"The rebels are shot to death! The rebels are shot to death!..." The armored soldiers on horses yelled loudly and ran from the village to the village. Farmers from households brought their meager property and farm tools, drove their livestock, and crowded into the village. The rickety bullock carts gathered in the open space of the village, and were assigned by a middle-aged man holding a roll of animal skin paper, divided into three teams and embarked on an unknown journey in three directions.
The southward contingent was the least numerous, and this was the village headman, sheriff, tax collector, miller and other management classes in the village, who were the basis of Duke Lukins' rule of the south. But now they are also the most embarrassed. Their belongings have been confiscated, and they can only take the rough dry food distributed to them with their families and head towards Gildusk City, the capital of the Grand Duke.
There were not many people heading west, but these people were all relatives of the Northland Legion. According to the agreement reached by Lorist and Henned, they would be sent to the Castle of Sakura Ridge Manor.
The northbound team is the largest. They will arrive at a camp hundreds of miles away, where they will wait to be grouped, transported to the Earl of Spencer, merged into the refugee camp, and finally head to the Norton family territory to start a new life .
"It's time to burn..." A small leader of armored soldiers gave an order, and a dozen soldiers began to throw torches into the thatched huts in the village. Soon, the whole village was ablaze, and a thick thick smoke rose into the sky. .
The peasants who hadn’t gone far started to cry looking at the burning village. This was the home where they used to shelter from the wind and rain, and the whole family depended on each other...
The menacing escort rushed over and yelled loudly: "Why are you crying? What is there to cry about? If the old ones don't go, the new ones won't come. Our adults said that when you arrive at the family territory, everyone will New fields and new houses are not comparable to your broken thatch nests..."
Countless streams of thick smoke rose above the territory of the Grand Duke of the South, known as the quintessence of the Northland, and countless villages were reduced to ashes in the raging fire. Under the guidance of the leading party, Lorist swept the entire Grand Duchy in only 16 days. The two manor castles, six towns and the capital Gildusk City in the Dukedom of Lugins all fell into the Lorist's hands.
In the entire Southern Grand Duchy, except for the 5,000 horsemen of the Henned Knights who are entrenched in the castle of Cherry Blossom Ridge Manor and the town of Evanson, the rest are guarding the Hendryford Cable Bridge checkpoint and Fort Fortress Castle. Five thousand soldiers of the Northland Legion.
The Golden Knight Aldmar, who was in charge of this army, mobilized a brigade of 2,500 people to attack, preparing to wipe out the small group of Norton family armed forces who hijacked the villagers, but they were caught by the two armored guns led by Tiger Ross, who had been watching them secretly. The cavalry brigade set up an ambush, and Oddmari fought Tiger Ross, who was seriously injured. After escaping his life, he gathered five or six hundred deserters and abandoned the Hendryford Cable Bridge checkpoint. The castle of the German fortress is guarded, and the door is closed.
After defeating the attacking force of the Northland Legion, the Norton family no longer had any scruples in the Southern Grand Dukedom. They recklessly emptied Duke Lukins' treasury, granary, and arsenal, and confiscated the property of the Duke's nobles. , Forcibly confiscated the goods and vehicles of all the caravans that came to the Grand Duke. Following the relocation order issued by Lorist, they turned their targets to the villages in the Grand Duke's territory.
…
"This is an unprecedented premeditated, organized, and planned large-scale robbery. The Norton family, known as the Roaring Bear of the Northland, is armed with the most greedy and brutal robbers and bandits. They evacuated the town. The treasury confiscated the property of the nobles and robbed the rich people of their property, even a rough pottery basin was not spared.
My caravan has gone through untold hardships and transported the goods to the Northland. As a result, it was robbed just after arriving at Gildusk City, the capital of the Duchy, and checked into the hotel. The goods we brought were collected and only paid half the price of the goods. Although this half of the price did not make me lose money, it was far from the profit I expected. My poor little Tini, your father is incapable of buying you that beautiful evening gown to make you look like a princess...
Originally, the plan of the caravan was to sell the goods and purchase special products from the Northland before heading back home. However, there was a scene of turmoil outside, and all the suppliers I contacted before were robbed by Norton family soldiers in armor. Not a single known businessman. Under such circumstances, I decided to leave this place as soon as possible. But unfortunately, the vehicles of our caravan need to be overhauled, and the horseshoes of our pack horses need to be replaced before they can go on the road.
So I went to look for a blacksmith again, but I never expected that Gildusk, a city with a population of nearly 100,000, could not find a blacksmith. It took me a fortune to find out that the Norton family armed forces hijacked all the families of blacksmiths and other craftsmen in the city, even those civilian servants and the like, and all those left in the city were Lords and merchants, besides, many village chiefs and officials have been escorted in from outside...
After I got back to the hotel, I realized that I didn't have to worry about the vehicles anymore. Norton family soldiers in iron armor appeared in front of me again. This time they wanted to confiscate the vehicles of our caravan. I didn't bother to protest and let them have their way. But this time they were fair. They paid the market price for the packhorse and used Jinford.
We left Gildusk that afternoon and started our journey home on foot. It was only after leaving Gildusk that we discovered that the hospitable Northland villages in the past had all been burned down, and black smoke billowed everywhere. Those villagers who carried their belongings and protected their wives and children were weeping and put on a bullock cart to go northward under the guard of the vicious Norton family soldiers...
Tall gallows appeared on both sides of the road from time to time, hanging on them were country nobles or warriors who died against the armed atrocities of the Norton family. We didn't dare to collect their remains, because from time to time, heavily armed patrol soldiers of the Norton family on horseback passed by. We had already obtained a pass when we left the city, and these patrolling soldiers didn't make it difficult for us when they found out that we were caravan members, but we were annoyed by people who often came to check.
We didn’t have any carts or horses, so all of us could only go on foot. We all carried huge bags on our backs, and we built a wooden frame to put the camping equipment on it and pulled it by manpower, so we walked very slowly. If we ride a horse, we can reach the Hengdelifu Cable Bridge in one day, but now it seems that there is no way to reach it in three days.
When camping at night, a group of patrolling cavalry came to take our camp to rest for a while. Only then did I notice a silver lion emblem on the breastplate of their armor. The mercenary captain next to me secretly told me that this is the standard equipment of the famous White Lion Legion of the former Krissen Empire.
So I took a few bottles of fruit wine, asked these soldiers to have a toast, and then pointed to the silver lion badge in feigned surprise and asked them if they were the famous White Lion Army. Those soldiers shook their heads, saying that they were soldiers of Earl Norton's family. I was surprised and asked them if the Norton family wasn't a baron? How did you become an earl
Those soldiers told me very proudly that the Norton family's convoy went all the way north and helped the Second Highness obtain the regency of the kingdom when passing through the Kingdom of Antinac and stabilized the situation in the kingdom. The orthodox inheritance of the royal family of the Sen Empire raised the title of the Norton family to the earl, and granted the princely territory of the Second Highness to the Norton family. The standard equipment of the disbanded White Lion Legion was also a bonus.
I asked those soldiers why they took those poor villagers away and burned their villages? Those soldiers told me very indignantly that this was to teach the greedy Duke of the Northland a deep lesson, so that he would not always think about the wealth of the Norton family. Because all the soldiers of the Norton family sacrificed their blood to develop the territory of the Norton family and build a beautiful homeland so that their families could live and work in peace and contentment. To make the Grand Duke of the Northland no longer have the means or strength to harass everyone's happy life in the Norton family territory...
Perhaps thanks to my few bottles of good wine, the patrol soldiers left me an old horse before they left, and wrote a letter proving that we are a caravan with a friendly attitude towards the Norton family, which made us in the A lot of troubles were avoided in the next trip. Before leaving, the team leader pointed out to me a business opportunity. After crossing the Hendryford Rope Bridge, I can collect vehicles and horses on the other side and sell them to the Norton family armed forces stationed in the camp on the other side of Fort Frederic Castle. They bought them at a high price. …
This will be a good business. Originally, I thought about purchasing the carriages and horses after passing the Hengdelifu Cable Bridge. Now that I think about it, what the little captain said makes sense. The Norton family moved so many villagers to the Grand Duke. I can try the transport vehicles first, maybe it will make up for the caravan's debt. So I ordered the people in the caravan to set off as soon as possible and reach the Hendryford Cable Bridge as soon as possible... "
This is the Northland Chronicle written by a businessman who went to the Northland for business. This diary-like biography caused a great sensation hundreds of years later. He described the scene of the Southern Calamity from another aspect. It provides very detailed supporting materials for later generations of experts and scholars to study the process of the rise of the Norton family.
…
"Cool..." Knight Henned put down the smashed and dilapidated armchair, looked at the messy study of Duke Lukins, which was his masterpiece within half an hour, and said triumphantly.
Raising his head, he happened to see Lorist's gaze as if he was looking at a mental patient.
Knight Henned was a little annoyed: "What are you looking at, why are you looking at me like that? Tell you, smashing the Duke's study is one of my long-cherished wishes. We used to report to the Duke, as long as something angered Lord Duke, he would smash up the study in front of us, so that we can only wait for him to calm down after smashing... So I have always wanted to smash back to Lord Duke's study, and today I finally got my wish."
Lorist let out a disdainful "hum" from his nose: "That's all you've got, it seems that the Duke has a lot of prestige in your heart, that's why you think you can fulfill your wish by smashing his study once." Well, it's like a child..."
Henned jumped up: "I'm not afraid of him, it's just that he was my patriarch before, and as a family knight, I can't go against his wishes. Now I'm Baron Shaheen, and as a lord, I can justify Reject the duke's unreasonable request... "
Lorist said a little impatiently: "Okay, let's go after playing, I still have a lot of things to deal with."
"Okay, okay, what's so important, just tell your subordinates, and work yourself like a dog, not at all like a lord who is in charge of the house." Henned took a gray linen scarf as he walked. Wrapped around the head to cover the mouth and face: "Wait, I have to cover the head and face first so that I won't be seen..."
Well, the mysterious gray-robed man who appeared next to Lorist was the rumored Knight Henned who bravely resisted the Norton family's armed forces and was unfortunately seriously injured when his horse stumbled. This guy appeared in Lorist's big tent that night, saying that he wanted to follow Lorist home to pick up his four sisters, but in fact he was acting as a guide for Lorist.
Lorist didn't treat him badly either. A brigade of soldiers under him sneaked into the convoy's camp and came out wearing iron armor. These were the equipment replaced by the convoy's armed forces. As a result, Henned saw that there was such a bargain, so he simply pulled the other brigade over and replaced it with iron armor. His Cherry Ridge Manor Castle had only about 300 soldiers left to defend, which was less than a squadron.
As the counterfeit Norton family armed forces, these Northland Legionnaires who put on iron armor behaved more fiercely, robbed more thoroughly, and were more cruel to those resisting rural nobles and officials. With these 5,000 qualified leaders who were familiar with the Grand Duke's territory, Lorist commanded his troops to sweep across the Duke's territory like the autumn wind and the fallen leaves, invincible.
The only bad thing is that Henned asked his Silver Knights to recruit more than 2,000 soldiers of the Northland Legion stationed in various places, and then ran to the convoy camp to shamelessly ask Lorist to put more than 2,000 soldiers into iron armor. .
The soldiers of the Northland Legion, like the squadron guarding the duchy's capital Gildusk City, put down their weapons and surrendered, which was done by Knight Henned. He asked his Silver Knights to tell the squadron leader on his behalf, don't knock eggs on rocks, the sacrifices will hurt your family, if you want to preserve your vitality, you can surrender first, ask them to go to Sakura Ridge, and then under the leadership of Knight Henned Recreate the glory of the Northland Army.
In this way, the city of Gildusk fell into the hands of Lorist, and the knight Henned took Lorist to the Grand Duke's mansion, saying that he wanted to fulfill a long-standing wish of his, and it was only then that Lorist found out that Henned The knight's wish is to smash the Duke's study...
Reddy greeted him: "My lord, we found a person in the water prison of the Duke's mansion..."
After a moment of hesitation, Reddy announced his name: "Baron Camorra..."
Lorist was taken aback: "Who are you talking about? Baron Camorra?"
Henned, who was covering his head and face, jumped up: "How could he be locked in a water prison? No wonder I sent someone to deliver a letter to him but I couldn't find him. Send him here quickly..."
Reddy knew that this mysterious man with his face covered was Knight Henned, he saw that Lorist also nodded, and ran out.
…