Chapter 349 [Bloody Song]

In summer, once the temperature begins to rise, it will be hotter one day.

It was windy all night last night, but after the sun rose, the temperature suddenly rose. By noon, even the air seemed to contain a little heat. The warm wind made people lazy, and they wanted to find a cool place to doze.

This is the main road to the north of Siltan County. This road was built by the Empire decades ago, and later it was repaired by previous county magistrates and has become quite large. The normal road to the north and south built by the Empire was originally intended to deal with the war period, and the troops and materials from the south were dispatched north and north. In previous wars, the materials and energy sources in the south of the Byzantine Empire were continuously transferred to the north and south, and the smooth road to the north and south were considered to have made considerable contributions.

The location of Siltan County in the north of the empire was quite awkward. The land area of ​​this county was not much different from that of Moor County, but it was not as rich as that of Moor County. Moor County was located on the border, with border trade benefits and abundant food. However, when it came to Siltan County, there was no other oil and water except for the pleasant climate and abundant grain production. Most of the north were plains and there were no big mountains, so naturally there were few minerals.

But after all, it is not a border county, and it is abundant in food and has always been considered peaceful and abundant. Speaking of which, the population is more than that of Moor County in the north.

Before the war, Siltan County was directly ruled by the central government of the Empire. It is one of the few central administrative regions in the empire. Originally, the Seventh Corps of the Empire was stationed here. However, a few months ago, the Odins invaded and the Seventh Corps was completely wiped out by the Odin Chixue Army, and the entire Siltan County was captured, and the peaceful and abundant scenes of the past could no longer be seen.

Originally, after the Odins fought, the people were in panic, especially when they heard that the Seventh Corps was completely wiped out during the Battle of the Sylma River. The Seventh Corps was completely wiped out. The fierce Odins even massacred all the prisoners, dyeing the water of the Sylma River red. The villages and towns under the river, the most common ones were the corpses of the Byzantine team soldiers who drifted down from the upper reaches of the river. Most of the corpses were incomplete, but they were soaked in the river water, and they looked very scary.

Later, there was a legend among the people that these fierce Odins wanted to kill all the Byzantines in Siltan County. Such legends made people panic and for a moment, a large number of refugee surged.

However, Manninger of the Red Snow Army was not a fool, and he was quite visionary. He was also considered a master among the savage Odin tribe. After annihilated the Seventh Corps, he occupied the entire territory of Siltan County, but he actually divided the Odin army into some small groups, controlled some important roads, and did not allow refugees to rush back to his hometown. At the same time, he also ordered to restrict the robbery of Odin's army under his command: robbery is OK, but burning and killing is not allowed at will, and rape is strictly prohibited.

Odin was a barbaric person. He had already gone south and entered the Byzantine world of flowery land. The Byzantine Empire was rich. After the county and cities were broken, the grain piled up in the granary and the gold coins stored in the warehouse made people's eyes red. Looking around, the land here was so fertile, and the Byzantine men were as weak as sheep, but the Byzantine women all had delicate skin and looked charming.

The Odin people are so arrogant that they have done some activities to destroy villages and towns. Manninger's order was not implemented at the beginning. Everyone thought: "Win to fight and die in war, and they will fight to the death. After the battle, why don't people be happy?

But who would have thought that Manninger was extremely ruthless and sent his personal guards out as an inspector to inspect various places. Any soldiers in the Odin army who violated his orders would be severely punished. He even cut off some of his head in one breath, which finally made the troops subjugate.

While Manninger ordered a strict ban on refugees from evacuating, he dispatched teams to station them in various places, but then ordered to seize the time and drive away the residents in the place to rush to plow the spring. In order to seize the time, many Odin troops were sent to inspect the area strictly, and even between the farmlands, farmers worked in the fields, and Odin soldiers were holding whips on their hands to supervise the fields.

As for the conquered areas, people were not allowed to massacre Byzantine civilians at will. Instead, some Byzantine officials who had surrendered in Siltan County came to collect the population list, and after sorting it out, they registered the list.

Manninger later explained the dissatisfaction and confusion among the tribe:

"Our trip south is different from the past. In the past, we just came to grab a ticket and left, burn it and kill it, and then rob it and take it back. But this time, we came for the long-term plan. After we came, we didn't plan to leave. The land, houses, farmland, and the future are our own things! The kids below are ignorant, and they burned and killed it, but they are our own things in the future! As for these Byzantines, they will be our slaves in the future. If they are all killed and no one will come to cultivate food, after autumn, we will ask our soldiers to eat and drink? Should we let the warriors in our Bashak tribe put down their battle axe, swords and guns, rolled up their sleeves and ran to the farmland to do the farm work?! They are all brainless things!"

Everyone was convinced.

Manninger then made a series of actions. After completing the spring plowing time, he sent people to draw young and strong people in the towns and villages, and ordered each household to release one person. Any man who is above the wheel must be employed.

Nearly 30,000 young and strong men were recruited to build Odinian troops stationed in various places, especially along the road in the southern part of Siltan County, several checkpoints that had been disrepaired for many years have been rebuilt. Some places even simply pushed down the rebuilding of the city gates. They also built three large military fortresses in key locations in various places, allowing their own troops to station, and even relocated local residents in the most fertile places, and then recruited residents to build a new city. The appearance of the city gates was built in accordance with the style of the Odinian architecture.

This series of actions obviously made it clear that the carriage and horses were planned to stay here forever. I even heard that Manninger planned to send people back to his country to migrate some of the tribes once the war situation calmed down.

Originally, Manninger's actions were all in an orderly manner. But who would have thought that more than a month ago, after Charia lurked in with a group of horse thieves and cavalry, he provoked conflicts between the Odins and the Corsica Military Region, and directly killed the eldest son of the Governor of the Corsica Military Region and framed the Odins. As a result, the two families started a war. In a rage, the Odin army gathered, crossed the border, and occupied several towns and many lands in the Corsica Military Region in one go. The two sides fought hard, which delayed the migration of the domestic tribes that he had originally planned.

However, in summer, many checkpoints in various places have been built, and those new cities are still working hard. I heard that Manninger cherishes his country's tribe in his heart, hoping to build a new city before the cold winter season comes, so as to migrate the domestic tribe population to the south to spend the winter.

At this time, most of the Chixue Army's troops had actually been transferred to the Corsica Military Region and were fighting fiercely with the Corsica Military Region's troops. It is said that the two sides had fought fiercely a few days ago. Although the Corsica Army was at a disadvantage, after the Odins entered the country, they also had considerable combat effectiveness in order to protect the countryside. I heard that in the last battle, although the Odins won another battle, they also suffered a considerable loss.

The Odin army left in Siltan County has been repeatedly drawn. Manninger only placed a few thousand people at the southern border checkpoint to maintain a deterrence against the military districts in the southern border. The Odin army in various parts of Siltan County is actually no longer considered weak. Even in a few places where new cities are built, tens of thousands of civilians have left less than a thousand Odin army to take care of.

However, the people in Siltan County were really afraid of these fierce Odin people, especially the actions of Manninger slaughtering the Seventh Corps, which left him a great reputation, making these people in Siltan County dare not have the idea of ​​resisting.

Besides, the Odin people no longer kill people now, they just drive people to work. Although it is tired and hard, they have to eat poorly. If they slacken a little every day, they will be whipped - but they can finally survive.

But in this way, several densely populated towns in Siltan County, which had been invincible for the past, disappeared.

Manninger prohibits population movement, and even trade caravans in various places have been restricted. The large-scale selection of civilians in various places has caused a huge reduction in the population. Many places with dense populations will inevitably become deserted.

Corder City was originally a medium-sized city in the south-central Siltan County. The city was originally named to commemorate a general named Corder during the founding war of the Byzantine Empire. The general was said to have been born in this place. Later, he joined the Byzantine Army and made great achievements and became a founding meritorious person. In order to commemorate him, he named his hometown where he was born, which has been passed down to this day.

Originally, the city of Corder also had a population of 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, and there were large areas of farmland outside the city, with smooth roads and some caravans traveling from north to south, but now it has become deserted.

Manninger's high-pressure policy, five thousand young and strong people were drawn from the city and transferred to the west to build a new city. Most of the remaining ones in the city were old, weak, women and children. Many farmers were recruited in nearby villages outside the city to build Chengguan, leaving only a small number of people to take care of the crops in the farmland.

This road that was quite lively in the past seemed deserted at this moment. Even on the road outside the city, most of the tea shops in the past were poured down.

The defenders of Corder City had less than two hundred Odin soldiers. It was obviously a shortage of guarding a city with a population of over 10,000. However, in any era, any country was in danger of national crisis. Although there were many heroes and martyrs, corrupt things were indispensable.

There were less than two hundred Odin soldiers in the city, but there were five hundred assistants. Most of these assistants were ruined or street gangsters from the past. After the Odins occupied the place, the original local garrison was naturally wiped out. Manninger even summoned some corrupt officials and ordered some assistants to be recruited and sent to the surrendered officials. At this time, serious people, or who have a little conscience and character, would they be willing to accomplice the tiger? What's more, after becoming this assistant, they would face their own people with a butcher knife.

But there are always some scoundrels and gangsters, who are not conscientious, who pinch their noses to do this kind of thing.

Anyway, there are some small amount of weapons left by the Byzantine defenders in the warehouses in the city. Although most of the swords and weapons are rusted and damaged, the Odins will not carefully equip these cooperative troops. They will send them some random equipment, so they can maintain local stability.

These military forces naturally have no military uniforms. They wrapped themselves in a black robe and were uniformly dressed up - so in Siltan County, all over the country called these traitors without conscience "black skin dogs".

In Corder City, five hundred black leather dogs control the city defense, but the two hundred Odin troops in the city are usually in the original city guards.

As summer comes, the Byzantine summer is hot. These Odin people from the snow and ice land of the northern country are somewhat unaccustomed to the weather here. They are used to the days of the snow and snow sword. When they come to the south, the sun is so sunny that people are about to melt. People stand on the flat ground and do nothing. In a moment, they sweat a lot. How can these Odin barbarians who are blowing from the cold wind in the northern country bear it?

In the hot weather, they all hid in the city guards to escape the summer heat, and even reindeer were rarely pulled out to grazing. Speaking of which, these two hundred Odin guards were all reindeer cavalry, but the problem was that after these Odin mounts, reindeer, were more unable to withstand the hot summer weather in the south than people, so many reindeer fell ill, and those who were alive lost weight. In Manninger's army, many Odin cavalry had already recruited horses on the spot to change as mounts.

It was almost noon at this moment. Although the gates were open under Cordel, they were tilted and fell. Several soldiers wearing black robes in the city tower were sitting together to avoid the vicious sun.

Some had rusty swords hanging around their waists, some had only a rusty shield in their hands, and some simply took off their robes, revealing their thin bodies, sticking out their tongues and slapping their hands to fan the wind.

Manninger ordered that people in various places be restricted from population movement. This order is certainly very smart, but it becomes much more interesting when it is passed down and implemented in detail.

The Odin people are barbaric peoples from the north, and many places are in the original tribe. Even Odin masters like Manninger may not have much ink in their stomachs. They can only make some wise judgments with their keen observation and shrewdness.

But the people below... do you know so much? Most Odin soldiers can write their names in Odin's words, but I'm afraid they can't find one in ten.

As for restricting population mobility... can you expect these guys below to come up with strategies to restrict population mobility?

The Odins remained unmoved, and most of the officials who surrendered Byzantine were timid and too lazy to care about these matters. As for the "Byzantine traitors" of the black-skinned dogs, what did these original rogues know?

Just, since everyone has no choice, just use the simplest way!

Isn't it necessary to limit population mobility? No matter what strategy, here in Cordel City, the Odin cavalry commander slapped his head: "Mr. Manninger said he wanted to limit population mobility, so just order that no more than one hundred people entering and leaving the city every day!"

Now it’s better. There are still tens of thousands of people in the city. Although everyone has tried to go out as much as possible in this chaos, who has no urgent matters? Who can have no headaches?

People who want to go out of the city to find relatives, people who go out of the city to buy food, people who go out of the city to find doctors, people who go out of the city to chop firewood to make money... Why are there more than a hundred people a day?

And if someone dies in the family and wants to be buried, they have to go out of the city to bury them in the cemetery. You can't just be buried in your backyard, right?

As a result, in this city of Cordell, people line up at the city gate before dawn every day. But no matter what urgent matters you have, even if the family is dead and people are in a hurry to get into the soil, if you can't rank in the top 100... Sorry, you go home and wait, please be early tomorrow!

This bastard order gives those black-skinned dogs room to make money. After all, these guys guard the city gates and line up in and out every day. If there is an urgent matter, they will have to secretly stuff two or three copper plates - it depends on the mood of others!

At noon, these black-skinned dogs were sitting under the city gate. A guy with a fleshy face was obviously a leader. An old man in a linen robe stood beside him. He carefully tried to please and talked with him. He fanned the old man with a piece of torn paper in his hand, accompanied him with a lot of good words, and finally stuffed a small cloth bag over.

The leader clenched it in his hand, but it seemed that he was too little. He suddenly became unhappy. He turned around and pushed the man over and said angrily: "Do you think I am a beggar? Such a few small money is not enough to buy a bottle of wine! Want to leave the city? Come early tomorrow morning!"

The black-skinned dogs next to them all laughed and pointed at them.

At this moment, on the road outside the city, a broken carriage seemed to be twisting, and the wheels were running all the way, with a squeaking sound as if it would fall apart at any time.

What's even more strange is that the person who pulled the cart was not a cow or a horse, but he was actually a young and tall man! He put a rope on his body and pulled a broken cart, but he walked like a flying step.

The broken carriage behind him was already gone, but there were three people sitting on it, two women and one man.

The car arrived at the city gate and was immediately stopped by the black skin dogs.

"Ahhh! It's time for business! The brothers are all up, they are up."

The defender leader showed a smug smile on his face, and several subordinates jumped up and stopped the city gate, and some even thumped the broken and rusty swords and shields in their hands to show intimidation.

The young man who pulled the carriage stood under the city gate and stood up straight. He didn't look at the guys who were blocking the door, but turned around and smiled bitterly: "Mr. Xia, I'll take turns to pull you and I will take turns to pull two miles away. Now it seems that I'm fooled by you. I pulled two miles away and then arrived at the city. You clearly remember the journey and came to fool me on purpose."

The man sitting in the car stuck out half of his body, with big arms and round waists, a tiger-back and bear-bear waist, and a strong aura, was our Xia Ya Tuba.

Xia Ya jumped out of the car and patted Dax on the shoulder: "It's good to say. I remember the distance. I calculated the distance and it was just two miles away to the city. However, the solution was what I said, but the order of who pulled the car first was you. If you choose it, then you will be the one who was sitting in the car and having a breath of air."

Dax snorted: "My body injury has not healed yet..."

But Xia Ya ignored this guy and looked up at the dilapidated city gate: "Well, I've arrived in Cordel City, so the road under me is not far... Alas, if I hadn't followed a few people, I would have run back in just a few days."

Xia Ya stood at the city gate, probably after taking a car for a long time, and was a little lazy, so she couldn't help but bent down and thrust her back and moved her hands and feet. He was originally tall and tall, but now he was even more powerful and powerful, and his every move was full of killing power.

Originally, several black-skinned dogs under the city gate were about to come forward to block the road and blackmail, but they saw Xia Ya standing there with such a mighty and strong man. Everyone was a little scared for a moment.

But the leader was quite tall, patted the broken sword in his hand and gave himself courage. Then he separated his subordinates and greeted him, "Get out of the way! Who are you? Stop at the city gate and spread out quickly! Otherwise, be careful to arrest him as spies!"

When Shaya saw the guy in front of him, he suddenly smiled: "Yes? Are you defenders? Why are they Byzantines? Did I hear that this place was occupied by the Odins? Which soldier are you from?"

As this sentence was said, many black-skinned dogs suddenly turned red, and the leader was even more angry and pushed Xia Ya's chest hard, cursing: "Bastard, I'm the defender here! Where did so much nonsense come from!"

He pushed Xia Ya's chest, but with the strength of this guy, how could he push Xia Ya? It was like a dragonfly shaking a pillar. Xia Ya stood there without moving, but looked at the guy coldly, and thrust slightly, and the guy staggered back a few steps.

The leader was immediately angry and raised his sword. He was about to scold him and suddenly he was hugged. When he turned around, he saw that it was the young man who was pulling the cart and he didn't know when he had posted it on him.

Dax smiled gently. Although his head was covered in dust, he showed a mouthful of white teeth when he smiled like this, and his appearance made him feel like he was not angry. He hugged the leader, how could this guy move? Then he heard Dax smile: "Don't get angry, this guy, don't get angry, my friend is a rude guy. Are you a defender? We are just going to enter the city..."

"Enter the city?" The leader was hugged and didn't care why he couldn't break free. He immediately shouted: "I can't get in! We only have one hundred people every day in Cordel City! If you want to enter, come and queue up tomorrow morning... Yi?"

Dax was not angry, let go of the guy and took two steps back. What else did the leader say, but he felt that his hand was hard and there was something else. When he looked down, he saw a silver coin in his palm.

They were extorted at the city gate, and they could only get dozens of copper plates in a day. This silver coin was already a considerable fortune.

The leader immediately smiled, looked at Dax, and said with a smile: "You guy is very sensible..."

But suddenly his eyes turned again. Although Dax was dressed in rags, he was obviously of high-quality material. His expression was obviously not an ordinary person - was he a wealthy man who fled?

Now that the war is in chaos, isn’t this kind of guy just a fat sheep when he hits his hands?

At present, except for those Mr. Odin in Corder City, he has the final say. If these fat sheep come to the door, they will not slaughter a few times, wouldn’t they be sorry for themselves?

The original polite words changed immediately when they reached their mouths: "It's good to be sensible, but there are four people in your industry, and the tax on entering the city must be paid for four people! Ah, and, this carriage also needs to be paid for the tax on entering the city, is it the head of the carriage? Even if you give it to one person now, the carriage will have to be doubled."

The carriage was in a mess. When she was on the road, Xia Ya picked it up at some point, just to settle the seriously ill and coma Crown Princess. Hearing the tone of the leader, he wanted to call two silver coins - this carriage would be dismantled and sold, but I am afraid that it would not be able to sell two silver coins.

Xia Ya didn't talk nonsense, just stood aside and watched the fun. Dax sighed. He was too lazy to talk nonsense with these guys. He just didn't want to alarm the defenders of Odin in the city. He took a few silver coins from his arms and said with a frown: "Several people, we are desperate all the way, we really don't have much money, and we only have the last ones left. Even eating in the city is a problem..."

The leader snatched it up. Although it was not as much as he expected, he was quite satisfied and waved his hand: "Okay! Go in!"
To be continued...