amaotonovel Chapter 1143 John's Great Escape
Chapter 1143 John's Great Escape
Chapter 1143 John's Great Escape
Zhu Di never expected that John would be able to escape the search of the Western Expedition cavalry and arrive at the Castle of Beldraig.
It was winter, everything was withered, no grass or trees were growing, and the roads were covered with snow, making it difficult to get far. Mahamu and other grassland cavalrymen were chasing John with all their might. Under normal circumstances, a big fish like John would have no chance of escaping.
However, John, who had maxed out his escape skills, used a very clever trick of "hiding the darkness beneath the lamp".
After discovering that the stables had been destroyed by the Ming army and Sigismund had been beheaded by the Ming army, John became more determined to escape.
At this time, his chief of staff, Engherand VII, could no longer insist on him resisting the Ming army.
It was still night, and the Ming army occupied the castle gate and burned the stables in just a few moments. The French army stationed in the center of the castle had no way of knowing the exact number of Ming troops. Enguerrand VII judged based on his own experience that the number of Ming troops would not be large, so he insisted on letting John resist.
But later, the Ming army even killed Sigismund, the top noble among the Crusaders. You know, Sigismund was the king, with countless knights guarding him, and many nobles followed his lead, but he died. This made Enguerrand doubt his judgment.
If the forces that broke into the city were not the main force of the Ming army, how could they have cut off Sigismund's head so easily?
He could never have imagined that Sigismund was killed by the Ming army because when he was about to seize the horse and escape, he ran into Xu Zengshou who was destroying the stable...
The shaken Enguerrand VII had no choice but to agree to John's request to abandon the city and flee.
So John led the French knights who had lost their horses and left the Fort Berdelag from the north gate. Enguerrand VII was somewhat rational and knew that the military rations stored in the castle could not be left to the Ming army on the westward expedition, so he sent a general to burn the food. But by chance, the Crusaders who were ordered to burn the food ran into Zhang Yu's troops who came to kill John but came up empty-handed, so they were unable to burn the food.
The group ran for several miles in panic until they heard the news that several nobles who followed them had been captured. John then realized that they could not go on like this.
At this time, this young man whose head was full of the glory of knights had quickly "grown" into a sly man in the flames of war. His tactical and strategic qualities may not have improved much, but his talent for escape was naturally stimulated.
He found Enguerrand VII and ordered him to lead the vast majority of French knights to evacuate quickly, while he himself led a small number of knights to cover the French army.
"Your Excellency the Count?" Enguerrand VII was extremely shocked. He could not imagine why John, who had just been thinking about escaping, would become so brave and fearless at this moment.
But he couldn't just sit there and watch John die, so he said to John, "My Lord, you can't stay behind to cover our retreat."
"We can speed up and abandon all the nobles from other countries here... but you can't die here."
"This is a blasphemy against the honor of our French knights!" John suddenly said righteously. It was as if the person who was in the castle just now and was in a hurry to escape was not him. He quickly used his brain to try to trick Enguerrand into completing his plan, so he continued to say to Enguerrand VII:
"I wanted to escape just now because we could still gather enough strength if we escaped at that time."
"But now we have been defeated... If we continue to flee, we will only be killed by those Ming people in the continuous rout."
"God will not allow such a great defeat, and will not allow his Crusaders to be annihilated here... We must find a way to reduce the casualties of the army and leave a spark for resisting the Ming Dynasty in the future."
Seeing that King Enguerrand VII wanted to speak, John showed his gentlemanly manners and shouted: "Now is not the time for you to argue with me!"
"I must go and practice my knight's honor! Even if you try to stop me, I must go!"
"If we continue to argue, the King of Yan from the Ming Dynasty will come to kill us! When that happens, everyone will become humiliating captives of the Ming people!"
John's righteous words and awe-inspiring moral character actually shocked Enguerrand VII for a moment.
There was really no time to think about it at this time, as the rear team kept sending news of the approaching Ming army. Enguerrand VII had no choice but to hastily salute John, and then led most of the French knights to flee as he was told.
Their Duke Philip of France was the biggest organizer of this Crusade, and John was the Duke's son. If he had the courage to die...
This might be a better outcome for France.
Watching Enguerrand VII and his men walk away, John breathed a sigh of relief.
"You!" He pointed at a French soldier following behind him. This French soldier was a knight's squire, who had no armor on him, only a tattered cotton armor.
Of course, most of the other knights at this time did not have time to put on their cool chain mail or plate armor... because they were running in a hurry, and without war horses, they could not escape in such heavy armor.
"Take off your clothes!" John said to the servant.
The attendant didn't understand why the Earl, who had just said he wanted to cover the army's retreat, now wanted him to take off his clothes.
John certainly didn't think about leaving behind. When he was in the castle, he didn't even think about resisting, so how could he go and die now? He quickly took off his luxurious noble robe and changed into a servant's cotton armor. Seeing that King Enguerrand VII had led the large army far away, he said to the few guards around him, "Let's go in another direction!"
His thoughts had never been so clear before. The news that the nobles behind him were captured one after another made him quickly realize that escaping together with the majority of people would only increase the target of the Ming army's pursuit.
Only by escaping quietly can you have a chance of success.
Facts proved that he was right. After John left the main army, Mahamu quickly set his sights on Engerand VII, who led a large number of defeated soldiers. In order to fully pursue this "big fish", Mahamu ignored the small fish and shrimps fleeing in the snow.
John, who was outnumbered and dressed in soldier's clothes, escaped. Of course, if he continued to flee north, Mahamu would sooner or later be able to free up his hands and feet to continue the pursuit after defeating Enguerrand.
So, John unexpectedly chose to go upstream. He bypassed the pursuit of the steppe cavalry and went all the way south, even crossing the Danube and coming to the south bank where the Beldraig Castle was located.
(End of this chapter)