Blood tax

Chapter 128
The attackers gathered near the trebuchet were still busy reloading. Hot meteorites and sky fires fell from the sky, engulfing the crowd in an instant.In the roar and smoke, the meteorite tore the catapult into pieces, and the fire rain set the crowd and the forest on fire, and there was no scream.

The attack was completely dismantled.

Laner caught up with a fleeing rider, dragged him off his horse, and knocked him unconscious for questioning.These people did not have any markings on their bodies, and it was impossible to tell whether they were private soldiers of local nobles or bandits.

Lana's first thought was an attack by the audacious local nobles.

The unknown enemy has laid out five waves of attacks, from ambushes on the shore to horsemen in the distance, and even trebuchets hidden on the edge of the woodland.Although their combat effectiveness is very weak, their organization and coordination are almost non-existent, and a lot of resources have been turned into a refueling battle, but this is undoubtedly a well-planned attack arrangement. The attackers are very clear about the itinerary of the camping group. The core area of ​​the Namibia region has a strong mobilization capability.

Who else is the black hand behind the scenes if not a local nobleman?

Thousands of years have passed since the establishment of Bayeran, and the lords of the western region are still not fully integrated into the kingdom system.They are nominally loyal to the Duke of Verona and have a lot of autonomy.They borne some taxes for the kingdom, and also contributed legions and auxiliary legions composed of local people to the war. However, it is hard to say how much dividends from the Eastern War will be shared.

According to Griffith, the new southern provinces will contribute a large amount of agricultural products and minerals, and the trade income of the western lords will inevitably be affected.In this case, it would be inconceivable without the separatist trend of thought.

There was a subtle, unspoken speculation among the high-ranking noble students at Homemonwatts that the war hypothesis of the staff travel was directed against the local nobles.Once Verona was weakened by internal rebellion, Bayeran, ready to go, would look for an excuse to invade.

However, bandits and rebels are not impossible.The farther west the Verona region enters the mountains, the more barren it becomes. There are many free people who fled from the noble territories.The rebels and bandits formed around some martial arts lunatics hide in the mountains and forests to provide protection for the free people, and from time to time they will go down the mountains to attack noble territories and manors.They've also recently been joined by some angry veterans and will no doubt grow quickly.

The rebels may have made some kind of agreement with the local nobles to conspire to attack the visiting nobles of Bayeram.

Careful interrogation must take place.

Lana nodded inwardly.Of course, he knew about Griffith's little hobby, and Ophelia, who was also proficient in it, also explained it to him a few times, and Fiona was unhappy about it for a few days.

The routed raiders ran everywhere.Lana and Murat successively grabbed several guys who looked like leaders, tied them up and brought them back to the boat.

Isius has led people to put out the fire, and reconvened the frightened sailors and city defense forces. He inspected the situation of the sailboat and said to the two: "Good news, students, no one was injured. Not much damage."

"Then we should leave here as soon as possible." Murat said immediately.

"However, there is bad news." Iseus shook his head, "We lost the captain and one-third of the sailors. The auxiliary sails, cables and rigging were severely damaged. Although the ship can sail, the speed of movement will be much reduced. This group of people came here with the purpose of delaying us."

Without further ado, everyone immediately urged the sailors to turn around, stop camping and retreat towards the old town.

The sloop, without its captain and some of its rigging, became sluggish and awkward, and even turning, Lana felt an indescribable incongruity that had not been present on previous voyages.

He briefly inspected the sailboat, then picked up a group of prisoners and walked to the inner cabin.

"Lana, what are you going to do?" Fiona asked a little uneasy, "Is there an interrogation? Let's go together."

"It's an interrogation, but you and Miss Lamour stay here," replied the hussar curtly. "Griffith and Ophelia are better at it, but they're not here. I, no. Good at it, but rougher."

……

The freshmen at Homenworth saw Lana throwing the bundled captives outside the door, carrying one at a time into the cabin, closing the wooden door heavily, and then heart-piercing screams rang out in their ears.

The wounded and bloodied captives yelled together, insulting everyone with all kinds of swear words.Murat had to stuff a rag into each of their mouths.

In just 5 minutes, Lana walked out.His hands were covered with blood, but his face was clean.The gurgling blood has already seeped out from the crack of the door.After the second prisoner was taken in, he didn't know what he saw, and immediately screamed and screamed, desperately begging for mercy.

After a while, Lana rushed out of the cabin with a red face.He was only wearing unlined clothing, and his whole body was steaming like a sauna. His eyes were red and fierce, like a vicious dog crawling out of hell and sweeping over the kneeling captive.Strong hands like steel grabbed the third prisoner, pulled the rag out of his mouth and threw him into the cabin.

"what!!!"

The captive screamed in the cabin, as if seeing a terrifying monster.His hands and feet were all tied up, but he wriggled crazily, crawling out like a caterpillar.

"No!" The crawling captive burst into tears, "I said..."

Lana kicked him into the cabin with a grinning grin, and closed the wooden door with a bang.

When it was the turn of the fourth prisoner, Fiona finally couldn't bear it anymore. She stood up righteously and stood between Lana and the prisoner.The captives who have not been captured beg for mercy together.

"kindness?"

Lana was ferocious like a giant black wolf. Not only Fiona, but even several people present seemed to see the solemn and indelible, illusory and dark aura embodied as fangs and a pair of terrifying eyes.

The star-eyed noble girl's mind went blank, and she stood there trembling.Her sutoral grabbed the next captive and led them into the cabin.

Each torture process lasted no more than 5 minutes, and Lana would come out soon and catch another one.

The screams in the cabin lasted for a full half an hour.

Professor Weitzleben came to see the situation here once, and left in a hurry without saying anything.

Soon, Lana returned to the upper lounge.Professors and classmates are gathering there to discuss routes and countermeasures.

Lana has restrained that terrifying and ferocious aura, and wiped his hands and face clean.His breath was gentle, and there was even a calm and relaxed smile on his resolute and mighty face.Once he was dressed neatly again, his steps were steady and his momentum was compelling.

Huh~ I understand Griffith a little bit.Lana opened a small blood-stained notebook and reported to those present:

"It has been found out that the people who attacked us came from a nearby rebel army led by Lance. They were originally fighting the coalition forces headed by Viscount Tretter, but the fighting had subsided the day before, and Lance's troops passed through the coalition forces. The defense zone is attacking this area.

"They number no less than 3000 people, and some horse thieves and retired legionnaires have joined their ranks. This rebel army is trying to block several teams including us and the local nobles from retreating to the old town.

"They don't know where they got their catapults. Lance sent someone to send this heavy weapon over, specifying the location and time of the ambush, but did not tell them the source of the information."

"..."

This amazing news made everyone dumbfounded.If they hadn't witnessed Rana's horrific torture, everyone would have doubted that he had been cheated.

No, there are still doubts.Berthier frowned and asked, "Lana, did you hit me too hard? Leading questions and torture to extract a confession will make the captive try to fabricate the answer you want to hear, so that you can get free as soon as possible."

"I didn't ask any questions, Monsieur Berthier," Lana replied flatly, "I just said one sentence to each of them, 'you say'."

Berthier was stunned for a while before he understood what Lana meant.He couldn't help but look at Fiona, who lowered her head and said nothing.

"Go on," said Professor Weitzleben, as if it wasn't a big deal, "did you notice that the ship was leaning 5 degrees?"

The second half of his sentence was not a question, but merely stated the facts.

Sonia was shocked, and hurriedly asked someone to go to the bilge to check.Soon, the sailors replied that there was a lot of water coming in, and the bottom of the boat might be damaged, and they were trying to seal it.

"It should have happened during the battle. A group of people dived into the water and destroyed the bottom of the ship. The ambush they arranged seems to be more than five rounds." The professor's expression was calm, as if he was not the one sitting on the broken ship, "If The condition of the ship could not be maintained, so we disembarked and walked to the nearby castle."

……

The tributaries from the mountains in the west and north converge into the Vero River, which is hundreds of miles long, and then flows into the Sea of ​​Tranquility in the east.The very fertile plain watered by this great river is called the Plain of Velo, and is the richest region in the region.

Baron Bate's estate sits on the banks of the Velo River.The current Baron is Jerry Bate, whose family has been here for countless generations.The baron's ancient ancestors had resisted Bajeram's war of conquest.After years of getting along, the baron, like other local nobles, has forgotten their hatred and become a loyal friend of the kingdom.

A river flows from north to south across the east side of the manor, then turns west, turns left near the south gate of the manor, and flows south again into the Vero River.The creek was named after the lord's family, and it was called the Bet River.Abundant river water has brought prosperous agriculture, and there are endless fields and farms in every direction.Good wheat is grown here, and the radish is crisp and delicious. Together with wheat porridge, it has become the staple food of the local people.Wine and rose oil are also quite aliased and expensive commodities.

There are 7 or 8 spearmen holding shields guarding the gate of the manor, and a small captain with a waist knife leads the guard.The guards looked nervous, looking at the dark forest to the north.

This morning, a messenger from afar reported that a terrifying rebel army had broken through the defense of the viscount's army, ransacked the manors of the two barons passing by, killed several feudal knights, and was rushing towards the territory of Baron Bett .

(End of this chapter)