Vol 3 Chapter 48: Abandoned Village Crisis (Part 1)

The weather shows no signs of improvement. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that this year is the coldest winter of this century. At least there are travelers on the road who have been frozen because they were unprepared.
It's not just the weather that is bad. When the scout came back and reported that the bridge in front had been destroyed because of the avalanche, Alexander knew that the first problem of the trip had appeared.
Caesar hopes to open up more than just the road between the coal mines of Rome and Sanroni. He needs to let Rome get news from other places as soon as possible, and he hopes to restore Rome's control of these places as soon as possible.
Alexander knew Caesar's eagerness. In today's chaotic period that may change the land because of a turmoil at any time, once some places lose their sources for a long time, they may give others an opportunity.
The Sanroni Peak provided Rome with precious coal, while also stationing an army that controls the mountainous regions of northeastern Rome due to the remoteness of the territory, although the number is small, this army belongs to the Vatican because of its remoteness. , And the French obviously did not pay much attention to such things as coal, so they did not receive the French ’s attention, or they did not even know that such a team was stationed there, and the French ’s eyes were fixed on those big cities. Too.
The destroyed bridge is a wooden bridge that leads to a village. The village on the opposite side can be seen from the side of the river, and because of the dry season in winter, most of the river has dried up, but there are some bare banks on both sides. Steep, the debris of a wooden bridge with stubble stubs poked beneath the smashed ice, and there were several places where the broken bridge blocked the river and held up large chunks of solidified ice tuo.
"Sir, this place is not easy to pass through," an Agori scout under Carol walked breathlessly. "The whole river is not wide but steep, even if it can reach the bottom of the river and pass the ice, but It ’s not easy to get to the other side. "
"Send someone to search upstream and downstream as much as possible to see if there is a place suitable for crossing the river." Alexander could only order this way. He looked at the village far away from the other side with a sad glance of a shadow.
Carlo has n’t returned yet. I do n’t know if I discovered something or something has happened. The enemies that suddenly appeared and disappeared now have no traces. Alexander always feels that they will not easily admit defeat, although the previous night ’s attack repulsed. They, but he knew that the enemy hadn't encountered a real blow. Although a seemingly important character had lost a gun, but if they didn't give up, the threat to himself was still great.
Alexander knew he was not cranky, just look at the situation in front of him.
Although it suffered a failure, as long as the enemy harassed all the way, it would cause a lot of trouble to him. After all, the enemy is dark and himself is bright, not to mention the other party is very clear about his destination, only need to arrange a few times on the road The attack was enough to make him tired.
Especially at this time, Alexander even suspected that the bridge was deliberately destroyed. If he ordered the team to cross the river in this way, he might be attacked as soon as he reached the ice.
The village on the opposite side looked quiet. Even though it was known that there were so many people on the other side of the river, no one came out to watch, which made Alexander feel a little wrong.
"How long will it take to rebuild the bridge?" Alexander asked the Agri people around him. Some of them worked as carpenters in the farm. Although he knew that rebuilding a wooden bridge was not a small project, he just wanted to You can pass it, not to build a new bridge.
"Sir, this is not good," an Aggri soldier lifted a stone and smashed it into the river. As the stone chaha hit a large piece of ice, the Tuo Tuo slipped far away on the ice. The soldier shook his head.
It ’s okay if we can barely do it. We can cut some big logs from the woods and fix them on the river by the original bridge piles, but such a bridge ca n’t stand many people. Many people used to be very unreliable. "
Alexander frowned slightly. He knew that the soldier was right. He couldn't rebuild the wooden bridge without tools. And if the enemy was really peeping nearby, he was ready to attack at any time, which was not a good idea.
"Send someone to the opposite village and let them prepare some hot water and hot food for us," Alexander told the scout. "Be careful, if there is something wrong, immediately withdraw, I don't want to lose in order to eat Drop you. "
"Admiral." A scout nodded gratefully, and immediately took his companion down the river bank, where they would cross the river from the ice.
What if I were those enemies? Alexander thought to himself. He stood on the bank of the river and carefully looked at the village opposite. There still seemed to be no movement there, and farther behind the village was the huge forest that spread all the way to the end of the towering jungle.
When Alexander stood on the bank of the river and observed the opposite scene, in the woods behind the village on the other side of the river, two people were standing in the shadow of a tree and watching him.
"What is he doing, why can't he go to the river?" One of them asked, this man has thick and long brown curly hair, which hangs slightly to the back, making him look like a lion with a rather strong head, while the other A man is older than him, his stature is short, his thin hair flutters in the wind.
"I think he is worried that he might be attacked," the short man said, pointing to a few black spots that suddenly appeared on the edge of the river bank. These black spots were obviously people. They seemed to be struggling to climb ashore, and then a few people Carefully walked to the village "We young people are still very cautious."
"Tiego's stupid messed up the matter," the long-haired man said dissatisfiedly. "The worst thing is that he not only lost his life and got nothing, but also alerted the Gombray."
"Don't scold Tieg again, he has gone to God. He is a good man and a devout believer, but he recklessly killed his life." The short man stopped his companions from complaining. "And you can't help but admit that this guy It ’s much more cautious and cunning than we thought, maybe we underestimated him from the beginning. "
Although the long-haired man was reluctant, he nodded. He walked out from behind the tree and leaned on the tree to look at the people carefully. Because the clothes on them were dark, they were in the shadow of the wood, so they were not worried. be found.
"At first, we thought this young man was a Mao kid who had never seen the world and had been kept in the monastery, but he didn't expect him to bring us a lot of accidents," the short man leaned on the tree with his arms like his companions. He looked at the scouts and entered the village with his shoulders. "We will underestimate him like Thiego, so be careful this time. After all, if you fail again, your patience will be exhausted."
The long-haired man hummed, and then asked a little strangely: "But I really don't understand why adults pay such attention to this kid, who is he?"
"This is not what we should inquire about," the short man patted his companion's arm and turned to walk into the woods. "We just need to do our job," he said. He stopped and looked back at the other side. "Maybe the previous ones Some of the people who came to him knew who he was, but unfortunately they were all killed by that guy Kunto. "
Speaking of Kun Tuo, both of them could not help being silent. Although it had been a long time, they still could not forget the scene when they attacked the man in the small city called Alszenthal.
Even without any precautions, when a group of them launched an attack, Kuntu ’s hasty counterattack brought them no small threat, even if he was so seriously injured that person could still escape Although his body was already cold when he was finally discovered, he was able to take several lives for it, which made them unable to forget after so long.
By the time the scout came back, the sun had begun to go west.
After careful inquiry, Alexander had a general understanding of the situation of the village on the other side.
This is a village belonging to the Vatican. The nearby fields are all churches, extending from the village to the northeast behind the woods.
The arrival of the French did not seem to have any impact on the village. They still lived on the land all day long. As in previous years, during the agricultural slack period after the winter wheat was sown, the people in the village would do other livelihoods. Canons prohibit them from leaving this village, but some people will take the time to leave the village quietly and go to a larger town to find a chance to make a living.
There is nothing doubtful about a very ordinary village.
Hearing the scout's report, Alexander couldn't help thinking slightly, wondering if he thought too much, he always felt something was wrong.
"Why didn't the people in the village see us when we came out?" Alexander asked. "Don't say they didn't see us."

They said it was because they did n’t know who we were,
the scout looked back at the woods.
They said that recently there were small-band robbers because of impassable roads, and they originally had two villagers who went to the front town to sell something. They were also robbed, and one of them had just died because of an injury, so they were afraid that we would not dare to get close. "
Speaking of robbers, Alexander somewhat understood.
Although it is in the territory of the Pope, it will not be safer than other places in this turbulent era. Sometimes the travel between villages is somewhat dangerous, especially when it is in a snowstorm. When it becomes impossible to become isolated and helpless, it is not new that the robber becomes bold and cruel.
"We have to cross the river," Alexander looked at the village opposite. "Half of the Bohemians stayed by the river. I'll take fifty people with me."
"Adult, do you still need to bring a Musketeer?" Asked the leader of an Agri soldier, and after seeing Alexander thinking, he said again, "If something goes, the Musketeer can shoot at any time."
Alexander thought and nodded in agreement.
In fact, he did not want to disperse the strength of the musketeers too much. Alexander knew that with the power of the muskets, if they could not be used intensively, they would not only fail to function, but sometimes they might even become cumbersome.
For him, a well-trained and outstanding musketeer is as valuable as the knights in the eyes of nobles.
Alexander hopes that the Musketeers will become the backbone of his army in the future. Although regardless of the technology or scale, the firearms cannot compete with the cold weapons, but he certainly knows that the firearms will be destined to replace the cold weapons.
Alexander hoped that he was the key person who led the firearms to truly dominate the battlefield, and not others.
At least not Gonzalo.
Alexander pondered while watching the Bohemians dismount, because the war horses could not cross the river, the Bohemians could only temporarily change from cavalry to infantry.
Several Agri Musketeers were also prepared. They were to cross the river with Alexander.
Because it is a dry season in winter, the water level of the river is very low, and it seems very steep from the upper bank to the river bed.
Although ice has formed on the river, stepping on it is always reassuring. Looking at the bohemians walking carefully in front, and then looking at the slightly transparent ice at the foot, Alexander couldn't help but think At this time the river suddenly cracked, it was really killing him.
The river bed on the opposite bank was not so steep, and it could make some people climb up. When Alexander finally climbed up the river bank, he looked at the already dark sky and he couldn't help but urge to speed up and enter the village.
This is a small village with only a few dozen households. Compared with the land they want to cultivate, there are not many people in this village.
But Alexander knew that although there was a lot of land, in fact, these farmers themselves could not get any benefits. As the teaching property to which the Holy See belongs, they had to pay the tithe, and all of their income should be paid to the Holy See.
This may sound a little weird, but in fact it is already very kind to these farmers. Some lords even let their lords pay a larger share of various real taxes, and if they want to put these The in-kind tax becomes a pure tax on money, and the loss to be converted is calculated separately.
When it entered the village, it was already a lot dark. Looking back at the other side, the fire was on and started camping. Alexander asked the scouts to take him to a house in the village that looked a little decent.
Along the way, he could see the eyes of some villagers looking out from the doors and windows of his house, as well as the flashing figures in some yards. Those in the village seemed to want to see, but they seemed to be worried about something.
"Adult, I heard people in the village say that robbers often come during this time."
A scout explained that when he came to the door of the house, the scout had just reached out and patted the door, but did not expect that the door had been opened by himself.
A man with gray hair appeared to be standing at the door. He first looked at the Agrig soldier who had come before, before looking at Alexander standing behind him.
"This is my lord, Lord Gumbre of Agri," the soldier said deliberately in an arrogant tone. "I have already told you before, we will requisition your house here."
"Please forgive Lord lord," the farmer bowed. "Everything here belongs to the priest priest in the town in front. Can you stay here and let the priest prince agree."
The Aggri soldier's face showed anger, and he seemed to feel that he was lost in front of his grandfather, and immediately stretched angrily to push the farmer's chest.
"Give up, my lord is the noble of Agri, that is, the Cardinal in Rome and those nobles are very kind to our lord." The soldier seemed to think that it was not enough, and added "Our lord It was under the orders of His Majesty the Pope that even the Cardinal Master had blessed him. "
The soldier's words made the farmer's face surprised and unbelievable ~ EbookFREE.me ~ He looked at Alexander with awe and suspicious eyes. It seemed that for some time he couldn't believe that a big man suddenly came to his house.
"Okay, we just stayed here for one night, and we will go to the front town tomorrow. The bridge here needs to contact the people in the front town to repair it."
Alexander casually said that he walked into the house and looked at it casually, and gradually a look of doubt appeared in his eyes.
He went to the door again and looked at the village outside, his doubts deepened.
Either this house or the whole village looks ordinary, but somehow he always feels like missing something.
In the woods outside the village, the two who had been secretly monitoring Alexander across the river were watching the lights in the village.
"Almost." The long-haired man said.
"Wait, patience can make it happen," while the short man soothed his companion, while rubbing his sword in the stone a few more times, stroking the sharp blade, he said slowly, "We have waited For so long, I don't care about the time of the night. "