Chapter 232 Sharp Sword, Sharp Eyes

Sissi's deerskin boots made a hollow sound as they stepped on the wooden plank road at the Jeanne d'Arc pier.

He was wearing an exquisite lace long dress and a veil hat on his head that covered his original face. His right hand was holding Mitternich's arm, as if they were a couple.

Mitternich had two thick black mustaches on his lips, and looked like an obese middle-aged man.

On the cold river, he exhaled white steam from under his black beard. He rubbed his hands and looked around, carefully observing the small town in front of him that had experienced a brutal war not long ago.

The ground that was once stained red with blood had long been washed clean by the rain, leaving only half of the broken bridge hanging on the shore.

As for the charred marks left by lightning on both sides of the river and on the walls, they could not be removed in a short time.

"Be careful, handle it with care!"

Turning sideways, Mitternich shouted to the guys who were moving the goods, playing the role of a businessman with ease.

The guys carried the wooden boxes one by one and said to Mittenyi, "Don't worry, Mr. Megedi, I promise there won't be any damage."

Carrying a wooden box, Martial, wearing a scholar's robe, squeezed through the crowd getting off the boat. Accompanying him was Andal, the chief guard sent by Magdi.

"Sorry, sorry." Martial held the book bag in his arms, "I was so engrossed in copying books last night that I overslept. Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."

"Hahaha, it's okay, it's okay. We have to wait for the priest at the dock to finish counting the goods before we can leave." Mitternich laughed roughly.

Standing next to Mitternich, Andal, wearing leather armor, holding a sharp sword, scanned the crowd around him with sharp eyes.

At the dock, hundreds of laborers carried wooden boxes and goods to carts on the roadside.

At the end of the dock, more than a dozen mule carts, horse carriages and donkeys were waiting on the side of the road, waiting to load goods and then transport them to the commercial port.

Andal whispered to Mitternich: "When I came to Jeanne Castle three years ago, it was also winter, and there were many more people than now."

"Thirty percent of the population around Jeanne d'Arc was taken away by the Salvation Army." Sissi chuckled, her voice as sweet as the song of a mandarin duck.

"The previous war was an almost devastating blow to the economy of Jeanne d'Arc." Martial sighed and touched the grain bag beside him. "Fortunately, the local grain prices have finally been suppressed."

"The grain price is being suppressed, not because the nobles and wealthy businessmen suddenly have a conscience, but because they were here before." Sissi's delicate fingers ran across the rough sack.

"Have you noticed?" Mitternich said mysteriously to Sissi, "People around here don't treat those priests well."

Listening to Mitternich's words, Sissi and others looked around and found that just as Mitternich said, the local residents had a very average attitude towards the priests.

You know, when they usually face the priests, they are all hunched over.

But now, although they are still crouching, their backs are straight, and they will spit at them secretly from time to time.

"They are nice to those Frankish knights. Hey, where do these Franks come from?" Andal suddenly whispered.

Following Andal's line of sight, Mitternich narrowed his eyes slightly.

The gilded breastplate, the blue and white robe and the irises on the robe. Even though he was far away, he could still hear the dry French language.

Knight of the Royal Charter of France?

This is something the Kingdom of France made based on the Imperial Company's imitation. Although it is a copycat version, its cavalry combat is not inferior to that of the knights of the Imperial Company.

Holding Sissi's arm, Mitternich walked to the edge of the dock, where several old workers were sitting on wooden boxes drinking water and resting.

Mitternich held a dinar between his fingers: "My friend, I have a few questions for you."

“You say.” Seeing the silver light of the dinar, the old laborer immediately smiled.

"Where did the Franks come from in this Chateau Jeanne d'Arc?"

"Oh, that's what you're talking about." The laborer replied, "The Franks presented a land exchange contract for the stupid Duke Dane, claiming that the land should be transferred to Bamanda's father. The church refused, so the Franks forcibly sent the Frank knights to take over."

"Is this in accordance with Imperial law?"

"The father of that greedy lady is an Aiel. I always say that she is so greedy because she inherited her father's Aiel bloodline... You know, whether it is legal or not is just a matter of the Aiel's mouth, right?"

"So will the church just watch helplessly as the Franks send out the Royal Knights?"

The worker said nothing, but stared at the dinar in Mitternich's hand.

Sissi simply pulled out the dinar and handed it to the worker, who put it in his pocket and then began to talk incessantly.

The Salvation Army's distribution of land near Fort Jeanne caused a lot of unpleasantness between the church, the Leia people and the local residents. To be precise, after the Salvation Army left, a large amount of land belonging to the locals in Fort Jeanne was recovered.

The scene of the farmers running to Jeanne d'Arc to protest in the streets was almost repeated.

It was not until the Franks came that the local residents threatened the church to support the Franks' rule, and the church's return to the countryside to seize land was stopped.

After all, originally they could only choose the church, but now they have a second choice, so the church will naturally be cautious.

The entire Joan of Arc is currently in a strange balance between the church, the Fran Kingdom and the local residents.

Mitternich did not ask any more questions to avoid revealing his identity, but on the way to the hotel, he kept silently counting the number of the Royal Knights.

By the time he arrived at the inn, he could probably conclude that, based on the number of officers and horses, the number of royal knights at Joan of Arc was between 400 and 800.

Including the 300 extraordinary knights left by the decree of Prince Condé and the Temple Knights left by the church, the number of extraordinary knights stationed in the entire Joan of Arc is currently about 1000.

As for why Prince Condé did not intercept Horn at Chateau Joan of Arc, there was naturally a reason.

Some time ago, the eldest prince Imbra led his troops into the palace and tried to seize the throne, but he was bribed by Genegis's subordinates and was completely wiped out.

Today in Longsong, the capital of the Kingdom of Faran, King Tormund is seriously ill and bedridden, basically unable to manage affairs.

On the advice of Pope John VIII, Crown Prince Genesis became regent and led the affairs of the kingdom.

The first requirement was to have the three great nobles holding the imperial decree come to the capital to attend this year's New Year's banquet before the beginning of spring.

After learning about what happened to Impala, the two royal dukes decided to hold a royal dinner and cordially invited Prince Condé to attend in March of the following year.

These actions are indeed puzzling when viewed alone, but if you take out the imperial edict and look at it, the situation becomes clear immediately.

There are 42 command companies in total, which are the field mobile forces of the Kingdom of Leia.

They are respectively controlled by the king, the eldest prince and three royal nobles, and usually have their own stations.

After old King Tormund and Prince Imbra fell ill and died respectively, Genegis took control of 17 Companies of Commands.

On the other side, King Tormund's two younger brothers, Duke Luel and Duke Neidbach, controlled a total of 16 companies of orders.

Prince Kongdai, a member of the royal family of the previous dynasty, controlled nine imperial decree companies and eventually became the largest neutral force.

Because everyone knows that the nobles in Leia will not let Prince Kongdai become king.

This has been the dilemma that the Kingdom of Leia has faced for many years. There are great nobles within the royal family who control the Kingdom of Leia's mobile field forces.

Outside the royal family, there are also great nobles who control the local garrison forces of the Kingdom of Leia.

In the entire Kingdom of Leia, the royal power is stronger than before the Hundred Years' War, but it is still jointly ruled by the great nobles inside and outside the country.

At this critical juncture when the two sides are evenly matched, whichever side Prince Kongdai joins will gain an epic boost in strength.

In Mitternich's view, Prince Condé's stay in Feiliu Castle with six imperial companies was just waiting for a higher price.

"This is both a good thing and a bad thing for us." Mittenyi analyzed, "The good thing is that the Leia Kingdom is hindering each other internally and can't spare the energy to deal with us.

The bad news is that, in order to avoid upsetting the fragile balance, Prince Condé and his nine companies of imperial orders will remain in the Thousand River Valley until at least March."

"If we can quickly defeat the churches and nobles in various places, Prince Condé might just take advantage of the situation and leave when he sees that the situation is hopeless."

Xixi followed up with an analysis: "His core position is the Kongdai area of ​​the Windmill Land. It's not worthwhile to fight with us head-on and exhaust all the forces in our hands."

“But from another perspective, if Prince Condé attacks quickly and defeats us one by one before we unite as a whole, failure will still be waiting for us.” Mitternich said calmly while sitting on the bed in the hotel.

Andal looked at Sissi and Mitternich's faces and asked hesitantly, "We need to fight quickly and reunite as soon as possible. Wouldn't supporting the Salvation Army be a distraction?"

"The Salvation Army is more familiar with Fort Jeanne d'Arc than we are. If we can take down Fort Jeanne d'Arc, we can eliminate the hidden danger of being attacked from all sides."

"But do you really think that the Salvation Army has the ability to defeat the thousand extraordinary knights of Jeanne d'Arc? This is not the case before."

Sissi and Mitternich looked at each other and said nothing.

Martial came out and said with a smile: "We are here to assess whether they are qualified or not, right?"

(End of this chapter)