Real Cthulhu Running Game

"I am very glad that all the brave men can come to Jinfeng City. I am Cowens, the lord of Jinfeng City." Cowens said proactively.

Zhang Jingxu nodded and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that Marquis Cowens would come to greet us in person. We are really flattered now."

Zhang Jingxu exchanged pleasantries with Cowens again, and the relationship between the two parties became closer.

At least that's what it seems on the surface.

"Dear heroes, would you like to rest in the castle first, or go with me to the barracks outside the city?" Cowens asked with a smile.

Zhang Jingxu said directly without thinking: "I have received the latest order from the emperor of our country, so our brave team will also participate in your country's battle to suppress the rebellion and conquer the Plague Clan, so since you said so, Marquis Cowens , then we would definitely prefer to visit the barracks, after all, we should fight side by side in the future."

Cowens nodded and took Liu Xing and others to the barracks not far away.

Liu Xing could tell at a glance that this barracks must have been built just now, because there was not even a fence around the barracks, and there were not even a single soldier responsible for guarding the perimeter.

It seems that the military quality of Jinfeng City soldiers is somewhat worrying.

Cowens looked at his barracks and said with some embarrassment: "This barracks was just established in the past two days. It is specially provided for the residence of the recruited recruits. Our original soldiers in Jinfeng City are all waiting In the castle."

Zhang Jingxu nodded and asked: "I see, but Marquis Cowens, can you tell me how many recruits Jinfeng City has recruited now?"

After Cowens was silent for a moment, he said with some embarrassment: "Hey, I'd better tell the truth to you, Lord Brave. Now our Jinfeng City has only recruited more than 300 new soldiers, plus the original 200 standing troops, it is far from the king's. I am still short of the 1,800 soldiers I ordered; and most importantly, I have three days to lead the army to the capital for reorganization. I think I will be thankful if I can gather 1,000 soldiers by then. ”

At this time, Ding Kun on the side suddenly asked: "Marquis Cowens, I heard before that the recruitment efficiency of your Kingdom of Skaven is very high. Why can't you recruit even half of the new soldiers now?"

Cowens sighed and said seriously: "The answer to this question is actually very simple, that is, the current Skaven Kingdom is no longer the Skaven Kingdom before. The Skaven Kingdom back then had experienced many changes because it had just been established. There have been many large-scale wars, so there have been a large number of veterans, who are willing to go back to the battlefield when necessary; but the current Skaven Kingdom is different, because today’s continent has become relatively peaceful, plus Next to the Kingdom of Skaven is a powerful empire, so the Kingdom of Skaven has not experienced any other wars except the siege of Ruth Zia. Therefore, after the veterans died one after another, those who did not People who have been through war no longer want to be soldiers.”

"Besides that, it's because of the location of my territory. Because my territory is located on the border between the Kingdom of Skaven and the Empire, after the Empire announced that it would no longer initiate wars, successive kings began to continuously reduce their control of my territory. provided military aid, and also continued to cut the military establishment of Jinfeng City. As of now, there is only a city guard of 200 people left responsible for exterminating banditry in the territory. You must know that in the heyday of Jinfeng City, there were nearly two hundred people. With a garrison of thousands of people, I didn’t expect that in just over twenty years, I could only watch my subordinates leave the army one by one.”

Sure enough, Cowens came from the military.

"Marquis Cowens, actually this can be considered a good thing. After all, war is too cruel. It would be great if we can avoid sword confrontation." Zhang Wenbing said.

Cowens nodded, pointed at the two brothers, and said, "You are right. If things were still the same as before, these two boys would have died on the battlefield long ago."

The two brothers Kewen smiled awkwardly.

At this time, a heavily armed veteran walked out of the camp and said with some complaints: "General Cowens, the quality of this batch of recruits is really poor in all aspects. They can't even complete the most basic training."

Now it was Cowens' turn to be embarrassed again, "Monroe, you are my most trusted deputy now, so I hope you can equip these new recruits with the most basic combat capabilities within these three days... Of course, if it doesn't work, Monroe, you must at least let these guys learn how to maintain the most basic formation, because I heard that our king will hold a military parade in the capital, and I don't want to embarrass myself in front of other lords. "

Monroe sighed and said weakly: "Then I can only try my best."

After saying that, Monroe returned to the military camp.

"Monroe was my former adjutant in the army, and he once helped me block a fatal arrow on the battlefield." Cowens introduced: "It seems that those new recruits have not adapted to their military life, so we don't want them for the time being. Go in and disturb them."

Zhang Jingxu nodded and said with a smile: "I think so too, and I feel a little hungry now. After all, we set off to Jinfeng City early in the morning and didn't eat anything on the way."

Seeing that Zhang Jingxu was giving him face like this, Covens decisively borrowed the donkey's foot and said, "Oh, then, Lord Brave, you have to try our Jinfeng City's special delicacy - Starry Sky Pie."

The commercial fake smiles on the faces of Liu Xing and others disappeared instantly, and they all became uneasy.

Soon, Liu Xing and others returned to Jinfeng City and headed to Cowens Castle in the center of Jinfeng City.

As expected by Liu Xing and others, the taste of Jinfeng City is richer and more layered than that of Blacksmith Village, because Jinfeng City is full of various livestock and poultry.

I hate this continent. . .

Liu Xing said silently in his heart.

Fortunately, because Cowens Castle is built at the highest point of Golden Peak City, the air in Cowens Castle is pretty good. . . It is equivalent to Jinfeng City.

Sitting at the dining table, Zhang Jingxu and Cowens chatted happily.

As for Liu Xing and others, looking at the modified version of Starry Sky Sect in front of them, they were speechless.

Because the Skaven Kingdom is a landlocked country, the fishery resources in the Skaven Kingdom are very scarce. The magically modified version of the Starry Sky Pie naturally replaces the fish in the pie with another ingredient.

Trading delicacies from the mountains for seafood makes sense in theory.

However, Liu Xing looked up at the black snakes that were still moving in the starry sky, and did not have the courage to use the knife at all. . .

Is this thing really edible?

Liu Xing couldn't help but move his chair back a little, because Liu Xing suspected that these black snakes that were still alive would run out of the pie if they twisted around.

As an aside, when Liu Xing was a child, he once met his love at a corner, less than 20 centimeters away from a cauliflower snake. From then on, the snake left a deep shadow in the heart of young Liu Xing. Now Liu Xing The most feared creature is still the snake.

At this time, Yin En, who was sitting next to Liu Xing, said in a low voice: "Xie Te, this magically modified star-gazing sect is too scary. I think my sanity value is about to return to zero."

At this time, Liu Xing and others saw Cowens picking up a fork and killing a black snake directly, then mixed it with the pie and ate it together.

Liu Xing felt that he instantly lost 1 point of sanity.

Because they were "tired from the journey" and had "no appetite", Liu Xing and others only drank a few glasses of wine at the table, and then left the restaurant and went back to their rooms to rest.

Of course, Liu Xing and others did not rest long, so they wandered around the Cowens Castle and inquired about various information from the servants and servants in the Cowens Castle.

After several successful speech judgments, Liu Xing and Yin En obtained a lot of information about Cowens.

Cowens is an inspiring example of the Skaven Kingdom, because Cowans was originally just the son of an ordinary blacksmith. After he built himself a set of weapons and equipment at the age of sixteen, he secretly joined the army, and spent many years in it. With outstanding performance in the battle, Cowens became a general step by step, and his title was changed from baron to earl.

In the siege of Luszia that year, Cowens, as the vanguard, led his troops to the city wall of Luszia first, and then because he wanted to clear the Plague Clan defenders on the city wall and ensure that the city wall was not It would be snatched back by the Plague Clan, so Cowens did not participate in the subsequent street fighting, so Cowans' troops did not suffer too many casualties.

Again, because this continent is set in medieval Europe, "the vassals of my vassals are not my vassals" still apply to this continent.

To put it simply, although Cowens' troops belong to the Skaven Kingdom in name, in fact Cowens' troops are Cowens's private tribe and only accept the command of Cowens.

Therefore, after the siege of Luszia, Cowens, who had two thousand soldiers and horses, could be regarded as self-respecting, so the King of Skaven at that time raised his title to that of a marquis. Vince was deployed from the hinterland of the kingdom to the border with the empire, the significance of which is self-evident. Since then, Cowens has never been reused by successive kings, and has continued to suffer various suppressions.

If it weren't for the fact that the new king this time wanted to ensure that he could defeat the rebels and the Plague Clan, Cowens would have had the opportunity to be recruited.

However, according to some unknown sources, Cowens theoretically only needed to recruit 800 soldiers according to the recruitment standards issued by the king to other lords. Cowens made a show of force, so he added a recruitment requirement of one thousand soldiers to Cowens. If Cowens failed to complete this recruitment target, then Cowens was likely to be demoted to an earl or even a viscount.

Obviously, Cowans is now suppressed in the Skaven Kingdom.

After hearing this, Liu Xing finally understood why Cowens was willing to put down his posture and make friends when facing his group.

Obviously, judging from the current situation, unless Covance recruits strong men and forcibly recruits a group of new soldiers to complete his recruitment goal, there will definitely be no way for Covance to gather 1,800 soldiers in three days, and if If Cowens really dares to capture a strong man, then Cowens may be directly deprived of his title.

Therefore, the only way for Cowens to break the situation at present is to use the power of the fox to hug Ning Jingxu's thigh.

Although Zhang Jingxu will not be of any substantial help to Cowens, Zhang Jingxu is a brave man recognized by the empire after all, so if Zhang Jingxu is willing to side with Cowens, then King Skaven will have to consider Zhang Jingxu At that time, the only choice is to "forgive" Cowens for his inability to do things well.

Because the empire's mercenaries will definitely choose to support Zhang Jingxu.

Therefore, if Cowans can have a good relationship with Zhang Jingxu and let Zhang Jingxu intercede for him, then Cowans can get through this difficulty, and then Cowans can also take his team of recruits with a combat effectiveness of five Mercenaries who join the empire will not be used as cannon fodder to die.

"It seems that this Cowens is not a reckless man who only knows how to fight." Yin En said with some sigh: "But it always feels a little uncomfortable to be used as a gunman. Unexpectedly, we became Cowens's shield."

Liu Xing shrugged and said: "Actually, this is also a good thing for us. After all, our original purpose was to make Cowens our spokesperson, so we can achieve our goals more conveniently. Then Of course it couldn't be better, and judging from the current situation, we might be able to indirectly control Cowens' troops. Although the combat effectiveness of these recruits is extremely poor, they are still a large army. It can help us solve some problems.”

Yin En nodded, touched his chin and said: "In fact, if we had known that the empire would send mercenaries to join the war, we could have gone to the leader of the mercenaries to cooperate. After all, Zhang Jingxu's title of brave is better with the empire. It can be used, and the strength of the empire’s mercenaries will definitely not be too bad.”

"You can't say that. You must know that mercenaries have no say on the battlefield. They can only obey the employer's arrangements to fight. So if we join the mercenaries of the empire, then we will be subject to many restrictions, and we will also There is no guarantee that we can convince the mercenary leader to cooperate with us, and we may be assigned various messy tasks by then, which is not a good thing for us; so although the strength of Cowens is poor A little, but Cowens should choose to follow our advice and become a qualified spokesperson."

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