The Vante Empire is close to the southern border, and the Xili Province, which is close to the Qingfeng Plain, belongs to the territory of Duke Greene, who has a green head. The province has a population of more than five million and is the largest source of food, timber, and furs in the Vante Empire.

of origin.

In the far south of Xili Province, on the edge of the Qingfeng Plain, there is a small village in the middle of a small mountain range that does not stretch for more than a hundred miles. The village has a population of only more than three hundred, and because it is not close to the plain

The mainland's commercial highways are quite remote, and there are not many connections with the outside world. Therefore, the war has been going on for half a month, and there is no news here.

It had just rained lightly, and the soil on the ground had been turned into legless black mud. The Supreme God in the sky poked his head out again, causing traces of steam to rise from the mud, making the lower half of the person's body covered with water.

It was itchy and uncomfortable. However, the air was extremely fresh. It seemed that the only trace of soil in the air had been washed to the ground. At this moment, there was nothing else except pure gas.

A dozen teenagers of 16 or 17 years old roared and rushed over along the only road in the village, carrying wooden sticks that were almost the length of infantry rifles. Their naked feet blew up the mud into the sky, staining their brown pants.

. They are not worried. Anyway, as long as the mud is dry, you can wipe it casually and there will be no traces. As for the upper body, their upper body is all naked. Just throw it in the creek by the village and it will be clean.

.

A group of teenagers rushed to a hut at the entrance of the village and shouted: "Lei, Lei, come out. The weather has improved. Uncle Ste is going to teach us marksmanship. Hurry up."

A young man who was obviously much sturdier and slightly taller than them, with a dark complexion, a clean shaven head, and a decent face, but far from being handsome, walked out of the hut. However, it was such a young man who was relatively taller than them.

A young man who is much stronger than his peers, has an indescribable air of weakness about him. It can even be said that he has the air of an old man who has lived in seclusion for too long, or someone who has been too stressed by life.

Yes, the weakness of resignation.

The young man named Lei shook his head, gestured to the one-and-a-half-meter-long bow in his hand, and said: "You go ahead, I'll go for a walk in the mountains. If you're lucky, maybe I can get a few."

The deer is back."

The leader of the group, a young man with fair hair, shouted dissatisfied: "Lei, you always don't go to practice kung fu with Uncle Ste. What will you do if something happens to the village?"

Lei shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "Forget it, what can happen in the village? There is Duke Green's military camp outside the mountain. Who dares to come here to cause trouble? I'd better go kill some wild beasts for money as soon as possible. My mother coughs again

Already."

The young people stopped talking. They all knew that Lei's father died early, and he only had a weak mother to support him. Naturally, he could not have the extra time to practice martial arts and play like they did. The yellow-haired young man shook his head helplessly and shouted.

He said: "Then you move quickly and be careful when going up the mountain. When we come back, we will teach you what we learned today." After saying that, he led a group of people and rushed to the house of veteran Stet on the hillside outside the village.

Lei laughed a few times, looked at St's house with endless longing, grabbed a pot of homemade bamboo arrows, walked out of the fenced yard with bare feet, and walked towards the hillside behind the village. He

Naturally, I also hope to practice martial arts, and I can also listen to Old Ste bragging about how brave he was on the battlefield. Lei chuckled a few times: "Uncle Ste must be a good warrior, otherwise every three or five times on the mainland.

A war broke out every year, how could he come back alive? Although he was lame in one foot, at least his life was saved."

A strange thought suddenly popped up in Lei's mind: "Maybe Uncle Ste survived because he was so good at escaping." As soon as he thought of this, he looked behind him with a guilty conscience, fearing that he would look arrogant.

The bearded Steer would suddenly appear in front of him, and then hit him hard on the head with his big fist.

Not to mention that Lei went up the mountain with his bow and arrow, but that a group of young people rushed to Ste's hut carrying wooden sticks and shouted loudly: "Uncle Ste, Uncle Ste, don't steal wine, otherwise we will

Tell the aunt to go...Haha, come out quickly."

A bearded man with an abnormally red complexion and a slight smell of alcohol hurriedly ran out of the house and cursed at a group of young people: "A bunch of bastards, can I have a little taste?"

Can’t we even have fine wine? How many benefits has your aunt given you? What a bunch of bad guys... Okay, Bit, come up and try it first, haha, let’s see how the boxing skills I taught you go.”

The young man with light yellow hair cheered, threw away the wooden stick in his hand, rubbed his hands and rushed forward. He raised his hand and aimed a punch at Ste's chest. When the fist was still in the middle, it suddenly turned into an elbow.

He pushed up and hit Stett's chin hard. Stett laughed loudly, blocked Bit's elbow with his left hand, grabbed Bit's belt with his right hand, and threw him to the ground with a fierce force.

On the dirt floor in the yard in front of the house.

There was a 'pop' sound, mud splashed everywhere, and Bit cursed loudly: "Old man, we agreed to practice boxing, why are you using so much force? Ouch, do you still want us to compete with you?"

Ste snickered and made gestures and said: "Who told you to threaten me and tell your aunt that I stole wine? So I'll teach you a little lesson, hehe, okay, now you come up one by one and break it down with me.

Don't look at it. This is the most common 'punch' in the Vante Emperor's army, but it is a life-saving trick on the battlefield. Back then, I killed a magician from the Smart Empire with this fist.

Well, do you understand? He is a magician, and I received a hundred gold coins with his head."

The young people's eyes lit up. One hundred gold coins, this is real. Everyone knows that Ste is the richest man in the village. I guess all his military exploits are not fictitious, right?

Bit also regained his energy, climbed up from the mud, waved his fists, and started to fight with St. While neutralizing Bit's punches, St. boasted: "The one I knocked down was an official at the level of Crystal Unicorn."

Magician, the unicorn is holding a branch of three oak leaves in its mouth. Normally, such a magician can kill ten soldiers like me from a long distance, but once I rush towards him, I will hit him with just a few fists.

He's dead... So, don't look down on the boxing technique I taught you, it is the simplest and most effective boxing technique for killing people."

After hitting hundreds of punches and more than thirty kicks in a row, Bit finally fell to the ground weakly and wailed: "Uncle, I have no strength anymore. This punching technique is too exhausting."

Stern taught him a serious lesson: "Bah, of course it takes effort. Otherwise, how could you kill your opponent? Don't be lazy. You can't lie down when you run out of strength. You have to move faster, otherwise your strength will regress. If you go

In the military camp, you are not as merciful as I am. The officer's whip will make you run around the whole square. My instructor back then was a black iron knight with two teeth. Hehe, he really can't run away."

Seeing Bit still lying on the ground with a scoundrel look on his face, Ste finally sighed: "Oh, you little bastards don't know how to work hard. As a man, even if you don't join the army, it's good to have your own strength.

Yes, at least I have one more skill that I can use to make a living. Is it possible that you don’t want to go to the outside world to broaden your horizons?...Sigh, that kid Lei, if he is willing to practice martial arts seriously with me, he will be much better than you.

"

Other young people started shouting: "Lei needs to take care of his mother. Aunt Lisa is not in good health. Lei can't take care of the family's fields on his own. Without our help, he wouldn't even have time to sow the seeds."

...Besides, he still has to hunt, and Aunt Lisa needs nutrition and money to buy medicine."

Ste shook his head and sighed: "Oh, I said I would give him a little help, but the little guy didn't want it. Alas... he is such a stubborn little guy. Could it be that my uncle Ste would abduct him?

?”

Bit shouted loudly: "Uncle Ste is a good man and will not kidnap or traffic us. However, his fists are too heavy and he will beat us to death."

Ste was so angry that he kicked him over. Bit immediately hugged his foot on the ground and twisted it hard. Ste's other foot was a bit disabled and he couldn't stand for a while. He roared angrily and fell down.

He fell into the mud, splashing a large amount of mud. The young people next to him cheered: "Haha, let's show Uncle Ste the results of our training. Uncle, this is the ninth form of the 'Punch Punch'

."

A group of people pounced on Ste, pressing him to the ground. Countless mud immediately covered Ste's clothes. Ste was roaring angrily, but couldn't struggle away. In the end, he really didn't have the strength to shout.

He couldn't help but laugh: "Damn it, you bastards, your aunt is going to teach me a lesson again... Okay, Ste, you are already old, but you are still playing in the mud."

Everyone laughed and carefully let go of Ste, who climbed up in embarrassment with mud and water all over his body.

Ste shook his head, wiped his face with both hands, and suddenly shouted: "Strange, how come there are troops coming to the village? One, two, three... Well, seventeen people, and there are still... days

Ah, the Bronze Knight is leading the team, and the others are all regular Black Iron Knights. Did something big happen? Oops, has the war broken out again? It has only been peaceful for less than two years."

Ste looked worriedly at the mountain pass into the village in the distance and shook his head, while Bit and the others had already said hello curiously and rushed down the hillside to meet the small group of knights. Bit shouted loudly

He said: "Where's the Bronze Horseman? It's the Bronze Horseman. I've never seen a Bronze Horseman."

A group of young people laughed at him mercilessly: "Bit, you are bragging, you have never even seen the Black Iron Knight." Bit was so angry that he kicked them towards them, and the group of people ran out fighting.

Ste, on the other hand, limped one leg and walked down the hillside neatly, walking up the path to meet him.

Bit and the others ran for more than three hundred meters, stopped and stood on the roadside, looking at the seventeen knights with a slightly fearful, but more admiring look. The seventeen knights on horses.

Also looking at them, the bronze knight in the lead smiled and nodded to them, and asked harmoniously: "Is this Kali Village?"

Bit nodded repeatedly and bowed respectfully: "Sir, yes, this is Kali Village. Are you looking for our village chief? Uncle Carter is in the village and should not have gone out."

Just as he was talking, Ste had already walked over and carefully looked at the badge on the left chest of the Bronze Knight. It was a wild leopard with five fangs in its mouth. He couldn't help but stand at attention on the spot, clenched his right fist across his chest, and shouted loudly:

Drink: "My lord."

The knights were stunned for a moment, quickly jumped off their horses, performed the same military salute, and said: "Return the salute." They were a little surprised in their hearts. They didn't expect that there were retired soldiers in this village.

, the group of little guys just now were able to run so fast without panting, it should be his contribution, right? Come to think of it, after these young people are recruited into the army, they can be put to use quickly, which is much better than ordinary people.

Ste looked at the bronze knight a little strangely and asked hesitantly: "Sir, you are a fifth-level bronze knight. You are at least the team leader, right? I wonder what you can do with your presence?"

The Bronze Knight nodded slightly and replied: "War, I am Klaus, captain of the second regiment of the third division under the Grand Duke Green. I have been ordered to recruit new soldiers to join the army. Please take us to see the village chief of Cali Village...

.According to the order of the Grand Duke, all males without disabilities, aged from sixteen to thirty-five, are recruited into the army. I'm sorry."

Klaus's face was full of helplessness and embarrassment. He knew that it was spring now and the crops had just been sown. If most of the young and middle-aged men in the territory were recruited into the army, even if the war was won, the people would not be able to reap this year's harvest.

It's over. Although this is the granary of the empire, it's impossible for people to have too much food in their homes. After this battle, it is estimated that the lives of people in the entire duchy will be a problem.

Ste was stunned for a moment, speechless. The team leader personally came down to recruit people. Has the situation become so bad? Thinking of this, his face suddenly darkened. Seeing Ste's face, Crowe

Si guessed what he was thinking and said quickly: "Oh, the situation is not too bad, it's just that the military strength in our territory is not enough to fight against the Smart Empire's army. In order to wait for the reinforcements from the Emperor, we

We need to concentrate all our efforts... My team was selected to recruit recruits in this area, so I was naturally embarrassed to be idle, so I personally led the team to the farthest village."

Ste said 'oh', nodded slightly, and laughed in his heart: "No wonder he can talk to us common people so easily, and he is so polite when returning gifts. His feelings are like those of a man who was marginalized in the army and sent to do coolies.

...Hehe, I really want to see these high-ranking knights in trouble, bah, I will cook the worst food for you tonight, you were the one who deducted our rations in the first place."

With strange thoughts in his mind, Sturt very politely led a group of knights towards the village, while Bit and the others followed behind them, admiringly looking at the shining armor and the thick and heavy swords on these knights.

When Lei was running back to the village from the mountain with a few pheasants and a deer, he happened to be Klaus, who was standing in the small square in the center of the village with a frown on his face after barely eating some of the garbage-like breakfast prepared by Ste.

When the knight spoke loudly: "Villagers, please don't panic. The soldiers we are recruiting this time are just for reserve. Your Excellency the Duke has his own elite private army on the front line. These people are just for precaution. After all, we

Xili Province is the province closest to the border, so it is necessary to recruit soldiers. However, we will definitely not let untrained soldiers like them go to the battlefield, so everyone can rest assured."

One of the emblems behind him was a black iron knight with a running wolf with three sharp teeth in his mouth. He added: "You don't have to worry about the safety of your loved ones. They are just serving as local defense forces to maintain law and order in wartime. What's more, this

After all, it’s the Duke’s order, there’s no way to disobey it.”

The villagers became a little commotion. What they talked about more than life safety was production issues.

Klaus frowned and shouted loudly: "Okay, we are in a hurry, so let's not delay. Please ask those of the appropriate age to stand up after hearing my roll call. This is based on the household registration information of your local tax officer.
To be continued...