our family is gone

Chapter 780 Current Situation
Of course, outside the city, the cultists were no match for the Knights and the Church, so a stalemate ensued.

And those nobles were also waiting for Bruce to continue to consume his energy, just like a pack of wolves surrounding a wounded tiger, ready to bite if he showed any sign of weakness.

It's funny that the so-called unbreakable aristocratic system has become precarious.

But they also have something to say. We swore allegiance to the Earl, you are just the heir, and now no one has really seen that the Earl is dead, so if you want to be recognized, then attack the city and prove yourself.

Bruce is not stupid. Isn't it obvious that he is being asked to die?
He knew that unless he could succeed in one go, those guys would eat him if he suffered heavy losses in the siege.

Now he could only cling to the church, take up the banner of eradicating the cult and condemn those nobles.

You have to know that it was the nobles who clung to the church and took the lead in eradicating the cult, while the Earl and Bruce were the ones who were pretending to be stupid.

This is a reversal of the two poles, which is a bit funny.

Things are impermanent...

Anyway, according to the news that came back, a series of open and covert struggles are now unfolding within Bastia over the city.

Bruce even seized on the assassination attempt he suffered at the time and said that those people were colluding with the cult and wanted to use this as an excuse to seize power by borrowing the power of the church, but those nobles were not stupid and the two sides began to fight.

The cult is right in front of them, but they are fighting among themselves. It's really... very human.

This is why Lance was reluctant to drag too many forces into Hamlet in the first place.

I don’t know whether I can defeat the ancestor, but compared to the ancestor who may explode at any time, I will definitely kill Lance, the heir, first. What everyone wants to see is dividing Hamlet.

Don't ask those idiots to have a long-term vision and not think about their own interests.

"This farce should end. The people have suffered enough."

As he spoke, Lance shifted his gaze away from the city in the distance and could see the scattered refugee camps outside the city.

Don't think that just the struggles among the high-level officials are just a speck of dust that falls on the people below and becomes a mountain.

Bruce is recruiting soldiers and collecting taxes, and the nobles are doing the same. Don't forget the tens of thousands of refugees who have escaped...

Despair and madness are the main colors of this world.

But not Hamlet's.

"But I didn't expect you to achieve such a status so quickly."

After Lance said this, he turned to look at the person beside him, Baron Lawrence who had followed on horseback, and praised:
"As expected of Count Bastia's right-hand man, even if he has been away for a while, he can still easily gain the support of those nobles as long as he stands out."

Lance praised him, but Lawrence ruthlessly revealed the truth.

"Those guys are nominally under my command now, but in fact they just want to push me out to fight against Bruce.

Or maybe they don't dare to face the church directly, or they think that I have no heirs and therefore pose no threat to them."

Lawrence is not a child, how could he not see that those guys don't want to tear each other apart? After all, we old nobles are so particular.

It would be disastrous for everyone if they fell out with each other, and if they don't make any effort to fight the cultists now, they will offend the church, and someone will have to take the blame.

No one is more suitable than Lawrence, because everyone knows that his daughter is missing and he has no heirs. Even if Bruce is killed, he cannot become the next earl, and everyone will be decent in the end.

This is why it was so easy for the nobles to support Lawrence and unite around him.

However, success or failure depends on the heir.

If Lawrence had an heir, he would never work so hard for Lance, but he didn't have one, and his only daughter was being held in someone's hands, so he sold her out without any hesitation.

Anyway, he has no heir to inherit the territory, so he doesn't feel bad about returning the territory to Hamlet.

"Come on, let's check out those guys."

Lance rode his horse forward, and right in front of them was the military camp.

But now it has been occupied by Hamlet's army, and it seems that the battle is obviously over, or it ended before it even began.

Hamlet's army smoothly captured Owendo without much loss of resources. After a brief rest, they quickly communicated with Lawrence with the support of intelligence.

Just order a thousand infantrymen to advance quickly, come out of his territory under the banner of Lawrence, and deceive most of the guys.

Lawrence was used to summon the nobles for discussion, and then they were naturally controlled by the "executioners" who were arranged in advance, and then Lawrence came forward to appease the lower-level soldiers.

The situation was controlled quietly without causing much impact. Many people didn't even know what had happened. They even thought that Baron Lawrence wanted to do something big.

Most of the so-called soldiers were lazy and casual, without training or purpose, because they were conscripted.

Only a small number of people who have seen blood and survived on the battlefield have some momentum. According to them, they are elite veterans.

These so-called elites are a joke to Lance, but they are already very good here. No wonder Bruce has not been killed yet. After all, his army has knights and a large number of soldiers who have fought against barbarians.

The soldiers are currently undergoing registration review and awaiting processing.

According to previous rules, they would probably be sent to labor reform, but a large number of them were conscripted and had never participated in combat, so after selecting out those evil soldiers, the ordinary people would be given a sum of money and sent home.

For them, not having to fight was more important than anything else, not to mention that the new lord also gave them a sum of money. Although it was not much, it was enough to leave a good impression.

Lance and Lawrence went to meet with those nobles and told them about the current situation in the Hamlet area, so that they knew what had happened.

The Barony was conquered in four days, and six thousand people were defeated in one battle. Some people remembered the glory of Hamlet in the past, and knowing that there was no way to resist, they surrendered.

But some people are not convinced. Why should their territory and power be taken away? They are lords granted by the earls. What does it have to do with Hamlet?

And then... no more.

Some things are not as heavy as a pound if they are not weighed, but they cannot be weighed even if they are weighed a thousand pounds.

Don't agree? Then it's not just you who will suffer, your whole family will suffer.

Lawrence knew that the lord did not care about the relationships and rules of the aristocratic system, but he was still a little frightened by such casual treatment.

"Come on, follow me to meet Bruce."

Lance didn't waste too much time on those so-called nobles. After a while, he rode out of the camp with Lawrence and went to another military camp closer to the city. Then Lawrence saw a magical scene, because there were also Hamlet's soldiers here.

He knew how powerful the lord was, and it would not be difficult to take down the military camps of those nobles with his help, because he could mobilize all the manpower.

But it was really terrifying that they captured two camps silently.

"You know Francis, the bureaucrat the Count sent to redeem you. He is mine, just like you."

Lance casually explained that when the incident happened in the city, Vic risked his life to inform Francis and helped him get out.

Later, Francis was allowed to go into hiding again. According to his previous status beside the Earl, he was more than qualified to be a deputy to Bruce, who had suffered heavy losses of his confidants.

But you have to know that they lost the city, and the army needs to eat and consume various resources. At this critical moment, Vic volunteered to get food from Owendo and quickly broke into Bruce's logistics.

Bruce would definitely be fine when they didn't fight, and both of them did a good job, but when Lance's will was revealed, it was not surprising that Bruce fell down.

Lawrence didn't know the details, but he knew that Bruce had a very high prestige in the Knights Templar or the army, so those people didn't dare to force him, otherwise they would have taken action long ago.

Then Lawrence saw the strong knights being carried out one by one by the soldiers like dead pigs.

But it seems that the so-called Knights are of no use in front of the lord...

"My lord, these knights..."

"It's okay. A good night's sleep will be good for them."

Knights were only threatening when they were wearing armor and charging on horseback, and what brought them down was a pot of hot soup with added ingredients in the cold wind. Without these two conditions, they were still just mortal bodies.

"No, I mean, isn't it a waste if these knights are to build roads like the soldiers? They have been trained since they were young, and their strength is still very good."

How could Lawrence not tell whether a person was dead or fainted? After all, he had served as an instructor for those knights and did not want them to be involved in the struggle among the upper echelons, so he wanted to find a way out for them.

Because there is a high probability that their toes will be cut off when they go to build the road, otherwise it will be difficult for a well-trained knight to keep an eye on them, but this time they are completely useless.

This is indeed true. Although their strength is meaningless to Lance, they are still powerful elites for ordinary people.

It's a pity that more than ten years of hard training is wasted like this.

But... this battle was originally intended to arrange for some soldiers to retire and switch to farming mode.

Where does he get the resources to support those knights? Wouldn't it be better to invest in infrastructure, factories, and technology?
However, it is indeed a bit of a waste to send them to build roads, and these people are not feudal nobles, so they are not the ones who do evil. They are more like the earl's thugs.

"How many of these people do you think are still loyal to the Earl or Bruce?"

Lance asked, causing Lawrence to fall silent.

The Earl still attached great importance to these knights, so he selected and trained each of them from a young age to ensure that their loyalty was trustworthy, and he was very clear about this.

It was even heard that Bruce was able to escape from the cult's assassination attempt because the knights risked their lives to save him.

For a lord, if loyalty is not absolute, then it is absolutely disloyal.

It would probably be difficult for these diehard earls to change their allegiance, so naturally they would have only one fate. Lawrence couldn't help feeling sad when he thought of this.

But Lance seemed to see what he was thinking and nodded with a smile.

"I won't make things difficult for them. The villains will stay. You can talk to the rest. Those who want to go home can go home. If they are willing to join, I will arrange some work for them. As for those who want to leave, let them go."

"Are you really letting him go?" Lawrence was a little surprised to hear this, and seemed to be trying to figure out what this "let go" meant.

The person who unexpectedly chose to leave must be a die-hard fan of the Earl. Such a person is a threat if he is alive.

"Hahaha! This is no longer the era of knights." Lance said with a smile, but Lawrence felt that he was being too domineering, as if he was simply ignoring those knights.

But Lance was telling the truth, it's just that this battle was not won by fighting, Lawrence didn't know that.

Not to mention the crushing power of artillery over knights' charge, now that Bigby has invented the stimulant, muskets will soon experience explosive growth. With the development of rifled and breech-loading muskets, even a transcendent may not be able to defeat an ordinary person with a gun.

If Lance really wants war, the so-called knights here will not be able to withstand a few rounds of artillery bombardment or a few rounds of array shooting.

"Just let it go, don't think too much." Lance said and continued walking forward, not caring at all.

Lawrence now finally understood why those people said that the lord was merciful...

When we entered the camp, we found that there were quite a lot of people there. In addition to Bruce, several leaders were also captured. It can be said that they were all captured in one fell swoop.

Reynald and Barristan from our side were also there. Most people could not see the burly man who stood out in the tent. From his muscular appearance, one could tell that he was quite strong, but he could only be tied up at this time.

In order to control him, he not only drugged him, but also let Leonard take action, which finally subdued him.

With training since childhood and taking all kinds of precious medicines, and with the enhancement of equipment, his physical strength is very considerable. Bastia is the champion.

The fact that he was able to withstand the evil magic and escape when facing the siege of the cult's masters has proved his strength.

In other words, he has never had systematic contact with supernatural powers, or the Bastia family has a weak foundation. They used to be a small noble family, and it was only the second generation that became a count.

"Lawrence, I never believed my father's suspicion of you, but now it turns out that he was right."

When Bruce saw the two people coming in, his eyes were fixed on Lawrence, and it was not difficult to hear from his words that he was putting all the blame on Lawrence.

Lawrence didn't know how to explain this, so he could only shake his head and sigh, "Your father is always like this. He doesn't trust anyone, so he doesn't get anyone's trust either."

"Hmph! Don't make betrayal sound so nice."

"Then why did your father place so many people around me? And after something happened, he sent the Eagles to assassinate my daughter? Did you do this?"

Lawrence was not polite either. He didn't want to argue with the junior, but he got angry when he talked about this. His wife is gone, and he only has this daughter left, and you still want to touch her!

Bruce couldn't help but fall silent for a moment. He knew about the planting of spies, but he didn't know about the assassination of Margaret.

But really, would my father do such a thing?

It’s hard to say…