Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 4 Captive
As Hemei expected, after removing the deer's head spirit, there were no monsters in the forest.

After arriving in the depths of the forest, far enough away from the fierce battle, Herme ordered the whole army to rest, just in time to calculate what they had gained in the previous battle.

Apart from some scattered coins and food, the biggest gain of this battle was mainly to get a bunch of Nilfgaardian military uniforms. The Aedirians had armor and so on, so they didn't take much.

These smocks and coat of arms were specially ordered by Herme to take away, because only a little camouflage was needed, and dozens of mercenaries loyal to the Nilfgaard Empire would come out.

Hemei knew that the empire had conquered the entire south in the past few decades. The so-called Nilfgaardians actually only refer to some people living in the area near the city of the Golden Tower, so there is a team in this army who speaks different languages. The mercenaries couldn't be more normal.

Although Herme didn't know when this thing could be used, it was always right to have it with her. What if it could be used?
As for what to do next, Herme planned to head south in the forest and try to get to Mount Soden, the farther away the better.

In a few days, maybe today, the Allied forces of the North would have to cross the river, and the battle of Mount Sodden would begin, in which case the Nilfgaardians would be defeated.

In that scene of defeat, they had too many opportunities.

For example, directly looting the Nilfgaard camp and taking away the tent of the commander-in-chief of the man in black would not directly make a fortune.

While Herme was thinking about his next move, the soldiers under his command were lamenting the joy of the previous battle. It was really enjoyable to beat up the man in black like this.

The Northern Allied Forces and the Imperial Army have also fought against each other several times. The general opinion of northerners is that this army is not simple, it can be said to be a strong enemy.

There was also a lot of respect for Herme in their words. Victory is the thing that can build prestige the most. According to the soldiers, Herme seemed to have won their hearts. Now they no longer doubt the ability of this young commander.

There was nothing to talk about in the following days. The people of Aedian walked in the forest during the day and slept when it got dark.

The Nilfgaardians failed to catch up with them, or they had given up long ago. Anyway, the Aedirians saw no trace of the Nilfgaardians.

Under the nourishment of sufficient rest and the confidence brought by the victory, the morale of the troops is getting higher and higher, and the spirit of the soldiers is getting stronger and stronger.

While counting the days, Herme also led his men closer to the edge of the forest.

They have to be on standby at the edge of the battlefield as soon as possible so that they can act according to the situation, and this trip is for this purpose.

As the Aedirians were marching through the forest, they heard an explosion in the distance.

The scout immediately climbed up the tallest tree around him and looked in the direction of the explosion, and the answer he gave was exactly what Herme thought.

"The war is on!"

Hearing the start of the war, Herme immediately urged his subordinates to hurry. They had to go to the edge of the forest as soon as possible to investigate the situation there.

Everyone's actions were also very fast, without any hesitation about Herme's order.

Soon, the group came to the edge of the forest. After the scouts confirmed that the front was safe, Herme and Jerry walked to the edge of the forest.

It is unwise to take so many people to the edge of the forest. More people means that it is easy to be spotted, so a few people are fine.

They came out in a very good position, not far from the Nilfgaardian camp, and groups of Nilfgaardian soldiers could be seen heading to the front line under the banner of the golden sun.

The expressions of the Nilfgaardians were all bad. Of course, no one would be in a good mood after seeing what happened on Mount Soden.

The scene on Mount Soden was spectacular, with fireballs and lightning constantly flying across the battlefield, suppressing the Nilfgaardian army.

Soldiers were constantly being blown away. Although there were warlocks in the south, their quality and quantity were incomparably higher than those in the north, causing the Nilfgaardian army to be completely suppressed.

The fireballs and lightnings of the Northern Allied Forces ravaged the Nilfgaardian position like a bomb. Even if the imperial mages tried their best to support the defense, they could not change the heavy casualties of the black army.

But the Nilfgaardian army still marched forward firmly. Even though the casualties were heavy, they still bravely charged towards Mount Soden, and fought the defending northerners in a daze.

The banners with the golden sun and the coat of arms of the northern countries are constantly shaking and entangled, like lovers entangled in bed, but the way this pair of "lovers" communicate is by sword.

And the southern warlocks were not completely without the ability to fight back. Herme saw the fireballs from the southern army hit the warlocks' positions, setting several people on fire.

The magic of both sides inevitably exploded in the melee battle line, blowing up the soldiers of both sides equally or turning them into coke.

This scene made several Aedian people here subconsciously swallow their saliva, and now they are very glad that they were sent out to carry out the mission, instead of standing on the battlefield where magic was flying around.

Since this scene was foreseen by him, Herme only watched it for a while before focusing on the Nilfgaard camp.

The important thing now is what I should do, just wait here until the battle is over?
It feels a bit negative like that. Now the Nilfgaardians have no idea that there is such a northern army lurking so close to them, so they have to take advantage of such a good opportunity.

It is naturally the best to be able to make meritorious deeds, and meritorious deeds means rewards. As long as you become stronger, the possibility of surviving the next dangerous years will be higher.

The more he thought about it, the more restless Herme's heart became, urging him to do something.

After all, it would be unreliable to simply wait here for the Nilfgaardian army to disintegrate, and with the chaos at that time, it is hard to say whether any achievements can be made.

Chasing and killing rout soldiers also requires skill, if you stand in front of a large group of rout soldiers rashly, they will be overwhelmed.

Gradually, the desire for merit overwhelmed the fear of risk.

Anyway, let's take a closer look at the Nilfgaardian camp.

"Let's get closer to some Nilfgaardian camps."

Herme looked at the camp where the golden sun was fluttering, "Go and see if there is any chance to see what the camp of the men in black looks like."

"Huh? Yes."

Jerry didn't have any doubts. He now completely trusted Herme, but he was a little surprised.

The movement of the Aedirians was very smooth. The battle on Mount Soden made the imperial army flustered. Squads of Nilfgaardian troops rushed to the front line, not paying attention to the northerners in the forest.

As they approached, Herme also saw the scene inside the black army camp.

The Nilfgaardian camp is full of ditches, black and gold color and sun emblem tents are neatly arranged, standard Nilfgaardian style, but these are not what he cares about.

His attention was on finding the captives of the camp, or slave holding place.

For the imperial army, slave hunting is second only to war in its military operations, and there must be slaves in the camps of the imperial army.

It was precisely because of this that Herme decided to approach the camp of the Black Army, and he felt that he could take advantage of this.

Then he also saw what he wanted. The captives captured by the Nilfgaardians were held in a fence outside the camp.

The fence was far from the barracks, and the prisoners were like livestock being herded together. This gave Herme an idea.

But then his thoughts were strangled. As he took out the binoculars to see the situation inside the fence, he found that the prisoners were in poor condition. Most of them stayed there weakly. These people seemed to be unable to even walk. is the problem.

Only a small number of people with relatively clean clothes are in good spirits, and they should have been arrested not long ago, but I believe it will not take long for them to be tossed into that energyless look.

As an empire that has developed slave hunting into an important industry, slave owners certainly know how to better manage their flocks, and letting them starve is naturally the best way.

However, they made the slave enclosure quite clean, without the feces and urine that Herme imagined.

Only later did he know that the Nilfgaardians killed all those who defecated freely in the fence, and the fence was naturally cleaned up.

The sights he saw dispelled Herme's idea of ​​liberating the captives. His original idea was to disguise himself as an imperial mercenary, sneak into the slave fence to attack the guards, release all the slaves, and then lead them to escape into the forest. The Germans will definitely not be able to control them then, but now it seems that this is impossible.

At this moment, a few riders with hurried expressions ran over and ran past Herme. Not long after their arrival, the camp became restless.

The battle on the front line of Sodden Mountain was obviously not going well for the men in black. Herme saw a large group of reserve troops being transferred to the battlefield.

With the large-scale movement of the crowd, the Nilfgaardian camp was in chaos.

The order is obviously very urgent, because even many active wounded soldiers have been mobilized. It seems that the frontline battle situation is very unfavorable for the Nilfgaardians.

Even the Nilfgaardian army, which has always been strictly disciplined, will fall into chaos in the face of sudden and urgent orders, and there will be situations where soldiers cannot be found, and soldiers will not be found.

Looking at the Nilfgaard camp that was becoming more and more busy due to the battle ahead, Herme once wanted to use the collected armors to sneak in disguised as the imperial army.

After getting in, they set fire to sabotage, making these southerners think they had lost the battle, which is a super feat.

But in the end he dismissed these ideas for no other reason than it was too risky and unnecessary.

Right now, the Nilfgaardians have obviously mobilized the final reserve team, which means that the battle on Soden Mountain is becoming more and more unfavorable to them. Why do they want to take such a big risk?
Prisoner, yes, prisoner, those high officials must run away early!

Hemei suddenly thought of this, and he slapped his head suddenly, those marshals and generals must have run away early.

Isn't it better than taking a risk to catch these guys by yourself?
After making up his mind, Herme didn't plan to move, and just continued to wait here, waiting for the moment of defeat on Mount Sodden.

After about an hour and a half passed, the signs of defeat had begun to appear, and some Nilfgaardian troops fled back from the front line one after another.

Although they were quickly stopped by the Imperial cavalry, after executing several of them, they were driven to the battlefield in full.

Herme understood that such a situation meant that the Imperial Army was getting closer and closer to collapse.

Soon, several groups of rout troops broke up from the front line, and those troops that were withdrawn from the front line looked extremely exhausted and demoralized, and the traces of defeat of the Nilfgaardians became more and more obvious.

Quite simply, Herme led his subordinates to move to the rear of the imperial army camp.

As for why it is the rear, it is of course because the generals and marshals must run from there.

Herme's people started to move, but the Nilfgaardians, who were getting more and more corrupted by the frontline war, didn't notice these movements in the forest at all.

The Adian people set up an ambush on the small road in the forest behind the army camp. It was too dangerous to set up an ambush on the main road, and they were easily besieged.In comparison, the small road is not only safe, but some important people are indeed more likely to walk here.

And not long after their arrival, a group of heavily armed Nilfgaardians arrived.

They have black cloaks, helmets with raven feather helmets, and golden suns on the plate armor. This is the dress of Nilfgaardian officers that Herme has seen before, but now these Nilfgaardians are all dressed like this. The war horses under him can only be raised by eating refined grains.

The cavalry surrounded an old man in gorgeous armor like stars and moons. Although he was leading the team on the road, he still maintained his majesty. Anyone could tell that this was a high-ranking official.

These cavalry looked very panicked, obviously eager to leave this place, so the imperials must have been defeated on the front line.

Seeing this, Herme knew that this was exactly what they wanted, and he had prepared a big gift for this group of people.

When the Nilfgaardian entered the ambush area, the tripping rope that had been prepared for a long time was suddenly pulled up, tripping the rider who was eager to go.

Another big tree fell down, and amidst the neighing of the horses and the panic of the riders, the team was divided into two halves.

Although they were ambushed, these imperial people wearing feathered helmets were obviously elite, and they almost subconsciously protected the high officials in the center.

It's just that the Adian people who ambushed were not aimed at killing people, to be precise, they didn't want to kill the high official.

Ambushes poured out from all directions, and the place where no one was visible just now was now full of northerners, encircling the attacked team in the middle.

The spears and halberds charged at the cavalry in a row, and the advantages of polearms against the cavalry were fully demonstrated. It was difficult for the cavalry to cut them, but it was easy for them to stab the rider.

Some isolated cavalry were dragged off their horses by the swarming northerners, and then greeted with their weapons to their faces.

Under this combination of punches, the elite Nilfgaardian cavalry was killed in the dust, just like the lowly infantry who were crushed by them on weekdays.

The gathered cavalry is also at a disadvantage in battle. They are being shot at by crossbowmen as targets. While defending against attacks, they also have to beware of crossbow arrows. Their casualties continue to increase.

Hemei was also on the front line. He held a long gun and just stabbed to death an idiot who was not wearing a neck guard.

Seeing the man falling down clutching the blood on his neck, Herme felt a frenzy. This guy should know how stupid it is to not wear a neck brace. Oh, he has no chance to change it.

After a while, most of the guards of the high official were beheaded, and a small number of them were still insisting. It was only a matter of time before they were taken down.

Faced with such a situation, the high official was also very straightforward. He dropped the long sword in his hand, and then raised his hands, becoming the captive of the northern barbarians they said.

Seeing this, his subordinates immediately followed suit and raised their hands high.

After disarming these Nilfgaardians, Hemei naturally began to ask about their identities immediately. These people are low-level soldiers, and they must not know those Nilfgaardian officials.

But this man could not speak the lingua franca of the north at all, and none of the Aedirians could speak Nilfgaardian, which left Herme speechless.

There is no way, it seems that the only way to know his identity is when the king accepts this person.

Afterwards, Herme lay in ambush here for a while, but it was obviously not as good luck as before. Apart from fighting a few waves of defeated troops, there was no result.

They even let go of a few waves of broken soldiers depending on the situation, because there were too many waves, and they couldn't eat them at all.

But Herme was content. That senior official must be of high rank, and there were other prisoners. He must be the first northern army to take the prisoners back. These honors are enough.

And the soldiers below were even more happy. With so many prisoners captured this time, everyone will definitely be able to make a fortune.

After confirming that there would be no new routs, Herme also decided to leave the forest with her team.

In order to prevent accidental hits, Herme raised the flag of the Kingdom of Aedirn that had been kept away.And it turned out that this was correct, because next they encountered the northerners who were pursuing them.

If it weren't for the flags, they would have been attacked by the trend. After all, those cavalry who were chasing at the forefront could hardly believe that someone was walking in front of them. From the soldiers they met, Herme learned that the north was indeed victorious at Mount Sodden .

After inquiring where the kings were, Herme bid them farewell, and the important thing now was to report his credit.

Leaving the forest, he found that the strict imperial camp just now had become a mess, and the northerners would not keep the Nilfgaardian camp clean.

Watching the northern soldiers turn the order and cleanliness that the Nilfgaardians were proud of into dirty and chaotic, Herme felt a sense of joy in his heart.

Whether in his previous life or now, he doesn't like the Nilfgaardians. That capitalist slavery empire that calls for civilization looks so disgusting, but this scene really makes him feel enjoyable.

The prisoners they escorted along the way attracted the attention of many pursuing northern troops. Herme and the others got more than 40 prisoners. Now that the pursuit has just begun, it is very noticeable to capture so many prisoners, not to mention that there are still many prisoners inside. There is no shortage of people with gorgeous armor.

Then Herme and the others chased even faster, now is the time to make a fortune, hurry up, maybe others will get ahead.

After passing through the chasing crowd, Hemei came to the foot of Soden Mountain, and what appeared before his eyes was a bloody land.

The marks of the Warlock's fireballs and lightning strikes were especially evident in this slaughterhouse, and they dealt a blow to the Nilfgaardians.

But there are also such traces in the camp of the Northern Allied Forces. It is estimated that the kings are absolutely safe because they are protected by warlocks.

Looking at everything in front of him, Hemei was only thankful that he had escaped this battle.

(End of this chapter)