king of ros

Chapter 186 War Zone
The closer he got to the Hungarian border, the more Edward Wessex felt the atmosphere of war, an atmosphere he was never unfamiliar with.

Along the way, his team encountered several groups of people marching in columns. They were fully armed and flew the lord's banner on their shoulders. The presence of these people made the avenue filled with the sound of gold and iron.

Of course, there will always be mercenaries attracted by the bloody smell of war. They advance in twos and threes. They are like the most sensitive hounds. Once they smell the bloody smell, they will pounce and bite.

And every time he encountered mercenaries, Edward would hire them. His team needed to continuously expand its strength. Edward brought all his savings over the past five years to deal with this war.

Edward's troops consisted of nearly a thousand people. The helmets of the Hungarian heavy horse archers were decorated with gorgeous feathers, and some even wore pointed hats. There were riding bows and quivers hanging on the saddles, and silver inlaid scimitars on their waists. , The whole person is full of the atmosphere of a prairie warrior.

Then there was the standing army sent by Rostislav. The name of this team was the Moscow Battalion. Each of these soldiers had armed uniforms and long shields, and wore uniform pointed helmets. troops.

The last ones are the farmers and tribal people that Edward recruited from the territory. These people have different armors and march crookedly. If it weren't for the attendants who supervised them from time to time, these people would have fallen apart.

At the same time, this group of people also escorted the food, grass and supplies. Edward didn't expect these people to fight the war, but just pulled them to fill up the number and fill the line.

Everyone was very excited. For most of the team, this was the first time they were so far away from their hometown. Everyone is very happy, this can be talked about for a lifetime.

Edward himself was dressed like a Hungarian nobleman, with feathers on his fur hat and a hunting suit full of prairie style, he looked exactly like a Magyar nobleman.

On such a big road, when those armed forces meet, everyone will act as if they have not seen each other. This is a tacit understanding reached by everyone, an unspeakable tacit understanding.

Because although the oncoming team may be the enemy, this is not a place where a war may start. This is within the territory of Poland, and everyone has to suppress their restlessness.

The King of Poland has provided convenience to all parties, so everyone has to show face.

Therefore, everyone unanimously did not put up a flag to indicate their identity. This is an unspoken rule reached by everyone.

Although King Boleslaw gave strong support to the Hungarian rebels, formally, the Polish king, who was also a vassal of the empire, still had to avoid facing the imperial army on the Hungarian battlefield, because legal matters could be explained as follows: Trouble slightly.

Edward inquired along the way that the walls of Krakow were already filled with tents that grew like mushrooms after the rain. The King of Poland was summoning an army from all over the country, but no one knew why he assembled this army.

In addition to the news about Boleslaw, Edward also knew the bad news, that is, the state governors also began to defect on a large scale and took refuge in Duke Bella's rebels.

The governor was originally just an official placed by the Arpad family in various places to manage the Hungarian land that was divided into states. Most of these people came from the seven ancient Magyar tribes and were trusted by the ruler, so they were awarded the post of feudal border.

When the Magyar army launched a plunder to the west, these state governors were also an important part of the Khan's army. They were like a pack of wolves led by Khan, the wolf king, attacking the land full of innocents. Loot their wealth and possessions.

As time went by, the Khan became king, the Magyars converted to Christ, and the machetes stopped disturbing the western lands, and these officials who managed the states gradually became hereditary lords and became the rulers of the country. High-ranking aristocrats with great power.

For a long time, the state governors have stood at the forefront of fighting against the imperial forces. The king's submission to the empire has made his dissatisfaction reach the extreme. They have repelled the Germanic invasion three times under the leadership of the king, but now they have to surrender?
Their loyalty to the king still made them hesitate to rebel, but in the end they abandoned the king and turned to another Arpad nobleman, Duke Bella.

Edward was already mentally prepared for the defection of the Magyar nobles. After all, he had learned the relevant news a long time ago, but he never expected that when he came to the Hungarian border, he suddenly found that even the important nobles such as the governor of the state were Began to defect.

On the way, Edward met the king's messenger and learned that King Andrew had been forced to withdraw to the border because the situation was so hopeless.

He has only 2000 people under him, most of them are soldiers from the kingdom and a small number of loyal ministers. This is the only force that the king can control.

This is the result of Andrew's kindness for many years, otherwise everyone would have rebelled long ago, and surrendering to the empire made the king lose too many hearts.

Fortunately, the imperial reinforcements have also arrived. The Duke of Turin and the Duke of Bohemia personally led troops to help, and provided a large amount of supplies for the embarrassed Royal Army. The Empire is expected to send 5000 people to support King Andrew.

Now Edward's army is approaching the border, and with the appearance of the boundary marker, Edward knows that they have reached the border.

After arriving here, Edward has been very careful. The mountain pass is the most likely place to be ambushed. He must be vigilant and prevent all possible attacks.

He felt a lot of prying eyes, which should be cast by the local mountain people, but they just looked at the army and did nothing. They probably decided to hide after seeing such a large army. After all, who knew that this army belonged to Where.

Although he walked with trepidation, fortunately the journey was safe and sound, but when he met a group of merchants head-on, Edward thought it was the enemy who almost launched an attack. Fortunately, the misunderstanding was resolved in the end.

From the mouths of these merchants, Edward learned that the war on the frontier was coming to an end, the Duke's army had already advanced towards the king, and the king had no intention of retreating. It could be said that the battle was imminent.

Many people in the caravan were injured. They originally planned to go further south, but the law and order in Hungary had been corrupted, and bandits and rebels were rampant, so they went together.

It was luck that they were able to get here, many of their companions died on the way, and even a caravan was besieged because they left the team, and were torn to pieces by the robbers and hungry people.

These businessmen were mainly engaged in the grain trade between Poland and Hungary. They thought they could make a lot of money by going to Hungary, but they were forced to return by the harsh environment.

Edward bought these grains at a low price, and the supplies in the hands of the merchants were considered to be a backlog. For them, the sooner these things were sold, the better, so both the buyer and the seller were very happy about this business.

After saying goodbye to the merchants, the tall mountain pass was quickly crossed, and after crossing the mountain pass, it meant that they had truly entered Hungary, the country of nomads.

After entering Hungary, the Anglo-Saxon nobles ordered their subordinates to fly the flag of the white cross on a red background. This is the symbol used by the Arpad family after they converted to Christ. Together with the holy crown, it is a symbol of the piety of the Arpad family.

The moment you step into Hungary, you can say that you have stepped into the battlefield. King Andrew's army is here, and Duke Bella's army is coming.

Not long after entering the territory, Edward found the traces of war coming, just like what those businessmen said.

Since this land and Poland are mainly plains, standing on a slightly higher ground, you can have a panoramic view of the scenery for a few miles, while what Edward ascended to see were villages and towns that had been ruined.

This scene shocked Edward quite a bit. Although he was not young, this was the first time he had witnessed such a devastated scene.

At a glance, there are ruins everywhere, and the construction achievements of the past are now reduced to ashes under the ambition of the warriors.

The people bleed to death for the ambitions of the powerful, and live in pain, but the powerful still don't take it seriously in the face of all this. In their view, these are their natural rights.

This land has been tormented by two opposing armies. Raiders from both sides have repeatedly recruited here, looted repeatedly, burned villages and killed people, used civilian corpses to intimidate civilians, and forced them to succumb to the machete.

In the end, the people here were either forced to leave their hometowns, become bandits, or were forcibly drawn into the army, adding another layer of torture to this tortured land. For decades.

It was difficult to judge which direction to go in this ruins. Fortunately, Edward finally found a few guides. They were border guards loyal to King Andrew, and they were in charge of supervising the movement of the mountain pass on weekdays.

They monitored Edward's army for a while, and did not come out to meet until their identity was confirmed, and then they naturally led the army to King Andrew's location.

Edward raised the highest vigilance for the next march, because he may encounter the enemy at any time. The guide said that there are some guys who have been tortured by the war and dare to attack the army.

So Edward ordered everyone to put on their armor and go forward, and the battle may start at any time.

However, they did not encounter any battles along the way. On the contrary, they saw a lot of traces of battles. The corpses of soldiers whose armor had been stripped were just casually thrown on the side of the road. Some trees still hung corpses with cloths on their heads. .

Wolves and crows enjoyed these human corpses in harmony, and when the human army passed these beasts, they only looked up. They had become accustomed to armed crowds and no longer feared them.

See those human beings bow their heads without any will to provoke them, and continue to enjoy their food.

The howling of wild beasts continued faintly, which made Edward feel a little nervous. He had seen many cruel scenes. He had also done massacres in Northeast Ross, but none of them could exaggerate the atmosphere, the large expanses of death with withered vibes.

Everyone in the army was infected by this atmosphere, and everyone who had been singing and marching from time to time was now quiet.

From time to time, Edward noticed that there were cavalry dispatched on the nearby hillside, and those warriors in linen clothes just took a glance from a distance and retreated, disappearing from everyone's sight in a short while.

But the feeling of spying still exists. Edward knows that his existence has been discovered, and then he doesn't know who is coming, is it the enemy?Or a friend?

It didn't take long before a cavalry team came aggressively, with their helmets and armor on their backs, as if they were ready to fight.

The cavalry was obviously Magyar, and their armor was a steppe style mixed with some Eastern and Western Empire styles, and many wore round helmets with long nose guards.

As for their weapons, Edward saw a Magyar riding bow, which is a short compound bow, on the saddle of the man, and then a long sword or cutlass hanging from the saddle on the other side.

Most wore red smocks, the emblem of the Arpad family, while flags with a white cross on a red background flew above their heads.

East and West influences were present in this group at the same time.

This cavalry team obviously had a lot of training, and they came to Edward's army in a neat posture, that posture was so calm and elegant.

Seeing the appearance of this elite team, Edward couldn't help becoming nervous, and immediately put his hand on the handle of the knife, ready to draw it out at any time, and the Magyar nobles behind him followed suit, and some even drew their weapons directly.

Seeing this, the infantrymen of the Moscow Battalion immediately put down their spears and raised their shields. Although panic was written on their faces, long-term training made them subconsciously react correctly.

As for the last farmers and tribesmen, it’s hard to say. They didn’t even know what happened, and they were completely at a loss in the face of all this. Only a small number of people reacted, but their number was too small.

Edward looked back at this scene, and felt extremely bad in his heart. If those heavy cavalry rushed, those farmers might not collapse immediately, and then lead other soldiers to collapse as well.

However, Edward's guide was relieved when he saw the appearance of these people. He told Edward, who had already put his handle on the handle of the scimitar, that these people were friends, and then drove forward alone to negotiate.

And it turned out that the guide was right. The guide recognized these people, and these people also recognized the guide. When they saw the guide appearing alone on horseback, they basically put down their weapons and let the guide come forward.

After the guide explained Edward's origin to the group of red shirt knights, the hostility and vigilance basically dissipated.

Some people even smiled when they knew it was Edward. Just like in Ross, Edward was also very popular in the land of the Magyars, and he made many warrior friends.

In the ensuing conversation, Edward learned that this force was the cavalry directly under His Majesty the King.

The origins of most of the people in this team can be traced back to the seven ancient Magyar tribes. It can be said that the knights here are the most elite part of the Magyar country.

They came to investigate the situation urgently after receiving news of the appearance of an unknown army. By the way, if the situation allowed, they would defeat the incoming enemy. However, they did not expect to meet a friend from afar.

It was very uplifting for all, and there is nothing more exciting than having friends join us on a difficult day.

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(End of this chapter)