Temple Sword

Chapter 115 Saying "No" the Way of Saying "Yes"
1321, middle of the month of St. George (April)
Timisoara Royal Palace, Hungary
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The throne room was full of people. Apart from the king's immediate entourage, there were also all the important officials of the court, the generals, their commanders and captains, and of course every court knight who hadn't left for the highlands.

Charles himself sat on a beautifully carved wooden throne, and before him knelt a gaunt courier, clutching a cylindrical leather case in his right hand, and everyone in the hall was watching him eagerly.

"Get up!" the king waved to him. "Let me hear what news you have brought!"

A piece of rolled parchment was exposed from the hard leather tube, and the messenger's voice sounded quickly, and he read the message slowly and clearly.

The letter was from General Miklos Guttkelder, and the first third of it consisted only of compliments and greetings, which sounded like excessive sarcastic honorifics.

Everyone listened impatiently to the lines, because this was not what they were interested in: they were there in person to find out how the campaign was progressing and when they could go to the high ground to fight.

"By the grace of God, to Charles, king of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Ráma (Bosnia), Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Kurmania, and Bulgaria," the messenger cried , "Prince of Salerno, faithful follower of Christ our Lord, Savior of redemption for us all!"

"Important point, my brother." A few bearded men muttered, their hands were already itching, and they wanted to fight a good battle.This includes Istvan Lakfi, the Banner Captain, who no longer wants to be crowded in the castle of Timisoara and is tired of camping under the walls, preferring to move to a siege camp in the highlands...

While listening to the news, he kept looking back and forth at the person he hated the most.There happened to be two such people in the hall, one was Antar Barto and the other was Felicien Zacher.These two people are thorns in his eyes. He has achieved the position of captain by his own efforts, and he also plans to reach the top by his own efforts.

So he can't tolerate this kind of people who come out of nowhere and then directly occupy important positions.Can they sweat like oil of roses, or shit like lavender?

No, their sweat and shit was as bad as his, he was sure of that.It's just that their days are so easy that they don't need to sweat, unlike him, who sweat so hard every time!

They were no more valuable than he, they were born naked like the rest, and would die like the rest.

This Antal Barto, with his huge attendant, Lakfee hated his mysterious behavior and strange name, this feeling came from intuition, and also because he knew very little about this person.

On the other hand, he loathes Felicien for completely different reasons, Felicien Zach, who was once a knight of the rebellious oligarch Mate Chuck, suddenly changed sides three years ago, defected to Charlie and immediately became A court knight, and climbed higher and higher without hindrance.Lakfe had doubts about this man from the beginning, and his dislike for him did not diminish as time went on.

And not only him, even Antal Bator was frowning at Felician.Antar stood on tiptoe and leaned on other people's shoulders. Lakfe followed his gaze and found Felician Zah, and understood why Antal looked at that person like this: in this cool hall Here, Felician's forehead was covered with glistening beads of sweat.

Esteban Lakfe wanted to investigate the reason behind this, but then his attention was once again attracted by the messenger, and the content of the letter finally got to the point.

The letter revealed that Miklos Gutkled had successfully captured Uglotz, Privigi and Bojnice in the name of the king, and planted a lily banner in each of the captured castles, leaving With a solid garrison under his belt, he will continue his march on Apponi with firm force and conviction.

Therefore, the campaign was more successful than expected, strongholds fell to the Anjou family one by one, and Miklos, like an unstoppable howling arrow, penetrated into the enemy's territory and tore it completely.

After the courier finished reading the letter and put the scroll back into the cylindrical leather case, the atmosphere in the hall visibly became tense.Everyone is waiting for the king to speak, waiting for his order to go out, so that they can finally start to make a name for themselves.

Charlie stood up, cleared his throat, thanked the courier for his speed and service, and then calmly announced that they would not leave here for the time being, and they needed to continue to wait and see the performance of the advance army in the next few weeks.

Disappointment swept through the hall like a wind. No one guessed that the king would continue to stand still, but despite their grumbling, Charles did not change his position.

"Miklos' army has won consecutive battles," the king told the dissatisfied people to shut up. "At present, they still have enough strength to continue opening the road to the enemy's hinterland. Our goal is Trencin, not a small town on the edge of the highlands. !"

At this the crowd fell silent again, and the king made a promise to them.

"You heard me right," Charlie continued, "As long as Miklos continues to ravage their borderlands, there is no need for us to send troops immediately. Our mission is more important than this. We will go straight to the snake's nest!"

Some began to nod vigorously, and the king, knowing his subjects well, asked, "Would you prefer to nibble on the dry, flat edge of the pie, or the center, which is sprinkled with grilled bacon and smothered in hot cream?" A few people laughed, and a few swallowed.

"When we can attack Levice, Topolcany and Trencin, we'll be out of here! Believe me, everyone will have a bite out of the center of the pie!
You won't wait long, polish your helmets, sharpen your weapons, and by the time the leaves fall, we must have won a glorious victory all over the Highlands! "

The assembled people were already clapping and cheering, discussing among themselves, happily patting their companions on the back, forgetting about the fact that they would continue to stay in Timisoara.

The king of course knew what his subjects were thinking, and left the throne room before they could remember.

-

Demeter Neksey has been Chancellor of the Exchequer for six years, half of that time running.It was a headache at first, but he quickly accepted the fact that the only time he could stride after the king and talk to Charlie was when the king was going from place to place.

(End of this chapter)