Soon after the rapid evacuation of Ferguson and Isabel, the real thieves of Francis Swift quickly left the battlefield full of dead bodies. Except for the corpses of knights and sergeants who wore almost exclusively cavalry armor, and a few dead horses, there was not a single complete weapon or armor that could still be used on the entire empty battlefield.

Because, all the loot that could be taken away was looted by two bands of thieves. Even weapons and armor damaged in battle were unceremoniously taken away by Francis, Benjamin and others. At least in the eyes of a few of them, the damaged weapons and armor could have been repaired at the blacksmith's shop. If you can fix it, you can keep it and use it yourself. If it can't be repaired, it can also be exchanged for money with the blacksmith.

At this time, more than an hour after the Sunday Mass at Barnard Castle, the knights with a chivalrous demeanor began to look a little impatient. In the anxious waiting streets, they could not hold back the eagerness to get paid.

A handful of knights discussed how to use the money to cover the cost of family life, or to expand the production capacity of the estate, or to increase their livestock production so that more livestock products could be exchanged for more money from the market. Most of the mercenary knights gathered together and talked loudly about going on a rotation to eat and drink in the busiest streets of County Durham, or to find a few beautiful women to enjoy some spiritual and lustful pleasures.

But after waiting for a long time, the knights still did not see the shadow of the gratuity army. Several grumpy mercenary knights agreed that their lord, Viscount Darlington, had once again broken his word and had once again owed them their honorarium.

After a brief discussion, they decided to rush to Darlington Castle to find their lord, wondering why they hadn't been paid again. The mercenary knights, under the pretext that the army had encountered thieves, left the castle armed with the consent of Sir Antony, the governor of the castle.

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In the endless darkness of the night, several crows hovering in mid-air and searching for food noticed a large amount of "breakfast" on the ground, which had just died. Soon, the "scavengers" flapped their wings and descended from mid-air. Let yourself rest on a dead man or a dead horse, and peck at the flesh that is still warm.

Suddenly, a small cough startled a "scavenger" perched on the corpse of a knight nearby. The "Scavenger" observes the source of the sound with its right eyeball, and when it realizes that the "corpse" that made the sound is still alive, it flappes its wings a few times and allows itself to escape from the "corpse" that makes a constant terrifying sound.

Sir Victor Layton coughed incessantly, struggling to sit up with his right hand over the wound in his chest. At this moment, Jazz realized that a large amount of saliva was flowing out of the corners of his mouth, and quickly wiped it away. However, what Jazz didn't know was that the "saliva" was actually his blood.

Sir blankly glanced at the hellish scene in front of him, trying to remember something that had happened before. Suddenly, he felt his mind begin to clear, and gradually remembered why he was here, why he had been pierced in the chest with a sword, why there were dead bodies everywhere.

Victor hurriedly straightened his upper body, scanned the battlefield full of corpses back and forth, and shouted, "My lord, where are you?" My lord, please answer me quickly. ”

After shouting several times, he still did not get a response from Joseph. Victor remorsefully slapped his head with his left hand a few times, cursing in a low voice: "Where did these bastards who should go to hell take the adults?" ”

"It seems that the adults may have been captured by these people. Wait, what if these people kill him? ”

"No, it won't. Just by being an adult, you can get a large ransom for this group of bastards. These bastards will definitely keep the adults alive for the money. ”

After much speculation and judgment, Victor finally confirmed the "fact" that Joseph's life would not be in danger. He then clutched his injured chest and struggled to get up from the ground.

He wanted to get out of the place that had left him with indelible memories, but the intense pain from the two wounds on his chest and back made it difficult for him to walk.

As he stumbled, he felt as if he had kicked something. Slowly, he bent down and reached out to touch it, and it turned out to be a cowhide water bag often used by knights and sergeants. When I picked it up and shook it, there was still half a bag of drinking water.

At this time, there was another burst of pain from the wound in his chest, and Victor had to sit down slowly. In the darkness, he groped for his way into a long-dead horse. With his left hand on the ground, he covered his chest with a water bag in his right hand, rubbed his ass against the dirt road little by little, and leaned his back against the belly of the dead horse.

Holding the water bag in his left hand and preparing to take a few sips of water, he thought, "My back is really comfortable, but the wound is still very painful." Perhaps, the group of guys in Barnard Castle had been waiting impatiently. ”

"I don't know what time it is, but probably the Sunday Mass service has long been over."

"Hopefully those guys will come out of town looking for us. If they don't come, they'll have to wait for the Lord to send someone. God willing, I don't know if I will be able to hold out until that time. ”

Victor bit off the plug of the water bag with his teeth and poured a large mouthful of water into his mouth as soon as he tilted his neck. As a result, drinking a lot of water caused another violent cough. He spat out the blood-soaked water as he pressed painfully against the wound in his chest.

When the coughing stopped, Jazz's left hand hung limply at his side, and the water bag he was holding had fallen to the side. In a slow breath, he began to think about a problem: he clearly remembered that he had been stabbed by a thief and pierced through his body. A person has no chance of surviving in such a situation. But why is he still alive?

In fact, none of the people of England, including Sir Victor Layton, could find the correct answer to this question in their own kingdom. Even André Vesalius, a Belgian who lived at the same time, made a special trip from France to the scene of the incident, and would probably only say that the answer would not be known until he personally dissected Sir's body.

Vesalius, the founder of human anatomy and one of the founders of modern medical science. His epoch-making treatise on the anatomy of the human body, published in 1543, became the most famous medical achievement of the Renaissance.

Chronologically, Sir Victor suffered a fatal wound in the northern part of England in November 1534. That year, however, Vesalius was still studying medicine in the southern French city of Montpellier. Even though Vesalius had received his M.D. from the University of Paduva in the Republic of Venice and was hired as a professor of surgery and anatomy at the university to perform autopsies, it would have happened in Italy three years later. So, Sir Victor had no doubt that it was a new life given to him by God.