Chapter 57 Journey to the North

On the 3rd of January, Lorist bid farewell to the Count of Miranda and began his journey north.

A huge convoy traveled along the avenue for one hundred and twenty miles a day.

On the 4th of January, the convoy traveled forty miles in the morning, and in the afternoon left the avenue, turned west into the forest path, climbed a small hill, and entered the domain of the first nobles of the kingdom of Redlis.

On the third day, just as the convoy was about to depart, Yuri sent someone to report that the lord of the realm, a noble viscount, had personally brought twenty horsemen to collect taxes, and that if the convoy did not leave a tenth of the wagons as a toll to be paid to his lord, he would lead the soldiers to attack the convoy.

Lorist smiled dumbly, and he asked the scout who had come to report, "Did Knight Yuri explain to the viscount that this is the army of the Norton family in the Northland, and now it is returning to the family territory in the north?"

The scout reported, "Lord Yuri has repeatedly explained to the lord, but the lord will not listen, insisting that we are a caravan carrying out smuggling activities under the banner of nobility. And laughed at us for saying that if we want to fly the noble flag, we should find someone with a great reputation, the Norton family? Who knows what the hell that is. ”

Lorist turned around and shouted, "Telman, you go and bring this lord here, and I will let him know what the Norton family is like." ”

Telman returned quickly, and the viscount had become a prisoner.

Telman said that when he led the Knights to charge, the Viscount's cavalry either turned around and fled, or dismounted and surrendered, leaving the Lord to sit on his horse in amazement and watch Telman burst in front of him and disarm him. All twenty-seven of his cavalrymen were taken prisoner.

The Viscount showed the noble qualities of a nobleman's unyielding loyalty, and although he was a prisoner, he still held his head high proudly, and loudly scolded Lorist for daring to attack the head of the noble Mestre family, did he want to provoke a war with the Mestre family?

Of course, if Lorist is willing to apologize, the noble Viscount is willing to forgive this reckless attack on him, and as a sincere apology, Lorist must present a batch of goods to the Viscount, as well as ...... Well, this maid is very nice...... He was referring to Jasmine who was standing next to Fat Shi.

Lorist smiled wryly, and turned back to Bodfinger to say that he doubted that the viscount had a brain.

The noble Lord Viscount was ordered by the angry Fat Man to tie him to the hollow wheel that had been fitted up, and experienced the feeling of the world spinning for ten minutes, and then spread it on the ground with a handful of tears and snot to ask and answer, and explained everything cleanly.

It turned out that this Viscount Mestre was at war with a neighboring baron, and last night the Viscount led all the cavalry under his command to prepare to attack the neighbor's village to burn and loot, but the neighbor's family had already prepared for the Viscount to return in vain. On the way back to the castle in the morning, he spotted Lorlist's northbound convoy and brought his cavalry to fight the autumn wind. By the way, the castle of the Viscount was located by a small lake sixty miles away in the direction of the convoy.

Lorist was amused: "It turns out that the Viscount invited us to the castle as a guest. Telman, take this Lord Mei to his castle, and let the people of the castle open the door and surrender, or else the Lord Viscount will be hanged outside the castle. Let the convoy of Dorus go with you and attack the city without surrendering. In the evening we rested at the castle. ”

......

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Lord Viscount Mestre felt so cold, he opened his eyes, and the whole person was still dizzy, and he felt a little like vomiting. That damned fat man dared to do such a thing to a noble viscount, and when he returned to the castle, he would muster an army of his lords to settle accounts with the convoy. Wait, where is this, why is it so familiar?

The Viscount tugged at his face, and finally cleared his senses, and the more he looked around, the more strange he felt, where this place was, as if it was very familiar. Finally, the viscount realized that this was his own castle, and this place should be his previous bedroom, but how did this bedroom change so much?

The Viscount jumped up from the ground, and then found himself naked* and naked with nothing on. What is this? The Viscount picked up the thing that had just been draped over him, and looked at it closely, and it looked like a coarse sack, which seemed to be used for wheat.

What did those men do to themselves? The viscount cursed and rushed to the place where he had been bed, and there was a rope on the wall that summoned the bell, and as soon as the rope bell rang, the maid would come in and take care of it. It's just that as soon as the viscount pulls the rope, the rope falls down, and the summoning bell breaks the rope.

The Viscount had no choice but to pinch his nose and pick up the sack on the ground and wrap it around his waist, tie it with the rope, and go barefoot to open the door, and look out, the corridor was empty, and there was no one in it. The Viscount called the names of several of his servants and maids, but no one answered.

The Viscount went to the next room, and found them as empty as his own bedroom, without a single piece of furniture, a single piece of clothing, or a pair of shoes, and only the cold walls, and even the beautifully decorated doors of several rooms were missing.

Lord Viscount wandered around the castle, and there was nothing, not even the torches that had been planted in the walls. The more I walked, the more scared I became, what had happened, where had everyone gone? Lord Viscount rushed to the rooftop of the top floor, and finally breathed a sigh of relief, the sun was shining outside, and the warm sunlight shone on his body, bringing a warm and comfortable feeling to his skin.

The Viscount looked down from the top floor of the castle, and only felt that his castle was very clean, yes, that is, clean, clean without a single person, a stinky livestock, a cart, a piece of cloth, a piece of iron. The whole castle is made of wood except for the stone.

"Is there anyone? is there anyone else?" the Viscount let out a desperate scream from the rooftop......

"Great, my lord, you've finally woken up, too, great. "A figure stood in the corner of the courtyard downstairs, and the Viscount saw that this was not his faithful old butler, but the old butler, like the Viscount, was naked, and had a sackcloth around his waist.

Lord Viscount rushed from the rooftop to the courtyard in one breath, and the old butler looked at the Viscount with great excitement: "My lord, you, you have finally woken up, you have been lying unconscious for two days......"

The Viscount grabbed it, but he didn't catch it, he was naked and had no clothes to grab, so he had to put his hand on the old butler's shoulder: "What happened in the castle?

Two days ago a band of robbers escorted you to the castle and told us to surrender, and if you didn't surrender, we would hang you outside the door. We can't help it, for the sake of your life, we have to open the door and surrender. The gang of robbers said that the Norton family's northbound convoy was delayed, and that because of you, they had delayed their trip, and that they had caused them great mental damage and reputational damage. So they caught you and demanded a claim. However, you also know the situation at home, there are not many gold coins. The robbers ate all the cattle in the castle, and removed all the contents of the castle, not sparing even a curtain or a rag. and the doors were torn down. The old butler said.

Lord Viscount was about to go crazy: "What about that person? “

"They all went with them, and when the robbers were leaving, they gathered all the people of our castle together, and a fat man asked us if we would go with them, and I said no, and they stripped me naked and threw me in the courtyard, and all the people went with them. The old butler said.

"My lord, when they were leaving, I begged them so much that they threw me a sack of wheat. I poured the wheat on the ground, covered it with a sack, and after two days of searching in the castle, I dug out a broken clay pot from the ground, and I had just cooked some wheat porridge.

The Viscount felt empty when the old butler said it: "Okay, you go and bring me the porridge." ”

At this time, there was the sound of horses' hooves outside the door, and the old housekeeper's face changed when he looked out: "My lord, it's not good, the Boqi family is coming to attack us." ”

"Go and close the door. "Lord Viscount is also anxious.

"But, my lord, the iron bolt was also taken away by the robbers. For the past two nights I have taken a stone and put the door on top of it...... said the old butler.

"It's over......" Lord Viscount crouched on the ground in despair.

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Shi Fatzi didn't care about what happened to the first territorial nobleman he encountered, Lord Viscount Mestre, in his opinion, that Lord Viscount was purely stupid, and he didn't know how to become a territorial nobleman. I really thought that I could be arrogant to everyone by wearing a noble hat, and I didn't want to think about how much difference my strength was from others, and I didn't want to give him a little power to see how to do it, and I dared to beat my Jasmine's idea......

At this moment, Shi Fatzi was standing in front of the castle of the third realm nobleman that the convoy passed, and he and the lord Baron were bargaining for a batch of weapons and equipment. Yesterday, when passing by the castle of the nobles of the second realm, Shi Fatzi sent someone to shout, wanting to make some deal with the lord. However, the lord may have been frightened by the huge convoy outside, and shrank in the castle as a turtle with a shrunken head, ignoring no matter how he shouted, Shi Fatzi had no choice but to give up the idea of doing business.

When passing by the baron's castle today, Shi Fatzi learned the lesson of yesterday, and only brought three carriages to the castle, and first unloaded a set of more exquisite furniture moved from the castle of the viscount of Mestre as a gift to the lord. The main reason is that Shi Fatzi dislikes this set of furniture is too cumbersome and occupies the position of the carriage, so he uses it as a gift.

With the gift, the lord Baron appeared on the city wall and asked Shi Fat what he was doing?

Shi Fatzi first made a knightly salute, and then explained to the Baron that the convoy behind him was the Norton family's northbound team, and asked the Baron if he could provide some supplies of food and grass materials, and he brought some weapons and equipment here, I wonder if the Baron needs it?

When he heard that there were weapons and equipment, the baron went out of the castle to take a look, and then he chose a hundred spears, twenty sets of chain mail, twenty round shields, twenty two-handed swords, and three sets of knights' full-body armor. It all adds up to almost five hundred goldfords. However, the baron didn't have that many gold coins, so he discussed with Shi Fatzi whether to barter with supplies.

In the end, the baron settled the deal with the weapons and equipment with a hundred gold coins and wheat for ten wagons, including the carriage and the two horses that pulled the cart, plus five oxen and fifty pigs. Because the business opened for the first time, Shi Fatzi also specially discounted a 20% discount, and instructed the people below to bring a small barrel of grape and fruit wine from the original Slov Manor to the Baron to taste.

The Baron Baron was very happy to accept the grape fruit wine sent by Shi Fatzi, and looked at the direction of the convoy not far away, and kindly reminded that he had crossed the mountains in the distance and left his territory, and it was best to be careful when advancing, that there was the most active area for grass bandits and bandits, and he also had to guard against the attack of Count Kobilly's family army.

When Shi Fatzi heard this, he politely expressed his gratitude, and sincerely invited the Baron to attend the banquet in the evening, not far away, just below the mountain in the distance, where the convoy camped at night.

The Baron thought for a moment and said that he would go to the banquet in the evening, hoping not to cause trouble to the convoy.

Shi Fatzi said that the Norton family would be very honored to wait for the Baron's arrival. For the banquet in the evening, I took my leave and prepared first.

In the evening, the Baron brought his eldest son, a knight of three silver stars, and four chamberlains to the banquet, and entered the camp to watch all the way, admiring the military prowess of the Norton family.

Shi Fatzi used the table, chairs and cutlery brought from the castle of the Viscount of Mestre to set up an open-air banquet in the open space in the middle of the camp, and first introduced Lorist and several family knights to the acquaintance of the baron's father and son. The baron claimed that his name was Charles, and his son's name was Soria. Then everyone sat down and chatted while eating.

The purpose of Baron Charles's banquet was to find out the situation and the situation of several lords in the direction of the next convoy. The Baron himself knows this. The father and son ate and drank at the feast, and soon introduced the information that everyone wanted to know.

Lord Charles pointed to the mountain next to the camp and said that this mountain was the boundary between him and the Viscount of Dybernar on the other side of the mountain, but the Viscount of Dybernar had been killed, not only Viscount Denlear, but also Baron Enrehl, Count of White, and Baron Umador, that is to say, the next hundreds of miles of Lorlist's northbound convoy passed through the borderless land where the lord had been lost. Lorist will not find supplies in this area, and all he will see are abandoned or burned towns and villages.

The reason for this is the good work done by the Cockbilly family's private army. When it comes to the Corbilly family, we can't help but talk about the Earl Corbilly, who is now in charge. It is said that the Earl was a well-known swinger and playboy in his neighborhood, and his favorite thing to do was to roam around his territory on horseback, and when he saw a woman, he would dismount and force her to have sex with him, whether he was forty or fifty years old, or thirteen or fourteen. As a result, the women in the territory can either stay at home and dare not go out, or the people who can't stand it drag their families and flee to other places.

Because of this, the earl had more than sixty illegitimate sons, and he did not mind and adopted them all. He was known as the ** Earl in the nearby aristocratic circles. Later, the earl suddenly became interested and decided to go to the imperial capital to play. Then he met the eldest prince in the imperial capital, and the two had a similar smell and became friends. Two years later, the eldest prince was exiled by the old emperor, and the earl returned to the realm, and stayed in the manor to raise those illegitimate children.

A few years later, the Grand Prince raised a counter-flag in the province of Portoorg, and the Count raised the flag accordingly and went to the Grand Prince with about thirty of his grown illegitimate sons. After the end of the civil war, the Earl returned to the territory with a large army of men and a large amount of money, but only a dozen of the thirty or so illegitimate children who had set out with him returned.

Now in his sixties, the Earl was still ambitious, and soon after returning to his territory, he used various excuses to provoke wars with the nobles of nearby territories, successfully doubling the power of his territory. The thirteen territorial nobles who opposed him were all killed and exterminated, the men were basically slaughtered, and the women were even worse after being caught, either humiliated to death or sold to slave traders after being tired of playing.

A nobleman once went to the royal capital to complain to the eldest prince, denounced the cruelty of Count Cobilly, and demanded that the eldest prince punish him and avenge the nobleman's unsuccessful death. As a result, the eldest prince lightly excused himself and said that he did not know much about this matter and needed to send someone to investigate it clearly. Then there was no news. The nobleman who filed the complaint waited for three months in the royal capital only to find that the investigation had not made any progress, and then he met the illegitimate son of the earl, who was said to have gone to the royal capital to escort the taxes to the eldest prince.

A confrontation broke out between the two men, and the nobleman who complained was unfortunately killed by having his head smashed in the middle of the dispute, and the murderer was a servant of the bastard, who, according to him, could not bear to be scolded by the nobleman for his beloved master, and the result was that the servant was sentenced to death, while the count's illegitimate son was unharmed.

When the news of this incident returned, it caused a great repercussion among the nobility of the region, and everyone was indignant that the eldest prince favored Count Corbilly. At this time, one of Count Billy's cronies confided in the tavern the shocking news that when the Earl returned to the realm, the Grand Prince promised him that as long as he integrated all the territorial nobles in the northwest of the kingdom, he would appoint Count Billy as the Northwest Duke of the Kingdom of Redlis. All the lands in the Northwest will become the fiefdoms of Duke Billy.

Therefore, when Count Corbilly started a war with the nobles of the nearby territory, he was so frustrated, and he did not care about the custom that the nobles' wars would not harm his family, and uprooted the defeated opponents, so as not to cause trouble for his future rule. Now that the nobles of the entire northwestern region of the kingdom have despaired of the eldest prince, the remaining thirty-four nobles have united to form a loose alliance against Cobilly, agreeing that one side will support each other in case of trouble. It's just that many people are scattered, and many nobles have the grievances of the past entangled in it, and the things that pull the hind legs and stick knives are endless, and two nobles have been wiped out in the past six months, and the assembled aristocratic coalition has also suffered several defeats one after another, and the nobles of the alliance are panicked, and even several nobles grovel to Count Cobilly.

Baron Charles poured another large glass of wine, and now that the army of the Count of Cobilly had destroyed his neighbouring Viscount Tyberna, it was about to be his family's turn. In addition to preparing his army for battle, he sent his youngest son and daughter to Moriente to join a distant relative, and prepared to defend the castle himself, in order to inflict maximum losses on Count Corbilly's family army. Buying weapons and equipment from Shi Fatzi is for this purpose.

The Baron's eldest son, Knight Soria, briefed Lorist on the Earl of Cobilly's family army. Because Count Corbilly made a fortune in the civil war, when he returned to the territory, he brought back more than 1,000 mercenaries, this mercenary army all rode horses, armed with leather armor and spears, called himself lancers, and was good at flying nets to capture the enemy, and was the main force of Count Corbilly to launch the territorial war. Then there was the garrison of 2,000 men that Count Cobilly had recruited in his realm, led by a few bastards who had followed him out on his expedition as adults, and were responsible for the garrison of his family's domain and several nearby territories.

Whenever Count Corbilly defeated an opponent, he would burn and loot that territory, and eventually take all the surviving lords back to his family's territory to be used as slaves to build various facilities for his domain. It was heard that Earl Corbilly wanted to build a city in his territory similar to the royal capital, which would serve as his home when he became Duke of the Northwest in the future.

Knight Soria said that the northbound convoy of Lorist would pass through the territories of several nobles who had been exterminated in the next few days, and that these territories were active with many rebel forces composed of fleeing lords, small dozens of people, many hundreds, and they had caused more damage to the family army of Count Corbilly than the army of the nobles. However, due to the lack of supplies, these rebels often also acted as robbers and bandits, not only robbing the territory of Count Cobilly, but also other noble territories. In order to eliminate these rebels, Earl Corbilly often sent his troops to sweep these ownerless territories, one is to eliminate those rebellious people, and the other is to capture adult strong laborers and return them to slavery.

The most famous of the rebel forces in these territories was a knight named Joske. This knight is the strength of the golden star, and his specialty is the magic arrow stunt of 100 shots. In order to avenge the exterminated head of his family, he infiltrated the family territory of Earl Cobilly, shot the earl's two illegitimate sons, and wounded the earl's shoulder, and was listed as the most wanted criminal by Earl Cobilly, with a bounty of up to 100 gold merit. Now the Choske knight had organized an army of several hundred men, and had written to blackmail some of the nobles of the realm because of the lack of weapons and equipment, hoping that Lorist's northbound convoy would not run into him.

Knight Soria's advice to Lorist was that it was best to take a detour and not pass through Count Corbilly's sphere of influence. Otherwise, they will be targeted by Count Corbilly or those who say that the rebels are actually robbers, even if the escort family is strong, it will inevitably suffer heavy losses, not to mention that when their father and son enter the camp, they will also see those dependents of the army, which will become a burden to the convoy.

After seeing off the baron's father and son, Lorist's face was heavy, and the road before him should continue to move forward or turn backwards?