Chapter 97 Humph, want to escape?
Under the more than 20-meter-long Wandou Bridge, the river flows quietly under the moonlight.

There is a bridgehead at the end of the wooden bridge. There is a three-meter-high checkpoint at each end of the bridge, and there are specially dug shallow trenches in front of the checkpoints.

In the gaps between the chevaux de frise, spiked wooden stakes and trenches, hundreds of refugees who were blocked at the checkpoint slept on the ground, shivering in the cool autumn breeze.

Two red flags representing the church were flying on the top of the wall. Seven or eight soldiers who were on night watch leaned their heads against the wall and chatted with each other intermittently.

Suddenly, a dozing soldier moved his ears. He stood up by holding on to the wall and put his ears into the wind.

"Hey, wake up, wake up, there are horse hooves."

Torches were lit on the top of the wall, and the refugees below the wall raised their heads in confusion, wanting to see what the soldiers were doing.

However, some experienced refugees immediately put their ears to the ground, and as long as they were close to the main road, they would immediately stand up and avoid the road.

The rhythmic sound of horse hooves caused the needle-shaped leaves of the roadside fir trees to sway slightly.

From the small slope at the end of the road, a tall knight wearing a beaked helmet led eight cavalrymen wearing only breastplates and rushed towards the bridgehead.

As expected, any refugees who blocked the road or approached were whipped with horsewhips.

The sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling woke up the refugees who were sleeping on the ground.

They stood up like resurrected zombies and stood blankly in the moonlight, staring at the approaching cavalrymen.

The knight came to the trench and did not speak, but a servant came forward and said: "We are the team of Barnet Knights from Hedge Village. We are ordered by Brother Argon, the abbot of Sid Abbey, to convey urgent military information and open the gate immediately."

The autumn wind blew the torches back and forth, and the middle-aged monk in black climbed up the stairs to the top of the wall, panting.

More militiamen, mostly night guards, climbed onto the city walls.

"It's late at night, we are blocking the short-haired people, and you will ..." Before the militia captain could finish his words, he saw a short arrow whizzing into the top of the wall, which scared him so much that his neck shrank.

"Emergency, emergency, do you know what is urgent?" the cavalry attendants shouted at them, "If we are delayed, will you take the blame and punishment for us?"

Several militia captains looked at each other.

The tall knight came forward, shaking the reins, and his voice was a somewhat childish, neutral voice of a young boy, sounding quite young.

"Everyone, I know you are all devout believers and loyal soldiers, but now there is indeed important military information. Do you have monks or literate people? I have the clearance document from Abbot Argan.

As for the short-haired man, don't worry. Lord Bellard and Lord Cleonte have already blocked the short-haired man in Xiangshu Village. You will be able to see him tomorrow morning."

"Shorthair caught?"

"Great, we finally caught him."

Not only the soldiers on the wall, but also the refugees under the wall were encouraged. If they were blocked here for another three or five days, they would starve to death.

Soon, a night guard was lowered from the basket. He trotted over and walked to the knight's horse with a nod and a bow.

He didn't even dare to look up. Most of the knights who could grow so tall at such a young age came from noble families, unlike those first-generation peasant knights.

The young knight didn't say anything. He took a scroll of letters from his waist and threw it to the night guard.

The night guard took the document, ran back quickly, and handed it to the monk on the city wall.

"Master monk, how is it?"

Several militia captains gathered around the only monk.

"... well... support quickly, immediately, orderly, decisively, and with all our strength... a sense of responsibility, a sense of urgency, a sense of crisis that if we don't move forward, we will fall behind..."

The monk read intermittently by the light of the torch.

After a while, he patted the document with the back of his hand and said, "It is indeed the handwriting of Dean Argan. Look, the seal is clear."

"Master monk, why is there a wavy line at the signature?"

"What do you know? This is Alvin's signature, that's it. Uh, it may be a little casual, but Dean Argon is old after all, so please be considerate."

A militia captain nodded and shouted to the people below: "Remove the roadblocks and let the knight in."

Several servants were sent forward, who struggled to hold up both sides of the roadblock and moved it away. After the cavalry entered, they struggled to move it back.

After all, there are still refugees outside. If we let them in and disturb the knight, what will happen?
Nine knights lined up in a long line and walked in slowly one by one until they arrived in front of the door.

Just as the gate was about to open, the monk suddenly poked his head out from the top of the wall and said, "Wait..."

The irritable servant who had shouted before raised his head impatiently: "What's wrong again?"

"Did Brother Argonne really write this?"

"Of course, any problem?" The servant's ending voice was a little out of tune.

"Oh, Master Argan has made progress in grammar at such a young age. I can't find any mistakes in the whole article. I didn't expect Master Argan to still have such energy and perseverance at his age. I am really ashamed."

Seeing the servant's confused expression, the monk shook his head secretly. What do these rough guys know about grammar? Isn't this like flirting with a blind man?
"Let them go." The young monk shouted to the captain of the militia guarding the city.

"Master Monk, how about we check again? Didn't we say before that those short-haired people would disguise themselves as members of the White Maple Mercenary Group?"

The monk walked up to the militia captain and grabbed his ear and said, "Look carefully, are they disguised as members of the Baifeng Mercenary Group?

Cléonte and Bellarde did go to Xiangshu Village to surround Shorthair, and they had each sent someone to notify them before.

Also, those short-haired people are all farmers, who can grow so tall? And how do you explain this document?

The knights' accents are aristocratic, and peasants can't pronounce the twangs and slurs." "Open the door and let him pass."

The winch is connected to the chain, and the clattering friction sound is so harsh in the quiet night sky.

The heavy oak door was slowly lifted up, and the monks and the militia captains stood at the door to welcome the distinguished guests.

"Welcome to……"

Before the monk could finish his words, he saw the cavalrymen in front of him lined up in a row, holding buckets of water in their hands, staring at them coldly.

"Crash-"

The cavalrymen poured the icy stream water directly over their bodies.

The monk jumped away in time and only got a little wet on his shoes, but the rest of the militia captains were soaked.

Even if he tried to please these knights, the monk couldn't help but get angry.

"you……"

White light, as bright as day, filled the monk's eyes.

Countless electric snakes crawled along the stream and into the howling mouths of the militia captains at the door. The aroma of meat and the smell of burning came at the same time.

Inside the doorway, the militiamen were trembling all over, their limbs twisted unnaturally, as if they were dancing.

The lightning faded, and corpses fell to the ground one after another. They lay on the ground, still trembling occasionally.

Behind the leading knight, a young girl held up a battle flag, lightning still flashing in her golden hair.

The leading knight took off his mask and stared at the monk with his red eyes.

Behind the knight, thirty or forty soldiers in black clothes and wielding short swords suddenly emerged from among the refugees. Feathered arrows drew arcs in the air and shot down the servants one by one.

Nearly fifty imperial command companies immediately crossed the trench, overturned the roadblocks, and rushed towards the gate.

"He's going to give the order to open the gate." Carrie shouted behind her, "The capstan is at the upper left of the gate."

There was a sound like a crossbow being fired, and a specially made short spear came rushing in with a whistling sound, passed over the wooden wall, and disappeared.

"Horn, you goat, you missed the target." Carrie shouted behind her as she anxiously smashed the head of the night guard who rushed over with her war hammer.

Two seconds later, another sound of breaking air was heard, and the short spear finally penetrated the wooden wall with the help of Jeshka.

After a clearly audible howl, bright red blood flowed along the spear shaft from inside the wall to outside the wall.

"It's a witch, it's a witch, run away."

"Hmph, want to run away?"

Jeanne urged her horse on, and the battle flag turned into a long sword, slashing across the head of the night guard and cutting it off directly.

It seemed like she had learned riding skills by herself. She had been riding a horse for about ten days since she set out, and she could already charge back and forth in front of the gate.

As for Carrie, she also had excellent riding skills. She could use a long-handled crow-peck war hammer used by infantry as a one-handed weapon.

In less than a minute, the two saints killed dozens of guards on night watch in front of the doorway, leaving less than 10% of them.

At this time, under the leadership of Horn, the black-clad soldiers from four divisions finally arrived.

The black-clad soldiers poured into the doorway like a black mist. They no longer even formed a formation, but rushed in with spears in hand.

Seeing the arrival of the short-haired reinforcements, the remaining night watch guards lost morale and fled madly. The ground was full of fleeing people, and some even jumped into the river in panic.

When the moon touched the top of the mountain, the citizens of the Papal States were already tiredly following the carriage, crossing the wooden bridge one by one.

The moonlight in the river was tinged with red.

The wounded soldiers howled in agony as they were stabbed in the throat by the black-clad soldiers. Their bodies were pushed to the side of the road and laid out.

The monk, who was tied up, was forced to kneel on the side, waiting for Horn's arrival with an indignant look on his face.

"What? Are you not convinced?"

"You bunch of rebels, once the paladins of the church arrive, you will be crushed into dust!"

"Humor." Horn laughed and continued to move forward.

"Wait, who wrote that letter? Who betrayed my Lord? At least let me die knowing clearly."

"I write."

"You wrote it? Impossible. With that grammar level, how do you know the format of church documents... Is that a priest?! You, you, face me, traitor!"

"I didn't, I wasn't, you got the wrong person." Bonard, who was hiding on the edge and trying to escape, immediately tried to hide behind Hakuto.

"Where is the seal?" Turning his head, the monk asked Horn without giving up.

Horn took out a white radish and waved it in front of him.

After taking a bite of the crisp radish, Horn waved his hand, and several soldiers pushed the monk, whose hands and feet were tied, into the river.

Walking slowly forward and standing at the bridge head, Horn looked towards the east. A hint of dawn was faintly visible on the skyline.

(End of this chapter)