The Rise of the European Emperor

Along the way, Coster and Maric took 900 of their men and walked on a secluded path. Also, if you encounter a forest, just walk out of the forest.

They had been in Sherwood Forest for so long that they had become very skilled bush thieves. Walking in the forest, even in the woodlands you have never been to, you will not get lost. Of course, it is precisely because of this feature that the two later became cavalry generals of the North American Colonial Army. Because, the two of them are good at walking the jungle with the horse team. Of course, this is something.

For the sake of confidentiality, when the two passed through the forest, they hurried during the day and rested at night. Because there is no one in the forest, there is no need to worry about being discovered. When they arrived in a flat, populated area, they would instead hurry in the middle of the night, and during the day they would find a small forest to hide and rest to prevent the news from being leaked.

In this era, there were less than 3 million people in England, and the degree of land development was very limited. So, there are forests and woods everywhere. Therefore, the march of the Robin Hood Thieves did not disturb the English officials. Of course, their number is limited, and it is difficult to attract the attention of the British army. If thousands of people are dispatched, the alarm bell must be sounded.

900 horse bandits, this number is very uncomfortable. He is not too small, and the local garrison militia is likely to be unable to beat them. So, try not to provoke it. But 900 people are not too many, and it is not worth dispatching a large army to encircle and suppress them. Therefore, this is a scale that is very uncomfortable for the government. Moreover, the horse bandits came and went like the wind, and they wanted to encircle and suppress them, but they couldn't do it. Whether it was the authentic Robin Hood thieves back then or the Robin Hood thieves from this cottage, as long as they got into the jungle, it would be difficult to encircle and suppress them. As for setting fires to forests? England's climate is so humid that a rain will douse you...

After several days of careful travel, the 900 horse thieves of the Robin Hood Thieves finally entered the territory of Warwickshire. At this time, Coster and Maric explained the real task to their subordinates - burning the barracks...

The horse thieves under him suddenly shouted—this is the rhythm to openly fight with the King of England. If there is no British army camp, wouldn't it attract the crazy encirclement and suppression of the British army?

Coster had already thought about his rhetoric—he told his horse thieves that this British camp was set up to encircle and suppress thieves in several central counties. If Britain completes its buildup, an attack on Leicestershire, northeast of Warwickshire, will soon be launched. And in the forests of Leicestershire, there is also a sub-rudder of the Robin Hood Thieves... Therefore, this operation of the Robin Hood Thieves is a preemptive strike...

Of course, he didn't tell his subordinates that this British army camp was actually used for the northern expedition. However, if the Northern Expedition is successful, it is inevitable that the north and south will attack the bandits in several central counties. Therefore, Coster is not completely deceived.

The horse bandits still have awe for the court officials and troops, but the spies sent out reported that there were only 500 infantrymen in the camp, and about 3,000 strong civilians, and the horse bandits suddenly regained their confidence...

They were timid because they were afraid that there would be too many officers. And if there are only 500 infantry, then don't worry. What reassured them even more was that these 500 infantrymen were all spearmen and no longbowmen.

Longbowmen have great lethality to horse thieves, and they can still make merit in the face of plate armor knights, let alone horse thieves who basically have no armor? Once the arrow rain hits, the horse thief will definitely suffer heavy casualties. Therefore, the absence of longbowmen is definitely good news for horse thieves.

Although it is said that a horse thief with a saber in one hand, a frontal charge spearman is also easy to fail, but this group of horse thieves are not all close combat. Among these horse thieves, about 300 people are archers, and they are very restrained by spearmen...

England is a country where all people shoot archery. The king requires the people to practice archery at ordinary times, and even prohibits playing football to ensure sufficient time for practice archery. Therefore, among the English folk, there were too many archery masters in this period. They were not selected as the longbowmen of the King of England, not because they were not good at archery. But longbowmen require a height of 1.75 meters or more, which eliminates most people. This era is not an era when Europeans in later generations are generally tall.

Because of insufficient nutrition, in England, there are not too many people over 1.7 meters, let alone 1.75 meters. Therefore, this rule has wiped out most young people.

However, among those young people who are not up to the standard, there are also many archery masters. They started to practice archery since they were young, but they didn't grow to be tall enough. But after more than ten years of practice, archery is definitely not bad.

Therefore, in this day and age, there are not many prey in the forests of England. Because everyone can shoot arrows, how can those wild animals survive? Unlike the Germans of the same period, because archery was not popular, there were quite a lot of prey in the forest. Marin's first start-up capital was obtained by poaching in the Black Forest.

Of course, being able to shoot arrows does not mean that you can also ride and shoot. Riding and walking are two concepts. Therefore, although the Robin Hood Thieves Group had a huge size of seven or eight thousand people, Coster and Maric only selected more than three hundred horse bandits who could shoot arrows on horses and had a good hit rate. At the same time, the bow they used was not an English longbow, but a recurve bow with a shorter bow. After all, a man on horseback cannot cast his longbow.

With these more than 300 cavalry archers, Coster and Maric have enough confidence to defeat those 500 English spearmen...

Speaking of which, this is also Henry VII's mistake. After all, Warwickshire has been taken over by Henry VII's cronies for 20 years, and has long been operated as a rear loyal to Henry VII. Moreover, the Robin Hood Thieves mainly operate in Nottinghamshire, which is separated from Leicestershire. Therefore, Henry VII did not expect that a band of thieves would be bold enough to attack the British camp. Of course, because it is still in the stage of secrecy, Henry VII does not know that anyone will know the existence of the camp...

In this way, on a dark and windy night for a month, the 900 horse thieves of the Robin Hood Thieves, under the command of Coster, tied the horse's mouth with cloth strips (to prevent the horse from neighing, this is the way of the Marin religion), and returned the horse's hoof to the horse's mouth. Put on foot covers to reduce the sound of hoofs...

After a series of preparations, the 900 horse thieves stopped two kilometers away from a certain section of the fence of the British army camp. Then, a few men were sent with powder kegs on their backs, sappers and wooden boards, to quietly touch the fence of the British army camp...

Before arriving at the camp, a few horse thieves carefully placed the planks in the trenches filled with wooden pickets. Then, the man carried the powder keg, stepped on the wooden board and came under the wooden fence...

Then, a few men began to carefully dig with sappers. In order not to disturb the defenders, their movements were very light, which also resulted in a very slow digging speed...

Until it was almost dawn, that is, the time when the attack was scheduled to be launched, a few people hurriedly completed the excavation, buried the gunpowder keg in the pit, filled it with soil, and stepped on it with their feet, leaving only the guide. The fuse sticks out...

Coster and Maric were awake at the end of the day. Before, they took their subordinates for a while. Just woke up now. Seeing that the sky was getting brighter, Coster hurriedly sent someone close to the homework site, barked like a dog, and asked if the powder keg was finished. Soon, a few cat meows came from under the wooden fence of the British army camp - this means that it is ready...

So, after getting the news, Coster and Maric settled down, brought their rested men, got dressed, picked up saber, bow and arrow, sheep oil can and wooden board, mounted the war horse, and slowly marched towards the British army camp .

While advancing, Coster also sent someone to inform several men in front of the British fence that the fuse could be lit... 8)