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The battle between the top of the two sides has been decided, and the battle of the minions below has come to an end

As Mitchell had judged at the beginning, the bandits, who had the advantage in numbers, did not have the upper hand in this battle

From the baptism of the rain of arrows at the beginning, to the short-handed encounters in the back, and then the next one was separated and outflanked, and finally the whole army was wiped out from beginning to end, the bandits did not show even the slightest commendable bright spot

The gap in preparation and arrangement, the gap in equipment, and the gap in the strength of the soldiers, all of which added up to make up for the numerical disadvantage and more than enough, and the "group curse" and "group blessing" that Anthony casually cast before chasing the bandit leader became the last straw that broke the camel's back

It's a one-sided war

Seeing that the leader of the gray wolf was bombarded by the opponent's brutal magician, hit the huge stone, and then bounced back, lying prone on the ground, the will to resist of the bandits, who did not know whether they lived or died, completely collapsed, and threw down their weapons and raised their hands in surrender

A warrior from the Hilton family approached and asked Anthony, "Sir, the bandits here are all under control, what should we do next?" ”

After this battle, these warriors have admired Anthony to the ground, and their tones are full of admiration

Anthony's eyes swept over the battlefield, nodded slightly, and said: "You did a good job of tying up these bandits, and two more people, bring the bandit leader Mitchell, and we will enter the gray wolf village."

While taking the lead in walking towards the stockade, he explained: "Send a signal to Owen in the back and let them all come"

In this battle, Anthony did not let Owen play, but arranged to guard those strong men at the "construction site", and waited for the plane to fire signal flares, after all, his strength was too low, and his identity was special, Anthony really didn't dare to let him take risks

"Yes," the samurai bowed and took the order

There are more than 100 people in the gray wolf village, and the strongest is the group brought out by Mitchell, followed by those strong men who are responsible for moving stones and digging pits, seeing that the main force of the village is all scarred, and their hands are tied and escorted up, and the few bandits who stayed behind have been frightened to the point that their legs and feet are weak, and then they see the unconscious leader on the stretcher, where do they dare to resist, before the people on Anthony's side have spoken, the thieves guarding the door opened the gate tremblingly

Having successfully entered the stockade, Anthony came to the hall and sat down

These warriors sent by the Hilton family are all experienced in battles, experienced and do not need Anthony's command to order, they have been skilled in controlling all the points of the cottage, searching for enemies, and escorting them to a strict guard

Only Mitchell, the gray wolf, was still lying on a stretcher and was placed at the bottom of the hall

Soon after, Owen also rushed over with the rest of his men

Before the "brother mighty" arrived, Owen's exaggerated voice had already arrived, "I knew that Brother Anthony's strength group would inevitably lead to the success of the brother's move, and the gray wolf and the red wolf wolf would all be the heads."

"Okay, the sycophants are beating so loudly, isn't there any requirement" Anthony sat calmly, unmoved

Owen sat down beside him: "This is not a sycophant, I just don't believe you on the matter, ask the brothers, see what they think"

Several warriors standing on the side all nodded their heads one after another

Anthony waved his hand and said, "Okay, I really didn't ask for it, then forget it"

After speaking, he got up and wanted to leave

Owen hurriedly grabbed his arm and said with a smile: "Don't don't hehe, brother, actually, it's nothing to do next time, can you let me go into battle to kill the enemy, don't put me behind"

Anthony frowned and said, "With your skills, how can I rest assured that you should rush to the front, didn't you see that two of our bronze brothers were injured?" If it had been you, you would have been lying with the gray wolf on the ground right now."

At the end, he added: "It's still covered with a white cloth."

"Bah, Bah, Bah, Luckily," Owen said stupidly, "If you don't want to, forget it, you don't have to curse me like that"

Immediately, he became interested in the gray wolf again: "This is Mitchell, the leader of the gray wolf village?" It is said that it is already the peak of the first silver level, and it doesn't seem like much to be able to break through to the silver middle level a little, but it will be beaten like this by you with one palm."

Anthony said lightly: "That's because he underestimated the enemy, and my martial arts skills are a bit mysterious, just restrain him, otherwise, it will really take a little effort to clean him up."

Owen stepped forward and kicked the gray wolf, "How is he now?" Dead or not? ”

"No, it's just that I'm in a coma, and it's estimated that a few ribs have been broken, and my internal organs must have been injured, he is strong and has good physical fitness, and he will recover after a while."

"Then why don't you carry it down, what are you doing here?"

Anthony frowned, "There's something to ask him, don't you think their bandits are acting very suspicious?" ”

Owen sat down in his chair and pouted, "You're trying to say that they don't behave like ordinary bandits."

"That's right," Anthony nodded, "According to common sense, although the bandits make a living by plundering caravans, if they force the caravans to extinction and divert to other places, they can only drink the northwest wind, and they just do it, and they will do it for more than ten years."

"In my opinion, there are only two possibilities," Owen leaned back in his chair and stretched out a finger lazily, "First, there are some things here that they value very much, such as treasures and the like, so they would rather nest in this ravine for more than ten years and not let outsiders approach, but in the past, once they encountered a powerful caravan or bandit force, they ran faster than rabbits, and never saw a certain place, so it seems that the first one is unlikely"

He stretched out another finger: "The second is to plunder the caravan and block the passages, from which they can benefit and this benefit does not come from the plundered caravan property."

"Personally, I think the second option is more likely"

"Not bad," Anthony looked at him steadily, with a look of surprise on his face, "exactly as the higher-ups in your family speculated"

Owen rolled his eyes: "Of course I told you a long time ago, I'm a business genius"

"If it's the second case, where do you think the benefits come from?" Anthony asked with interest

Owen replied without hesitation: "Simple, whoever will do the most damage after the opening of the business road will be the most suspicious."

Anthony nodded and didn't speak

Before leaving, Count Silvio had explained some things to him in detail, and also informed him of some speculations about possible situations, so Anthony was not surprised by Owen's answer

Edinburgh's aristocrats and merchants flocked to this trade route because Krakow County has very popular products in Edinburgh City or nearby cities, and Edinburgh's goods can also be sold at good prices in Krakowshire

Krakow County is also a fairly wealthy county town, although the transportation is inconvenient, but after all, it is not completely closed, the carriage is inconvenient to come and go, the goods are difficult to circulate, can be replaced by manpower, whether it is carrying, picking or lifting, as long as the price is right, there will always be someone willing to transport things for you

However, such a commodity circulation is naturally difficult to meet the needs of large merchants, and the cost is much higher than that of fleet transportation

If the trade route could not be opened, in order to obtain these goods, it was necessary to transport them from Krakow to the official road, load them on horse-drawn carriages, go north through the imperial capital and then transfer to Edinburgh, or from the official road south, detour through the southernmost province of Brussels, and then return to Edinburgh

No matter which road you take, not only is the distance long, the time is delayed, and every time you pass through a province or a city, you have to pay commercial taxes, tolls and other fees, so it can be said that the final selling price of the goods, which is several times the purchase price, is collected by the provinces and counties you pass through

If the speculation of the business elite of Owen and the Hilton family is correct, then the people behind these troublesome bandits on the business road are likely to be the big nobles and big merchants in these counties

"Ahem, cough, this young master is right, there are many viscounts, earls, marquises, and even grand dukes who support us behind us" I don't know when, the gray wolf Mitchell has woken up, and is looking at Anthony with wide eyes