Unknown Knight

After another round of arrow rain, the chariot array was filled with dense arrows. The group of bandits had also rushed to the front. Relying on their large numbers, they did not hesitate in front of the chariot array. They surrounded the chariot array and began to climb inside.

"Kill!"

Bandak took the lead and shouted loudly. Everyone stood up from under their shields at once. Those who had crossbows raised them and shot, and those who didn't had crossbows stabbed with their spears. In this close situation, the 11 crossbows on the caravan side knocked down seven or eight bandits at once, and the spears stabbed down several who were standing unsteadily on the trucks.

The bandits lost one-third of their men in one encounter. They were stunned and turned around to run back. Those who had just boarded the chariots were in an extremely embarrassed state. They rolled and crawled off the vehicles, throwing away their axes and hiding their heads for fear of being shot by crossbows again.

A sturdy man should be the leader of this group of bandits. After running back more than 20 meters, he turned around and stopped the other fleeing accomplices, shouting at them to fight back with bows and arrows. However, the group had just stood still and had no time to draw out arrows when the second wave of crossbow arrows from the caravan arrived. Puff, puff, puff, another 5 or 6 people were shot and fell to the ground. The bandits were so scared that they jumped up and down and ran back more than meters.

After standing still, the sturdy man saw that half of his arm was broken. He screamed in anger and swore to kill all the members of the caravan, pointing to the sky and the earth.

They were now more than fifty meters away from the chariot formation, which was beyond the effective range of the caravan's crossbows. The bandits could basically dodge the crossbows as long as they saw them coming. And these bandits were all hunters, and their shooting skills were definitely not comparable to those of the caravan's crash courses, so they took advantage of this and started shooting at the caravan.

Fortunately, Aix saw the situation clearly in time and let half of those with good crossbow skills be responsible for shooting, and the other half was responsible for holding up shields to provide cover. Although the bandits shot more accurately, this advantage was meaningless under the double protection of chariots and shields.

After a round of shooting, several of the unprotected bandits were hit by arrows, while the people on the caravan were unharmed. Moreover, Aix, Bandak and Harvey were all good archers, and the people who were hit by arrows were shot by these three people.

Especially Harvey, who was shot in the left shoulder by the leading strong man, but he didn't use his right hand to shoot, thinking of revenge. He took a crossbow with arrows handed to him by a teenager and held back, and pulled the trigger when the strong man leader drew his arrow and drew his bow. The strong man was not to be underestimated. After realizing the danger, he dropped the bow and arrow in his hand and rushed to the side, but it was too late. Harvey's arrow hit him in the right shoulder, which was a tit-for-tat.

The sturdy man who fell to the ground ignored the pain, looked up and saw that only seven or eight of his men were still able to fight. He quickly stood up and shouted to the remaining bandits to retreat into the jungle.

Seeing this, the caravan didn't need to be told to jump over the car formation and chase after the bandits. The caravan was physically stronger than the bandits, and soon four or five more bandits were shot dead or stabbed to death, until they chased them to the edge of the forest.

Aix suddenly thought of the words "Don't enter the woods" and couldn't help but stop. Bandak, who was a hunter, knew how dangerous it was for hunters in his own hunting grounds. He hurriedly called out to stop the pursuers, but there were still a few team members who were blood-thirsty and rushed in regardless, especially Harvey, who was chasing in the front with a crossbow loaded with arrows, and it seemed that he was determined to kill the strong man who shot him, and he even ignored Bandak's scolding.

Suddenly, with a "whoosh" sound, an arrow shot out from the jungle and hit Harvey in the chest, causing him to fall on his back. Everyone in the caravan was so frightened that they immediately lay down and hid.

It took a while, until the rustling footsteps in the forest could no longer be heard, before everyone held up their shields and carried Harvey to a safe place.

His eyes were already blurred. The arrow that penetrated his body must have injured his lungs. Every time he exhaled, a large amount of blood gushed out of his mouth accompanied by a gurgling sound. As if he knew that his end was near, he suddenly focused his eyes on Aix beside him, grabbed his hand, and said with difficulty:

"Help me...get revenge, take good care of Yami..." He died before he could finish his words.

This made the caravan, which should have been filled with joy of victory, suddenly become sad. Two guys who were familiar with Harvey insisted on taking up guns to avenge him. Fortunately, Bandak stopped them with his prestige and asked everyone to clean up the battlefield and bandage the wounded before taking any action.

The battlefield was quickly cleaned up. Except for more than twenty logging axes which were still worth a few dollars, other items like homemade hunting bows and short-sleeved leather armor stripped from the bandits were worthless. Fortunately, although these short-sleeved leather armors were dirty and might even have lice on them, they were much warmer than the ragged linen pieces on the men's bodies. A layer of very hard raw leather was specially sewn on the outside, which provided very good protection. Besides, these days almost all the lower class people had lice on their bodies. I'm afraid that only Aix and Yamila in the caravan did not have lice on their bodies.

The unexpected gain was that there were three injured prisoners. One of them was known to everyone, Joey, who had drunk with him last night. He was shot in the thigh by an arrow, but fortunately the artery was not injured. Facing several angry spears that seemed to be ready to stab down at any time, he was so scared that he was shitting and pissing all over.

Seeing Joey losing his mind due to fear, Axe came up with an idea and stepped forward, covering his nose and saying:

"Well, look Joey, we are businessmen and we don't have any grudges against the good guys around here. Why are you doing this?"

"Don't blame me, don't blame me. It was Robin the boss in the forest who found me half a month ago. He told me that John's caravan from Suno City would come to our village to collect olive oil. I should go and tell him the news. There is a big and profitable business."

After hearing this, Aix and Bandak looked at each other and had already guessed what was going on. Then Aix raised the corner of his mouth and said jokingly:

"So you think we've got some valuable cargo and you want to test it first?"

This made Joey blush, and he whispered timidly:

"I, I just thought that your goods would be snatched away by Boss Robin anyway, so I'll take a look first..." Joey, who couldn't make up any more stories, lowered his head even more.

Aix snorted coldly, smiled contemptuously, and continued:

"Look, Joey, I say the same thing again. We are businessmen. Businessmen value long-term stability and making money in harmony. Your village of Repolite is an important friend of our caravan. We will buy olive oil from your village in the future. As long as you answer a few questions for me and satisfy me, I will let you go today."

When he heard that he could still survive, he nodded hurriedly and said:

"You tell me, you tell me, I will tell you everything I know, as long as the master spares my life."

Soon through Joey, Axe got the information he wanted.

It turns out that this Robin is a member of a larger bandit group that has emerged in the vicinity in recent years. His subordinates include the more than 30 people who came today. They formed a settlement in a valley, and there are also some elderly, weak, women and children in the settlement.

It is said that this Robin is very powerful. He even dares to kill the king's small patrol team. He also often boasts that he knows certain nobles nearby. Axe estimates that he may be connected with the nobles. It is very likely that this guy is a white glove who does some shameful things for the nobles, and this Joey is the spy they cultivated in Ripollite. It seems that this Robin is not an ordinary bandit. His victory today is really lucky.

If Robin had not been so overconfident and thought that the caravan was just an ordinary caravan of a dozen people, he would not have known that the bottom of a beer barrel could be turned upside down and used as a shield, and that the caravan was equipped with more than ten crossbows, and some people were very good at shooting. He would have thought that after three rounds of shooting, most of the people in the caravan would be shot into hedgehogs, and the survivors would be chopped into pieces by woodcutters. As a result, all his efforts over the years were almost wasted.

After listening to Joey's confession, Axe thought for a long time. This trade route to the Nord Kingdom is the most profitable trade route for the caravan, and this is the only way to the Nord Kingdom. This Robin is a powerful character. It is said that his archery skills are extraordinary. In the future, he will definitely not dare to be as reckless as he was today and rush over to rob without any scruples. The only thing to be afraid of is that he will hide in the woods and shoot arrows to kill the members of the caravan. This is enough to cause trouble for the caravan. It is estimated that this most profitable trade route will be cut off in the future.

Now they have no more than five people who can fight. If they don't eliminate this hidden danger now, there will definitely be endless troubles in the future. So he carefully asked Joey for the information and location of the settlement.

After discussing with Bandak, in order to reduce casualties, Aix decided to raid the bandits' settlement tonight to eradicate the problem and completely eliminate Robin's hidden danger.

He asked a servant to find Catherine and the other two and the packhorses, chose a secret place to place the caravan's carriages, and buried all the bandits in a pit dug at the edge of the forest.

When burying Harvey alone, Axe thought that this unnecessary death was a good opportunity for education, and that if the caravan members were not disciplined, the night raid would probably fail, so he called everyone to Harvey's grave to give them a lecture:

"Harvey would not have died today. From the beginning, everyone followed instructions and cooperated well. We would have won the battle. If he had listened to the teacher in the end and not chased into the forest, he would not have lost his life in vain.

Our caravan is a whole. I have always told you this during training. Let me emphasize it again here. You must obey orders in any action. Only by obeying orders can we demonstrate strong combat effectiveness like we did today and achieve victory.

In the future, if there is a battle like today, as long as you obey orders, even if you die in battle, the caravan will support your wife and children, and give your family a pension. But if you die because you don't obey orders, the caravan will not give you a pension. This is the iron rule of our caravan, and I hope everyone will remember it firmly. "

After saying these high-sounding words, Aix was afraid that no one would respond, so he looked at Bandak next to him with a guilty conscience. The old class teacher understood and continued:

"Mr. Aix is ​​now the leader of our caravan. His words are Old John's words, and his words are my words. If anyone refuses to listen, don't blame me for not recognizing him!"

Bandak's harsh words spoke well for Aix. He felt warm in his heart and was very grateful. The other members thought that if it weren't for Aix's foresight, they might all have died here today. They told themselves in their hearts to remember the iron rule that Aix had said.

Then Aix and Bandak talked about some precautions for the night raid, and then asked everyone to take turns to rest in the afternoon, eat and drink well, and conserve their energy in preparation for the battle in the evening.

At night, after almost two hours of walking, the caravan finally arrived at the settlement of the bandits. Everyone was covered in dust and looked in a miserable state. They encountered countless traps along the way. Fortunately, they had Joey as their guide. Under his leadership, they bypassed many existing traps. In addition, Bandak, a master who was born a hunter, eliminated many newly set traps. Otherwise, they would not be able to find the settlement until dawn, and even if they did, they would have lost most of their men and horses.

The settlement is located in a small valley with five wooden houses scattered among them. There is a bonfire in the innermost cave, and people come in and out from time to time. Joey said that Robin lives in the innermost cave.

There were no lights on in two of the five wooden houses, probably because no one lived there, or the people inside had all died in the fighting during the day. From the other three wooden houses, one could hear women crying, one could hear women begging for mercy after being beaten, and one could hear bottles and jars being smashed and cursed. It was a mess and the air was filled with a strong smell of alcohol. It seemed that the surviving bandits were venting their anger and frustration at their own incompetence, and transferring this anger to the women, children, the elderly and the weak in the settlement.

Bandak looked at Aix, indicating whether they should rush in now. Aix thought about it and pressed his hand down, asking everyone to be patient, take a break and wait and see what happens.

Slowly, as it was almost midnight, the noises in the settlement became quieter, leaving only the woman's soft crying, accompanied by the sound of "pa, pa, pa" and the occasional pleas for mercy. Only a few young boys from the caravan could be heard with red faces and the other rough men breathing heavily.

About half an hour later, the valley was completely calm again. Apart from the faint snoring, no other sound could be heard. It seemed that the robbers had exhausted all their energy. It was time to act.

Before the operation, Axe and Bandak discussed and decided to defeat them one by one, clearing out the inhabited wooden houses and caves one by one. Axe first made a simple assignment, asking three half-grown boys to guard the entrance of the valley with crossbows, and one person with a crossbow and one with a gun to block the door of the remaining rooms that had not been cleared yet, and the rest of the people cleared the rooms one by one.

The operation went exceptionally smoothly. The bandits were all sleeping like dead pigs and their necks were easily slit. The awakened old, weak, women and children fell silent in the face of the glaring knives and guns. Anyone who dared to shout was immediately shot to death. Soon the wooden house was cleared and more than a dozen old, weak, women and children were locked up in a room. Two people were left to watch them, and the rest launched a general attack on the innermost cave.

As a result, everyone was disappointed. They did not encounter any resistance. The only people left in the cave were Robin, who was still unconscious on the bed, and his panicked wife and daughter.

No wonder these bandits only set some traps on the way here. Robin must have lost too much blood, coupled with the double blow of heavy losses, which made him fall into a coma due to anger. If Robin had not fallen into a coma and was still conscious, Axe estimated that he would have led the remaining members of the settlement to move quickly. Then everyone would have come to nothing, and there would be endless troubles. He couldn't help but feel lucky in his heart.