monarch

If a traveler travels to Edinburgh along the road leading north from Northumberland in England, he will see human-made mounds every few miles on the cliffs of the east coast of Scotland. There is usually a simple tent set up, and the guard children from the surrounding countryside will run out of the tent, chasing the traveler's carriage to say hello, hoping to get a reward of one or two silver coins.

These mounds, or as they are called in government documents - "Beacon Towers", are part of the defense project built by the Earl of Allen, which can theoretically prevent the invasion of English troops or fleets in a few hours. The news reached Edinburgh.However, in a test a few months ago, it took almost 24 hours for the news to reach the members of the Regency Council in Edinburgh Castle-one-third of the caretakers went to help workers to support their families, and many people Loitering outside, the watchmen of several beacon towers even took home the firewood used to light the beacon fire and burned it themselves.In the end, Earl Allen had no choice but to withdraw another sum of money from the treasury, which was not well-off, and used it to distribute a few coppers to all the watchmen every day, so that the transmission time of the news was shortened to less than twelve hours, although it was not enough. Desirable, but one of the few objective advances in the defensive preparations of the Kingdom of Scotland.

Joseph Smith, nine years old, is the third son of Smith, a carpenter in Eskree Village.Although he shares the same name with the most famous carpenter in history, Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus Christ, he obviously has no talent as a carpenter.Therefore, when his elder brother and second elder brother were apprentices with their father, the child was given to the village head by his father to be a watchman of the beacon tower, "at least he can get a few coppers for the family."

At this time, the young watchman was chasing and playing with some sheep herding children on the grass not far from the beacon tower. In fact, he spent most of his career in this way.Rumors about "the English are coming in" have been circulating for several months, but there has never been the slightest movement from the beacon tower in the south.Joseph knew the watchman of the beacon tower three miles to the south, and the little apprentice in the blacksmith's shop once described to them vividly the weapons that the knights and gentlemen in the nearby castle asked his master to make-spears, swords, sabers or warhammers. Well, the one-eyed old blacksmith made a lot of money from these trades, after all weapons were much more expensive than hoes or sickles.

Several children were sitting on the ridge of the field, and among the stars holding the moon was a little girl Annie from the next village. All the boys were willing to talk to her, and Joseph was no exception. His eldest brother was getting married recently, and his fiancée was a knight. The cook of the master's servant, his elder brother, as a strong man, will obviously be recruited by the knight master to fight, so they have decided to get married after the war is over.Joseph looked at Anne, and thought that he would marry her, just like the eldest brother and the cook.

Annie took a wild flower from a boy. She raised her head with a smile and pinned the flower in her hair.Suddenly, her eyes widened slightly, and she pointed to the rising white smoke three miles away, "What is that?"

The boys looked at the smoke in amazement, "It's the beacon fire!" A little fat man shouted, his mouth widened in surprise.

"No way." Someone retorted softly, but his voice was immediately suppressed.

"It's the beacon fire! Look, the smoke is coming from the beacon tower!"

"I didn't expect that there would be a beacon fire. I thought there would never be such a day."

"So people in Edinburgh will know the news soon?"

……

"Joseph, go light the fire!" Someone shouted.The little watchman woke up as if he had just woken up from a dream, and he ran to the mound in a hurry.

Under the mound, Joseph's "colleague", Peter, a shepherd boy from a neighboring village, was sitting on the ground bored, watching his sheep grazing.Joseph ran up to him panting, "Idiot, didn't you see the beacon fire, light it up!" Then he climbed up the mound.

The firewood has been piled up on the mound, but it seems that there is a lot less firewood than when Joseph came up last time. Peter's face turned red, "My house has run out of firewood, so I took some home."

"However, I didn't take much, and I must still order it." He added.

Two people moved to the side of the hay used to light the fire with fire twisters, and black smoke rose from the damp hay.The two of them tossed and fumbled for a while, and finally the bonfire was lit.

Joseph coughed a few times, wiped the black ash on his face with his hands, "It's over, then I'll go back." He greeted his "colleagues" and ran towards his little friends.

Peter let out a "huh" and sat back under the mound again, watching his sheep chew the withered turf.

……

At sunset, reports of the English invasion finally reached the members of the Regency Council at Edinburgh Castle.

"So, we now know that there is some kind of abnormal situation somewhere on the border of the east coast." Earl Lennox sneered, "However, we don't know anything about what happened. This is the great defense of His Excellency Earl Allen project."

"The specific information will be delivered by a courier anytime tonight." A member of Earl Allen retorted.

"It seems that the efficiency of those beacon towers to deliver messages is not much faster than that of horses."

"It's a waste of effort."

"A serious waste of national resources!"

Seeing that the regency meeting was about to turn into a meeting to criticize Earl Allen, the queen mother, who was sitting on the throne with her daughter in her arms, finally said, "Gentlemen, now is not the time to say these words! The important thing is what we should do. "

"You and Earl Allen should have thought of this when you annoyed England!" Earl Lennox, as a representative of the pro-British faction, was very opposed to Earl Allen's joint resistance to Britain with France.

"Send a messenger to London immediately, agree to the conditions of the English, and then let the French soldiers in our country go back to France. This is the only way." His words attracted a burst of approval from the surrounding people.

The queen mother looked a little pale, and she looked at Earl Allen with a distressed look.

The count stood up, and his body stood in the shadow of the pillar, making it impossible to see the expression on his face.

"So far we have only to fight."

"Our combined strength with the French is enough to resist the British." The earl's voice sounded calm, "Our army set off immediately, and there was still time to build a defense line on the Esk River. Waiting for work, we won the English. "

It was like a hornet's nest exploded in the house.

"This is completely suicidal!"

"If the field battle fails, there will be nothing between the English and Edinburgh!"

Earl Lennox raised his head, "Can Your Excellency be responsible for your decision today?" There was a flame of ambition in his eyes.

Earl Allen took a few steps forward, his face emerged from the shadows.He stared grimly at Lord Lennox until the latter was a little irritated by the apparent offense. "I take full responsibility for this." There was no emotion in his voice.

The room suddenly fell silent.

Lord Lennox stood up and bowed.

"Then good luck to you, sir."

Everyone at the table has gone all-in with their chips.

……

Two days later, the Scottish army set off from the capital, and the citizens of Edinburgh rushed into the streets throwing flowers at them, and on the balcony of the castle, the little queen nestled in her mother's arms, smiling and waving to the passing troops below.The beautiful little girl smiled in the sunshine, like an angel descending from the earth, and many soldiers couldn't help but burst into tears.

The Earl of Arran rode at the head of the army, and the armor on his body belonged to his ancestors, who followed his ancestors to participate in the Battle of Bannockburn more than 200 years ago, in that battle, the Scottish spear challenge Overturned the English cavalry, the Kingdom of Scotland won its independence.Behind him came levies from the lowlands, carrying the same old spears their forefathers had used, and marching into the same battle; A battle ax handed down through the ages.Two thousand hussars flanked the procession, an army provided by the Earl of Hume, but its reliability was doubtful--the vast majority of its members were drawn from unbridled mountain folk and outlaws.At the end of the team, the luggage team trudged hard on the muddy road pulling the cannons one after another, and the horses pulling the carts tried their best to pull out the luggage carts that were stuck in the mud.The most eye-catching thing is the [-] French troops flying the golden iris flag on a blue background. These soldiers once fought for the Valois dynasty of France against the Habsburg family in the Netherlands and Italy, and now they are the only ones in the alliance between France and Scotland. A manifestation of this - due to the blockade of the air route, further large-scale French support has become impossible.

Thirty-six thousand troops, this is the last trump card of the Kingdom of Scotland. Although they are poorly equipped and lack of training, it is said that there are less than [-] Englishmen on the opposite side.

The game is still unclear.

……

On the evening of October [-]th, the white flag was finally hoisted on the tower of Forsyd Castle, which had been besieged for three days.

Robert Dudley walked through the corridor outside the castle tower, and the smell of gunpowder smoke left by the artillery in the air was still pungent.He looked to the east, and the sea in the distance was pitch black, and there were some dots of light at the end of the bay, which came from the anchored English fleet commanded by Lord Clinton.And closer to the castle, the Scottish army camp was just three miles away on the other side of the river. In the camp, piles of bonfires were burning like devil's eyes.There was the sound of conversation and the smell of food in the distance. The Scots troops were eating their supper.

In the great hall of the castle, the Earl of Hertford and his senior officers were also having dinner.The dining room looked very gloomy. Even though all the candles that could be found in the castle were lit, the adults who had dinner still couldn't see the faces of the people sitting across the table.There were many cracks in the floor, some of which had even grown moss, and the debris from the shelling from the ceiling had been swept to one corner of the hall, and the fireplace had been re-lit, from the broken old furniture. The firewood was glowing warmly inside.

The Earl of Hertford has a good appetite. Although there are more than 3 Scots facing him, and his army is only 6000, the Earl, who has more advanced equipment and a more elite army, is full of confidence—he It has [-] artillery pieces, and all of them can be easily moved, not to mention the fleet not far away.In terms of cavalry, the Earl of Hertford also has an absolute advantage. He has [-] cavalry under his command, most of which are heavy cavalry, while on the opposite side there are only [-] patchwork mobs riding on horses.For the earl of Hertford, it seemed that a brilliant victory was at hand.

The officers around the long table were also quite excited. After this battle, many people will be able to achieve great success.For the officers and their soldiers, war is undoubtedly for promotion and fortune, and fortune may not be expected in Scotland, after all, there is nothing to grab here, but for promotion, it is simply a place where titles and titles grow. The fertile land of official hats, after all, the Scots are too invulnerable.

The sound of the door opening came out of the darkness, and many people heard footsteps coming in, but all they could see was a dark figure entering the room, and only a few people who got close could see Robert... Sir Dudley's iconic handsome face.

Robert walked up to the commander and bowed, Earl of Hertford nodded in response.The new adjutant gained the earl's appreciation in less than a month, and he is now so trusted that even another adjutant from the earl's own family, the Seymour family, would have to take a step back.Sir Dudley took out a letter from his arms and whispered something to the earl. The earl's eyes widened a little, but then he showed a mocking expression.He picked up the kitchen knife that was still stained with oil, took the letter, and directly scratched the wax on the envelope.He unfolded the letter paper and read the letter at a glance.

"Sir, what's the matter?" asked an officer, from his vantage point all he could see was a dark shadow handing something to the Commander-in-Chief.

"I received a letter." The earl put the letter on the table and wiped his hands with the napkin at hand, "from the earl of Aaron on the other side of the river."

"He proposed to me to resolve this conflict with a one-on-one duel between our two knights."

A burst of laughter erupted in the room. Does the minister opposite think that it is the eleventh century?

"The earl may be a fan of chivalry novels." Robert said, "My lord, the messenger is outside the door, do you need me to reply to him?"

"Don't worry." The Earl of Hertford smiled slightly. "Earl Allen also made a second suggestion—we both sent [-] troops to a duel on the grass by the river."

The room fell silent.

"Why is that?" Someone asked, Earl Allen gave up his only numerical advantage and came to "fair duel". The officers in the room couldn't find any other reason except that he was out of his mind.

"It doesn't matter." The earl shrugged his shoulders, "Since he gave us this opportunity, let's take it." He turned his head and said to Robert, "Sir Robert, please ask the messenger to tell Earl Aaron that I accept his second offer." According to this proposal, the duel will be held promptly at ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

He picked up the cutlery again, and began to deal with the too old lamb chops on the plate, which were cooked by the poor cook in the castle.

……

Sir Robert returned to his room. The previous owner here did not seem to be rich, but the rooms in the castle were basically kept clean.A candle was burning on the table, and the candle flowed onto the table and solidified into a thick layer.He walked to the table and sat down, intending to continue writing the letter to the crown prince that he had not finished last night.The tip of the quill pen was stained with ink, and he held the quill pen to look at the letter paper without a few lines of writing, and did not write until the ink on the pen tip completely dried.He sighed, put away the letter paper, took out his diary, and wrote a short sentence - "October [-]th, nothing happened."

He put down his pen, raised his head, and looked at the hourglass opposite. It was past midnight.

He picked up his pen again and added another line below.

"October [-], Battle".