Temple Sword

Chapter 168
1322, end of the Month of the Virgin (August)

Timisoara, Hungary
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The door was flung open, and an energetic Charlie stormed out of the small throne room.Outside, he was immediately joined by lawmen with spears, and the entourage in the throne room tried to keep up with the king's rapid pace.

Antares has long been accustomed to this rhythm, but the Minister of Finance Demeter Nexel was almost left behind. The parchment scroll he was holding was almost scattered all over the ground, and the ministers stepped on each other in their eager hurry. heel.

The king entered the throne room through the entrance reserved for the privileged, his heart beating hard and fast.The hall was usually full of servants, messengers, strangers and even women waiting to speak, but now there were only soldiers.

As soon as they saw the king approaching from behind the throne, they formed into a well-disciplined procession, so quiet that only the rustling of clothes could be heard.

Charlie strode up to his throne with a satisfied expression, with a smile on his face, but he didn't sit down immediately, but stood at the front, scanning the majestic team with his eyes.

Antar Barto also walked to his old position, took a deep breath on the king's left, and shouted.

"Our king..."

"Charlie, long live my lord!" More than 100 people under the platform shouted like thunder with him.

The king then took his seat, himself very excited, and wanted to get straight to the point.

After at least two hours of deliberation, planning and calculation in the small throne room, he didn't want to waste any more time.And he was well aware that his captains, knights, and servants valued straightforward speech over devious ones.

"Welcome, warriors of my banner!" he began, his solemn voice echoing heavily from the walls of the hall. "Of all the people in my kingdom, you are dearest to my heart.

Others may only see war after war draining the coffers from your battles, but I know how important your mission is.

You carry the destiny of the kingdom on your shoulders, and you have never betrayed me. You are not afraid of hardships and dangers, and you have shed blood countless times in the dark and boundless days. You are the pillars of my kingdom. Without you, I cannot build a solid empire foundation ! "

Antal, who was standing beside the king, could clearly see that the faces of these people gradually turned red, their nostrils began to expand, and their heavy chests rose and fell, all of which stemmed from a few well-timed words and a few skillful diction.

The knight has witnessed many such speeches with his own eyes. Charlie Anjou, who did not know a word of Hungarian before the age of 11, not only mastered the language brilliantly, but also improved his speech ability to a near-perfect level, as if he always Know exactly what to say to please his audience.

Having sufficiently aroused the spirits of his warriors, the king continued:
"We are facing a difficult time because we have to go in two different directions with our flag at the same time. As you know, Prince Frederick of Austria came here last year and asked us to resolve a delicate issue help him.

He has recently declared war on Louis Wittelsbach, the outcome of which may determine the ultimate title of Holy Roman Emperor..."

"Only our lord, King Charles!" someone shouted, and the warriors excitedly began urging their sovereign to give immediate orders, for it only took one word and they would take the imperial crown for him, if necessary , even the pope's triple tiara.

Charlie Anjou smiled with satisfaction, but only allowed his warriors to joke around for a moment, then he raised his right hand and ordered the people in the hall to be quiet.

"Our beloved warrior, Ispan Sándor Kcski, come forward!" he called to one of his courtiers, who hurried up to the throne and dropped humbly on one knee.

"You will lead 6000 two hundred soldiers to participate in Duke Frederick's war. According to the calculations of the quartermaster and ministers, we have decided that you can lead 2000 two hundred Hungarian cavalry and four thousand Cuman cavalry archers to win for us. Stand Rise up, Sandor Kotsky, and don't let us down!"

"I won't, Your Majesty." The man stood up gratefully, "I will do my best to lead the army you entrusted to me."

"This is exactly what I was expecting," Charlie nodded. "You can choose your captain yourself, but I will assign you one first. Court knight Esteban Lakfe, come out!"

A stocky, short man came out from behind the neat line. This man with extremely broad shoulders and a big black beard knelt beside Sandor Kotsky, and Antal's heart skipped a beat.

He hadn't seen the strong Sekaii since last year, along with his faithful squire Simon.He left them without greeting at the house in Timisoara, and when he returned nine months later they were no longer in the capital.

The Lily Knight, who had been silently accepting Charlie's punishment, suddenly had a tormented desire to somehow escape the king and find time to talk to Lakfey alone.

"You have proven your worth in the highland campaign, for which you have been awarded the title of knight and a few acres of good Hungarian land," the king's voice sounded, and the heart of the Sekay warrior beat wildly.

"At Trencin, you have successfully demonstrated that you can lead a hundred infantry. Do you think you can handle a thousand cavalry?"

Esteban Lakfi stared at the king with wide eyes, his mouth grew wide, and he didn't make any sound for a long time.

"Maybe the task is so difficult that you can't speak?" Charlie scolded him kindly, "Should I hand over this task to someone else?"

"No need, Your Majesty!" Although no one asked him to stand up, the man stood up happily. "Thank you so much for Your Majesty's trust! I will dye the sky red with the blood of your enemies!"

Charlie let the two commanders return to the team, and the eyes of Lakfei and Antar met for a moment, but the knight couldn't see anything in the eyes of the newly appointed Sekai.

Who knows, maybe Lakfee didn't even realize that Antar was standing to the king's left, or maybe he was so overwhelmed with excitement that he didn't look at him reproachfully.

At any rate, the man disappeared behind the ranks of warriors again, and the king continued his speech.

"In a few days the main army will be heading south, to the sea," he announced, which most had waited for weeks. Miklos Gutkleder is best suited to lead this war.

He can choose all the captains as he sees fit, and the candidates are all standing here, so let your subordinates know that I expect everyone to obey iron discipline!
Let every soldier in the army to the last servant know that our march is not for siege, not for plunder, not for fighting, but to express our position.

We will not surrender precious lands that belong to the crown, and if the situation calls for it, we will shed blood in the rebellious south, but our main purpose in this campaign is not to start another civil war, but to let all the lords know that the king is now Your power is so great that no vassal can rebel, do you understand? "

These people nodded. They understood what the king meant. An army of 5000 to [-] people rushed all the way to the Adriatic coast, and when they returned, their weapons were not soaked in the blood of living people. This did not seem very exciting.But this is the will of the king, and they must obey this divine will.

"Finally," continued Charlie, "get ready, we're moving out of the city soon!"

Everyone looked at each other, unable to understand the last sentence, a low murmur began to be heard in the throne room, everyone wanted to know what the king meant by moving out of the city.

"Once we have settled our affairs in the south," explained the king, "all will be ready, and we may at last build a new empire upon the bloody ruins.

11 years ago, because of the betrayal of the traitor Mate Chuck, I had to flee to this remote corner, where I commanded the war for more than ten years.But this is all coming to an end!The royal court belongs to the center of the kingdom.

My wisest ministers and I have been looking for a new city for the past few months and we have found it.

We will soon begin massive construction at the foot of an ancient citadel whose walls were built by Bela IV, who rebuilt the kingdom after the devastating wars of the Tartars.

This wonderful place is not far from Buda and very close to Esztergom.It is my wish that the center of Anjou's rule in Hungary should be built at the bend of the Danube, in Visegrad, from now until the end of time! "

(End of this chapter)