Chapter 262 What? It is!
Castle Joan of Arc is located in the northeast of Longsand County, surrounded by crescent-shaped mountains, and borders Mound County to the east and North County to the southeast.

The canal connected Château d'Arc to the Ibe River and its tributaries, the Nauen River.

The logs and ores from the eastern counties of Mound and North could be transported to Joan of Arc by land, while the daily necessities and food from the west could be transported to Joan of Arc by water.

The Ibe River flows southwards through the Ibe Plains of Langsand County, which covers 400,000 hectares of farmland, providing a precious source of water for local farmers.

On the 400,000-hectare Ibe Plain, more than 60% of the knights are Leias and Franks.

Although they were born in the Thousand River Valley, they rarely intermarried with local nobles. It was often just Franks with Franks, Layas with Layas, and Kushites with Kushites.

Only the second son, the wandering knight, and the youngest son of a minor noble family would marry the locals.

On the Ibe Plain, among the wavy wheat fields, there are 1300 knights' estates and 200 churches of all sizes.

After the appearance of the Knights of the Fran King's Constitution, the Church urgently mobilized 200 extraordinary knights of the Leia bloodline.

Half of them entered Joan of Arc to help the church suppress the Knights of the Franco-French Constitution, while the other half stayed in Grayfurnace Town to supervise local craftsmen in making weapons for the mercenaries and repairing the knights' armor free of charge.

However, at noon on February 2, 22 knights from Grayfurnace Town came out in full force and, for some unknown reason, marched quickly towards Mayo Town.

On the road leading to Mayo town, an army of thousands of people slowly advanced.

Among them, the squire knights walked in the front to explore the way and led the armed peasant infantry in the middle, while at the end were the extraordinary knights who were responsible for supervising the battle and killing deserters.

The war horses of the 100 extraordinary knights pounded the hard ground, raising circles of dust.

They wore red feathers on their heads, frosted silver armor, and silk cloaks tied with ribbons, fluttering back and forth in the warming spring breeze.

The war horses of these knights are all local rough-hoofed horses of the Ibe Plain. They were all brought by the Kush people from their hometown, the Kush River grassland.

However, the people sitting on the backs of these Kushite rough-hoofed horses are no longer Kush people, but Franks with irises flying and Leias with thorn flowers flying.

Even though they only have 100 knights, as knights close to Bronze Eagle Castle, they have to fight against the secret parties, monsters and barbarians on the border every year, so they have rich combat experience.

"My Lord Earl, we still have 5 miles to go to reach the scheduled battle site."

"Got it." A middle-aged man wearing beautiful hollow silver armor stroked his beard and smiled.

"Hurry up and don't dawdle." The adjutant beside him immediately shouted to the armed peasant infantry in front.

The church said that it mobilized 100 extraordinary knights to guard Grayfurnace Town, but the 100 knights were not just themselves.

Each knight usually has one or two squire knights, who are usually armed peasants with no breathing skills or low-level breathing skills.

However, the squire's breathing method is not allowed to exceed that of the knight himself, otherwise it will be regarded as disrespectful to the lord.

In addition to the cavalry, there were also infantry squads composed of armed peasants. A knight usually led 4-5 people, armed with wooden shields and short axes or inferior iron swords.

So when these 100 extraordinary knights went into battle, they were followed by nearly 200 light armored cavalry, more than 450 armed infantry, and more than 300 public servants who carried weapons and food.

So their army actually has a size of nearly a thousand people.

The commander of this small army was Count Enrico de Arco, and most of the knights in this small army were his vassals.

Enrico, who was riding in the front and wearing a purple satin cloak with gold edges, looked around at the army with satisfaction.

He felt that he had reached the pinnacle of his life.

After learning that the group of short-haired rats had slipped out of the Black Bone Swamp, Enrico immediately mobilized all the troops in Gray Furnace Town and attacked in the direction of Mayo Town.

The knights of Jeanne d'Arc have always felt the same way about these rats:
I'm not afraid of you pulling me out to fight, I'm just afraid that you'll come out to launch a sneak attack from time to time.

A surprise attack would attract a large number of their troops and prevent them from leaving.

The city of Rapides was captured by rioting citizens, and the surrounding villages were occupied by cavalry organized by the citizens. Enrico thought he was going to be sent to tackle tough problems.

I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it, thank the Holy Father for sending him such a great gift. It's a pity that this refreshing feeling was soon poured with a small basin of cold water.

"My Lord," the curly-haired young man following behind Enrico whispered, "The enemy may not be as weak as we thought. Perhaps we should form a formation first and then continue to march. We can't move forward in such a chaotic manner."

Count Enrico glanced at the curly-haired young man. His name was Bernardo and he was the family's accountant and lawyer.

In this army, his main task was to help the Earl manage logistics and marches.

"That witch is only one person, and we have so many." Count Enrico said hesitantly, "And lightning can't penetrate armor, right? Nicol and the others just suffered because their horses were not armored."

"My Lord, but their casualty ratio and the situation on the scene are not normal. Nicol and the others may have missed something..."

"Why? Are you going to question the noble and honest qualities of the two knights?"

"Your Excellency, I know you are kind and benevolent, and you are good to all your servants, but he is only an accountant and a lawyer, right?"

"Yeah, he's not a knight, so when is it his turn to judge the authenticity of the information?"

Before Bernardo could finish speaking, the other knights next to him interrupted him impatiently, as if Bernardo had made some huge mistake.

After all, Bernardo is just a citizen and should be a servant. Even if Nicole and the others really didn't tell the truth for the sake of face, he is still one of them.

If you don’t help him today, and he makes a mistake tomorrow, who will help him?

Moreover, servants must always be aware of their status, otherwise they will be above their masters.

This is the truth passed down by the knights' family.

Count Enrico's face couldn't help looking ugly amid the noise. It was obvious that Bernardo's behavior made him feel embarrassed and disrespectful.

If he cannot demonstrate the majesty of a lord in front of his servants, he will no longer have any prestige in front of his vassals.

It’s just that Bernardo was sent by the grandmother to supervise and help him, and to a certain extent he represents the will of the grandmother and even the entire Alco family.

Bernardo's suggestions were reasonable, and Enrico didn't want to offend his grandmother.

The atmosphere froze for a moment, and finally Bernardo slowly spoke:

"I overstepped my bounds. I apologize to Mr. Nicol."

"Well, watch your manners, Bernardo." Enrico patted Bernardo's arm with a hint of gratitude.

"I'm sorry, my lord." Bernardo bowed, loosened the reins and fell behind Count Enrico and the other knights.

The entire army was still moving slowly forward in its original scattered marching formation.

Forget it, Bernardo shook his head and turned to leave. Before he turned around, another reconnaissance cavalry arrived.

Bernardo could vaguely hear him say, "We'll meet the enemy in another mile and a half."

In a quarter of an hour, the enemy marched two and a half miles, while our side, with thousands of infantrymen, only marched more than a mile in a quarter of an hour.

Our side was lightly equipped, with almost no logistical baggage, all of which were left in Huilu Town, and they also had cavalry.

The enemy was pure infantry, but their marching speed was twice as fast as theirs. Even though this was on the main road, it was still too abnormal.

Maybe this battle is not as easy as Enrico imagined.

Sure enough, not even five minutes into the journey, Bernardo saw enemy rangers appearing on the hillside and in the woods.

At the end of the road, a row of vague figures suddenly appeared.

"Prepare to form a battle array!"

(End of this chapter)