Chapter 288

Chapter 288.

The news of Arda’s army landing on the upper reaches of the Wis River quickly reached Sente, causing a great deal of shock in the city, which was the number one city in the Northwest Gulf.

The Dukedom immediately stepped in to block the news, saying that it was nothing more than a rumor, put out by a coalition of rebels led by Earl Parker to disrupt the hearts of the army and the people, and ordering that no one be allowed to discuss the matter.

However, the people were still on edge, and the news continued to circulate quietly in private. As the city where the Northwest Duke resided, Cent had not experienced a war for a long time. In this era, war meant looting, slaughter, and humiliation of women. Many wealthy families had already hit on the idea of quietly fleeing.

In the hall inside the Duke’s residence, the atmosphere was heavy, and everyone waited in silence for the lord to arrive.

In the previous days, Jaaius’ series of victories had filled this place with laughter every day, and now not a single word could be heard.

In a small room at the back of the hall, Maltz Kent was discussing things with his head of intelligence as well as Emerson.

“It’s that Greiman fellow again!”

Maltz Kent gritted his teeth in hatred, and he glared at the intelligence chief in dissatisfaction, the implication of which was self-evident:.
What the hell? All that effort to hold him back for such a short period of time?
The Head of Intelligence was sweating profusely from this glare, and immediately spoke out in self-defense.
“Lord Duke, in Alda and Bairdin to start the intelligence work is difficult, military service station, militia, agricultural association …… Gleiman in the military and political aspects of the influence on the local area is getting stronger and stronger, and recently even set up a public security system is responsible for the security of the territory. Moreover, his Council of State also canceled a large number of harsh taxes, the people’s loyalty to Gleiman as a lord is increasing day by day. Those landowners in the countryside are all unpopular, and without any damage to their interests at all, when they hear that they have to directly confront their lord, they all shrink their heads.”

“After the Salt People’s Riot, Lakeheart Town is even more tightly guarded against anything similar that might happen, and the difficulty of creating a second one is immense.”

Maltz was quite dissatisfied and said coldly, “I don’t want to hear any reason, I gave you money and resources, you have to give me corresponding results. Otherwise …… it can be more than just changing people.”

The intelligence chief shivered and responded with fear, “Yes, Lord Duke.”

Maltz let out a long sigh, “Alas, they are all useless ……”

On the side, Emerson asked, “Uncle don’t be too anxious, after the lords arrive in a while, they will surely be able to come up with a way to properly deal with the current situation.”

“Hmph!” Maltz said with dissatisfaction: “They can think of shit, what kind of thoughts are they harboring that I don’t know? When fighting a windy battle, they are scrambling to be the first, fearing that their own benefits will be missing, but when fighting against the wind, they are stumbling, fearing that it is their own people who will die, these people can be utilized, but they can’t conspire with each other. Emerson, I plan to hold off on the attack on Fort Biddle, let Jaaius return to his troops, and settle the matter of Fishtail Town first, what do you think?”

Emerson thought for a moment and said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea, right now the siege of Fort Biddle is tight and a lot of troops and supplies have been invested, once we give up the previous efforts are all for naught. Moreover, returning to the army now will also cause the army’s center of gravity to fluctuate, not to mention the exhaustion of running around in two places, isn’t it obvious that something has happened to our rear?”

“You’re right, is there any other solution?”

“Why don’t we let the mercenaries who stayed in Sente to train longbowmen for us head to Fishtail Town, and also lead our newly trained longbowmen, test the results of the training, don’t ask for an immediate recapture of Fishtail Town, just block them, and wait until we capture Biduo Fort, then concentrate our forces to wipe out or whisk back the Alda army.”

“Well ……”

Maltz Kent stroked his beard, pondering Emerson’s scenario.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

At this time, a servant came in and carefully said, “Lord Duke, the lords from all over have arrived and are waiting for you to go over.”

Maltz stood up and beckoned, “Let’s go, you guys follow me over, it’s time to squeeze some more value out of them.”

The lords gathered in the hall finally waited for their duke, they were already anxious, the matter of Fishtail Town was dealt with as a rumor in the folklore, but it was a real threat to those in power.

His Excellency the Duke had finally arrived. “The siege of Bidor Castle can’t be withdrawn, so we need to organize another army to drive back the Arda people in the rear!”

The Duke’s words made the crowd scream in their hearts, but there didn’t seem to be a better way at the moment.

“The count’s collar must not be less than 800 men, the viscount’s collar must not be less than 400 men, and the baron’s collar must not be less than 200 men!”

Maltz set the standard for each family’s troop contribution, his tone firm, with no room for accommodation at all.

“Also, provide your own dry food and armor!”

……

After spending a week, a huge army was gathered in Cent, the total number of soldiers sent over by the lords from all over the world amounted to as high as 5,000, together with the 1,000 people that Maltz Kent himself had collected as well as the mercenary troops, the army size reached over 6,000 people.

Fergus looked at the huge army formation drilled in the schoolyard and let out a cold smile.

“Your Lord Duke is also too cautious! I heard that the Aldar who landed in Fishtail Town were only a mere thousand or so, as to create such a big battle?”

He was the head of another mercenary team that Emerson had hired, but because he had arrived late, he hadn’t made it to Jaaius’ expedition. Because Jaaius had won back-to-back battles, his team had not been transferred to the frontline, but had stayed in Sentry City as an instructor to train longbowmen for the Duke’s House, who wished to have a unit of longbowmen under his complete control.

This made Fergus very dissatisfied, and Emmerson privately promised to never shrink their pay, which allowed them to stay.

An officer sent by the dukedom to coordinate the mercenary unit smiled helplessly and bitterly, the irony in the mercenary captain’s words was too obvious.

“Captain Fergus should still be careful, the Arda people’s fire crossbow is not easy to deal with, the range is not inferior to a longbow, but the power is even more so, and if you want to talk about weaknesses, there is only the slow rate of fire.”

“There is also that terrifying thunder hammer, it is simply a power given by the gods, the sound shakes the four fields and is indestructible!”

This officer had experienced the Battle of Fort Biddle, and the performance of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of Infantry had left them with a deep power.

“And ……”

“There’s also their fire crossbows that can be used for melee combat, and the soldiers are skillful in combat, right?”

Before the officer could finish, Fergus said the rest of the words for him, leaving the other man speechless for a moment.

“Hmph! I’ll show the Aldar who is the true king of land combat.”

The head mercenary looked disdainful.

“And let that Doug guy know who is the number one team in the mercenary world!”

(End of chapter)