At night, the waning moon shines on the branches.
The Baishuihe knight leader in the valley was brightly lit at this time, building walls and digging ditches, and was busy non-stop.
...
This Baishui River Knights' Territory got its name from the stream that passed through it. It originally had a population of more than a thousand, and it could be called a village or a town.
That day, horse bandits stormed into the village while everyone was laughing and having a banquet, killing nearly half of the population.
Those who died were all the beloved relatives and friends of the living, and brothers and sisters from the same village.
After fear, there is sadness, and after sadness, there is hatred bleeding from the heart.
The old father who buried his son with his own hands, the man who prayed a simple mass for the dead baby with his wife, the single survivor who looked at the home furnishings that were still the same and whose family no longer existed, and the daughter who put the things her parents loved during their lifetime into the coffin with tears.
The death of a loved one is so painful that it feels like a cold blade stirring in the pit of the heart.
Whenever I think back to the gangsters who entered the village that day, I feel fear at first, and then I feel the desire to eat them alive.
And Hall was a catalyst.
This hatred was drawn out from the hearts of the people and continued to amplify it.
In the current village, except for a few people who choose to flee to nearby towns to find relatives for help, the vast majority of people choose to stay.
——
Hall stood at the town wall at the entrance of the village, watching the progress of the wall construction.
Originally, the wall was no more than chest high, but now it has been raised to two or three meters. But this is still not enough, not enough to provide a condescending tactical advantage.
A group of people held torches and continued to transport materials along the wooden scaffolding up the wall to increase the height of the barrier.
Outside the wall, the people were digging in trenches and setting traps such as spikes.
Although it is already night, the work has not stopped.
...
Next to Hall, the guard captain Brian lowered his head slightly and said in a deep voice...
"Old Marquis, in three days, I estimate that the entire project will be completed."
"In my personal opinion, I still hope that when there is a war, ordinary people can also help as villagers to make up for the shortage of manpower."
Hall waved his hand slightly and immediately responded...
"No need, just need to help defend when the time comes."
"You were born in the Bianting Army, and the people you came into contact with were all tough people who lived in bitter cold places all year round."
"The mainland is different from the border areas. The people's character is still timid, which is far less than that in the border areas."
"Now these common people are building city walls and digging trenches. They are all full of anger, and they seem to be fighting the horse bandits to the last man."
"But if we fail to defend the city on the battlefield, we will retreat even if we should retreat."
"If it triggers a chain reaction and allows the horse bandits to capture the city gate, then everything will stop."
"When the time comes, it will be enough for the common people to be civil servants who help in the war."
Guard Captain Brian listened, nodded slightly, and responded in a deep voice.
But when he raised his head and looked into the distance, he frowned at first, then his face lit up, and he quickly said to Hall...
"Old Marquis! The lady is back!"
"Look at the flag of the team in the distance!"
Hall also looked around and saw from a distance a group of people coming along the country road. It looked like there were quite a few of them!
Seeing Castina walking in front and riding a horse, Hall smiled on his face and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
——
Before Kastina reached the village entrance, Hall led a group of people with torches to welcome her out.
Hall, who loved his daughter very much, naturally looked left and right to see if his precious daughter had suffered any injuries during this trip.
Kastina also casually talked about things in the city, talking about making money by fighting, and also demonstrated some wind blade skills with extremely limited effects. Hall naturally smiled and nodded repeatedly.
Of course, I didn't tell Hall about Castina and the sick boy, and there was no need to.
The captain of the guard, Brian, also bowed and saluted the lady. His overall sense of intimidation was a bit stronger than the previous two days. It was obvious that the leaf was quite effective.
...
There is no need to say anything on Castina's part. The mercenary leader Jean was quite stunned by the current scene between his soldiers and the people of this village.
In the past, when one was hired as a mercenary by a lord, the treatment could be said to be extremely poor.
Just randomly enclose a piece of land and let them pitch their own tents and prepare their own rations. The lord's army treats them no differently than animals. They are used as cannon fodder in battle anyway.
Regardless of whether you have food, housing, or little money, if you don't do it, someone will do it.
But at the moment, the fellow villagers in the Baishui River Knight Leader are extremely enthusiastic.
The veteran gangsters looked at the bread that the villagers stuffed into their arms with smiles, all with astonishment on their faces.
For these mercenaries, defending this village is just a job, there is nothing to say.
But to the villagers, these mercenaries were people who helped them avenge the death of their relatives, so they were naturally extremely enthusiastic.
In this way, Castina and her daughter walked in front, chatting about the situation in the village.
Behind, a group of confused mercenaries were embraced by the enthusiastic people and entered the village in a daze.
——
Genleliu, who worked as a mercenary to earn a living and had been away from home for five or six years, was just in his early twenties this year.
Whenever he was hired into the lord's territory before, the people would always treat him and his brethren with cold eyes, wanting to come up and spit on them.
Just because they are dogs hired by the lord, minions who use swords to enforce heavy taxes.
Jean Reliu never thought too much, he just thought that this was just a job, and passed by in a daze.
...
But now facing this extremely enthusiastic villager couple, Leliu felt only panic.
After the team disbanded, he took the steaming bread donated by the villager couple and was led by the farmer couple to a house as his stay tonight.
The couple were busy cleaning up and talking about something at the same time.
But as a foreigner, Jean Leliu really couldn't understand the somewhat fierce Imperial dialect they spoke, so he could only nod his head to show that he understood what they meant.
After the peasant couple left, Jeanleliu was the only one left in the house.
In the room, the candlelight was dim.
On the table were hot wine, a bowl of steaming soup, and two pieces of bread.
The small room is neat and tidy, and the atmosphere is quite warm.
In the house, there are many sundries, including the old woman's needlework for knitting clothes, the old man's wooden crutches, and the baby's cradle.
Having been a mercenary for so long, he is very sensitive to the smell of blood.
There was a faint smell of blood lingering in the room.
It is not difficult to guess that originally this was a family of five, an old couple, a young couple and a baby, but now there is only one young couple.
What happened to this family couldn't be more obvious.
He looked at the clutter in the room and felt many things in his heart.
"This is the couple's own house. They gave it to me to live in. Where will they live?"
"There is also this hot wine, soup, and bread. If I eat these, what will they eat?"
"I..."
For a moment, Leliu finally understood why this villager couple was so enthusiastic and sincere.
A home was destroyed by gangsters. The elderly parents died, and not even the infant baby was left behind. The blood-stained baby wrap was the best proof.
His identity is a mercenary, and his mission is to fight against the gangsters who killed their families before.
For me, this is work, but for the villagers, it is not.
I am here to help them defend their homeland and avenge their loved ones.
...
He looked at the soup and bread on the table, and for some reason, he suddenly thought of his eldest brother and sister-in-law in Arles, the French Empire.
They are also a diligent and honest farmer couple who make a living by farming. They are very similar to the current couple.
Suddenly, he remembered the previous battles he had fought with the regiment leader Reang.
The rebellious peasants standing opposite him one by one, dying under his crossbows, full of tears and anger, presumably they are also people with simple nature and duty like their elder brothers and sisters-in-law, right?
Why does the regiment leader say that they are all troublemakers who cause trouble for no reason?
Why do those lords say that they are evil people who are lawless and violently resisting taxes?
Why could I pull off the crossbow and shoot them without thinking about anything before?
How are your elder brothers, sister-in-law, and elderly parents doing now?
Was it like this village that was robbed and killed by bandits?
Or was it like the villages he had walked through before, forced by heavy taxes to rebel, and finally shot to death by people like himself?
...
He lowered his head and ate the bread silently.
Looking at the steaming soup in front of me, I have many thoughts in my heart.
Drink the soup one bite at a time and eat the bread one bite at a time.
The more you eat, the stronger the indescribable emotions in your heart become.
After fighting this battle, go home.
Killing innocent people in exchange for money, spending it like crazy and drunkenly, I thought I couldn't live in this kind of hazy life.
But, didn't I just run out to become a mercenary because the head tax in my hometown was too heavy and I couldn't afford it?
How should we live after we go back?
Jean Reliu sighed and drank a large glass of hot wine in one gulp, feeling disappointed.
The French Empire was very big, and the Saint-Roman Empire was also very big, big enough to accommodate countless lords fighting against each other, and wars continued year after year.
But these two big countries are so small, too small to accommodate farmers who want to make a living by farming the land. Bandits are like combing soldiers and passing by like grates, and families are scattered and people are killed in an instant;
There are endless exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, which force people to leave their homes and make people afraid to go home.
The mercenary in his early twenties made Leliu unable to understand why the world was so absurd and absurd.