Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 471 Chapter [-]

"William Hyde wants you to go to Shanchagang for a chat?"

When Alice Comstock asked this question, the other family members in the tent also looked suspicious.

The Frost Maple Ridge "Wagner" special forces departing from Fort Elm are now stationed on the flank of the siege camp at Shanchagang.After leaving the Imperial Regular Army Command, Xia Houyan and Sean Mountbatten shared the information conveyed by Kenny Clever with the senior leaders of Shuangfengling.

"What is this human traitor planning?" Master Laurie rubbed his chin, desperately trying to put on an image of a wise man with foresight—it's a pity that Ya's nasty look is far from the word "smart calculation".

"Lord, don't fall for William Hyde's trick!" Cavalier Commander Cousins ​​reminded solemnly, "Although I don't know what this guy wants to do, but in the middle of the battle between the two armies, how can you go to the enemy's camp alone? Territory, risk alone?"

Xia Houyan leaned lazily on the tiger skin chair, and said slowly with a cigar in his mouth:
"—Actually, I am not allowed to go alone... Grand Duke Rosario sent someone to ask the guards of Shancha Hill. What William Hyde meant was that I can bring up to three guards into Shancha Hill and him. negotiation."

"Three guards?" Cavalier Commander Cousins ​​snorted with displeasure on his face, "Shancha Hill is William Hyde's territory, if he wants to attack you, let alone three, even if you bring three hundred guards, it may not be necessary. Under the heavy arrangement of William Hyde, I can please you!"

"Aaron makes sense." Calvino Spiritual Master, who has always been cautious, also nodded in agreement with Commander Cousins, "Now the empire's troops are overwhelmingly superior. As long as the siege is maintained, William Hyde and his The Shancha Hill must not last long. Under such circumstances, if you are invited into the city to negotiate, Hyde is probably just trying to find a way to fight a trapped beast! Lord Lord, you don’t need to pay attention at all!”

"This is indeed the case..." Xia Houyan said leisurely, "However, on the side of the empire, I am only afraid that William Hyde will be cornered, and those eastern nobles whom he kidnapped will be torn apart..."

"Let him tear it up! Let him tear it up!" Shuangfengling scum raised their fists and shouted.

"Mother Xipi! A group of idiot imperial nobles, Hyde wants to kill me if he doesn't kill me!" Xia Houyan patted the left armrest and cursed, but his eyes were not angry, but thoughtful, "...just if those gangs are really allowed to kill me!" The nobleman died in Shanchagang, and the political situation of Grand Duke Rosario is a bit difficult..."

"The situation of Grand Duke Rosario, ah, it's none of our business!" Pavol Eldridge pouted.

Everyone looked at this guy in unison, and said to themselves, didn't you swear allegiance to Grand Duke Rosario before?
As if noticing the contemptuous gazes of the crowd, Eldridge shrank his neck.

Probably noticing that Xia Houyan was still meditating with his hand on his cheek, Knight Commander Cousins ​​was stunned, and asked tentatively:
"My lord, you don't really want to go to Shan Chagang to negotiate with you at the invitation of William Hyde, do you?"

"I'm just a little curious, what exactly does this son of a bitch want to do." Xia Houyan sighed.

In fact, on the way back from the Imperial Army Command, he had been discussing with Sean what the real intention of William Hyde's invitation was.

The first possibility that comes to mind is undoubtedly that William Hyde set up a grand banquet, and wanted to take the opportunity to detain and kidnap Xia Houyan - an imperial duke and "president of Southern Military Affairs" with real power and a large army, comparable to Hyde's The existing captives are worth a lot more.

But considering William Hyde's disposition, this possibility is unlikely to be true:
The reason why the current imperial army can calmly besiege outside Shanchagang and not attack is purely because the imperial nobles kidnapped by William Hyde are not considered to be of high status or value.

But if Hyde really dares to imprison the famous Eliot Igor, he will really tear himself apart from all human forces—not to mention the Imperial Army under Grand Duke Rosario, even if it is from Frost Maple Ridge The "Wagner" special forces definitely wanted to eat Hyde alive;

In this way, regardless of whether the officials of Xiahou are torn apart, William Hyde will only have one way to die under ten thousand knives in the future. The duke also cheerfully pardoned the magnanimity of the other party's crimes.

It is also a kind of political wisdom to skillfully choose the value and importance of hostages.

William Hyde, being a pure egoist, could not have been unaware of this.

But in this way, the real intention of William Hyde to invite Xia Houyan to the town to negotiate is quite intriguing:
Could it be that this guy really wants to have a good chat with Lao Tzu about surrendering?Monk Xiahou Yanzhang was puzzled.

Leaving aside the senior family members who were still arguing in the tent, Xia Houyan walked out of the tent and squinted at Shancha Hill not far away.

It is said that William Hyde once studied at the Imperial Military Academy, and was a fellow student of Frost Maple Ridge spy chief Karim Lodge.The military education he received at the beginning undoubtedly played a huge role in his defense of Shan Cha Gang:

In the small town in the east that stood quietly in the early morning mist, no exaggerated defensive measures could be seen at first glance.But as long as you set up a telescope and take a closer look, you can find the glow of the magic sentinel looming on the wall of the town, as well as the patrolling guards cruising behind the wall.On the outskirts of the town, the newly spliced ​​wooden horses exude a cold aura of repelling people thousands of miles away, and their arrangement is the same as the template in the latest military textbook of the empire.

Except for William Hyde's status as the "Governor of the Occupied Area" of the Glorious Federation, this is a standard, out-and-out imperial human town, without any orc temperament.

He probably also realized that his best defense weapon was not swords, guns, swords and halberds, but the status of fellow human beings. William Hyde did not bother to set up large siege weapons and watch towers, but let groups of imperial civilians, Under the persecution of the "Association Army" bandits, they wandered around the outskirts of the town.At the same time, in every corner of the outer wall of Shanchagang that is vulnerable to attack, there is also a heraldic flag representing an ancient family hanging high, which means that the noble captives of this family are being bound at the foot of the flagpole at this moment.

Whether it is the "Lion Roar Seven" ballista and "Hercules" missiles on the Imperial Army's position, or the "Flame Candy" incendiary bombs and "Cat Thunder" in the "Wagner" special forces formation, although they have all aimed at Camellia But as long as you dare to fire, you will undoubtedly bear the eternal infamy of "slaughtering human civilians" and "attacking imperial nobles".

Although there has never been a lack of cruel generals in the history of imperial warfare who turned a blind eye to the civilian captives held by the opponent and gave orders to attack indiscriminately with a blank face, but the Grand Duke Rosario, who has always taken the empire's life as his own responsibility, would really make such a decision ?

Xia Houyan didn't know.

A group of Shuangfengling horse boys noticed that the boss had walked out of the tent, and followed him out of the tent.

Following the eyes of the lord, looking at the Shancha Hill on the opposite side of the position, everyone felt a bit of humor and irony:

The tens of thousands of troops pointing their swords at Thorn City were unexpectedly stuck in the middle of the road by such an unattractive small town...

"I decided to go and have a chat with William Hyde." Xia Houyan turned his head and blocked the words that the horse boys tried to dissuade with his eyes, "I will bring three people, Alice, Master Laurie, Master of Spiritual Song, you follow me."

"My lord, there is really no need..." Knight Commander Cousins ​​said aggrievedly.

"Profit and risk always coexist, don't you?" Xia Houyan smiled slightly, "And, if Hyde really wants to play tricks on me...then I can assure you that he must be the one who died."

Everyone shut up.

Because they understand that the last words of the boss are true.

……

The gate on the outer wall of Shanchagang was not closed, it was opened wide like a giant mouth, as if mocking the indecision of the imperial besieging army.

"Lord Eliot Igor?" Seeing Xia Houyan and his party walking slowly along the uphill path, an attendant who had already been waiting at the gate of the town bowed slightly.

Through the rigorous etiquette of this servant and his pair of leather boots branded with the coat of arms of the Eastern Realm, Xia Houyan realized that this was a servant who had once been loyal to a certain Eastern Realm lord—but, it seemed that he had long since abandoned it. Instead of his own master, he chose to follow William Hyde.

Behind the attendants were two burly men with swollen faces.The scars on the faces of these two people and the tattoos on their furry arms are simply the standard looks of those bandits and robbers in the "Associate Army".

This is obviously an ally of Hyde, a subordinate of the bandit leader "Colonel Barbarossa".

"It's me." Xia Houyan replied indifferently, while Alice Comstock stared at him from behind, her snow-white fingers resting on the hilt of the sword and did not leave for a moment.As for Master Laurie and Spiritual Song Master——the two mages maintained a calm and calm attitude on the surface, only their vacillating eyes slightly revealed the tension in their hearts.

William Hyde's attendant bowed slightly towards Xia Houyan, turned his head and walked towards the town.

Xia Houyan knew that this meant for him to keep up.

Shuangfengling's group of four followed Hyde's attendants, entered the Shanchagang town gate, and walked along the main street of the town to the depths of the town.Two vicious "Associate Army" bandits were behind the four of them as if to prevent them from escaping, and their greedy and lustful eyes seemed to be glued to Alice.

Master Laurie secretly recited a prayer for these two dudes in his heart—in his impression, anyone who dared to make a move against the lord's horse would end up miserable in the end.

Originally, Shan Chagang was probably one of the most prosperous imperial towns in the east, which can be seen from its neat stone brick floor, lush street trees and street houses with classical architectural style.However, when Xia Houyan was walking on Shanchagang Street, the whole town seemed to be dead, and there was no sound. Only the peeping eyes in the windows on the street proved that there were still living people living in these houses.

The war undoubtedly brought irreparable wounds to this small town: many bluestone bricks paving the road have been broken, and there are faint bloodstains on the side of the street, and every few steps, a row of houses will be broken, collapsed and turned into rubble .The stone pillars that have stood on the side of the street since ancient times and were supposed to be a scene of the town have all been broken in the middle, and the reliefs on them have also been stained with a thick layer of black ash.

When the Eastern Army of the Empire retreated, it used this small town as a roadblock to stop the Ice Demon Mammoth.Although the outer wall of the town destroyed by the orc army has been repaired by Hyde, the damage inside the town is still difficult to heal.

Like the design of most towns in the empire, the town hall where William Hyde is located is in the center of Shancha Hill, at the end of this stone-brick main road.The clock tower of the town hall did not collapse like a miracle, but the black hands on the white dial had stopped, pointing slumped to six o'clock.

The closer to the town hall, the denser the bandits of the Associate Army under Colonel Barbarossa became. These murderous desperadoes with knives and axes stood on the side of the street in twos and threes, looking viciously at the Shuangfengling group of four who were walking along the street. People—the duke's costume on Xia Houyan and the peerless beauty of Alice undoubtedly awakened the greed and tyranny in the nature of these bandits.

Fortunately, no one acted rashly. The dignity of William Hyde represented by the attendant in front of Xia Houyan was actually quite useful in this besieged town, enough to dispel the immature thoughts of the bandits of the Association Army.

Around the town hall, there should have been a large circle-shaped open space, which was used as a market for trading commodities for the surrounding farmers and town residents.But at this time, it seemed that this place had become the camp of the Assistant Army, and the town hall was densely surrounded by crooked tents one after another.Near Xia Houyan and his party, several bandit soldiers and two puppet army magicians were sitting around the campfire, grilling a string of suspicious meat of unknown origin.

A burly, one-eyed man stood at the gate of the town hall.

The muscular man looked to be in his 60s or [-]s, with scars and wrinkles covering the parts of his face not covered by the black eyepatch.He was wearing an old-style imperial military uniform covered in mud, and a large array of imperial medals hung on his chest, which obviously did not belong to him.

Xia Houyan deduced from the eyes of the surrounding bandits looking at this guy that he must be the leader of the so-called "Associate Army", the bandit leader "Colonel Barbarossa" who once dominated the eastern border.

"Colonel." Hyde's attendant nodded slightly towards the one-eyed man, subtly concealing his disdain for bandits and robbers cultivated as a noble servant, "Please let us pass, Mr. Hyde's guests are here .”

"Oh?" Colonel Barbarossa stared at Xia Houyan seriously, and said in a rough voice, "Your boy... is that Elliot Igor?"

It has been a long time since Xia Houyan was called out in such a contemptuous tone - the last time someone was so arrogant and domineering in front of him was when the Igor family had just arrived in the wasteland of the land of broken souls; The second-rates who had become famous and dared to yell in front of him were quickly disappearing...or dying.

Because of this, Xia Houyan was not only not annoyed, but looked at Colonel Barbarossa cheerfully, as if he was looking at a corpse dancing in front of him for fun.

Colonel Barbarossa stared at Lord Frost Maple Ridge for a while, but after all, he failed to capture the slightest trace of fear in the eyes of this young black-haired young man with thin skin and tender flesh.He opened his mouth, wanting to say a few harsh words to suppress the situation, but intuitively felt for no reason that he would definitely regret every word he uttered today in the future.

The bandit leader was still in a daze, but Hyde's attendant had already pushed open the gate of the town hall behind him, leading Shuangfengling and his group into it.

No one noticed that on the edge of the blue sky, the shadow of the huge wings of the steel dragon "Sindragosa" flashed past.

(End of this chapter)