Gregory IV and Brenus finally reached the city walls.

Both of them had sweat on their foreheads.

"Your Majesty, I heard that you brought troops here to hunt down the rebels? Are you still going to chase after you?"

The lord did not salute, but asked directly with a smile, as if he were the king.

"Your Excellency Leon, since the rebel is no longer here, then of course I would like to withdraw my troops, if you have no objections......

Gregory IV is now a little weak in his legs, and his heart is still a little empty, and what he says is not at all like what a king should say, in short, it seems a little cowardly.

"Of course I have no objection, if you are willing to surrender......

Leon opened his mouth in a way that even Brenus couldn't believe - the Duke even gouged out his ears, apparently thinking that he might have misheard.

"It can't be! H.E. Li Ang...... If that's the case, let's fight to the death!"

Gregory IV, although he seemed a little cowardly, would never agree to such a humiliating condition and surrender to a baron? Then he might as well die on the spot......

"But you've invaded my territory, so you can't just leave, right? Something has to be left behind...... If you're really not afraid of death, I can ask the Noldor elves to give you a ride......

Leon was still smiling and shaking his head.

When Duke Brenus saw that Leon was planning to blackmail Gregory IV, his eyes widened and he didn't even know whether to speak, so he simply found a battlement and sat down to watch the two negotiate.

The marshal now looked like a subordinate of Leon......

"Your territory? This is the rebels' castle! It's the Borderlands!"

Gregory IV argued.

"Uh...... This is probably Baron Leon's domain now, he is a rebel, and since he led his troops to occupy the rebels' castle, then this territory is indeed his......

Brennus replied to Leon, who was clearly trying to blackmail Gregory IV, and Brennus would not turn his elbow outward.

"Now, Your Majesty, you heard that...... And when you attacked Talon Fort, it wasn't a rebel yet! Besides...... My village of Fletcher has also been invaded by Earl Stephen, and this was arranged by you, right? There should be no excuse for the Raven's army invading the territory of Fletcher Village, right? You've come to crush the rebellion, but your troops are attacking all my territory! Do you say that you should compensate me for my losses?"

Leon behaved quite horizontally, as if he had really suffered a huge loss.

Gregory IV really had nothing to say about the arrangements on the other side of the village of Fletcher—it was indeed he who had arranged for Count Stephen to be there to stop the eastern lord of the Lion Kingdom.

Although he didn't let Count Stephen attack Fletcher Village, since Leon came here, it means that he must have repelled Count Stephen, so the loss was indeed caused by the invasion of the Raven Kingdom.

"And what are you going to do?" Anyway, even if the whole army is wiped out, there is no way I will surrender!"

Gregory IV didn't defend himself, and he said directly, looking quite single.

"Well, then, Your Majesty, disarm your troops, and I will allow you to take all the noble lords away, but your soldiers must stay here. You can ransom them in a month - but if I don't get the money after a month, I'll sell them to Singal. Isn't that embarrassing you?"

Leon offered a seemingly reasonable condition, so good that Gregory IV couldn't believe it.

This treatment was indeed very much in line with Gregory IV's wishes.

As long as all the nobles can go back, it doesn't matter if the civilian soldiers stay here, anyway, to Gregory IV, the civilian soldiers are like leeks......

As for whether to ransom the soldiers after returning home - they are all conscripts of various noble lords, and whoever wants to redeem them will let the lords pay for it themselves.

"If that's the case, then of course ......."

Gregory IV was about to agree, but Leon held his hand in front of him

Stopped him.

"Your Majesty, I'm not done yet...... You nobles want to cross the Gato steppe without soldiers, it's dangerous—someone has to be in charge of security, right? It just so happens that I'm doing this business......

The lord's raised hand turned into a gesture of counting gold coins.

"You don't have to worry about that, Lord Leon!"

Gregory IV's face began to twitch again.

"Oh? …… It seems that you do have some shady deal with the Cato warlord Zakar...... Well, good luck, and I hope you don't run into any horse thieves when you leave Talon Keep......

Since this king does not care about the safety of his life, of course, there is no need for the lord to force it......

"You! Duke Brenus, are all of your young lords of the Lion Kingdom such shameless now?!"

Gregory IV felt threatened by intimidation and turned to Brenus angrily.

"Huh...... Why do you think he became a rebel at such a young age? I'm not qualified to use the gold coat of arms......

With a hint of mockery on his face, Brenus turned his head and said something cool.

"Good...... Good! Your Excellency Leon, tell me how much money you want!"

Gregory IV simply asked clearly, he didn't want to stay here any longer, lest he be angry and have nowhere to be treated.

"It hurts to talk about money...... Just give me the Falcon Castle, and you're not going to ask for it anyway, are you?"

The lord smiled even brighter, how can there be a king who does not cherish life......

Brenus's eyes widened again, and Leon's request was once again beyond his expectations.

"That's the Stephens' domain! How could it be for you?!"

Gregory IV was also shocked, he was already mentally prepared to be punished by Dazai, but he didn't expect Leon to ask for the castle!

"You're planning to sell Darkfalcon to Zakar, and what are you talking about the Stephens...... Count Stephen's cavalry withdrew a few days ago, leaving you here - this is a deserter from the war, and I can't stand it if you don't take back his fiefdom in Darkfalcon......

The lord's intention was to let Gregory IV punish Count Stephen, who had withdrawn his troops early, on the grounds of "cowardice", to recover his territory of Dark Falcon Fortress, and then transfer it to Leon.

"Are you blackmailing? What if I don't?"

Gregory IV did not directly object, but he was quite dissatisfied with Leon's approach.

"Your Majesty, just say if you agree or not—if you do, just write a transfer document and stamp it, and the Duke of Brenus is a ready-made witness...... Anyway, if you give me the shabby place of the Falcon Castle, I can send someone to "protect" you back to China, right? Or do you think my men will be happy to run to your cold and snowy land?"

Leon looked indifferent—it really didn't matter, and it wasn't him who ran out of ammunition now.

"You're a bandit! Bandit! How can there be a nobleman like you? Don't you have a sense of honor in your heart?"

Gregory IV's eyes were red, and he cursed in a low voice, looking like he was about to go crazy.

"Your Majesty, I am the lord of the Lion Kingdom, and it is the greatest honor of a noble lord to open up territory for the kingdom......

The lord was completely unmoved, and the kind smile on his face did not change at all.

"Okay...... I'll give you the Falcon Castle! See what you do with the Gatu and the Misty Mountain people there!"

Gregory IV whispered through gritting his back molars.

"Then you can find a place to write a declaration of territorial transfer, remember to write an armistice agreement by the way, and I will sign it with Duke Brenus in a moment...... Do you need someone to write it for you?"

The lord reminded me very kindly.

Gregory IV snorted, turned and descended the wall, ignoring Leon no more.

However, on the way back to his troops, Gregory IV looked less cowardly. Although he was slaughtered, he was slaughtered, but no matter what

, he knew that his safety was at least guaranteed.

There were only two people left on the walls.

"Lord Duke, let's make a deal......

Leon turned to look at Brenus, no longer with a smile on his face, but with a serious expression.

"You want Talon Castle, right?"

Brenus looked at Leon with his beard twisted, and when he saw Leon asking Gregory IV for the Falcon Keep, he thought he probably understood Leon's intentions.

"No, what is there to talk about Talon Castle, this is the spoils I deserve...... What I want is the town of Long River."

Leon glanced at the lion knights and royal city guards who were still sitting in the city, and then turned to look into Brenus's eyes: "Lord Brennus, evacuate your people from Long River Town, I'm going to crusade against that rebellious ...... of Grandlon."

Brennus can't remember the first time he's been startled here, but this one was the worst.

He even shook his whole body and ripped off a handful of his beard, but he didn't seem to feel any pain.

「…… How do you know? …… How do you know that I sent those troops that Grandon recruited in Long River?"

After a full half minute of silence, Brenus whispered the question.

"You are the most powerful duke in the entire kingdom, with a rich territory, a large population, and a powerful army...... But this time you only brought the king's troops with you, so where are your direct troops?"

Leon shook his head slightly, "Your son Malbert previously replaced you as the administrator of Long River Town, and after Grandlon occupied Long River Town, he was able to recruit a large number of highly combat-effective troops in such a short period of time...... Ha, even if I guessed, I could have guessed!"

In fact, Li Ang was indeed guessing just now, but he knew that the probability of guessing correctly should be relatively large.

It is not logical that Grandon has recruited a strong force of more than 500 men in just a few days after taking over the town of Long River.

And the only person who has the opportunity to arrange so many undercover soldiers in Long River Town to "wait for recruitment" is Brennuth's son Lord Malbert - the best guy is the administrator of Long River Town.

And judging from the acting skills that Malbert showed before, he also has this ability, this gentleman who seems to travel all day and night is actually very shrewd.

There was hesitation and surprise in Brenus's eyes, and he didn't speak for a long time.

"It's just the two of us right now, Master Brennus, and I'll be straight - I know you probably want Grandon to stay in Long River for a while longer, so that you can reap a lot of benefits from raising thieves...... And if necessary, you can always take out Grandon from inside and out, or change to a "traitor" to continue to entrench in Long River. But after all, it's all just a profit, and you will never get Changhe Town—the only one who can get Changhe Town is me, a rebel!"

Leon simply picked out Brennus's mind directly.

"Leon, I still underestimate you...... I can quit Long River, but do you think you can become the master of Long River? Your Majesty won't be happy, and all the nobles won't be happy......

Brenus looked at the young face of the lord and shook his head slowly.

"Ha, that's my business...... Your Majesty will be happy to ......."

Leon smiled and looked at the troops sitting in the city—more than half of the Lion Knights were killed or wounded, and the rest were basically wounded. And only about 300 people of the royal city guards were still alive.

"Then I'll be blunt, I can't afford to suffer a loss, since you said it was a deal, what price are you going to offer?"

Brennus frowned and began to ask for the price.

"It hurts to talk about money...... Wouldn't it be okay to send all the people you arranged in Changhe Town to Lion Lake City? Lion Lake City is much richer than Long River, and the closer to Rock Bay, you can reap more benefits......

Leon's business has always been done fairly, and there is no need to spend money.

"How? It is impossible for Shihu City to be given to me, and it will inevitably become a direct territory of His Majesty...... And there aren't any rebels in Lion Lake City right now!"

Brennu

Si didn't understand too much, in a place where there were no rebels, how could he raise thieves to reap the benefits?

"Who said there were no rebels...... Didn't Forsett run away?"

Lord Lord's hand spread, "As long as we all say he's still in Lion Lake City, he must be in Lion Lake City...... It's much easier to control than Long River!"

Brenus was stunned for a long time before shaking his head and exclaiming, "You can really do it......

Lionlake City is indeed richer than Long River, and Brennus does find Lionlake City more convenient - he is currently in control of Lion Lake, and as long as Leon can unanimously declare Lion Lake City to be occupied by Forsette, he can even rob the whole Lion Lake City!

Anyway, the nobles who are currently staying in Lion Lake City are indeed all those who supported Forsette before, and they are all real rebels, so it makes sense to rob them all - those nobles who are unwilling to attach themselves to Forsette have long been driven out of Lion Lake City, and no one will trouble Brenus because of this.

「…… Okay, then it's decided, I'll get my troops out of Long River...... Still, I think you might not get what you want."

Brenus nodded and agreed, he also needed Leon to keep the same tone with him, otherwise Leon would reveal the matter, and he wouldn't be able to reap the benefits of Changhe Town. Since Li Ang is willing to cooperate with him in doing things in Lion Lake City, it is acceptable.

Leon laughed and held out his hand to Brennus, "Well, then, good cooperation, Lord Duke...... We can go and sign a truce with the Raven Kingdom."

Gregory IV did draft two agreements, one was to transfer the Falcon to Leon as an "apology", and the king's transfer would take effect as long as there was no objection from both parties, and the Duke of Brenus signed a third-party certificate as a witness.

The other is an armistice that declares an armistice and acknowledges that the Raven Kingdom "crossed the border too recklessly". This is actually a letter of state, Brenus is the marshal of the kingdom and can sign on a reciprocal basis as the king's representative, and Leon is a witness to this agreement.

The Falcon Castle is now nominally Leon's domain, and Gregory IV will take the Falcon Castle under its jurisdiction and transfer it to Leon on the grounds that Count Stephen has withdrawn his troops without permission.

Although the Falcon Castle is an enclave, it is a legal territory written by King Raven himself, which is at least a frontier that has been expanded thousands of miles away.

Moreover, Leon let Gregory IV transfer directly, which was actually equivalent to saving Gregory IV's face - this is not a defeat and a sue for peace, but "compensation for the losses caused to Leon due to the reckless dispatch of troops".

Leon did have losses, but not at the hands of the Ravens, but against the Cato killed a dozen soldiers, including the five Noldor warriors under Neuer.

Fifteen hundred civilian soldiers of the Raven Kingdom were disarmed and left behind at Fort Talon.

The wounded were properly treated by Anson, and the uninjured began to clean the battlefield under the command of the female soldiers—it was really just cleaning, because the weapons and valuable things on the battlefield had long been collected by Leon's troops.

The main job of these Raven captives was to carry the corpses out of the city and clean the bloody castle......

When the dust settled, Leon sent a force to escort the nobles of the Raven Kingdom home.

To be precise, to receive the Falcon Castle - in fact, as long as Leon does not let his men make cameos as horse thieves, Gregory IV will not need to be escorted through the grasslands......

The force he sent was not large, it was a hundred Pander soldiers led by Sir Roland, all of whom were the lord's own troops, and An Dongjia was also in the ranks.

When the team left, Wren also took his farewell to Leon.

Wren had not expected Leon to defeat or weaken the forces of the Raven Kingdom, and in fact he had no idea that Leon would be able to blackmail Gregory IV.

Leon's ability to get hold of the Falcon Castle was actually an unexpected surprise for Wren.

Amy led the troops to save Wren's life, and Wren of course wanted to repay him.

Leon also detained the soldiers of the Raven Kingdom, creating excellent conditions for the rebel army of Ursula and Wren, which was even more successful

Repaid.

In addition, Wren also wants to rebuild the Falcon Knights in Dark Falcon Castle.

Therefore, Wren swore that as long as he was not allowed to turn his back on Ursula and the Knights of the Falcon, he would obey all of Leon's orders and sell himself to the lord.

In other words, as long as he is not allowed to break his previous oath, he is Li Ang's wage earner.

Ursula's rebels have been operating around the Falcon Castle before, and Sir Wren was able to pull out a lot of troops in the Falcon Castle, and although the Falcon Knights were destroyed, their influence in the Falcon Castle was still very great.

This was the main reason why Gregory IV would accede to Leon's request.

And Leon has learned from Wren that Ursula has formed an alliance with the Lion Kingdom, and with Wren's relationship, Ursula will also regard Leon as an ally.

In that case, the enclave of Darkfalcon would be a truly controllable territory.

Ursula needed a lord who could support them in the Falcon Keep, which would give her rebels a way out, and the Falcon Keep would not be attacked by the Raven Kingdom if it remained in Leon's hands, after all, the two countries had signed an armistice.

And Leon needed the Dark Falcon Castle, on the one hand, in order to arrange the business to the Raven Realm and the Misty Mountain—some businesses, in the bitter cold land north of the Misty Mountains, could make the most profits.

On the other hand, it is to let An Dongjia recruit the people of Misty Mountain.

Fort White Hart and Wheat Collar had to wait for the population to grow, and it was not easy to expand the size of their troops quickly, so they had to try to recruit troops from the Bacchus who were gradually relocating, the farmers who originally belonged to the "Second Imperial Legion" of Levius.

But there is no need to wait at all to pull troops from the Misty Mountains, and even the Dark Falcon Fort can quickly pull a troop up.

As for how to ensure the actual control of the Falcon Castle and the loyalty of the soldiers - this is why Leon asked Sir Roland to go to the Falcon Castle.

It is impossible for a paladin like Roland to betray, because Roland will not be loyal to anyone at all.

And Leon is ready to transform a large number of misty mountain people from raiders to good citizens, which basically belongs to the fundamental implementation of the will of the goddess of justice in Roland's eyes, and Roland is a very good training instructor.

Before Wren left, he asked Leon a question, "My lord, do you think that Lady Ursula can become the queen of the Raven Realm?"

Leon thought for a moment, and instead of answering directly, he gave Wren a few words of advice: "I can get Gregory IV to back down only because his troops are exhausted and have no supplies. But even so, he was reluctant to do anything that would directly detract from his dominance...... Don't think about catching him or killing him to make Ursula queen, you can only outdo him in every way and prove that Ursula is better than him......

I don't know if Wren listened to it, anyway, he just saluted respectfully, and then said, "My lord, I think you yourself are better than the king in every way......

The lord didn't say anything more, and waved his hand for Wren to get out of here.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Amy rebuilt the New Falcon Talon garrison at Talon Castle.

She's going to turn the female soldiers of the Griffon's Sword mercenary group into a new falcon talon.

Of course, the skilled female warriors of the Griffon's Sword Mercenary Regiment admired Countess Valera, and it was a great honor for them to be a part of the new Falcon Talon.

This rebuilt "New Falcon Claw" only takes advantage of the fame of Countess Valera and the nature of Falcon Claw, they are actually an independent force - they are not the servants of the Falcon Knights, in fact, they have nothing to do with the Falcon Knights at all, and the female soldiers have no intention of joining the Falcon Knights who have been declared illegal......

Their formation is actually called "Griffontal", but in order to make it easier to recruit new people, they are advertised as "New Falcon Claw".

The female soldiers were just following their idol Valera.

And Amy is using this to make them gradually forget about Mirgan - using idolatry to dilute the influence of the Sea King, which is the same thing that Emperor Marius used the faith of Dalia to dilute heretical.

It's just to make that

Some female soldiers have completely become Amy's independent troops.

Amy will stay at Talon for the time being to develop a relationship with her female soldiers, who are now not only the leader of Griffontal, but also the lord of Talon Talon.

This is also deliberately done to take advantage of the influence of Countess Valera, a new griffon claw led by a female lord, which will attract more people to settle here.

There are almost no inhabitants in Talon Castle, and Leon and Amy intend to attract people from the surrounding villages in this way.

Amy's female lord wasn't legitimate, but it was reasonable—whoever Leon was willing to let take care of Talon Castle was Leon's freedom.

Also staying at Talon is Sarah, who will find more female warriors who are willing to join the "New Falcon Talon" and work with Amy to form a reliable army of female soldiers.