Unknown Knight

At night, the village of Dreifahban.

A huge bonfire was lit in the center of the village, and in front of the bonfire were more than a hundred shepherds of various races. There were Sarand people with dark skin, Vigers from nearby, Swadians, and Tang people with similar facial features to Aix. The only thing they had in common was that they were all pale and thin.

Outside them were more than thirty armed men armed with bows, crossbows, swords, and more than thirty Tang people armed with wooden sticks and farm tools.

Aix stood at the top of the bonfire, with Ran Hu, the Kugit translator he hired, next to him. Aix cleared his throat and spoke in the common Swadian language:

"Slaves, the Kugit masters who oppressed you have been eliminated by us. You are free now, but you also know that this kind of freedom cannot be achieved by you alone. No slave can escape from the vast grassland. You can only leave this grassland by following us.

Now I will give you two quarters of an hour. You must quickly return to your own nest, take wearable clothes and dry food, take weapons if you have them, and do not take other unnecessary things. Then we will move overnight.

Also, I have to make it clear that anyone who dares to escape will be killed without mercy, including the families of those with family members. At the same time, I also hope that you can see the situation clearly. Your Kugit masters are dead. Even if you stay, will Master Yan's cavalry spare you? The only way for you to survive is to escape with us, do you understand?

Hurry, act quickly, you only have two quarters of an hour!"

After hearing what Aix said, the shepherds scattered in all directions. Aix called Fatis and Ran Hu and asked them to block the entrance to the village. He also sent people to patrol around the village. Anyone who left the village without permission would be killed immediately. He also sent people to gather all the horses in the village.

In less than a quarter of an hour, everyone gathered in front of the campfire again. Ran Hu came to report that there were more than 120 horses in total. Aix thought about it and told him to let all the old and weak get on the horses, as well as all the dry food and luggage, and the young and strong follow.

Soon, under the cover of night, a long black dragon, led by the torch held high by Ran Hu, quietly left the village.

Aix arranged Ran Hu to lead a dozen riders to lead the way in front, Niza to lead a dozen riders to follow the rear, and Fatis to lead a dozen riders to patrol and provide support in the team.

When it was almost dawn, everyone finally arrived at a planned resting place, a forest near a village called Turbuk. They had traveled about 30 miles overnight. Aix asked everyone to gather in a circle, eat some dry food, and then rest.

In the evening, the scouts reported that no large number of enemy troops were found nearby, so Axe asked everyone to set off immediately.

Another night of walking passed. When daybreak came, Aix had no intention of asking everyone to stop and rest, because they were on a vast grassland with no shelter. If such a large group of people rested in the same place, they might be discovered by nearby herdsmen at any time, and then reported to the local nobles, which would cause trouble.

And after hearing from Ran Hu that they were almost reaching the last destination of this trip, Adakulum, Aix decided to go to the valley where the village was to rest.

At noon, the group had arrived at the valley entrance. Zhang Ping, who was waiting for the pick-up, had been waiting there for a long time. After Aix and Ran Hu met up in Drefaerban, he rushed back here to make contact as planned.

Zhang Ping said that there are about 30 people in the village. This is an important horse farm of the Kugit Khanate. There are more than Kugit people who are dedicated to herding horses. These people are skilled in archery and horse riding and should not be underestimated.

After some discussion, everyone finally decided to rest among the rocks near the valley entrance and then surprise attack on these Kugits at night.

At night, Aix and his party sneaked into the village of Adakulum. He heard from Zhang Ping that this place is a valley that is warm in winter and cool in summer. Tuojunayan built a manor here and would come here to escape the heat every summer. The Kugit people usually live in the front yard of the manor.

The crowd surrounded the manor, and Aix had dozens of young and strong men provide support from the periphery with sticks, hayforks and other farm tools. When everything was ready, Aix gave an order, and several strong men carried a thick piece of wood and broke open the gate of the manor with two pushes, and everyone rushed in.

Immediately, screams and sounds of fighting were heard in the manor. Aix had made arrangements in advance to group the spearmen and crossbowmen in pairs to fight in teams, which was very efficient. After about a quarter of an hour, the sounds of fighting gradually died down, but there were still bursts of loud shouts coming from the yard.

Aix was wondering, and was about to go into the manor to see what was going on, when he saw a caravan crossbowman with a feather arrow stuck in his shoulder running out and reporting:

"Sir, there is still one sharpshooter left inside who is trapped in a room. But this guy is very powerful. He has already shot one of our brothers to death and injured four or five others!"

Upon hearing this, Aix rushed inside. As soon as he reached the door of the house, he heard a "tap". He saw a crossbowman holding a shield retreat four or five steps from the door and fell on his buttocks. There was a feather arrow half-embedded in the shield, which was obviously knocked out by the shock. This brother was also smart. As soon as he sat down, he didn't care about the pain in his buttocks and rolled over to the blind spot next to him. There was another feather arrow stuck in the place where he just fell.

Aix couldn't help but wipe the sweat off the brother's forehead, stopped the other brothers who were about to rush in, and said:

"Don't rush in, it's prickly. Throw a torch in and burn him to death!"

The person inside obviously understood what Aix said. With a "clang", the guy actually jumped onto the beam, kicked the roof to pieces with his feet, and rushed onto the roof.

"Shoot him!"

Axe roared.

"Swish, swish, swish, swish." Dozens of arrows were shot at the roof, but this guy dodged them all by running along the ridge. He was whistling as he ran. Before everyone could understand what was going on, they heard a horse neighing and a white horse rushed out from the stable.

The horse was quite clever. It actually followed the direction the guy was running and ran to a high wall first. The guy jumped from the roof onto the wall, took a few running steps, and then leaped up. He actually hugged the neck of the white horse, and then used inertia to swing his body and landed steadily on the horse's back. He then kicked the horse's belly and flew away.

Ran Hu, who had surrounded the manor from the other side, finally ran over. Without thinking, he drew his bow and shot an arrow. With a "whoosh", a scream of "Ahhh!" was heard in the darkness, but there was no sound of the horse falling off, only the sound of horse hooves getting farther and farther away.

Ran Hu was about to ride forward to chase him, but was stopped by Aix. It was dark, and Aix was afraid that Ran Hu might make a mistake. Besides, Aix had reserved five Nakor cavalrymen. "A wounded enemy should not be able to escape," he thought to himself.

It was just words of self-consolation, but he still felt unsure. This raid, despite being caught off guard, resulted in one death, one critically ill, and five serious injuries. The key point was that all these were done by one person. This was the most serious loss since Aix's debut. Thinking about it made him a little scared, and he couldn't help but ask Ran Hu beside him:

"If you meet him alone, what are your chances of defeating him?"

"Beyond fifty steps, it's fifty-fifty. Within fifty steps, I will die!"

Ran Hu said without thinking, then lowered his eyes, looking dejected and defeated. Yes, judging from the man's leaping and jumping skills just now, within fifty steps, the burly and strong Ran Hu was definitely no match for him.

A quarter of an hour later, the result that Aix least wanted to see happened. A cavalryman with an arrow in the arm came back from the direction of the valley entrance and reported that the master had escaped.

The cavalryman who brought the news said that this guy was hiding under the horse. The people at the entrance of the valley thought that the horse was frightened and did not pay attention to it. When the horses ran closer, he suddenly jumped out from under the horses, shot two arrows in a row, injuring two people, and then rushed out of the valley. The remaining three people were riding horses to chase him.

When Aix heard this, he hurriedly asked Niza to take people to find the three cavalrymen and told the man not to chase them anymore. It was better not to provoke such a tough guy.

At the same time, Aix had to change his plan. He had originally planned to return from the valley entrance and exit in the direction of Lerag Castle in the Kingdom of Vigia near Turbuk. But now it seems that this is not possible. There is a high probability that the man will escape. It would only take him a day and a night to get reinforcements from the nearest stronghold. If he retreated from the valley entrance again, it is likely that everyone would be blocked by pursuers shortly after leaving the valley, and then there would be no escape.

Now the only way left is to go west, cross the snow-capped mountains in the west and enter the territory of Vijia. Zhang Ping said that there is a small path that can cross the snow-capped mountains. If we take this path, even if the Kugits chase us relentlessly, it will take two or three days for them to catch up with us, and they will even chase us into the territory of Vijia. This way, the risk for everyone will be relatively smaller.

There is just one thing. This snow-capped mountain is covered with snow all year round. It seems that the altitude will not be lower than 3,000 meters. I wonder if the elderly and the weak will not be able to survive.

Thinking of this, Aix immediately gave orders to collect all the warm clothes and some cold-resistant items, such as kumis, charcoal, and dry cow dung blocks, all loaded on the horses, and set off immediately after everything was ready.

An hour later, a total of more than 230 people left, and about 30 people chose to stay. Most of these people were old and weak, and they were probably related to the Kugits. Aix did not force them, and there was no need to kill them. Now that some people have escaped, they don’t care about being exposed or not. Fewer people means fewer burdens.

In terms of supplies, a total of more than 300 horses were collected, which basically ensured one horse for each person, and the rest were basically filled with supplies. Aix asked everyone to light torches and rush down the snow mountain.

Soon Niza came back with three people chasing him. One of the three had his horse hit by an arrow and he fell off the horse, dislocating his arm. They were so scared that they dared not to chase him anymore and could only watch the man run away.

Axe hurriedly ordered James to treat the wounded, but at the same time he couldn't help blaming himself. Thinking about the battle, if he had waited another two hours until all the Kugit people fell asleep, and then sent someone to sneak into the manor and open the door from the inside, there might not have been such heavy casualties.

Reflecting on it now, Aix feels that it is because his life has been too smooth that he has become impetuous and contemptuous today. One should not underestimate anyone in this era!