Normezi stared in the direction of the distant intersection, a vague uneasiness in his heart, as years of experience in the war had taught him that this was not normal.

They stubbornly held the only crossing, and the Montina people had been blocked by them and could not move forward, which should have been the best outcome, as long as this stalemate continued, the situation would be favorable to him, because the situation in Naples is now very complicated, and Gombray seems to be the Modillo family's reliance in Naples, he can't leave so many really important things to besiege the monastery that obviously can't be taken for a while, as long as it can be delayed, after a long time, Normezi believes that things will definitely turn around.

But now the actions of Montina's army were strange to Normezi, who seemed to be attacking the monastery blindly and pointlessly, although only occasionally trying to bombard the stone walls of the monastery with artillery, but what was the point of such an artillery bombardment at a time when it was almost impossible to aim?

Strange actions often have a real purpose behind trying to cover up, and Normezi believes this, and the uneasiness in his heart grows thicker, as if something bad is about to happen.

"Who are Montina's troops?" Normezi suddenly remembered and asked the people around him.

"I heard that the Count of Montina himself has come."

Hearing his men's answer, Normezi's brow furrowed even tighter, and so far Montina's army had barely had time to approach the walls of the abbey because of the terrain, so he had not seen the whole picture of those troops, but it was said that the Count's guards were wearing a very strange and elaborate red uniform, which was said to be so fancy that his guards were nicknamed "flower girls".

But Normezi didn't see the flower girls, he saw only a bunch of savage-looking creatures who were now screaming and firing at the monastery.

Something must have gone wrong, and although he had not yet sensed the enemy's intentions, Normezi was already sure that the enemy was plotting something, and his uneasiness had already made him feel dangerous, so he ordered his men to keep an eye on the enemy on the other side and hurried to the rest of the monastery.

If Montina's army might have attacked from somewhere else, it should have been? Normezi hurried along the corridors of the abbey, and when he came to the corner of the tower that had been blown off, Normezi looked at the roof with a hole exposed, and the uneasiness in his heart became even stronger.

Believing that he had found something, he walked briskly towards the wreckage, struggling through the rubble, Normezi leaning on his stomach and peering carefully out through the breach in the wall.

He knew that the Montinas could bombard the corner again at any moment, and that was the only place they could directly threaten, so Normezi was cautious, he didn't want to be killed by a single shot.

"Count, what are you looking at?" The voice of the Aragonese came from behind, and Normezi turned his head to see that the Aragonese was looking at him with strange eyes, and instinctively he sensed the murderous intent that seemed to be deliberately suppressed in the other party, but this did not attract much attention to him, after all, this was on the battlefield.

"I'm worried that the Montina might sneak up," Normezi said as he continued to look outside, "That's not right, those Montina shouldn't be so stupid, they don't look completely safe right now and don't look like they're going to actually take the monastery." ”

The Aragonese was secretly relieved, and when he saw Normezi lying on the gap, he thought that his plot to assassinate the queen had been discovered, or at least arouse suspicion, and he could not help but secretly thank God for his good fortune, thinking of the coat he threw out of the window.

"You don't seem to have much confidence in what you said before, and now you're worried that the Montina people will find another way?"

The Aragonese deliberately said in a slightly provocative tone, seeing that Normezi was really attracted by these words and gave up and continued to look outside, the Aragonese secretly breathed a sigh of relief, he believed that as long as he delayed for a while, his coat should be blown away by the wind to a place where no one could find it, so that even if Normezi later suspected that he had assassinated the queen, he would be helpless because there was no evidence, and he did this not only to remove an obstacle to the annexation of Naples for his king, but also to force Normezi to have no way to retreat at all.

"I don't want to argue with you about this kind of thing, but you may be a fish in water in the court, but I have survived on the battlefield not by luck but by caution." Normezi said as he turned to continue to the breach, and the Aragonese was no longer ready to stop him, but as soon as he stepped on a piece of gravel, a sharp whistling that tore through the air burst through the breach.

The cannonball flew almost past the edge of the gap, and the scorching heat hit him, and Normezi slammed into the sharp rubble on the ground without even thinking about it.

The Aragonese was also frightened, and he instinctively half-crouched down, watching the black shadow fly from the gap to the slope below, and for a moment the two of them could not help but look at each other in astonishment.

"Count I think you'd better stay away from that place, but you'd better send someone to guard here, it seems that you've found out where the Montina are going to attack from." The Aragonese took two steps back and said to Normezi, whose face was scratched by the rubble edges, "Let's leave first, it's not worth it to spare our lives here." ”

"You're right, let's get out of here first, and I'll have someone guard this place."

Normezi also nodded a little apprehensively, he didn't want to die behind the high wall that he thought would make him feel safe, and the two of them immediately walked off into the distance, leaving only a hole in the sky that had been exposed for sunlight to shine in from the outside and shine in the slightly gloomy corridor of the monastery.

Sher walked quietly down the hallway, musket in hand and hatchet in hand, most of whom preferred to use their native weapons, despite the Balkans' daggers.

Two figures flashed through an aisle, and Sher raised his axe, and when the two men appeared, he and his companion rushed over, the axe slashing through the air in a black light, and before the other could scream, it slashed at the vital point of their necks.

The two men were immediately knocked to the ground, but when they saw their outfits, Schell, who was a little stunned, heard the low exclamations of his companions.

"God, we killed two monks!"

Schell, who was also in a mess of confusion, looked at his companion, his hand axe was still dripping blood, and after licking his lips vigorously, he shook his head: "We can't help it, the monks here are all from that Normezie, and they will report it." ”

"But if we kill the monks, God will punish us," said another Balkan uneasily, "perhaps we should go back, this is unlucky." ”

"Shut up, if you want to ask for forgiveness, you can go back to the archbishop, I heard that he is going to be a cardinal," Schell scolded in a low voice, and Schell gritted his teeth and walked over the monk who was dead in a pool of blood, "But why should we ask them for forgiveness, don't forget that we are Orthodox Christians, to hell with the Catholics." ”

The Balkans seemed to have become more comfortable with Scheer's words, and their faces became irritable and excited again, and when they crept down the stairs to a corridor near the main entrance of the monastery, looking at the rebels outside, Schell licked the corners of his lips again: "We have to find a way to open the gate, but it may not be easy." ”

"Maybe we have another way." The Balkan man, who had previously committed the murder of the monk with him, suddenly pointed to a large house guarded by two guards a little farther away, the door of which was open, and the barrels piled up inside could be faintly seen.

Schell narrowed his eyes and took a closer look at the big house, then turned back to the companion and nodded, "If God were going to condemn us to hell for our crimes, I believe you must be ahead of me." ”

When Normezi and the Aragonese returned to the window near the gate, they saw the Montina dragging a few wounded soldiers back, a few corpses thrown a little further ahead, but most importantly, an eagle cannon with no gun mount was left crookedly there.

It was clear that the Montinas had tried to risk bombarding the monastery gates from the front, but they had lost not only a number of soldiers, but even one of the two pieces of artillery they had.

"My lord, we may be able to go and bring the artillery back in the evening," said one of his men excitedly, "or at least destroy it, which will surely make these brutes angry." ”

Normezi seemed to be moved, capturing or completely destroying an enemy's artillery is indeed a great result, whether it is to boost morale or to hit the enemy, it is very useful, but he still calmly shook his head slightly: "Don't worry, the Montina people have suffered a lot of losses, they must be waiting for revenge." ”

"Then let them see how good we are!" Someone else shouted, and the words immediately caused a cry of approval.

"I have to admit it, Earl, that it is not so difficult for you to hold the abbey." The Aragonese took the opportunity to say, looking at the smug Normezzi, his eyes twinkled, wondering when it would be discovered that the queen had been killed, and perhaps then the arrogant count would realize that he had no other way out than to serve King Ferdinand obediently.

Normezi smiled a little reservedly, he was very willing to see the Aragonese look respectful to him, especially after he had been so unreasonable to contradict himself before, he felt that it was time to let this man know who was the master of this place.

Ofleiyi looked at the gunner lying on the ground and couldn't stop panting, patted him on the shoulder with a little guilt, the lead bullet shattered the gunner's right shoulder bone, and looked at his arm hanging limply to the side and seemed to be unconscious, Ofleiyi knew that this Balkan was finished.

Although the Count was kind to his subordinates, even to wounded soldiers, this did not mean that he would take care of the useless people who were crippled.

Now that the gunner's trap had apparently lost its value, Ofleiyi felt that perhaps it would be a good fate for him to return to the Balkans and continue to work as a farmer after receiving a pension.

There was another clamor of cheers from the direction of the monastery, and it was evident that the rebels were in high spirits because of their victory, and from time to time one or two shots could be heard purely for provocation and indulgence.

"What should I do now, Captain?"

A Balkan man swept his hatchet, the Balkans did not care much about life and death, or that years of poverty had made them take life much more lightly, and for them the current fate of the gunners was nothing more than the fate of all of them.

"We still have a cannon, but which of you will use it?"

Ofrei's words made the Balkans around them look at each other, it was obvious that for them the artillery was something too complicated, even terrifying, and now they were asked to fiddle with this monster, which made the Balkans a little overwhelmed for a while.

"Captain, I'm okay," the gunner struggled to get up but collapsed to the ground, "I can teach them how to use it, but please, Captain, don't drive me away, I'm okay." ”

"Prove it to me," Ofleiyi tapped the gunner's other intact arm, "all right, I don't need you to shoot very accurately, but I must make the people in the monastery feel threatened." ”

With that, Ofleiyi looked at the monastery at the top of the hill, anxiously wondering what had happened.

Regardless of success or failure, shouldn't there be some movement, but what is going on now, why is there no news at all in the monastery?

Alexander was also waiting, he was also anxious, but he could only suppress his worries, but he was sure that they should not have been discovered yet, because several rebel soldiers could be seen standing on the roof of the house and shouting to the Balkans below, if they had been exposed, it would not have been so peaceful.

So what are they doing?

Normezi walked towards the queen's chambers, and the strange behavior of the Montina still made him uneasy, a rather peculiar feeling honed by years of experience on the battlefield, and it was by virtue of this foreknowledge of danger that he had escaped the threat of death several times.

So he could now be sure of what conspiracy Gombray was planning, and it should all have something to do with the queen.

The queen's chamber was in a corner of the convent, and Normezi wanted to send two guards to guard the passage so as not to disturb her, but the queen refused, as it would make her feel as if she was imprisoned again.

Normezi went outside the room and knocked lightly on the door, but received no response,

So he knocked again with a slight force, but the room was still silent.

Normezi was sure that someone would report to him if the queen left, and now the queen should obviously be in the room, but he did not respond.

Somehow, a strong uneasiness rose in Normezi's heart.

Somehow, a figure flashed in front of his eyes, and he didn't care about the possibility of being reprimanded by the queen for being rude, and reached out and pushed open the closed door.

The room was empty, and Normezi frowned slightly, and just as he was about to leave the room, he suddenly stopped and sniffled slightly.

A small but still smelly smell of blood wafted into Normezi's nose, and he sniffed it again, then determined that it was indeed the smell of blood.

Normezie's heart tugged at once, he didn't care about the queen's life or death, but he must not allow the queen to have an accident with him.

The figure of the Aragonese flashed through Normezi's mind again, but this time more with anger.

He looked down at the ground, and when he saw a tapestry that clearly shouldn't have been laid out in the middle of the ground to make a carpet, he walked over and lifted it.

With the heavy smell of blood, a puddle of blood that had become sticky appeared in front of Normezi's eyes, and he twisted the blood with his fingers, and with the slimy touch he couldn't help but remember the smell of blood that seemed to smell from the Aragonese when he had just met him.

Normezi was already sure that something had happened to the queen, and he immediately stood up and looked around, and when he saw the half-hidden curtain of the bed, he walked over and slowly lifted the bed tent.

The Queen's bloodless face appeared in front of Normezi, and looking at the eyes that were wide open overhead, Normezi slowly made a cross on his chest.

"Damn the Aragonese." Normezi let out a curse, he could guess the reason why the Aragonese had killed the queen, but it would only cause him problems, and he even began to suspect that maybe that Gombray had such intentions, and if so, then he was really passive.

And just as Normezi was angrily walking out of the room to settle accounts with the Aragonese, a cry of panic suddenly came from the monastery.

At the same time, with the sudden scorching flames rising from the window of the corridor not far away, a burnt smell with a strong smell of alcohol rushed to the face.

At the same time, Normezi heard a cry that made his whole body cold in an instant: "Granary! The granary is on fire! ”

Normezi jumped almost straight down the staircase, his fat body breaking a staircase handrail that didn't explain it, and then he tumbled down the stairs, and when he got up from the ground, he saw the roaring tongue of fire that was spitting out of the window of the granary, and the wall of hot fire that could not stop rising with the barrels of wine that had fallen to the ground and were set on fire.

"What's going on, put out the fire!" Normezi threw himself madly at the granary, all his hopes were in the granary, and it was precisely because he had prepared enough food that he dared to openly rebel, and he had decided not to leave the monastery until the Aragonese came, which could take weeks, months, or even longer, and the key to all this was that he had food.

But now the granary was burned, and Normezzie rushed up with desperate shouts.

Someone hugged Normezi tightly, and by this time the raging flames had spread rapidly from the granary, and the piled up of grain could be seen burning from the flames that flickered in the heat wave.

And judging by the degree of burning, the fire spread all at once as soon as it was lit, and the smell of wine in the air made Normezi realize at once that it had been deliberately set on fire.

"There are spies! Find them out! Normezi shouted and looked around, then he looked desperately at the granary, which was quickly engulfed in flames, "It's over, it's all over, God is punishing me." ”

A shout suddenly came from not far away, and as soon as Normezi turned around, he saw a man holding a musket aimed at one of his men, and as the shot rang out, his men fell to the ground.

"Spies!"

Normezi shouted and drew his sword and charged at the men, as some of his men followed suitably towards the room where they had retreated.

"Kill them, I'm going to watch their heads hang on the gate of the monastery!" Normezi's eyes were already red, he was almost desperate at this time, the flames of food burning seemed to be burning his body, and at this moment he only wanted to kill these culprits who had ruined everything for him.

Others tried to extinguish the flames, but the granary, which had been spilled with barrels of wine, was spewing hot air like a melting pot, and the flames were about to lick the wooden roof of the abbey.

Normezi rushed into the corridor with the men, but the rooms on both sides of the corridor rang out at the same time, and the intersecting firing circles blocked the corridor at once, and when the first few rebel soldiers had just fallen to the ground, with a roar, several swaying figures had already blocked the narrow entrance to the corridor with waving snow flashes.

"Rush in and kill them!"

Normezi was now completely desperate, the food had burned, and all his hopes had been burned to ashes with the flames.

Normezi's men rushed like crazy towards the entrance of the corridor, which allowed only one person to pass by, but they were stopped by the sharp axes and sabers in the hands of the Balkans, and at the same time, with the sound of muskets from time to time, Normezi's men were unable to break through the entrance guarded by only a dozen people.

"Bring the barrels," said Normezi suddenly, "since they have burned my grain, I will send them to God in the same way." ”

Immediately someone brought in a large barrel of wine, and watching the wine flow out, Normezi took the burning torch from the man next to him.

"Pray for yourselves." Normezzie said fiercely.

As soon as Normezi finished speaking, there was a loud bang, and a large hole was blown open in the door of the monastery.

In the smoke of gunpowder, the figures of the Balkans once again appeared in front of the rebels with the light of a wielding axe.