"Lord Aslan, Sir Sirnant, Lord of Manchester, is asking for an audience." Early in the morning, Arthur was awakened by the village chief's voice: "Could you please freshen up and follow the carriage to Hillnant Castle?"
"Of course." Arthur got up from the bed, feeling sore muscles all over his body. The time should be around six in the morning. Although you can't see a clock in a place like this, Arthur's biological clock has always been accurate. He didn't like to socialize.
Those nobles--even in Arthur's original era, Arthur, as the King of Knights, did not like to entertain the nobles. But now, in order to achieve his purpose, entertaining the nobles has become a compulsory activity for King Arthur.
The career is also ironic enough.
Whatever. Arthur has a feeling that things will end soon. There are actually only two things he has to do. One is to assassinate Henry VI, the young king of England today, and the other is to control everything behind his back.
Kill Richard Beames, Earl of Warwick, who was manipulated by Henry VI as a puppet king. After these two key figures were removed, Britain would be in chaos, and Britain and France fought the "Hundred Years' War" for hundreds of years.
"It will come to an end, and Joan of Arc will be liberated from her historical mission.
That's the case in theory. What about in practice?
An hour later, Arthur and Bedivere got off the carriage. The magnificent castle in front of them was Hillnant Castle. As the lord of one party, the Duke of Manchester Hillnant naturally decorated the door of his house.
It must be very luxurious------This kind of luxury is certainly not the kind of luxury that is inlaid with gold and silver------He seems to have people repair the castle every year, and decorate the outside of the fortress.
The solid rock walls have been re-reinforced countless times, making Hillnant Castle impregnable--at least it seems so. At first glance, the knights patrolling inside and outside the castle are in their twenties and thirties at least.
The team was so large and heavily defended that it had never been seen before in France or in Penzance Port. The colorful flags hung everywhere on the castle were fluttering in the wind, and the purple-blue colored flags with gold edges were printed with (or embroidered with)
) As the lord of this place, the family coat of arms of the Duke of Hillnant. The grand pomp inside and outside here is all showing off the power of the lord to the outside world.
Arthur couldn't help but feel funny when he saw this scene, but he didn't show it all. It would be very unwise to laugh at the local lord under such circumstances.
"This way, Lord Aslan." The person who came to greet him was a person dressed like a steward, not the knight captain Arthur imagined. However, this level of reception is appropriate, or according to the standards of this world.
Culture, it would be more correct to send a steward to contact Arthur.
The King of Knights didn't say much, just nodded and followed.
"Well, your wolfdog may have to stay in the waiting room and not be allowed into the living room." The steward glanced at Bedivere again. The big white wolf looked majestic and ferocious, and people with some common sense would indeed know the same thing.
Be careful with him.
"Of course." Arthur said, taking off the sword and the belt hanging the throwing knives at the same time, and asked Bedivere to carry it: "Isn't this okay?"
"A very wise decision, Lord Aslan." The steward originally planned to tell Arthur about this and ask the blond boy to take off his weapon before meeting the Duke. Of course it would be better if Arthur took the initiative to do so.
"Then, please wait here, the Duke will be here soon." He led Arthur and Bedivere into the castle, walked around the two-story ladder and a corridor, and soon took Arthur and Bedivere there.
The so-called waiting room, then left Arthur and the others alone, turned around and walked out.
"Hmph." The King of Knights saw some raisins and steaming black tea on the table in the waiting room, which seemed to be prepared for him. He was not polite, picked up the raisins and ate a few. He was so early in the morning
He was woken up before he had time to have breakfast. He couldn't let the Duke of Hillnant see him looking like a hungry ghost.
"Bedi, do you want to eat?" He took some raisins and put them in front of the big white wolf: "This is quite sweet."
"Wow." Bedivere looked a little uninterested, but he still opened his mouth and let Arthur put the raisins on his tongue. There was no poison in the raisins. If it was poisonous, Bedivere would have smelled the raisins the moment he smelled them.
You can tell it. The way the big white wolf lazily chewed raisins made Arthur feel relieved.
He took another sip of tea and thought about how long he would have to wait to see the Duke. It was probably only seven o'clock in the morning. British nobles were relatively lazy and generally couldn't get up so early. Maybe the Duke was still busy dressing up and hurriedly
Why didn't he put on his clothes to meet Arthur? Maybe he hadn't even gotten out of bed yet? Of course, this was not a sign of rudeness. Arthur was summoned to the castle of the Duke of Sirnant as a guest.
The servants were responsible for the arrangements. The Duke himself didn't even know much about it, and he didn't even arrange a specific time for the meeting. It was normal for Arthur to wait here for two or three hours before meeting with Arthur--
----This is how the nobles go too far.
With this thought in mind, Arthur took some more raisins to satisfy his hunger, at least so that he would not be hungry. This might turn into a long wait, and it would be okay if he didn't eat his fill first.
He looked around a few more times. The interior and exterior decorations of the castle were completely different. On the outside, solid rock brick walls were used to strengthen the defense, while on the inside, a special kind of clay or mortar had been used to make the stone walls
The repair is smooth and beautiful. In this way, the interior of the building can be protected from cold and heat, and a layer of white wall paint can be painted on the surface of the plaster to be insect-proof and moth-proof. This is considered a standard for this level of civilization in this era.
It is decorated in a very high-end style. From this decoration, it seems that Duke Hillnant is at least a person who understands life.
Ah. So boring. How long do I have to wait? Arthur began to look at the distant view outside the window. From this lounge, he could see the colorful flags fluttering on the opposite city wall from a distance, and occasionally he could hear the flamboyant footsteps of the knights on patrol.
People living in the castle would probably have a different kind of sense of security if they were surrounded by this kind of footsteps all day long. If the knights were wearing pure metal leg armor, then the footsteps should be sonorous and powerful.
, is the sound produced by the collision of metal and rocky ground. But in fact, the footsteps of the knights are much calmer. The leg armor should be padded with several layers of non-slip and wear-resistant leather to reduce the sound of the collision between metal and the ground. Although
In this way, the armor worn by the knights of their era was very heavy. You could tell it was made of fine steel. They did not have considerable physical strength. They could not even walk wearing that kind of thing.
Not moving. Although if you measure the armor of this era by the standards of Arthur's era, you will think that the armor of this era is bulky and stupid. It is just a collection of iron blocks and lacks any technological components. But in fact, the armor of this era
It’s already great that plate armor can be made to this level of sophistication. And if you think about it more carefully, Duke Hillnant’s men actually have such a large group (at least hundreds) of heavy armored knights with plenty of physical strength. In this era,
It can be considered a quite intimidating military force.
It is understandable that the lord's private army is used to defend the territory. But what if he uses this army to raise an army...?
"I've been waiting for a long time." The steward opened the door and came in, interrupting Arthur's thoughts: "The Duke is ready. If it is convenient for you, Lord Aslan, please come over now."
"Of course." We waited for about half an hour, not too long or too short. Arthur thought to himself, put down the teacup at the same time, and got up from his seat: "Bedi, wait here."
"Woof!" The big white wolf wagged its tail playfully, making Arthur so angry that he wanted to kick him.
What worried Arthur the most was that the steward was walking neither fast nor slowly. Fortunately, the reception room and the lounge were not far apart. Walking through a corridor, Arthur saw a room with two fully armed knights waiting in front of it.
I know that behind the door is the reception room of Fort Hillnant.
"Then, please be careful about your words and deeds in front of the Duke." The steward only reached the door and then stopped, signaling Arthur to enter the reception room on his own.
Arthur nodded slightly and pushed the door open.
There, a burly middle-aged man was facing away from Arthur, looking up at the blue sky outside the window. A stream of green smoke slowly rose from the side of his body, and the smell of burning tobacco still wafted in the surrounding air.
He was probably smoking a pipe.
Arthur originally wanted to keep the door open to facilitate air circulation and dissipate the smell of cigarette smoke, but he thought that the next conversation might involve content that was inconvenient for outsiders, so he endured the smell of smoke.
, close the door behind you.
"You're finally here." After Arthur closed the door, Duke Hillnant turned and glanced at Arthur. When he did this, Arthur also glanced at him, and was shocked to realize that the Duke actually looked like Palinlo.
The Grand Duke is very similar --- of course, this kind of thing has happened several times, and Arthur began to disagree.
"So, young man." Duke Hillnant said straight to the point: "Can I think that your meeting with me this time is to seek more supporters so that you can regain the throne in the future?"
"What?" Arthur was stunned: "Duke, what on earth is going on."
"There is no need to pretend to be stupid in front of me, Mr. Aslan." The Duke exhaled a smoke ring, "There are only two of us here, and the ones guarding the door are also my confidants. Don't worry about the walls having ears. If you have any ideas, just say it.
."
"No, I really don't------"
"I don't know if you have noticed," the Duke interrupted Arthur: "I was already paying attention to you when you came to London with the recommendation letter from the old guy in Penzance. This time I invite you to come.
The search for the source of the plague in my territory appears to be a commission from others, but in fact it was secretly arranged by me."
"Sure enough, it's you." Arthur narrowed his eyes and looked at the scheming middle-aged man in front of him. (To be continued)