Diskra is a famous sea beast in the deep sea, I don't know how many years it has existed, and it has the strength to compete with the gods.

Like the source of the Akmunds' equipment, this is a trophy of Gordon. I don't know what his considerations were at the time, he didn't sell it, but installed it on the Black Rose Castle, which was already fortified, it is said that it was to make up for the lack of long-range defense capabilities of the castle, and the trebuchet was very old after all. But it was doubtful that Gordon would ever use Akmund's weak forces even if he was strong.

For now, however, it is clear that this legendary giant crossbow will become a very threatening obstacle in Richard's path.

Discra can have a range of up to ten kilometers, which is more than the range of most magic. It is also equipped with two equally legendary crossbow arrows, named Tides of the Deep and Edge of the Deep.

A spell that can trigger a large area of sea ** surge is extremely powerful in a coastal environment, and can instantly turn flat land into a sea quagmire, which is the best choice for dealing with heavy troops. The other is the power of ultra-long range and magic tracking, which is a big killer against a single target. In addition to this, the other crossbow arrows equipped with the Fury of Discra also have various magical powers.

At this moment, on the lookout platform on the high of the Black Rose Castle, a group of people dressed in aristocratic costumes were standing on the platform, ignoring the strong wind blowing in their faces, and their eyes were wide open, looking into the distance.

In the center is an elderly mage, with gray hair and beard and wrinkles on his face indicating his age and physical condition. The magic power of the fourteenth level is not bad, but it is not good at his age.

The old mage was the Speaker of the Family Council, a knight himself, and a small territory in a distant land. With such a speaker, it is naturally difficult to convince other parliamentarians. So the councillors were divided into four or five groups, each standing on the lookout, and each group had its own core.

Now there are less than 30 parliamentarians left, which is much worse than the size of more than 70 at its peak. Richard's threats were real and effective. But these people who remained were deeply attached to the Marquis of Sauron, and if they dared to give up their status as councillors, then the Marquis would kill them first without waiting for Richard to come.

Although the old mage in the middle knew that the identity of the speaker was a false title, he was more than the real speaker. He blinked his somewhat sore eyes vigorously as he said majestically in a deep voice, "Bring me the tea." ”

A young nobleman ran down and back with a cup of piping hot black tea, with milk and sugar in it.

Many people's eyes showed disdain, and some even snorted loudly on purpose, but the old mage and the young nobleman just didn't hear it, didn't see it.

It is conceivable how high the status of a person who can serve the old mage diligently. This young man was not even a basic nobleman, and his only identity was that of a mage's apprentice. But he didn't like to wear mage robes, and he was always affected by the color of wearing aristocratic clothes, and his mouth was always "how our real nobles ......"

The old speaker obviously doesn't mind these problems of young people, and even if he does, he can't help it, because he has no one to use. His magic power is reasonable, but the mage's other side jobs that can make money, including alchemy, medicine, and the processing of magical materials, are all below the standard, and life is naturally embarrassing.

At this moment, he took the black tea, took a sip of it, but almost squirted out. The tea is too inferior, the sugar is put too much, and the milk seems to have gone bad. But the old speaker forced himself to swallow it, and then asked, "Isn't there supposed to be a caravan coming today, and why haven't you seen them yet?"

The old speaker was looking forward to the caravan, because it would contain his share of supplies. As Speaker, he was treated slightly better than the other MPs, just a little.

The young man thought for a moment, and seemed to have such a thing, and said, "Maybe something is delaying the way, right? Did they run into Richard?"

The old speaker said disdainfully: "The owner of the caravan is the nephew of Count Tudor! Richard is just a little guy who has not grown any hair, does he dare to move the caravan?"

The young man said yes again and again, but after thinking about it carefully, he was not as confident as the old mage, and asked cautiously, "...... the councillor?"

"Call me Your Excellency!" said the old Speaker majestically, correcting the young man's 'mistakes'.

"Your Excellency, Speaker, will we be able to defend the Black Rose Castle with your foresight? I have heard that Richard is the royal constructor!"

"Royal Constructor, so what?" the old speaker laughed exaggeratedly, attracting everyone's attention, and then sneered and said: "How long has Richard been a royal constructor? Can a boy with no roots be compared to a real old tycoon? I can tell you one thing here, that is, Richard only brought five hundred cavalry this time, which is five hundred! Why did he bring so few people, and it was all cavalry, not just to be able to avoid the interception of the nobles along the way? On his way, there were Mensa, Janssen, and the armies of Sauron and Lord Goliath, and if he had led a large army, he would have been able to drive under the Black Rose Castle? Therefore, young people should think more with their brains, and don't believe rumors about everything! Even if Richard does come, what if we have a castle, a mage, and a garrison of 5,000! Can he defeat the Black Rose Castle? This is a fortress that never falls!"

The old mage's words made the members of the House of Representatives nod their heads, and they felt that a hanging heart had been put down a lot. However, the young man didn't think so, he wanted to ask, didn't Richard already announce his marching route, which seemed to make it clear that he was not afraid of someone intercepting him on the way!

But the old mage's words also seemed to be somewhat convincing, and Richard did indeed only take five hundred horsemen on the road. What is 500 horses enough for?

Since the Black Rose Castle was occupied by the family council, the system left behind by Gordon has long since fallen apart. This is no longer the place to be well informed, and due to the arrears, the intelligence points set up by the League and the Imperial Family have been removed. Some daily news, except for the Marquis of Sauron's intention to tell them, can only rely on the most primitive channel of merchants. Of course, they can also rely on their own families, but how much useful real information can be obtained from the marginalized branches themselves?

The Marquis of Sauron had a choice of messages to the councillors, such as telling them that Richard had brought five hundred knights, but not that one hundred and fifty of their five hundred knights were knights.

If this news is known for sure, then it is believed that these councillors will flee immediately, even in the face of Sauron's wrath. This is the same reason that they ignored Richard's threat in the first place, and first found a way to avoid the disaster of death in front of them.

The old speaker took two sips of the tea, handed it back to the young man, and then stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance in anticipation of seeing the caravan that should have appeared a long time ago.

He did see the smoke rising at the end of the road, but it didn't seem like a caravan. The councillors noticed something strange and squeezed towards the lookout to see better. They were also looking forward to the arrival of the caravan so that they could have two more slices of ham on their plates for dinner.

"What's that?"

"It doesn't look like a caravan, how do you feel like it's cavalry?"

"Don't talk nonsense! Where are the cavalry now?"

"Do you want to bet on it? Lao Tzu was a soldier when he was young. ”

"You've been a soldier, but you've never heard of a war!"

Amid the noise of the councillors, a young soldier suddenly shouted: "It's cavalry!

The shout immediately caused chaos among the councillors, who screamed and shoved, not knowing where to run or what to do. But the chaotic councillors blocked the young sentry's path and prevented him from sounding the alarm in the first place.

The alarm bell finally sounded, and the Black Rose Castle awoke from its slumber. It's been a long time since the old fortress has been alerted for war, and Gordon's cronies have long since been cleared, leaving behind ordinary handymen. At this moment, the alarm bell suddenly sounded, and the castle was full of chaotic crowds, exclamations, angry rebukes and women's screams were intertwined, and all that could be seen was chaos.

At this moment, the defenders of the castle are actually composed of private troops cobbled together by the councilors, claiming to be 5,000, but in fact there are less than 4,000, and more than half of them are soldiers who have not undergone rigorous training for a long time. The real combat effectiveness is actually the defenders left behind by Gordon.

After the betrayal of the castle guard general, most of the three thousand defenders chose to become free Akmund warriors and left the castle. But there are still more than a thousand warriors who cannot leave, who have either lived on this land for generations and cannot move their families and relatives away, or who are the main labor of the family themselves, who need to support their families and cannot risk their lives.

However, after the family council took over, the first thing to do was to reduce the number and treatment of the defenders.

The Marquis of Sauron gave them limited funds, how could they take out too much to feed these warriors? The income of the territory was said to be retained proportionally, but some of the genealogical lineages of those lords were longer than the history of the Marquis of Sauron, and even when Gordon was there, they were traditionally given the greatest autonomy, how could the family council let them obediently pay taxes.

Only the guard general knew that it was powerful, and did his best to ensure the most basic treatment of the original more than 1,000 defenders, otherwise, even these soldiers would not be able to keep it. As for the private soldiers and ruffians of the family council, they bragged about the top three, and if they really wanted to go into battle, they would definitely escape faster than anyone else.

"Richard! It's Richard! Quick, get the defenders up the walls!" shouted in the confusion. As a result, the parliamentarians issued orders one after another, and the noise made people dizzy.