Chapter 97: Troops Dispatched
Outskirts of Hekou Town.

The three-meter-high wooden fence surrounding the town has been removed.

Now it has been replaced by a five-meter-high wall made of bricks and stones.

In the open space outside the wall, a large group of soldiers were gathering.

With the formation of a grand alliance of pioneering knights supporting the nobles of the principality, more and more troops came from the pioneering territories and gathered in Hekou Town.

In order to ensure the safety of the territory, most knights only sent out half of their troops and showed some reservations.

But after hundreds of pioneer knights' private soldiers gathered, the number of troops outside Hekou Town still exceeded 8,000.

Under the eye-catching signs of coat of arms, a large group of soldiers gathered together.

There was a constant clamor and bustle, it was very lively.

However, when these foreign soldiers entered Hekou Town, they all shook their bodies and slowed down their casual pace.

The reason was simple. Inside the gate, there was an army of 400 people staring at them.

All members were dressed in heavy black armor, holding steel shields and spears, arranged in an orderly manner, and moving in a neat and solemn manner.

As these heavily armored soldiers patrolled the streets, they marched in unison, as if the entire team was one.

The powerful sense of oppression that came over them frightened the foreign soldiers entering the town.

Being stared at by this group of heavily armored soldiers, the foreign soldiers felt as if there were steel knives on their necks and their bodies felt cold.

They were afraid of provoking the guards, so they turned around and left, not wanting to stay in the town any longer.

"Excellent equipment. The help from the Northern Frost Principality is really generous. Are these all obtained from Mole Town?"

Looking at this scene, Knight Kelvin praised with a wry smile.

As the private armies of various families gathered together, he originally planned to let his soldiers show off.

As a result, the outstanding performance of this group of heavy armored infantry actually suppressed the elite troops he brought, which made Kelvin depressed.

"Indeed." Rhodes smiled and nodded, ignoring the sourness in his words.

Rhode looked eagerly at the other pioneer knights around him. "As you can see, the quality of Mole Town's weapons is absolutely reliable. If you need anything, please feel free to contact me."

The business of Hekou Town is about to develop rapidly, and the goods to be sold in his territory must also be prepared.

The Ironware in Moletown is a good choice.

Rhodes glanced at the army outside. Knights of the Round Table like Kelvin and other big families might not care.

Their soldiers were equally well equipped.

Especially Kelvin, as the chief knight, the number of plate cavalry in the knighthood exceeds one hundred.

The infantry also wears a set of chain mail and iron armor plates.

But those pioneering knights of ordinary origin were not so good, as the equipment of their soldiers was not uniform.

Not to mention iron armor, some were even cloth armor with wooden spears or even pitchforks, which was quite crude.

"We can talk about this later. How about we decide on the march first?"

A Knight of the Round Table smiled and tried to smooth things over, gaining everyone's agreement.

The gap between the soldiers was too obvious. Most of the pioneering knights, seeing their own people's shameful appearance, wanted to cover their faces and leave, not wanting to stay here for long.

The group turned around and left the periphery, returning to the castle to discuss matters.

On the way back, they were obviously more respectful to Rhodes.

No one is a fool. Perhaps the equipment was provided by Mole Town, but the well-trained pace of those soldiers will not deceive anyone.

Heavy armor, shield and spear, a full set of equipment weighs at least 60 kilograms, but it does not affect the speed of patrol.

Such a solemn army is definitely an elite force anywhere! This Rhodes Knight is really a hidden talent!

Rhode could sense their surprise, but to be honest, he was also quite surprised. The overall strength of the Pioneer Knights was much weaker than he had imagined.

Even if the number of soldiers present was doubled, he would still be the strongest one besides Kelvin.

But he soon understood that, after all, he had the advantage of occupying the principality's territory.

If he only had the Pingdingshan area, he could only afford to support three or four hundred soldiers at most, which was not much better than others.

As the troops gathered, the 8,000-man army officially set out.

This time, in order to help quell the rebellion, Rhodes mobilized a total of 400 soldiers from the territory.

Including two hundred heavily armored shield-spear soldiers, one hundred crossbowmen, fifty longbowmen, and fifty cavalrymen.

Hekou Town is more than two hundred miles away from Dune Castle.

According to the marching plan, the army will first spend three days transporting baggage and walking a hundred miles to set up a camp.

Then the cavalry from each camp quickly advanced to explore the situation of the sand dune castle ahead.

This is a tactic that was discussed by a group of people. Although there are still many problems, it has improved a lot compared to the beginning.

Rhodes had to admit that war was indeed the best way to train people.

If it were at the beginning, the knights would not have to discuss tactics. They could have just gathered the cavalry and charged forward.

Logistics? What is that?
Leave the river town.

Rhodes rode on a snowy horse and led his soldiers.

There is no problem with crossbowmen and longbowmen, but it is impossible to allow heavily armored spearmen to march in armor.

For this purpose, Rhodes transferred a hundred mane horses from his territory.

Each shield and spear soldier was assigned one horse, and the mane horse was responsible for carrying the equipment.

"Repair the road! Don't just keep moving forward, remember to smooth the road, as there are a lot of carriages and supplies coming up behind us!"

As Rhodes walked forward, he did not forget to shout to the large number of serfs behind him.

These serfs were not soldiers, but transport troops gathered from the construction teams of various pioneering knights, responsible for managing logistics.

The most important thing is that they are needed to clean the road surface and make the bumpy roads smooth.

They had accumulated rich experience in building castles for the pioneering knights, so clearing the roads was naturally no problem for them.

Rhodes looked at this transportation line with satisfaction. The future business of Hekou Town will depend on it.

If he were to repair it himself, hundreds of kilometers of roads would instantly bring down the territory's economy.

But things are different now. Free labor to build roads is here.

With spiritual motivation, even the army of nobles in front, which had already been in chaos, became pleasing to the eye.

"Look at your own flag carefully, don't crowd over to me, go back to your own team!"

Seeing dozens of serf soldiers rushing into his team in a panic and disrupting his marching rhythm, Rhodes looked helpless.

Okay, still unacceptable.

The mixed army of hundreds of noble private soldiers, with several hundred people in each family and dozens in the least, although the total number exceeds eight thousand, the momentum is intimidating.

But the mere march brought them to the brink of collapse.

When walking, it was like a skeleton without flesh and blood, swaying as if it would break at the slightest touch.

No one can tell how much combat power it can exert in actual combat.

It was impossible not to worry, but Rod soon realized that he might be thinking too much.

Although our group is weak, the enemy doesn't seem to be much better.

(End of this chapter)