More than three hours later, the servant of the castle came and reported that the lunch was over. Prince Alexei went to the castle under the guidance of count anzumov. Czar Russia''s generals and middle and higher ranking officers followed, and the Smolensk nobles rushed up and followed.

    Franco was invited to the castle for dinner. The mercenaries left the city under the leadership of junior officers. According to the agreement, they will be arranged in ludnia, the camp where Prince Alexei once stationed, and their families will go together.

    Fiordo and Franco followed Prince Alexei to the hall of the castle, where a banquet had been held. On the four long tables in the center of the hall are all kinds of silver tableware. Fiordo recognized some of them almost at a glance. They were family items he had brought to Smolensk. But now they have become the booty of Czar Russia.

    Each table is also stacked with mountains of pork, beef and roast fish. The glass is filled with vodka, honey wine and wine. The house is full of wine.

    Prince Alexei was seated at the long table. The two Russian generals sat on the left and right. Vasili zolotalenko sat down. "Hey, old man, why don''t you drink? This is a celebration wine." Oleg saw that fiordo bowed his head and wept, so he took the wine glass and touched it.

    "Well, I respect you. You can''t stop drinking. You are also a great hero." Oleg shouted.

    The union officers burst into laughter. The laughter shook the walls of the castle.

    "Drink, drink, drink," the officers shouted.

    Under such circumstances, how dare fiordo not drink? He held back the tears of humiliation, closed his eyes and drank the wine in the glass.

    Oleg also ate the wine in his glass. He put the wine glass heavily on the table, and the nearby plates flew up.

    "What''s up, old man? Is this wine good to drink? Do you see the color of this wine? It''s all brewed with your blood. I''ll drink more of this wine in the future."

    Oleg''s words caused another burst of applause.

    Of course, Prince Alexei noticed the noise below, but he just looked at it and drank again. After a few glasses of vodka, the prince was interested in speaking.

    "Here, to the health of his Majesty the czar."

    "Cheers to his glory and longevity," shouted the officers and Smolensk nobles. Among them, the nobles shouted extra hard.

    The prince took the three generals to the officers with his wine glass.

    On behalf of the Czar, he thanked the officers for their bravery.

    "Loyalty is your strongest armor," said the prince, which aroused a burst of cheers from the Czar''s Russian officers.

    "Captain Vasili zolotarenko, it''s a pity that your captain Baohong company is not here. I want to drink with him again." Prince Alexei turned back and said to Vasili.

    "The situation in Ukraine is urgent. Bao Hong wants to go back and help the chief against the Polish army. However, when the prince enters Ukraine, you will still have a day to drink with Bao Hong."

    Although he knew that Vasili zolotalenko''s words were not true, Alexei nodded in agreement.

    Prince Alexei went to the Smolensk aristocracy table again.

    "Long live Romanov! Long live the Czar!" the prince raised his glass.

    "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" the nobles not only shouted hooray three times, but also stood up to show their respect for the Czar they had never met.

    "Your Highness, I want to..." speaker shchenko wanted to come forward and say more to Prince Alexei, but Prince Alexei ignored him, but went straight to Franco.

    "You are a very good soldier. Work for me? You will get supreme honor and reward." the prince threw an olive branch to Franco.

    "Your Highness, it''s a big matter for the whole mercenary regiment to work for. I have no right to decide alone." Franco politely refused.

    "A three-year contract, 40 Taylor a month for each person, and double the number of officers." the prince''s words were concise and made terms that no one could refuse.

    From the bottom of my heart, this is already a very generous treatment. Even a few famous German teams in the Republic are treated like this. But those are all teams composed of veterans who have participated in the 30-year war, not mercenaries who have been rebuilt for only four or five years. Prince Alexei paid such a price, which shows that he attaches great importance to himself.

    "Your Highness, we are just an ordinary mercenary regiment," Franco said with a bitter smile.

    "The captured winged cavalry officer said," Prince Alexei said, "if your mercenary regiment came out of the city with him that day, he will be able to break through the Cossack''s vehicle array. Moreover, your performance in guarding the city and today''s performance are definitely worthy of such treatment."

    "Who is the captured officer?" Franco asked.

    "Doronin. By the time we captured him, she was dying from three bullets," interrupted Vasili zolotalenko. He laid the formation there. The vehicle array was a sharp weapon against the winged cavalry, not to mention that the winged cavalry at that time was only an exhausted remnant with interception in front and pursuit in the back, and the whole army was destroyed in a few rounds.

    Franco was silent. Only then did he know that doronin''s last moment was like this. The sentence "if it was your mercenary regiment that went out of the city with him that day, he would be able to break through the Cossack fleet." Franco was even more painful. If I had.

    Franco shook his head and forced his thoughts back. Then he said to Prince Alexei, "I''m sorry, my contract with the Republic of Poland still has three months to expire. So my people and I can''t serve czar Russia and his royal highness."

    As soon as Franco''s voice fell, a trace of murder flashed across general Yakov''s face.

    Unlike Prince Alexei, who valued military honor, Yakov was a politician general. He pays no attention to honor, only to practical interests. In his opinion, Franco obviously refused to be used by Czarist Russia. Then either a friend is an enemy, and the enemy is the safest when he is dead.

    More than one person had the same idea with Yakov. After Franco said these words, they all looked at Franco with murderous eyes.

    Franco looked at the prince, and the prince looked at Franco. Their eyes seemed to burst out sparks in the air.

    "You are my prisoner now," said Prince Alexei after a while.

    "Yes," Franco admitted.

    "So with what you just said, I can kill you."

    "Good."

    "Do you have anything else to say?" the prince had put his hand on the handle of Le Dao. In fact, there is no need for the prince to do it himself. As long as a look or hint, countless warriors will serve him in the hall.

    "I would like to ask your highness why he offered such a high price for my mercenary regiment," Franco asked.

    "Didn''t the prince say just now? He appreciated your talent." a guy behind the prince who wanted to please the prince said to Franco. Then he smiled flatteringly at Prince Alexei.

    But Prince Alexei didn''t say a word about the good man''s answer. He bowed his head and thought for a while before spitting out the word "loyalty".

    Yes, what really moved Prince Alexei was Franco''s loyalty. Prince Alexei has as many warriors as he wants. But the prince knew that most of these people were willing to be loyal to themselves because they were the Czar''s uncle and the prince with supreme power. If one day he is nothing, everything based on the power sand tower will collapse. Alexei expected a servant who would never leave and share weal and woe.

    The performance of Franco and his men guarding fiordo today just proves that they are the kind of men the prince wants. That''s why Prince Alexei expected their loyalty.

    "Yes, loyalty," Franco agreed: "Your Highness appreciates us because I and my subordinates never give up on Lord fiordo. But if we tear up the unexpired employment agreement because of your highness, your Highness''s loyalty will no longer exist. Those who don''t know the truth will also think that your army is accommodating military ruffians without contract spirit A place to hide filth. "

    With that, Franco put his hands behind him and put them at his disposal.

    "I can lock you all up, just as I did to fiordo. Keep you for three months. When your contract expires, you should have no excuse." Prince Alexei said this when he looked at Franco.

    "Yes, you can," Franco replied with his eyes.

    Prince Alexei can certainly do so, but the consequence of doing so can only be that those who get Franco can not be genuinely convinced by Franco.

    Stay or not. Alexei was really tangled in his heart. But after all, he was an old-fashioned soldier with more honor than everything. He was like to Vassily and Bao Hong. Even if something happened halfway, he would not change his promise. Since he had announced in the city hall this morning that those who did not want to stay could leave by themselves, this applies to everyone.

    "I''m going to fight raziwiu soon. You must stay here for three months before you can go, and you promise not to fight us for the next three months," said Prince Alexei.

    The army of yanush raziweu was really on the way, and the Smolensk nobles were surprised in unison. Now they regretted and were afraid. They regretted that they had surrendered so early. They thought the news of the reinforcements was just a scam by Prince Alexei to lure doronin out of the city. They didn''t expect it to be true; they were afraid that in case yanush raziweu defeated the army of Czar Russia, What fate will he suffer? Yanush is notoriously ruthless to traitors.

    General Yakov also saw the shaking of the Smolensk aristocracy. He was secretly angry at Prince Alexei''s many words, but what should be remedied had to be remedied. He hurriedly promised that the great czar had commanded 30000 troops to deal with yanush, and there were less than 20000 people on the other side, which was nothing to be afraid of.

    Prince Alexei was indifferent to the "disaster" he had created, just waiting for Franco''s guarantee.

    "I promise," Franco said.

    "OK." Prince Alexei drank the wine from the cup in one gulp.

    Franco also drank the wine in the glass.

    Now that the prince has made his decision, the others have nothing to say.

    The banquet continued. Count anzumov came up to Fyodor, smiled and said:

    "Hey, you mercenary commander is really a character."

    "No, I''m sorry I should have listened to you. I wish I had listened to Franco," said Fyodor, glancing at count anzumov.

    "When? What when? What did Colonel Franco say?" when fiordo said this, anzumov''s eyes were spinning. He intuitively felt that it was a useful information.

    Fiordo didn''t answer.

    "Old friend, why are you angry with me? What can I do if everyone agrees to surrender?" count anzumov sighed and approached as if he were also a victim. He quietly pulled Fyodor aside.

    "I''m still with the Republic," he whispered in Fyodor''s ear. "I''m just making a false deal with those people in shchenko."

    "Really?" fiordo''s eyes lit up when count anzumov said so.

    "Of course, how can I lie to you when we were going to be in laws?" anzumov continued to bewitch.

    Fiordo nodded.

    "Therefore, if Colonel Franco really had any way to defend the city, I wouldn''t make a false deal with those traitors."

    "Alas, Captain Franco advised me to stick to the castle for a few months. He said that the Grand Duke (yanush)''s army must be on the way." the credulous fiordo said everything.