Xiao Chen and Catalina came to the end of the marching team and found Wang Jiyuan in a magic crystal truck. The latter was having a meeting with Shi Hao and several other officers.
Xiao Chen and Katarina handed the horses to the orderly nearby and climbed onto the magic crystal truck.
As soon as Xiao Chen stepped on the cargo bed, the truck started and drove into a pit on the ground. The car body with poor shock absorption system shook violently and almost knocked Xiao Chen off the car. Fortunately, Wang Jiyuan was quick-witted and reached out to pull him to prevent him from falling.
"Be careful, this car feels like a massage chair and can relax your bones." Wang Jiyuan joked.
"My butt hurts from riding a horse. It's nice to change the taste." Xiao Chen thanked Wang Jiyuan with a smile and asked Catalina to sit down with him to report the situation.
"I have dealt with Marquis Baldini of Suero before. In addition, Robert, the former steward of Baron Goya's family, is now one of our agents here. The Ministry of Commerce has taken over the trade routes of Baron Goya very early, so we have sufficient infiltration into Suero. Because I was involved in all these things in the early stage, Peng Ziyi from the Intelligence Department entrusted me to assist Catalina in investigating intelligence." Xiao Chen talked about business in a clear and organized manner. "This time she contacted all parties and mainly collected three aspects of intelligence. One is the movements of the nobles in the city and nearby, one is the defense strategy of the city guards, and the other is the reaction of merchants to our upcoming takeover of Suero."
Catalina added, "We dispatched troops faster than Count Carlos this time. Therefore, the nobles in the city seemed a little slow to react. However, before I came back, many nobles were ready to evacuate. You have to know that after the previous war with the Duke of Green Forest City, especially the handling of Arano Town, our reputation in the noble circle is very bad. Many nobles think that we are targeting the entire noble force."
"Haha, they feel right. If we don't get rid of these people, how can we justify coming here from such a far place?" Wang Jiyuan said with a smile.
Catalina obviously had no good feelings towards the nobles, and she didn't care much about Wang Jiyuan's words: "Yesterday they had already started packing their things for evacuation, but in the past two days they also anticipated that it might not be safe outside, so several nobles and big merchants in the inner city made an appointment to escape together this afternoon."
"Where is Marquis Baldini?" Wang Jiyuan asked.
"Marquis Baldini is now hiring mercenaries, conscripting slaves, and reorganizing the city guards. Two days ago, I tried to contact the commander of the city guards, Baron Gregory. The baron had already intended to join us and could open the city gates for us directly. But I didn't expect that while we were talking, the baron's mansion was raided by the marquis's guards. The marquis's guards are very strong, and there are several mid-level fighters. I immediately used the random teleportation scroll to escape, but Baron Gregory failed to escape. Later I learned that he was beaten to death on the spot by the marquis's guards that day."
"I didn't expect the situation you encountered was so dangerous. Peng Ziyi didn't ask you to instigate a rebellion at the beginning. It would be very dangerous for you to act on your own!" Xiao Chen didn't know about this before, but he got a little angry when he heard this.
"I have the scroll, so they can't catch me. Besides, gathering intelligence is never absolutely safe. If you're really afraid of death, you wouldn't do this." Caterina said, "When I sneaked out of the city this morning, I saw Baron Gregory's head stuck on the city wall."
"Killing a chicken to scare the monkeys." Shi Hao said, "It seems that Marquis Baldini is determined to defend Suero."
"And it wasn't just Baron Gregory who was killed. All of the baron's cronies in the city guards, merchants in the city who wanted to surrender and gain merit, and a few guys who usually didn't get along with the marquis were picked out and beheaded."
Xiao Chen frowned and said, "Maybe he has other ideas and is just making a gesture?"
"He has already prepared his army like that, why would he still maintain the same attitude?" Shi Hao asked back.
"That's not necessarily true. If we come here and encounter a city that can be broken with a single poke, will we still care about Baldini's attitude? The more difficult it is for him to make Suero, the more bargaining chips he will have. It is also necessary to reorganize his subordinates. Before he has even made an offer, his subordinates are selling out first, and they might even use his head as a stepping stone to advancement. How can this be tolerated?"
Shi Hao was stunned by what he said, but after thinking about it carefully, he found that it made sense: "You people have so many evil thoughts. How can you think of such a place after just two turns!"
"So you mean that Baldini is still worth contacting?" Wang Jiyuan asked.
"I think it's worth a try, because after the incident with Baron Goya, I met him several times with the introduction of Master Ikasa. Speaking of which, we still have business cooperation, and some of Baron Goya's properties were eventually given to him. I think maybe I can talk to him."
Wang Jiyuan did not directly answer Xiao Chen, but continued to ask Catalina: "How is the defense of the city guards?"
Catalina took out a small notebook with a picture of the walls of Suero's inner city, and many numbers were marked on the walls and houses: "Suero's city guards originally had only more than a thousand people, and usually only about five hundred were stationed in the city, and the rest were mostly used to manage the order of the outer city. After the purge by Marquis Baldini this time, there are less than a thousand people left. But the Marquis also hired four large mercenary groups. There are about a thousand people, and he also recruited more than eight hundred people from the slave camp. Together with his own guards, there are about three thousand people.
In addition, he also asked each noble family to requisition some guards. I didn't have time to ask how many people there were. I only heard that all the nobles and merchants who wanted to evacuate were forced to keep a considerable number of guards and supplies, otherwise they would not be able to leave. In addition, there were also many nobles who were willing to stay and fight. The status of the nobles was originally earned by military merit, and many people thought this might not be a bad opportunity to earn military merit. "
Shi Hao sneered, "That requires survival. Aren't these opportunistic guys afraid of being mixed up in the mob and being wiped out by us in the end?"
Xiao Chen said: "That's not necessarily true. Staying here is just a gesture. Even if they are defeated in battle and have to evacuate using teleportation, they are still resisting, right? As long as the kingdom doesn't want to fall, we can't treat these heroes unfairly."
"It's all a trick!" Shi Hao snorted disdainfully.
Wang Jiyuan said: "No matter what, the enemy's strength is still considerable, we must not underestimate the enemy!"