143 Standing and Kneeling (2/2)
Jett understood somewhat. ”So you're judging based on your own experiences, assuming that John Senior will surely make a move when he sees us 'divide the army'?”
Roland nodded. ”I've played nearly ten thousand games of cavalry in Mount \u0026 Blade for several years. I can't say that I've fought all over the server without a single rival, but I also have an extremely high win rate, and I usually only play cavalry, believing that cavalry is the supreme type of soldier. Even in street battles, I would use cavalry. I was scolded harshly by my teammates, hehe.”
”This kind of thinking seems a bit like John Senior!” Jett froze for a moment, then realized, ”You guys are one of a kind.”
”Yep, so I think there's a good chance he'll launch an assault,” Roland said in a casual tone.
Jett was a bit disappointed. ”I suddenly feel a big difference compared to you guys who play with tactics. Hawk has a civil engineering background, and with a few hundred vagrants, he easily built a dock and constructed an anti-cavalry entrenchment overnight, whereas you actually used your opponent's fundamental personality to launch a counter move. In contrast, I can only go to the church and pray for blessings, which is utterly useless. Looks like I'll have to read some psychology or something from today onward.”
Roland laughed aloud. ”That's just my personal speculation, John Senior may not fall for it…”
Then, Roland was proved wrong.
”Ding~! Hawk has shared an epic-level quest with you.”
Repel the Attack of the Delpon Army.
At this time, all four of them were in the group interface, and when they saw the request to share the quest, they directly clicked confirm.
Quickly reading the details of the quest, Jett looked at Roland with a kind of disdain, one extremely like a meme: Shang Wai, and say you don't know martial arts[1]!
Roland played along with a laugh, then he looked into the distance and said, ”The plan worked, but we've got to settle some troubles before we go to back up Hawk.”
Upstream behind them, there were two medium-sized battleships just riding the current downstream, and they were fast.
The large white sails were painted with the shield-shaped insignia of the city of Delpon.
At the same time, Hawk and Link were standing on a tower, watching a fully armed infantry come out of Delpon.
There were about seven hundred of them, and they came out of the city and ran directly to the docks. Then the formation spread out and surrounded the entirety of the docks from a far distance.
A group of archers was assembled behind the infantry.
A visual estimate of about two hundred men, almost a thousand people in total.
There was no cavalry.
Link looked behind him at the big river, then turned back and said, ”The river is also blocked, but there are two battleships going downstream. They should be going after Roland and Jett.”
Hawk drew in a breath. ”All as Roland had guessed. This guy is really strong in his scheming—if only he could be pulled into our guild, I'd be willing to give him the position of deputy leader.”
Link just smiled. ”You're the only one I recognize as deputy leader.”
Hawk didn't mind; he and Link had met in a game a long time ago and had switched games many times since then.
Although they hadn't met in reality, they were soul brothers, the kind that understood each other.
Hawk waited for a moment and said, ”Let's go mobilize our troops.”
The two of them descended the bartizan.
There was an army of about three hundred men waiting before them.
These men stood very straight, with their hands on their outer thighs and their heads held high.
They looked spirited.
Hawk looked at them and said sternly, ”We were originally beggars, filthy and lowly. The nobles were unwilling to pay attention to us, the merchants looked down on us, and the commoners stayed away from us. No one was ever willing to help us, and now, we've finally made a good living on our own through great difficulty, but… they don't seem to want us to live better, they want to destroy everything we have now, they don't think we deserve a good life. They want to trample us back into the mud again! Are you resigned?”
These simply-dressed soldiers had fury in their eyes.
”Now, it's time to test our unflinching righteousness. Why were we born low, why can't we live a good life, why can they ride on top of us—piss and sh** on us!” Hawk patted himself on the chest and roared, ”I'm not resigned! Live on your knees or die standing up, what is your choice? Tell me aloud!”
The soldiers were stirred up such that their faces were red, veins popped out on their foreheads and necks, and they raised their weapons high in the air. ”Die standing up!”
”Die standing up!”
”Die standing up!”
The continuous roars were like a dragon's roar, frightening away all the nearby birds and sending wild dogs crawling with their tails between their legs, afraid.
Hawk pressed his hands down and the soldiers immediately quieted down, but the pupils of everyone's eyes seemed to burn with fire.
”We can make a happy life for ourselves with our own hands, with a hoe and sickle. Now, with our own hands, we can also take up arms, defeat them, make them look at us squarely, even fear us, and strip the word 'lowly' from us, so that our future generations can walk the streets of the city with dignity! They won't be without a fixed dwelling, they won't panic at the sight of merchants and nobles, and they won't feel ashamed because of their own status.”
In the eyes of these beggar soldiers, there had only been flames of fury, but now there was something more: hope.
Hawk laughed lightly. ”So, defeat them and we can live standing up!”
”Live standing up!”
It was as if the roars of hundreds of lions rang out at the same time, and the loud noise seemed to shatter the low-hanging nimbus clouds in the sky.
The clouds parted piece by piece!
[1] A line from Hail the Judge, 1994 HK film made into a meme