In the Middle Ages, people drew cards to be promoted to nobility.

The current New Habsburg looks like a large construction site.

Within the city wall, wooden scaffolding, iron buckets filled with lime, and simply cut bricks were all scattered around the half-built inner fort.

Stables, stables, bakeries, kitchens, tool shops, and a large number of simple houses for the builders of the city were built on the outer walls of the new Habsburg.

Hebron's 400 peasant soldiers and 150 elite standing troops were gathering around the campfire, eating and resting, and the place was completely packed.

In the future, Lothar's plan for New Habsburg is to build it into a large city, but this does not prevent it from being able to barely maintain its role as a military station.

By late night.

Hussars, remaining veterans and Varangian Guards.

They got up from the hot bed quickly and helped each other put on their armor, robes, wrist guards, shin guards, cloaks and other equipment.

The neighing of the pack animals woke up the peasants and soldiers who were sleeping in a daze.

But they were immediately urged by their respective knights to close their eyes and sleep.

Their energy was limited, and their losses during the day's march had to be replenished by sleep at night. It was impossible for them to conduct a midnight raid like Hebron's elite standing army.

The temperature is so low tonight that you can even clearly see the white mist spraying from the mouths and noses of humans and animals in the air.

Lothar wore a black cloak with a dragon head printed on it, and a plush collar covering her ears.

He was currently sitting on a thick root protruding from the ground on the Tree of Life, reaching out and stroking it.

Under the rough touch, there is a sense of intimacy that seems to have been absent for a long time.

This is the Tree of Life conveying its emotions to Lothar.

Because it is nourished by the flesh and blood of the Earthly Dragon, it grows extremely fast and will reach adulthood in about a month.

It would then serve as a military camp for training woodland shooters.

The lack of ranged power has always been a problem in the puzzle of Lothar's armies.

Among the Crusaders in Jerusalem, crossbowmen, or crossbowmen, accounted for a much higher proportion of long-range strength.

In comparison, highly skilled archers are much rarer.

He also experienced it in the mock battle of Charles VII.

The crossbowmen hired from Genoa were no match for the British longbowmen. Both their range and rate of fire were severely suppressed by their opponents.

As long as the woodland archers trained by the Tree of Life can reach the level of British longbowmen, they will be enough to become a very important part of his army.

Sir, everything is packed. It's time for us to set off.

Jeanne suddenly spoke.

Lothar glanced at the sky, nodded, and got on his mount: Model, you stay here, and we will immediately assemble the army and head to Alandre early tomorrow morning.

Model asked doubtfully: Those siege engines and baggage?

Of course we won't carry them with us. We have taken away all the pack animals, so there is no energy left to carry them. You can just set off on time and lead the troops into the city to clean up the mess.

One fresh trick, eaten all over the world.

No matter how many times the night attack is used, it is still the best choice to defeat the strong with the weak.

He brought almost all the pack animals with him on this trip, including the captured dromedary camels left behind by the bandits.

The purpose is to temporarily convert the remaining veterans into mounted infantry to increase their mobility.

The boring time on the road is boring.

Along the way, no enemies such as sentries were encountered.

In the empty desert, there seemed to be no life except for the scorpions crawling in and out of the skulls buried in the wind and sand.

It took about two hours, maybe more, because they had to take care of the slower remaining veterans.

In front of us, the outline of a fortress-like building finally appeared.

Beside the road, fields and orchards began to appear.

In the courtyard, the dogs barked sharply, attracting pairs of eyes to peek out from the gaps in the windows.

The scout returned and reported: Sir, that is a monastery built outside the city. By bypassing it, we are only ten miles away from Alandre.

monastery…

Lothar squinted his eyes slightly, and could vaguely see the top of the monastery, where there were statues of gargoyles, or gargoyles, and a fire worship altar surrounded by them, which looked a bit nondescript.

Just as after the Christians captured Jerusalem, they did not demolish the Zoroastrian minarets, but turned them into Christian bell towers.

The Saracens also did not demolish this strong monastery, but erected a sacred fire altar on the top.

Don't worry about it, as long as you attack Alandre, this monastery will be broken sooner or later.

Lothar continued to order the march.

…

Alandreau is not a large, solid city. Its status is the same as Montreal and Kaleborg. It is a transit hub city, so it has fewer villages and residents.

It is more like a town attached to the existence of Ella Port.

The cavalry gradually moved closer to the city gate.

Fringilla quietly turned into a bat and flew over the city wall.

After a while, there were bursts of creaking sounds.

The heavy iron-clad city gate slowly rose as the soldiers who were confused one by one struggled to push the winch.

Immediately afterwards, Hans and Jeanne each led an army to rush towards the inner castle of Alandreau in an infantry battle.

The mounted cavalry spear in Hans's hand and Jeanne's talent can greatly increase the knight's combat effectiveness, which is very important in siege warfare and street fighting.

At this time.

The sleepy-eyed defenders noticed something was wrong here, and began to shout, summoning their companions, and surrounded the city gate.

Among them, there were many soldiers wearing armor.

But before they could prepare, Hans rushed to the front, leading a dozen Varangian guards armed with two-handed axes, cutting down the oncoming enemies to the ground like wheat.

Before coming, they had been specially trained to speak and shouted in pagan language: Put down your weapons and stop resisting, or you will be killed without mercy.

The total number of Alandre's defenders was only about 500, and there were only more than 100 people distributed on this city wall.

Faced with such a fierce offensive, they immediately began to retreat.

The teachings of Zoroastrianism prohibit the ringing of bells. For a time, the news of the enemy's surprise attack did not have time to spread throughout the city.

Lothar was sitting at the rear and had no intention of going forward to fight. With Jeanne and Hans leading the troops respectively, he did not need to get involved in the battlefield command.

After a while.

A Zoroastrian monk, guarded by two hussars, was brought before Lothar.

He revealed his standard hairstyle with a bald patch in the middle of his head and shouted in Germanic: Father in heaven, someone finally came to rescue us!

Are you Count Lothar?

Lothar looked at him doubtfully.

Who are you?

Sir, I am Mewar, the Bishop of Alandre. The reason why I dress like this is just to pretend to convert, in order to confuse those pagan demons.

The Zoroastrian monk looked sad and kept crossing himself on his chest: For the sake of saving the Alandre Monastery, please don't tell this matter.

Lothar nodded politely and said: Of course, no problem. The distinguished Bishop of Mewar, when Alandre fell, he remained anonymous and hid in the city. When we counterattacked Alandre, he stood bravely. Come out to help, until you are killed by the enemy's brutal attack - what do you think of this outcome?

This...isn't this right?

Mewar's eyes widened.

He swallowed subconsciously and said very quickly: Your Majesty the Earl, I know this city better than you. My living will be more beneficial to your control of the Alandre diocese.

Maybe you're right, but I don't need it.

Lothar waved his hand.

The next moment, the hussar standing behind Mewar raised his weapon and wiped it from his throat.