Laurist shook his head as he looked at the two hundred or so new recruits who were undergoing military training not far away. These new recruits were recruited from the two thousand or so immigrants in the new immigrant town that Viscount Cummings was leading. Compared to the two thousand slave laborers of the Cummings Family, these new recruits who were originally refugees were much weaker, and most of them were malnourished.
It made sense. Slave laborers earned money for the Kenneth Family, and they could at least eat their fill. These immigrants were different. They were refugees to begin with. It was already good enough for them to survive after starving and filling their stomachs. They were taken to the north by the Kenneth Family and given a few acres of land, and given some food and clothing. They would be thrown into the new immigrant town, and after two years, they would have to pay taxes. It was normal for them to not have enough to eat and wear.
It would take at least half a year before they could be of use. Lollister rubbed his chin as he pondered. Then, he saw Miss Tracey's steward enter the recruit camp and rush over.
The steward bowed and said, "Sir, Miss Tracey invites you to the city construction command. She has something to discuss with you."
Miss Tracey invited Lollister over to discuss the construction of the main castle. The main castle was connected to the cliff by the mountain. It was six stories tall and looked majestic. It was easy to defend and hard to attack. This had been decided a long time ago, and it had already been built to three stories.
However, there were large empty spaces on both sides of the main castle. The plan was to build villas on these empty spaces as residences for Lollister's family knights and civil servants. Now that the plans for these villas had been decided, Lollister needed to make a decision.
The northern slope of the main castle was larger, and the terrain was relatively flat. Miss Tracey had come up with two plans with the help of Master Architect Siroba. One was for the villas to be larger, with a total of 38 villas. The second was for the small villas. Using the area of the slope, they could build 58 villas, which was 20 more than the first plan.
The southern slope of the main castle was rather steep, and the drop was rather large. No matter how much land was used, they could only build 11 villas. Lollister's main purpose was to decide which plan to use for the northern slope.
Lollister stood in front of the finished model for a long time, but he was still not satisfied. After some thought, he said to Miss Tracey and the rest, "How about this, the northern slope will have four stories. The top two will be for the large villas, and the bottom two will be for the small villas. As for the southern slope, I suggest we build buildings according to the shape of the mountain. I think we should be able to build three buildings. I hope that the rooms in these buildings will have a larger area and not be divided into single rooms or suites like the dormitories in the academy. They should be like small villas with four to five rooms in each. "
After leaving the command center, he saw Paul Binsi rushing over. "Sir, there are two beggars. They say they are messengers from some convoy and are looking for you …"
A messenger from the convoy? Laurist was delighted. "Where is he?"
"Wait outside your room …" Paul Binns dismounted and handed over the reins.
It had not even been ten days since Redi, Jim, and the rest left. For them to receive a reply so quickly, it seemed like the caravan would arrive soon. Laurist was overjoyed. He whipped his horse and rushed towards the southern city wall.
Up on the tower, Laurist saw two people standing outside the room. They were dressed in tattered clothes that did not cover their bodies. Their hair and faces were dirty, and one of them even had black bandages wrapped around his body. No wonder Paul Binns said they were beggars.
Seeing Laurist striding over, the two beggars, oh, messengers, immediately cried and knelt on the ground. "Sir, we finally get to see you …"
Laurist asked doubtfully, "You … are …?"
"Sir, I am Ruhr, and he is Maud. We are from the convoy. Have you forgotten us? "The one who was not injured said as he cried.
Ruhr, Maud, hmm. These were indeed Aire's guards, but they looked a little too pitiful.
Laurist kicked the leg of the guard who was watching the scene with a grin. "You blind fool, why aren't you getting some water for these two brothers to wash up? Why are you laughing like a fool? Then go and get Thurkamp. "
After washing their faces and changing their clothes, Laurist finally felt that the two messengers looked a little familiar. Soderkamp, who came to the north after hearing the news, recognized the two messengers. He led the guards to check the warehouse and calculate the seized goods. He immediately called out the two messengers' names, "Ruhr, Maud, why are you here?"
"Sir Thurkamp, we are here to deliver a letter." The two messengers cried again when they talked about their mission.
There were four or five letters in Laurist's hands. Shredder's letter talked about the great victory in Greenfield Plains, Aire's injury, His Highness Krysiya's visit to the convoy, and the agreement they reached. The conditions of the agreement were written in detail. Shredder also explained his idea and the benefits and meaning of obtaining the White Lion Legion's standard equipment.
After reading the letter, Laurist was happy and worried at the same time. He was happy that his cousin, the chubby girl who bullied him when he was young, was now a Gold Knight. He was worried that the convoy was still wandering around the Andinac Kingdom, and it would be a long time before they could reach the north. It would be snowing by the time Fatty Shi and the others wiped out the rebellious lords of the Andinac Kingdom. Today was the 9th of September, and winter was coming soon. It would be snowing heavily by then, and it would be even more difficult for the convoy to travel north.
Laurist subconsciously looked at Fatty Shi's signature and date. He was stunned because the date on the letter was 28th June.
"It took you more than two months to get here?" Laurist found it strange. It only took him a month to reach the north after leaving Gerdos City. Why did it take so long to deliver a letter?
The two guards cried again. "Sir, there were twelve of us when we left, but now there are only two of us …"
Laurist raised his eyebrows. "What happened?"
"Sir, the twelve of us were fully armed, and each of us had two horses. When we passed through the Andinac Kingdom, we encountered more than ten bandits. When we reached the Madras Principality, there were only seven of us left. The Madras Principality was fine, and we did not encounter any accidents. When we reached the White Stone Town on the other side of the Hendrik Bridge, we heard from a caravan on the other side that Duke Lujins was going to send troops to punish the Norton family for disrespecting him. We did not dare to cross the river from the Hendrik Bridge, so we went downstream and crossed the river by ferry.
After crossing the river, we found a town to rest and buy food. However, the garrison of the town said that we were bandits and wanted to catch us. We fought our way out of the encirclement, and there were only five of us left. We had lost our luggage and our mounts. The garrison was afraid of us, and did not dare to chase us out of the town. We could only travel on foot. After five days, we reached the territory of a baron called Farad. We wanted to get help from the baron, but the baron said that we were refugees and arrested us. He even stripped us of our money, weapons, and armour.
We were captured by the baron and forced to do hard labor for more than a month. After that, the baron started a war with another viscount, and forced us to fight with a spear. After fighting for two days, Baelin and Azik died. Maud, Gilson, and I took advantage of the chaos to escape. Gilson was hit by three arrows, and after running out, he could not hold on any longer. Maud and I did not dare to enter the town or village again, and wandered in the wilderness for six days before finally arriving here. We met Sir … "
Ruhr wept as he recounted the hardships they had gone through to deliver the letter.
Laurist slammed his palm on the table. "How dare you! What's the name of the Baron you're talking about? And what is the name of the town? "
There was no need to think about it. It must be the work of the lords who had been appointed by the second prince in the north. Northerners had always been hospitable. When travelers were in trouble, they could get help from the nearby lords, towns, or villages. Messengers, who stayed overnight with the lords in the north, were even invited to banquets. The lords wanted to hear news from afar and learn about the situation outside the north. Sometimes, some generous lords would give messengers some money as a reward.
Since the second prince had appointed forty or fifty new nobles in the north, the north had been messed up by these outsiders. If they had no money, they would pretend to be bandits and rob people. If they had no subjects, they would go to the nearby towns and villages to rob people. Many conflicts between the old lords and the new lords were because of these things. Last time, at the lord's banquet to celebrate the end of the knight tournament, a lord mentioned that a new lord had been recognized for robbing the caravan of another lord by pretending to be a horse thief.
Laurist looked at the map and found that the new lord was indeed Baron Farad. His territory was only two days away from the Rock Castle, and in between was the territory of Earl Spencer. As for the town that Ruhr had mentioned, Laurist could not find it on the map. However, it was also the territory of the new lord, Viscount Davov. That town might be a newly established immigrant town, and the guards they recruited were all ruffians. That was why they were pointing at a deer as a horse and plotting against the messengers. That place was a little far away, and it would take four or five days to ride on horseback.
"Ask the guards outside to find Josk and Vasimir. Ask them to come here," Laurist said to Thurdkamp.
"What's the situation with the caravan? How is El's recovery? "Lollister asked Rule and Maud.
Ruhr replied, "During the battle on the Green Field Plain, our caravan suffered a small loss. If Lord Ell was not injured, he should have been the one to deliver the letter. Lord Ell was supposed to come last time when Lord Shredder sent a letter to Benz Castle. However, after Lord Bofinger came back from the capital, Lord Ell changed his mind and sent someone else to deliver the letter … "
"Wait …" Laurist felt that something was wrong. "You just said that Knight Shredder sent a letter to me when we were in Benz Castle?"
"Yes …" Ruhr replied. Then, he suddenly thought of something. "Did … did you not receive the letter, my lord? Did you not see the messenger? "
Laurist shook his head.
Ruhr and Mo De looked at each other, and they felt very lucky.
Ruhr said, "My lord, they left a month earlier than us. Lord Shredder wrote to you mainly to report the situation of the caravan and the news that Lord Bofinger received from the capital. The messenger was Creamer. He is also a guard, so you should know him. Like us, there were twelve of them when they left. They have not yet sent the letter to you, my lord. Based on our experience, they may have already met with misfortune … "
"If they are alive, I want to see them. If they are dead, I want to see their corpses. I will find out where they are. No one can hurt our messengers and escape the revenge of the Norton family. I will give you an explanation." Laurist gritted his teeth. No wonder he felt that Fatty Shi's letter came out of nowhere. Perhaps it was because a group of messengers had disappeared, and he was missing a letter.
"Tell me about the caravan. It is not written in the letter …" Laurist said.
Ruhr and Maud began to introduce the caravan to each other.
"What? There are more than four thousand carriages and more than fifty thousand people? There are fifteen thousand people escorting the caravan to the north? " Laurist almost jumped up. No wonder they were able to defeat the thirty thousand nobles' armed forces. They even made the second prince think about the strength of the armed forces and asked Fatty Shi and the others to help wipe out the rebellious lords …
Laurist finally understood why Fatty Shi was so confident in his letter that he had reached an agreement with the second prince. It turned out that the strength of the caravan had grown so fast that it could decide the fate of a kingdom. It seemed that he didn't have to worry about the caravan's safety for the time being. The letter came on June 28th. Today was September 9th. It was almost two and a half months ago. If everything went well, the caravan should have completed the agreement with the second prince.
Joske and Vasinma entered the room after registering outside the door.
Laurist asked them to come forward and pointed at Baron Fahrad's name on the map. He told them about what happened to Ruhr and Maud when they delivered the letter. Joske and Vasinma were furious.
"This is a disgrace to the nobles …" Vasinma said.
"My lord, we must take revenge on this Baron Fahrad. No one can treat our messengers like this," Joske said.
"I order you to take the cavalry archers and the cavalry platoon there. Hang this Baron Fahrad at the entrance of his castle and burn his castle. Write down the reason why we are doing this, and let the new feudal lords understand the traditions of the Northern Lands and the rules of the nobles …" Laurist ordered.
"Yes, my lord. We will do as you say." Joske and Vasinma stood at attention and saluted.
"Don't leave in a hurry. This time, you will go through Earl Spencer's territory. I will write a letter for you to bring to him to avoid any misunderstanding. Also, according to Ruhr and Maud, they had a group of messengers before, but we didn't hear from them. After you send out your troops this time, ask around for their whereabouts and find out who did it … "
"Yes, my lord," Joske and Vasinma answered.
Ruhr and Maud stood up.
"My lord, please allow us to go together. We want to collect the bodies of our comrades, "Maud said.
"You just arrived. Can your bodies handle it?" Laurist had no choice. They had a strong reason to go.
"Our bodies can handle it, my lord," Ruhr said.
"How about this? Let's rest for a day and set off tomorrow. Have a good rest at night. I'll examine Maud's injuries. If there are no major problems, I'll allow you to go with me. I believe you'll be happy to hang that Baron Fahrad with your own hands. Sadkamp, take twenty guards with you and go with them tomorrow. Help them collect the remains of the guards who died bravely. When we return, I will bury them in the Martyrs' Tomb in Monolith Castle. "Lollister said.
The Tomb of the Martyrs was a warrior's graveyard that Laurist had opened up on the hill opposite the main castle of Monolith Castle. All the family soldiers and guards who had died in battle were buried here for the sake of future generations.
"Thank you, my lord …" Ruhr and Maud said at the same time.
"Yes, my lord," Serdkamp answered.
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