Chapter 233: Eve of The Great War

The interconnected tents were erected upon the flat lands; sharp wooden poles were embedded upon the outer area of the tents, which joined together to form a wooden fence. It became a relatively simplistic wooden stronghold. The walls of this wooden stronghold were about as high as a normal person while sharp wooden stakes were buried beneath the ground. Those stakes would become the best form of defence against anyone attacking from the outside.

Chen Xiaolian and his team continued riding in the carriage as they moved toward the stronghold. Before they could reach the entrance, a group of mounted soldiers galloped over to them.

Chen Xiaolian noticed that those mounted soldiers were wearing lightweight breast armour. Also, on the spear carried by the leader of the mounted soldiers was a flag. It was a red flag depicting two lions.

Chen Xiaolian’s eyes were quick to lit up!

A red coloured flag depicting two lions… … Chen Xiaolian had seen it before… … additionally…

Back then, during the time when he had been invited by Miao Yan to dinner, he had seen such an oil painting in the Countess’ house.

He recalled that the oil painting was… … the Countess’ ancestor, William I, the one who had conquered all of England and founded the Norman Dynasty…

The Norman family banner?

Chen Xiaolian’s expression turned peculiar.

He thought about what had happened. The clothes that he, Lun Tai and Bei Tai were wearing were transformed into their present state. Additionally… their Land Rover SUV had been transformed into a carriage.

Then…

Plus the huge army encampment armed with cold weapons and this flag of the Norman family…

And also the quest issued out by the system…

War for the throne!

“Is this how it is? The scale involved here is not small.” Chen Xiaolian rubbed his chin and revealed a wry smile.

The group of mounted soldiers approached their carriage. However, they did not reveal any hostile actions.

Chen Xiaolian quickly pulled the reins to stop the carriage.

The leader of the mounted soldiers remained on horseback as he regarded Chen Xiaolian and his team. His eyes swept over Chen Xiaolian and his team’s attire before glancing toward the worn-out flag placed by the side of the carriage.

Well, it should count as a flag. In Chen Xiaolian’s eyes, it was simply a worn-out sheepskin hanging on the carriage’s wooden pole. There was an indiscernible mess of painting drawn upon the surface.

“You fellows are the mercenary team sent to procure supplies?” The visor of the leader of the mounted soldiers were hanging so low that it blocked off the sight of his eyebrows. That caused him to appear very savage. When he grinned, his set of yellow teeth was revealed; one of his front teeth was missing. He asked, “What goods did you find?”

He bluntly raised his spear and used it to move aside a piece of sackcloth covering the back area of the carriage.

To Chen Xiaolian’s surprise, the back area of their carriage covered by the sackcloth contained half a bag of grains and a lamb leg.

“It seems you fellows had quite the harvest, boys.” The mounted soldier who said that was clearly someone with the position of the leader there. He continued, “However, it’s rather little. The most it can do is allow a group to eat two meals.”

Chen Xiaolian revealed an annoyed face and said nothing. He carefully regarded the fellow.

“What is this? Has the standard for the recruitment of mercenaries fallen to such a low state?” said the fellow who caught sight of Bei Tai. Seeing that Bei Tai had lost an arm, he said with a dissatisfied tone, “How did a one-armed fellow get recruited? Damn it!”

“Sir Knight,” said Chen Xiaolian as he rapidly moved to the front. He positioned himself before Bei Tai and had one hand placed behind. That hand then waved gently at Bei Tai. At the same time, he used a very respectful tone as he spoke to the leader of the mounted soldiers, “Although he only has one arm, he is still useful.”

“Ha ha ha! I am not a knight.” Clearly, being addressed as a knight had caused this leader of mounted soldiers to feel happy. He quickly shook his head and said, “You fellows are truly a bunch of country bumpkins. I am a mounted soldier of the Norman army and not a knight! Where did you bumpkins come from? You think that just because someone is riding on a horse, he is a knight? Knights will never wear leather armour that we are wearing.”

After becoming happy, he seemed to have forgotten all about the matter with Bei Tai and his one arm.

“All right, you fellows should quickly head back to camp!” said the fellow as he waved his hand. “The supplies procurement teams have all more or less returned. However, the harvest doesn’t appear to be that good. It seems you fellows will need to go farther tomorrow.”

Chen Xiaolian’s mind clicked. Seeing that the mounted soldier was about to leave, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, “Milord, please wait.”

“Hmm?” The mounted soldier turned around to look at Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian quickly pulled up the cloth covering the back area and grabbed the lamb leg placed there. Next, he leaned over and hung the lamb leg onto the saddle of the mounted soldier. Once he was finished, he spoke with humble tone and smile, “May I inquire some matters from your esteemed one?”

The leader of the mounted soldiers looked at the lamb leg hanging on his saddle; the savage expression on his face became one of satisfaction and he said, “What do you want to know, country bumpkin?”

“This… … when exactly will the battle begin?” Chen Xiaolian did his best to make the question sound vague. Then, he added, “You know as well, we are mercenaries. We mercenaries work for the sake of getting benefits.”

“Greedy fellow,” said the lead mounted soldier. He stared at Chen Xiaolian and cursed, “You mercenaries are all a bunch of greedy blood-sucking vampires. You’re a bunch of maniacs who put more weight on money instead of life.”

Although he cursed out at them, he did explain some of the situation to them.

“Count your blessings that you met me. My brother who serves in the Duke’s team of personal guards told me this piece of information. That scaredy-cat, the false King Harold had already found out about us being here and all of London is shaking in fear. It is said that he had issued out an emergency summon to raise an army. Those aristocrats who are loyal to him and the freemen are headed to gather in London. They will likely start a war with us soon… … however, that was the news from two days ago. I myself do not know when they will be coming. Maybe tomorrow or maybe in a few more days’ time. Only God knows.”

After saying that, the lead mounted soldier glanced at Chen Xiaolian. It would appear that he believed that the information he just divulged was worth the lamb leg. He then grunted and led the mounted soldiers behind him away.

Chen Xiaolian rubbed his chin as he continued looking at the figures of the distant mounted soldiers.

Lun Tai and Bei Tai had fought together with Chen Xiaolian for quite some time. They had long since come to understand his character. They knew that there must be a reason behind the actions from Chen Xiaolian earlier. Thus, they had simply stayed silent by the side.

At that moment, Lun Tai finally opened his mouth to ask, “How is it? Did you manage to get any information from earlier?”

Chen Xiaolian nodded his head; there was a very grim look on his face as he said, “I think… … it is probably enough for me to surmise as such.”

He released a long sigh and said, “Fellow brothers, we… … the system had probably tossed us a thousand years back to the past. Combining my speculation and the words said by that mounted soldier from earlier, I can roughly surmise this one thing. At present, we are about to witness the war that will lead to the founding of the Norman Dynasty of England!

“This is… … the eve of the great war started by Xian Yin’s ancestor, the one who founded the Norman Dynasty! By invading England!”