Chapter 162: Sending Troops

When assembling his army, Duke Eddie still encountered some problems, namely, he could not recruit mercenaries.

The main reason was that he had posted a commission to fight against undead monsters in the Adventurer’s Guild at the end of last autumn, but ultimately failed to pay the wages, causing many adventurers to no longer trust his character.

It is not enough to rely solely on the knights and magicians of Dongsheng Fortress. If you want to assemble an army, you need to recruit a large number of mercenaries, who are the backbone of the force.

As for the peasants who were forcibly conscripted, they couldn’t even hold a sword properly. They usually carried supplies such as food, fodder and tents in the rear and did not go forward to fight.

For this reason, Duke Eddie could only promise that he would pay 30% of the salary to the recruited adventurers in advance, and the remaining 70% would be paid after the battle.

Mercenaries have always suffered the most casualties in battles between two armies.

Mercenaries who died in battle were not supposed to be paid.

But in order to gather the army, Duke Eddie had to resort to this desperate measure. The money he spent was like cutting his flesh, causing him great pain.

This also made Duke Eddie resent Owen Eisen even more, and he must get back the extra money from the border town.

Finally, an army of nearly two thousand people was formed to the north of Dongsheng Fortress and was ready to set off.

Before setting off, Duke Eddie issued a pre-war declaration to the army, sternly reprimanding the lords of the border towns for ignoring the king’s orders and stating that he would impose justice on the other side on behalf of the king.

With a command, this huge army set out northward to the border town.

At the front of the team were the knights from the four major families of Dongsheng Fortress, with a total of 320 knights.

Among them, there are 120 elite knights under the command of Duke Eddie.

They were dressed in full body armor gleaming silver, with the Eddie family crest printed on their chests and cloaks behind them. They held fine and sharp spears, all of which were the pride of the fortress’s blacksmiths. Even the war horses they rode were specially imported from the northern border of the kingdom. They were tall and good at endurance running.

That’s right, the group of knights from the Eddie family looked extremely majestic and much more eye-catching than the knights from the other three families.

Although Dongsheng Fortress has not fought against undead monsters for a long time, those knights have maintained daily training and have some experience in clearing out bandits and hunting monsters, so their combat effectiveness should not be too bad.

Duke Eddie spent a lot of money to assemble this elite knight force. After all, it was to protect his own safety, so this money had to be spent and could not be spared.

After them came the nobles, including nobles from the border town and the Dongsheng Fortress. Most of them wore full armor passed down from their ancestors, and only a few wore chain mail.

All nobles were equipped with an exquisite long sword, which, in addition to being used for combat, also had symbolic significance.

Duke Eddie was in the middle of the team and was the most conspicuous.

Because he was too fat, he could not ride a horse or wear his ancestral armor. He could only sit in an open carriage pulled by four horses. He was also wearing a specially made wide chain mail and a red feather on his helmet.

Anyway, Duke Eddie didn’t rush forward to fight. He just stood behind and watched the mighty army he led crush the enemy.

Further back are two groups of magicians, totaling forty people.

They can use two types of large-scale magic, and the attack effect is best when the enemy is 500 meters away.

In the middle of the team are the largest number of mercenaries.

Almost all of them were adventurers transformed into mercenaries. They were quite diverse, with all kinds of people mixed in, even magicians.

The equipment of that group of mercenaries was uneven, and only a few of them were equipped with complete and good armor. Those were elite adventurers.

Most people either lacked gauntlets or helmets, or only wore low-quality leather armor. Some even used two wooden boards as breastplates.

The weapons are even more messy, with all kinds of them.

As they followed the team, most of them gathered in groups of four or five familiar people, spread out widely from each other, talking and laughing as they walked, very casually.

Although those mercenaries had no discipline at all, they still made a living by fighting, and they would kill the enemy without mercy.

However, this has a prerequisite, that is, the battle situation must be favorable to one’s side.

Once they saw that the battle situation was unfavorable, the mercenaries ran away faster than each other.

Which is more important, life or salary? Without a doubt, they will choose their own life.

At the end of the team were the forcibly conscripted farmers, who were pushing wheelbarrows carrying various supplies and following behind the mercenaries.

There were some soldiers around holding whips to supervise the group of farmers to prevent anyone from escaping or being lazy.

Due to the difference in marching speed, especially the slowness and laziness of the mercenaries, the army was stretched very long.

Therefore, the knight troops in the front needed to stop from time to time to rest and wait for the troops behind to catch up, so the marching speed was very slow.

At the same time, in a small forest north of Dongsheng Fortress, two agile lizardmen hid in the dense canopy of a tree, secretly monitoring the movements of the army.

One of the lizardmen was actually holding a pair of telescopes in his hand, and the optical lenses inside were polished by Rob himself.

Because the facial shapes of lizardmen and humans are different, Owen specially asked carpenters to make a telescope shell that can fit the eyes of lizardmen.

In this way, Lizardmen can also use this special telescope to observe distant targets.

“The enemy’s total strength is estimated at 2,000 men, including approximately 1,000 knights…”

The lizardman holding the telescope observed and reported the number he saw to his companions.

“Okay, I’ve written it all down.”

After recording the data, another lizardman put away the paper and looked up and said, “The enemy has already moved out. Let’s go back and report to the Lord.”

The lizardman put the telescope into the small cloth bag and turned to nod to his companions.

“Well, let’s go back quickly.”

The two men quickly jumped down from the tree and ran towards the border town with all their strength. In a short while, they disappeared.

The agile lizardmen ran at full speed and reached the border town in just one whole day. Their speed was astonishing.

At this moment, the army of Dongsheng Fortress was advancing slowly on the road.

As soon as he received the news, Owen immediately went to the north city wall to hold an emergency military meeting with Viscount Jarvis and others, preparing to send the People’s Army to fight the enemy.

Since the day the People’s Army received Duke Eddie’s letter, it has been actively preparing for war and has conducted many comprehensive exercises, mainly focusing on the two parts of defending the line to meet the enemy and pursuing in the field.

Next will be the first time that the People’s Army will fight against the human army. I don’t know what the soldiers in the army feel, but Viscount Jarvis is full of confidence.

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