Unknown Knight

When the first ray of sunlight in the early morning shone into the town of Nico, the sound of a clear gong resounded throughout the town, followed by a burst of loud and earnest shouting. The townspeople were familiar with the shrill and hoarse voice, which came from the blind man Obaid, who had just been rewarded with a woman and a house by Aix.

He should be the most loyal person to Aix in the town now. The kind prophet not only rewarded him with a house and a woman, but also arranged this job of night watchman for him for his future livelihood.

Although the monthly salary of two silver coins was not much, it was enough to make a living. Combined with the output from the five acres of land, it was not a problem to satisfy his basic needs. He also aroused the envy of other townspeople. It was hard to find a job that was easy and paid these days. Besides, night watchmen were official staff members and many people tried their best to get in.

At this moment, Obaid was supported by a young woman, who was quite pretty. She was the concubine that Aix had just assigned to him, and originally belonged to Master Fadini. Obaid seemed to have gained a new life and was full of energy. He wore a clean but neat outfit, although it was worn out. He beat the gong along the street and shouted the first decree issued by Aix after he conquered the town:

"The prophet has ordered that all the young and strong men in the town, regardless of gender, can participate in the construction of the city wall. In addition to two meals a day, each person will be given a reward of ten copper coins per day. Fellow villagers, please hurry up. This is a rare opportunity. Don't miss out if you are late."

Although Aix distributed land to every household and gave some material rewards, the harvest season had passed and the townspeople who had no output yet had to make a living, so he issued this work-for-relief decree to find a way for the townspeople to survive.

In addition, the most important thing at the moment is defense. He needs to hold the strategic fulcrum of Nico Town before the arrival of the large army, and he urgently needs to repair and strengthen the town’s defenses.

At this moment, more than 200 construction workers have gathered under the city wall. These people include captured soldiers, nobles who failed the political review, and their family members. They are the objects of dictatorship and enjoy the standard treatment of prisoners of this era, but they do not receive a reward of ten copper coins a day, and their food is also very poor. They are whipped by the guarding soldiers and rushed to work early in the morning.

Soon, almost all the young and strong men in the town gathered under the city wall. They brought their own tools and, led by several teams of soldiers, distributed under the city walls on all four sides and devoted themselves to the construction of the city wall.

It is very easy to build the city wall here. They use rammed earth, which is a local material. They just need to dig the earth from the outside of the city wall. The excavated clay is mixed with water and rammed onto the city wall. After just one morning of sun exposure, it will become hard and become a solid city wall.

Moreover, the excavated earth is outside the city wall. With a little trimming, it becomes a trench with good defensive capabilities. If some sharpened wooden stakes are inserted, the effect will be even better.

With the efforts of the whole town, the town walls were visibly getting higher. Aix even built several arrow towers to assist in the attack, and hidden city walls were built in the front and back gates.

The townspeople all actively participated in the construction. They all knew that they had formed a solid bond with the power of the Prophet. Once the town was conquered by the Berbera army, all the previous rewards and land would be wiped out. The men would be liquidated and either killed or sold as slaves. Their wives and daughters would be raped by the rebel army and become playthings to be abused at will.

Compared with the prophet who did not harm them after entering the town, and distributed land and property to them, and who promised not to collect taxes for three years after getting the land, and a policy of 10% tax forever after three years, it was obvious which side the people supported.

In order to protect the fruits of their labor and to enjoy the better life in the future as described by the priests of the Supreme God, even women, children, the elderly and the weak took the initiative to join in the construction. The whole town of Nico was bustling with activity and became a large construction site.

These women, children, the elderly and the weak did not meet the standard for reward money, but Aix could not discourage their enthusiasm for work. Not only did he order the kitchen to provide them with two full meals, but he also gave each person five copper coins every day.

This move made the townspeople feel grateful from the bottom of their hearts. They had done a lot of hard labor without pay or food, but they had never seen such preferential treatment as free food and money. They couldn't help but look forward to the future. They didn't need to be urged when working, and their efficiency was consciously improved.

Thanks to the efforts of all the townspeople and soldiers, in less than a week, the city wall of Nico Town was raised from more than ten meters to fifteen meters. A trench five meters deep and more than six meters wide was dug out outside the city wall, and the additional arrow towers and urn cities were basically completed.

It was not until then that the occasional patrol cavalry from Berbera City arrived here. They saw the greatly changed town of Nico from afar and knew that something was wrong. They immediately returned to Berbera City to report the news.

At this time, the second batch of more than 500 troops of the Standing Castle had been transported from the sea, along with a large amount of military supplies. Only then did Aix feel relieved. With his understanding of the city of Berbera, these troops plus the current defense of Nico Town were enough to withstand any attack from the city of Berbera.

The Lord of Humamu City is very depressed now. He has not yet gotten over the annoyance of being blocked by the nobles in the city some time ago. He tried hard to endure it and bleed a lot of money, and finally recruited an army of more than 3,000 people.

He is currently stepping up preparations for training and preparing military equipment, waiting to send troops to attack Fort Standing again after everything is ready to avenge his previous defeat. He did not expect that the enemy would actually attack right under his nose.

In his eyes, it was impossible for Aix's forces to send troops to attack him. The desert environment was deserted for hundreds of miles, the City of Zion was breached, the spies cultivated in the city were also eliminated by Aix, and Aix deliberately blocked the information. These factors isolated the intelligence transmission of Fort Standstill, leaving his information stuck in the regret of almost winning the last Battle of Fort Standstill. He didn't know that Aix had already integrated the forces of Zion City and was now much stronger. He also reached a reconciliation with the Ogbai family, eliminating all security risks around.

After a brief moment of astonishment, the Lord of Humamu was filled with anger, thinking "How dare you!" In his eyes, Aix, with less than a thousand soldiers, was simply dreaming. He was so arrogant that he came to attack his city of Berbera.

Coupled with the regret of his last failure and the anger of being blocked at the door recently, his anger towards Aix has now reached the upper limit of the threshold, and he may lose control and burst blood vessels at any time.

This made him immediately gather the 3,000 soldiers who were training in the city, and with rage in his hearts, he marched towards the town of Nico, five or six miles away.