Tang Qi Tan

Chapter 526
When Rodrigo woke up again, he was already in a building.The clean beam above the head, the blanket and the feather padding on the bed; after the bloody and cruel escape, this huge contrast made him feel a little unreal for a while.

However, in the end Rodrigo slowly remembered that after the sudden appearance of the army repelled the herdsman and herd of beasts; lost consciousness.Is this already a prisoner of the other party?
However, he didn't feel any signs of restraint and imprisonment. Even the only soldier standing outside the door was leaning against the wall and chatting and laughing with others.And the object of his jokes was even following Simone all the way, that freckled little maid.

Then, Rodrigo saw the tray next to the bed, with several utensils inside; there was still a faint yellow ointment left.Rodrigo just smelled it, and he was sure that it was a kind of ointment from sea beasts, and it was also a special medicine for treating and repairing the blood of knights.

At this time, some fragments of impressions appeared in Rodrigo's mind; during the long period of his unconsciousness, it seemed that at the moment when he woke up by accident, he vaguely saw a woman crying and muttering something to herself. , while applying ointment for him without hesitation.

"Simone?" Rodriguez couldn't help but think of the name in his mind, but he was a little unsure; because he was sure that this former fiancée, who was married as a married woman, undoubtedly hated him to the bone; How can it be possible to do these private things.

However, as he slowly got up and dressed, and walked to the terrace outside the door, no one came to stop him; he didn't look like a prisoner in a foreign country at all.However, Roderick looked at the noisy city in front of him, but he was a little absent-minded.

Puntaque is the name of this city; it is also the place where he was once stationed after he was demoted as a border guard.It belongs to the Aquitaine region of the Holy Kingdom, a small border town in Oloron County in the Haute-Pyrenees province; it is also twenty or thirty miles away from the nearest Kingdom of Zealand.

"Could it be that the territory of the Holy Kingdom has already been invaded?" Rodrigo, who was full of mixed feelings, couldn't help muttering to himself: Then he laughed at himself. After all, he is now a traitor to the Holy Kingdom. What qualifications and positions do you have to consider this issue?

"We are not invading, but we are here by invitation." However, a rough voice answered his question on his own initiative. Rodrigo couldn't help but turned around, and saw a general in royal blue walking from a garden. A bald-headed giant in an official uniform, who appears to be a tall and unusually burly man.

The ribbon on his chest and the badge on his neck represent the identity of the commander of the corps or the governor of the province; and the weapons on his belt are not the usual rapiers, sabers and crosses. a straight sword; but to the left and right a heavy steel leaf hammer and mace,

So even if he wasn't wearing armor, just standing there would give him an indescribable sense of awe and oppression.After he dismissed the officers surrounding him with a few words, he crossed his arms and continued to Rodrigo, "Because the Holy Kingdom has abandoned these places."

"This...impossible." Rodrigo couldn't help but instinctively argued: "How could the Holy Kingdom abandon its subjects so easily? What happened in this..., in the name of God, please tell me Is it?"

"My name is Podos, and I am also the commander of the Pyrenees Corps and the governor of the province." The bald giant still folded his hands, but his eyes showed pity and sarcasm: "Just a few months ago, the territory of the Holy Kingdom A large number of people fled and brought news of help."

"Because there have been a large number of mutations and strange attacks in the territory of the Holy Kingdom; therefore, the court in Bordeaux has ordered in the name of the Principality to shrink and reorganize the various knight orders and garrisons, and to abandon some unimportant border areas and difficult to The remote mountainous area stationed."

"So, in the process of executing the order; the entire Basque and other indigenous communities outside the mountains have been completely abandoned by the provincial officials. They even sent troops to block the roads to prevent these mountain settlements and city The active migration and escape of the town."

Hearing this, Rodrigo couldn't help but feel a little sad and helpless; of course he knew that as the oldest natives and descendants of the mountain people in the Pyrenees, the Basques and the Romans to the Franks, the Sarans The elves have a long history of struggle against foreign conquerors.

I also know the shameful role played by the ancestors of the Basques in the song of Roland sung by the world.Therefore, after the establishment of the Holy United Kingdom of Brittania, although Saint Laurent pardoned other Basque ethnic groups, it also planted the roots of dissatisfaction and estrangement.

Therefore, in the long years after the establishment of the Holy Kingdom, the Basques, who sometimes rebelled and sometimes obeyed but were difficult to completely wipe out, have also become a heart disease and hidden danger under the leadership of the Principality of Aquitaine.What's more, they have a large number of their own race in the Kingdom of Sealand outside the country, known as the Gascons.

Therefore, although the army of chivalry launched by the Holy Kingdom can cost a lot of money and use the method of targeted elimination to remove most of the Basque strongholds and villages in the Pyrenees Mountains; but it cannot be maintained for a long time. Repressive garrisons in difficult and treacherous places.

What's more, it can't stop the Gascons who crossed the border in groups, vying to join the conflict in the Pyrenees in the form of mercenaries.If it is elsewhere, it will be blocked for a long time; but as a north-south passage, the Pyrenees are of fundamental and indispensable importance to the Holy Kingdom.

If something goes wrong, it will be a huge crisis that the core territory of the Holy Kingdom, Brittany and Aquitaine in the north, will be cut off from Catalonia in the south.So after the Sixth Pyrenees War, the Holy Kingdom came to an agreement with the Basques, who suffered heavy casualties.

In the so-called "Pamplona Agreement", at the cost of limited ethnic autonomy and intermarriage of the upper royal family, most of the Basque villages were relocated to relatively flat mountains and gentle slopes; the Basques It is also the first time to have a nominal co-owner.

Then, there is long-term integration and cultural influence; absorbing some upper-class children into the local court and joining the Holy Kingdom army and knights; making most Basques gradually give up confrontation and rebellion; and the Gascons outside the country, naturally repulsion and estrangement.

But now the official actions of the province have once again torn the holy kingdom apart. The wounds that have been covered up and the illusion that they have worked hard to create have destroyed the achievements of years of inclusive coexistence/absorption and transformation.Maybe in the eyes of those principality radicals, this is an opportunity to solve it once and for all?

"Then Puntaque?" However, Rodrigo quickly came back to his senses and asked back: "This is not a city dominated by Basques, right? Why is it also occupied by you..."

"Because there is an unforgivable rebellion in the local area!" Podos, the head of the bald army, gave him a large number of strange eyes and said: "Many people in the border guards stationed in the local area secretly left the team and went south to seek refuge. And went at the call of the traitor."

"So the remaining members of the garrison were also inspected by the Knights and the Church for loyalty; as follow-up disciplinary measures, most of the officers and non-commissioned officers were arrested and sentenced; and most of the soldiers were disarmed and exiled to Andalusian salt The mine went to hard labor."

"Therefore, when the representatives sent by this city once again asked us to send troops to take over the place, and swore to accept the rule and laws of the Free Army; all the officials, rich people, merchants, and church members in the city had fled, and only the A group of citizens who can't go far."

"You have never seen that scene. After entering the city, there are hungry eyes everywhere; there are not many middle-aged men at all, and the streets are full of scrawny women and children. There are dead people in every house. In broad daylight , and there are aliens operating in cemeteries and churches."

"Enough!" Rodrigo couldn't help interrupting him: because at this moment, he felt his own paleness more deeply.It's like the head of the legion who met once said to him: Any practice and maintenance of justice requires sufficient strength and power.

"God, please forgive me for my rudeness and gaffe." Immediately Roderick slowed down and apologized to Podos: "I only have one request left, requesting an audience as soon as possible, your army The commander of the army."

"God, please forgive my rudeness and gaffe." Immediately, Rodrigo slowed down and apologized to Podos: "I only have one request left, can you arrange a report for me as soon as possible, and Meet the commander of the great army of your army."

"You made a mistake, there is no legion commander now, only His Majesty the Knight King who has just enthroned." The bald giant Podos grinned and said: "If others make such unreasonable requests, I will definitely not pay attention to them." Yes, and he will be interrogated severely."

"However, our beloved His Majesty the King of Knights also specifically explained to me that if Rodrigo, who is a model knight, comes to join us, then we should provide him with all the convenience possible."

At the same time, in the city of Lance, thousands of miles away.The legion commander Ma Durand, who was dressed in dust and dust, had just rushed back from the Central Suppression Legion on the Central Plateau, day and night, just to accept a temporary secret inquiry meeting in the name of debriefing.

(End of this chapter)