On the 3rd of January, Laurist bade farewell to Miranda and began his journey north.
The huge caravan traveled along the main road, covering a hundred and twenty miles in a day.
On the 4th of January, the caravan traveled forty miles in the morning and left the main road in the afternoon. They turned west into a small forest path, crossed a small hill, and entered the territory of the first noble of the Redelis Kingdom.
On the third day, just as the caravan was about to set off, Yuri sent a messenger to report that the lord of this territory, a noble viscount, had personally brought more than twenty cavalrymen to collect taxes. The viscount said that if the caravan did not leave behind a tenth of the carriages as a toll, he would lead his soldiers to attack the caravan.
Laurist laughed involuntarily and asked the messenger, "Did Knight Yuri explain to the viscount that this is the army of the Norton Family in the north, and that they are now returning to the family's territory?"
The messenger reported, "Sir Yuri has already explained to the lord many times, but the lord did not listen. He insisted that we are a group of merchants carrying out smuggling activities under the banner of nobles. He even laughed at us and said that if we want to carry the banner of nobles, we should find a famous one. Who knows what the hell that is. "
Laurist turned back and called out, "Terman, go and invite the lord here. I will let him know what the Norton Family is like."
Terman returned very quickly. The viscount had already become a prisoner.
Terman said that when he led the knights to charge, the viscount's cavalrymen either turned around and fled or dismounted to surrender. The lord was left sitting on his horse, dumbfounded as he watched Terman suddenly appear in front of him and disarm him. The twenty-seven cavalrymen under him were all taken as prisoners.
The viscount displayed the noble character of an unyielding noble. Although he was a prisoner, he still raised his head proudly and loudly scolded Laurist for attacking the head of the noble Meister Family. Was he trying to start a war with the Meister Family?
Of course, if Laurist was willing to apologize, the noble Lord Viscount would magnanimously forgive his reckless attack. As a show of sincerity, Laurist would have to offer some treasures to the Lord Viscount, and … Hmm, this maid is not bad … He was referring to Jasmine, who was standing beside Fatty Shi.
Laurist smiled bitterly and turned back to Bofinger. He doubted that the viscount had any brains at all.
Shi ordered Redi and Padt to tie the noble viscount to the hollow wheel. He felt the world spinning around him for about ten minutes before he laid on the ground with tears and snot running down his face. He answered whatever questions were asked and confessed everything.
It turned out that Viscount Meister was in the middle of a war with a neighboring Baron. Last night, the Viscount led all his cavalry to ambush the neighboring village, but the neighboring village was already prepared, and the Viscount returned empty-handed. In the morning, he had discovered Laurist's caravan on his way back to the castle, so he had brought his cavalrymen over. By the way, the viscount's castle was near a small lake about sixty miles away from where the caravan was heading.
Laurist was amused, "So the viscount has invited us to his castle as guests. Terman, bring this Lord Meister to his castle. Tell the people in the castle to open the gates and surrender. Otherwise, hang the viscount outside the castle. Tell Dolles's caravan to go with you. If they don't surrender, attack the city. We'll rest in the castle tonight. "
… …
Dividing Line.
Viscount Meister felt cold, and he opened his eyes. He felt dizzy, and he felt like vomiting. That damned fatty! How dare he treat a noble viscount like this! When I return to the castle, I'll gather my subjects and form an army to deal with the caravan. Wait, where is this place? Why does it look so familiar?
The viscount pinched his face and cleared his mind. He looked around, and the more he looked around, the stranger he felt. Where was this place? It felt very familiar. Finally, the viscount understood. This was his castle, and this place should be his bedroom. But why did the bedroom change so much?
The viscount jumped up from the ground, and realized that he was naked. He had nothing on. What is this? The viscount picked up the thing that was draped over his body and looked at it carefully. It looked like a coarse sack, and it seemed to be used to store wheat.
Outrageous, what did those people do to me? The viscount cursed and rushed to his old bed. There was a summoning bell on the wall, and when the bell rang, the maid would come in to clean his bed. But when the viscount pulled the rope, the rope fell down, and the summoning bell broke the rope.
The viscount could only pinch his nose and pick up the sack on the ground. He wrapped it around his waist and tied it with the rope. Barefoot, he opened the door and peeked in. The corridor was empty, and there was no one. The viscount called out several names of his servants and maids, but no one answered.
The viscount went to the rooms next door and found that they were as empty as his own bedroom. There was not a single piece of furniture, clothes, or shoes. Only the cold walls were left. Even the beautifully decorated doors of several rooms had disappeared.
The viscount wandered around the castle, but there was nothing. Even the torch that was originally inserted on the wall was gone. The more he walked, the more afraid he became. What happened? Where did everyone go? The viscount rushed to the rooftop and finally breathed a sigh of relief. The sun was bright outside, and the warm sunlight shone on his body, bringing a warm and comfortable feeling to his skin.
The viscount looked down from the rooftop of the castle. He only felt that his castle was particularly clean. Yes, it was clean. It was so clean that there was not a single person, a smelly animal, a carriage, a piece of cloth, and a piece of ironware. The whole castle was made of stone and wood.
"Is anyone here? Is anyone here? "The viscount let out a desperate scream on the rooftop.
"My, my lord, you're finally awake. That's great." A figure stood in the corner of the courtyard downstairs. The viscount looked at it and saw that it was his loyal old butler. However, the old butler was naked like the viscount, and only had a piece of linen around his waist.
The viscount rushed from the rooftop to the courtyard in one breath. The old butler looked at the viscount and was very excited. "My lord, you, you're finally awake. You've been lying unconscious for two days …"
The viscount tried to grab him, but he couldn't. They were both naked and had no clothes to grab. He could only put his hand on the old butler's shoulder. "What happened in the castle? Where is everyone? Where did everyone go? "
"My, my lord, have you forgotten? Two days ago, a group of bandits brought you to the castle and asked us to surrender. If you didn't surrender, they would hang you outside the door. We had no choice. In order to save your life, we had to open the door and surrender. The bandits said that it was the northbound convoy of the Norton family. They said that because of you, their journey was delayed and they suffered great mental damage and reputation damage. So they caught you and asked for compensation. But, but you know the situation at home. We don't have much gold. Those bandits ate all the livestock in the castle and moved everything in the castle. Not even a curtain or a rag was spared. They even tore down the doors, "said the old butler.
The viscount was going crazy. "Where are the people? Why are they all gone? " “
"Everyone left with them. Before the bandits left, they gathered everyone in the castle together. A fat man asked us if we wanted to go with them. I said no, so they stripped me naked and threw me in the courtyard. So everyone went with them, "said the old butler.
"My lord, I begged them before they left, and they threw me a bag of wheat. I poured the wheat on the ground and covered it with a gunny sack. After searching for two days in the castle, I finally dug out a broken pottery pot from the ground and cooked some wheat porridge. Would you like to eat some to fill your stomach? "
The viscount felt that his stomach was empty after hearing the old butler's words. "Well, go and bring me the oatmeal."
At that moment, the sound of hooves could be heard from outside. The old butler looked outside and his expression changed. "Sir, this is bad. The Boqi family is attacking us."
"Quick, close the door." The Viscount was also anxious.
"But, but Sir, the iron bolt was also taken away by the robbers. I've been using a stone to block the door for the past two nights … "said the old housekeeper.
"It's over …" The viscount squatted on the ground in despair.
--- Dividing Line ---
Fatty Shi didn't care about what happened to the first noble they met, Viscount Meister. In his opinion, the viscount was an idiot, and he didn't know how he became a noble. 'Does he really think that he can order everyone around just because he's a noble? Doesn't he think about how big the difference in strength is between him and others? How can I not show him what I'm capable of? He actually dares to have designs on my Jasmine …'
At this moment, Fatty Shi was standing in front of the castle of the third noble territory that the convoy passed by, bargaining with the lord baron over a batch of weapons and equipment. Yesterday, when they passed by the second noble's castle, Fatty Shi sent someone to inform the baron that he wanted to make a deal with him. However, the baron might have been frightened by the huge caravan outside, so he hid in the castle like a tortoise and ignored him. Fatty Shi had no choice but to give up on the idea of doing business.
Today, when they passed by the baron's castle, Fatty Shi learned his lesson from yesterday and only brought three carriages to the castle. He first unloaded a set of exquisite furniture from Viscount Meister's castle as a gift to the baron. The main reason was that Fatty Shi thought that the furniture was too cumbersome and took up space in the carriages, so he used it as a gift.
With the gift, the Lord Baron appeared on the city wall and asked Fatty Shi what he wanted.
Fatty Shi saluted the Baron with a knight's salute, then explained that the convoy behind them belonged to the Norton family. He asked if the Baron could provide them with any supplies, as he had brought some weapons and equipment with him. Would the Baron need them?
Hearing that there were weapons and equipment, the baron came out of the castle to have a look. He then chose a hundred spears, twenty sets of chain armor, twenty round shields, twenty two-handed greatswords, and three sets of knight's full body armor. Everything added up to about five hundred gold fords. However, the baron didn't have that many gold coins, so he discussed with Fatty Shi whether they could barter with supplies.
In the end, the baron used a hundred gold coins and ten full carriages of wheat, including the carriages and two horses, plus five cows and fifty pigs to complete the deal with Fatty Shi. Since it was the first time he had opened his business, Fatty Shi even gave him a twenty percent discount. He also ordered his men to bring a small barrel of grape wine from the Slov Manor for the baron to taste.
The baron was very happy to receive the grape wine from Fatty Shi. He looked towards the direction of the caravan and kindly reminded the baron that they should be careful after crossing the mountain ridge. Grass bandits and mountain bandits were the most active in that area, and they also had to guard against the attack of Count Corbili's army.
Fatty Shi thanked the baron politely and sincerely invited the baron to attend the banquet that night. The place was not far away, just below the mountain ridge. That was the place where the caravan would camp at night.
The baron thought for a while and said that he would attend the banquet that night, hoping that he wouldn't cause any trouble for the caravan.
Fatty Shi said that the Norton family would be very honored to welcome the baron. For the banquet that night, Fatty Shi said that he would leave first to prepare.
In the evening, the baron brought his eldest son, a three-star Silver Knight, and four attendants to the banquet. As they entered the caravan, they looked around and admired the military strength of the Norton family.
Fatty Shi set up an open-air banquet in the middle of the caravan using the tables, chairs, and tableware that Viscount Meister had brought from the castle. He introduced Laurist and a few other family knights to the baron and his son. The baron introduced himself as Charles and his son as Solia. Everyone then sat down and chatted while eating.
The reason why Fatty Shi invited Baron Charles to the banquet was to find out the situation around the caravan, as well as the situation of the lords. This was something that the baron knew very well. As the father and son ate and drank to their heart's content, they quickly explained the situation that everyone wanted to know.
Baron Charles pointed at the mountain ridge next to the camp and said that this mountain ridge was the boundary between his territory and that of Viscount Dibernal on the other side. However, Viscount Dibernal was already dead, and it wasn't just Viscount Dibernal. Baron Enner, Count Baigali, and Baron Umador were all the same. In other words, the next few hundred kilometers of Lollister's northbound caravan would be passing through unclaimed lands that had lost their lords. In this area, Laurist wouldn't be able to find any supplies. All he would see were abandoned or burnt towns and villages.
This was all caused by the private army of the Corbili family. Speaking of the Corbili family, one had to first mention the current head of the family, Count Corbili. It was said that when the count was young, he was a famous playboy and dissolute knight. His favorite thing to do was to roam around his territory on horseback. Whenever he saw a woman, he would dismount and force her to copulate with him. It didn't matter if they were in their forties or thirties, he wouldn't let a single one of them off. As a result, the women in his territory could only stay at home and not go out, or the people who couldn't take it anymore would drag their families and flee to other places.
Because of this, the count had more than sixty illegitimate children. He didn't mind and adopted them all. In the noble circles around him, he was known as the * * Count * *. Then, the count suddenly became interested and decided to go to the imperial capital to have some fun. Then, he met the eldest prince in the imperial capital. The two of them were birds of a feather and became good friends. Two years later, the eldest prince was exiled by the old emperor, and the count returned to his territory. Contrary to his old habits, he stayed in his manor and carefully raised his illegitimate children.
A few years later, the eldest prince raised the flag of rebellion in the province of Porto Orgo. The count responded by bringing more than thirty grown illegitimate children to seek refuge with the eldest prince. After the civil war, the count returned to his territory with a large army and a large amount of money. However, of the thirty or so illegitimate children that followed him, only a dozen or so returned.
Now, the count was already in his sixties, but his ambition didn't diminish. Not long after returning to his territory, he used all sorts of excuses to start a war with the nobles of the nearby territories, successfully doubling his territory's power. The nobles of the thirteen territories who opposed him were all exterminated. The men were basically all killed, and the women were even more miserable. They were either humiliated to death or sold to slave traders after they were done with them.
There was once a noble who went to the imperial capital to complain to the eldest prince about Count Corbili's cruelty and ruthlessness. He asked the eldest prince to punish him and avenge the noble who died in vain. In the end, the eldest prince brushed it off, saying that he didn't know much about the matter and needed to send someone to investigate. After that, there was no more news. The noble who complained waited in the imperial capital for three months, only to find that there was no progress in the investigation. Then, he met the count's illegitimate child who was supposed to be escorting taxes to the eldest prince in the imperial capital.
During the conversation, a conflict broke out. Unfortunately, the nobleman was smashed in the head and died a violent death. The murderer was a servant of the illegitimate son. According to the servant, the servant couldn't stand the nobleman's insults toward his beloved master, so he smashed a stool at the nobleman. As a result, the servant was sentenced to death, while the illegitimate son was unharmed.
When the news spread, it caused a huge reaction among the nobles in the area. Everyone was angry at the eldest prince for siding with Count Corbili. At that time, one of Count Corbili's confidants revealed a shocking piece of news in a tavern. When the count returned to his territory, the eldest prince promised him that as long as he united all the nobles in the northwestern region of the kingdom, he would appoint Count Corbili as the Northwestern Duke of the Redelis Kingdom. All the lands in the northwestern region would become Duke Corbili's fiefdom.
That was why Count Corbili was so crazy when he started the war with the nobles in the nearby territories. He didn't care about the nobles' custom of not involving their families in a war. He uprooted his defeated opponents to prevent them from causing trouble for his rule in the future. Now that the nobles in the northwestern region of the kingdom had given up on the eldest prince, the remaining 34 noble families joined forces and formed a loose alliance against Corbili. They agreed that if one party was in trouble, all parties would come to their aid. It was just that there were too many people and too many nobles were still entangled with old grudges, so there were endless cases of backstabbing and backstabbing. In the past half a year, another two noble families had been wiped out, and the allied nobles had suffered several defeats in a row. The nobles of the alliance were panicking, and a few even bowed to Count Corbili and submitted to him.
Baron Charles gulped down another glass of fruit wine. Now that Count Corbili's army had destroyed his neighboring Viscount Bernard, it was his family's turn. Apart from preparing for war, he sent his youngest son and daughter to Morrent to seek refuge with a distant relative. He was prepared to defend the castle to the death, hoping to inflict as much damage as possible on Count Corbili's army. That was the purpose of buying weapons and equipment from Fatty Shi.
The baron's eldest son, Knight Soria, introduced Count Corbili's army to Lollister. Count Corbili had made a fortune during the civil war, so he brought back more than a thousand mercenaries. These mercenaries were all mounted on horses, equipped with spears and leather armor. They called themselves lancers, and were adept at capturing enemies with flying nets. They were Count Corbili's main force in the war. After that, Count Corbili recruited a garrison of two thousand men. They were led by a few illegitimate children who had followed him to war. They were responsible for the defense of his family's territory and a few nearby territories.
Every time Count Corbili defeated an opponent, he would burn, kill, and loot the territory. In the end, he would bring all the survivors back to his family territory to work as slave labor to build various facilities for his territory. It was said that Count Corbili wanted to build a city similar to the capital in his territory. It would be his residence when he became the Duke of the Northwest in the future.
Knight Soria said that Lollister's northbound convoy would pass through the territories of a few nobles whose families had been destroyed. These territories were filled with resistance forces formed by fleeing citizens. The smaller ones had dozens of people, and the larger ones had hundreds of people. They had caused more damage to Count Corbili's army than the nobles' allied forces. However, due to the lack of resources, these resistance forces often acted as bandits and bandits. Not only did they rob Count Corbili's territory, but they also robbed other nobles' territories. In order to eliminate these resistance forces, Count Corbili would often send his army to sweep through these ownerless territories. One reason was to eliminate the rebellious citizens, and the other was to capture strong adults and bring them back as slaves.
Among the resistance forces in these territories, the most famous one was a knight named Josk. This knight had the strength of a 1-star Gold rank. His specialty was his godly archery skill. In order to avenge the death of his family's leader, he snuck into Count Corbili's territory alone and killed two of the Count's illegitimate children. He even shot the Count's shoulder. He was listed as Count Corbili's most wanted criminal and had a bounty of 100 gold fords on him. Now, this knight Josk had organized an army of a few hundred people. Due to the lack of weapons and equipment, he had even written letters to some nobles, hoping that Lollister's northbound convoy would not encounter him.
Knight Soria suggested to Lollister that it was best to take a detour and not pass through Count Corbili's territory. Otherwise, if they were targeted by Count Corbili or the resistance forces who were actually bandits, they would inevitably suffer heavy losses no matter how strong the family's armed forces were. Not to mention, when the father and son entered the convoy, they also saw the soldiers' families. They would become a burden to the convoy.
After sending off the father and son, Lollister's expression was solemn. Should he continue forward or turn back? This was a question that required careful consideration.
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