allonlinenovel Chapter 285 Mercenaries Without Borders
Chapter 285 Mercenaries Without Borders
Spring 1453, León, the capital of the Kingdom of Lana
At this time, the ministers in the palace were discussing the battle situation in the border mountains, but most of them sighed. However, when they saw that the ministers who advocated war kept silent, some ministers rebuked:
"Didn't you say that we can take over a large area of Midland's territory while the latter is weak, and then sit back and wait for them to come over and pay compensation? Look at what's going on now?"
A minister who advocated war responded dully:
"Didn't the Midlan people take back the mountains during a night raid? If you don't know, you might think the Midlan people have reached the city of Leon. We can just wait for General Schneider to lead 50,000 troops to join the armies of other nobles, and then fight back."
However, as soon as this sentence was spoken, it was immediately met with even stronger criticism from other ministers.
"Counterattack? What can we use to counterattack? The battle between the Midlans and the Border Mountains directly caused us to lose 50,000 professional soldiers. The entire Lana has only about 100,000 professional soldiers directly under His Majesty the King. How can they be compared with the conscripted peasants in the hands of other nobles?"
"You don't have to worry because your family's territory is not there. My brother's territory is right next to the mountains. He rushed to Leon with his family last night and asked me how the Mitlan people fought back."
When the other ministers heard the news about the border, they came up and asked:
"Have you any more news about the Border Mountains?"
Upon seeing this, the minister told everyone all the information he knew.
"My brother told me that he heard faint cannon fire from the other side of the mountain that night. Just as my brother got up, a patrolling soldier reported that our soldiers were running back from the mountains. At first, there were only one or two soldiers, and then they ran out from the valley in groups. When my brother heard this, he knew that the Midlanders had fought back, and he immediately loaded the valuables with his family onto the carriage, and then ran to me in a flash."
"His Majesty the King has arrived!"
As soon as they heard the king's arrival, the ministers immediately lined up and waited for the king's next rebuke.
Soon, a young man wearing a crown and a robe with the Rana royal emblem on it walked up to the throne, escorted by a team of palace guards. When he sat down and looked around at the ministers around him, he saw only sadness and tension.
King Rana sighed lightly and said directly:
"I think everyone has heard about what happened in the border mountains this time. What I want to say here is that now is not the time to blame each other. We should quickly think about how to end this war. Should we continue to fight to the end, or send someone to ask for peace immediately?"
As soon as the words fell, the military minister stood up and said:
"Your Majesty, I think we should continue fighting. The Midlanders have just won a battle and their morale is high. I'm afraid they will continue to attack in a few days."
"We should play to our strengths and fight a defensive battle with the enemy. After we have exhausted all their soldiers, I think they will negotiate with us."
"So I think we should immediately call the nobles to gather their armies together before the Midland army takes action, and order all cities to strengthen their vigilance. Of course, the most important thing is to let General Schneider come out to take charge of the situation. The 50,000 men under his command may be the most capable army in the entire kingdom at the moment."
"Okay, let's do it according to the military minister's method."
After hearing this, King Rana immediately waved his hand:
"Take out some money from the treasury to train new soldiers and hire mercenaries. At the same time, let the Knights of the Golden Fleece follow General Schneider to fight. We must drag the Midlanders until winter. At that time, it will be more difficult for them to get supplies. Without supplies, the Midlanders will simply retreat back to the mountains."
"Your Majesty, I also have a suggestion."
After seeing that the king agreed to go to war, an official who advocated war continued:
"I think we should hire a few mercenary groups to go to the border mountains to find out the real situation. By the way, we can also let the Midlanders consume some of their artillery shells and arrows."
Seeing more and more ministers putting forward their suggestions, King Rana thought that this might be the most united time for the court, and taking advantage of this opportunity, he might be able to enhance his authority.
A few days later……
The head of a mercenary rolled several times in the air and then fell to the ground. Next to the other half of his body, a White Wolf Knight was killing the mercenaries with a two-handed sword. Every time he swung the two-handed sword, a mercenary would fall to the ground.
A few meters away, a White Wolf Knight chopped off the helmet of the opposite mercenary with an axe in one hand, and shot through the head of the distant mercenary with a matchlock in the other hand. Before long, the entire land was filled with the armored and blood-stained White Wolf Knight and the corpses of various mercenaries.
"Damn, damn."
Looking at the bloody scene in the distance, the hand of the mercenary leader holding the telescope couldn't help shaking. Only a dozen knights beat more than a hundred mercenaries and made them flee in all directions with blood all over the ground.
"Captain, let's retreat! If we continue fighting, we'll all die!"
A mercenary sergeant who had just been commanding the team at the front retreated with the remaining soldiers, crying and shouting to the mercenary leader.
The mercenary leader agreed to the leader's words without much hesitation, and with a retreat, the mercenaries on the periphery immediately followed the mercenary leader and fled from here, leaving behind only dozens of corpses and wounded soldiers who could not escape.
The White Wolf Knights present were stabbing their swords into each corpse to prevent anyone from pretending to be dead.
When a White Wolf Knight was about to stab a corpse with his sword, the "corpse" immediately stood up and begged for mercy in a Midland accent:
"Sir, I surrender. I am a Midlan."
But the white wolf didn't want to let him go, instead he asked coldly:
"Mithran? What kind of Mithran are you? An ordinary civilian, a businessman, a noble, or a traitor who defected to the enemy country!"
Just as the White Wolf Knight was about to chop the Midland traitor to death with a single blow, the captain's voice came from a distance:
"Capture the prisoner and take him back for interrogation."
Hearing this, the White Wolf Knight put away his sword, found a rope from the package on the horse's back and tied him up, then put him on the horse and followed the captain back to the fortress.
"You mean, the Lana people hired the Mitlan mercenaries to fight the Mitlan people?"
After listening to the report from the White Wolf Knight, John was surprised that there were so many Midlan people in the Kingdom of Lana, but he soon realized that the profession of mercenary does not distinguish between nationality, belief or status, they only recognize money.
"Kill half of the surviving mercenaries and impale their bodies on the south side of the mountain with wooden spikes. Release the other half and tell the mercenaries that if they encounter Mitlan mercenaries working for Lana again, they should kill them all."
After the White Wolf Knight left, John suddenly thought, since there are so many Midlan mercenaries working for the Lana Kingdom for money, could he gather those Midlan people in Lana to help fight against the Lana army?