Our family is in decline

This news came at dawn, making the baron fall headfirst into reality.

Weren't they still on the periphery yesterday? Why the hell did they attack today?

The baron asked hurriedly, and was relieved to know that the army was only attacking those knights, but he couldn't hide his anger, and he tensed his face and scolded.

"Damn it! What do you mean they are attacking? It's just a small thing that makes you so confused. If they really attack, wouldn't you be scared to death?"

The man was also speechless in his heart. Damn, you can sleep until noon, but I didn't sleep all night just to deliver those messages. As soon as I received the news, I realized that the situation was wrong and came to warn you. You got scared and I got scolded?

Of course, these can't be said directly, so I can only remind the baron carefully.

"Sir, we just arranged for people to notify the knights yesterday, and the army has already started to attack in the early morning..."

There is no need to be too confident. The baron calmed down and quickly understood what he meant. It was nothing more than that the other party realized that he had not yet organized, so they were so eager to launch an attack.

"What about the people who went to negotiate?"

"It is reasonable that they should have returned long ago, but there is no news now."

"Damn it! They must have been controlled and let those people know about our situation."

The baron was speechless. He originally wanted to let them delay time. It would be better if they could sow discord.

Unexpectedly, both of them were useless and leaked their own situation.

But now is not the time to entangle those things. The baron immediately began to issue orders.

"Let all the knights along the line lead the army to withdraw here, abandon those places, take away what can be taken away, destroy what cannot be taken away, and stretch the opponent's supply line.

Tell them that now is not the time to entangle these trivial matters. Only if we win, those things will still be there."

The baron finally put on a state that fits his identity and began to rely on the resources at hand to fully promote the war.

Not to mention conscription, but directly conscripting young men. All the young and strong men in the town were forcibly conscripted. However, the baron, who knew the situation was critical, was not stingy and made many promises to those people, even becoming knights.

Not to mention that the baron directly killed a few pigs and let those people have a meal of meat. Although each person could only get a little, the fat and protein still satisfied them and even made them full of fantasies about the future.

The more than 800 young and strong men were really transferred to spearmen by him. Although they could only have one spear in each hand, this was already very good. You should know that Count Bastia had not done it before, although the size difference was very large.

More importantly, the morale was available. Although the formation was scattered and the standing was not in place, the skinny body did not show much strength.

But those people were no longer numb, but revealed an irrepressible greed, desire, and of course ambition.

Those soldiers were tempted by the baron's reward. There was no ordinary person in this era who did not want to become a noble.

Death becomes insignificant in the face of such temptation. If I can become a noble lord, I must...

Although the Baron felt distressed, he could not care so much at this time. He even recruited those mercenaries in a big way, and even dared to secretly use some dangerous people that the Mercenary Guild did not accept.

He asked some rich people in the town for money, goods and people, and the reason why he was able to succeed was that Lance's monopoly made them afraid, so they could only rely on the Baron.

Otherwise, they would surrender, and it didn't matter to them whose territory they were under.

Of course, they also asked for help from the church, and they also got help. As for the reason, it was similar, but this was not a dependent relationship, but support.

Hamlet's weird system should not exist, this is everyone's tacit understanding.

In other words, Lance helped him, and it can only be said that this world is abstract.

The Baron prepared for war, and he also understood the importance of reputation, so he promoted Hamlet's invasion as an evil act and slandered various things.

For example, Hamlet's lord is a dictator who wants to capture everyone as serfs and take away all their things...

Anyway, it's similar to the evil wizard's rhetoric of capturing children to eat, which made the whole town and even the territory panic.

But at this time, the baron called his son.

"The situation is turbulent now, and Totnes is the only stable place in the entire empire. You take these things there and come back after the matter is over. If something happens, don't come back."

The baron was quite emotional for a while, and patted his son's shoulder, "The things I left behind are enough for you to live a stable life. Train the younger generation well. Hamlet can rise up even though he has fallen so far, so our family may not have no chance to rise again."

The son wanted to say something, but he only felt a sudden weight on his shoulder, "The future of our family is in your hands."

The son could only nod his head, but his eyes were inexplicably filled with anger, and he growled like gritting his teeth.

"Hamlet... I remember it!"

People who have received aristocratic education know that the power of the nobility comes from the territory. If you lose the territory, you will have no power. No one cares about your identity. Once the money is spent, it's gone. Going to Totnes is not a life of enjoyment, but a life of suffering.

For him, it was just playing with women and singing songs, and suddenly! The lord came!

The territory that he was supposed to inherit... nothing is left.

The baron felt a little distressed when he saw his son who was shrouded in hatred, but he could only harden his heart and warned him:

"The battle will probably start tomorrow. You should leave tonight. Remember not to let anyone recognize you. Someone will pick you up and take you directly to Totnes after you go out. Don't go anywhere else or stay."

After making these arrangements, the baron went back and heard the news that his side was retreating step by step. He felt helpless.

This son has no ability and is quite spoiled. Don't think that he can handle things on his own like Bruce. At this time, he can't rely on his son like the earl did. He can only send him away, hoping to continue the family bloodline.

Yes, only a few days have passed, and Hamlet's army has already fought in front of him. Most of the territory has been captured. The baron is suffering!

Although the baron deliberately stretched the opponent's supply line and took the initiative to shrink during this period, and the troops were not damaged, the battle line will not lie. There is a town behind them, and there is no room to escape.

They put on a desperate fight, but then let their son take their accumulation and run away. And it seemed that they had prepared for it. These nobles were indeed cunning.

He absolutely could not escape, because he was the lord. Once he escaped, it would be even more difficult for others to fight without their claims. Moreover, how could he not understand the truth that even his son understood? If the nobles lost their territory, they would lose their life, and they dared not speak loudly.

Not to mention that he still had a little fantasy, comforting himself that the previous strategic shift was made to delay, and those people had not made a move yet, and the accumulated strength in this battle would definitely defeat the enemy.

The baron had thought of some tricks, and it was a classic way to gather knights to launch a night attack on the camp.

This took advantage of the gap between knights and ordinary people. Knights with sufficient meat would not suffer from night blindness, but civilians were different. The probability of night blindness was very high.

Anyone who has been to the battlefield knows that the pressure is very high. Soldiers who are used to the battlefield with blood and flesh flying everywhere will not be very stable. They will be stressed when there is any movement. Even Hamlet is the same. Many people are forced to retire and receive psychological treatment.

Not to mention that everyone knows what the situation of serfs in the feudal era is, so it is easy to blow up the camp by using a team of knights to attack the camp at night.

If you can take the opportunity to burn the food and grass, you can greatly hit the enemy.

But the problem is that Hamlet is close to the sea, there is no shortage of fish and meat, and the soldiers' food is also very well matched. There is no such thing as night blindness.

They tried several times, but they all failed. Even the sentinels and rangers on the periphery could not break through. Instead, some knights were shot down by random guns, and they could not play the advantage of knights' armor at all, and could only play the role of running fast.

This night was particularly difficult for the baron...

Both sides actually felt that the battle would be tomorrow, because one had no room to escape, and the other would never retreat.

Those who needed to rest in Hamlet's camp rested, those who needed to stand guard stood guard, and they did not let down their guard because of the victory in the past few days. Everything was in order, and at the same time, they were cautious and did not give any chance.

When it was dawn, the army prepared and assembled as usual, and then set off.

In the ordinary actions, a terrifying momentum was revealed, which was condensed into a whole, and it was an unstoppable terrifying pressure.

Any enemy who faced them would be desperate!

For example, the baron... almost did not sleep all night, but fell into a kind of stagnation.

"My lord? My lord?" The confidant shouted several times to wake him up, and the first thing the baron asked when he reacted was a question.

"Are those guys coming to help?"

When he said this, there was still a glimmer of hope in his eyes, but he turned around and shook his head and denied it.

"Impossible, those guys are waiting for us to fight Hamlet to the death. We have no way to retreat. The more we kill, the less pressure they will have. They are going to kill us all!

They are still calculating at this time. Can't they see that it will be their turn after I fall? I can't stop Hamlet, can they?

They know... they all know..."

The baron has obviously been holding back all night. The earl has Bruce to confide in, but he doesn't even have someone to talk to. It's really ridiculous for this lord.

The confidant couldn't say anything either, so he could only report the reason in the future.

"The army has assembled, and the knights are waiting for the adults to come out."

"I know." The baron's expression quickly restrained, and he walked out of the room with a serious look.

There were more than a dozen armored knights in the hall, and they were just short of wearing helmets. These were all noble knights with real titles, but most of them had lost their territories and were chased all the way, so they could feel their anger.

The Baron's plan to retreat in a big step still preserved most of his strength, allowing him to organize a counterattack and retain a certain probability of victory.

But probability is just a probability.

"I don't need to say more polite words. Everyone knows what the situation is now. We have been consuming them for this battle. Now it's our turn to take action.

Don't think there is a way out. Lord Hamlet is not a real nobleman at all. The dictator can't tolerate nobles like us. We can only win this battle."

After the Baron appeared, there was no nonsense. Instead, his words became naked and also full of anger.

The knights could also feel the oppressive atmosphere, but as the baron said, they must win!

To take back everything that belongs to them!

"Yes!"

The knight left in response, but the civilians outside still had to be fooled.

The baron climbed up to the second-floor terrace near the street and looked outside. That was the assembled army.

Are they really weak? In a short period of time, they dragged out a team of 2,000 people, although most of them were only slightly trained and had never been on the battlefield.

There were also some mercenaries who looked very bluffing, or guards of wealthy merchants. They were always on the edge of the knife, and many of them had participated in wars.

As for the knights, they lost a little, but there were still more than 50 people who were put together, which were basically noble knights, squires, church crusaders, and some wandering knights.

Not to mention the monks who were blessing everyone, using the branches to dip holy water and sprinkle it on the soldiers. With the blessing of holy water, they would not be afraid of guns and cannons later, just rush forward.

Regardless of whether it is useful or not, those people are very susceptible to this. If they are beaten to death, they will only doubt that they are not pious enough.

At this time, there are many civilians on the street besides the soldiers. Some are curious, and some are relatives of soldiers.

"Baron!"

The lord immediately attracted everyone's attention. The baron was not timid at all. Instead, he angrily accused Hamlet of invasion and described the cruelty of Lord Hamlet, and then showed an unyielding look and roared at the soldiers.

"Fight! We must expel all the invading enemies without leaving a single one!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surroundings boiled directly, and cheers soon came from outside.

Feeling this atmosphere, the baron only felt that the blood surged to his brain again, and the power surged from his heart. In winter, the whole person felt a heat.

But when it came to the urgent point, he paused, and the many words in his heart floated in his throat for a few times, and finally sank.

He also wanted to propose to fight with them. The morale of his own lord would surely rise greatly if he went to the battle in person.

When the time comes, he will put on armor, mount a horse and charge with a gun, and it may not be impossible to create a story like the Count of Bastia.

But this is the difference between people. If it is a ruthless person like the Count, he will have this courage even if he is old. Unfortunately, the Baron does not have it. Although he has aristocratic heritage, can ride a horse and hold a gun, and can play a sword, he has never been on the battlefield.

He did not come out of the battle, but picked up the leak. The battles he experienced were mostly small-scale frictions with other nobles. Under the restrictions of the rules, if he lost, he would just lose some money, and the nobles would not die.

But these Hamlet lunatics are different. They fight mercilessly on the battlefield and don’t care about your identity at all.

In the end, they can only spit out one sentence.

"We must win!"

In that excited environment, the knight began to control the army, and then led the team out...

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