When gathering the army, Duke Eddie still encountered some problems, that is, he could not recruit mercenaries.

The main reason is that he issued a commission to fight against undead monsters in the Adventurer's Guild at the end of last autumn, but in the end he was not paid, which made many adventurers no longer believe in his character.

The knights and magicians of Dongsheng Fortress alone are not enough. If you want to assemble an army, you need to recruit a large number of mercenaries. They are the backbone.

As for the forcibly recruited peasants, they couldn't even hold a sword well. They usually carried supplies such as grain, grass and tents in the rear, and did not go forward to fight.

For this reason, Duke Eddie can only promise that he will pay 30% of the salary to the adventurers recruited accordingly, and the remaining 70% will be distributed after the battle.

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

Those mercenaries who died in battle did not need to be paid.

But in order to assemble the army, Duke Eddie had no choice but to resort to this strategy. The money he spent seemed to be cutting his flesh, which was painful.

This also made Duke Eddie resent Owen Eisen even more, and the extra money he spent would definitely be taken back from Border Guard Town.

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

Before setting off, Duke Eddy issued a pre-war declaration to the army, sternly reprimanding the lords of the border town for ignoring the king's orders, and that he would impose just sanctions on the opponent on behalf of the king.

Following the order, this huge army set off 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 one hundred and twenty elite knights under Duke Eddie's command.

They wore gleaming silver full-body armor, and the cloaks on their chests and backs were printed with the emblem of the Eddie family. They held fine and sharp spears, all of which were the proud work of the fortress's blacksmiths. Even the war horses under their crotches were specially designed.

Introduced from the northern part of the kingdom, it is tall and good at running for a long time.

Because of this, the knights of the Eddie family looked extremely majestic, much more eye-catching than the knights of 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 killing bandits and hunting monsters, so their combat effectiveness should not be too bad.

In order to save up this elite knight force, Duke Eddie spent a lot of money. After all, it was to protect his own safety. This money had to be spent and he couldn't be stingy.

After that, there was a team of nobles, including nobles from Border Guard Town and Dongsheng Fortress. Most of them wore full armor passed down from their ancestors, and only a few wore chainmail.

All nobles are equipped with an exquisite long sword, which in addition to fighting, also has symbolic meaning.

Duke Eddie is in the middle of this team and the most conspicuous.

Because he was too fat, he couldn't ride a horse, nor could he wear his ancestral armor. He could only sit in an open carriage, pulled by four horses, and he also wore special large chain mail.

The helmet he wore also had a red feather stuck on it.

Anyway, Duke Eddie didn't rush forward to fight. He just watched from behind as the mighty army he led crushed the opponent.

Behind them are two groups of magicians, with a total of forty people.

They will use two types of large-scale magic. When the enemy is five hundred meters away from us, the large-scale magic will have the best attack effect.

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

Almost all of them are adventurers turned mercenaries. They are quite diverse, with all kinds of people mixed in, including magicians.

The equipment of that group of mercenaries was uneven. 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 types available.

When they were following the team, most of them were four or five familiar people gathered together, spread far apart from each other, talking and laughing while walking, very casually.

Although the mercenaries were undisciplined, they still relied on fighting to make a living, and they were absolutely ruthless in killing the enemy.

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

Once they see that the battle situation is unfavorable, the mercenaries will run faster than the other.

Which is more important, life or salary? There is no doubt that they will choose their own life.

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

There were some soldiers around with soft whips who were responsible for supervising the group of farmers to prevent anyone from escaping or being lazy.

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

Therefore, the knights at the front need to stop from time to time to rest and wait for the people behind to catch up. The movement speed is very slow.

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

One of the lizard men actually held a pair of telescopes in his hand, and the optical lenses inside were polished by Rob himself.

Since the faces of lizards and humans are different, Owen also asked a carpenter to make a telescope shell that could fit the eyes of lizards.

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

"The total number of enemy troops is estimated to be two thousand, of which the number of knights is approximately..."

The lizard man holding the telescope observed while reporting the number he visually observed to his companions.

"Okay, I've written it all down."

After recording the data, another lizard man put away the paper, raised his head and said: "The enemy has been dispatched, let's go back and report to the lord,"

The lizard man put the telescope into the small cloth bag, turned back and nodded to his companion.

"Well, let's go back quickly."

The two people quickly jumped down from the tree and ran towards the border town with all their strength. After a while, they disappeared without a trace.

The agile lizardmen ran at full speed and could reach Border Guard Town in just a whole day. The speed was staggering.

At this moment, the troops of Dongsheng Fortress were slowly advancing on the road.

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

Since the day it received Duke Eddie's letter, the People's Army has been actively preparing for war and has conducted many comprehensive drills, mainly in the two parts of defensive lines to meet the enemy and field pursuit.
Chapter completed!