Eagle Byzantium

At night, General Qudb called the traitor Hector and pointed to the brightly lit village of Ashrun three miles away and asked: "Based on your experience, what are these Greek troops doing?"

Hector did not dare to neglect and observed carefully for a while: many infantrymen and military servants were holding torches at the entrance of the village, busy and shouting with beasts of burden; on the earthen embankment over there, behind rows of dog-foot logs, there were campfires burning everywhere.

"Sir Ataborg, they are probably prepared to fight to the end because of the small victory today, and they still have delusions of seizing the Melitene Fortress. I think that if I adopt my tactics tomorrow, they will definitely be in chaos - the breakthrough point will be the right wing of the enemy army, where most of the people are Anni people with unstable fighting spirit. They were forced to join the army. Gawain treats them as slaves, and their battle flags have an extra white flag than the regular ones."

Just when all the troops of Danishmond were ready to fight, the west side of Ashren Village At the exit, the bells of pack animals rang slightly and quickly, flying in a string towards the sky mixed with black and morning light. They dragged a number of pry carts with wounded soldiers lying on them, and began to run towards the upper reaches of the Sanus River along the vast grassland. Following behind were large numbers of detachment infantry, who silently carried various equipment and marched in a queue - Melo ordered that all the heavy equipment and baggage be abandoned in the village, and the soldiers were only allowed to carry three things: silver coins, all weapons and armor, and several days of marching rations!

In the early morning, the cavalry on the left and right wings and more than a dozen cavalrymen in the village who were responsible for staying behind for observation were still at the rear.

However, the village was still well-fortified, with flags in order. On all sides, there was endless long grass swaying in the cold morning breeze. A stream meandered into it, and a thin mist mixed with frost surrounded it heavily, bringing a kind of static horror. In the Turkic formation, neither Kudb, Firuz, nor Hector dared to attack rashly. Finally, they shirked the responsibility and decided to keep the two wings ready for the charge. Then they sent a vanguard team consisting of 400 Turkmen and 100 Armenian armored infantry to approach the village for military reconnaissance.

So this vanguard team first cautiously walked to a few hundred feet in front of the east entrance of the village under the cover of the light cavalry behind, then formed a shield formation and deployed four fire tanks. "Fire!" Under the sword of the Bey commander, several fire tanks rolled in the air, hit various buildings at the entrance of the village, and then burned with the wind - after that, the Turkmen archers also stepped forward and fired the ignited fire arrows into the earthen wall.

After about a quarter of an hour of busy work, a team of heavily armored Armenian soldiers slowly raised their shields and cautiously approached the earthen wall. Then they raised their shields and began to climb up cautiously. "Don't push me, don't push me..." Such curses and complaints continued to ring out.

Suddenly, a violent drum sounded in the village, scaring several Armenian soldiers who had just climbed up the edge of the earthen wall. They leaned on their backs and rolled down. Then everyone was frightened and screamed, thinking that the task force would come out with long swords and axe guns, and ran back in a swarm!

The Danishmond infantry and cavalry in the back row also crouched in fear, fearing that the enemy would push the terrifying "red hand cannon" (the nickname given to the five-bar cannon by the Danishmond people because its swing arm was painted ochre and looked like a human hand twiddling fingers) and hit their heads with heavy and deadly stone balls. It was not until the beys whipped them with horse whips and kicked them with boots that they restored order. Then, in the village over there, the fog was thick and the exciting drumbeats continued, but the enemy soldiers had not yet come out.

"You go up yourself!" Finally, Hector was forced to go to the front line, leading the team of frightened Armenian soldiers, walking through the layers of corpses that had not yet been collected, and climbing up the earthen wall again with trembling hands. Enduring the constant drumbeats, he moved away the wreckage of the car frame and the wooden fence antlers outside the earthen wall. Then Hector climbed in and saw the winding passage between the burning houses. Behind the fog were blurred shadows. It was difficult to tell whether it was a broken wall, an earthen wall, or an array. Hector's helmet was covered in cold sweat. He walked in front with heavy steps and holding a shield. He didn't know whether an arrow would be shot at him in the fog, or whether someone would suddenly come out from the ruins and hit his fragile neck with a battle axe...

The drumbeats were getting closer and closer. Dozens of Armenians were closely together, and each was as nervous as Hector. Finally, behind the wall, Hector heard the drumbeats coming from behind. Hector mustered up all his courage and turned in with a shout, holding a sword in his hand. The scene in front of him almost scared him to death. A ghost-like drummer in white was squatting on a fallen rafter, beating the drum continuously and making terrifying screams.

"Ahhhhh!" Hector's spirit was almost collapsed. All the scenes in front of his eyes were spinning rapidly. He couldn't make any distinction and screamed while slashing and chopping around with the sword in his hand. Broken wood and dust flew everywhere. The drummer was also frightened and screamed even harder.

It wasn't until the stunned soldiers behind him held Hector down that the man, sweating profusely and exhausted, stopped waving his hands and chopping, "It's a sheep, it's a sheep!" After the anxious reminder sounded in his ears, Hector panted, and then he saw clearly the "spirit" opposite him. The true form of the "Soul Drummer": It is indeed a white sheep. Gawain's brigade likes to bring a group of sheep for milk production. Its mouth and forelimbs are tied with ropes and hung from the broken rafters. It is constantly panicking. The back hooves were kicked and slapped on the drum surface, making a "dong-dong-dong" sound.

Hector's face was distorted. He yelled, held the sword, stepped forward bravely, stabbed into the belly of the hanging sheep, and killed the terrible "goat" beautifully. adversary".

Now the fog dissipated, and suddenly the crowd burst into extremely nervous voices again, because in front of them, also across the wall, several flame flags of the Guardian Brigade suddenly appeared, and they were moving rapidly. Could it be true? There's an ambush! Everyone was in chaos, weapons were thrown everywhere, and some soldiers were so frightened that they fell to the ground. "Quiet, quiet! Get in position!" an Armenian noble shouted with a trembling voice, and then he saw several soldiers. The mule lowered its head, squeaking and pulling the two Glamorgans on the back of the cart. There were several axes, spears and flags on the cart. It came out from behind the low wall. When it saw the group of people, it stopped and called out. A few sounds, like hollow ridicules...

By the time Qudb rode into the village angrily, the cavalry on both wings of Merlot's Task Force had already retreated several miles away. He was completely fooled! (To be continued ~^~)