Chapter 266: Was Count Enrico rescued?

Count Enrico and his group, who were bewitched by the devil, were chased from the evening of the 22nd to the noon of the 23rd, before they barely reached the edge of Huilu Town.

Perhaps it was because this place was close to Gray Furnace Town, those despicable cavalrymen with the devil's wind finally stopped chasing them.

After confirming this, Count Enrico immediately announced: "Keep working hard, we can hold on for a while longer and reach Gray Furnace Town."

"Yes."

"Oh."

He was answered with a weak and sporadic reply. In the past, Enrico would have been furious and accused the knights of being rude.

But now he was too tired, so tired that he didn't even have the thought of being angry.

They had been driven all night by those despicable cavalrymen, who were composed of farmers and never engaged in direct combat, but simply ran out from unexpected places.

Late in the night, they beat drums and gongs and even launched a night attack, forcing the knights to stay awake all night.

Count Enrico had dark circles under his eyes, his bones heaving on the horse's back as if they were broken, and his throat was so dry that it was almost smoking.

At the beginning, their 100 extraordinary knights led an army of thousands of people to fight. Now, when they returned, not only were there less than extraordinary knights left, but more than half of the public farmers who had followed the army disappeared, and currently only half of the original number of armed farmers can still follow them.

Most importantly, Bernardo disappeared in a previous attack, which made Enrico feel uneasy.

Was he really too disappointed to leave early? Should he report the true situation to the Fortress of Jeanne d'Arc?
Oh my God, he hasn’t even figured out how to explain to Lord Boorio yet, and he already has to figure out how to deal with his grandmother?

The early spring sunshine was a bit chilly. Although Count Enrico was dressed neatly, he couldn't help feeling a chill running down his spine into his brain.

Around two o'clock in the afternoon, the church tower of Grayfurnace Town finally appeared in the sight of the fleeing knights.

Count Enrico ordered a halt to the advance, a fifteen-minute rest, to tidy up clothes and do some simple washing.

"Send a few servants to tell the mayor to bring some clean clothes."

He couldn't just walk back with failure like that.

Half-kneeling by the river, Count Enrico almost fell into the water due to exhaustion when he scooped water to wash his face.

Looking down at his own disheveled appearance in the water, Enrico smiled self-deprecatingly.

He cannot undo past failures, but at least he must ensure that failures do not turn into bigger failures.

Anyway, he is a count, and with his grandmother protecting him, it means that the Alcor family will also protect him. At most, the church's future and opportunities will be reduced.

After making the final decision, Enrico began to miss Bernardo.

"If only Bernardo were still here, at least I would know how to write a proper letter of resignation." Enrico muttered with his head down, shaking the water off his hands.

"Master Enrico!"

A loud shout coming from far away startled Enrico who was distracted. He looked up blankly, only to see that it was the messenger he had sent to inform the mayor of Gray Furnace Town.

"Master Enrico, I, I saw it, I saw it..."

"What did you see? Tell me." A bad feeling came over him, and Enrico shouted harshly.

The messenger swallowed and said, "I saw a black and red flag flying on the church tower in Gray Furnace Town."

The orderly sound of footsteps like magic came again, and along with it, there was the creaking sound of gears turning.

The soldiers sat on the ground, unable to stand up. They had been driven like sheep by the cuirassiers all night, and once they sat down, they could no longer straighten their legs.

The black-clad devils once again appeared from the hillside and the horizon, pointing their gun muzzles at them.

On the left, right and front, there were soldiers in black and dense spears, and behind them was a river.

They are surrounded here.

Enrico then realized that while Jeanne was chasing them in circles, the Savior Army had already marched quickly and attacked at night, occupying Gray Furnace Town before he returned.

Enrico's face suddenly turned pale.

Huilu Town has been lost, his small defeat turned into a big defeat, and he was surrounded here again, and the big defeat turned into a miserable defeat.

"My Lord Count, let us surrender." Arianco leaned over and whispered in Enrico's ear.

"surrender?"

Enrico repeated subconsciously.

"Yes." Arianco pointed ahead and said, "They are shouting 'Put down your weapons and we won't kill you.'"

"We are knights. Are we going to surrender to peasants and civilians?" Enrico pointed at the black-clad soldiers. "Will they really keep their promise?"

"No, sir, listen carefully, isn't that Nicol the one shouting? He's been captured."

"But we are nobles."

"We are nobles, but we are controlled by the devil. We have no choice but to do this."

Enrico stared at him as if meeting Arianco for the first time, and he responded to Enrico's gaze with a wry smile. "No, no..."

"You mean no?"

"No!" Realizing that he was in a dead end, Count Enrico roared loudly.

Although he is a noble, he has backbone. He will never surrender and will not be a slave of the common people. This is his last bottom line.

"grown ups?"

In desperation, Enrico threw away his cloak, turned around, and jumped into the river behind him amid the screams of everyone!

The water splashed, and the cold river water flooded his ankles, calves and knees in turn, and the cold penetrated into his skin.

Finally looking at the dark crowd over there, Enrico closed his eyes.

The honor of a knight must not be trampled upon!
Goodbye, world!

…………

"Has Count Enrico been fished out?"

"He climbed out by himself, saying the water was too cold." Handing a statistical sheet to Horn, Armand couldn't help laughing. "The water was only up to his thighs. He couldn't have drowned no matter what."

Horn also couldn't help laughing. He looked down at the list in his hand, which was a list of spoils and captured items.

Just as the information obtained from the local villagers before, Huilu Town indeed stores a large amount of armor and weapons.

First of all, there are 523 armed swords. After filling the gap in the armed swords of the Holy Gunners, some can also be equipped for the Spearmen.

The next order is 1200 brimmed helmets, which were an order placed by the mercenary group Death Corps. Now they are completely in Horn's hands.

In the previous battle, the rain of arrows caused considerable damage to the Savior Army, and more than 20 people were shot in the forehead and died.

But compared with those armed peasant militia armies, the fall and casualties of teammates would not stop the war monks.

With these brimmed helmets, at least half of the Salvation Army now have helmets that can protect against arrows.

What surprised Horn the most was that the church purchased 1000 sets of infantry-specific breastplates from Norn, and they were actually stockpiled in Grayfurnace Town.

In addition to the weapons and equipment stripped from the armed infantry and knights, Horn actually had nearly 1800 sets of high-quality breastplates and 500 sets of various leather armors.

After this change of equipment, the armor rate of the Savior Army reached 52%, and almost all the spearmen had a set of armor.

The rest of the spoils were too numerous to count and filled the carriage bed.

Sitting in the study on the second floor of the Lord's Hall in Gray Furnace Town, he looked out of the window.

After a day and night of marching and fighting, the war monks were so tired that they just lay down on the ground and fell asleep.

Despite being so tired, they did not break into the house directly. Instead, they extorted some hay and bedding and slept under the eaves.

But even at this time, Horn still saw some war monks carrying money bags and heading towards the taverns and alleys where prostitutes frequented.

Horn knew that these Savior Army soldiers did not have such strong beliefs.

But at least they won't rob or insult women, and they won't get anything for nothing, whether it's eating or doing that.

The Holy Fathers worked hard all winter and only achieved this much, but Horn knew that they had tried their best.

There is still a severe shortage of talent.

"Have all the spoils been handed in?"

"Everything has been handed in according to the proportion, and the orderly and accountant have finished the inventory."

Although it is said that the spoils should be returned to the public, the war monks do not have such moral qualities and accomplishments.

This kind of thing is better to be facilitated than blocked, so Horn just let it go.

Horn adopted the strategy of dividing the private property left by the knights and their families on the battlefield among three horses.

Although it must be turned over to the public, 30% of the available spoils remain in the hands of the war monks themselves, 20% remains in the legion as legion funds, and 50% is turned over to the Holy Treasury.

I have to say that after these two days of hunting in the wild, the Saviors have made a lot of money.

Horn calculated the spoils he had obtained, and excluding the bonds and deeds, there was about 3000 gold pounds.

There are only a few monasteries and manors. These nobles and priests are really rich.

But this money belongs to the Holy Father, why should they take it?

Only when it falls into the hands of Horn, the legitimate successor of the Holy Father, can it be considered returned to its original owner!
“After the Black Hat Army’s Third Regiment and the Guards’ Second Regiment finished their rest, they each led their troops out to clear out the monastery and manor.

Let's have those warrior monks from nearby Jeanne d'Arc go out and show the people in the villages the knight's armor we have captured.

Tell them not to worry, tell them we are here as promised."

(End of this chapter)