Chapter 769 Shipwreck
"——Sir Stanley, it's great that you and the guys from the legion are finally here. "
In the cabin, amidst the hammering sounds one after another, a member of the task force excitedly said to Stanley beside him.
Stanley raised his head and glanced at the guy in front of him, and smiled slightly, "What? Do you want to return to the Legion?"
Seeing that his little idea was guessed, the team member just smiled stupidly, and then grabbed the hammer and smashed it at the top of the chisel.
Since leaving Wellsburg, the task force has spent many days in various territories in southern Lombardy, getting a clear picture of the situation here, and continuously sending the collected intelligence back to the north.
This afternoon, Stanley received a secret letter from Art again. There were only three contents in the letter. The first was to secretly destroy the cargo ship at the port of Tira City to prevent the lords from escaping overseas with their property; the second was to spread the news that the northern army was blocked by mercenaries and could not escape for a while, so as to paralyze the southern lords and buy time for the army to move south; the third was to prepare to cooperate with Angus and others who had already set off for Tira City in advance to intercept the huge amount of property that the southern lords had hoarded in the city.
Hence, at night, when there was no one around, Stanley led the task force to the port, climbed aboard the cargo ship, and planned to scuttle all the large cargo ships parked on the dock.
With one hammer blow after another, soon, several holes the size of a human head were dug out in the bow and stern of the ship.
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Suddenly, several jets of water spurted out from the bottom of the boat due to the huge pressure, and immediately overturned a task force member.
"Hahaha, great!" Looking at the gushing water, Oliver, the deputy captain of the task force, excitedly patted the shoulders of the team members on the side.
At this time, Stanley on the other side also ran over quickly. Seeing that they were done, they immediately took everyone to another cargo ship. It was not until the last cargo ship was pierced in the middle of the night that a few people dragged their tired bodies back to their residence. -
At noon, after a short rest, Stanley, dressed as a businessman, started to move around with his butler Oliver and a group of caravan guards and handymen.
Soon, a piece of news spread in the city of Tila that made everyone very happy - the northerners were blocked from going south due to the appearance of the mercenary army.
As the news spread rapidly, in less than half a day, almost everyone in Tira City knew about it.
When this news reached the ears of Earl Dylan Hawke, the lord of Tira City, he immediately summoned the lords of the other cities together to discuss the next steps to defend against the enemy.
In the evening of that day, the lord's mansion of Tira City, located diagonally opposite the church square in the southwest corner of the city, was brightly lit. The long official table was filled with lords from the four cities and five castles in southern Lombardy, as well as noble squires and wealthy merchants.
Before the meeting started, these dignitaries had already started whispering to each other, exchanging information that they had obtained through secret channels~
"..I heard that the mercenaries hired by Count Dylan beat the northerners into flight, and the two sides had killed and injured hundreds of people as soon as the two sides fought. "
"I've also heard that the mercenaries recaptured several military forts and towns in one day, which is unbelievable!"
h The two wealthy businessmen in Tira City exchanged the news they had gathered in the past few days, which instantly attracted the attention of the fat squire sitting aside.
The squire approached the two of them, pinched the fat on his chin, and said slightly seriously: "It seems that the gold coins we took out this time have finally had some effect. If those bastards really come to fight us, I'm afraid we All the wealth accumulated over generations will be robbed by those bandits. The two wealthy businessmen nodded repeatedly, convinced of the fat squire's opinion. Sitting across from them were lords from various territories. These guys are dressed in military uniforms, wearing armor and holding swords, and they are serious in speech.
Unlike the merchants and minor nobles sitting with them, several of them were dubious about the news that suddenly spread.
Although these people have tried to send spies to the north to inquire about the military situation, there has been no news. And today, news suddenly came from the city that the northerners were blocked, which made these lords begin to wonder whether the men sent had already escaped or had been captured by the northerners.
With all kinds of questions, they suddenly received an invitation from the lord of Tira City to hold a meeting.
Happily, now, several people can only wait for Count Dylan, the lord of Tira City, to answer their doubts.
While everyone was immersed in discussions and endless arguments about the current situation, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor on the left side of the Lord's Hall, "The lord of Tira City, Earl Dylan Hawke, has arrived!"
The guard's voice penetrated the entire lord's hall. Everyone present stood up unconsciously and looked towards the exit of the corridor.
As the sound of footsteps and the collision of mail became clearer and clearer, a middle-aged man of medium height and slightly fat walked out under the escort of guards.
The person who came was none other than Dylan Hawke, the fourth lord of Tira City and the earl of the southern border of Lombardy, one of the richest earls in Lombardy.
With a cold glance at everyone present, Dylan walked straight towards the head seat of the Lord's Hall.
Slowly, the whole hall began to quiet down. Everyone looked at Dylan Hawke expectantly, hoping to get a positive answer from him.
Dylan stood in front of the seat wrapped in fine deerskin, raised his right hand, and motioned for everyone to sit down.
After a while, he finally spoke, "My lords, I believe you have all heard that the troops we hired at a large price have successfully defeated the enemy's attempt to go south. According to reports from spies, the mercenary army killed hundreds of enemy soldiers in the first battle, and the number of casualties was no less than a thousand~"
Hearing this exciting news, the tense nerves of everyone present were finally relieved.
"But~" Dylan said again: "Although the northerners' march south has been hindered, it does not mean that the danger we face has been eliminated."
Suddenly, the hall was silent again.
"Now, the Milan palace cannot protect itself. I have sent people to Milan many times to ask for reinforcements, but I have never seen any reinforcements from the palace. It is obvious that the palace intends to use us as a shield to attract the strength of the northern army."
"No! We never agree!"
The opposition in the crowd suddenly ignited everyone's anger.
"Yes, I absolutely agree!"
"I disagree!"
Since the war began, the Lombardy Palace has repeatedly ordered the southern territories to contribute money, strength and troops. This originally prosperous land began to have various problems after being "robbed" again and again. Riots, famine, theft and other incidents occurred in series.
A series of riots caused the originally prosperous trade to shrink, and a large number of people fled. This caused the economic situation here to take a turn for the worse. A large number of cargo ships were suspended, and domestic and overseas trade began to decline.
I thought that the northerners’ primary target was Milan, but I never thought that these bloodthirsty demons would come straight to the city of Tira. In response to the crisis, the southern lords asked the palace for help many times, but they were always ignored. In anger, these lords began to unite and refused to continue to fulfill the orders issued by the Milan court. Instead, they raised money to recruit mercenaries on their own to defend their territories.
Now it seems that the huge amount of money spent on recruiting soldiers has finally paid off, making these nobles even more determined to defend their territory.
Looking at the extremely excited nobles, Dylan kept tapping the table, trying to calm these guys down.
"Quiet!"
No one cares.
"Shut up!"
Dylan shouted again. At this time, the hall gradually became quiet.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Dylan spoke again: "Now that we have reached an agreement on the court's attitude, it is time to discuss how to consolidate the gains in the north and drive those farmers out of our territory."
Everyone nodded in agreement, but no one spoke. Because everyone understood that the earl wanted to take out gold coins from everyone's pockets to recruit soldiers and defend against foreign enemies.
Seeing no response, Dylan slapped his hands on the table, stood up slowly, and glanced at these guys with disdain.
"What? My lords, do you think that just relying on a few thousand mercenaries can keep the Southern Territory safe and sound forever?"
Still no one answered, everyone just whispered among each other. For them, recruiting those three thousand mercenaries has cost them a lot of money. Now that the enemies have not been driven away, the earl is asking them for money again, and no one is willing to accept it. Due to Dylan's identity, no one dared to stand up and refute.
Dylan sat back on the big leather chair, with a hint of ferocity in his eyes, looking with hatred at the guys in front of him who were no longer willing to spend their own money to defend themselves against foreign enemies.
Picking up the wine glass on the table, Dylan drank it all in one gulp.
In the end, the meeting ended in silence.
Late night, in the study room near the southeast corner on the second floor of the lord's mansion in Tira City, a plate of roast mutton placed on the table was left intact, already cold. There was only the last sip of red wine left in the wine glass next to the dinner plate.
Count Dylan, the lord of Tira City, repeatedly looked at the secret message on the table that was sent back from the north two days ago. There is only one line of words on the palm-sized parchment - the mercenary legion will arrive at the scheduled battlefield today.
Two days have passed. When good news spread in the city that the mercenary army had defeated the northerners, the spies sent out did not report back the battle situation in the north again. This made Dylan very suspicious of the authenticity of the information.
At the meeting in the evening, in order to stabilize the southern lords and distinguished businessmen who attended the meeting, Dylan had to admit that the rumors on the streets were true, so as to reassure this not-so-close alliance.
I wanted to raise money again to recruit more soldiers, but I was given the cold shoulder by those guys. Therefore, the largest lord in the south had no choice but to give up.
But in order to find out the specific situation in the north, he decided to send two spies to the north again.