Chapter 98 Who in the world doesn’t have short hair?
There were still some dark red flames remaining on the burnt wooden bridge.

The ground was pitch black, with broken walls and ruins. The bodies of the night watch guards were neatly arranged, emitting a strong stench.

A butterfly fluttered in the morning sunshine, flying around the small and lovely mountain of corpses.

Cleonte and Berard stood in front of the ruins.

There was no sadness or joy on their faces, revealing a calmness and indifference that came from great enlightenment.

It is the numbness after despair, the enlightenment after numbness, and the despair when facing reality after enlightenment.

Bellard led 800 soldiers, Cléante led 500 soldiers, and nearly 1200 armed peasant militiamen were mobilized, a total of 2500 soldiers, and thirteen checkpoints were set up.

There was no way to stop Horn's 1200 farmers with bags of various sizes.

"Where did they go? Have you tracked them down?" Facing Cléante, Bellard's tone was so calm and friendly for the first time.

Cleonte looked up at the blue sky and said, "Their footsteps were mixed with those of the refugees. They could have either fled with them or gone up the mountain again."

"That's it."

"Ah."

The two fell into a long silence again.

"Captain Cléante, Captain Bellarde, Shorthair left some words on the wall on the side of the road, we can't understand them..." An attendant walked slowly and said hesitantly.

"Go and have a look?" asked Cléante.

"Wodekanasi." Bellard spread his hands. Seeing that Cleonte didn't understand, he explained, "What else can I say in El language?"

"Take us to see it, we have nothing to lose." Cleonte said to the follower.

Following the attendant, they came to the wall, on which rhymed knightly poems were written neatly.

However, compared with the poems in "The Legend of the Rose of Rum", it is still too vulgar, but it is just right for both the rough man Cléante and the cultured man Berarde to appreciate.

“There is a false knight ahead, wandering as if he has no sight.

Later there were stupid mercenaries, who were as cowardly as mice.

Good Argon, a hundred miles away from me."

After a long silence, Bellard's face gradually turned red, then from red to blue, from blue to black, from black to white, and finally to red again.

"Ah——" Drawing his sword, Bellard stepped forward and madly chopped at the words on the wall, roaring in helplessness and rage.

Cléante was thick-skinned and a little calmer, but his slightly trembling hands still revealed his true thoughts.

"I can't breathe out, I, I cough, cough, cough, um, cough - uh -" Bellard said this, and suddenly raised his hands high and fell straight down.

He struggled to get up, but the horse's hoof stepped on his sleeve. Finally, he couldn't breathe and fainted.

"Lord Bellard? Call the doctor, quickly."

………………

Vyšehrad, Vyšehrad Cathedral.

In the magnificent hall, the gentle midday sunlight falls on the long walnut carved table. On the table legs, you can see carvings of baby angels with fluttering wings.

"According to our investigation, the short-haired people most likely went to the Black Bone Swamp, and they also recruited 70 to 80 young and strong men from the refugees."

Argon sat at a corner of the table, speaking indistinctly with white hair.

"I am indeed a little bit wrong on this matter." Prince Kong Dai crossed his arms over his chest and admitted his fault readily, "I really didn't expect that there would be a short-haired undercover in the Baifeng Mercenary Group. I should have sent a few more different mercenary groups."

In addition to an infantry mercenary regiment with a ten-year contract, Prince Kongdai also temporarily recruited elite infantry nearby, such as Jidoda's Death Regiment and Griffin's Eagle Regiment.

It's not that he doesn't want to maintain standing infantry, but he has no money.

Maintaining the Nine Command Companies was enough to make them stretched to their limits, and sometimes they even had to sell their own estates to maintain cash flow.

Prince Conde also owed tens of thousands of gold pounds to the old king, the Pope, the Free Bank of Ayr, and several Norn lords.

Therefore, apart from his reputation, the only thing that attracted these mercenary groups to Prince Condé was his excellent spoils distribution policy.

Just as Horn and his companions were crossing the mountains in Gaotai, a major event occurred in Xiaochi City.

The local citizens threw the bishops into the cellar and locked the cellar door, which was called the "throwing into the cellar" incident.

After the catacombs, the citizens took over the city.

Since Xiaochi City was relatively wealthy, local and nearby nobles and priests paid a high price and invited mercenaries to retake the city.

As a result, all the imperial companies and mercenaries under Prince Kongdai went to besiege Xiaochi City.

The citizens of Xiaochi City immediately received support from local monks such as Juanno.

They raised funds to hire several mercenary groups and sent people to Norn to invite foreign forces to join in the event. The matchmaker was the Duchess of Hema Stone, Meliati, but Meliati had a special status and identity. She had the royal bloodline of Faran, Leia, and the former king of Norn.

Besides, his grandfather voluntarily gave up the throne of France and gave the title and throne to the father of the current King of France, thus defusing the civil war that almost broke out in the Kingdom of France.

If you touch her, be careful that your French friends will be surprised.

As long as she doesn't come openly, Prince Kongdai really has no good way to deal with her and can only waste time under the city of Xiaochi.

In addition to Xiaochi City, Prince Kongdai had to send some imperial edicts to the south to guard against the secret parties from Black Snake Bay who were trying to enter the Qianhe Valley gang.

If Prince Kongdai was not in charge, the Thousand River Valley would probably be in chaos.

Horn's group is famous enough, but they don't have enough money and are not very attractive, so the prince still forced the Baifeng Mercenary Group, the top mercenary group, to suppress them.

The White Maple Mercenary Group sent out almost half of its men, but due to Bellard's dictatorial behavior and Cléante's dragging their feet, they were unable to engage in battle with Horn and the others throughout the entire process.

In the only battle, Horn had nearly five times the number of troops, but he almost let the enemy escape.

All I can say is bad luck.

"I was wrong too. I thought the two commanders could cooperate sincerely, so I let them command jointly. I didn't expect that." Argan shook his head.

"Alas, I am old and confused now. It's okay for me to be embarrassed. But these two commanders are very angry and want to continue the pursuit."

After hearing what Argon said, Barnifoss quickly expressed his opinion: "If I had known earlier, I shouldn't have let Cléonte go. This old rogue keeps fighting despite repeated defeats. Apart from being loyal and not being a short-haired undercover agent, I really don't know what use he is?"

Hearing what Barnifors said, Argon twitched as if in his sleep, raised his head and stared at Barnifors' face.

"I have received some news." Argon, who was still dozing off, suddenly became alert. "Bishop Barnifoss, do you have a priest named Bonard under your command?"

"Yes," Barnifors replied while lamenting, "He was an absolutely good boy, my student, my companion, my brother, a brother as close as father and son.

Everyone in the High Castle knows the relationship between him and me. He was too rigid under my influence, and because he was unwilling to submit, he was brutally killed by the short-haired man.

"Oh, wait a minute."

With a smile on his face, Argan clasped his hands together and said to Prince Condé, "When Shorthair tried to drown a monk, the rope was not tied tightly, so the monk survived.

He told me an important piece of news. The reason why the short-haired people were able to cheat their way through the checkpoints one after another was because someone helped them forge the church's documents.

Our monk saw his appearance and remembered his look.

Based on the comparison and confirmation of the people present, we have sufficient evidence to prove that... that person is the priest Bonard. "

"Puff... cough cough cough." Barneyfors, who was originally drinking water slowly, suddenly sprayed water all over the table.

The waiter next to him immediately came up and tried to wipe the table, but was pushed aside by Barnifors after only two wipes.

"What do you mean? Are you saying I have short hair too?" Barneyforth's eyes flashed with resentment.

Argon said nothing, but pushed the two-finger-thick document across the wooden table in front of him.

Picking up the file, Barnifors opened it suspiciously and began to look through the evidence.

But soon, he flipped the pages faster and faster, and in the end, he even slammed the document shut with force.

Barnifoss cleared his throat and forced a smile: "Let me make it clear that I have nothing to do with this Bonard."

"Didn't you just say that you and Bonard are brothers as close as father and son?"

"Everyone and I are brothers as close as father and son. Myrcella told us to love others as we love ourselves, and those who share the same faith are brothers and sisters." Barnifors argued with his neck stiff.

"Isn't he influenced by you?"

"Don't slander me, he slandered me, Your Highness, he slandered me!"

"Alright, alright." Prince Kongdai stopped the two from arguing. "Let's each take a step back. We both made mistakes."

Under Barnifors's resentful gaze, Argon sat down calmly, but fell asleep again after just two seconds.

He has been in the church for so many years, and he is very skilled in the two tricks of smoothing things over and muddying the waters.

Want to pass the buck? You, Barney Foss, a post-millennial (born in 1401), are too young and naive to try to play this game with me.

"In that case, how should we announce it to the public? You know, there are rumors everywhere and it's not easy for everyone." Barnifors was silent for a while and asked again.

Argan coughed and said, "Since Shorthair has so many undercover agents, it's not because we are incompetent, but because Shorthair has been cultivating the land of Thousand River Valley for many years, has thoroughly understood the minds of the people of Thousand River Valley, and has arranged a new cult matrix to break the circle of the secret party.

Let’s say we found out that there are more than 100,000 short-haired people, and there are undercover agents and sympathizers in all walks of life in all places. It was with their help that short-haired people were able to escape successfully.”

"Then just ignore the short hair?"

After thinking for a moment, Prince Kongdai took out a piece of paper and began to write the transfer order.

"I will dispatch an imperial command company from Xiaochi City to continue the pursuit. Of course, if they want to die in the Wild Spider Forest, that's another matter."

(End of this chapter)