In order to escape Rudolf I's rule, some of the lords of the southern frontier sold their land and slaves at low prices, and moved to the interior of the empire or the adjacent marquis of Canaan with their gold and silver and hordes of wives and concubines, and it was Baron Hurd who took over their inheritance. The emperor of southern Xinjiang calmly faced the turbulent situation, and openly declared that the government of Kolas would collapse if it could not last for a year, and that southern Xinjiang would remain his world, and everything would remain the status quo.

A year has passed in the blink of an eye, and Baron Hurd's prophecy has only been half fulfilled: the kingdom of Kolas has not collapsed as he expected, but has become more and more prosperous and popular among the people; However, the social changes in the Far Northeast did not have a substantial impact on the southern Xinjiang region, and the magnates of Mochizuki City ran and danced, still living a luxurious life of drunkenness and dreams. As if it were as Baron Hurd had promised - nothing would change.

However, with the arrival of the winter of 1621, the atmosphere of Mochizuki Castle gradually became colder, and there were various signs that a "cold wave" from the north was changing the status quo of the southern frontier. First of all, two days ago, the slave capture team was attacked by an airship during the pursuit of fugitive slaves, which was said to be from Colasburg and was conducting a census in southern Xinjiang. Hurd's party didn't know much about the census, but they were sure that the airship carrying the Giant Eagle Air Force would never be purely engaged in surveys, otherwise why bother to protect the fugitive slaves?

What happened next was even more worrying for Hurd's party. Just this morning Blade "Blade" Tails had bad news: the mission to ransack Sweetwater ended in a fiasco. The "Blades" failed to burn down the granary in Sweetwater, and failed to force Sand Rose to submit, but instead lost more than 100 bandits. The reason for such a tragic loss, Tails explained in a letter to the Mochizuki City Plantation Federation: an airship belonging to the kingdom of Kolas suddenly appeared in the sky over Sweetwater, sending an entire wing of giant eagles to attack the "Blade Regiment", the commander of the airship was a high-level ranger and a high-level green field druid, these two women did not know what spell they used, summoned a snow-capped mountain out of thin air, and smashed directly on the granary to extinguish the fire. Knowing that he could not take advantage of the Far Eastern Air Force, Tails had to lead his team to evacuate Sweetwater.

The Slave Catchers and the Blades suffered setbacks one after another, and the news reached the ears of the magnates of Mochizuki City, and panic spread like a plague. These restless lords of the manor gathered in the dining room of the Doge's Palace, the castle built by Baron Hurd at a cost of millions of gold coins, to accompany His Excellency the Baron to dinner and discuss countermeasures.

The atmosphere in the dining room was dreary, and the worried owners of the manor had no appetite for the tender veal steaks on the silver plates, and only drank glass after glass of wine, occasionally whispering to their neighbors.

The sound of knives and forks cutting came from the head of the table, and Baron Hurd was as attentive as ever, and seemed to have a good appetite. The richest man in southern Xinjiang, dressed in the costume of the imperial aristocracy, is nearly sixty years old, and his figure is well maintained, compared with the fat and pot-bellied guests here, he looks particularly vigorous, but the years are not forgiving after all, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and the gray sideburns show that this lord is no longer as energetic as before.

Baron Hurd swallowed the last piece of beef, threw down his knife and fork, rinsed his mouth with a wine glass, and turned his head to spit into the pure gold spittoon held by the slave girl beside him.

The sound of "phew" brought the people in the restaurant back to their senses, and they stopped their private conversation and sat down.

Baron Hurd wiped his mouth with a napkin, and his falcon-like gaze slowly swept over everyone's faces, and after a long time, he faintly spit out a sentence:

"What's the panic, everything has me."

With these words, everyone regained their hearts, and smiles reappeared on their faces, and they raised their glasses to Baron Hurd.

Baron Hurd ignored everyone's courtesies and said coldly: "I know what happened in the past two days, the airship from the Fort of Atonement is parked in Sweetwater, it seems that the traitors have colluded with the half-giants in a vain attempt to destroy the current stable situation in southern Xinjiang. ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, this is what we are most worried about, the Hot Wind Tribe of Sand Rose has not obeyed your command for many years, and now that group of powerful half-giants have joined forces with the rebel party from the Fort of Atonement, if we launch an attack on Mochizuki City, I am afraid that those mercenaries who work for money will not be able to defend it!" A manor owner said with a cold sweat in his face.

"I didn't expect the slave catchers to fight the rebels desperately," Baron Hurd said, playing with the crystal wine glass inlaid with turquoise, with a blank face, "I have already sent an order to send the Scarlet Guards stationed in the mines back to the city to strengthen the defenses, and as for the rebel airships and giant eagles, there is nothing to fear, I have my own way to deal with them." As he spoke, he raised his hand, and the attendant behind him hurriedly stepped forward to greet his orders.

"Go and bring in Captain Set and Master Gaode."

"Yes, my master."

The attendant hurried out of the dining room, and returned a few minutes later, followed by two men, one of whom was a druid dressed in a gray robe and holding a cane, his face tattooed so green that it was impossible to see his original appearance; The other man looked even more bizarre, his upper body looked like a strong man, his leather armor showed his muscular arms, his long crimson hair was scattered over his shoulders, and below his waist was attached to a giant scorpion more than ten feet long, with a pair of huge claws raised, covered in scarlet carapace, six lower limbs crawling rapidly on the floor, a thick tail rising upward, a sickle-like hook sticking out from the end, and a sharp blade flashing with a faint blue light, obviously poisonous.

"This half-scorpion warrior's name is Seth, from the deep desert Crimson tribe, and he has a team of loyal and brave half-scorpion mercenaries under his command, and he has hired Seth and his brothers to guard the city, gentlemen, you can rest assured."

Baron Hurd first introduced the half-scorpion warrior, then turned his gaze to the tattooed druid.

"This is Master Gaode, an expert in animal taming from Medes, who has served Prince Mayer of the Rosenthal family for a long time, and was hired by me to Mochizuki City three years ago to domesticate the Sphinx Hippogriff three years ago, Master Gaude, tell you gentlemen, how many Sphinx Hippogriffs we have in total?"

"One hundred and four, Your Excellency." Master Gao De replied in a hoarse voice.

"Tails mentioned in the letter that the rebels had sent an armed airship, and in the airship there was a wing of giant eagles, and who could tell me how many people there was in a wing?" Baron Hurd looked around the restaurant.

"Sir, as far as I know, a wing includes four squadrons, a squadron contains four detachments, and a detachment is six giant eagles, so a wing should be 96 giant eagles, counting the wing leader and squadron leader, there are a total of 101 giant eagles on the rebel airship, which is about the same number as the sphinx you domesticated." It was Seth, the captain of the half-scorpion guard, who opened his mouth to answer.