It was already the sixth day of the expedition when Josk and Vasinma returned with a large group of troops.
Lorist was taking a walk on the tower with the dusty Baron Camorra who had come all the way. The purpose of Baron Camorra's trip was the captured Henned Golden Knight and a dozen Silver Knights.
"Master Camorra, did my ears hear me wrong or something wrong with your expression? I really can't imagine that the ransom of a golden knight is only a hundred gold coins of the old man's head of the empire. This is not a ransom, this is for a The Golden Knight's insult is also a contempt and humiliation to the Norton family. I cannot accept the price offered by the Duke of Lukins."
Lorist was really surprised. Even though he was ready to bargain, such an outrageous ransom price was something he never dreamed of. If such a ransom price is sold and spread, the Golden Knight Henned There is no other way out than suicide.
Take the Knight Tournament as an example. After a knight fails the challenge, he has to hand over his mount, armor, weapon and other complete set of weapons and equipment as the winner's spoils, or a ransom equivalent to this set of equipment. Generally, it is about three to forty gold blessings, that is, one hundred to one hundred and fifty imperial old man's head gold coins. This is still a knightly tournament, a competition rather than a battlefield.
If a silver knight is captured on the battlefield, all his weapons and equipment, including himself, are the spoils of the victor. If he wants to be free, he must first redeem his equipment, mounts and even his attendants and servants. If the ransom price is fifty gold fords, multiply it by two to get one hundred gold fords, which is the silver knight's ransom.
That is to say, if the silver knight pays one hundred and fifty Gold Fords, he can get back his equipment mount, and leave with his attendants and servants swaggeringly. The winner might even throw a banquet to send each other off, and it can be regarded as acquaintance without fighting.
If the silver knight still had a title on his head, then he would have to pay a corresponding ransom for the title, after all, nobles are worth more than quasi-nobles. These are all established battlefield rules, and no noble will go against such traditional customs. Note, however, that this refers only to the Silver Knight.
Few golden knights will become prisoners on the battlefield. This is mainly because the combat power of golden knights is much stronger than that of silver knights. From the perspective of fighting spirit, gold rank fighting spirit is more durable on the battlefield, and its attack, defense, and endurance are also stronger. High, it is generally difficult to leave a galloping golden knight without paying a tragic price or secretly attacking.
The best way to deal with the Golden Knights is the Golden Knights. The confrontation between two Golden Knights will often become the biggest attraction of the entire battlefield, and unless there is too much difference in strength between them, the losers will basically be defeated by blood. Dying the sand field is over.
It is not that there are no golden knights who have become captives. The most recent example is the golden knight Bisaya of the Principality of Forendo who was seriously injured and comatose due to the bloody battle against the army of the Kingdom of Ridley, and became the captive of the eldest prince. Fulun Dagong spent three thousand gold blessings and a precious sword worth a thousand gold to win the heart of the prince and make Bisaya free, which was a good story for a while.
The ransom that Duke Lukins paid for his Golden Knight was one hundred Imperial Old Man's Head Gold Coins, converted into more than thirty Goldfords, which made Lorist feel unimaginable. Although Henned was not captured on the battlefield, he was captured drunk and missed. Lorist didn't expect Duke Lukins to offer a thousand gold merits, but he always wanted five or six hundred, right? After all, the ransom money also represents the worth and face of a golden knight.
Does this weird Grand Duke of the Northland have any brains? He is digging his own grave when he quotes such a price. Once it is spread, does he still expect someone to work for him? What the hell does this happen? Lorist felt very strange.
"Master Camorra, please don't make a joke, please? This is related to the honor of a golden knight, so it's not a joke. I don't believe that Duke Lukins would be so ignorant and offer such a ridiculous ransom price..." Lorist said seriously to Baron Camorra.
Baron Camorra had nothing to say but a wry smile.
Ten days ago, Viscount Kenmes returned to Gildusk City, the capital of the duchy. He brought back the body of Chevany Knight and the captured Henned Golden Knight. The news of the annihilation of the entire army of thousands of people shocked the entire duchy and spread to the north. When the Duke of Lukins heard the bad news, he smashed the newly furnished study. He frantically shouted for revenge in the Duke's mansion, cursed the Norton family, and vowed to kill all the people related to the Norton family. kill.
Baron Camorra and another Golden Knight, Bitson, the deputy head of the Northland Legion, managed to appease the Duke's anger, and began to plan to send troops to retaliate against the Norton family.
When the Duke calmed down and prepared to mobilize the troops, the three of them were dumbfounded. The dukedom had no troops to dispatch. This, this is so frustrating. The Northland Legion with 20,000 troops, oh, now there are only 16,000 troops. With a force of 7,000, only 5,000 people can be recruited at most, two brigades. It's a joke, isn't it, the 4,000 people are gone, and the 5,000 people are going to deliver food again
There are many reasons for this result. First of all, the Northland Army is a small army with a total number of more than 21,000 people. The army has two corps, each with four brigades of about 10,000 people, and the Northland Army is not a field army. regiment, but the garrison regiment. The southern duchy has a capital city, a fortress castle, three manor castles, seven towns, and a rope bridge checkpoint. All these places have to be stationed to ensure the peace of the place. Especially the capital, the Hendryford Cable Bridge checkpoint and the nearby Fort Fortress Castle, these three places are the key places to prevent the second prince's forces from entering the Northland, and the strength of a brigade stationed in each place is already very stretched .
The most important reason is that in order to save money, the Duke of Lukins disbanded the garrison teams in various places after the formation of the Northland Army. At that time, the Duke thought that with the Northland Legion, the garrison was completely redundant. Letting the Northland Legion be stationed in each town, manor and castle can completely replace the function of the garrison, and save the military expenses of the garrison. This is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone. Besides, His Excellency the Duke does not think that there is any noble in the Northland that needs the whole army of the Northland Legion, and sending one or two thousand people is enough to sweep the Quartet.
Now the 4,000-strong expeditionary force was completely annihilated, and it was like a big slap. Only then did they realize that there was no way to fight back, and the Duke was so angry. Then there was another problem. The Duke's men were only able to stand alone with the five Golden Knights. Tabek was seriously injured by Lorist and had to lie in bed for a year. Chevani, the one with the greatest merit, has died in battle, and Henned has been captured. Now there are only two golden knights, Odmar, who is guarding the Hendryford Cable Bridge checkpoint and Fortress Castle, and Bitson, who is in charge of the defense of the capital. , Even if there is an expeditionary force, there is no one to lead it.
Duke Lukins pinched his nose and ordered Baron Camorra to find a way to get the Henned Knights back first. The price was 400 goldfords because of the pain. As for the Silver Knights and the soldiers of the Northland Army, let go first It wouldn't be too late to rescue the Norton family after they were wiped out.
Knight Bitson thinks that 400 goldfords are too little to allow the Norton family to grant Henned freedom. He hopes that the Duke will give him more bargaining chips so that he can rescue Knight Henned as soon as possible. Learn about the course of this battle and know about the Norton family. Find a way to deal with the real combat power.
His Excellency the Duke insisted that the four hundred gold points was the maximum amount he could give. The three of them were arguing when they suddenly heard a report from the steward that a servant of the Chivani knight had escaped and brought back the Chivani knight. A military report to the Duke.
The entourage of this Chivani knight looked very embarrassed. He and another companion suffered a lot when they crossed the Morgan hills. Unfortunately, they also encountered a monster with a black back and iron teeth. His companion was injured and held a black The iron-toothed leopard fell into a deep ravine and died together, but he finally got out of the Morgan hills after going through all kinds of hardships, and returned to Gildusk after trekking day and night. Although he was injured and exhausted, he was loyal to his mission and still remembered the entrustment of the Chevani knight. He rushed to the Duke's mansion immediately and presented the silver tube given to him by the Chevani knight to the Duke.
His Excellency the Duke took out the animal skin paper from the silver tube and began to watch. Knight Bittering and Baron Camorra were also very curious and wanted to know what Knight Chivany had written, but the letter was in the hands of the Duke, so the two could only wait. As for the attendant who delivered the letter, he already knew the news of Chivani's death, and was sobbing with tears and snot in his nose.
What happened next will always be fresh in Baron Camorra's memory. He saw the Duke's face suddenly flushed red, his eyes protruded, his nostrils were breathing heavily, and he went crazy. This time it was true. The madness is not the usual madness, His Excellency the Duke will be furious, he will raise the small table beside him and smash it into the small reception room, cursing loudly, and the ones who are cursing are still Chevani and Henned : "Two bastards! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to tear you into pieces! What did you do? You lost my gold coins, my 300,000 gold blessings! My gold coins! Chevani, you Good job! Why didn't you send my gold coins back first! Henned, how did you protect my money! My money! My money!... "
Baron Camorra was very surprised. Seeing the few pieces of animal skin paper falling on the ground, he hurriedly picked them up and found a corner where they would not be hit by debris, and began to look at them. Knight Bitson also came over and the two huddled together to watch. .
Soon the two of them understood why the Duke went mad, and it was all because of Chevani. You just write down the unfavorable situation in the battle and why the whole army was wiped out. Why do you have to write about the massacre of the residents of Beiye Town and how many people were seized? The property also indicates that the value of this property is about two to three hundred thousand goldfords. Such a large amount of money fell into the eyes of the Duke, and it was lost again. How could the Duke treat money like his life? Crazy
Perhaps the scolding by the Duke was too embarrassing, and the loyal attendant weakly reminded: "My lord, Mr. Chevani has died heroically in battle..."
Dazed by the gold coins, the Duke turned to the attendant with red eyes, and the words that came out of his mouth were like winter, making everyone present feel icy cold...
"Dead? He thought he was dead? I won't let him go. He lost my money, 300,000 gold! "The Duke's roar resounded throughout the Duke's mansion.
"Go and confiscate Chevani's house, confiscate everything, drive his family out, and throw his body to a mass grave to feed wild dogs! How dare you lose my money , my 300,000 gold blessings!"
"Your Excellency, you can't do this..." Knight Bitson and Baron Camorra turned pale with fright, and hurriedly stepped forward to stop the Duke's order.
"No, why not? It's all Chevani's fault, why didn't he bring my gold coins back first, and insisted on attacking the Norton family's castle first? Why did he have to dispatch three hundred longbowmen from Beiye Town so that Beiye Town lacked The defense force was attacked by surprise, and my gold coins fell into the hands of the enemy? Why did he only attack Beiye Town once when he rushed back? Why did he give up attacking the city with 1,700 soldiers on hand and just think about retreating until the entire army was wiped out? That's it Watching my gold coins being taken away, what is his mind? You say, if he is not guilty, who is guilty?" The Duke's series of rhetorical questions left Knight Bitson and Baron Camorra stunned.
"And you..." The Duke turned his red eyes to the poor attendant again: "You shameful deserter, you are a shameless coward just like your lord, you betrayed my trust, you abandoned me My gold coins... come here, hang him immediately, immediately, drag him out!"
The servant who had worked so hard to complete his mission was stunned by the Duke's fury, and was dragged out by the guards of the Duke's mansion without a sound. Baron Camorra only felt a chill in his heart, and his whole body was shivering. He suddenly realized that the Duke in front of him was so strange...
It wasn't until the guards came to report that the poor servant had been hanged on the flagpole outside the Duke's mansion that the Duke seemed to calm down.
"Camora, go to the Norton family tomorrow and tell them that I will pay to redeem Hinned and those Silver Knights. Remember, Hinned's ransom is a hundred imperial gold coins, and those Silver Knights are Ten pieces per person..." His Excellency Duke's eyes were still blood red...
Baron Camorra's face changed greatly: "Big, my lord, this, this is impossible..."
The voice of the Duke was very calm, and it made Knight Bitson and Baron Camorra tremble involuntarily: "You just tell the Norton family that I will not give these sinners an extra copper. I redeemed them not to give them freedom , I want to punish them, they shouldn't have lost my gold coins... "
Baron Camorra walked out of the Duke's mansion in a dazed way, standing outside the gate, and saw the body of the attendant who was hung high at a glance. Turning his head to look at Bitson Knight, Bitson Knight also looked at him, the two were relatively speechless...
Finally, Knight Bitson muttered softly: "Your Excellency the Duke is really crazy... You can take care of yourself... Perhaps, you can tell Henned that it is much better to be a prisoner of the Norton family than to come back..."
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