The Rise of the European Emperor

As soon as he left the frontier fort, James IV was extremely nervous. And the 800 infantry brought out from the fortress surrounded the periphery three times. Fifty Scottish knights surrounded James IV twice.

In order to guard against the enemy's possible sneak attack with heavy crossbows, James IV sat in the only four-wheeled carriage in the frontier fort. The four-wheeled carriage was covered with cloth to prevent the outside from seeing what was inside the carriage. And James IV, in the carriage, also wore full plate armor...

Then, James IV also sent five knights to leave the team, constantly scouting the surrounding environment. If you see suspicious people or things, report back immediately...

In this way, the team tremblingly embarked on the road to the north. However, because of bringing 800 infantry, the marching speed of the entire team slowed down. Coupled with the fact that the mountains in southern Scotland are difficult to walk, the speed of this group of people is less than 30 kilometers every day. The distance from Edinburgh to the border of England is about 100 kilometers, and if two horses change trains, they can arrive in one day.

However, Edward only gave everyone one horse, and it was a sprinting horse with poor endurance. And because of the last defeat, Scotland is now seriously short of horses, and there are no horses to transfer in the border barracks. In desperation, the entire team could only keep moving at a slow pace of less than 30 kilometers per day.

But along the way, the situation has been calm, and there are not even horse thieves coveting this team. This made James IV full of doubts:

"Could it be that I wronged Edward?"

According to the general situation, if Edward really wanted to attack and kill him, not to mention the army ambushing him along the way, at least there must be sneaky spies observing their movements. However, the few knights who were proficient in reconnaissance said that along the way, they did not see any suspicious figures similar to spies...

James IV believed in the words of the knights under his command. After all, reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance on the battlefield are the basic military capabilities of knights from the knight family, and they have been trained since childhood. Moreover, the several knights sent by James IV were all old knights in their 30s and 40s, with rich experience and vicious vision. Whether it is a spy or a secret agent can be seen at a glance. Even if you can't see it, you will be suspicious. However, it was too peaceful along the way...

In fact, James IV and his men didn't know that they had been under the surveillance of the enemy all the time. It's just that the person monitoring them has an artifact - a telescope...

With a telescope that can observe their movements from ten kilometers away, there is naturally no need to send people close for reconnaissance. These telescopes are made of the best optical glass in Marin's hands. In order to remove impurity iron ions (iron ions are the main culprit of glass discoloration), Marin asked his artisans to use high-carbon steel mills to grind the quartz sand used for making glass into very fine powders. Then, the quartz sand is "washed" several times with dilute sulfuric acid. If there were iron ions, they would have been dissolved by dilute sulfuric acid. Once filtered, it will be removed along with the solution.

In this way, the white glass produced from quartz sand powder with almost no iron ion impurities is very pure and transparent. Used as a telescope, it is absolutely top-notch.

Moreover, Scotland is a sad country with mountains in the majority. If it is on the plain, if it is covered by forests, it will be really difficult to observe. However, in the mountainous Scotland, the gold medal spies of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce under Marin can easily see the movement of the enemy ten kilometers away as long as they climb to the top of the mountain in the distance... because the higher you stand, the more you see The farther you go...

Therefore, although no one was sent to scout, the movements of James IV and his party have always been under the monitoring of the gold medal spies of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce. It's just that James IV didn't know it.

After all, other countries do not have military artifacts like telescopes. And the knights sent out by James IV for scouting all scouted with the naked eye. How could they compare with the opponents who stood on the top of a distant mountain and used binoculars to scout? According to the traditional naked eye reconnaissance method, they naturally can't see any problems.

After reaching Lauder Valley, which is more than 60 kilometers away from the border,

James IV finally breathed a sigh of relief. Because, beyond Lauder Valley, there is only a long and narrow mountain road. It is almost impossible for England to ambush on this road. At least, it is impossible to send cavalry to fight an ambush. Even if there is an ambush, at most a group of infantry can only be sent to ambush, and because of the need to cross mountains and ridges, the number must be very small. If it is just infantry, there are not many people... James IV looked at the 50 knights around him, full of confidence...

Then, he made a decision that he regretted——

"Okay, thank you for sending me here. Now, I'm safe, and Edinburgh is not far away. Now, go back to your barracks. Remember, beware of the British, never let them Take the opportunity to infiltrate our borders!"

"Obey, Your Majesty!" The border guard led 800 soldiers, turned around decisively, and began to rush back.

After James IV and 50 knights under his command rested for one night in a small village in Lauder Valley, they rode their horses refreshed and continued northward the next day.

At this time, they were only 40 kilometers away from Edinburgh. If you switch to infantry, you may have to march for a day. In exchange for their cavalry...it seems that they still have to go for a day, or even more...

In fact, if James IV was willing to take off his plate armor at this time and throw away the heavy horse armor on his horse, they could indeed return to Edinburgh within a day.

The problem, though, was that James IV, after signing that ominous treaty of mutual succession, was always afraid of being killed himself. Therefore, neither he nor his knights took off their plate armor, just to prevent being assassinated on the way.

Now, James IV is sure that there will be no more established English troops in front of him to stop him. However, assassins who use crossbow arrows have to be guarded against. If the opponent shoots a poisonous arrow at him, it will be over...

Therefore, James IV would rather continue to wear heavy plate armor with his men, and let his horses also wear horse armor, than go into battle lightly.

However, a full set of plate armor and horse armor is very heavy, and what Edward gave them was a batch of war horses with poor endurance, and there were no weak horses to replace them. Therefore, the whole team stopped and went, unable to move fast. After all, the speed of the team may not even be as fast as the infantry...

In the afternoon, they walked to the vicinity of Gobridge Valley, more than ten kilometers away...

A knight excitedly said:

"Your Majesty, the Gobridge Valley is ahead. As long as you pass through this valley, you will enter the southern plain. Once you reach the plain, you will be home!"

"Yeah, we're home!" James IV also showed a happy expression...