It seems that the villain is targeting me.

——Perhaps he may be slightly inferior to the Duke of Tudor, but Charles believes that as long as he leads his troops to fight more battles and accumulates more experience, he will catch up with the other party sooner or later.

Lawrence Hamilton is one of the undisputed great generals of this era. As his descendant, Charles certainly doesn't think he is any worse than the others.

In terms of martial arts alone, he has almost no rivals among his peers, and many square-flag knights have been defeated by him.

As for tactical level, Prince Charles, who has read too many heroic stories, also feels that he is above the standard.

Although in the imperial army, most officers and generals believed that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was only here to gild his reputation on the battlefield and actually did not have much ability - except for a few generals who wanted to curry favor with the royal family, basically no one paid much attention to him.

But people who have no ability will never admit that they have no ability, just as cowards are most eager to prove their bravery, and liars are most keen to maintain their honesty.

Charles did not think that he was incapable of fighting, nor did he have the patience to learn from scratch like an ordinary general (a process that usually takes more than ten years, unless he is a genius).

He is always looking for opportunities to prove himself and is eager to make achievements.

At this moment, Prince Charles felt that he had found a great opportunity: he discovered the tent where the enemy commander was!

The eldest prince believed that as long as he could seize the right opportunity to capture King Jialan alive, he could regain his father's favor and make everyone convinced of him!

He was tormented by this thought and couldn't sleep, tossing and turning at night, but General Banur ordered the army to prepare for martial law instead of launching an attack, and the army did not make any moves for several days.

Prince Charles had no choice but to continue observing anxiously.

He found that the Jialan soldiers were moving less and less outside, as if they were hiding in fear.

If he hadn't seen the black-armored soldiers appearing on the hillside from time to time, he would have suspected that the Jialan people had already withdrawn.

After waiting for nearly a week, Charles finally lost his patience.

He took the initiative to find the general and asked why he had not launched an attack yet.

General Banur patiently explained to him, "They are on a high ground. If we attack them proactively, and our soldiers are almost exhausted halfway up the mountain, the Jialan cavalry will be able to take advantage of the terrain and charge into the infantry formation. Then we won't be able to fight back."

"There's no need to rush into an attack," General Banur said confidently. "The Jialan people frequently invade the border to plunder food. Their food reserves are already insufficient, so they'll inevitably lose patience sooner rather than later. All we need to do now is wait."

Charles was very dissatisfied.

During his reconnaissance in the past few days, he saw several thin Jialan soldiers. They stood crookedly while on guard duty and really looked like they were not getting enough to eat.

——The general knew that the enemy was of this character, but he was still so cautious. Isn’t he too cowardly?

Prince Charles asked anxiously and dissatisfiedly: "When will the general launch the attack?"

General Banur heard the subtle provocation in Charles' tone and calmly asked back, "What does His Royal Highness Charles have to say?"

"It's simple. To catch a thief, we must first catch the leader!" Charles slammed his hand on the marching table. "I have already found the main tent of the Jialan people. There is no need to charge with a large number of soldiers. Just a small group of elite knights can sneak attack and capture the Jialan leader at night, and kill them by surprise!"

General Banur frowned and shook his head in disapproval. "The sneak attack tactics you mentioned are the most common tricks used by these Northerners. Even your father has suffered a lot from this."

"King Jialan is very cunning. He is an expert at sneak attacks, so be careful of others using the same tactics against him—you won't get any benefits."

Charles made repeated suggestions, but Banur showed no sign of giving in.

In the end, Charles had to part ways with the general on bad terms and returned to his tent feeling depressed.

Prince Charles looked at the lush weeds outside the camp, his excitement almost impossible to calm down.

There was no way he could remain calm. Charles was not here for a picnic, nor was he here to serve as a foil to the Duke of Tudor's glorious military achievements.

The words of the man named Umuda woke him up. Charles realized that his position in his father's mind was already shaky, and the deadly knife was unknowingly against his throat.

Prince Charles's love-stricken brain finally started working - he suddenly realized that if he didn't react, he would really be nothing.

He had to accomplish extraordinary feats, to make his father open his eyes and see that he was the son who was most like him, and to make everyone - especially those who secretly looked down on him - realize that he, Charles, was the only and legitimate heir to the empire.

Charles lay on a simple patchwork bed.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became, and I couldn't sit still or sleep.

He couldn't sleep anymore, so he stood up and walked around the tent.

"No, I can't just wait like this," Charles muttered to himself in the empty tent, as if trying to convince himself, "The general is old now. He doesn't have the courage he had in the past to face King Jialan head-on again."

The emperor's instructions flashed through Charles's mind for a moment.

All actions must obey the command of the general, Lawrence I looked at him seriously, obey the command, remember?

"Follow orders? Follow orders?!"

Charles suddenly became furious.

"Be obedient! Be obedient! You only tell me to be obedient!"

He cursed furiously and without restraint, "If you were an obedient person, why did you rebel in the first place? You should have just stayed in the territory and starved to death!"

"Old thing! I need you to teach me how to be obedient!"

"An obedient person is only fit to be a slave! Not fit to be an emperor!!!"

Chapter 36: Moonlight Shines on the Knights

Tonight is a full-moon night. The pale moon hangs in the dark sky, with a pale yellow halo on the edge. It is exceptionally large and round, almost as if it is about to fall heavily to the ground.

The scene was extremely strange, as if foreshadowing something ominous.

Charles Hamilton emerged from his tent, his face pale in the cold moonlight.

Charles remained calm on the surface, but his heart was pounding like a dense drumbeat, causing his entire chest to vibrate.

His eyes swept over the knights who had quietly assembled in front of him.

Charles selected some of his own generals - all of them were young knights with quick minds and agile bodies. They were the fresh blood of the Royal Griffin Knights and were all top-notch fighters.

Most of these people came from lower-class noble families. Their relatively wealthy family background allowed them to concentrate on learning martial arts from a young age. When they grew up, they followed their loyal lords to fight as attendants. After reaching their twenty-first name day, they would be officially knighted.

These knights are still very young, their chests filled with ambition to achieve great things. They have not been exposed to the material desires of the upper class. Long-term hard training has made these young people's martial arts become superb and their minds more pure.

They all received extremely strict moral education and were indoctrinated from birth to obey the lord they were loyal to.

From the time Charles turned fourteen, countless knights declared their allegiance to him.

Prince Charles asked the knights to take off their helmets, and his eyes swept over these young faces one by one - he knew most of them and could call out the name of every knight who had been knighted.

This was also the emperor's original intention in arranging this team for the eldest prince. If everything goes well, the best ones among them will be the next imperial guards, and the rest will become the emperor's direct knight corps.

Faces with more or less scars looked at Charles with a kind of simple trust.

This trust made Charles' heart beat faster, and a strong premonition made him briefly have some intention of backing off.

The eldest prince's palm trembled slightly, and his right eyelid twitched faintly.

But Charles could no longer stop. The moment he ordered his servants to secretly gather these knights, the rolling stone on the top of the mountain was pushed down.

The falling stone cannot be stopped. He has no choice but to go all the way.

The eldest prince lowered his voice and encouraged everyone in a simple and plain way: he would give fifty gold coins to every knight who was willing to follow him.

The annual income of a farm run by an earl was only a few hundred gold coins. For these knights who had not yet made a name for themselves, this was a very substantial reward - to be honest, even if Charles emptied his entire private treasury, it probably would not be enough.

The breathing of some knights became noticeably heavier.

"If anyone can capture King Jialan alive," Charles continued to raise the stakes, "then I will grant him the title of earl and the corresponding fiefdom."

If the gold coins before only made people jealous and excited, then this reward related to the title was enough to drive a calm and elderly square-flag knight completely crazy.

To make an analogy, it is like evolving from a struggling office worker earning 6,000 yuan a month to a landlord who owns a building in Shanghai - this thing can completely change your living conditions and can benefit several generations.

All the knights raised their weapons enthusiastically. They silently swore allegiance to Charles with the most solemn and ancient etiquette, and there was a wolf-like eagerness in everyone's eyes.

They can't wait.

Charles looked at these fanatical knights expressionlessly, and silently counted their number in his mind. He came up with a considerable number through mental calculation.

Fortunately, Charles didn't actually need to pay fifty gold coins to everyone here.

The knights have been making intensive preparations. This is a secret surprise attack, and those who participate can be said to be Prince Charles' confidants.

They did not ride horses, and in order to ensure mobility, each person only wore the minimum level of armor - these young men were very skilled in martial arts.

Superb, without the burden of weight, they could easily outmaneuver clumsy heavily armored knights.

The moonlight was getting dimmer. It was already the second half of the night. Charles and his men quietly walked out of the camp. They wanted to take advantage of the night and sneak into the main tent of the Galan people.

These knights had all participated in night patrols and were very familiar with the distribution of the sentry posts.

In order to keep it secret, these people chose to act separately, avoiding most surveillance, but when they gathered outside the camp, they were still discovered by a sharp-eyed sentry.

"who!"

The sentry thought it was an enemy attack and instinctively shouted loudly, preparing to alert his colleagues around him.

But an agile young knight rushed forward in time and covered the sentry's mouth tightly.

The sentry did not recognize them at first and fell into the hands of the enemy, flailing his arms and legs and struggling desperately.

But before long, the sentry recognized several familiar faces in the crowd in the hazy and eerie moonlight.

The sentry stopped struggling in surprise. Prince Charles walked up to him and threatened in a low voice: "If you dare to make a sound, I will kill you."

The sentry glanced at the ferocious knights surrounding the eldest prince.

He got scared and shut his mouth.

The young knight who had pinned the sentry down found a hemp rope from somewhere and skillfully tied the sentry to the fence.

The sentry greeted his mother silently with his eyes.

Charles looked at the disarmed sentry with a dark gaze, and his hand unconsciously touched the sword at his waist.

The sentry noticed his movements, and all the curse words he had known in his decades of life flashed through his mind.

The young knight quickly stood up, reached out to press the hilt of the eldest prince's sword, and used his body to block the sentry behind him.

The young knight whispered, "Your Highness, delay will lead to unexpected events. Let's set off immediately."

Charles glanced at the sentry sitting on the ground with his mouth tightly shut, said "Shut his mouth", and set off again with the knights around him.

The young knight breathed a sigh of relief.

He pulled out a piece of tattered cloth from the gap in the fence, stuffed it into the sentry's mouth, and hurried to catch up with the others.

The group took advantage of the night and moved up the hillside.

Under the dim moonlight, the knights' figures seemed unclear, and only a group of moving black shadows could be vaguely seen.

About ten minutes passed.

The sentry cut the hemp rope with a knife hidden in his sleeve.

He pulled the cloth out of his mouth and, ignoring his legs which were numb from squatting, stumbled towards General Banur's tent.

The guard at the entrance of the tent saw him running towards him and instinctively raised his hand to stop him.

But the sentry rushed directly at the two guards viciously, hanging his whole body on them, and desperately stretched his neck into the tent like a groundhog.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, "General! The eldest prince is leading his men up the hillside!!!!"

Chapter 37: The Eternal Spread of Classics

The messenger who was urgently called up counted the number of people in each legion in the camp as quickly as possible, and then came to an obvious conclusion:

"Yes, that's right. The ancestor took a group of elite troops up the mountain."

When the news came, it was like a bomb thrown into a cesspool.

Most of the soldiers under the captain of the Royal Griffin Knights were kidnapped, and he was almost left with only his own troops.

And it was very unfortunate that as the leader of the Knights Templar, he had to bear huge joint liability for the trouble caused by the Crown Prince this time and he could not escape at all.

The leader of the Knights was so angry that his high blood pressure was about to flare up. He roared angrily at his few remaining subordinates: "Assholes! Why didn't you stop him?!"

Several older members of the Knights exchanged bewilderment. "He, uh, the Crown Prince said that the Knights are supposed to obey his orders, and if we dare to stop him, he'll arrest us all. This..."

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