At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

"Fifth brother!"

Slamming the copper cup in his hand on the ground, Pepin panted heavily: "Today the Vineyard is sworn brothers, ten of us will be called the Vineyard Ten Brothers, today's sworn brotherhood is not only an oath, but also a very important thing! That is to take back our land from the pagans.

Cardona, once the residence of the Father and the people, is now in the hands of pagans. As the oath says, we are fighting to report to Isaiah and bring peace to the believers. Therefore, tomorrow, we will send troops to Cardona accept!Take back our land!Who wants to go with me! "

"I am willing!"

"I am coming too!"

"Fight for the Father! Hiccup!"

Chapter 2 Seventy: Pepin's First Battle

In the hall with a square dome made of marble, a few sticks of incense are exuding a curling aroma.

Sitting on a green Persian carpet, Wali Adan of Cardona was performing the five daily prayers that Xingyue believers must have every day. On both sides of the hall, two rows of Persian, Arab, Berber and even black servants were standing quietly in two rows.

Although he was full of beards, Adan's movements were gentle and delicate. He closed his eyes slightly and worshiped devoutly. No one dared to step forward to disturb the worship of this believer.

On the carpet, Adan devoutly threw his body towards the east, which is the location of the Kaaba in Mecca and the spiritual hometown of all Xingyue believers.

For Xingyue believers, as long as they are adults, as long as they have no debts and are in good health, they have to go to Mecca once for Hajj, regardless of gender. This is the dream of all Xingyue believers.

And for Adam, who followed Abdullah Rahman to Iberia, it was not a small price to pay for another trip to Mecca.

After the prayer was finished, Adan stood up. Although he had already performed wudoo before the prayer started, after the prayer ended, he still cleaned his face, hands and beard according to his personal habits.

Until this time, a black-skinned Berber servant came forward in a low voice and said in a low voice, "Master Valli, the Basque who reported last time is here again."

Aside from the smell of burning incense in the air, Adan didn't say anything. In half a second, the Berber servant's forehead was dripping with sweat like a waterfall.

After silently washing all the faces, Adan then turned to look at the Berber man, his face hidden under the lush beard showed no expression.

Amid the pungent aroma, Adan just slowly pulled out the scimitar. The scimitar rubbed against the scabbard, making a desperate squeak, while the Berber servant stood still, not daring to move. move.

"Who gave you permission to interrupt my cleaning?"

The bright red blood flowed along the cracks in the ground, and the Berber man slowly fell to the ground.

In a corner of the hall, a young Berber man with a strip of cloth wrapped around his head narrowed his eyes. His slightly trembling eyelids revealed the anger in his heart.

Another old Berber grabbed the young man's shoulders and coughed heavily.

"Drag him away."

Several servants walked forward with small steps, grabbed the Berber servant's feet from both sides, and dragged him out of the hall. On the ground, although another maid was wiping it, there was still a pink streak. of blood.

Stepping on this bloody path, a Basque man with a bruised nose and a swollen face came into the hall under the escort of two guards.

Wiping the scimitar in his hand with a clean cloth, Adan's serious eyes fell on the Basque: "How is the situation?"

The Basque hurriedly said, "Master Valli, the Franks have really been fooled. My brother will take them around the mountain road these two days. I communicate with him every day with the sound of birds. As long as you give an order, my brother will lead them to the predetermined battlefield."

"Okay, very good." Adan grabbed a handful of gold dinars from the small box on the table and threw them on the ground.

Amidst the clanging sounds, the Basque man knelt on the ground, picked up the gold coins in surprise, and shouted "Thank you for your kindness, there is no master except Xingyue!"

Slowly sitting cross-legged on the seat, Adan knocked on the table with gold coins and made a crisp sound, which immediately made the Basque raise his head: "Listen well, in two days, let your brother lead them to the plains in the northwest."

The Basque blinked and asked in confusion, "Ah? Aren't you ambush in the canyon?"

"Hmph!" said the Berber youth with his head covered. "That's your Basque style of play. For the believers of Xingyue, only flat plains can show our greatest strength. Letting you delay in the mountains is just to give us time to prepare, and consume their food and energy by the way."

"That's right!" Adan nodded approvingly to the young man, "Okay, go get ready, and I'll still have a reward when I annihilate this overconfident hunchbacked prince."

Looking at the ecstatic back of the Basque guide, the young Berber snorted coldly with disdain: "Traitor who betrayed on both sides."

"But they are really useful, aren't they?" Adan rubbed the emerald on his thick fingers, "I need your cavalry, Berbers, in this battle."

"It's natural." The Berber youth came to Adan from the corner of the hall, "I can fight for you in this battle, but I want to see my sister and brother-in-law."

Adan shook his loose robe and seemed a little displeased: "Don't worry, they are alive and well. They eat and drink every day, and they can still worship. After all, they also have Haji (pilgrims) in their names. As long as you can defeat the hunchbacked Pepin for me, of course I am willing to release them."

"I hope you can abide by our agreement."

"Of course, of course I will." Adan showed a rare stiff smile.

…………

"Haven't you gone out yet?"

In the canyon that was as hot as a steamer, Pepin's voice was a little hoarse.

The guide who led the way looked at the mountains in the distance and muttered: "It's still far away. We have already walked through it when it rained before. I don't take this road often. Don't rush, don't hurry."

On a suspension bridge in the canyon, a long dragon composed of soldiers moved forward slowly like a centipede. They staggered, and the total number was about 2000. Many of them took off the helmets on their heads and hung them on their shoulders. Otherwise, the iron helmets that were scalded by the sun could make people faint.

The soldiers who had marched for a long time were a little irritable. Some of the soldiers' blood had already stained the shoes under their feet, and more of them even turned their movements into zombies.

The food and grass are almost consumed, and there is still a lot of clean water, but the whole attack plan has been disrupted. Pepin's original plan was to detour from the mountain road to the back of Cardona and launch a sneak attack. As long as the speed is fast enough, Let Caldonovali have no time to call up soldiers, and the probability of winning this battle is very high.

But now, two days had passed as originally planned, and he was still wandering around in the mountains. Until this time, Pepin had a deep enough understanding of the road and guide issues in Feng Sen's military law notes.

Looking at Diao Erlang as a guide on a donkey, Pepin suddenly even had an urge to kill him. This urge came from nowhere, and made Pepin couldn't help but recite several times of anger before he settled down.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but Pepin always feels that there is something wrong with this guide.

In the shadow of the canyon, the group walked for more than an hour. Suddenly, Pepin heard the guide shouting loudly, and he quickly asked the attendant around him to ask. Sure enough, the attendant brought good news.

"Your Highness, the guide has found the way!"

"Your Highness, Your Highness." The guide came stumbling over on a little donkey, "I saw that mountain, go around from behind the mountain, and we're there, but I don't know how far we've deviated."

"Okay!" Pepin seemed to drink a large bowl of ice water in summer, and his spirits instantly cheered up. "Notify the whole army to move forward and walk out of the canyon before the sun sets!"

March, continue to march silently, the setting sun falls on the peak, scatters dazzling light, the faint fragrance of flowers in spring lingers in front of the nose, and several goshawks circle in the sky that gradually turns dark blue.

As the army advanced, the field of vision in front of him became wider and wider. After turning around a mountain peak, Pepin stood up immediately, took a deep breath, and the depression in his chest dissipated invisible in this endless plain.

"It's so quiet. There are no shepherds driving sheep on the Great Plains. It's so different from Neustria." Orton, a knight from the Rhine, looked at the vast plain in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"You are in a good mood."

"Of course! We've finally come out."

"Ah, that's right, it's finally..." At this point, Pepin's voice seemed to be pinched by a hand, and it stopped in an instant. In just half a second, his face turned livid.

Reining in the horses and letting the soldiers behind him flow forward, he suddenly shouted to the cavalry behind him: "Where's the guide? Guide? Let the guide come here immediately!"

"What's wrong?" Orton hurried forward, rubbed his head and said, "The guide just had a stomachache, go..."

"Damn it, hurry up, let everyone retreat to the canyon! Orton, we have been cheated, hurry up!"

"Woooooo-"

Amidst the bewildered eyes of the soldiers, the deafening horn sounded.

Chapter 271 People who are eager to win! Follow me! Part [-]

On the vast plain, the Arabian cavalry archers formed a half-moon shape, and hundreds of relatively heavily armed cavalry stayed by Adam's side.

"My lord, there is no other god but you!"

Bows and arrows fell like rain, and the half-hanging sunset made it difficult to tell which was blood and which was light. Pepin's roar was mixed with the sound of Adan's horn, making him seem a little lonely and desperate.

Because there was no time to expand the formation, Pepin's large army was still in a state of long snakes. Although Pepin had already led the hussars to block the enemy cavalry in front, they still could not stop the impact of the Arab cavalry and could not prevent the defeat of their own army.

"Your Highness, let's go, let's go!" Orton knocked a rushing light cavalry off his horse with his lance, and came to Pepin who was half covered in blood.

Pepin gritted his teeth tightly, almost bleeding from his bite. He could see that his first line of defense had collapsed under the side attack of a group of Berber cavalry.

But fortunately, it is not too far from the entrance of the valley, and the large troops from the rear have not yet come to the front. At this time, the rear team turned to the front team, and most of the soldiers could hide in the canyon.

"withdraw--"

At least 300 people were left behind by Pepin, and there were even many loyal wing infantry and wing cavalry among them. Facing the departure of the general, even those loyal wing infantry could hardly maintain their morale and retreat steadily.

"Hahahahaha! Good!" Adan stood on the top of the carriage, clapping the gold cup in his hand happily, "Good, Sheikh Murduin, send two people to Cardona to announce that we have won the victory! Let them get ready for the ceremony of welcome!"

Sheikh Murduin waved to the two guards, and the two naturally left the team and ran towards Cardona in the distance.

"Should we continue the pursuit?" Squinting his eyes, Sheikh Murduin asked Caldonova Liadan.

"It's so dark at night, and the canyon is so narrow, I'm afraid they'll be ambushed by them if they pursue rashly, and they don't know the way, so they just sent some people to guard the canyon entrance, and sent someone to hang them from a distance, and it will take a few days until they are exhausted. With the support of two eunuchs, Adan got out of the carriage.

Although these people were defeated, Adan knew in his heart that the strength of the opponent was not low. Has he never eaten pork or seen a pig run?These soldiers were obviously much more elite than the other Frankish soldiers he had seen. It was a big victory, so why take the risk?

At this time, in the sound of the horse bell, the dark-skinned Berber youth came on horseback: "Adan Wali, our agreement is half done, I want to see my sister or brother-in-law, I need Make sure of their safety."

Adan replied displeasedly: "Are you doubting me? Your sister is not a big nobleman. What good is it for me to kill them? They are fine."

The setting sun was like blood, and the evening wind brought a hint of coolness. The Berber youth did not speak or move, but just rode on the horse. Facing the setting sun, Adan narrowed his eyes.

The two of them stared at each other for a long time, before Adan snorted coldly: "I'll let you meet after this battle is over, but listen carefully, I don't want you to destroy them, I need the hunchbacked Pepin's head, it's best, catch alive!"

There was another silence, and when the guards beside him started to get nervous, the Berber youth nodded: "Our people died a lot, I need herbs."

Adan stared, and replied impatiently: "Here, go get it yourself."

At this time, the chasing Berber cavalry had returned, and their casualties exceeded expectations. Those damn infantry had a strange machine bow, which caused many Berber cavalry to suffer a lot.

On the desolate plain, the corpses of Pepin's soldiers piled up into a hillock as high as a person, and some corpses even began to swell and explode under the direct sunlight. Horses were tied to posts, and Berber youths carried herbs, Came to a Berber old man's side.

"Master, this is the herb given by Adan."

But the Berber old man didn't answer, but looked at a short tree not far away. On the branch of the short tree, there was a rope hanging. At the lower end of the rope, two corpses were swinging in the wind.

The Berber youth stepped forward and was about to speak, but his eyes were fixed. It was the two Basques, the elder brother and the younger brother, and several guards beside Adan were laughingly looking for gold coins in their clothes.

"Alas—" the Berber old man let out a long and hoarse sigh.

"Hey——" In the mountains and valleys of the southern Pyrenees, a local Visigoth from Girona rubbed his swollen belly, "Is this our meal for severed heads?"

"People's decapitated food is good, we are just full." Another Basque soldier took a knife and pricked the blisters on his feet. "Do you think His Highness Pepin is cursed? Otherwise, why everything is not going well? Maybe the heavenly father did not allow us to start this war?"

"Hmph, I don't think so." An infantryman dressed as an aristocrat was roasting pickled pork by the campfire. "This reform, that reform, I thought he was so good, but in the end he just pretended to be a cat pretending to be a lion, and laughed out loud."

"What about the ten brothers in the vineyard, and this is the end?"

"No wonder His Royal Highness Charles wants to give Pepin's name to the Italian Pepin instead of the hunchbacked Pepin, not only the hunchback, but also the talent."

"Our brutal Gobo can only fight a dozen bandits."

"Do you know? I heard that His Highness Pepin is dead..."

"Speak less!" the captain sternly shouted, "Could it be that the gold coins that His Excellency Pepin gave you were fake? Could it be that the fields that His Excellency Pepin distributed to you were fake? Those who don't know how to repay their kindness will be rejected by the Heavenly Father!"

The soldiers who said strange things looked at each other, and were about to refute, but saw a few silent soldiers around them looking at him with dangerous eyes, so they stopped guessing embarrassingly.

After drinking the soldiers' discussions, the captain couldn't help but think wildly. To be honest, His Excellency Pepin has been staying in the tent since the defeat. It is said that several hussars who delivered meals heard faint Jojo's cry.

When I set off in the morning, there were still a little over [-], but at night, there were only [-] left. When I woke up tomorrow morning, how much would I have left?

"All the teams are listening to the order. Stand up and take the lead and go down to the bend in front to gather. Jieshuai wants to make an announcement!"

A hussar guard rode a tall horse galloping back and forth through the aisle of the camp, beating the gong, waking up many sleeping soldiers from their dreams.

The soldiers who were about to sleep or even fell asleep were called out again, and the backlog of resentment from the defeat instantly turned into anger.

"What kind of monster is this?"

"Who knows, reform again? Hmph!"

"If you speak strange words in the army, be careful to behead them."

"Hey, this is bad military law!"

Under the moonlight, the soldiers stepped on straw sandals and wooden shoes, walked slowly on the dry sandy soil, and walked towards the place where the fire was rising.

At the bend of this section of the canyon, there is a relatively wide area. In the center of this wide area, a bonfire is burning fiercely. Countless bugs are playing with fire and setting themselves on fire beside the hot flame.

Pepin came, surrounded by several hussars, trembling slightly, his eyes were bloodshot.

When he came to the bonfire, Pepin didn't speak, but panted heavily, looked around, opened his mouth, then closed it, and opened and closed it three or four times under the eyes of everyone.

"This evening, we suffered a defeat, we lost a quarter of our troops, and now, only 500 people stand here.

I admit, it was my mistake, I should not have trusted that Basque guide, and I apologize to you. "

Amidst the exclamation of the soldiers, Pepin knelt heavily in front of the soldiers and knocked his head on the gravel in front of him.

"However, apologizing doesn't solve any problems. Some people say that this failure is the curse of my heavenly father. Some people say that this is the result of my high-sightedness and low-handedness. I know that a large part of you do not obey me. I always know.

But I ask you to think about it, your friends and relatives just died at the blade of the Xingyue Cultists, their corpses piled up into hills, how many times have our villages been slaughtered to the ground, what have we done wrong?What did I do wrong?