In the following days, the situation at Kalk Fort grew increasingly grim.
More and more scattered enemy troops gathered in the villages around the fort, and every day, a group of enemies would come to the fort gates to challenge them.
Although the Soldiers inside the city strictly adhered to military orders and remained behind closed doors, the enemy troops' incessant daily insults were truly despicable, leaving the fort's defenders seething with anger.
On the afternoon of the third day after the caravan arrived at Kalk Fort, dozens of enemy Soldiers appeared outside the fort as usual.
This time, they were not just challenging Soldiers; they also brought more than a dozen elderly, weak, women, and children abducted from surrounding villages.
The dozen or so innocent civilians were forced to kneel about one hundred and fifty paces outside the fort gates, with seven or eight Soldiers, shirtless and armed with sharp blades, standing behind them.
The Soldiers had wicked smiles on their faces, placing and removing their swords and axes from the civilians' necks, which only caused the kneeling farmers to cry and scream in terror.
Several enemy Cavalry rushed forward, swaggering continuously in front of Kalk Fort's gates, throwing severed limbs around, and loudly pointing and cursing at the people on the wall.
Seeing no response from the wall, they ran back to the civilians and used short knives to slit each civilian's throat.
Outside the fort, there was a desolate and despairing chorus of cries, and the piercing screams were heart-wrenching, making everyone on the city wall look grim.
Baron Belian stood behind the battlements, his hands clenching audibly.
"These beasts! My Lord, let me lead men out to charge them!" A knight beside Baron Belian could no longer endure the humiliation before his eyes.
The enemy forces that arrived today numbered less than thirty, none of them wearing heavy armor, and there were only five Cavalry, making them seem easy to defeat.
"Evan, didn't you notice anything unusual today?" Baron Belian asked the gritting knight beside him.
Knight Evan was only furious at the enemy for slaughtering Provence civilians in front of them and hadn't paid much attention to the enemy's changes today.
He looked up at the enemy Soldiers.
"My Lord, most of their Cavalry are gone."
"Their Cavalry must be hiding behind.
Once you lead your troops out, they will definitely charge out, so we must continue to endure."
Knight Evan pointed to the civilians outside the city who were almost all killed, then pointed to the red-eyed Soldiers on the city wall, and roared, "Are we just going to let those Bastards slaughter our civilians in front of us?
My Lord, this is a great disgrace!!!"
Baron Belian glanced at the knight beside him and roared in a low voice, "Losing Kalk Fort is a greater disgrace.
If you go out now and are surrounded by Cavalry, should I lead troops out to save you?
If I also fall into an ambush, who will defend this fort?
Aosta is besieged by the enemy; if we cannot leave a retreat route for Aosta, then tens of thousands of military personnel and civilians in the city will be massacred."
"So we just watch?"
Baron Belian lowered his head in thought for a moment, then said, "Go quietly and bring all the crossbow team over.
Shoot them with crossbows; kill as many as you can."
Inside Kalk Fort, Art was training the Patrol Team Soldiers; of course, he was also helping Baron Belian train the newly recruited Soldiers.
These newly recruited Soldiers were almost all civilians and farmers before, and Art and Odo had to teach them hand-in-hand how to hold a spear and sword, how to use a shield, and how to avoid incoming swords, axes, and spears.
From the day the caravan arrived at Kalk Fort and delivered the grain, Baron Belian and the Patrol Team terminated their employment, but enemy Soldiers had been appearing at Kalk Fort for the past two days, preventing the Patrol Team from safely passing through the war zone with a dozen carriages and drivers.
Therefore, Art had to stay at Kalk Fort and wait for an opportunity.
Baron Belian provided free food and lodging for the Patrol Team and the caravan, and in return, Art agreed to train the new recruits for the Baron, so the Baron wouldn't have to pull men from the city wall for training.
Seeing Knight Evan quietly leading seven or eight crossbow team members onto the city wall, Art stopped the knight who was hurrying past: "Sir Evan, what happened?"
"Art, the Baron ordered me to take the crossbow team onto the wall to shoot the enemy Soldiers outside the city."
Art had been in Kalk Fort for several days, and Baron Belian had always ignored the provocative enemy Soldiers outside the city, but today he intended to shoot them.
"Ron, put on your armor and come with me to the wall to see."
Art decided to go up and see.
Upon reaching the city wall's battlements, the slaughter outside the city had already ceased, and the ground was covered in puddles of reddish-brown blood, with a dozen or so bodies sprawled across the ground.
Seven or eight crossbow team members quietly approached the battlement wall, peered through the embrasures at the outside of the city; a distance of one hundred and fifty paces, or over two hundred yards, was not far for a crossbow.
The crossbow team members crouched behind the battlement wall in a line, winding their crossbows, and placing the specially made round-headed short arrows into the arrow grooves.
Baron Belian, standing nearby, took a horn bow, tied a red ribbon to a light arrow, drew the bowstring fully, and shot it skyward towards the enemy's direction outside the city.
The light arrow whizzed into the sky, becoming a black dot, and after a while, the light arrow with the red ribbon landed dozens of paces in front of the enemy.
The enemy, seeing a light arrow shot from the city wall, burst into laughter.
Behind the battlement wall, the crossbow team captain poked his head out and looked at the red ribbon fluttering in the wind outside the city.
He half-crouched, slightly raising his crossbow at an angle, and the seven crossbow team members beside him followed their captain's movements, raising their crossbows.
"Ready~"
"Fire!!"
A series of thumping sounds came from behind the battlement wall.
Eight heavy crossbow arrows suddenly shot out from behind the battlement wall, soaring diagonally into the sky…
The enemy camp was still laughing.
But when seven or eight black dots descended from the sky, they could no longer laugh.
Eight heavy arrows instantly struck down three Soldiers, and one warhorse was shot in the neck, rearing up violently and throwing its rider off its back.
The show wasn't over yet; the enemy Soldiers were still searching for the lurking crossbow team, but the crossbows behind the battlements were already restrung, and the crossbow bolts were being loaded into the arrow grooves.
Thump, thump, thump~!!!
Another eight heavy arrows flew out.
This time, the enemy Soldiers scattered, and the crossbow bolts only hit one enemy Soldier.
This time, it was the turn of the Soldiers on the city wall to laugh loudly; the anger of many days was all shot towards the enemy with these heavy arrows.
"Alright, crossbow team, cease fire, save some arrows."
Art knew that crossbows had a long range and great power, but maintaining such accuracy beyond two hundred yards was rare.
"Baron Belian, your crossbow team is truly impressive."
Art praised him sincerely.
Knight Evan smiled and said to Art, "Brother Art, these crossbow team members were personally trained by our Lord; like our archers, they are all excellent marksmen."
Art had witnessed Baron Belian's archery skills and admitted that his own archery was still inferior to Baron Belian's.
Looking at the Cavalry galloping out a mile outside the city, Baron Belian turned to Art and said, "Art, tonight is the time for you to leave.
If you miss tonight, I'm afraid it won't be so easy for you to escape."
Seeing that Art didn't understand, Baron Belian pointed outside the city and explained, "In the past two days, the enemy has started to gather in the surrounding areas.
I guess their attack on Aosta the day before yesterday was unsuccessful, and they plan to launch a strong assault on Kalk Fort."
"Take advantage of the fact that the enemy hasn't surrounded Kalk Fort yet; you must break out."
Art's face was full of worry; Lombardy infantry were stationed all around, and Cavalry were patrolling.
How could Art, with two dozen Soldiers, safely break out with a dozen carriages and many drivers?
"You don't have to worry; I won't let you break out alone.
Yesterday, I received orders from Aosta that tonight we will attack the enemy's camp outside the city to disrupt their deployment.
Then you can take the opportunity to escape through the breach we create."
Art understood Baron Belian's meaning and replied, "Thank you, My Lord!"
Baron Belian waved his hand, "Go prepare; we will act before the full moon tonight."
The humid summer night enveloped this small town in central Provence.
On the trade route outside the city, a dozen carriages carried dozens of black-clad Soldiers and drivers.
About a mile ahead of this caravan, more than twenty Cavalry were quietly leading their warhorses towards an open area beside the northern trade route.
Kalk Fort's army mainly consisted of stationed infantry, so they lacked Cavalry, but only if this raid could cause chaos in the enemy camp could the Patrol Team break through the Lombardy army's defenses amidst the confusion.
Therefore, Art, knowing the defenders' lack of Cavalry, brought Ron and Jason to join Baron Belian's raiding Cavalry.
Ron and Jason were participating in a truly meaningful battle for the first time.
To him, two dozen Cavalry was already a considerable Cavalry formation.
Despite his nervousness, Ron was quite excited.
He led his warhorse, whose hooves were wrapped, following behind Art, not daring to make a sound.
Before departure, Baron Belian repeatedly warned that the key to a night raid was surprise; if the enemy detected them in advance and prepared, his two dozen Cavalry would surely leave more than a dozen corpses in the enemy camp.
Jason was similar to Ron; sweat had already soaked through his linen undershirt, and the sweat-soaked leather armor rubbed, making faint creaking sounds.
"Officer Ron, I'll just follow My Lord and you later~" Jason was a bit too nervous; if he didn't say something, he felt he would go crazy.
"Shh!! Be quiet!" Ron turned his head and whispered.
Jason swallowed, patted the warhorse he was leading, then gripped the battleaxe tucked into his waist, and strode to catch up with the team.
At the foot of a hill five miles north of Kalk Fort, two dozen military tents were set up.
After scouting, it was found that one hundred and eighty-odd Lombardy Soldiers were stationed here.
Kalk Fort's silence for several consecutive days had made the enemy relax their vigilance; they would not have imagined that the defenders in the city would dare to launch a night raid outside the city.
Knight Evan personally led four Soldiers, crawling forward, quietly approaching within a dozen paces of the sentries on the hillside.
With a shout, several men sprang from the ground, rushed to the two sentries, and stabbed them to death with a sword.
The moonlight in the sky was bright, and combined with the fact that the few men were not quick enough, the sentries discovered the enemy attack.
Before dying, they screamed loudly, and the camp below the hill heard the sentries' tragic cries~
"Everyone mount up, follow me and charge."
At Baron Belian's command, more than twenty Cavalry all mounted their warhorses.
Art mounted his horse, and taking advantage of the dim night, looked back at the trade route behind him, where a faint team of dark figures was rushing north.
"Ron, Jason, you two must stick close to me.
After one charge, head straight north."
"Yes!"
The three men kicked their horses hard, and the warhorses neighed as they charged towards the hillside…