Once again, the gunpowder weapon was on display of its power, and these clay pot grenades that Byron had privately produced in Thrindil from the gunpowder he had stored at Dehrim were mediocre but a frightening thing to those who had never seen the gunpowder explode. Especially in the south, soldiers who have seen gunpowder explode under Fort Gruenward are rumored to have wizards in Swadia who have mastered the power of dragons and are able to spit dragon fire.

The vast majority of the Rhodoks did not know about gunpowder, although many nobles already knew about it, and some even tried to get the recipe for this new weapon from Salander. They thought it had come from the desert in the southeast.

The morale of Rhodok's soldiers was crushed by the explosion of gunpowder, and the otherwise intractable enemy was easily defeated by Byron's cavalry.

Rhodok's infantry array was broken into several pieces under the impact, and even if they were still struggling to block it with their spears, they could not stop the charge of hundreds of heavy cavalry.

In the course of the charge, a dozen horsemen fell to the ground because their spears stabbed their horses or bodies, and no less than five of them died from the subsequent mending knives and the hooves of their own horses. However, compared to the losses on the part of Rhodok, Byron is still acceptable.

The battle was much easier, with the exception of the core of the line, which was made up entirely of Sergeant Rhodok, and the rest of the soldiers were either killed or surrendered after being divided and surrounded by cavalry.

Both Fatis and Alleyne knew that there must be a big man on the Rhodok side in the very center circle, either a troop commander or a high-ranking nobleman, so they did not continue the attack, but sought instructions from Byron.

Byron rode thunder, surrounded by the crowd, and entered the cavalry encirclement, passing past the captives who had laid down their arms. He looked at the armor and equipment on the soldiers, and under the cotton armor were chain mail and chain mail, the equipment was of high quality, and he could see that they were more elite troops, but the will to fight was not as strong as he thought.

"I am Baron von Byron, lord of the town of Serindil in the kingdom of Svadia, and I believe that the gentleman in the middle of you is a man of status, can you tell me who you are? I promise to treat you with chivalry and fairness. ”

Byron rode on his horse, looked at the man in the middle of the sergeants, dressed in fine plate armor and with a prancing horse on his neck, and judged that the other party was the nobleman of Rhodok, the commander of this army.

"Chivalry? You northerners always talk about this stuff and do the exact opposite. ”

Hearing Byron's words, the man glanced at Byron with some disdain, and then he made a gesture to the officer next to him to introduce himself.

"Baron Byron of Svadia, in front of you are Count Rimusk of the kingdom of Rhodok, lord of Serindil and Imer."

In his introduction, the officer emphasized the status of Lord Serindil, Count of Rimuske, and the count was also very arrogant on the side, which made Byron very unhappy. However, Byron also had to admit that the earl did have arrogant capital, and behind him was Rhodok's army of thousands, and with these soldiers backing him, Byron did not dare to do anything to him.

However, this also clearly told Byron one thing, the man in front of him was the initiator of the attack on Serindil, as long as he was killed, most of the war would be won. With him in hand, the army that attacked Serindil would not dare to move. It's still winter, supplies are difficult, it's cold, how many days do they consume?

"Thrindir now belongs to Svadia, to Earl Haringos, Lord Earl."

Thinking of this, Byron's confidence suddenly became sufficient, and his voice rose by a few decibels.

"You should understand the current form, your remaining soldiers, loyal and brave, will not be able to defeat us. There is no humiliation in surrendering now, my lord, we will treat you as a nobleman, and your soldiers will be treated preferentially. ”

Byron had already decided to take the earl, but he still wanted to try to persuade the other party to surrender, to minimize the damage as much as possible, and also to show his aristocratic demeanor.

"You're not a small one, little baron. But you're right, my remaining soldiers can't defeat you, and I don't mind being a prisoner of a baron. But you have to keep your promises, or you'll regret it! ”

"Of course, my lord, in the name of glory."

Without much thought, Count Rimusk agreed to Byron's proposal, and he ordered his men to lay down their arms and surrender, and Byron ordered that their freedom should not be restricted by binding or shackles. But anyone could see that the arrogance of Count Rimusk had not been restrained in the slightest.

On the way back, Alleyne was very excited, they had captured an Earl of Rhodok, and no one had been able to capture a Count of Rhodok during the previous war. He told Byron that they would make Swadia famous. All the Svadian lords would have been shocked by this.

Compared to him, Fatis was much less excited. He was equally pleased to have been able to defeat the vanguard and capture an earl, but he was more concerned that the form might not go as smoothly as Byron had imagined.

When Byron's cavalry returned to the town with hordes of captives and the original lord of Serindil, the whole town was shocked. The people could not believe the truth of this until they saw the Count imprisoned in a room in the stone tower. Some of the townspeople had seen Count Rimusk before, and they confirmed the authenticity of his identity.

All the people of Serindil talked about it, and the squires and magnates came to the town to show their loyalty to Byron, and when the townspeople saw Byron, they felt a sense of loyalty and obedience to Byron, and they were amazed by Byron's strength, and liked his policies. Even though this place had always been Rhodok's territory before, and most of the town was Roddock, those soldiers who returned victoriously were still treated as heroes, which even Byron didn't expect,

For a time, everyone had the illusion that Byron had defeated the invading Rhodok army and won the victory.

But Byron did not revel in this false victory, and it became clear to him that after the capture of Count Rimusk, Rhodok's army, though in some confusion, remained in the abandoned village on the border for two days, but still advanced slowly towards Serindil.

He sought out Count Rimusk and hoped to get the Rhodoks to withdraw at the cost of his freedom. In Byron's opinion, Count Rimusk was the instigator of the war and the commander-in-chief of the troops. As long as he is allowed to compromise, the battle is won. Even if he can't be allowed to withdraw his troops, he can buy time to wait for the main force of the Peony mercenaries to go south to support.

But the earl's answer poured cold water on Byron.