"...Sir Viscount~" In the Lord's Hall of Kodor City, Stanley led two special forces to Leander under the guidance of the guards.
Leonder immediately stood up from the long table and looked at the group of people up and down. After a while, Leander said: "They are really people under Earl Art."
"The Viscount has a good memory." Stanley said, feeling honored to be remembered by this officer who was quite prestigious in the Liberation Army.
"Come, sit down first." Leander asked a few people to sit down, and then ordered the servants to bring drinks.
"Sir Viscount, we are here this time~" Before Stanley could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Leander.
"Drink this first!" Leander said boldly, already raising his glass. Stanley couldn't refuse, so several people raised their glasses and drank with Leander.
"Shouldn't your people be in the valley to the south? Why are you in Kodor City?" Leander wiped the remaining juice from the corner of his mouth and asked.
Stanley glanced at the two accompanying team members, and then said: "This is also the reason why I came to see you this time. A few days ago, we received a secret order from the Earl, saying that a group of Lombard spies dressed as businessmen had sneaked into the Kingdom of Burgundy. Their mission was to win over those who secretly The noble merchants who opposed the Marquis took the opportunity to rebel. In order to stop this group of bastards, the Earl ordered us to secretly search for the whereabouts of these guys. Finally, a few days ago, we learned the detailed whereabouts..."
Stanley told Leander the whole story.
“These bastards!” Leander’s blood suddenly surged and he slapped the table angrily. "Where are they now? I have to chop off the heads of those bastards and hang them on the city wall, so that old guy, the Duke of Lombardy, can see the consequences of offending the Marquis."
Seeing that Leander was so excited about this matter, Stanley felt confident. He said: "Please don't be angry, Lord Viscount. We feel the same as you and want to kill these bastards immediately. But the Count has specifically ordered before that he must not kill these spies quickly, otherwise he will arouse the dissatisfaction of the Duke of Lombardy. The best way is to send these people to Besancon and hand them over to the Marquis."
Leander calmed down a little, picked up the wine glass and took a deep drink. "Hey~ If that's the case, then why are you coming to me?"
"That's it, Lord Viscount," Stanley explained, "My Lord, the Earl, originally planned to send the garrison of Beaune City to support us. But the journey is far away, and we don't know when they will arrive. And we have less than ten people, so we can't stop them anyway. Yesterday, we heard the news that these bastards were about to leave for Thorne City. If they were to fight against those in Thorne City, The opposition that the Marquis hates so much has been contacted, I'm afraid~"
"You mean, let me send troops to help you catch those bastards and send them to Besançon."
Stanley smiled slightly and said: "Exactly!"
Leander thought for a moment, and then agreed to Stanley's request. Decided to personally lead a hundred elite soldiers to capture the group of Lombard spies in one fell swoop.
………
On the night of the second day, Leander and about a hundred people, dressed in casual clothes and with daggers hidden at their waists, gathered with Stanley and others not far from the slender hotel where they stayed.
Considering that this operation may be discovered by the eyes of the noble merchants in the city. After consultation with Stanley, the group of soldiers were all dressed in civilian clothes. The action started after it was completely dark and the streets were under curfew.
In order to capture these secrets as soon as possible and send them to Besançon, Leander specially prepared four carriages and had them parked at the gate of the north city. Once those people were caught, they were immediately sent to the carriage, and then left Codor City at night and rushed to Besançon without leaving any trace.
It was night, and after careful planning, the group finally started the arrest operation.
………
In a larger hotel in the south of Côte d'Or, a group of caravans from Provence have been staying here for half a month. These guys are different from other businessmen. Other small caravans passing through here either sold their goods and purchased some products from Kodor City to sell elsewhere. Or go north or south after a short stop. This caravan neither sells goods brought from the south nor purchases goods here.
What is even more strange is that these people go out in several groups every day, specially carrying the "goods" they carry to visit the famous families in the city. These guys all have one thing in common - they are dissatisfied with Flanders' rule and are waiting for an opportunity to overthrow him. Because the Marquis not only gave the trading privileges to Earl Art of Wales, but also made the European Trading Company a royal-chartered trading firm. Moreover, the caravans under the name of the Continental Trading Company did not need to pay any commercial taxes when passing through various parts of the Codor Province, which caused many merchants and nobles to lose a lot of money.
In view of these reasons, this caravan went to visit these noble merchants with shiny gold coins, trying to win them over. He also told them that the Duke of Lombardy was very happy to provide them with southern goods to compete with the European trading houses. They also promised that as long as they followed the Duke of Lombardy, once the rule of Flanders was overthrown in the future, they would receive large areas of fertile land and a steady stream of gold coins.
Under this series of secret operations, these Codor merchant nobles who saw hope quickly reached a consensus with this caravan and were willing to serve the Duke of Lombardy.
That bastard died suddenly. As long as the Duke can show us the direction, I will swear to be loyal to him."
In a room guarded by two people outside the door on the second floor of the hotel, the caravan leader was secretly discussing with a baron in Cordor City.
After a while, the baron excitedly walked out of the room with a heavy bag of gold coins and quickly left the hotel.
………
"Sir, look, that bastard came out." A task force member who was monitoring the movement around the hotel reported to Stanley beside him. Leander, who was leaning against the wall, also stood up and looked towards the direction of the hotel.
When this person passed in front of him, Leonder saw the person clearly through the faint moonlight.
"MD! How dare this bastard collude with Lombard spies behind my back." After the man left, Leander whispered to himself.
Stanley next to him looked at Leander and asked: "Is it possible that the Viscount knows this guy?"
“Of course I do!” Leander was filled with anger. "This bastard is a baron in the palace under the former Earl of Codor. At first, I suggested that the Marquis deprive this person of his title and demote him to a commoner. But due to the situation at the time, the Marquis let him go. Not only did he retain his title, but he also allowed him to work as a civilian. I serve under my command. I didn't expect that this bastard would cheat and betray the Marquis. I will kill him sooner or later!" Leander squeezed the sword in his hand and wanted to catch up and chop off the guy's head.
"It seems that there must be many merchants and nobles in Kodor City who have been bribed by this spy. Fortunately, you discovered it early. If they really unite to deal with the Marquis, there will definitely be problems~" Leander couldn't help but sigh.
"Lord Viscount, please rest assured, everyone who has contact with these spies is already under our control. No one can escape by then." Stanley glanced hard at the hotel not far away in front of him.
In the middle of the night, after all the spies staying in the hotel fell asleep, the operation to capture the spies began.
According to the prior arrangement, Leander sent forty soldiers to guard the intersections around the hotel to prevent fish from slipping through the net. Before most of the troops quietly entered the hotel and approached the guest rooms where the spies lived, they first sent people to find out what was going on inside, so as not to alert the enemy and make their work in vain. Once the situation inside was determined, most of the troops sneaked in secretly.
………
In the aisle to the left of the stairs on the second floor of the hotel, a guy dressed as a guard leaned against the wall and glanced at the stairs from time to time. It was already late at night and the whole hotel was extremely quiet. Only the hotel clerk responsible for the night watch downstairs heard a yawn from time to time.
In order to avoid dozing off, the guards walked in the aisles from time to time to stay awake. When I feel really sleepy, I go downstairs, pour cold water on my face, and then go back upstairs.
"Man, do you have any guest rooms here?"
Not long after the guard came upstairs, there was a sudden conversation downstairs.
"Yes, yes, sir, please come in~"
The guard listened to a few words with his ears raised, but did not pay attention.
Not long after, the sound of footsteps came. The guard leaning against the wall suddenly became alert, holding the hilt of the sword in his right hand, and his eyes fell on the stairs at the end of the corridor.
"Oh, I'm so exhausted, I can finally have a good rest."
"Yes. I have to travel early tomorrow morning, so take the time to rest."
While speaking, the two of them had climbed upstairs.
The guard's left hand holds the hilt of the sword, and his right hand is ready to draw the sword at any time.
"Hey, this way." The guy walking in front called the other person to walk towards the aisle where the guard was standing, while looking at the font on the door. "This one is not. This one is not either~"
Seeing the two people getting closer and closer, the guard had one foot backward and one foot forward, ready to deal with emergencies at any time.
“I found it, it’s this one.” Then the two of them pushed the door open and went in.
"What a danger!" the guard thought silently in his heart.
Zhi～
Suddenly, the door just closed and opened again. The guard's heart tightened and his brows furrowed.
"Hey, where's my wallet?" the guy who walked out of the door and looked around muttered.
Looking at the guard at the end of the aisle staring at him, the guy who was looking for the money bag came forward and said: "Man, did you see the purse I just dropped?"
"No~"
"No? Where did it go? I have several gold coins in here." Immediately afterwards, another guy also went out to help look for it.
“Let me ask you, did you pick up my wallet?” The guy who had been searching for a long time without any results came to question the guard. Another person followed.
"I didn't!" the guard insisted.
"You were obviously the only one in the corridor just now, who else could be there if you weren't you? Could it be that my money bag was stolen by a mouse? Come on, come see the official with me." Immediately, the guy who lost the money bag became jealous, and he grabbed the guard and dragged him outside.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Another person accompanying him quickly came up to dissuade him. "I think you are jealous. You are dragging people to see the officials indiscriminately." The guy who lost the money bag glanced at his companion, felt that he was wrong, and then let go.
"Brother, why don't you help us search for it. There are several gold coins in it. We are counting on the money to go to the north to purchase a batch of goods to sell to the south."
Seeing that the two were entangled, the guard agreed to help them search. Then, the three men searched around upstairs. Suddenly, the guy who lost the money bag winked at the other person while the guard was looking down. The man who was following the guard quickly walked up and strangled the guard's neck, while the other man grabbed the sword from the guard's waist.
· · Bang~
· The guard was hit hard on the neck and felt dizzy for a while, then fell to the ground.
"Quickly, notify Sir Stanley and them!"
…………
"Sir, those bastards live in the innermost rooms."
Stanley glanced at Leander beside him, and then the two of them quietly approached the guest room where the spy was with the fifty or so soldiers behind them.
"Sir Viscount, you will lead people to control the two rooms on the east side, and I will lead people to control the two rooms on the west side."
"Okay, no problem."
In the aisle to the left of the stairway on the second floor of the hotel, more than fifty sharp blades with cold light emitted a dazzling golden light under the candlelight. The Lombard spies who were sleeping soundly inside never thought that their mission would end in the city of Cordor. Next, what awaits them will be jail time.
"Do it!"
Following Leander's order, four wooden doors were kicked open at the same time. Immediately afterwards, soldiers holding short swords rushed into the house one after another...
…………
"Sir Stanley, is our mission completed?"
Stanley, who was riding in front, looked back at the four carriages and the more than fifty guards who were following him. Said: "The mission will not be completed until they are sent to Besançon and handed over to the Marquis." "Then can we return to the valley by then?" the task force asked excitedly.
In this way, the group of people walked north along the commercial road. After entering the Saône department, head east to Besançon.
"What to do? You ask me, who should I ask?" The leading spy looked helpless. He couldn't understand why he was discovered even though he was acting so cautiously. Now I just hope that the Duke of Lombardy far in the south can know the situation as soon as possible and send someone to negotiate, so that there may be a chance of survival~
…
A few days later, Art, who was far away in the southern valley, received a letter from Stanley. Knowing that another group of Lombard spies had been taken to Besancon, the stone hanging in my heart finally fell.
Now, the Duke of Lombardy has lost two chess pieces, which will change his previous attitude to a certain extent. This incident was enough for him to understand that the newly born Burgundy Kingdom was not weak, and the newly promoted Earl of Wales was not an ordinary person.
In this way, Yat now changed from passive to active and took the initiative. Then you can take the initiative and take the initiative in the next game.