It seems that the villain is targeting me.

Son,

Knight Commander: (Insults fiercely) (Insults fiercely) (Wuwuwu, my soldiers, my soldiers) (Continues to insult)

General Banur listened to the report from his soldiers with a grim face, and all sleepiness had disappeared.

He knew he couldn't delay any longer. With a wave of his cloak, he immediately issued an order: "Have all the knights put on their armor! Gather the soldiers as quickly as possible and rush up the mountain to rescue them immediately!"

The noise in the camp also woke up Xiao Niao who was sleeping in the tent.

Hongyue was more alert than her. She jumped up before Xiaoniao woke up, grabbed her weapon and walked to her side.

Xiao Niao tried his best to dispel the sleepiness in his mind and patted Hongyue on the shoulder: "Go put on your armor, I hear the bugle call."

The Red Moon Knight obediently reached out for the armor hanging on the rack, picked it up and put it on, then squatted down a little and let Xiao Niao help her tie the two leather buckles on her back - she did it very skillfully, and it was obviously not the first time she did this.

Xiao Niao was anxious to know what was happening outside. While tightening his leather buckle, he whispered to the Red Moon Knight, "I'll go out and take a look first, you follow me later." Then he went out of the tent first.

There was a lot of noise outside the military tent, and soldiers were running everywhere.

Xiao Niao caught a passing messenger and asked about the situation - then he was

The operation is so amazing that it makes my scalp tingle.

She let go of the messenger and subconsciously questioned the system in her mind: "Tongzi? What's going on? Why didn't you warn me that Charles secretly took the troops out?!"

Something must be disrupting my perception module. Little Bird heard a hint of gnashing teeth in the system's voice. "Bird, do you remember what I told you? This is a distorted world line that needs to be corrected."

If the war fails, King Jialan will most likely march southwards, capturing cities and plundering ponds, dragging the entire empire into the flames of war. This would necessitate large-scale population extermination.

[And if Charles died on the battlefield due to rash actions, then he would meet the conditions for the death of the Son of Fortune—both conditions are met.]

[This is probably the twisted plot point!!!]

.

------

.

On the other side, Prince Charles had led his knights into the Galan people's position.

He encountered almost no obstacles along the way, and the sentries he encountered were all drunkards, neither strong nor brave. They were killed by his experienced knights in the first encounter.

The rumored Jialan people who are so notorious and powerful on the grassland actually have only this much ability?

Look at how they can't even hold their weapons steadily, as if they haven't eaten enough. Enemies of this level cannot pose any threat at all even if their number is four or five times that of the Knights!

The body of the sentry lying on the ground made Charles even more determined: These Jialan people are nothing special. Look, I captured their king alive! Defeat this army from within!

They gradually found their way to the main tent of the central army, and Charles recognized the tent by memory.

During the reconnaissance in the past few days, Prince Charles almost saw the tent with his eyes. He could find it even with his eyes closed. He would never make a mistake!

Then he looked at the two guards guarding the tent—ha! They were actually sleeping!

That's right. It's already the late night, which is the time of the day when people feel the most sleepy. Plus, it's cold and windy at night. Isn't it normal to take a break while working the night shift?

It's a pity that this will be a good thing for me, Charles.

The eldest prince waved his hand gently, and the two knights beside him understood what he meant. They immediately crouched down and walked over quietly.

The knight on the left moved faster. He covered the mouth of one of the guards and quickly and silently cut his throat with a dagger, then gently laid the man's limp body on the ground.

The knight on the right also covered the guard's mouth, ready to do the same, but Prince Charles suddenly had an idea and took two steps forward, extending his hand towards the knight.

The knight handed him the dagger. Charles held the slightly warm wooden handle. The cold light from the blade pierced his eyes, making him feel novel and excited.

The soldier, who was pinned down by the knight and had his mouth covered, unable to move at all, tried desperately to struggle, his green eyes revealing the fear and helplessness of a dying animal.

Charles gripped the sharp dagger tightly and thrust it into the soldier's throat.

Those green eyes suddenly widened.

After a very low and extremely painful hoarse wail, the soldier's body gradually softened and he collapsed to the ground powerlessly.

The warm blood flowed along the spine of the knife into the eldest prince's hand, making him extremely excited.

So this is what it feels like to kill someone, Charles thought.

In the books he had read countless times and in the mouths of the generals who had fought on the battlefield, they all said this: There is a world of difference between a knight who has killed people and a knight who has not.

The swordsmanship teacher who taught the eldest prince also said: No matter how superb your martial arts skills are, if you have never seen blood, you are not a true warrior.

I've seen blood now, Charles thought. There's nothing to be afraid of. What the officers said is really exaggerating.

The fresh blood gave the eldest prince a boost of courage. He calmed himself down and returned the dagger in his hand to the knight.

He waved behind him and quietly walked into the central military tent with several of his best soldiers.

Prince Charles quietly lifted the curtain at the door and moved very cautiously, being careful not to bump into anything or make any noise.

The eldest prince's skills are indeed good. Even if the best knights of his generation are included, his swordsmanship and martial arts can still be ranked among the best.

He walked into the tent silently like a ghost.

With the dim moonlight that seeped into the tent, Prince Charles saw the figure lying on the bed.

The other person covered his head with a thick blanket and slept soundly.

Charles was so excited that his heart was about to jump out of his throat.

He gripped the sword tightly in his hand and decided to give the opponent a hard blow first.

It would be best if he could cut off the collarbone and make King Jialan completely lose the ability to resist - Charles had practiced this move in his mind for a long time. His blood-stained hands were almost unbelievably steady, and he was sure to cut off the opponent's bones accurately and fiercely.

This guy will definitely be in so much pain that he won't be able to speak, Charles thought. When the time comes, I will tie up King Jialan and retreat immediately. By the time others react, I will have returned to the camp.

Charles completed the above psychological preparation in just a moment.

He raised his sword, aimed at the shoulder of the person sleeping on the bed, and chopped it down hard.

This time, Charles used all his strength. If he hit hard, even if King Jialan was made of iron, there would be a crack in his body.

But when he chopped down with his sword, it was as if he had really hit a hard iron man, and his wrist was numb from the reaction force transmitted back to him.

Prince Charles gripped the hilt of his sword, dumbfounded: Could it be that this King Jialan sleeps in armor?

A young knight following closely behind him immediately noticed something was wrong.

For a moment, the knight no longer cared about his identity and rank. He simply reached out and pushed Charles, who was still stunned, away, hurried forward, and pulled the blanket open.

Charles took a closer look: there was no one under the blanket, only a few stones piled up in the shape of a human!

The young knight immediately realized that they had fallen into a trap set by the Galan people - those disorganized sentinels and those guards who collapsed at the slightest touch, it was a complete trap from the very beginning.

But the money and honor clouded the knights' minds, causing them to jump in without hesitation under the commander's order.

The young knight shouted.

Throughout history, countless people have shouted this sentence in various situations, and I believe that in the future, countless people will shout the same sentence.

The young knight turned around and shouted in panic:

"Damn it! I fell into a trap!"

Chapter 38 How Overestimating Your Abilities Are

All of this is like a terrible nightmare.

Charles couldn't believe that everything he saw was real.

After shouting, the young knight immediately dragged Prince Charles out of the tent, but when they ran outside the tent, they found that it was too late.

A dense rain of arrows arrived first. The knights at the outermost layer of the tent had no time to react. They were pierced all over their bodies by arrows and fell to the ground screaming.

Immediately afterwards, countless strong and sturdy Jialan people holding scimitars surrounded them, forming a tight circle with three layers inside and three layers outside.

There was a murderous gleam in every pair of blue eyes, as if they would devour alive these knights who were alone in the enemy camp in the next second.

Prince Charles was surrounded by knights and guarded on the innermost side.

He was panicked, and those eyes were staring at him without any concealment - to be precise, on his head - as if they were estimating how much reward they could get for his head.

The eldest prince recalled the rumors about the barbaric nomadic peoples:

The Jialan people would chop off the heads of the defeated, string them together with ropes and tie them behind their horses, waiting to ask their leaders for rewards after the battle, or simply use them as decorations to show their bravery.

I heard that the Jialan people would kidnap the imperial residents living on the border, and then break their legs, forcing them to walk slowly with dragging feet, unable to run or leave, and finally had to stay and become the lowest-level horse slaves.

It is said that these barbarians like to chase down captives of noble status the most. They will loosen the shackles, let the captives run away for a while, and then drive their horses to catch up, laughing and chopping off the captives' heads with scimitars.

When his noble head is put together with the heads of ordinary slaves, probably no difference will be seen, right?

The eldest prince's background and good education gave him a rich imagination.

He hated his own rich imagination at this moment.

When a large number of Jialan soldiers surrounded him, Charles was completely at a loss. He was stuck in the middle by the knight's carapace, like a piece of wood drifting in the river, so stupid that he couldn't say a word.

Without clear instructions from the commander, the surrounding knights became somewhat panicked.

But they were the most elite main force of the imperial army after all, and did not immediately lose their ability to resist. Instead, they drew their weapons and prepared to fight the fierce battle at hand.

The young knight who first discovered the trap shouted, "Form a defensive formation! Protect His Highness!"

The secret order given by Lawrence I before the expedition took effect, and everyone remembered the mission entrusted to them by the emperor.

A tragic emotion resonated in the hearts of these knights. They shouted loudly and repeated the young knight's orders, spontaneously gathering around their companions.

"Hold on! Everyone, hold on!" The young knight desperately encouraged those around him, "Hold on until help arrives! Hold on!"

On the other side, the Galan people rushed towards the knights with scimitars in their hands and grinned fiercely.

A bloody hand-to-hand fight began. These knights, wearing only the most basic armor, often had to face four or even five cruel and ferocious Jialan soldiers alone.

These Jaran people were completely different from the sentinels they had just met. They were all tall and strong like bulls. When they chopped at them with their weapons, even if they blocked them, their arms would be numb from the shock.

This was understandable, because the sentinels that the knights had just met were not real main soldiers at all, but horse slaves driven to the battlefield by King Jialan to serve as cannon fodder.

Pure-blooded Jialan people all have blue eyes—and those horse slaves who herd sheep and do hard work are either half-humans or imperial civilians who were abducted by King Jialan.

They have no problem using live people as bait

In the eyes of these nomadic peoples, horse slaves were not human beings, but were almost like livestock. Too many of them would waste food, and if they died, they would die.

If it’s gone, just catch some more. There’s no need to feel bad about it.

The knights did not expect this. They became complacent due to the death of the sentry and eventually found themselves in a desperate situation.

------

-

Charles hid behind a group of knights and trembled.

Outside the wall of people, the shouts and cries of killing were deafening, and his ears were buzzing from the sound. Charles lowered his head as hard as he could, trying to avoid the arrows that came at him suddenly, but he regretted that there was no hole in the ground for him to hide in.

From time to time, a stream of blood would spurt out - a knight was dragged into the locust-like enemy formation while wailing, or a Galan man was stabbed in the head by a knight with bloodshot eyes.

The strong smell of blood seemed to be solidifying, and he would step on body parts from time to time when he kept moving. All of this frightened Prince Charles so much that he trembled all over. He shouted desperately to break through and escape this hellish scene.

Charles had never imagined that real war would be like this.

He thought he was surrounded and protected by the most elite and brave knights, and would be safe no matter where he went.

He thought that his martial arts skills were not bad, and in an emergency, he could fight two or even three people at once.

But in just a moment, everything Prince Charles relied on was useless and ineffective.

These Jialan people had no martial ethics, and they didn't care about chivalry at all. They attacked one knight at a time, four of them. Several scimitars simultaneously slashed heavily at the knights who were struggling to defend themselves, chopping off arms, ears, and faces...

Charles thought, so this is what real war is like.

It turns out that real war is not about commanding with ease and giving orders in a tent, nor is it about riding a warhorse with a spear in hand and knocking the enemy off his horse in a majestic manner.

It turns out that war is a barrage of limbs and blood, and it is the crying and shouting that cannot be stopped no matter how hard you cover your ears.

The number of knights around him was constantly decreasing, and the strength they had to swing their weapons was getting weaker and weaker. Gaps were appearing in the wall formed by their bodies, and Charles had been stabbed several times by the knives that suddenly came at him.

Because of the armor, Charles was not seriously injured, but his screams were no less than those of the wounded soldiers around him.

When the last young knight beside him had his weapon knocked off and his head chopped off by his hair due to exhaustion, Prince Charles was completely frightened.

He didn't even have the courage to raise his sword to commit suicide. He sat down on the ground, sinking into a swamp of mud, blood and broken flesh, unable to move.

At this time, the ferocious Galan people around them retreated one after another and walked over with someone.

Charles looked up fearfully.