I am the son of the traveler

Chapter 174 Bandits

"The law and order in the Catalan Kingdom really doesn't look very good."

Looking at the vaguely flashing figures in the forest not far away, Antigonus on horseback commented.

"We've seen it all." Eratosthenes, the leader of the caravan guards, replied, without even holding his hand on the hilt of his sword. "They were basically exiled from nearby villages because of the tyranny of the lord Or they are forced to join bandits due to poverty, but their combat effectiveness and courage are not great, they only dare to attack lonely pedestrians, like our large caravans, they have never dared to wait and see from a distance .”

"Won't the local lord send troops to clear the payment?" Agnes asked suspiciously at this time.

"I'm not sure about this. I heard that a nearby viscount recruited soldiers to attack the rampant bandits, but there has been no follow-up news, so I don't know if he succeeded." Erato Sensei said, shrugging.

Perhaps it was because they didn't believe that those timid bandits would attack their large and powerful caravan, so the caravan guards walking on both sides of the carriage also had relaxed expressions, walking, and talking with the people next to them. Companions fart while chatting.Seeing their underestimation of the enemy, Antico frowned again, and at the same time felt unnaturally a little uneasy. Feeling uneasy in his heart does not necessarily mean that something bad will happen next, it may also be that Antico Caused by insecurity.

At this moment, Eratosthenes, who was still chatting with Agnes, suddenly ran towards a group of cavalry from the road ahead, and immediately ordered the caravan guards to stop advancing, protect the carriage, and prepare to fight. As soon as the chatting guards heard the order, they immediately showed extremely high quality. They all put their shields in front of them, clamped their spears on top of the shields, and stared at the surrounding situation vigilantly.

Agnes also put his hand on the hilt of the saber at the same time, pulled out a short section slightly, and said to Antigonus, "Master, please come behind me."

At any rate, Antigonus was also the general who personally led the cavalry of the legion to charge into battle. How could he be so weak.He waved his hand, indicating that he could protect himself, and then looked at the team of cavalry running towards him. Through the smoke and dust brought up by the horseshoes, he could see the flags that were raised in the cavalry team fluttering in the wind.

Eratosthenes also saw the flag fluttering in the wind. The experienced Aetolian mercenary only took one look, and then heaved a sigh of relief, allowing his guards to put away their weapons and relieve their vigilance. Seeing this, Tico asked suspiciously: "Eratosthenes, who is the other party?"

"That's Viscount Trollope's cavalry, Your Excellency Antiochlos, please rest assured, I have had several contacts with Viscount Trollope, he is a nobleman with high morals."

Eratosthenes replied, and then galloped out to meet the cavalry.

Because of the relatively short distance, Antigonus could clearly see that the leading knight was a young and handsome young man with fair skin. He was wearing a fine chain mail and a short black robe behind his back. The weapon is in a scabbard at the waist.

How should I put it, the first impression this young man gave Antigonus was that he should not appear on the battlefield, but should stay at home honestly and receive education.

After Eratosthenes chatted with the leading boy for a while, a group of people walked towards the caravan together. After seeing Antigonus, Eratosthenes introduced them to them. Understand the identity of the boy: the eldest son of Viscount Trollope.

The two people who were introduced greeted each other and stopped interacting. Antigonus listened to their conversation and gradually understood the reason why Viscount Trollope sent cavalry. They were able to pass through the area safely.

"What happened?" Antigonus interjected and asked.

Oliver, the son of Viscount Trollope, took a look at Antigonus and replied: "A group of bandits with rampant activities recently appeared in this area, and their leader is called 'Hungry Wolf' Vincent, who is very cruel. , Every target he targets will not be spared, and will be killed after being robbed, and the body will be hung on the tree trunk."

"Their fighting ability is very high?" Eratosthenes asked.

"Some of them are deserters who retreated from the front line. Everyone is a desperado. The number is about 50 or so. Even the tax collectors sent by the nearby lords dare to do it."

Hearing this, Eratosthenes' complexion changed, and he asked, "Don't the lords just watch this group of thieves go rampant without sending troops to encircle and suppress them?"

"You may not have heard of it." Oliver shrugged and said with a wry smile: "My father's army and other lords' armies took the initiative to encircle Vincent'Hungry Wolf', but he cunningly avoided him every time. They even killed many soldiers sent to encircle and suppress.”

"That's really scary," Antigonus said.

Although he said it was scary, Antigon actually didn't have much fear. He has experienced many battles, how could he be frightened by a group of desperadoes so easily?
Oliver smiled again, and said: "Your Excellency, please rest assured, for the honor of the family, my cavalry and I will escort you out of here safely."

"That's really grateful." Eratosthenes took over the conversation, bowed, and said gratefully, "Viscount Trollope is a nobleman of noble character, and you have inherited his good qualities. "

Although Oliver didn't say anything when he was praised, the smile at the corner of his mouth clearly told everyone that he was in a good mood. It's no wonder that although he was wearing armor and riding a war horse, he was actually still a 16-year-old boy. A young man is an age who is easy to get carried away when he is praised.

At this time, Antigonus began to observe the cavalry brought by Oliver. The cavalry consisted of [-] cavalry, and basically everyone was wearing chain mail, with a medal of the Viscount Trollope on the outside. The helmet is a pointed iron helmet with a nose guard, and the weapons are a lance, a round shield and a cavalry sword in a scabbard.

Because I don't know whether the Kingdom of Catalan is the same as Europe in the Middle Ages on Earth in the later generations. It takes a lot of money to feed a team of cavalry, so Antigonus is inconvenient to comment on this.

Perhaps sensing that Antigonus was observing the cavalry under his command, Oliver said braggingly: "This cavalry is the heavy cavalry that my father spent a lot of money to train. When they used to fight other conflicting lords, they immediately After a great effort, we just rushed in front of the serfs on the opposite side, and they were scared away, and we won the whole battle without a single soldier."

"Spent a lot of money?" Before Antigon could speak, Agnes couldn't help interjecting, with an indescribable expression on his face.

"What's the matter?" Oliver asked seeing that his expression was wrong.

"It's nothing." Angnis shook his head, "I was just a little shocked."

He was indeed shocked. In the Kingdom of Macedonia, it would take a lot of money to train cavalry, and even as long as they wanted to, they could pull up a sizable cavalry brigade to join the battle at any time.Of course, it is also possible that he looked at this matter from a too high position, and he always thought that ordinary things were not simple in the eyes of people from a lower position.

Although he felt that something was wrong, Oliver still didn't ask further. He talked to Eratosthenes a few more times, and the caravan continued to set off with the cavalry led by the son of the viscount.

……

Walking on the road, Antigonus quickly established a good relationship with Oliver because his age was not much different from Oliver's and he had a noble temperament. They rode on horseback side by side, and Antigonus quietly Listening to Oliver telling interesting stories about his childhood, and sharing interesting stories about his past life and present life from time to time, what the whole team can often hear is the two of them laughing loudly regardless of their appearance.

This kind of experience was something Antigonus hadn’t felt for a long time. In the Kingdom of Macedonia, his identity was His Majesty the High King, and the people around him were always respectful to him. He didn’t dare to speak too loudly, and getting along with Helen was also somewhat restrained. , and here, he is just a young master Antikoros from a Macedonian noble family, and his status is not much different from the son of this viscount.

The last thing that every time traveler cannot get used to at the beginning is the attitude of the people around him towards him, especially those in high positions, because time travelers have been educated with the concept of equality and freedom since childhood. After arriving in another world, the people around them People will look at his position to please him and respect him.In the process of slowly assimilating the world view, only he can experience the feeling of the collapse of the concept of equality.

Cough, far away.

Through communication with Oliver, Antico also learned some things about the Cayo Territory under the rule of his father, Viscount Trollope. The Cayo Territory under the rule of Viscount Trollope is not rich, but it is not poor either. , belongs to the middle layer between the two, so after "Hungry Wolf" Vincent fled to this area, he would frequently commit crimes in his territory, attack villages, massacre the villagers inside and rob their property, etc. When the army arrived after hearing the news, the entire village had been brutally murdered and many people died.

After plundering several villages, Vincent and his band of thieves went to other leaders to commit crimes, but Viscount Trollope did not decide to let them go. Under the leadership of Viscount Trollope, several people around him All the viscounts, who had been looted to varying degrees, joined forces and sent troops to encircle and suppress this vicious bandit group.Unexpectedly, Vincent was extremely cunning. He repeatedly escaped the encirclement troops through some trivial clues, and even laid traps to kill many coalition soldiers.As time passed, the viscounts and their soldiers couldn't stand it anymore, so the joint encirclement and suppression operation was declared bankrupt. Viscount Trollope had to send the cavalry he had trained with a lot of money to patrol the territory, escort the caravans, and avoid taking the initiative. Provoke Vincent's band of thieves.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that since the Calant Kingdom is not a horse-producing area, the cost of cavalry here is not cheap. It is not uncommon for a viscount with a town and an attached village to support only a dozen or twenty cavalry For example, those barons with only one village and manor are even more miserable. Thank goodness they can support more than five cavalrymen.

And for the Kalant people, as long as the cavalry wears iron armor (chain armor) and fights with spears, they are uniformly classified as heavy cavalry. Light cavalry are those who wear leather armor and use bows and javelins to fight. Type light cavalry, that is to say, the Macedonian citizen cavalry, which can only be regarded as medium-mounted cavalry in the Macedonian army, is placed here, and it is a proper heavy cavalry, and its value has doubled.

To be honest, this country is kind of miserable.

Antigonus had a calm expression on his face as he thought in his heart.

……

At the same time, not far from the road where the caravan was walking, several bearded men in rough linen clothes hid in the bushes on the side of the road, looking through layers of leaves at the approaching caravan in the distance, among them A man then turned around and walked to the back, squatting in front of a tall man wearing bloody chain mail, and said in a low voice, "Boss, a fat sheep is coming."

"Oh? How many of them are there?" asked the man called the boss. If Oliver were here, he would be surprised to recognize the man in front of him, because he was the notorious "Hungry Wolf" Vincent.

No one knows why he was called "The Hungry Wolf", maybe because he killed every prey he set his sights on, rich or poor, or maybe because he was like a hungry wolf The prey you fancy will never give the opponent a chance to escape.

"The number seems smaller than ours, but there are about twenty cavalry. If I'm not mistaken, they are Viscount Trollope's cavalry."

"Damn it, why is it this Viscount Trollope again? He really lingers." Vincent cursed viciously, spit on the ground, then raised his head with a fierce look in his eyes, and said, "Let the brothers Let's act, we will eat up Viscount Trollope's precious cavalry today, and let him know what will happen to me!"

The caravan not far away didn't know that disaster was about to befall them. With the cavalry of Viscount Trollope joining in, the hearts of every caravan guard were very relaxed, even if they had just heard of the "hungry Wolf" Vincent's deeds.

Antigonus's attention was also on Oliver. The two teenagers of opposite ages talked and laughed from time to time, while Eratosthenes and Agnes walked together. Their military career gave them a common topic. Although Agnes deliberately concealed his identity, there were still endless topics to discuss.

The atmosphere in the whole team was harmonious. If they hadn't been targeted by "Hungry Wolf" Vincent, they would have left a good memory after they walked out of this area. However, disaster came when they were ignorant. Caught them off guard.

(End of this chapter)