Temple Sword

Chapter 107 Sword and Hoe
"Huh?" Charlie raised his eyebrows, looking curiously at the person on his right, "What kind of things?"

"Even in peacetime, there are at least 1000 soldiers under the king's banner," Antar said, "and behind this thousand soldiers are a large number of servants, clerks, and commanders. Even in the camps of the provinces, There will be more than 200 people.

I don't understand why there are so few people under the king's banner, I don't understand why the royal guard is not with you, and I don't understand why you didn't inform me in advance to come and see me, so I can have more time to prepare better, Although we are also seriously preparing now, but you know, Dubica is the hometown of excellent musicians, if I know you are coming..."

"I kind of like the way your peasants play their music," Charlie interrupted. "There's a war-like ferocity to this raw, rambunctious music."

"Your Majesty." Antal looked at him with a serious expression.

Charlie knew he couldn't put this off any longer, he had to confess as soon as possible.He looked around the hall: his hundred riders had joined forces with the manor master's soldiers, and overnight friendship had been formed over wine and water, the music was alive, and everyone was dancing.

The children held hands and danced in a circle on the square in front of the dining table. Only the steward Mikolaj was still carefully smoothing out the wrinkles on his velvet robe, and the people sitting on both sides of the king also remained calm.

"Fine, fine," Charlie nodded, "then let's talk!"

He dipped his hands into the basin on the table, washed his hands in the rose-petal-scented water, and dried himself on a Komondor pacing around a chair.

"Outside, go out and talk." He nodded towards the outside and stood up.The two knights under him also stood up.

"I don't need you guys today, go drink like everyone else!"

Janos Bornemisza and Felicien Zacher watched the King's back until he and the owner of the manor disappeared outside the door.Then they looked at each other, knowing what the other was thinking without words.In less than half an hour, they drank until their ears turned red, danced the grape stepping and devil dance, and let themselves fly.

"Put your hand on your chest and tell me the truth!" Charlie said as they left the training ground behind them and walked past the two-story mansion.The hustle and bustle in the hall gradually faded away until it disappeared.The crickets wandered in the darkness of night, singing the song of the night. "Don't you miss the old knight life at all?"

There was a slight smile on Antal's face, "I teach my sons and adopted children every day, and I don't beat them less. But when I first used my own labor to feed more than 50 people, the second Once I saw the seeds in the soil break out, I woke up and saw the essence of all these things."

"What essence?" Charlie asked puzzled.

“How different it is to give life than to take it,” Antar explained. “Working for something to be born, emerge, and survive is much harder and requires more perseverance than slaughtering hundreds of people in battle.”

"I won't pretend that I understand why a nobleman would be content to live the life of a peasant," the king shook his head, "but I've made you decide before to let you shape your own destiny, is that so?"

"That's right, Your Majesty."

"I let you go after the battle of Rozgoni because I felt you had done enough. When I fought in Abba's territory and besieged the castles of Alva, Zolim and Lipto with all my might , I did not call you; when the sons of Ahmad rebelled again, I did not call you, I had to burn the whole of Ang County and destroy its stronghold;
Nor did I ask for your help when I had to defeat Cospa Bolsa and grind his provinces to dust.I have not once visited you, nor written you a letter, in order that you should not only be worthy of your name Barto before the family, but also be called 'Bato' before the Lord (courageous By). "

"I am very grateful for everything you have done." Antar was afraid that he might make a mistake, so he repeated, "I am very grateful to you, Your Majesty."

"While you're comfortably settled here," continued Charlie, "while you've been plowing the fields and picking manure from the cows year after year, I've had to deal with death time and time again, in its Howl to survive.

Two years ago I broke with the Serbs and took the Bulgarian White Fort (Belgrade).But in these past nine years, death has not only been with me on the battlefield, it has haunted me in life, and I have lost three wives, and their unborn children..."

Antal stopped suddenly, glaring at his king angrily, as if humiliated.

"You think my life is safe and smooth, but you are wrong!" He blurted out angrily, "I don't know what you think of me, but I haven't enjoyed it in the past few years, and I have to pay for everything I have. Fight every inch of the land, fight for everything I've achieved!
Drought hit the countryside four years ago, and the Sava River slanted down again the following year to drown everything.Flooding rivers brought rotting corpses, so God even gave us a plague, which lasted another year, and He gave us plenty of harvest and peace for only two years..."

Charlie's eyes were also full of anger, as if he had been poisoned, he turned to face his old friend, grabbed his clothes with both hands, and shook him wildly.

"I don't care about your shit crops!" he yelled. "I'm talking about the fate of the country, you bastard! I don't care how many farmers you kill!"

Antal instinctively raised his hard right hand and punched the king in the face, causing him to fall straight to the ground.The moment Charlie lay on the mud, he realized what he had done, he attacked his king!This is a death sentence.

But Charlie's reaction startled him in a different sense.

"Damn it, what the hell!" he cursed, laughing as he stood up and touched his bleeding mouth.

"What a punch of power!" he praised. "You are the same as you were, a tough and invincible fighter. You stand your ground and no storm can shake you. No matter how hard you try to hide this fact, you are a A sword, not a hoe.

If the Pope pissed on you, you'd just kick his ass...and now, why are you standing there like a guy with shit on his head? "

"His Majesty……"

(End of this chapter)