"Two lords, I have made the mayor of this town, my name is Jesfu, and I have received the Count's order, and I wonder if you two will enter the castle now? However, if you enter the castle, you can only let two adults and knights enter, and the castle can't accommodate so many people! ”

"Well, let's go into the city and let the troops stand by outside the city!" William said to Baron Bayer.

Two men walked in front, an official without a knighthood in the mayor's seat followed them, and the knights followed them in a mighty line.

"Is there any news about the enemy?" William asked Mayor Jesf.

"Hmm...... There is no news yet, and the patrol that was sent out four days ago has disappeared at the border, possibly running into an enemy outpost. Mayor Mare, uncertain, said.

"By the way, Mayor Yesif, please start dismissing the townspeople and the villagers of the nearby villages now, when the war begins, they will definitely be affected, and you must not supply the enemy!"

In addition to preparing some food and grass for the army in this era, other supplies were completed by robbing along the way, which was also one of the reasons for the army's bad discipline and reputation.

"But...... Well, my lord, you are right, but this order has already been given by the Earl, but there are many small nobles and squires here who are dissatisfied with the Earl, and at this time they begin to make trouble, and refuse to let the inhabitants move away, even if most of the territory here belongs to the Earl! The mayor said helplessly.

"Most of them are not very strong, some are knights loyal to the church in the town, some are knightly merchants, some are squires like millers, but they are very united, and they are a very difficult force."

"And what do those squires mean?" William's eyes narrowed, and he realized that things here were not as simple as he had thought.

"Because they think that the Earl's tax here is too heavy, but this is a relatively prosperous area for commerce, and it is normal to collect taxes!"

"But those people don't think so, they always think that they have received unfair treatment, and they always make trouble for the earl, although the earl wants to do it, but these people are also a little strong, and they don't find anything big for the earl, so the earl didn't do it, but chose to tolerate it, and now, it's become like this!" The mayor said helplessly, it seemed that he was obviously being troubled by the squires and nobles.

"I've long heard that there is a group of squire nobles in Sutton Town who disobey the Earl's rule, but I didn't expect them to be so blatant!" Baron Bair, who had been loyal to the House of Loire for generations, was furious to hear this.

"What do they want? There must be a purpose for this! William asked with a glance at him.

"They...... They want to lower the tax rate and cause trouble for the army if they don't lower the tax rate, and they also threaten to rebel against the rule of the Loire family and help the enemy's army if they don't lower the tax rate! ”

"It's really too much! How dare they? Baron Bair said angrily.

"What's not to dare?" William said nonchalantly, and then asked, "How many people can they probably mobilize?" ”

"Uh...... It adds up to about ...... Four or five hundred! The mayor said hesitantly.

"Armed soldiers? Or conscripted serfs? William lowered the reins and asked again.

"Most of them are armed and trained soldiers, after all, most of the territory here belongs to the Earl, and there are not many people under their jurisdiction, most of them are hired!"

"Ahh By the way, they also pooled their money to hire a team of more than forty mercenaries, more than half of whom wore half-body iron armor and were much better equipped than our town guards! The mayor said bitterly.

"And scraped together the money to hire a mercenary?" William muttered to himself.

"It's really excessive, aren't they really afraid that Lord Earl will lead troops to exterminate them?" Baron Bair was furious, and the great god roared.

The knights behind could also hear these words, and they were also very angry, although the earl was not their feudal lord, but when they thought that this group of squire nobles might be their enemies on the battlefield, and might even affect the battle, they had a bad feeling towards these squire nobles.

"They're really not afraid!" William said lightly.

The two of them looked at him in surprise, and even Baron Bayer was shocked by these words.

"Although Lord Earl's strength is strong and his authority is heavy, it is really unnecessary to go on an expedition across half of the territory to this group of people, firstly, there is no return and they have to spend money to cause casualties, and secondly, these people are also very smart, although they cause trouble, but they have never caused much loss to the interests of Lord Earl, and there is no need to exterminate them!"

"But...... If they dare to do such a thing at this time, they are not far from death! William said heavily.

"Since they dare not obey orders, then be ready to perish!"

"Anyway, the enemy hasn't arrived yet, let's go and get rid of these people first!"

"Where's their mercenary team?" William asked the mayor.

"Your Excellency...... You ......"

"Destroy them first, and then talk about the reason...... There is an unidentified armed force in the Earldom, and of course this hidden danger must be solved for my feudal lord! ”

"Don't go to the castle anymore! Let's go to the mercenary camp first! William exclaimed.

"Baron Bayer, you don't have any opinions, do you?" After William finished speaking, he did not forget to ask Baron Bayer's opinion

"I didn't ...... No comments! "Baron Bair said in his heart: You have finished asking me only when you have finished, what can I say?

Where are the mercenaries stationed? ”

"Uh...... Just more than 30 kilometers north of the settlement I saw just now, they usually have sentry posts, and the defense is quite tight! It's better not to go now! The mayor reminded.

"Tut-tut......" William smacked his lips, more than thirty kilometers Oh, the place under the jurisdiction of this town is really not small, and his territory is only more than forty kilometers from south to north.

"Ah, forget it! Don't go, let the knights do this, let's go to the castle, more than 30 knights, more than 30 heavy cavalry, there is no problem in destroying each other! William changed his mind at this point.

When the mayor heard this, a slight smile spread on his face, but after a while, William said the next words.

"Your Excellency, please summon all the squires and nobles to the castle in your name, I have something to say!"

"You say yes, Baron Byer?"

Baron Baier was already speechless to him, and always asked for his opinion after making a decision, what difference was that from not asking?

Seeing that the other lord had no objection, the mayor agreed, and said to the guards who followed behind, "Go to the town guard camp and announce my order, and let them inform all the squires and let them assemble at the castle, I have something to say!" ”

"Norwen, you take the heavy cavalry and knights to exterminate that mercenary, remember not to leave a single one!" William said.

Baron Bair also muttered to one of his most prestigious middle-aged knights, apparently to let him lead his knights into battle.

"Then we will take our leave, Lord Baron!" The two leading knights led the knights to the mercenary camp.