Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 17 The Hetman's Tent

As Hemei's army went deeper into the east, the forests and hills they could see became less and less, and more and more vast grasslands appeared before their eyes.

This scene shocked the northern immigrants, it was too novel for them.

Although they all saw the vast grasslands of Harkland from afar when they passed through the Blue Mountain Tunnel, the feeling of being in the vast world is different, completely different.

Many people feel as if they are in an epic. Under such psychological influence, their steps feel lighter and their singing becomes louder.

The Cossacks in the book had a flat face. They were already in this world, and the scenes in front of them were scenes that they had seen countless times, so they would not be excited by it.

They even feel bored looking at such a scene, and they see too much on weekdays.

Herme's mood also became lighter, as Marondo said, walking in the grassland, the mood will involuntarily open up.

The road the army was walking on was a typical beast path trampled by people. This road was very narrow, and Herme could only make the army form a long queue.

Fortunately, there are no enemies nearby. To be precise, it is impossible to encounter enemies before reaching Xieqi.

Otherwise, if the long line of Hemei is attacked by the cavalry, the whole army will collapse.

On the way, Hemei also met many local people, such as Haklan people living in the land of Cossacks, and semi-nomadic Cossacks.

They warmly entertained Herme and sent a guide to lead him the way. The residents of the Cossack land all had the same hatred for the invaders from the grassland.

Even those Haklan nomads were the same. They fled here because they were afraid of the struggle on the grassland. They hated those tribes who worshiped the evil god Lilit.

The Haklan people call Lilit Niya, and this evil believer believes that they will use killing to win a chance of salvation for themselves, so as to survive the destruction when Lilit returns.

This makes the believers who worship Niya extremely cruel, coupled with the harsh living environment of the grassland, so they can often do many sensational things.

For example, Herme knew that in the history of Harkland, there was a "Niya Whip" almost 100 years ago. This khan unified the entire grassland, and then he led the grassland army to Serikania, almost Turn that land into no man's land.

During the invasion of Serikania, the Khan impaled people to death on stakes in groups, and then filled the cities of Serikania with such stakes.

All kinds of cruel acts are innumerable, and the horrors he created are still circulating in Hakland and Serikania.

In the end it was the demon hunter of the Manticore (flying lion) school protected by the Sericanian royal family that ended the madness brought by this man. Therefore, killing the Khan was regarded by them as an opportunity to regain the trust of the royal family.

At the cost of most of the sects that had managed to recover from the Day of Fire, they killed the "Niya's Whip" on the battlefield, and the brutal army immediately started a civil war after Khan's death. was able to launch a counterattack and drive the Haklans from the land.

It's a pity that the Manticore School has not regained its former glory. The royal family has given them some funds and privileges, but that's all. The Manticore School is still hunting demons in the desert to make a living.

And how did Herme know this, because this is not a secret at all, it is something that everyone knows.

Along the way, Herme's army suffered a lot of losses, but fortunately, this was all expected, but there was one thing that was not expected.

That is shoes.

After a long march, the consumption of shoes can be said to increase rapidly. Soldiers often find that the shoes are rotten and the soles are broken.

And these seemingly inconspicuous shoes are actually an important guarantee for the combat effectiveness of the army. If a soldier's foot is broken, what combat effectiveness does he have?
If he loses his hands, the soldier can at least charge up and hit people, but if he loses his feet, he is really a piece of trash.

However, the combat effectiveness of Hemei's army was not affected by this, because the Cossacks were more or less able to weave straw sandals, and long grass could be said to be everywhere.

With their hard work, soldiers with broken shoes quickly got new shoes. Although straw sandals are not very used to wearing, they are definitely better than worn out shoes.

The soldiers whose shoes were not broken took off their shoes and put on straw sandals. They learned from the experience of the Cossacks, and the straw sandals did not feel bad if they were worn out, and they were just suitable for marching.

After these episodes, Heme came to Shechi, the most important border fortress in the land of Cossacks, and the location of the most powerful Cossack warband.

Seen from a distance, Shechi is a majestic wooden castle, surrounded by wide moats, and the wooden wall is much higher than that of Saza Castle, which Herme felt very obvious when approaching.

The tall wooden tower overlooked Shechi's surroundings, and no one's activities nearby could escape the eyes of the sentinels on the tower.

In front of the Shechi's studded-skinned gates, there are several spears with a string of skulls, and on top of the spears are skulls inlaid with gold and silver.

Homer knew what it was, the topmost ornate skull belonged to a Gettleman, and the series of skulls below belonged to the defeated Chief Harkland.

Heme had heard of this skull spear for a long time. Whenever the Cossack army went out to fight against the nomadic army, the specially selected standard bearer would hold this spear high at the forefront of the army.

Usually, it is placed in front of Xieqi's gate, silently showing the glory condensed on the skull spear to the visitors.

When Herme arrived, many Cossacks from all walks of life had already arrived, and many Cossacks looked at the army from Sazaburg curiously.

At the door of Sheche.The guarding Cossacks simply checked their flags and identities, and Herme's was naturally the Flying Falcon coat of arms—every Cossack warband that wanted to come to Shechi had to report their flags first.

The Cossack costumes of the guards were different from the Cossacks that Herme saw. They generally wore chain mail helmets, chain mail, and red button-down coats. They were all equipped with spears, scimitars, bows and arrows. few.

Their temperament is also different from the Cossacks that Herme saw every day. The Cossacks are usually very loose, but the military temperament of these people is blowing away.

It didn't take much time to confirm his identity, and the inspector gave him a friendly smile, and then Heme was able to enter the Cossack fortress.

Schechi is a huge garrison fortress, and its interior space is very large, but the [-]-man Schechi Cossacks only occupy a small part of the fortress.

In addition to the Xieqi Cossacks here on weekdays, there are some volunteers who come here voluntarily, and criminals who come because of atonement.

Shechi is the front line of the struggle between Cossacks and nomads, so there is never a shortage of volunteers. Every Cossack village will take the initiative to provide supplies to Shechi to support these fearless guards.

Now the former open space is filled with crowds and tents, and the air is also filled with all kinds of odors produced by the gathering of crowds.

Everyone is quite used to this, the barracks, where there is no stink.

And to be honest, I only smelled the stench until now, which is already doing a good job in the sanitation of the military camp.

It was only later that Hemei found out that Xieqi's design at the beginning of the construction was completely considered for the assembly of the army, so the feces problem was solved by a very good drainage system.

It has to be said that the land of the Cossacks looks barbaric, but there has never been a lot of civilization under the barbaric appearance.

Heme saw a variety of Ataman banners, the strider hunter, the crossed scimitar, the eagle of prey, and the fearless warrior, all of them were of different colors, and when gathered together, it was a colorful scroll .

There are even Haklan people here. Not everyone on the grassland is willing to worship Niya and engage in that crazy killing. They prefer to stand with the Cossacks.

People from all over the Cossack land looked at Hemei and his party with scrutiny, and Hemei also looked at them with scrutiny.

He saw a lot of acquaintances, all of whom were closer to Fort Sazar, and he also saw some Cossacks wearing armor from the north, all of whom were relatively wealthy.

The Cossacks have different expressions, some are friendly, some are greedy, and some are just watching.

In such a situation of "everyone's attention", everyone including Herme felt a little embarrassed, as if they had broken into a world that did not belong to them, and many hands holding weapons appeared uncontrollably sweat.

"Master Herme, Lord Herme, you are finally here."

When the atmosphere became more and more awkward, a voice broke in to break the awkward silence.

It was a rider with a swan embroidered on his body, and the swan belonged to Braven's banner.

"I am sent by Lord Braven, please follow me."

The rider bowed respectfully on the horse, and when he heard Braven's name and saw the swan banner, the awkward scene disappeared immediately.

People turned their eyes away and continued to work on their own affairs, and everyone in Sazaburg immediately felt relieved.

This is the first time for Herme to see the prestige of Braven, the quasi-Gettleman, and he has a deeper understanding of the quasi-Gettleman's reputation.

Led by riders bearing swan banners, Herme's party arrived at Braven's camp.

On the way, Herme saw the scene in the Cossack fortress. It had to be said that it was really chaotic. Most of the Cossack tents were built indiscriminately, and some people even built just shacks.

There are businessmen everywhere, some Cossacks will sell their handmade products, some Cossacks are shouting to gamble with others, and some Cossacks are shouting and drinking.

To Herme, this really didn't look like an army, but he also knew that the fighting power of these Cossacks was not what it seemed on the surface, and he had a deep experience in the battle at Fort Sazar.

Braven's team was the largest among all the Cossack warbands, so they occupied the largest area, and Braven also left a place for Herme.

Homer saw that many of Braven's subordinates were wearing the armor he brought from the Aden workshop, which made them stand out from the crowd and looked more like elites.

Many Cossack warbands surrounded the quasi-Gettleman like stars and moons, enough to see his power.

Herme asked Marondo to arrange the camping of the army, and led him to Braven's tent.

The quasi-Gettleman's tent was very exaggerated, because what Herme saw was a tent embroidered with swans, which stood out from a group of tents that were either white or brown.

Many atamans were standing in the doorway, they seemed to be waiting, some people had started talking in small groups, but not very loudly.

Eight guards in chain mail and chain mail helmets stood guard at the door. They did not stop Hermi, and Hermi saw a face she had seen before from inside.

Seeing Herme go in, the atamans who had been waiting for a long time immediately became fussy, but it was a pity that Bravin's subordinates still stood there silently, ignoring them at all.

In the tent, through the light brought by the fire and candles, Herme saw Braven sitting on a large chair.

Gettleman-to-be was wearing a nightgown-like outfit, looking very casual. When Herme came in, he met his eyes, and he was eating preserved fruit.

There were three other people in the tent, one was an old man muttering something by the brazier, the helmet made of the skull of a giant beast reminded Herme of a shaman, and he fiddled with the brazier from time to time, as if he wanted to see What.

One is a warrior as strong as an iron tower. He stands silently behind Ataman, wearing a set of heavy armor. The armor pieces shimmer in the dim light. Braven obviously trusts him, otherwise it would be impossible Let him stand in this position.

The last one is a young and beautiful woman with short hair. Her eyes are black, the same as her hair. It is obvious from her face that she is of Harkland blood. Herme has seen many of them. of mixed race.

"Welcome to my tent, Baron Herme, Katya, offer bread and salt to the baron, to show our welcome, and to meet your husband."

The woman's expression didn't change because of this, and her eyes were still flat. When these eyes raised the plate with bread and salt and came to her, Herme felt a little suffocated.

Herme was not ashamed. According to the custom, he accepted the bread and salt, and the woman returned to her original position.

At this time, Herme noticed that she had a smooth machete pinned to her waist, and she was also wearing black gloves.

Braven saw Herme's reaction, but he said nothing.

"Sit down, Baron Herme, my son-in-law, the weapons and equipment you sent are very good, and my subordinates are very satisfied."

Herme sat beside Braven, and the strong man who looked like an iron tower moved a chair.

"It should be," said Herme.

Opposite him happened to be the person who kept searching in the brazier. When Hemei sat down, the person looked up at him, and Hemei saw a pair of mottled eyes. Those eyes seemed to have some power. He turned his head unconsciously.

Fortunately, the man didn't keep looking at Herme. Soon, he lowered his head and continued to search for something in the brazier.

"That's Raskit, the high priest of Cliff, don't be intimidated by him, he has no malicious intentions. Don't look at him like this and think he is a lunatic. In fact, when he drives the power on the battlefield, No one dared to ignore him."

"The High Priest of Cliff? I thought there were no priests in the Cossack Land."

Heme was very surprised by this. He had never seen priests in his own territory or in his interactions with the Cossacks. The elders of the villages or the atamans did things like leading the people to sacrifice to the gods. , or do it in private.

"Indeed, we don't have any. Our ancestors refused to support those who could only chant scriptures, and they didn't have the resources to support them. However, Rasit's situation is a bit special. First of all, you need to know that God Cliff is mostly worshiped by warriors. , the weight in the land of the Cossacks is undoubtedly the heaviest."

Braven explained, while speaking, he also took out a lightning-shaped talisman to express his belief.

"Occasionally someone will be favored by the Great God, and since then he can control the power of the sky, and some people will go half-mad, like Rastite, and some people will become truly great warriors, like the Yegor. And while they gained power, they also became the high priests of the Great God, but on our side, this is a title."

Yegor, Herme knew the story of this man, he was the key figure in the hero's song, and Herme didn't know how many stories about his various adventures and standing up.

However, he has always regarded the words "blessed by Cliff" in the hero song as stereotypes, and now it seems that they are actually true?

"But we don't say anything about gods, Baron Herme, tell us what you think of this army."

Blaven obviously didn't want to continue the topic of the gods. He lay down on the bearskin on the chair and took a glass of wine from the strong man behind him. It was vodka.

Herme recalled everything she had seen along the way, and because she didn't know Braven's attitude, she pondered over her vocabulary.

"Sloppy, my attitude is sloppy, this army is too sloppy."

Herme thought of the messy garrison area, and finally came up with this conclusion. I didn't know the scene and thought it was a refugee camp.

In contrast, as they approached the Braven camp, the Cossack camp they saw had what an army should look like.

"Yeah, that's how we are."

Bravin agrees very much, "In my father's time, the Cossack war gangs were not like this, not like this, that era is different from now."

There was a look called memory in Braven's eyes, thinking of the Cossack army of his father's time, his eyes shone brightly.

"This battle will be the beginning of everything that will change, and I will eventually inherit my father's career."

Blavin said as if telling the truth,
"Your equipment has made my election more stable. Most of the atamans have expressed in private that they will vote for me at that time. You will see some of them at the banquet tonight, a very powerful part, I think Every now and then they will come to you asking how to buy equipment. So, have you brought everything I asked you to bring?"

"One hundred breastplates and two hundred helmets, this is the most I can take out in a short time."

It was very late when Bravin sent the news, and Herme could only get this in a short time.

For this reason, he also used the relationship of the Vivaldi Bank, which took a lot of effort.

"When the time comes, sell them to those atamans at a lower price, and you can take all the money."

Hearing this, Hemei recalled why Braven suddenly asked him to bring so much equipment. It turned out that it was to further bribe powerful people in the Ataman.

This made Herme take a higher look at Braven. This quasi-Gettleman really knows how to use the resources in his hands.

As for the fact that she was being used, Herme didn't care, wasn't it just being used?It is only valuable to be used, anyway, I have not lost money.

Take the example of handing over all the weapons and equipment to Bravin. Through his channel, Herme knew that Bravin used these equipment to bribe many people.

But so what?The fact that he became Bravin's son-in-law is enough to offset all the efforts, no, it can even be said that those are just a drop in the bucket.

Bravin also knew this, so he kept asking, because he knew Herme would try his best to do it.

Just as these two guys who knew each other's thoughts were discussing, Braven's daughter Katya looked at them indifferently, her eyes were still so indifferent, and no emotion could be seen.

In the end, she hummed softly, obviously disdainful of the two men in front of her.

(End of this chapter)