand, and dozens of rebel serfs dispersed in a rush. In front of this army, their resistance seemed extremely ridiculous.

With the sonorous song, the roar of the cannon and the cries of the flanking knights, the army marched into the field.

They have experienced a lot, and many of them fought with Ryan after he just arrived in the Knight Kingdom. In the Battle of the Blackstone Stronghold and the Battle of La Messonner, he personally defeated the great necromancer Heinrich Kemmler, and finally even fought hard against the number one demon under Tzeentch during the recovery of Musilon, and in the recovery of Mu Xilong. Xilong has made countless contributions.

At this time, facing these rebel serfs, their eyes are enough to make the enemy frightened.

"The old guard is here!"

"It's the old guard!"

"We're screwed!"

"Ladies take pity on us!"

Thousands of serfs were instantly defeated in this way, screaming and running for their lives.

Alang, who was standing behind the city wall, knew that something was wrong, and he shouted hoarsely: "Withdraw!"

It was too late, the dwarven heavy artillery had already bombarded the city wall, the defenders were torn apart and the people turned upside down, and then the knights attacked from the flanks, and finally, as the old guards entered the stronghold, the rebellion serfs were defeated.

In the midst of the chaos, two familiar people met.

"Raymond?! It's you! You actually became the old guard?!" A familiar voice made the old guard raise his head, and then he opened his mouth in surprise.

"Aaron?!"