The Vante Empire is close to the southern border, and the Xili Province, which is close to the Qingfeng Plain, belongs to the territory of Duke Greene, who has a green head. The province has a population of more than five million and is the largest source of food, timber, and furs in the Vante Empire.
of origin.
In the far south of Xili Province, on the edge of the Qingfeng Plain, there is a small village in the middle of a small mountain range that does not stretch for more than a hundred miles. The village has a population of only more than three hundred, and because it is not close to the plain
The mainland's commercial highways are quite remote, and there are not many connections with the outside world. Therefore, the war has been going on for half a month, and there is no news here.
It had just rained lightly, and the soil on the ground had been turned into legless black mud. The Supreme God in the sky poked his head out again, causing traces of steam to rise from the mud, making the lower half of the person's body covered with water.
It was itchy and uncomfortable. However, the air was extremely fresh. It seemed that the only trace of soil in the air had been washed to the ground. At this moment, there was nothing else except pure gas.
A dozen teenagers of 16 or 17 years old roared and rushed over along the only road in the village, carrying wooden sticks that were almost the length of infantry rifles. Their naked feet blew up the mud into the sky, staining their brown pants.
. They are not worried. Anyway, as long as the mud is dry, you can wipe it casually and there will be no traces. As for the upper body, their upper body is all naked. Just throw it in the creek by the village and it will be clean.
.
A group of teenagers rushed to a hut at the entrance of the village and shouted: "Lei, Lei, come out. The weather has improved. Uncle Ste is going to teach us marksmanship. Hurry up."
A young man who was obviously much sturdier and slightly taller than them, with a dark complexion, a clean shaven head, and a decent face, but far from being handsome, walked out of the hut. However, it was such a young man who was relatively taller than them.
A young man who is much stronger than his peers, has an indescribable air of weakness about him. It can even be said that he has the air of an old man who has lived in seclusion for too long, or someone who has been too stressed by life.
Yes, the weakness of resignation.
The young man named Lei shook his head, gestured to the one-and-a-half-meter-long bow in his hand, and said: "You go ahead, I'll go for a walk in the mountains. If you're lucky, maybe I can get a few."
The deer is back."
The leader of the group, a young man with fair hair, shouted dissatisfied: "Lei, you always don't go to practice kung fu with Uncle Ste. What will you do if something happens to the village?"
Lei shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "Forget it, what can happen in the village? There is Duke Green's military camp outside the mountain. Who dares to come here to cause trouble? I'd better go kill some wild beasts for money as soon as possible. My mother coughs again
Already."
The young people stopped talking. They all knew that Lei's father died early, and he only had a weak mother to support him. Naturally, he could not have the extra time to practice martial arts and play like they did. The yellow-haired young man shook his head helplessly and shouted.
He said: "Then you move quickly and be careful when going up the mountain. When we come back, we will teach you what we learned today." After saying that, he led a group of people and rushed to the house of veteran Stet on the hillside outside the village.
Lei laughed a few times, looked at St's house with endless longing, grabbed a pot of homemade bamboo arrows, walked out of the fenced yard with bare feet, and walked towards the hillside behind the village. He
Naturally, I also hope to practice martial arts, and I can also listen to Old Ste bragging about how brave he was on the battlefield. Lei chuckled a few times: "Uncle Ste must be a good warrior, otherwise every three or five times on the mainland.
A war broke out every year, how could he come back alive? Although he was lame in one foot, at least his life was saved."
A strange thought suddenly popped up in Lei's mind: "Maybe Uncle Ste survived because he was so good at escaping." As soon as he thought of this, he looked behind him with a guilty conscience, fearing that he would look arrogant.
The bearded Steer would suddenly appear in front of him, and then hit him hard on the head with his big fist.
Not to mention that Lei went up the mountain with his bow and arrow, but that a group of young people rushed to Ste's hut carrying wooden sticks and shouted loudly: "Uncle Ste, Uncle Ste, don't steal wine, otherwise we will
Tell the aunt to go...Haha, come out quickly."
A bearded man with an abnormally red complexion and a slight smell of alcohol hurriedly ran out of the house and cursed at a group of young people: "A bunch of bastards, can I have a little taste?"
Can’t we even have fine wine? How many benefits has your aunt given you? What a bunch of bad guys... Okay, Bit, come up and try it first, haha, let’s see how the boxing skills I taught you go.”
The young man with light yellow hair cheered, threw away the wooden stick in his hand, rubbed his hands and rushed forward. He raised his hand and aimed a punch at Ste's chest. When the fist was still in the middle, it suddenly turned into an elbow.
He pushed up and hit Stett's chin hard. Stett laughed loudly, blocked Bit's elbow with his left hand, grabbed Bit's belt with his right hand, and threw him to the ground with a fierce force.
On the dirt floor in the yard in front of the house.
There was a 'pop' sound, mud splashed everywhere, and Bit cursed loudly: "Old man, we agreed to practice boxing, why are you using so much force? Ouch, do you still want us to compete with you?"
Ste snickered and made gestures and said: "Who told you to threaten me and tell your aunt that I stole wine? So I'll teach you a little lesson, hehe, okay, now you come up one by one and break it down with me.
Don't look at it. This is the most common 'punch' in the Vante Emperor's army, but it is a life-saving trick on the battlefield. Back then, I killed a magician from the Smart Empire with this fist.
Well, do you understand? He is a magician, and I received a hundred gold coins with his head."
The young people's eyes lit up. One hundred gold coins, this is real. Everyone knows that Ste is the richest man in the village. I guess all his military exploits are not fictitious, right?
Bit also regained his energy, climbed up from the mud, waved his fists, and started to fight with St. While neutralizing Bit's punches, St. boasted: "The one I knocked down was an official at the level of Crystal Unicorn."
Magician, the unicorn is holding a branch of three oak leaves in its mouth. Normally, such a magician can kill ten soldiers like me from a long distance, but once I rush towards him, I will hit him with just a few fists.
He's dead... So, don't look down on the boxing technique I taught you, it is the simplest and most effective boxing technique for killing people."
After hitting hundreds of punches and more than thirty kicks in a row, Bit finally fell to the ground weakly and wailed: "Uncle, I have no strength anymore. This punching technique is too exhausting."
Stern taught him a serious lesson: "Bah, of course it takes effort. Otherwise, how could you kill your opponent? Don't be lazy. You can't lie down when you run out of strength. You have to move faster, otherwise your strength will regress. If you go
In the military camp, you are not as merciful as I am. The officer's whip will make you run around the whole square. My instructor back then was a black iron knight with two teeth. Hehe, he really can't run away."
Seeing Bit still lying on the ground with a scoundrel look on his face, Ste finally sighed: "Oh, you little bastards don't know how to work hard. As a man, even if you don't join the army, it's good to have your own strength.
Yes, at least I have one more skill that I can use to make a living. Is it possible that you don’t want to go to the outside world to broaden your horizons?...Sigh, that kid Lei, if he is willing to practice martial arts seriously with me, he will be much better than you.
"
Other young people started shouting: "Lei needs to take care of his mother. Aunt Lisa is not in good health. Lei can't take care of the family's fields on his own. Without our help, he wouldn't even have time to sow the seeds."
...Besides, he still has to hunt, and Aunt Lisa needs nutrition and money to buy medicine."
Ste shook his head and sighed: "Oh, I said I would give him a little help, but the little guy didn't want it. Alas... he is such a stubborn little guy. Could it be that my uncle Ste would abduct him?
?”
Bit shouted loudly: "Uncle Ste is a good man and will not kidnap or traffic us. However, his fists are too heavy and he will beat us to death."
Ste was so angry that he kicked him over. Bit immediately hugged his foot on the ground and twisted it hard. Ste's other foot was a bit disabled and he couldn't stand for a while. He roared angrily and fell down.
He fell into the mud, splashing a large amount of mud. The young people next to him cheered: "Haha, let's show Uncle Ste the results of our training. Uncle, this is the ninth form of the 'Punch Punch'
."
A group of people pounced on Ste, pressing him to the ground. Countless mud immediately covered Ste's clothes. Ste was roaring angrily, but couldn't struggle away. In the end, he really didn't have the strength to shout.
He couldn't help but laugh: "Damn it, you bastards, your aunt is going to teach me a lesson again... Okay, Ste, you are already old, but you are still playing in the mud."
Everyone laughed and carefully let go of Ste, who climbed up in embarrassment with mud and water all over his body.
Ste shook his head, wiped his face with both hands, and suddenly shouted: "Strange, how come there are troops coming to the village? One, two, three... Well, seventeen people, and there are still... days
Ah, the Bronze Knight is leading the team, and the others are all regular Black Iron Knights. Did something big happen? Oops, has the war broken out again? It has only been peaceful for less than two years."
Ste looked worriedly at the mountain pass into the village in the distance and shook his head, while Bit and the others had already said hello curiously and rushed down the hillside to meet the small group of knights. Bit shouted loudly
He said: "Where's the Bronze Horseman? It's the Bronze Horseman. I've never seen a Bronze Horseman."
A group of young people laughed at him mercilessly: "Bit, you are bragging, you have never even seen the Black Iron Knight." Bit was so angry that he kicked them towards them, and the group of people ran out fighting.
Ste, on the other hand, limped one leg and walked down the hillside neatly, walking up the path to meet him.
Bit and the others ran for more than three hundred meters, stopped and stood on the roadside, looking at the seventeen knights with a slightly fearful, but more admiring look. The seventeen knights on horses.
Also looking at them, the bronze knight in the lead smiled and nodded to them, and asked harmoniously: "Is this Kali Village?"
Bit nodded repeatedly and bowed respectfully: "Sir, yes, this is Kali Village. Are you looking for our village chief? Uncle Carter is in the village and should not have gone out."
Just as he was talking, Ste had already walked over and carefully looked at the badge on the left chest of the Bronze Knight. It was a wild leopard with five fangs in its mouth. He couldn't help but stand at attention on the spot, clenched his right fist across his chest, and shouted loudly:
Drink: "My lord."
The knights were stunned for a moment, quickly jumped off their horses, performed the same military salute, and said: "Return the salute." They were a little surprised in their hearts. They didn't expect that there were retired soldiers in this village.
, the group of little guys just now were able to run so fast without panting, it should be his contribution, right? Come to think of it, after these young people are recruited into the army, they can be put to use quickly, which is much better than ordinary people.
Ste looked at the bronze knight a little strangely and asked hesitantly: "Sir, you are a fifth-level bronze knight. You are at least the team leader, right? I wonder what you can do with your presence?"
The Bronze Knight nodded slightly and replied: "War, I am Klaus, captain of the second regiment of the third division under the Grand Duke Green. I have been ordered to recruit new soldiers to join the army. Please take us to see the village chief of Cali Village...
.According to the order of the Grand Duke, all males without disabilities, aged from sixteen to thirty-five, are recruited into the army. I'm sorry."
Klaus's face was full of helplessness and embarrassment. He knew that it was spring now and the crops had just been sown. If most of the young and middle-aged men in the territory were recruited into the army, even if the war was won, the people would not be able to reap this year's harvest.
It's over. Although this is the granary of the empire, it's impossible for people to have too much food in their homes. After this battle, it is estimated that the lives of people in the entire duchy will be a problem.
Ste was stunned for a moment, speechless. The team leader personally came down to recruit people. Has the situation become so bad? Thinking of this, his face suddenly darkened. Seeing Ste's face, Crowe
Si guessed what he was thinking and said quickly: "Oh, the situation is not too bad, it's just that the military strength in our territory is not enough to fight against the Smart Empire's army. In order to wait for the reinforcements from the Emperor, we
We need to concentrate all our efforts... My team was selected to recruit recruits in this area, so I was naturally embarrassed to be idle, so I personally led the team to the farthest village."
Ste said 'oh', nodded slightly, and laughed in his heart: "No wonder he can talk to us common people so easily, and he is so polite when returning gifts. His feelings are like those of a man who was marginalized in the army and sent to do coolies.
...Hehe, I really want to see these high-ranking knights in trouble, bah, I will cook the worst food for you tonight, you were the one who deducted our rations in the first place."
With strange thoughts in his mind, Sturt very politely led a group of knights towards the village, while Bit and the others followed behind them, admiringly looking at the shining armor and the thick and heavy swords on these knights.
When Lei was running back to the village from the mountain with a few pheasants and a deer, he happened to be Klaus, who was standing in the small square in the center of the village with a frown on his face after barely eating some of the garbage-like breakfast prepared by Ste.
When the knight spoke loudly: "Villagers, please don't panic. The soldiers we are recruiting this time are just for reserve. Your Excellency the Duke has his own elite private army on the front line. These people are just for precaution. After all, we
Xili Province is the province closest to the border, so it is necessary to recruit soldiers. However, we will definitely not let untrained soldiers like them go to the battlefield, so everyone can rest assured."
One of the emblems behind him was a black iron knight with a running wolf with three sharp teeth in his mouth. He added: "You don't have to worry about the safety of your loved ones. They are just serving as local defense forces to maintain law and order in wartime. What's more, this
After all, it’s the Duke’s order, there’s no way to disobey it.”
The villagers became a little commotion. What they talked about more than life safety was production issues.
Klaus frowned and shouted loudly: "Okay, we are in a hurry, so let's not delay. Please ask those of the appropriate age to stand up after hearing my roll call. This is based on the household registration information of your local tax officer.
Everyone should listen carefully to the list. As for the production, don't worry, the war will not last too long, and the Duke has said that he will compensate everyone." He raised his inner energy, his eyes flashed with a cold light,
He glanced at the more than two hundred villagers present.
Being swept away by his gaze, everyone quickly lowered their heads, not daring to say anything. After all, they were ordinary people, and there was a huge difference in momentum between them and regular knights who had experienced knight training.
The names were called out one by one. Lei was already seventeen years old, so he naturally met the requirements. When he heard his name, Lei was stunned for a moment and shouted loudly: "Sir, it doesn't matter if you join the army, but what about my mother? She has
I'm sick and can't work by myself."
The surrounding villagers quickly echoed Lei's words, talking about the misfortunes of Lei's family and the difficulties of life. Those words were full of the warmest sympathy in the world, and Lei almost shed tears.
Klaus shook his head and sighed: "Okay, I understand this young man's difficulties, but the Duke has an order that everyone who joins the army will be compensated with a gold coin, which can be obtained on the spot, so there will be no problem, right?
?Little brother, one gold coin can help your mother live for a long time, right?"
Lei was stunned for a moment and nodded excitedly. One gold coin? Hell, he could only exchange for about forty silver coins after three or four months of hunting. One gold coin was usually nearly a year's income, especially when his mother was the only one at home.
, that was enough for her to live on no matter what. He would never dare to disobey the Duke's conscription order, so as long as he heard that the Duke had compensated him, he would naturally be extra happy.
Klaus looked at Lei who looked happy, shook his head, and sighed in his heart. He knew very well that the compensation standard given by the Duke was two gold coins, half of which was deducted by his brother-in-law, and the other half was deducted by the person in charge of the territory's finances.
However, Klaus didn’t dare to say anything because those people were all the Duke’s cronies.
There are more than 300 people in Kali Village, and there are about 50 people who meet the age requirements. Basically, the strongest people in the village have been taken away. Most of the remaining people are women and children, and the others are middle-aged and older people.
, but it is still barely enough to maintain the most basic farming.
Klaus distributed the gold coins on the spot. The money flowed from his hands, but he did not deduct any of it. These new recruits will be under his command when the time comes. He will first give them benefits so that they can obey his orders loyally, but the most important thing is,
If you can chop off a few more enemy heads, the reward will be more than just these gold coins.
Lei took the gold coins and ran to his home, while Klaus looked thoughtfully at the hundreds of kilograms of deer he was carrying, and asked Ste in a low voice: "This is called
How is Lei's young man's skills? I think he is quite strong and his steps are very flexible... Well, he is also very accurate with his bow and arrow."
Ste sighed, shook his head and said: "He has to take care of his mother, so he has very little time to learn Kung Fu from me. He only gained strength by hunting in the mountains. If he really does it, Bit and the others can defeat anyone."
Where is he?"
Klaus was stunned for a moment, and his interest in Lei immediately disappeared. A soldier who has no brute force but does not know how to cooperate will die the fastest on the battlefield. On the contrary, those who have undergone preliminary training and can cooperate with their companions
Young people will have much greater fighting power. Klaus pondered for a while and asked: "Ste, what did you teach them?"
Ste raised his head proudly: "Sir, they have been practicing martial arts with me since they were twelve or thirteen years old. They have learned the 'Punch Punch', and I dare say that their moves are not inferior to those of real soldiers.
It's just that they lack a little strength, after all, they are still young; the method of 'Assassination Spear', there are thirty-six postures in total, they have learned twenty-four, but to what extent..." Ste was a little embarrassed,
If we go to the battlefield, who will really go there with fists in hand?
Klaus is already very happy. He has been leading troops for a long time. He knows that if a few recruits are particularly outstanding, they will have a great promotion effect on other recruits, so training will be easy.
A good soldier can bring out ten good companions. This time he was ordered to recruit thousands of people to join his team in the mountainous area. If these dozen young people can bring out hundreds of well-trained soldiers,
The combat effectiveness of my own team has not increased a little. What's more, the recruits recruited from other villages and taken away by their subordinates are all of good quality. They all have hunting experience in the mountains and can use bows and knives.
What about the role?
When Klaus was happy, he felt that there were still two gold coins left in the money bag, and simply gave them to Ste, and said with a smile: "That's great, um, great. Ste, we are now
We are about to leave, go and gather them. Hehe, they still have to go to my station to undergo training before they can be used, right?"
Ste grabbed the gold coin and ran towards Lei's house excitedly. He hesitated slightly on the way, and handed a gold coin to Ke Li, the one in Bit's group who had a more difficult family, and then continued towards Lei.
The hut ran away.
Amid the warnings to pay attention to safety, Klaus and the others set off with the team of recruits gathered from Kali Village. Klaus said to the subordinates around him with deep emotion: "Look, look,
Our citizens really love their country very much. They can be recruited at will without any trouble, and they are willing to join the army. It is said that in the Smart Empire, people will try their best to avoid military service. No wonder they have
The strongest magician group in the mainland, but their combat troops are the weakest."
His adjutant, a bronze knight with two fangs in a leopard's mouth, nodded and said proudly: "Otherwise, how could our Legion of the Vant Empire be the strongest? Our people are much more useful than theirs.
.Speaking of which, they worship the god of conspiracy, so they can only conspire, not war."
Lei happened to be carrying a wooden stick and following Klaus's horse. Hearing the words of Klaus's adjutant, he couldn't help but ask: "Sir, what the Smart Empire worships is the god of conspiracy, what kind of light does the Wright Empire worship?"
God, the Dark Empire worships a god called the God of Night. Several other countries or large tribes also have their own gods, and they all have their own temples, but why don’t we, the Fante Empire, worship a god?
"
Klaus was stunned for a while, thinking for a while but couldn't come up with the correct answer. He couldn't help but shouted angrily: "That's enough. As long as we have a strong army in the Vant Empire, we don't need to worship any gods...
Well, those countries have no confidence in themselves, and at the same time they have no strength and are weak, so they have to rely on the power of empty gods. Naturally, we don't need any gods."
Lei was frightened, took a step back weakly, and said with a smile: "You are right, it must be like this."
Klaus raised his head with a smile and looked forward, but he also had doubts in his heart: "It's strange, I've never heard of the existence of a God of War, right? So although we founded our country on war, we don't have a god to worship.
Are our heroic knights required to worship the gods of those who rely on shameless magic? That is simply an insult to warriors."
A small group of people headed towards the station where Klaus' team was stationed. The same groups appeared in various places in the Cili Province. Duke Green, who was cuckolded by His Majesty Shagru, was afraid that before the emperor arrived,
, his own territory had already been occupied, so in addition to sending his own private army, the 'Green Field Army' with 25,000 people to station at the border of the province, he also spent a lot of money to summon all the people of suitable age in his territory.
The men were exiled to the army.
Xili Province has a population of more than five million, and he has recruited more than half a million men this time. In terms of numbers alone, the size of this legion has exceeded the direct legions of the entire empire. However, in terms of combat,
, 30,000 imperial knights can annihilate all 500,000 of them.
Moreover, from a political point of view, Duke Greene's hasty military expansion is a very taboo matter. However, Duke Greene is vaguely aware of his wife's vast magical powers, so he does not care about this issue very much. Since then, Duke Greene has some knowledge of his wife's vast magical powers.
When the head of the spies stationed in his territory by the Minister of Security did not express any opinions about this, Duke Green knew that his behavior had been accepted by the empire's top brass.
The only problem now is where to find so much armor, weapons and equipment for the legion that I have collected.
Duke Greene thought blankly for a long time, and finally cursed angrily in his study: "Damn it, are their legions still missing? Those bastards don't even think about if my territory is occupied, will they?
Will it be better?"
Lei and the others had no idea what was going on in the outside world and followed Klaus towards the military camp. Bit and the others discussed excitedly that if they could go to the battlefield, they must work hard to make meritorious deeds. As for Lei, he secretly thought in his heart
He muttered: "The gold coin that Uncle Ste gave me should be able to let my mother live a good life for a year. In any case, this war can be stopped for a year... Oops, the seeds I just sowed,
I forgot to ask the village chief to ask someone to help me shovel the grass. Also, my mother didn’t know that I could tan the deer’s skin. Three skins can be exchanged for one silver coin... Four pheasants, my mother can do it.
She has been dealing with it for a few days, and making soup will be good for her health. It's a pity that she was taken away before I could give her orders."
Lei secretly looked at the majestic Klaus and the others, then lowered his head and thought to himself: "I heard that the empire's rewards for military merit are very generous. If you cut off an enemy's head, you will get three gold coins. One
The enemy's squad leader is worth five gold coins, a low-level magician is worth one hundred gold coins, and the enemy's division leader is worth two thousand gold coins. Alas, if you can kill an enemy, even a small soldier,
I can also send it to my mother... No, Uncle Ste said that my strength is very good, maybe I can kill an enemy squad leader?"
Lei felt happy and hesitant in his heart: "Perhaps, meeting a low-level magician is the best. There is no risk and there are generous rewards. This is the best, right? Alas... However, I only follow Si
Uncle Te has learned a little bit of martial arts, can he save his life on the battlefield? Maybe it would be best to learn from Uncle Ste and run away with all his strength." Unintentionally, Ste has become an escape expert in his heart.
In this way, with a stomach full of confusing thoughts, Lei walked out of the small mountain range and headed towards the first war in his life.