Section 13 Private Warfare

  A triangular banner representing the nobility fluttered at the forefront of the procession, with a standing lion painted on it. The lion's right paw grasped a sharp sword, and its two hind legs stood on a pair of blue braids. Sir Wendel rode his warhorse with spirit, followed closely by his eldest son, Yifu, who was fully armed. His second son, Aruo, rode his own long-haired strange horse, curiously examining the family banner. A family banner usually represents a noble's interpretation and origin of their family. The Wendel family's banner was no exception. The monotonous color indicated its long history, while the lion represented that this was a brave and fierce warrior-producing family. The blue braids under the lion's feet symbolized the importance and loyalty to the family.

  The entire team marched in column, with mercenary Marcus responsible for organizing these inexperienced farmers, a task that nobles would not normally undertake. However, Arrod was not a man of this era, and he grew tired of following the taciturn father and the complacent Eve, so he slowed down the pace of his horse, which was actually not running fast to begin with, walking along with a gait like a dog.

  "Mr. Jodo, is your cough getting better?" Arwade saw Jodo, who was called a coward by the people, walking in the middle of the group with his head down. This man, who had already entered his sixties, had abandoned his daughter to join the group and head to an unknown battlefield. This was something that Arwade couldn't understand, but when he saw Leila's humble house, he seemed to think that maybe Jodo didn't want his daughter to continue living a poor life, so he wanted to go to the battlefield to try his luck.

  "It's much better." Jo looked at Arvid, who was riding a not very tall horse, with a puzzled expression. The people around him were in high spirits due to the prayer of Abbot Hannes of Hof, and they all cast curious glances at the lord's youngest son.

  "That's good, if you need anything, come find me." Arwade nodded to Qiaodu, in his opinion, taking care of an old man who still goes to the battlefield is a very ordinary thing. However, he forgot that in this era, there is an insurmountable gap between nobles and serfs. The people around heard Arwade's words and looked at him with suspicion, unconsciously keeping their distance from Old Qiaodu. Sometimes, special care from nobles is not a good thing.

  "Then thank you." Qiao smiled bitterly, looking at the Ah Ruo De in front of him who didn't know what to pay attention to. Just as Ah Ruo De was about to say something, a horseshoe sound suddenly came from the front, and the urgent horseshoe sound broke the tranquility of the people.

  "What's going on?" Yifu asked loudly, and the scout who came from the front forest was their dispatched scout. He was a free farmer with his own horse, which was used as an ox in peacetime, but could be used as a cavalry mount during battles.

  "It's not good, sir. There are nobles engaging in a private war up ahead. They're facing off across the Danube River. If we go there now, we'll be taken as enemies." The free farmer, who was riding his horse, wiped the sweat from his face and said to Sir Wendel and Yves.

  "Whose war is it, and with whom?" Sir Wendel was not surprised at the private wars of nobles. Throughout the European continent, feudal lords often launched private wars for their own interests. The frequency of these wars depended entirely on whether their masters could control the situation. It's just that today's private war happened to block his own marching route.

  "I don't know, I only know that one side has a blue and white checkered flag, and the other side has a red flag with a white wave in the middle." As a self-cultivating farmer, this farmer didn't recognize any noble crests; he was already doing well to describe the patterns on the flags clearly. Reading the continent's noble crests was the nobles' business.

  "It can't be the blue and white diamond pattern, that's not the flag of the Duke of Bavaria, if it were, it would definitely be much larger." Ivan exclaimed with wide eyes.

  "Not necessarily, this is the domain of Count von Rodhamn, Earl of Bayernhain, and his family crest also has blue and white fish scales, so people from his family often proudly call themselves Little Dukes of Bavaria." Experienced Sir Wendel shook his head.

  "We'll know once we take a look," Yifu suggested, and this suggestion was agreed upon by Sir Wendel. Arwade, who had never seen a noble fight before, followed closely behind, his palms sweating and throat dry, finally about to witness the legendary European medieval warfare.

  A few men ordered the troops to stop, and Sir Wendel and his sons followed the scouts to a private battlefield. As they passed through a small grove, they saw a large river in front of them, with a wooden bridge spanning it. On either side of the bridge were about 100 people facing each other, waving their lords' flags and brandishing weapons as they shouted insults at each other. However, apart from this, neither side made any overly aggressive moves. Two men who appeared to be noble lords stood on the bridge, seemingly arguing over something. Apart from them, many townspeople, merchants, and travelers were gathered around, watching the commotion.

  "What's happened?" Sir Wendel asked a man dressed as a merchant, who looked somewhat anxious and helpless, with several covered wagons behind him, presumably carrying goods.

  "What's the point, anyway? The Earl of Upper Bain and the Earl of Lower Bain are fighting over the tolls on the bridge." The merchant took off his soft hat and scratched his nearly bald head, looking like he had been waiting impatiently.

  "This bridge has belonged to the Rodham family since my grandfather's time, so I should be the one collecting tolls." Lord Aubern, dressed in a high-end purple velvet doublet and wearing an emerald pendant, pointed at his opponent with indignation.

  "What? This bridge has belonged to the House of Wittelsbach since my great-great-grandfather's time, and I even have formal written documents." On the other side, a noble count wearing an orange-red doublet, his chubby face flushed red, grasped a parchment in his puffy hands, shaking it in front of himself.

  "That's a forgery. I can buy a dozen of those from any Jew." Lord Baienberry shouted, jumping up in anger.

  "Alright, then let God be the judge." The stout Baron Downbauer had a bad temper and glared at his opponent loudly, saying so. When he finished, everyone around him burst out laughing.

  "What's wrong?" Arwade asked in puzzlement, how to let God judge, his heart was full of doubts.

  "They will send out their best warriors for a duel, and the winner will get everything that is right," said Yifu.

  "Duels? Isn't it a private fight?" Ah Ruo De said in confusion, could two people really solve a war? This made the young man from China who had crossed over from history where tens of thousands of people fought in wars stunned.

  "Dueling is also a way of private war, and it's the recommended way. If not necessary, no one would pay for heavy casualties. You have to know that too many dead serfs will bankrupt their lord. Remember this point." Sir Wendel explained patiently, taking the opportunity to teach Ivan the ways of being a lord.

  Arvid indeed saw that the peasant soldiers on both sides of the riverbank were mostly leaning on their pitchforks with an air of not being concerned, only a few swordsmen wearing leather armor with iron plates and knights in full armor were ready to go. After the two counts' negotiations broke down, they immediately returned to their own troops and said something to the knights in front of them. After a moment, two infantrymen walked out from both camps. They wore iron helmets, chain mail, and had large shields installed on their shoulders and arms. One held a single-handed sword and a pointed kite shield with his family crest painted on it, while the other held a two-handed greatsword.

  The two men walked to the middle of the bridge, greeted each other and exchanged names. They took up their positions and suddenly the sound of clashing metal echoed over the river. As an outsider, Arwade only saw the two knights alternately slashing horizontally and vertically, but he also vaguely felt that the contest between the two was not so simple, so he asked Yifu who was watching with great interest.

  "Alright, I'll explain it to you, rookie. First of all, the two knights' starting moves. The knight who serves Count Brien uses a low stance." Yves, of course, wouldn't miss this opportunity to show off and said, pointing at the dueling knights.

  "That's what we call a bluff." Sir Wendell explained.

  "What's going on?" Arwade was even more confused. Although his body was still Arwade, his soul had long been replaced by someone else, so he naturally didn't understand what was happening.

  "I've taught you this before, so be sure to study it carefully from now on. What's called a 'deceptive stance' is when the sword tip points towards the ground and the long blade faces downwards. Although it makes your opponent think they have an easy opening for attack, in reality it's a trap. If your opponent attacks, you can quickly raise the sword tip to make a swift thrust." Sir Wendel explained patiently, fortunately little Arwold wasn't very interested in martial arts back then, and now his performance isn't very impressive either.

  "Yes, but the opponent is also a seasoned veteran. He didn't attack, instead he held up his shield to protect himself. His sword position was in what's called 'plow stance', with the hilt at waist level and the tip pointing towards the opponent."

  "You see, it's just like the position of a farmer plowing his field with a wooden plow, so we call this the 'plow position', it's a very balanced starting posture." Sir Wendel explained carefully.

  "That's right."

  "It turns out to be like this." Ah Ruo De had seen foreigners' sword fights in movies and TV shows before, and it seemed that they were all relying on brute force, seeing who had the most strength to win. But now it seems that's not the case, a single starting move has so many subtleties. After his father and brother explained it to him, he carefully watched the knights' battles and saw many intricacies. He saw that the angles of both sides' thrusts and blocks were very deliberate, and if one was slightly careless, they could fall into the enemy's counterattack and traps.