Riding and Slashing

Chapter 165 The Solution to Problems is to Create Problems

"So, my lord, King Ulrik asked you for the [-] dinars just to hire an army to do this kind of thing?"

Anson frowned tightly, it seemed that he had a new understanding of kings and nobles.

"He probably thought that Noldor's blood could cure his disease, or that he wanted his offspring to have Noldor's blood... Who knows, anyway, a king who knows that he is terminally ill will do anything crazy. possible……"

The lord did not hide these things from his own people, and now he also finds it very difficult to handle.

"Unless we can convince the Noldor that White Harthold will not take part in such a thing, we may not be able to avoid this disaster..."

Amy also became worried when she found out about the situation.

"Lisa Dilan, if you want to help your people, I can let you leave temporarily. This matter may be a good opportunity for you to return to the group, and I have not forgotten my promise. But I also have a request, your last This is to let your people know that these mercenaries have nothing to do with White Hart Castle, and White Hart Castle is willing to support the Noldor to fight back against the enemy... In fact, I am very willing to form an alliance with your group, and only by peaceful coexistence can we develop together, you I know, I have no prejudice against the Noldor."

The lord first expressed his attitude to the Noldor elves.

Lisa Dilan nodded: "Thank you, my lord, I can try to contact the people... But I am a criminal of the family, and it is too difficult for any Noldo to trust humans in this situation..."

Risadilan naturally understood that the lord was indeed not hostile to Noldor, but he didn't know how to deal with it.

"I can give you something that will interest your family... I am one-eighth of the blood of the Noldor, and it is true. Try it, and see if this news will interest your family... ..."

The lord finally mentioned this relatively secret matter.

He also used this method to tell others that he really wanted to live in peace with Noldo.

"I will do my best, my lord..."

Lisa Dilan stared at the lord for several seconds, then bowed deeply, and left first.

He was not used to meetings with so many people.

The other people on the round table were of course also very surprised by this news, but this kind of thing is easy to accept. The focus of everyone's attention is not the marriage of the lord's ancestors, but the current crisis.

And everyone knows that Sadilan was exiled. It is actually hard to say whether he can get in touch with his tribe. This can only be said to be a try.

Discussions continue.

"I think since we want to show our attitude, it's best not to let any mercenaries enter White Hart Castle, or even provide them with supplies."

Sarah shook her head: "But in this case, we have to explicitly reject the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets. This may cause disputes... After all, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets are regular knights."

"It doesn't matter, no matter what the knight order is, they are not qualified to step into the territory of nobles without permission. Roland, let's do this first, guard the city gate, and don't let anyone enter the city with weapons."

The lord doesn't care if he offends others, anyway, he has a lot of enemies, and he doesn't care about one more.

"But we can't keep White Hart Castle closed forever, and it's actually more dangerous to let them mess around outside the city... There are all kinds of people in those mercenary groups. If they are not allowed to enter the city, they will go to various villages. I don't know if it will bring any disaster. Unless we can find a suitable reason to expel them from the territory in a fair and just way, and even the Noldor must know about the trouble..."

Amy lowered her head and rubbed her hair restlessly, messing up her neatly tied long hair.

"Find a suitable reason to expel them... Yes! Amy, you are really smart, I probably have a solution... The solution to the problem is to create a problem..."

The lord thought for a while, and seemed to have an idea.

"Anson, hurry back to Maixiangling to announce the control news, saying that a large number of prisoners of war will soon be sent to Maixiangling for hard labor, and Ayrshire will temporarily implement military control. Except for the market in Maixiangling, no other places will accept them. foreign workers."

"Sarah, go to Changhe Town to check for news and see if there are any other knights coming here. By the way, check Lord Godric's whereabouts. I haven't heard from him for a long time. It's not normal..."

"Amy, you are waiting for my news at White Hart Castle. If there are mercenaries brought from Maixiang, let them go south to the camp built by the 'Second Army of the Bacchus Empire'."

The lord directly assigned tasks to several people and announced the end of the meeting, and then returned to Mai Xiangling with his troops.

……

In the evening of that day, not long after the lord returned to Maixiangling, John came to file a complaint.

John was the same mercenary swimmer who shared the spoils with Eric and was now the leader of the bus convoy.

"My lord, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet intend to commandeer our convoy, but I rejected it. This seems to have angered them, and they even made a move... Now they are causing trouble in Maixiang..."

John's face was swollen, his head was bruised and purple, and he looked obviously beaten.

But this kind of thing that comes to complain after being beaten obviously shows that this guy's level of handling affairs is really not good...

With the same background and the same opportunity, Eric became an official knight and was able to take charge of complicated affairs on his own.

And John can only be a team leader, just because he is really loyal enough and hardworking.

But this conflict was actually within the lord's expectation - Ansen was rushed back to Mai Xiangling to issue the order of military control in order to create a conflict.

Mai Xiangling suddenly announced military control in the afternoon, and the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets were probably a little caught off guard. No matter what the knights would do, it was normal for a little dispute to arise in Mai Xiangling.

Because the scope of regulation is "places other than the market"—no matter what age, as long as a certain restrictive decree does not treat people equally, but proposes a separate area, then disputes will inevitably occur in this area.

Now there is actually a reason to expel the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets, and no one can blame them, but to make Noldo understand Ayrshire's attitude, expulsion alone is not enough.

The lord thought for a while, then looked at John: "They hit you? Did you fight back?"

"No, my lord. There are many of them, and they are knights after all...I'm afraid they'll hurt civilians..."

Li Ang sighed looking at John's obsequious look. This guy seems to have limited achievements in this life.

Although Li Ang knows that John is a kind person, a kind person needs a flexible mind, otherwise it is usually difficult to be a manager above the middle level.

Even commoners can only swallow their anger when facing knights these days, but to Li Ang, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets are nothing but knights...

The history of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets is indeed long, and they are well-known. They were originally the knights of the Kingdom of Gupander.

Since the outbreak of the Red Death has thrown Pendor into chaos, the Ebony Gauntlets, unlike most knight orders, have insisted that the plague was caused by elves with long ears, and that they want to fight against these 'enemies of man'. revenge.

So they no longer blindly recruit nobles, as long as they are willing to "crusade the Noldo", they will accept them-you can imagine how complicated the composition of this knight order is.

Later, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets even abandoned the horse, which is an important partner for traditional knights. Now, whether they are knights or retinues, they are all heavy infantry crossbowmen—these guys who have been dealing with the Noldor in the forest for a long time There is no need for horses, after all, there is no way to ride a horse in the virgin forest.

For more than 150 years, these ebony gauntlet knights traveled in groups between the Noldor Forest and the Cliff Bay. They often ambushed lone elves and small elf patrols on the outskirts of the forest.

Noldor's equipment is all rare and high-priced commodities on the black market, and the supply of beautiful Noldor girls is even more in short supply among the nobles—and so are young men.

So the knights grabbed a lot of wealth in their unique way of 'fighting for mankind'.

But at the same time, this also makes this knight order very unpopular...

Although most members of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet live in Cliff Bay in Sarleonland, all their energies are spent on launching the "East Crusade" against the elves, and they hardly make any contribution to the Sarleon Kingdom.

Many nobles believed that the knights of the Ebony Gauntlets were neither loyal to anyone nor fulfilled their duties as knights. They did not have any beliefs except dinars, and even all of them were heavy crossbowmen fighting on foot—not worthy of being called knights at all.

And most of the other knights are publicly accusing the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets-they use crossbows to fight, which is not in line with chivalry; and their human trafficking behavior is also like-minded with those criminals of the Red Brotherhood, even those illegal It doesn't even fall to this point.

As for the civilians, I don't have a good opinion of them - the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets neither help the civilians nor protect the merchants, let alone defend the country.

Although they will not rob civilians like robbers, if your home is being invaded by foreign enemies, you find that this knight order still only wants to hunt Noldo, and watch the enemy kill villagers without turning a blind eye. None of them will be fond of them.

But this world is sometimes ridiculous. Although most people don't like the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets, they can still live a good life, and they are much more nourishing than ordinary knights...

Because, the great nobles of Cliff Bay, as well as the Sarleion King, all need their presence.

However, Mai Xiangling is not Cliff Rock Bay, and Li Ang is not the Lion King.

For the lord, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets are essentially a group of mercenaries recognized by the Valides Charter, and most of those so-called knights are not nobles.

Facing such a knight group, John, as an official of Maixiangling, could have counterattacked, and he was reasonable.

What if there are too many people?
Do the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet dare to fight the baron of the kingdom head-on?

He doesn't even know how to make a big banner out of a tiger's skin, John is indeed a little too honest.

"Go, take me there. Anson, call all the troops!"

……

In Mai Xiangling's square, a dense crowd was watching a riot.

The road leading to White Hart Castle from Mai Xiangling was blocked by civilians and merchants. A group of Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets was surrounded in the square, and they were constantly greeting the female relatives of the coachmen and merchants.

The scolding battle between the two sides has been going on for a long time, and it has now entered the stage of slight physical contact.

But fortunately, both sides were fairly restrained, and there were no excessive violent conflicts.

What happened was a trivial matter.

This afternoon, Maixiangling suddenly issued a military control order, requiring all outsiders to leave the area of ​​Maixiangling, and only people are allowed to move in the market.

White Hart Castle has indeed just started a war. It is normal for many prisoners of war to be sent to Maixiangling, and the transportation of prisoners of war will indeed be strictly controlled to avoid accidents.

——If this kind of military control order is not followed, the county lord has the right to kill people on the spot.

But the market is definitely not very convenient, so the Ebony Gauntlet Knights originally planned to leave Maixiangling and go directly to White Hart Castle.

The territory of White Hart Castle is large, and there are many villages around it. Even if the city is also under control, at least there are villages around it that can be temporarily stationed instead of camping in the wild.

Then they found the bus—since it was already afternoon, dozens of leading knights in the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet wanted to arrive at White Hart Castle before nightfall, so that they could also make some arrangements for other mercenary groups.

The king handed over the hired mercenary groups to them, of course because the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets had the most experience in dealing with the Noldor elves.

And for the Ebony Gauntlet Knights, this is also a good opportunity to increase their influence, so they are helping to coordinate the mercenary groups coming from other countries along the way.

Out of their own anxiety and a little curiosity, they stared at the buses that were parked at Maixiangling Square waiting to depart.

But their behavior was a bit rude. They drove all the civilians who were already on the bus out of the car-this kind of behavior is common in other places, and the civilians have no status to speak of.

But here is Mai Xiangling.

So John came forward and directly refused them to take the bus, saying that everyone should follow the rules of Mai Xiangling and queue up to get on the bus.

This was originally a reasonable request, but who made John a commoner...

In addition, after the military control order was issued, there were more and more people queuing up in the square waiting for the departure of the bus. So why not wait until midnight to get on the bus?
The result was a quarrel.

After a few quarrels, the members of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets relied on their status as knights and threatened to 'requisition' these carriages.

Of course, this kind of thing can't happen. In fact, the people of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet probably only said a few angry words.

So John sternly refused, and planned to personally drive the civilians who had just been driven off to White Hart Castle.

As a result John was beaten for 'disrespect to the knights'.

Later, this incident angered the merchants in the Maixiangling General Market.

Although John was neither bright nor flexible, he had a reputation as a good guy in McShamlen.

From the diligent road repair at the beginning to the diligent management of the fleet, he is always eager to help others when they are in trouble.

Many merchants have received his help when delivering goods.

Such a good man was beaten, and the businessmen naturally couldn't see it.

So the merchants surrounded the members of the Ebony Knights, protected John and went to complain to the lord, and then began to denounce the barbaric style of the Ebony Knights.

The members of the Ebony Knights probably didn't expect that beating a commoner in Maixiangling would cause public outrage, and they didn't want to offend the merchants either.

These are merchants who are engaged in the wholesale business of various materials, including some processed food and daily necessities, many of which are necessary for entering the forest to fight.

They came to fight from afar, and if the merchants stopped selling their goods, it would be inconvenient for them to replenish.

Besides, Mai Xiangling is the territory of Baron Li Ang, and military control is still being implemented. It is said that the baron has a big business and has defeated the three prophets, so of course they will not make things big.

Of course, it was impossible for the merchants to fight the heavily armed knights, and as a result, the two sides began to gather crowds to quarrel.

After arguing for half an hour, in order to prevent the matter from becoming a big deal, several knight commanders led by the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets began to smooth things over. Originally, the matter would end soon.

But at this time, the merchants refused to do any business with the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets. All the truck and bus drivers also said that they would not be able to transport anything today, and they were all on holiday.

And also cursed all these ebony gauntlet knights to die in the forest.

On the one hand, the quarrel just now really made me angry;
On the other hand... the lord secretly sent a few soldiers over to fan the flames...

Coupled with the fact that there were more and more mercenaries onlookers, the members of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets might feel that they couldn't hold back their faces, and it was difficult to restrain their emotions, so the two sides began to push and shove each other.

A few hot-tempered knights from the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet really started to grab the carriage.

As a result of the robbery, the citizens of Maixiangling and the merchants joined hands to block the road with carriages, and began to surround the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets under the leadership of the security patrol.

For the next hour, the people in Mai Xiangling were all confronting the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets, and both sides were shaking people...

The Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets has gathered more than 300 people, [-] or [-] knights, and about [-] sergeants. These are probably all the people they sent here.

And Mai Xiang led the civilians and businessmen here to form a group, and nearly a thousand people gathered to surround them.

The other mercenary groups are all watching the fun...

It was already evening when the lord 'arrived' with the cavalry team - in order to wait for a small dispute to escalate into a 'big commotion', Li Ang dragged on for more than an hour before arriving at the scene.

In fact, the distance from his residence in Maixiangling to the wholesale market is only a few hundred meters...

"Master Li Ang is here!"

"Let's all let...Let Master Li Ang teach these bastards a lesson..."

Seeing Li Ang coming with his men, the merchants blocking the intersection made way for the lord to enter the square.

"What's going on? Are you knights planning to declare war on me? I don't seem to allow you to enter my territory with weapons!"

Li Ang stared at the leading ebony gauntlet knight unkindly, and began to buckle his hat as soon as he arrived.

(End of this chapter)