Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1644. Take a sharp turn for the worse
"Yes, that's right!" Hans nodded in confusion at first, and finally shouted, "Now count as many people as you can! Gather! Line up!"

"We have to break through the crowd of deserters! Our only advantage now is our formation. No one can disperse! Charge out of the city! Charge!"

As the few small groups of Nilfgaard that could reorganize their soldiers in the city of Vergen, these small groups all chose the same path.

——That is to rush out towards the side gate of the city of Vergen, pushing aside the scattered but crowded large number of defeated soldiers!

In this situation, the soldiers they organized were not to fight to the death with the rebels, but to break through the friendly forces who were their own people in the first half of the night!
Now there are a swarm of defeated soldiers and deserters!

At the main gate of Vergen, the rebels pouring in from outside the city are rapidly expanding their area of ​​control.

By the time Sachia led his team to rush in, the city gate had completely lost its room for contention and directly became the entrance passage for the rebels outside the city.

The rebels drove out the scattered and defeated Nilfgaardians and Nasir's auxiliary troops in large numbers.

But what made Hans secretly happy was that the rebel's Sakia sounded nothing like the 'lucky village girl' or 'slut who encouraged men to fight with her breasts and butt' as rumored.

The leader of this rebel army acted in a very steady and mature style.

She did not allow her rebel army to spread out immediately and penetrate into various parts of the city of Vergen. She did not allow her rebel army to seize positions in this chaotic situation and exercise comprehensive but unstable control.

She seemed to want to go street by street, alley by alley, to make sure the occupied area was under complete control, and then move steadily to the next area.

This steady style made a large number of defeated soldiers like sheep driven by a shepherd, and they were pushed into the uncontrolled areas.

"Get out of the way! Get out of my way!"

Hans roared and thrust his shield forward.

He put all his weight on it, but still found it difficult to move.

Because there were just too many people in the dark crowd.

There are a total of 800 southerners in the city of Vergen. If the city is attacked at night, there will be about 120 to 130 casualties, and at most less than 200.

The remaining six or seven hundred people were all crammed into a side door through which only two horses could pass side by side.

At this time, everyone wants to escape. Etiquette and morality all have to take precedence over survival, so no one can give up even a step!
"Kill!" Old Oz, the oldest, was the most decisive at this time. He raised his shield and shouted, "We have to kill them!"

He swung a claw hammer and smashed it on the shoulder armor of a Nilfgaardian in front of him with a "bang".

It was obvious to the naked eye that he had definitely intended to hit it on the head.

But this one was heavy enough.

The man screamed immediately and his body became tilted with uneven shoulders!
Old Oz's decisiveness pointed the way forward for this small group of Nasser people.

They also started to use ruthless tactics.

But this also aroused the anger of the Nilfgaardians.

"You bastard Saier! Get to the back!"

Old Oz stretched out his claw hammer to hit someone again, but was grabbed by a Nilfgaardian, and the soldier next to him, who was already furious, chopped down his arm with an axe!
Immediately, Old Oz let out a scream. Although he had armor on his hands, his arms were still twisted into strange angles. He collapsed and disappeared in the crowd.

The people around him had no chance to save him.

The hilt of the Valyrian steel half-sword in Hans's hand seemed too long when he was holding the shield in one hand.

When he was about to chop, he was stuck. In order to prevent his fingers from being twisted off, Hans could only let go while screaming.

The long sword disappeared in the crowd in the blink of an eye. It was not until Henry handed him a hammer from behind that Hans finally had a weapon.

It is normal for the fleeing soldiers to be murderous in their fight for an escape route.

At this time, several small groups simultaneously started to attack the scattered fleeing soldiers, hoping to take advantage of maintaining their formation to fight for a way out.

However, during this process, some of the collapsed soldiers were recognized by people in the small group, and after shouting and screaming, they regained some of their sanity.

After all, we are all in the same military camp, and it is normal to occasionally meet someone with a similar temperament and develop some friendship with him.

So these small groups charged forward while recruiting men from the defeated soldiers.

A person who might have red eyes and want to smash the other person's head with a hammer in the previous second, may immediately shake hands and make peace after waking up in the next second, and beg to join in and escape together.

Chaos and absurdity are always common on the battlefield.

Two or three military leaders of Nilfgaard gathered their men, and there were also several nobles on the side of Sel, who brought their own confidants and took the auxiliary troops with them.

With all the shouting, hacking and chopping, the number of casualties at this small side door of Vergen was probably more than that of the main gate that was opened by the rebels' previous surprise attack!

But at least I got out.

A large number of defeated soldiers fled from the city of Vergen.

Among them, Hans and his group were quite close to the front when they came out, but none of them was unharmed.

Henry's neck guard was nearly ripped off, one side of Hans's shoulder guard had gone missing, and he had also lost a Valyrian steelhand half-sword.

However, the pleasure and relief of escaping death suddenly filled everyone's heart after rushing out of a fallen city.

There is only an hour between extreme tension and extreme relaxation.

The violent emotional fluctuations made everyone's face look wooden, with no expression on their face, and they were just gasping for breath.

"Who, who brought water?"

Hans swallowed his dry throat and asked.

Although the battle was short, it was intense enough to wear out a person. Moreover, he had been knocking stones with Henry for half the night.

"Let's run farther and go through the mountains." Someone in the team said, "There's a small lake nearby. We can, huh~, take a short rest." Hans nodded indifferently and let the man lead the way.

After the group of people left the city, they didn't dare to light torches for fear of attracting attention. They stumbled along the way and almost suffered non-combat casualties.

But after climbing the mountain and passing through the forest, they finally reached the small lake under the guidance of that man.

When they arrived at the empty lake, Hans recognized the person leading the way. He was a hunter from Nasser. No wonder he could lead the way in the woods so late at night.

The group of people didn't care about anything else. They were exhausted and lay down by the lake and started drinking water like wild animals.

When something started to move from their throats to their esophagus, they began to feel a little more alive.

Soon after, many small groups of defeated soldiers who had also escaped from the city of Vergen began to appear in the vicinity.

People's physiological needs are the same, when they are thirsty, they need to find water. This place is no secret.

It is normal for the defeated soldiers who were originally fleeing in all directions to gather together again here.

The defeated soldiers who had just been fighting each other, now just watched and drank water peacefully.

With the arrival of a larger group, the atmosphere by the lake became weird.

"It's the adjutant." Hans whispered to Henry, "He's not dead! The Sachia rebels didn't even leave him behind!"

This group that had just arrived at the lake was composed entirely of Nilfgaardian soldiers. The adjutant in their lead had a breastplate exactly the same as the one Henry was wearing now, with a gilded sun wheel on it.

Even though they were all in distress, the Nilfgaardians seemed to be bossing others around when they arrived at the lake.

"Should we return to the establishment?" Hans waved his hand, and a group of people gathered around him to discuss the matter.

Originally, this should be a non-controversial issue.

In the context of the Civil War, what is the difference between not thinking about returning to the camp and seeking death?
But the problem is that the Nilfgaardians have just suffered a devastating defeat in this area, and even lost the city of Vergen where they were staying!
Moreover, their team has gone too deep into the enemy's territory. Originally, the Nilfgaardian army should have occupied southern Aedirn, but now they have reached the northern border of northern Aedirn!

Is it really a good idea to move a large force too deep behind enemy lines and having just suffered a defeat?

Or should we first move south in small groups, and then seek to rejoin the organization once we are safe in the occupied areas?

Besides, they had just been fighting each other for a while, and these Nasarians had also killed quite a few Nilfgaardians.

If I go back right now, will I be hated by others?

Hans whispered all these words, and everyone present heard them in their hearts and weighed their own opinions.

But after a discussion, the voices of returning to the team prevailed.

"There are only so many of us now. Who among us didn't kill his own people when we rushed the city gate just now? If the adjutant pursues this, the team will have to disband on the spot. He must be unhappy in his heart, but he probably won't show it in his actions."

This small group of Nasser people started talking at once.

"Retreat south. We are in danger. Following the main force may be more intimidating."

There are numerous reasons, but the final word is the last one.

"If you don't return to the team at this time, it will affect the distribution of land!"

The person who spoke was a young man, about the same age as Hans and Henry. The corner of his mouth was broken by the iron glove in the melee.

He opened his eyes wide, and in his eyes there was not only fear after escaping, but also unwillingness.

"The emperor has issued a decree, hasn't he? Every step we take forward is giving us land! He encourages immigration to the north and has issued many preferential laws. If you settle in the north, you will get land. Soldiers like us who fight in the north will get even greater benefits!"

"We have fought to the northernmost part of Aedirn!" He looked around unwillingly, "If we don't return to the team now, the adjutant will say one word and all the records will be lost! Sir Hans, Old Oz and Tankard are all dead, but we should fight for something for their families, right?"

"Let's not end up destroying even their records!"

After this sentence, there is actually no room for debate.

Hans immediately realized that everyone had the same idea.

But Henry pressed his waist pocket with a strange look on his face. No one knew what he was thinking, but he didn't say anything to object.

Now that the decision had been made, Hans took Henry with him to discuss returning to the team with his adjutant.

At this time, several groups had already finished talking with the adjutant, and the soldiers had also gathered together, and there didn't seem to be any conflict or investigation.

This is even more reassuring.

So when the two of them passed by, there were no surprises. The Nilfgaardian lieutenant simply recruited them.

Perhaps because manpower is at a premium nowadays, the Nilfgaardians, who have always been arrogant, actually made a few jokes with a few "Nassir bastards".

"The rebels are just so-so." The Nilfgaardian sneered. "Even with such a huge advantage, they didn't dare to immediately blockade Vergen, allowing most of the enemy's manpower to escape."

"If this happened in our military court, it would be enough to convict Sakia."

"In other words, it would be fine if she was indecisive, but she could be smarter. She could just place an ambush here, wouldn't she?"

Hans flattered the adjutant's words, while Henry listened to them with a constipated expression, as if he was thinking about something but couldn't put it into words.

He frowned and looked around the lake, feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Just two seconds later, a splashing sound of liquid was heard beside him.

Hans's face was completely blank, and it was sprayed with bright red blood plasma.

The Nilfgaardian lieutenant who was talking loudly just now had a crossbow arrow sticking out of his throat.

(End of this chapter)