At this moment, or the next morning, when the beacon fire was lit, under the towering Nurhas Pass, a small Turkic herdsman village called Ashren was being hit by surprise by the Merlot task force!

It was a very remote place, and since Merlot's army had marched out, no more than a hundred people had been seen, most of them nomadic with their flocks, and the village of Ashron in front of him was in fact Danishmund's outpost fort on this side of the pass. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Fight well, cooperate with each other with military flags, and don't let the enemy go to the mountain pass to report the news." Merlot, who was standing in the direction of the command, condescended to look at the village with thick smoke flying, constantly reminding himself.

He saw that at the sound of trumpets and whistles, the infantry of a detachment of the Defender Brigade in the vanguard, divided into three wings, were the first to carry shields and long-handled scythes, and soon destroyed the wooden fence of the village, and then the reserve infantry poured in with their swords, and they all set out at night, and arrived at the attack at dawn on time and with precision, without delay. Soon flames rose everywhere in the village, and on the exit road on the east side, many Turkic herders cried, rode ponies, and dragged various caravans, running towards the steppe in the mountain pass, seemingly giving up resistance.

"Cavalry in ambush on the left flank, attack." Melo immediately made a decision, and the flag bearer next to him immediately shook the flag in his hand.

"Charge, charge!" At this moment, on the earthen embankment by a stream at the edge of the village, Monomachus and three hundred cavalry suddenly appeared, jumped off the collapsed earthen embankment, and the horses' hooves jumped into the pale blue and cold stream, and the dense sound of horses' hooves and splashes of water in Gedagda were mixed together, shouting and whistling, and soon they lined up in a formation to cut off the exit of the village, and then they held oak seedlings and javelins, chased and assassinated everywhere on horseback, and soon killed all the Turks who escaped.

Half an hour later, the village was completely destroyed, and Merlot rode down in satisfaction, looking at the corpses lying in the grass. The Jinat cavalry still left two captives, put their heads in the small axes, knelt before Merlot's horse, and told them the truth in Turkic to the chief of the camp, "It is about a day's walk from this village to the pass, and it takes a day or two to cross the pass, which is very dangerous. ”

At this moment, another Turkic captive laughed, "What are you laughing at!" "The Jinat cavalry behind him swarmed up and beat him severely," he said. Melo pointed his horsewhip at him.

"I came some time ago from the fortress of Meritene over there, and the noble Emir Merrik gathered all the warriors of the Garzi in the country, and recruited from the great Armenian plateau countless warlike Oghuz and Turkmens, gathered in the fortress. The wise emir also knows your ridiculous route of attack, and he will soon send the bravest of the generals, the Atabag, to lead an elite army to fight you, and you will be dead without a place to die. The prisoner of war scolded, triumphant.

Merlot swung his whip and motioned for him not to kill the two and to assign him to the group of servants.

Elsewhere, Monomachus was pacing with a bridle, and he heard the words of the prisoners of war, and asked what to do.

Merlot cautiously looked at the passes and mountain peaks that could be seen, "The Red Hand Cavalry and the Armenian servants have not yet caught up with him, so we will expand this village as our camp when he arrives." When I settle down, I'll send scouts to detect the situation before making a decision. ”

"Will this disobey the Grand Duke's order for a quick decision?" Monomachus asked, a little worried.

The campmaster shook his head and said that we brought out almost half of the Grand Duke's direct elite, and I must be responsible for this team, "In this case, I must take the prisoner's word for it." ”

In the afternoon, 600 Red Hand cavalry, riding on their horses, laughed and laughed, and gently and skillfully escorted the baggage team to the village of Ashlon, amid the shouts and curses of the infantry and servants who were digging the camp. When Prajit and Hector approached the camp manager in the middle of the village, he was directing the officers to build a camp, "digging trenches to prevent horses from all the perimeter of the village, and setting up three movable antlers at the inner passages, and the infantry and Armenians all camped in the village, and set up camp in the divisions; The cavalry camped on the other side of the stream in case the enemy ran off the water. And, in my place, erect two five-pole cannons, and aim them at the open ground at the exit of the village—oh, you are coming, and quickly direct the men to line up the wagons and pry carts here and there, and dig out the earth and stuff them into the gaps, and keep the baggage, the drums, and the five-pole cannons in the central core. ”

Prajit received the order, and the Hector carefully asked Merlot if there was a large number of enemies coming to intercept us.

"We'll know tomorrow or the day after." Mellot lowered her command scepter, "But I think they'll come, and we'll hold back for a while while and wait for the Grand Duke's orders." ”

As a result, when it was time to patrol the night guard, several soldiers were shocked to find Melot, "The man nicknamed Hector, with six Armenians, killed two military servants, robbed the horses, lied about your orders to go to the scouts, and fled!" ”

In the firelight, Merlot stabbed the spike end of the scepter into the wall in front of him, "Damn, this group of unfamiliar Arni, who was originally in Fort Corquizon, was the Grand Duke who forgave his life, but now he will take revenge - quickly, send an order, send thirty cavalry to chase, and chase him to be executed on the spot; In addition, all Armenian logistics teams in the camp are under full supervision and control! Soon the whole camp was up and running, and the brigade soldiers shouted and drove all the ignorant Armenian logisticians around the Merlot command post, and they were put under centralized guard, including Prajit, who squatted in the crowd and kept pleading against the camping chief, "Please don't treat us like this, on the battlefield we Ani people are loyal to the Grand Duke, and we will fight bravely to kill the enemy." ”

Merlot on the earthen wall was also very conflicted, walking around with his scepter in his hand, frowning at the Armenian soldiers who were crying and petitioning, and finally he said, "Divide all the nine hundred men into six teams, and when it is time to fight, assign them to the front guard, the left and right flanks, the middle army, and the rear guard, and whoever can fight to the death will not be blamed for the past, otherwise you will all be put to death according to the order of the sitting." All of you have families in Vanka, and think of them—how good the Grand Duke has been to you, and has paid you for your army, and has given your family rations, and will give you fields in the future. In the midst of the chaos, the situation gradually calmed down, and the Armenian logistics troops were really divided into six teams and began to continue to work and build camps.

And on the grassland under the mountain pass over there, Hector led six rebels on horseback like a frightened bird, and the sound of chasing and shouting behind him was getting closer and closer! (To be continued.) )