Chapter 812 - Valuable News
Shortly after 3 a.m. on September 2, Isabel Walton led the raid team back to Blakeness Prison Castle intact in the dark of night. Because the plan to capture the Queen of Scots was temporarily changed, Isabel and the others were given two days off. Two days later, he sailed aboard the Nemesis piloted by Captain Hawkins to the town of Stirling, where a "stage play" of the Vikings raided the town in the 40s of the 16th century.
When she had set up the guards for the prison castle in the square of the castle, she ordered everyone to go to bed immediately. The knight's squire, Ralph Earle, hurriedly stretched out his right arm and asked, "Your Excellency, what about this hunting ground keeper?" ”
While the guards had left the square to find a room and bed for them, Isabel walked slowly up to Ralph and glanced sideways at the Scotsman standing beside her, "Well, put him in prison." ”
The shackled hunting ground keeper on the side of the squire saw the two conversing in English he did not understand, and recalled the terrible fact that two of his companions had been executed by the Englishmen. Ignoring the rattling of the shackles he was wearing, he raised his hands upwards and called out in the low-earth Sug language, "My lord, I beg you not to kill me, and I can tell you some news that you can get treasures." ”
Isabel couldn't understand what the caretaker was saying, but looked at each other with a puzzled look and said to Ralph, "What is this Scotsman calling?" ”
"Hey, the captain didn't give the order to kill you, be quiet for a while." After reprimanding the caretaker, Ralph whispered to Isabel instead, "He said he could tell us something about the treasure as long as we didn't kill him." ”
"Treasure? Well, put him in jail first, and then come and interrogate him after sunrise. With that, Isabel turned and walked towards the tower to the north of the main building.
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There is no need to worry about the Scots storming the castle and killing themselves, and there is plenty of time to sleep. Therefore, it was not until 1 o'clock in the afternoon that most of the members of the sneak attack team woke up from their sleep. Ralph, a sleepy squire, walked briskly into the main building with a large set of keys, opened a cell on the second floor and brought the hunting ground keeper out.
He then left the prison with the guards and went to the conference hall of the tower on the north side of the main building. Isabel, who had also slept a lot, sat at the top of the conference table in high spirits after washing, examining the caretaker standing at the end of the conference table. When he looked sideways at Ralph, who was serving as a translator, he nodded, "Let him speak." ”
The warden of the hunting grounds then told the story in a very fluent Low Country Scottish of what he thought was valuable. Later, the squire Ralph translated his words to Isabel, "Your Excellency, he said that there is a castle to the southeast of this royal forest. In addition, in the town of Linlithgow, where the magistrate who oversaw Blakenes Castle was located, there was a Linlithgow palace and two churches. ”
"Castle? Palace? Isabel was immediately intrigued, leaned forward and glared at the caretaker with piercing eyes, and said to Ralph, "Tell him that if he lies to me, I will immediately throw him into the sea behind the castle to feed the fish." ”
The Scotsman, after listening to Ralph's translation, waved his hands and shook his head eagerly, and muttered a large amount of Low Scottish with a strong local colloquialism. The squire Ralph felt that this fellow must have been frightened, and when he shook his head and smiled and looked at Isabel again, he smiled and said, "Your Excellency, he said he didn't dare to lie. If you don't believe what he's saying, let him lead the way. ”
"This guy wants to lead us to plunder castles and royal palaces of the Scottish royal family?" Isabel played with an empty wine glass in her hand and spoke unhurriedly.
"Your Excellency, I'm afraid so. In fact, the caretaker was just a poor farmer who worked for the Scottish royal family, and what poor farmer didn't love money. ”
"Well, well, you call Upper Fast, and Hale and Miller take him to investigate the castle and the palace. When you return, you will decide on the plunder. ”
Indeed, as the warden of the hunting grounds described, there was indeed a castle in the royal forest southeast of Blakenes Castle. However, the castle is very small, with only two rectangular towers of 5 storeys and the walls that surround them. At present, the castle is in a state of abandonment, with no sergeant guards and no Scottish nobles or knights to live in.
The Linlithgow Palace, just five miles southwest of Blakeness Castle, is a great place to plunder. The magnificent building, the birthplace of the Queen of Scots, is believed to contain a lot of valuable works of art and personal belongings of the royal family.
About two hours later, Ralph and others, pretending to be knights guarding the prison, escorted the guards back to the prison castle. When Ralph reported to Isabel what she had seen, Isabel made the final decision, "Fast, let the others come to the chamber, I have something to announce." ”
Soon, most of the members of the sneak attack team gathered in the conference hall. When Isabel announced to the crowd that she was going to loot two Catholic churches near the palace of Linlithgow tonight, the crowd became extremely excited. Fast felt a little strange, and hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, why don't we go and loot the Scotsman's palace by the way?" ”
Isabel simply explained, "At the moment, we don't know how many Scots troops are stationed in the palace of Linlithgow. Therefore, the purpose of the looting of the church was to lure out the army from the palace and kill the knights and sergeants guarding the palace outside the palace. ”
From 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. at sunset, the members of the sneak attack team were in a state of extreme excitement, restlessness, and restlessness. In the evening, when dinner time came, the Scottish knights and sergeants all gathered in the square of the prison castle to relieve their inner anxiety with sword fighting and boxing fights.
Little by little, the time passed until it was past sunset at 8 p.m. Seeing that it was getting dark, Isabel left the tower where the chamber was located and walked into the square. Glancing at the 31 members of the team who were also heavily armed, he said aloud, "Kill the Scots and take their treasure!" ”