CH 141 The Monarch's Responsibility

"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up." The soldier waved his horsewhip and shouted, "Otherwise, I'll throw you guys to feed it!"

Those who were urged were some pale-faced women. They tremblingly pushed the carts and piled a large amount of cattle and sheep on the municipal square of Herrid City. The battle was over, and after the black dragon destroyed Herrid's city wall plus half the city, the dragon trainer took control and appeased its anger.

Right now, the terminator of this battle was staying in the municipal square, and it occupied more than half of the square when laying down. Along with the black dragon's exhale, occasionally large spouts of dragon flames would fly out, burning down the houses not far away.

Thick smoke still filled the sky, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the nose.

Everything was like a nightmare that caught people off guard.

Before the women of Herrid City had time to cry for their dead husbands and sons, they had to face the Pligney army marching proudly into the city. Earl Pligney took over the city, and he had no intention of restraining his soldiers, so those heavily armed soldiers kicked open doors from house to house, rummaged through chests and closets, and carried out looting.

For the people of Herrid City, this was a catastrophe.

They didn't even have time to escape, the rebels had already blocked the city of Herrid, and the black dragon flew up to the sky from time to time to keep watch over it. People ignored their grief and started living under the shadow of fear.

While Herrid City was providing food for the black dragon, the head of the Inquisition Bureau and Earl Pligney boarded the pier at Swan Harbor. 

Earl Pligney was very imposing in front of the common people, but groveled in front of the head of the Inquisition Bureau, practically wishing he could act as the chief inquisitor's personal servant.

He graciously introduced the history of Swan Harbor to the chief who was standing in the sea breeze.

On the surface, Earl Pligney was the commander-in-chief of the punitive army against the King this time, but the command of this battle was not in his hands from the very beginning. Which family to win over, which family to send intimidation to, and which city to attack first were all decided by the head of the Inquisition Bureau himself, including the time when the war would start.

The head of the Inquisition Bureau waved his hand, and the earl immediately fell silent. Flocks of gulls were flying in the sea breeze, and the head of the Inquisition Bureau looked at the sea level, as if he was slightly relieved: "They have arrived."

In the distance, sails appeared in sight, and a fleet of ships came with the wind. Arriving at the pier quickly, the pedals were lowered, and a gorgeously dressed merchant and a tall and burly mercenary stepped off the ship. Seeing the chief inquisitor waiting at the pier, the merchant hurried forward and saluted humbly.

Although he tried his best to appear decent, when he spoke, the accent unique to Hopeless Inner Sea still exposed his roots.

Earl Pligney watched coldly as the chief inquisitor treated the merchant better than he had treated him, with an uncontrollable embarrassment showing on his face.

A damn military contractor.

He cursed in his heart.

——Damn bloody mercenaries.

The earl would soon have to add the second half of the sentence in his heart.

As the fleet sailed into the harbor, he finally understood why the head of the Inquisition Bureau chose Swan Harbor as the first attack target. A large number of well-armored soldiers came down from those ships, the Holy Court had hired a group of Baliners from the Hopeless Inner Sea as the vanguard to attack Legrand.

Baliners was a general term.

It actually referred to a group of mercenaries active in the small countries along the Abyss Strait and the Hopeless Inner Sea area. There were often wars and conflicts between the countries along the Abyss Strait and the Hopeless Inner Sea for resources, but it was difficult for small countries and city-states to support a large number of troops like Bressi and Legrand, so it was the mercenary industry that flourished in these places.

However, compared to the Gulundi heavy cavalry, the Baliner mercenaries had a notorious name.

"Baliner" means "thugs, greedy wolves" in the Hopeless Inner Sea ancient language. Most of the Baliner mercenaries were fugitives from various countries.

This mercenary team was powerful, but their methods were extremely bloody. The Gulundi heavy cavalry was the representative of mercenaries in the classical era. The relationship between the leader and the soldiers was that of clansmen and comrades, while the Baliner mercenaries were the emerging "military contracting system". The merchant acts as a contractor between the soldier and the customer, and so the merchant was called a "contractor", leaving only the relationship between the boss and the employee between the military contractor and the soldier.

The Baliner mercenaries were quickly stationed in Herrid City.

Obviously, they were the protagonists of the next battle.

But this was not good news for the nearby cities.

………………

The head of the Inquisition Bureau and the dragon trainer split into two groups.

The head of the Inquisition Bureau led the Baliner mercenaries to become the vanguard army, capturing the small towns around the important military castles along the tributary of the Doma River, isolating the military castle, and cutting off its connection with the outside world. Then the dragon trainer would drive the black dragon to blast open the gate of the castle.

One town after another fell into the flames of war almost before they had time to react.

The discipline of the army in this era was already worrying, and the Baliner mercenaries have nothing to do with the word "discipline". They plundered with impunity every place they passed in order to obtain supplies.

Hundreds of refugees began to flee, pouring into nearby cities that had not yet been attacked, filled with despair.

Putton County, not far from Pligney Territory, was a place where refugees sought refuge.

With the influx of a large number of refugees every day, the north and south streets of Putton Castle were crowded with refugees with their families. They carried their life's property and tied their children to their bodies... There was no sadder scene than this, and there were mourners and grievers everywhere.

An emergency meeting was held in the Rose Palace.

The battle report was quickly delivered to the King, and the atmosphere in the palace was tense like never before.

"They cut off the line of communication, and it is very difficult for our army to arrive quickly."

General Sheeha frowned while discussing it with the King.

When the news of the rebellion came out, the Iron Rose Cavalry was immediately gathered. At this time, General Johan was leading the way to the central battlefield.

The other great army was still in the process of being raised.

In fact, when the King ordered the Walway pirates to raid the Lowland Alliance, General Johan had already started preparing for war.

However, at the beginning of this year, in order to quell the war in the Northland, Legrand had already conducted conscription. According to the regulations on conscription, the knights only need to provide forty days of military service to the King every year. Once this period was exceeded, the King must obtain the permission of the parliament if he wanted to conscript again.

Obtaining the permission of the parliament was not an easy task, so the preparations during this period were more about preparing food and materials in advance.

"Theolde made a good move."

The King flipped through the urgently delivered battle reports expressionlessly.

"Our opponent is not an idiot like Grand Duke Grice."

It could be said that the King and the Pope did similar things at the same time.

Legrand and the Holy Court were actually facing the same situation. They both wanted to prepare their own army as soon as possible to seize the opportunity of the decisive battle. But on the other hand, both Legrand and the Holy Court were like a heavy chariot, and it was inevitable to spend a lot of time and energy to make this chariot move.

If there was no way to drive your own chariot in an instant, then delay the opponent's time to let the wheels roll.

So the King sent warships to raid the harbors of the Holy Court allies in the Lowland countries, and the Pope planned the current turmoil in Legrand.

One thing that must be admitted——

Compared with the army owned by the country, mercenaries naturally possess enviable mobility. Therefore, when the King had to deal with the nobles of the parliament to make concessions, the Baliner mercenaries had already started burning, killing and looting, doing all kinds of evil.

However, Legrand had no way to hire a large number of mercenaries.

They didn't have the rich financial resources of the Holy Court.

"Their next step is Putton County."

The King tapped a finger on the map.

"If Putton County is captured by them, then our line of communication with the southeast will be completely cut off." General Sheehan worried, "I will immediately have the Iron Rose Cavalry to change the course and go to support Putton."

"It's too late." The King said, "The Iron Rose Cavalry has only marched as far as Wood County, and further ahead is the territory of the Pligney family. If we want to support Putton County, we must first fight with the Pligney family. By that time, Putton County had long since fallen."

General Sheehan frowned.

The King threw down the battle report: "Let's deal with our parliament gentlemen first."

"What about Putton County?"

General Sheehan asked subconsciously.

"Someone will go."

The King replied.

His voice gave people an inexplicable chill.

General Sheehan suddenly realized one thing——

Facing this rebellion, the King's reaction was exceptionally calm. It was as if he had been waiting for this rebellion, and planned to use this war to accomplish other things.

As soon as this idea came up, some things suddenly had new explanations.

Why even the nobles of the royalist party in the "Rose Crisis" were strangely silent, why the King specially transferred him back to the palace, and General Johan commanded the Iron Rose Cavalry instead, and why the meeting was deadlocked during such an urgent situation… There was nothing that could make the whole country stand on a united front than the naked display of Legrand's life and death on the balance.

Thinking of the refugees and casualties described in the battle report, General Sheehan stood in the King's study in a daze, feeling like winter had arrived.

"Is that so? Is it really so?"

He asked subconsciously, his voice dry.

"Is this your intention?"

"I am the king, I make the commands."

The King said calmly. He put on his robe and walked directly to the hall where the council meeting was held without further explanation.

The Head of the Households looked at General Sheehan who was standing frozen, and sighed from the bottom of his heart. He was vaguely in a trance, remembering how he had watched a child grow up.

In the end the child became a king.

He was the king, and he would do what the knight was unwilling to do. What politicians couldn't do, he did. He would go to hell, and he would bear the sins. In order to win the final victory, he would do anything and become a notorious person.

This was the monarch.

………………

Putton City.

Earl Gray put on his armor and stood solemnly on the city wall together with his two sons. Dale looked at the sky nervously. There were quite a few people like him, and everyone subconsciously feared that the evil dragon would appear in the sky.

However, according to the news from the scouts, the dragon trainer did not leave after arriving in Newt County two days ago, as if he was looking for something there.

But the situation didn't get much better.

With the strength of the city of Putton, it was still a difficult task to face the army of Earl Pligney and the mercenaries of Baliner. They only hoped that they could survive until the arrival of reinforcements——although this hope was very slim.

The tall trebuchet was pushed onto the battlefield.

The moment he saw the trebuchet, Earl Gray subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. This meant that the news sent back by the scouts was correct. The dragon trainer and the black dragon were indeed stranded in Newt County.

This was good news. Earl Gray began to direct the soldiers to hold on to the city wall. No matter how provocative the mercenaries of Baliner were down below, they remained steady at their posts.

The iron arrow pressed down on the bowstring, and the soldiers skillfully pushed back the waves of enemies who came up one after another.

The battle went smoothly, or in other words, it went too smoothly.

Earl Gray frowned and observed the entire battlefield. The Baliner mercenaries had been hiding behind Earl Pligney's army since the beginning of the battle, and did not really join the battlefield. Right now it all looked more like... a feint! Were they deliberately releasing fake news? The dragon trainer had actually arrived near Putton City?!

Earl Gray's heart sank immediately.

At this time, there was commotion on the city wall.

"What happened?"

Earl Gray shouted immediately.

What answered him was an iron arrow shot from behind.

Clang——

Earl Gray's son, Sidney, had quick eyesight and quick hands, and swung his shield to block the sharp arrow intended for his father. More sharp arrows shot from behind them, and the defenders who were caught off guard were nailed to the city wall.

"There are spies! Father! There are spies!" The eldest son, Dale, was the quickest to react. He swung his sword and roared.

A steady stream of feathered arrows flew down from the tower that was supposed to protect them, and mercenaries continued to climb the city wall from inside the city. They pulled out machetes from their tattered skirts, and mercilessly chopped down the defenders who blocked their way.

"Stop them! Don't let them lower the drawbridge!"

When Earl Gray saw their clothes, he instantly understood.

The dragon trainer was indeed not nearby, but the mercenaries of Baliner had sneaked into the refugee masses and lurked into the city of Putton, waiting for the battle to start.

The city wall was narrow and the battlefield was chaotic. Sidney and Dale tried their best to protect their father and retreat towards the suspension bridge. But among the Baliner mercenaries, there were a few short and nimble ones, who ran as nimbly as monkeys stepping on the top of the wall.

Click.

The noose that controlled the suspension bridge was cut, and the suspension bridge crashed down.

The enemies surged over like a tide.

At the back of the battlefield, the leader of the Baliner mercenaries revealed a smug smile. He turned his head and wanted to say something to the head of the Inquisition Bureau when Earl Pligney suddenly exclaimed: "Who is that?" 

The head of the Inquisition Bureau who had been calmly observing the battlefield was suddenly taken aback, and hurriedly looked in the direction the earl pointed.

Smoke and dust rose low on the horizon, and an army appeared like a shadow from the smoke and dust.