The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

"Broken a nail, destroyed a horseshoe, destroyed a horseshoe, broke a war horse, broke a war horse, fell a king, fell a king, and lost a country!"

Pidro always thought that this was just a fable to persuade people to pay attention to details, but he did not expect such a story to actually happen, and it happened to Yanush Laziviu.

In the battle more than a month ago, although Mihau’s cavalry surpassed Prince Yanush’s expectations from behind the prince’s army, the commander quickly adjusted his strategy and tried to rely on the height of his soldiers. The quality penetrates the Allied right-wing ground defense line before the Confederate surprise soldiers penetrate their own defense line to change the unfavorable situation.

Pidro doesn’t know how the other mercenary teams performed, but he can proudly say that his mercenary regiment blocked the left-wing Colonel Jerzy Khaletsky’s attack and won the prince’s strategy for the implementation of the strategy. time.

But at this time when his fate was decided, Yanush Raziviu fell from his horse, and the Prince's Army lost its commander. This sudden accident led to the complete defeat of the Prince's Army. All the teams fled in all directions, and the mercenary group he led had to retreat in Werner's direction. In the process, the old enemy of the mercenary regiment, Colonel Jerzy Khaletsky, just bit the mercenary regiment. The colonel led his subordinates all the way from the battlefield to the city of Werner. When the mercenary group followed Werner’s defenders and defeated troops gathered by Lonzinski to retreat to the castle of Tykozin, Jerzy Khaletsky and several Allied forces surrounded the castle again.

Fierce fighting and continuous retreat caused heavy losses to the mercenary group. Almost all the cannons and carriages were thrown on the battlefield, and Pedro retreated to the remnant of the mercenary regiment in Tycozin, leaving less than three hundred people. Fortunately, the military administrators of the mercenary group survived without danger, otherwise Pidro really couldn't explain to Cheerchen.

"Ugh!"

Thinking of this, Pidro sighed heavily. He glanced at the outside of the castle. Outside the castle was countless fires like stars. It was the camp where the Confederate army was stationed. The Confederate army seemed to be in no rush to attack the city. Tico Qing surrounded the city for a while, but apart from shelling, there were few siege operations. It seems that they are waiting for the food in the castle to surrender.

"almost."

Pidro took a bite of crusty brown bread. This is the army rations issued two days ago. It contains at least a quarter of the sawdust, but even this kind of food is not in sufficient quantity. Many mercenaries have begun to complain, and some mercenaries have begun to discuss tying up Yanush and giving it to the Allies in exchange for the forgiveness of the leader of Saperga.

He glanced into the castle again. Tikozin is a small castle, previously used as a fake member of the Laziviu family. All it has only one city wall, but the main building is very tall, with towers and spires all available. Now, in the darkness of the night, there is only one window with a light on, and that is Prince Yanush’s bedroom. Now, only the Prince’s room can afford candles extravagantly.

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps under the dark stairs of the city wall.

"Who?" Piedro asked, clenching the Micarlet in his hand.

"It's me, captain."

Pidro heard Fedot's voice. He relaxed his gun.

Fedot gradually walked into the light. There was a person behind him, and Piedro fixed his eyes and saw that it turned out to be Sarben, Prince Yanush’s doctor.

"What's the matter?" Piedro asked Fedot, frowning.

Sarben's spirit looks very bad-although he is wearing thick clothes, his shoulders are constantly trembling, and his facial muscles are constantly twitching.

"I was patrolling the castle just now and found that Sarben was forced into a corner by Tepesh. The villain also caught his throat." Fedot said.

"That villain." Pidro spat under the city wall, cursing viciously.

Since Tepesh forced Chechen to leave, he has become a consistent enemy of the mercenary group. However, this guy is also cunning. He doesn't know what path he has taken, and he has the trust of Yanush and is arranged to take over Victor's infantry team. Of course, Pidro was extremely dissatisfied with this. He spoke to Prince Yanush several times about the unreliability of Tepesh, but Yanush was treated as a whisper.

Seeing cold sweat on Sarben's face, Pidro took out a dirty handkerchief and handed it to Sarben.

"Thank you." Sarben was not too dirty, he took the handkerchief and wiped his face carefully.

When Sarben finished wiping, Piedro asked, "Why is that Tepez trouble you?"

Sarben looked around and saw that there were no other people besides Fedot. He approached Pidro and said, "You and Captain Chechen once rescued me. I shouldn't hide it from you. Pesh approached me because of Prince Yanush’s injury."

"Didn't it mean that the prince didn't fall seriously?" Pedro asked anxiously when he heard what Sarben said.

Yanushma stumbled and fell off the horse accidentally. This is what the prince said to the mercenaries. And on the second day after he retired to Tikozin, Prince Yanush independently inspected the city wall to let everyone dispel speculation about his injury. Could it be that there is any secret in this?

The reason why Pidro is still so determined to play for Prince Yanush is that he believes that Yanush Laziviu, who is backed by the Swedes, will not fail. Even if he fails, the Swedes will. Help him make a comeback. But if Yanush himself had an accident, then if Yanush had no male heir, the Swedes would definitely not support a dead person, and he and the mercenary group would lose their allegiance.

After several struggles in his heart, Sarben decided to tell the truth to Pidro:

"Pidro, my friend. In fact, Prince Yanush did not accidentally fall from the horse because the horse slid. His health has always been bad, and the wounds he left during the war with Tsarist Russia have been torturing him. Originally, I He was prescribed medicine, as long as he rested at ease, he could recover. But for more than half a year, he has been forgetting to sleep and eat for his own business, so that his injuries continue to worsen. The Prince fainted once during the rebellion of Jan Sobieski. I was lucky enough to be rescued back that time. I didn't expect that this time..."

Pidro understood. Tepesh threatened Sarben and understood Prince Yanush’s injuries. He must be weighing whether he should abandon the Prince and surrender to the Allies. He is such a snob.

"How long can the prince live?" Piedro asked.

Sarben held out three fingers.

"Three days?"

"The longest three days."

"Does Tepes know?"

"Yes, he forced me to tell him."

"Boom!"

A flash of lightning flashed in the night sky, illuminating the pale faces of Piedro and Salben.

The lightning flashing in the night sky also awakened Yanusz Laziviu. He tried to get up from the bed, but he discovered that his body was like being pressed by a huge boulder, but his hands were as soft as cotton.

"Lonzinski, Lonzinski!" Yanush shouted loudly, but the voice seemed to come out of a bellows that leaked everywhere.

Hearing the prince's shout, Ronzinski walked in from outside the bedroom door. He held a candlestick in his single hand, and the candle on it shone faintly on Lonzinski's face.

The shortage of food in the castle also affected this strong man. Longzinski's cold and plump cheeks were completely sunken in, and his uniform was loose as if it were a size bigger.

"My prince, what's the matter with you?" Longzinski walked to Yanush's side and put the candlestick on the bedside table, then knelt down and said.

"Help me up," Yanush said.

Lonzinski lifted the prince's body and put a pillow behind him.

"What was the sound outside just now? Are the traitors attacking the city again?" Yanush asked. After sitting up, he felt a lot more comfortable in his chest and his breathing became smoother.

"Just now it was just the sound of thunder, and the rebels did not attack the city." Longzinski said.

Yanush nodded.

"Has the messenger I sent back?" Yanush asked again.

After being besieged, Yanush successively sent envoys to his cousin Boguslav, King Karl X of Sweden, Elector Frederick William, and even to the Tsarist Russia to ask for support in the rescue of the siege. .

Longzinski shook his head. More than a month passed, and none of the envoys sent out came back.

Yanush coughed heavily.

Yanush closed his eyes. He didn't understand how he himself got into a situation where everyone is rebellious, isolated and helpless.

Once upon a time, the name of Yanusz Laziviu frightened everyone who opposed him. Because of his fear of his influence, Jan Kazimierz refused to grant him a seat in the Senate, but even so, he had to surrender the military and political power of Lithuania to himself.

There has never been a nobleman with less than a thousand people at the banquet of the Laziviu family. Every invited nobleman felt flattered and tried to squeeze in front of him, just to say a word of flattery.

In terms of wealth, even the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the king of France did not have their own money. The granary of the Laziviu family is full of grain, and the cellars of the manors are full of boxes and boxes of Taylor. Countless dukes, earls, and members of parliament are their debtors.

He is the savior and protector of Jews and Protestants. These people who were persecuted in other countries gathered at his feet, he allowed them to keep their faith and built churches and schools.

But now, in just over half a year, everything has changed. I don’t have the power to respond to one hundred responses. The nobles who have sworn to serve themselves have rebelled one by one, and those who are left behind are all villains who tend to be inflamed, ambitious and talented; the Laziweu family can match the wealth of a country, and look at it. His manor and real estate were burned and looted, and Taylor in the treasury immediately found the bottom, and even the salary and food of the mercenaries became unsustainable. And those Jewish bankers who once regarded themselves as supreme have also begun to avoid themselves.

He failed, completely failed.

This is a fact, Yanush does not want to admit it, but has to admit it.

He once wanted to use the red cloth of the Republic to make a crown for himself, but he didn't expect that the final product would be the coat of death.

"If I didn't take that step..." Yanush thought again.

He suddenly felt a little dry mouth.

"Lonzinski, bring me a bowl of honey," Yanush said.

Lonzinski was a little embarrassed. There was no food in the castle, so where did he get honey?

At this time, there was another loud noise outside the window. It was not the sound of cannons or thunder.

Yanush suddenly opened his eyes again.

"Lonzinski, what is that sound?"

Because the voice is very mixed, what Ronzinski heard just now was not real. He walked to the window to observe. The gate of the castle opened in the middle, and a fire dragon made up of torches penetrated straight through the gate.

"Your Highness!" Longzinski cried out sadly.

Yanush turned his head with difficulty. He looked at Longzinski's desperate face and understood everything.

"Boguslav! Boguslav!"

Yanush Raziviu cried out with his life.

"Fortunately you didn't come! At least our family will still have you after my death~www.readwn.com~. Our Laziviu family!"

These few words seemed to exhaust all Yanush's energy. He stood up on the bed a few times, his hands convulsed and convulsed, and finally he couldn't move.

Lonzinski walked gently to Yanush's side, and crossed the prince's hands to his abdomen.

At this time, noisy footsteps came downstairs, and countless leather shoes and riding boots were stepping on the wooden stairs.

Lonzinski was indifferent. He just stood quietly beside the prince's corpse.

The bedroom door was pushed open. Knights like Mihavu and Jerzy Khaletski broke in. Mihav looked at Yanush who was silent on the bed, feeling a little at a loss for a while, while Jerzy Khaletsky sighed in secret.

Among the Allied forces, Mihav Laziviu, a family of Prince Yanush, tried hard to save the life of the prince, and the leader of Sapega held the same view-he believed that the living prince was more important than the dead. it works. Others tried their best not to want Yanush to live anymore, because as long as he was alive, they would not be at peace. Before attacking the castle, some big people had instructed Colonel Khaletsky in this way—they only wanted a dead prince.

Originally, Khaletsky was still worried about how to behave in front of Mihawu without knowing it, but now, he doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

After a few minutes, Mihau finally reacted. He took off his gloves and walked towards the body of Prince Yanush.

Longzinski stood in front of Mihavu.

"I will not allow anyone to insult the prince's body." Longzinski said firmly.

"Neither will I." Mihavu said looking into Ronzinski's eyes.

He came to the prince's body and gently closed Yanush's eyelids with his hands.