chsdbacks #157 - Sharpening Soldier
#157 - Sharpening Soldier
As Boullville was dragged to the west ice cellar he knew so well, the two guards he had hired were already being hoisted onto flagpoles under the command of the ten-man squads.
In the moonlight, Jeanne stood still, quietly watching Hoen.
Hoen, with a smile, strode towards her until they were only about a foot apart, then he stopped.
"Why are you late?"
Jeanne's voice unusually held a hint of tearful grievance.
"Something delayed me on the way." Hoen stroked Jeanne's head. "By the way, I have to quibble a bit, I don't call you 'sister' just because in my eyes, I don't see you as a sister, you are my Jeanne."
Lowering her head, Jeanne didn't let Hoen see her face: "Mmm..."
Hoen directly reached out and hugged Jeanne, kissing her forehead: "Let's talk about these things later, take out your battle flag, I need you to do me a favor."
About ten minutes later, Jeanne and Sisi led two brigades of Black Hat soldiers out of the camp, heading towards the village in the night.
............
Near Jeanne Fort, there is a special form of village, called a migrant village.
These villagers are not on the official register of Jeanne Fort, but they are on the tax register.
They are tenant farmers of the Duke and the landed nobles. Every off-season, they still have to go out and move around, working as laborers and doing small businesses in various places.
On this night, the villagers of Black Knight Village were unexpectedly not sleeping peacefully in their beds, but gathered in the center of the village square.
They lowered their voices and whispered uneasily, looking at these fully armed and elite soldiers.
One migrant couple was standing at the front, nervously wringing the corners of their clothes. They still couldn't believe what Jeanne had said earlier.
The Duke had turned their son into wine, it was too absurd.
But Jeanne couldn't control their thoughts. Riding on her horse, she confirmed their identities and nodded to Sisi.
"You want evidence? Listen carefully."
Sisi opened the letter in her hand and read it aloud.
"Papa, Mother, I am doing well in the monastery. Uncle Blind says I should say two things we both know to prevent you from suspecting..."
"...We must cleanse our sins here before we can see you..."
"...Papa, I learned to write here. Uncle Blind is blind from illness. He teaches us to write. I can understand books now..."
"...Overall, it's good here, I'll be back soon..."
When Sisi finished reading the contents of the letter, the peasant woman had already fainted on the ground, while her husband stood there blankly.
But gradually, he began to tremble all over, as if someone was grabbing his head and shaking it.
Suddenly, he jumped up, turned around, rushed to the edge of the crowd, and punched the village's traveling priest in the face, knocking him flat on his back.
He straddled the priest's stomach, his thick arm muscles bulging, and he strangled the priest's neck.
"Beast! You damned beasts!"
The husband's eyes were bloodshot, his face so contorted that he looked like he was possessed by a demon.
"Stop him!"
"Anderke's family, you can't hit a priest, you'll go to hell."
"Let me go, they should go to hell!"
"Don't be impulsive, this might not be true."
"Alright." Jeanne stepped forward and stopped him with her long battle flag. "You're lucky, there are still relics."
The husband immediately released his hand and crawled to Jeanne's feet, looking at her pleadingly.
Jeanne turned her head away, unable to bear it, and took out an eye patch from her bag.
Seeing the eye patch, the husband trembled again. He could no longer control himself. He snatched the eye patch, covered his face, and knelt on the ground, crying loudly.
His eldest son had been stung in the right eye by a bee, and his wife had sewn this eye patch by hand. He was too familiar with it.
The villagers all knew about this.
The appearance description was consistent, the time was consistent, the letter could tell the accurate event, and there were even relics.
The villagers began to tremble. Over the years, they had lost more than one or two relatives and friends who had been taken away by the Green Piper.
Many villagers began to gather around Jeanne, both hoping that Jeanne could produce letters related to their relatives and friends, and fearing that Jeanne could actually produce them.
Looking at the crowd gathering around, Jeanne took a deep breath and said loudly: "I haven't brought all these letters, the rest are in the Migrant New Camp.
I came to inform you because the Duke has actually colluded with the church to help them sell Blue Blood Wine.
You migrant hired farmers, you move around, your relatives and friends are his best targets.
I know you may not believe it, if you figure it out, either follow me, or go to our Migrant New Camp."
Just as the villagers were discussing, the villager holding his son's eye patch walked up to Jeanne.
"Saintess, is there anything I can do?"
He gritted his teeth, his voice seeming to come not from his throat, but from hell.
............
Covenskel Migrant Village.
After the villager from Black Knight Village had been there, the entire village lit up with torches.
In one of the thatched houses at the head of the village, a farmer was hurriedly taking off his pajamas and putting on his formal clothes for daytime travel.
"Are you going too? You're the only able-bodied man in our family, forget it." The peasant woman blocked the door.
"This matter, this matter cannot be forgotten." Trembling all over, the farmer gritted his teeth and said, "The Duke of the Day-Goat, that's my own younger sister, she's only eight years old, how dare they do this."
"Don't go, haven't you already accepted this matter?" The peasant woman pleaded, grabbing the farmer's arm.
"Who accepted it? Who accepted it! Damn it, I never accepted it! I just had no choice." Prying open his wife's fingers, the farmer slammed the hat in his hand hard on the ground. "I just had no choice! I just had no choice!"
"Your sister has already been called by the Lord, you can't revive her even if you go."
"If I don't go, aren't you afraid that our little Miss and little Will will be lured away by the Green Piper one day? If the Duke brings the Edict Legion, they slaughtered Little Pond City, and then our little Miss and little Will will also become wine."
The peasant woman opened her mouth wide. She looked at her children sleeping soundly on the straw bed and suddenly let go of her hand.
"Wait a minute."
She went behind the stove and took out a dark, short sword.
"This is my father's sword." Choking, the peasant woman handed the short sword to the farmer. "Don't die, if you die, I'll take them and remarry."
Wiping the tears from her face with her sleeve, she put the short sword in her belt, shouldered the only metal pitchfork in the house, and the farmer pushed open the door and ran into the darkness.
............
Muschepari Migrant Village.
A large group of people were also gathered in the center of the village. They looked at the farmer in the middle with red eyes, half believing and half doubting.
"You, are you telling the truth?" The village chief looked at the letter in his hand, listened to his narration, and asked in fear.
"Of course, I never lie about my little Colton! My youngest and most beloved son!" Colton's teeth were gnashing, "The damn Duke betrayed us, he wants to turn all the children under fifteen in Jeanne Fort into Blue Blood Wine."
"But, but this, it's too absurd, I can't believe it."
"What's unbelievable about this!" Colton roared, "You said the Duke's war tax was a rumor, but it really was levied.
You said the price of grain would skyrocket when the war came was a rumor, but it really did rise.
You said the death of Old Huanno, the dean, was a rumor, but it was still true. Do you dare to say this is a rumor?"
"This is just a letter, anyone can forge it."
"There are relics of Blue Blood orphans in the camp, there is concrete evidence, those who don't believe it, go and see for yourself, the evidence won't run away."
Losing patience with the village chief, Colton directly pushed him away and roared at the villagers who had gathered around: "Those who want to see the evidence, who want to know where the relatives and friends who were lured away by the Green Piper went, come with me!"
After speaking, Colton ignored the remaining villagers and walked straight out of the village.
After a moment of silence, two people suddenly walked out of the villagers who had gathered around and chased after Colton.
"Wait for me."
Then, people returned to their homes one after another, lit torches, and chased after Colton or ran to the Migrant New Camp on their own.
............
The moon was high in the sky when Jeanne returned from the wilderness, followed by a long line of torches.
Thousands of young and strong farmers, men and women, carrying pitchforks, scythes and axes, or even just a wooden stick, followed closely behind her horse.
In the moonlight, they walked in chaos, occasionally someone stepped on the other's feet, or accidentally fell, but they didn't say a word, got up and continued to follow forward.
Most of their faces were numb, but in the moonlight, tear stains could be seen at the corners of their eyes, and the hands holding the farm tools were full of blue veins.
Step by step, they stepped on the hard mud, heading towards the brightly lit camp.
Madelan stood on the watchtower of the camp, looking around. Near the entire Jeanne Fort, one after another, the migrant villages on the plains were lit up with torches.
This was only what could be seen with the naked eye. Behind the trees, behind the hills, the villagers followed the rivers, riding small boats. In Jeanne Fort, with its well-developed water system, they spread the gradually distorted facts.
The air was filled with the smell of pine resin and burning firewood, and the cold wind seemed to be ignited by the surging anger underground.
Torches continued to gather, forming a long line of torches, heading towards their destination.
And their destination, the final location, was the Migrant New Camp.
At the entrance of the Migrant Camp, a wooden platform, one and a half fathoms high, had been newly built, and in the center of the platform was an altar.
Hoen, wearing a woolen cassock, stood in front of the altar, facing the altar, looking west.
That was the direction of Jeanne Fort.
On the night of November 10, 1444 of the Imperial Calendar, there were only 3 miles left to Jeanne Fort.