When it came to assembling troops, Duke Eddie still encountered some problems, that is, he could not recruit mercenaries.The main reason is that at the end of last fall, he issued a commissioned mission against undead monsters in the Adventurers' Guild, but in the end he did not pay his salary.This made many adventurers dare not believe in Duke Eddie's character anymore.The knights and mages of the Eastrise Fortress alone are obviously not enough, and if you want to assemble an army, you need to recruit a large number of mercenaries, who are the backbone.As for the forcibly conscripted peasants, those wastes could not even hold their swords well, and generally carried supplies such as grain, grass and tents in the rear, and did not come forward to fight.For this reason, Duke Eddie can only promise to the outside world that he will pay 30% of the salary in advance to the adventurers recruited accordingly, and the remaining 70% will be distributed after the battle.Mercenaries have always been the group with the greatest casualties in the battles between the two armies.The mercenaries who died in battle were not supposed to be paid.But in order to rally the army, Duke Eddie had to make this decision, and the money spent seemed to be cutting his flesh, and it was painful.This also made Duke Eddie even more resentful of Owen Eisen, and the extra money spent must definitely be taken back from Frontier Town.Despite some time, an army of nearly 2,000 men had assembled on the north side of the Dongsheng Fortress and was ready to set off.Before leaving, Duke Eddie issued a pre-battle declaration to the people, scolding the lords of Frontier for ignoring the king's orders, and he would impose justice on the other side on behalf of the king.With an order, this huge army set off for the border town.At the head of the line were the knights of the four major families of the Dongsheng Fortress, with a total of three hundred and twenty knights.Among them, there are one hundred and twenty elite knights under the command of Duke Eddie.They wore glittering silver full-body armor, and the capes on their chests and backs were emblazoned with the Eddie family crest.Armed with well-sharpened spears, all of them are the proud work of the fortress blacksmiths.Even the war horse under the crotch was specially imported from the northern part of the kingdom, and it was tall and good at long-lasting running.It is precisely because of this that the knight unit of the Eddie family looks imposing, much more eye-catching than the knights of the other three families.Although Dongsheng Fortress has not fought against undead monsters for a long time, those knights have daily training, and some experience in clearing bandits and hunting monsters, so their combat effectiveness should not be too bad.In order to save this elite knight army, Duke Eddie did not spend less.After all, in order to protect your own safety, this money must be spent and cannot be stingy.After that, there was the ranks of nobles, including the nobles of Frontier Town and Dongsheng Fortress.Most of them wore full armor handed down from their ancestors, and only a few were chain mail purchased from blacksmiths.All the nobles were equipped with a beautiful long sword, which, in addition to fighting, had a symbolic meaning.Duke Eddie was at the middle of the pack, and at the same time the most conspicuous.Because he was too fat, he couldn't ride a war horse or wear his ancestral armor.He sat in an open carriage drawn by two horses, wearing a special wide chain mail and a helmet with a red-dyed feather.Anyway, Duke Eddie didn't rush forward to fight, just watched the mighty army led by himself crush the other party from behind.After that, there are two groups of magicians, a total of forty people.They will use two types of large magic, and they will perform the largest magic at a distance of three hundred meters, and their attacks will be the most effective.In the middle of the line are the mercenaries with the largest number.Almost all of them were adventurers-turned-mercenaries, quite mixed, mixed in with all kinds of people, even magicians.The group of mercenaries was unevenly equipped, only a few of them were equipped with full and decent armor, and those were elite adventurers.Most of them either lacked handguards, or lacked helmets, or wore only inferior leather armor, and some even used two planks as cuirass.Weapons are even more messy, there are all kinds of them.When following the team, most of the mercenaries were four or five familiar people gathered together, spread out from each other, talking and laughing as they went, very casually.Although they have no discipline to speak of, they still rely on combat to eat, and they are not merciless in killing the enemy.However, there is a premise for this, that is, it must be in the case of the battle situation in your favor.Once they saw that the battle was unfavorable, the mercenaries ran faster than one another.Which is more important, life or salary?
There is no doubt that they will definitely choose their own lives.At the end of the procession were the forcibly recruited peasants, who followed the mercenaries with wheelbarrows and carrying various supplies.Surrounded by soldiers with soft whips, they supervised the peasants to prevent anyone from escaping or being lazy.Due to the difference in the speed of marching, especially the group of mercenaries who dragged and dragged very lazily, the army was stretched very long.The knightly troops at the front need to stop from time to time to wait for the men and horses behind to catch up while they rest.As a result, the march of the army was particularly slow.Meanwhile, in a small forest north of the Eastrising Fortress, two agile lizardmen hide in a dense canopy, secretly monitoring the army's movements.One of the lizardmen actually had a pair of telescopes in his hand, and the optical lenses inside were polished by Rob himself.Since lizardmen and humans have different face shapes, Owen also asked a carpenter to make a telescope shell that could fit the lizardman's eyes.In this way, the lizardmen can also use this special telescope to observe distant targets."
The total number of the enemy's army is estimated to be two thousand, of which the number of knights is about ......"
The lizardman with a telescope observes as he reports to his companion the number of people he has observed."
Okay, I've written it down."
After recording the data, the other lizardman put away the paper, looked up and said, "The enemy has been dispatched, let's go back and report to the lord." ”The lizardman tucked the binoculars into a small cloth bag and nodded back to his companion."
Well, let's go back quickly."
The two lizardmen quickly jumped down from the tree and ran with all their might in the direction of Frontier Town, and in a short time they were gone.The agile lizardmen can reach the border town in a staggering way in a whole day, with all their might.At this moment, the army of the Dongsheng Fortress was slowly advancing on the road.As soon as he received the news, Owen immediately went to the northern city wall to hold an emergency military meeting with Viscount Jarvis and others, preparing to dispatch the People's Army to meet the enemy.Since the day it received Duke Eddie's letter, the KPA has been actively preparing for war and has conducted many comprehensive exercises, mainly two parts: the defensive line to meet the enemy and the field pursuit.Next will be the first time that the People's Army will fight against the human army of Dongsheng Fortress, I don't know how the soldiers in the army feel, anyway, Viscount Jarvis is full of confidence in this.This lord is backed by a tech tycoon