When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#358 - Battle of Black Mountain (pre-war negotiations)

The morning mist over the wheat field gradually dissipated, and the morning sun shone obliquely from the right hand side of the Church Army soldiers.

On the ground, the shadows of soldiers carrying grain in a chaotic manner overlapped, and cries of surprise were heard from time to time.

At the very front of the marching队伍, the orcish骠骑兵's terrifying邪神 head shook, occasionally shooting out a few flying arrows to harass them.

As Domenico approached the previous marching route, he was still blocked by the chaotic crowd, and had to dismount and lead his horse forward.

"You're finally back. Lord Zerlachen requires all levels of commanders to gather on the mound over there." His attendant pushed aside the peasant soldiers blocking the road, standing in front of Domenico, panting.

"Go, take me there."

Squeezing past the column of night watch guards and mercenaries, Domenico tied his warhorse to a hitching post.

He first scooped up the icy stream water to wash his face, and then, having composed himself, climbed up the low mound.

The mound was about seven or eight meters high, and Zerlachen, the Grand Archbishop of Golden River, and a group of noble knights leading the troops were gathered on the summit.

"Are those beastmen cavalrymen here to harass us?" Count Domenico asked a nobleman in a low voice.

"Yes." The nobleman kept his eyes on the arguing Grand Archbishop of Golden River and Zerlachen, turning his head to whisper, "Our scouts have discovered the rebel army in the Black Mountains directly ahead."

"What are they arguing about?"

"Who knows? It feels like they mean the same thing, but they're arguing because of the way they're saying it." The nobleman chuckled mockingly twice.

"Oh, what does Lord Nidersal mean?"

Due to the large number of people and the narrow road, they were advancing on two parallel roads, more than a mile apart.

"Don't know, waiting."

"I'll go up and take a look. If Lord Nidersal sends an order, remember to notify me."

Instead of joining the others to watch the two great nobles argue, Domenico quietly climbed a few more steps, standing on the northern slope of the hill.

Stepping over a clump of myrtle, Domenico waved away butterflies and bees, squinting his eyes to look towards the Black Mountains.

The Black Mountains, stretching across the wheat fields, were not black at all, but lush and verdant, covered with verdant sage, pale red snakeberry trees, and tall and short bayberry trees.

The Black Mountains got their name from the black flint mines on the mountains. Its ridge extends from southeast to northwest for about two thousand meters, with an average relative height of about 40 meters, and a maximum of no more than 50 meters.

The northwest end of the ridge can connect to a tributary of the Elbe River.

Behind the low mountains and forests, Domenico saw the vague shadows of sails. He estimated that the Salvation Army came by boat in the early morning.

Standing on the mound, roughly level with the Salvation Army on the mountains, Domenico could not see the faces of the people opposite, but he could see the dazzling sunlight reflected from the helmets and spears.

After standing and watching for about five minutes, he heard shouts from behind.

"Lord Domenico? Is Lord Domenico here?"

"Coming, coming, I'm here." Hearing the shouts, Domenico hurried back to the crowd.

Seeing Domenico coming down from the hill, Zerlachen said as soon as he saw him, "Lord Nidersal has sent a message, saying not to fight, go around, we will go up along the river and cut off their supply line and retreat route."

The eyes of the nobles present focused on Domenico.

"Ahem, since Lord Nidersal said so, then..."

He coughed, faced the crowd, and the muscles of his eyelids twitched unnaturally.

In the direction Domenico was facing, several rough-bearded Kush knights looked at each other, and one of them suddenly stood up: "Why not fight?"

"Yeah, if we go around, what if they take our rear?"

"Could it be that Lord Nidersal is afraid? Or did the messenger not explain clearly? This courage doesn't seem like Lord Nidersal."

"Let's finish the fight early and go home. I brought so many people out, and I don't even have time to harvest the wheat."

Under the instigation of several Kush knights, other nobles and knights began to make noisy voices.

All that was said before was not very useful, mainly because the manor issue was too fatal.

Now it is early July, which is the busy farming season.

After harvesting rice and wheat in early July, soybeans must be planted before the rainy season arrives in early August.

Unlike Horn's standing army, which is guaranteed against drought and flood, the Ibe knights of Golden River still rely on the manor economy. Fighting is just about service and obtaining spoils.

To fight this battle, they brought out nearly ten thousand armed farmers and soldiers.

In addition, in order to transport grain, grass, and troops, they also pulled out tens of thousands of civilians and various vehicles, horses, and boats.

This led to varying degrees of labor shortages and transportation difficulties in various manors. It was difficult to harvest wheat, let alone plant soybeans.

There was a flood last year, and everyone was in debt due to the famine, hoping to make up for it this year.

Especially those knights whose manors were divided by the Salvation Army were even more anxious.

The voices of these large and small nobles were consistent - fight quickly, finish before August, otherwise they will go bankrupt!

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"They are only four or five thousand people, we have tens of thousands, why should we avoid them?"

"Zerlachen, are you just cowardly and falsely conveying Lord Nidersal's thoughts?"

Zerlachen's face turned pale and white as he was questioned by the nobles around him.

If he were completely on Nidersal's side, it would be easy to handle, but unfortunately, although his territory is near the Red Copper Fortress, he is still a member of the Golden River nobles.

"Don't argue, don't argue, Lord Nidersal is coming here, it will be clear when he arrives." Zerlachen could only weakly make a downward pressing gesture.

The Grand Archbishop of Golden River shook his pale beard: "Don't wait for people to come, go ask, we need to decide as soon as possible to avoid missing the opportunity."

After being egged on by the nobles, Zerlachen had no choice but to personally mount his warhorse, stepping over the wheat stalks in the fields, and ran towards Nidersal in the wheat field.

…………

"Request a battle?" Nidersal snorted, "No! I said go around, don't fight a positional war."

"But, wouldn't this hurt their enthusiasm too much?" Zerlachen asked, carefully choosing his words.

Nidersal fell silent. One of the purposes of his trip was to obtain command through war. Doing nothing seemed not good.

After thinking for a long time, after the horses had trotted through the field path, Nidersal raised his head, but he seemed to freeze in place.

"What are they doing?" Pointing in one direction, Nidersal's index finger was trembling.

Following Nidersal's finger, Zerlachen was also stunned.

In the open space between the mound and the Black Mountains, the nobles' troops were actually unfolding in a marching formation on their own!

"I, I hurt his head!" Nidersal was so angry that he stood up from the saddle, pointing forward with a trembling finger, "Look for yourself! Go ask what's going on?"

Before Zerlachen, who was suffering on both sides, could run over to ask what was going on, his manservant rode a donkey and ran from the bumpy dirt road.

"What's going on?" Overtaking Zerlachen, Nidersal asked the manservant directly, "Who gave the order? Who let them form a formation?"

"Reporting to the esteemed Lord Nidersal, the nobles decided on their own, guaranteed by the Grand Archbishop of Golden River."

Nidersal cursed on the spot: "Old, immortal dog thing! Stinking bug that deserves to go to hell!"

He stopped after cursing a few times and forced himself to calm down.

The formation had been set up, and these Ibe knights were determined to fight a battle. Nidersal knew that it could not be reversed and could only acquiesce to this fact.

"Let's go over now and seize command, don't let that old thing mess around."