As soon as he left the border fortress, James IV was extremely nervous. The eight hundred infantrymen brought out from the fortress surrounded three circles on the periphery. Fifty Scottish Knights surrounded James IV twice.
In order to prevent the enemy from sneak attacking with heavy crossbows, James IV sat in the only four-wheeled carriage in the border fortress. The four-wheeled carriage was covered with cloth, so that the outside could not see the situation in the carriage. James IV was also wearing a full set of plate armor in the carriage...
Then, James IV sent five Cavaliers to leave the team and did not stay in the reconnaissance. If you see suspicious people or things, you will immediately repay them...
In this way, the team embarked on the northward road with trembling fear. However, because they brought eight hundred infantry, the entire team's march speed slowed down. In addition, the mountains in southern Scotland were difficult to walk, and the speed of this group of people was less than 30 kilometers every day. The Edinburgh from the border to England was about 100 kilometers. If you transfer to the two horses, you could arrive in one day.
However, Edward only gave each person one horse, and it was a sprint-type horse with poor endurance. Because of the last defeat, Scotland was now seriously short of horses, and there were no horses to transfer in the border barracks. In desperation, the entire team could only keep moving forward at a slow speed of less than 30 kilometers a day.
But along the way, the situation was calm, and no horse thieves even coveted the team. This made James IV full of doubts:
"Did I blame Edward for the wrong reasons?"
According to the general situation, if Edward really wanted to attack him, not to mention the ambush of the army along the way, at least there must be sneaky spies to observe their movements. However, several knights who were proficient in reconnaissance said that they did not see any suspicious figures like spies along the way...
James IV believed in the words of the Knights under his command. After all, reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance on the battlefield are the minimum military basic abilities of the knights from the Knights family, and have been trained since childhood. Moreover, the several knights sent by James IV were all old knights in their thirties and forties, with rich experience and sharp eyes. You can see whether they are spies or spies at a glance. Even if you can't see them, you will have some doubts. However, it was too calm along the way...
In fact, James IV and his men didn't know that their group had always been under the surveillance of the enemy. However, the people who monitored them had a magical artifact - a telescope...
With telescopes that can observe their movements ten kilometers away, there is naturally no need to send people to close and reconnaissance. These telescopes are made of the best optical glass in Marin's hands. In order to remove impurities, iron ions are the culprit of glass discoloration, Marin asked his craftsmen to use high-carbon steel mill to grind the quartz sand used to make glass into very fine powder. Then, dilute sulfuric acid was used to "wash" the quartz sand several times. If there were iron ions, they would have been dissolved by dilute sulfuric acid. Once filtered, the solution would be removed.
In this way, the white glass burned from quartz sand powder with almost no iron ion impurities is very pure and transparent. It is definitely top-notch for use as a telescope.
Moreover, Scotland is a tragic country with mountains accounting for the majority. If it is on the plain, it is difficult to observe if there are forests blocking it. However, in Scotland, where mountains are crisscrossing, the gold medal spies of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce under Marin can easily see the movements of the enemy ten kilometers away by climbing up the mountain and descending from a high point... Because the higher you stand, the further you see...
Therefore, although no one was sent to reconnaissance, the movements of James IV and his group were always under the surveillance of the gold medal spies of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce. However, James IV just didn't know.
After all, other countries do not have military artifacts like telescopes. The knights sent by James IV to reconnaise all use their naked eyes to reconnaise. How can they compare to opponents who use telescopes to reconnaise on a mountain far away? According to the traditional method of naked eyes to reconnaise, they naturally cannot see any problems.
After arriving at the Lauder Valley, which had reached more than 60 kilometers from the border, James IV finally breathed a sigh of relief. Because there was only a narrow mountain road ahead of the Lauder Valley. It was almost impossible for England to ambush on this road. At least, it was impossible to send cavalry to ambush. Even if there was an ambush, at most, they could only send a group of infantry ambush. Moreover, because it was necessary to cross mountains and ridges, the number of people must be very small. If it was just infantry, there were still not many people... James IV looked at the 50 knights around him, and was full of confidence...
Then, he made a decision that he regretted—
"Okay, thank you for sending me here. Now, I am safe. Not far away, Edinburgh is now. Now, go back to your military camp. Remember to strictly guard against the British and never let them take the opportunity to infiltrate our borders!"
"As for your order, my Majesty!" The border guards, with 800 soldiers, turned around decisively and began to rush back.
After resting for one night in the small village of the Lauder Valley, James IV and his 50 knights, they rode their horses to continue north in a refreshing way the next day.
At this time, they were only more than 40 kilometers away from Edinburgh. If it were infantry, they might have to march for one day. If it were their cavalry... it seemed that they would have to walk for one day, or even more than...
In fact, if James IV was willing to take off his plate armor and throw away the heavy horse armor on his war horse at this time, they could indeed return to Edinburgh within one day.
However, the problem is that after signing the ominous mutual inheritance treaty, James IV was always afraid of being killed. Therefore, neither he nor his knights took off their plate armor, just to prevent assassination on the way.
Now, James IV is convinced that there will be no more English-made troops ahead to stop him. However, assassins who use crossbow arrows have to be guarded. If the other party shoots a poisonous arrow at him, it will be all...
Therefore, James IV would rather continue to wear heavy plate armor with his subordinates and let the war horses wear horse armor than go lightly.
However, the full set of plate armor and horse armor is very heavy, and Edward gave them a group of war horses with poor endurance, and there is no slow horse transfer yet. Therefore, the entire team is walking and stopping and unable to move fast. In short, the team's advance speed may not be even as fast as infantry...
In the afternoon, they walked to the near Gobridge Valley more than ten kilometers away...
A knight excitedly said:
"Your Majesty, the Gobridge Valley is ahead. As long as you pass this valley, you will enter the southern plain. When you reach the plain, you will get home!"
Chapter completed!