Amid everyone's eager anticipation, Walker, the junior knight of the territory, returned.
When someone reported that he had entered the village entrance, Lant even felt that Rohr and Albert breathed a sigh of relief together.
If Walker can come back, it proves that Huck Galloping Horse and several other family members should be able to come back.
The three people hurried out to greet the village entrance. However, as soon as the three people walked out of the castle door, they felt something was wrong.
Walker looked too embarrassed. There were several holes in his armor, and there were blood stains on the lining. As the knight gradually approached, Lant could already tell that Walker was about to fall off his horse.
Everyone hurried to meet the knight and helped the horse off. Walker's face was pale at this moment, and he was sweating under his helmet.
Lant asked Albert to arrange for someone to take care of Walker, and he asked Rohr to organize and complete the preparations for migration within the entire territory as soon as possible.
Rohr also saw that Walker definitely did not encounter a small group of barbarians by chance, but that Huck and the others were in relatively big trouble, so they had to quickly supervise the preparations of each family.
In fact, there are only 22 households in the Galloping Horse Territory, with a total of 220 people. There are 120 relatives of the family living near the castle in the Galloping Horse Territory, and there are 3 knights in the village, totaling 100 people. The 22 households correspond to 20 people in the entire territory. Among the number of demon possessors above 6, Lant's family accounts for 6, including 4 brothers, Huck, Albert, and Lant.
The total number of demon-free people in the Huck family is about 70, including servants, family members, etc., and the other demon-free heirs. There are also 3 family knights and 3 knight apprentices. Both the family knights and the knight apprentices have about 5 family members. In addition, there are 2 demon possessors in the Huck family who have established independent families.
In the remaining 2 knight territories, there are 2 feudal knights, 1 descendant of a junior knight, 2 knight apprentices and 6 other demon possessors.
Therefore, before Huck went on the expedition, the strength of the entire territory was probably 2 intermediate knights, Huck and Roll; 7 junior knights (two brothers Albert and Lant, 2 family knights, 3 fief knights), There are 6 knight apprentices (Lant himself, 3 knight apprentices from the family, and 2 knight fief apprentices), 8 non-professional demon possessors, and a total of 23 demon possessors.
When Huck set out not long ago, he took with him all the knights of his family, family knights, and 5 knight apprentices, including 2 people from the tetrarchy.
After the encounter with the barbarians in the north, there are now 1 intermediate knight, 2 junior knights, and 3 apprentices who have returned to the territory. It can be said that more than half of them have been lost. Now that a junior knight has returned, all of them are now in the territory. There are 1 intermediate knight, 6 junior knights, 3 knight apprentices (two did not come back, Lant was promoted) and 8 demonless ones, with a total of 18 combat effectiveness.
Soon Walker woke up, and the information he brought was even worse than everyone imagined.
Just after Huck took his two sons and separated from Walker, Lant and others, they successfully broke away from the barbarian cavalry. In the past 10 years, Huck has often traveled in the southern part of the Galloping Horse Plains for trade and reconnaissance, and is more familiar with the situation north of the Cornico Pass than the barbarians from the north.
After a whole night of twists and turns, Huck and a few people successfully got rid of the pursuing barbarians. After daybreak, they discovered an unprecedented barbarian camp about 30 kilometers northeast of the Cornico Pass.
The barbarians are tall and tall. According to Albert's description, the barbarians are the descendants of a special group of beasts and humans.
The proportion of demon possessors in the barbarian tribes reaches 20%-30%. Usually the demon possessors of the barbarians are tall and powerful, and their physical fitness is comparable to that of intermediate knights.
But ordinary barbarians cannot use fighting spirit or magic, and can only rely on their powerful bodies to fight.
There are a small number of priests among the barbarians. In a large tribe or a group composed of multiple tribes, the highest barbarian high priest is as powerful as the human high priest.
If it is the hinterland of the human race, the barbarians, a race that cannot use magic, do not have an advantage, but Lant is now south of the Galloping Horse Plains. In the Galloping Horse Plains, the magic elements are extremely chaotic in the air. The chaotic elements are called magic disorder. flow.
Magic scholars believe that the widespread magic turbulence on the Galloping Horse Plain makes it difficult for the low-level professions of the human race to be used here. In other words, with the same population base, less than 10% of the human population can compete with more than 20% of the barbarian population. Population strength comparison.
This very obvious disadvantage has created the current situation of barbarians running rampant on the Galloping Horse Plains.
However, the barbarians also have their own weaknesses: the social organization is low and they can only maintain a tribal society on the Galloping Horse Plains. A small tribe has about 50 members, of which 10 are demon holders and 40 are demon-free; The population of medium-sized tribes is twice that of small tribes, and that of large tribes is three times that of small tribes. The total population does not exceed 150 people. Large tribes with more than 150 people are usually alliances between tribes under very specific conditions.
Just yesterday, Huck discovered a super barbarian camp north of the Cornico Pass. According to their statistics on the horses in the camp, the current total population of this tribe exceeds 500 people, of which there are more than 100 demon worshipers. , however, while Huck and the others were observing, at least two more barbarian cavalry were gathering towards the camp.
In the more than 100 years since the Galloping Horse family moved to what is now the northwest earldom of Dragon, such situations have not happened many times, but each time they have caused huge disasters in the entire northwest earldom.
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Therefore, Huck immediately decided that Ryan, the eldest brother of Lant, would lead Walker to retreat to the Galloping Horse Baron territory, and notify Lant and other people in the territory to move immediately.
And Huck decided to take Obot, the second brother Lant, to the Maned Wolf City where the Northwest Count was located to report.
On the way back, Huck and his party met again with a small group of barbarian cavalry, and this cavalry was just spies. After discovering Huck, the spies did not come directly, but stayed within a few kilometers behind them, while constantly Call in reinforcements.
Seeing more and more enemies, Huck decided to disperse and break out. Whoever could successfully leave would return to Galloping Horse territory first and notify everyone to evacuate to the big forest.
In the end, after several struggles, only Walker successfully escaped after being captured and escaped from the tiger's mouth. While Walker was escaping, he saw that Huck, Ryan, and Obote were all captured.
Listening to Walker's description, everyone was very sad. There is no doubt that the Galloping Horse territory has been betrayed. The barbarians specially set up an ambush at the place where Huck and others must pass, and they deliberately wanted to capture every member.
Such betrayal undoubtedly showed that if they dared to borrow Daolot's territory, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Roel, go and call everyone in the territory, now!" This was the first thing Albert said after being silent.
"Huh? Oh. Okay" Luo Er came back to his senses and hurriedly called for someone.
Half an hour later, except for the two demon-free people led by the knights, everyone else, including the two knights led by the knights and the ordinary demon-holders, arrived at the gate of the castle.
The castle in the Galloping Horse Barony is a three-story stone building. The first floor is a 6-meter-high floor with a restaurant, reception room, prayer room, warehouse, etc. The second floor is divided into two parts, one part is also 6 meters high. Four children, including Lant and Ryan, live in this part of the 10-meter-high house.
The other part is divided into two 3-meter compartments in height, housing Huck's demon-free family, as well as rooms for higher-status servants such as valets and butlers. The top floor is Huck's own residence and magic. Storage room for materials, potions and books.
On both sides of the main building of the castle are two houses with the same height as the second floor of the castle. One two-story building (each floor is 6 meters high) is the dormitory of the family knights and knight apprentices in the territory.
Another 4-story building (each floor is 3 meters high) is the dormitory for other servants in the castle. Outside these three buildings, there is a 6-meter-high stone wall surrounded by four towers.
Outside the castle is the small town of Galloping Horse Territory, which has a blacksmith shop, a mill, a small grocery store, and the houses of several family knights and knight apprentices, as well as the families of two demon-free people in the territory.
If Lant stayed in the territory in the future, he might establish a family of his own in this town and call himself a knight of the family. Outside the main entrance of the castle, there is a 3-meter-high platform for Baron Harker to speak to the people in the territory.
"Dear knights and citizens, I am Albert Galloping Horse, a scholar in the barony and the younger brother of Baron Harker," Albert stood on the high platform and said loudly in front of everyone. .
"Just in the past few days, a huge crisis has occurred in our territory. Our Lord Baron and his eldest son and second son are unable to return to the territory due to various reasons. I have no time to explain the specific reasons. Now the barbarian cavalry is about to arrive. , we need to all move to the big forest immediately.
Since Lord Harker cannot come back, according to the nobility laws of the empire, the territory will be represented by Lant as baronet. "
Since Albert had already explained the current situation to several knights before the meeting, as long as the demon holders had no objections, other people would naturally have no objections either.
"Lant, can you say a few words?" Albert looked at Lant.
"Hello everyone," Lant stepped onto the high platform. Although in his previous life, Lant had spoken in front of hundreds of people more than once, and even issued orders, but when his decision could affect the safety of the people in front of him, Lant still Somewhat at a loss, "I... Like everyone else, I believe that Baron Huck Galloping Horse will be able to return to the territory soon, and he will be able to bring security, prosperity and hope as before.
But before that, we need to avoid the barbarian cavalry. Now that the barbarians were only a day's journey away, we had no choice but to head west into the great forest.
Now I order everyone to leave the territory before the sun sets today, take every grain of grain, every piece of meat, move every animal, and head to the big forest. Everyone must obey the order. Now everyone has to go back and prepare, we set off in the evening! "
As Lant issued the order, everyone immediately took action. Pack animals that resembled yaks but were as big as rhinoceroses were pulled out. The tall demon-slingers carried hundreds of kilograms of grain and goods onto these beasts of burden.
These beasts of burden all come from the Galloping Horse Plains. The special magical environment on that land makes the animals living there strong and of high quality. Whether they are horses, cattle, or sheep, they are stronger than other parts of the empire.
Therefore, in the past eight years, whether it is the Galloping Horse Territory or the Lot Territory, the biggest annual revenue has been trading with the barbarians on the plains, exchanging grain, cloth, and alchemy artifacts from the royal city for horses, cattle, and sheep on the plains. , Warcraft meat.
Through constant trade, the Lot territory now has dozens of beasts of burden and twenty galloping horses. The specialty of the plains: black lin horses. This kind of horse has a shoulder height of 2.0-2.3 meters, which is already a giant beast for ordinary people, but for demon worshipers with an average of more than 2 meters per person, such a horse is just right.
This kind of horse belongs to the lowest level of magical beasts. The horse's hooves contain wind magic, so it can maneuver at high speeds after being equipped with a demon holder. However, these horses cannot release wind spells, so for ordinary people, It's also relatively safe.
While Lant was helping the servants in the castle move bags of barley and wheat into the frame next to the carriage and pack animals, he looked at the wealth his father had accumulated over the years, and suddenly felt that he was just selling his father's land.
Before the sun set, the entire barony had packed their bags. Lant didn't want to wait any longer, and asked everyone to set off to the west immediately. A family knight apprentice would lead two demon holders to conduct reconnaissance. Albert and himself led a large group of people forward, with Rohr behind.
The sky at night is very bright, with three moons, big, middle and small, hanging high in the astrolabe. The big moon is called Sullun, who is considered the god of tides and time, and is also called the white moon;
The medium moon glows with golden light, its name is Luna, and it is considered to be one of the sources of magic;
The smallest moon looks like a jelly bean, and its name is Wei Li. It is often called the Jade Moon and is considered to be the source of the Magic Web.
These three moons are all important gods and are the objects of worship and prayer in church temples.
With the double lighting of three moons, the nights here are not very dark, and people here rarely suffer from night blindness. Of course, according to the minds of the barbarians, it is rare to come up with a night attack plan, but Lant, who had already experienced one a few days ago, did not dare to take any chances and forced the entire team to march towards the forest.
The team of more than 160 people and more than 60 animals advanced vigorously until late at night before entering the nearest camp in the forest and successfully met up with the team led by two knights.
Lant's own judgment is that overnight operations can buy him at least one day.
Even if it was temporarily safe, Rant did not dare to take it lightly. He asked Rohr to monitor the situation at the edge of the forest.
When it turned white, Lant woke up again and began to urge the people to eat and set off.
Today's breakfast is extra food made for dinner after setting up camp last night. Everyone had just had a few bites when Lant saw Rohr coming back.