open sea

Chapter 1300 The Farmer
Old John was a freeman who lived on a farm in the Plymouth countryside away from the crowds.

When he was a child, the family had a small property, and when the noble master took over the land to raise sheep, he should have been able to inherit some inheritance, but his desperate father boarded a boat and became a sailor.

That's the sea. There are Portuguese, Spaniards, and Frenchmen on the sea, as well as terrifying sea monsters. Are you kidding me?Sure enough, he never came back.

So by now he had nothing left, he dug a big tree hole to make a house, and made a living by hunting and gathering outside the pasture of Lord Knight.

Sometimes he will be a part-time robber. In fact, there is no such thing as a robber in England. The word with the same meaning is a person who strips robes. Sometimes he will attack passers-by and make a fortune with whatever he gets.

He is very lucky, so he has not been caught until now. People call him a savage in the forest, and his social status is similar to that of the savage Jurchen in the distant Ming Dynasty.

He has a crossbow, either the steel crossbow used by the elite troops, or the ordinary wooden crossbow, which is used to shoot rabbits.

He was very happy when he heard the news of the war. He carried a wooden basket with air-dried meat and dry food on his back, and went to the nearest knight master with a crossbow. He probably didn’t believe the Ming people who occupied Plymouth—Old John was begging the knight My lord went to war.

Not only him, but there are many peasants beside him, all of whom carry food and prepare their own weapons, begging the noble lord to go to the battlefield.

Why ask?Because the nobles don't want them to go to the battlefield, the low combat effectiveness is only second, their fighting will is extremely low, even if they form an army, they will easily collapse, lack of protective equipment, and they have no discipline and combat skills. The most critical problem is the small feudal economy. Farmers are all on the battlefield, and the logistics supply is not enough.

Back to Old John, why did he want to go to war?

These days are boring and boring, anyway, I know that I am not the main force, so it is very happy to follow to the battlefield to fight soy sauce.

People often say that life is better now. A blacksmith can buy a suit of armor for himself as many days as he works, and a soldier can buy as much equipment for himself as many days as he works. The problem lies in except them?The lord has no shortage of blacksmiths, two are enough for a village, and the lord has no shortage of soldiers. Old John has been poor for several years and has no new clothes to wear.

He carried a wooden basket on his back, which was all his belongings, and betting on his whole possessions was for one purpose. His combat goal for himself was to pick up two swords on the battlefield.

As for whether it is the sword of his own nobleman or the sword hanging on the waist of the Ming businessman, he never thought about it. He just wants to pick up two swords and take them back. Don't worry anymore.

If you are lucky, you can pick up another robe on it, regardless of whether it is the burqa of the knight master or the hanging robe on the horse, it is best to wear the silk robe worn by the merchants of Ming Dynasty.

Take off a silk robe, and he can marry a wife and have a litter of children. It is better to fight this battle longer, so that the land price around Plymouth will be lower, and he can buy a few acres of land to build a wooden house. Once it's done, we're counting on this battle.

He believes that he can survive, the chance of surviving is at least much higher than being a sailor, and his luck has always been very good.

Old John's luck was indeed very good. On the way to the Lord Knight's territory, he was bumped into by a well-equipped Beiyang cavalry scout. Four cavalrymen on pony horses carried spears and pistols and circled around him. Interrogating him with words he didn't understand, what kind of scene was that?
So old John was lucky. He didn't die in such a situation of extreme difference in strength, and he even got a basket of black bread from the Ming army. Isn't it terrible?
When he went to the siege camp to brag about this experience to others, the peasants and soldiers who came with the same expectation called him brave John. In fact, even he himself wondered why he survived.

He didn't do anything, but when he saw the cavalry, he couldn't help urinating first, and arranged the wooden crossbow, dried rabbit meat, two pieces of black bread, short robe and hood, and finally saw what the Ming army knights were saying. Reluctantly, he took off the linen leggings with three wet patches.

As a result, these cavalrymen left, and after a while they caught up again. Under the dull gaze of Old John who was wearing trousers, he threw a bag of black bread, two leather water bags and a handful of pennies into his wooden basket. walk away.

From then on, Old John felt that he had a subtle connection with the knights of the Ming army. He once thought that the knight who gave him black bread, water bags and money wanted to hire him to fight, but he really couldn't catch up. Then we arrived at the siege camp.

Just a few days after arriving at the siege camp, I was given a long-handled flail. I was ordered to build camps and fortifications, repair equipment, and take care of the troops. They are not mercenaries, they are hired by the lord. refugees, just like him.

This is a strange circle. The lord is unwilling to conscript the people to fight, because they are not soldiers but tools to produce wealth; the poor peasants are willing to go to the battlefield, praying to the gods to bless them from death, and it is best not to be injured or disabled. I can grab one.

In addition to the subjective game between the lord and the people, there are also realistic and objective conditions that the army needs someone to repair camps and build fortifications, loot supplies, torture prisoners, transport supplies, repair equipment, clean up the battlefield, and deal with problems such as eating and drinking. The regular army composed of lords, knights, and property infantry was unwilling to do the work, and professional mercenaries took care of themselves.

Then the problem comes, someone has to do it.

The final result is that lord A hires the refugees who ran around under Lord B as mercenaries; When the war ended, the lord returned home and found that the people under his rule were missing, and he was puzzled by it.

Old John had been looking forward to the start of the battle, but he had waited for several days, transported grain trucks twice, dug tunnels for a whole day, his arms were sore and his limbs were weak, like flying nine and a half hours straight, not to mention When digging the tunnel, the penny stuffed in the crotch was lost, and some bastard picked it up, and he was so angry that he didn't fall asleep all night.

In the morning, they finally squinted their eyes and took a nap, and then they were woken up by the master who led them with plate armor boots. The whole camp was praying, as if to launch a general attack.

This happy moment finally arrived. He and many vagrant mercenaries who had the same idea were gathered in the back line as a reserve team, and they would probably join the battle to control the streets after the troops controlled the city walls and gates.

The captain who led them praised Dirty Rat's skill in digging tunnels, saying that three brave master knights had led troops into the city through the tunnels they dug, and they would soon be able to control Plymouth and drive away the Ming people who occupied the city. You especially told Old John to be careful not to hit his own people with that wooden crossbow.

The simple and honest old farmer could understand the captain's annoyance that he could not be on the front line of the battle because he was leading him, so he stared at the back of the captain's coat of arms and wrote down his instructions.

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is finally coming. Old John swallowed the saliva in his throat viciously. He didn't know where the pannier was thrown, and he was carrying his old crossbow and clutching the long-handled flail tightly. At this moment, the camp It was chaotic, and people clutching bloody holes in their bodies came out of the tunnel, yelling.

Several lords on horseback tried to lead the troops away from the line.

The people in front didn't know what happened, but soon they were also in chaos. People could only see the gate of Plymouth opened across the crowds, and the smoke and dust of a large group of people and horses was raised in that direction.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)