Riding and Slashing

Chapter 161 Pies fall from the sky
Emperor Marius seemed to know a little bit about Levius. He probably guessed that this guy was going to kill him after receiving Levius' report, so he directly ordered to reprimand him, saying that he was not allowed to expand the army "privately".

But Mario probably didn't expect that Levius would be forced to conscript as soon as he took office...

Shieldwind Fortress is the castle farthest from the capital, Siyuan City.

Levius was not a law-abiding person in the first place, and his family was an important member of the Presbyterian Church of the Bacchus Empire. He was used to being rampant in the previous territory, and his style has always been relatively unrestrained.

Now being dispatched to the frontier, I still feel a little bit of resentment in my heart. I originally wanted to create a fait accompli of military expansion first, and then talk about military expenses.

But since the response given by Emperor Marius was that he was not allowed to "expand the army privately", the emperor's intentions were very clear.

This was aimed at him. He had no intention of letting him capture White Hart Castle at all. He probably wanted to take away his military power with the excuse of "bringing a strong army but doing nothing" a year later.

Of course Levius would not sit still, he was just arrogant and domineering, but he was not a fool. A warlord family like him knew better than anyone else the truth that 'only when you have soldiers in your hands can you be tough'.

If there were no shadow infantry soldiers, he wouldn't dare to be so arrogant in the territory...

But he will not directly confront the emperor, after all he also knows that he is hated by others, if he really wants to be punished according to the law, he should have been hanged eight times long ago.

Therefore, he would never commit principled mistakes—such as flagrant disobedience or collusion with the enemy.

Even Marshal Kairos, who was most opposed to reform, has been obeying the orders of Emperor Marius. Of course, Livius will not disobey orders, and he has to endure what he has to endure.

White Hart Castle still has to be fought, and must be won.

But the problem is that Levius has forced more than 2000 civilian husbands...

The villages that should be offended have already been offended, so we can't just let all these young men go back like this?
That's too bad...

So with a swipe of his pen, Levius changed the nature of the 'Empire Second Legion' into a militia group with a banner.

This matter is reasonable and legal.

Of course, a Governor-General has the right to recruit civilian husbands, and the wages are owed first and then settled later. After all, when the country encounters a war, the local civilians do have the obligation to support the army.

Moreover, assigning flags to a large number of civilians can disrupt the enemy's sight, which is also a normal combat behavior.

The 2000-strong civilian army, led by Levius' son Lord Fabius, began to move closer to White Hart Castle.

But Levius did not let this army of civilians deliver luggage or build city defenses. Instead, he asked Fabius to bring these civilians to the Noldor Forest north of Shieldwind Fortress—that is, Shieldwind Fortress and White Hart. In the area between the forts, a large-scale logging and construction of camps began...

Because this can force White Hart Castle to send more troops.

The militia group he sent was under the banner of the 'Second Legion of the Empire'. Although the logging location was in a forest about [-] miles away from White Hart Castle, White Hart Castle should find out in a short time. There is a 'big army' of the Bacchus Empire building a camp.

From Levius's point of view, if the "big troop" of more than 2000 people were to set up camp so close to White Hart Castle, White Hart Castle would definitely strengthen its armaments, so it would definitely send more troops to defend...

Then Livius could ask Emperor Marius to change his order or send more reinforcements on the grounds that there were "a lot of troops in White Hart Castle".

Yes, Levius is not a fool, he just wants to increase the garrison of White Hart Castle, and he wants to use this method to make Emperor Marius change the original order given to him.

If White Hart Castle finds out that the "Second Imperial Army" with more than 2000 people is building a garrison, no matter what, it will have to gather a large number of troops to take good precautions...

Then the order of 'capture White Hart Castle within one year' issued by Emperor Marius will appear very unreasonable.

Under such circumstances, Emperor Marius would either send additional reinforcements to Shieldwind Fortress, or let Livius expand his manpower, and it was even possible to directly change Livius' task from 'capturing White Hart Castle' to 'holding the shield'. Wind Fortress'.

As for whether those two thousand civilians will be killed by the people of White Hart Castle...

He doesn't care.

Levius still has many advantages, such as adapting to the situation - otherwise he would not be the governor.

After sending the civilian army to start logging and build the camp, Levius continued to send scouts to White Hart Castle to investigate.

Then he discovered that White Hart Castle had ignited the beacon fire without encountering an enemy.

At that time, the peasant army had just started logging to build a camp. Levius thought it was because White Hart Castle had discovered his peasant army. He still lamented that the detection efficiency of White Hart Castle was quite high. quick……

In fact, it was only because after Li Ang was taken away by the Lion Knights, Amy lit the beacon directly according to Li Ang's instructions.

There were a lot of things going on in White Hart Castle at the time, and Amy was all about the safety of the lord in those few days. She didn't send scouts too far south at all, and she didn't know anything about the civilian army [-] miles away.

However, Livius felt that his plan had succeeded. After all, according to common sense, the army from Changhe Town would soon come to rescue White Hart Castle after the beacon fire was lit.

So he immediately sent another eight-hundred-mile emergency report to the capital, Siyuan City—this time he directly said that the military strength of White Hart Castle had increased to 2000, and he hoped that Emperor Marius would send him reinforcements, otherwise let alone an attack. Even defending the shield wind fortress is a problem.

Levius did not directly say that he would expand the army this time.

Because he knew that in such a situation, it would be better to recruit new troops from another place than to send reinforcements from other places. Emperor Marius would most likely agree with him to create a new 'Empire Second Army' and let other lords also obey his command.

After that, he continued to send more scouts, intending to see the specific reaction of White Hart Castle.

But since then, none of his scouts have returned.

Of course, it was a good thing that the scouts didn't come back. Not coming back meant that White Hart Castle was indeed strengthening its defenses.

Moreover, in Levius' view, the continuous dispatch of scouts could also convince White Hart Castle that the Bacchus Empire was about to attack.

At least the beacon at White Hart Keep was always lit.

But it didn't take long for the Governor to realize that something was wrong...

The secret agent sent by the Bacchus Empire to White Hart Castle has returned.

Those secret agents were Justus' subordinates, and their original mission was to spread rumors about Leon.

Although the rumors didn't directly disturb White Hart Castle, they got the planned result - Li Ang was indeed arrested by Sarleon.

Then, White Hart Castle ignited the beacon fire, but the Sarleon Kingdom did not have any reinforcements to support it.

This also gave these secret agents a misleading-they thought that the rumors they spread had played a role, and there seemed to be civil strife in the Lion Kingdom.

Then Amy took Sir Roland to White Hart Castle to preside over the defense according to the lord's orders.

Roland is a careful person, and he has spent half his life dealing with various heresies, and he is very good at finding those mysterious people who hide in dark corners and do things.

As a result, the secret agents sent by the Bacchus Empire to White Hart Castle suffered huge losses in a short period of time.

So the secret spies had no choice but to hold back their flags and drums for several days, not daring to show their heads, and naturally they didn't know what happened in those few days.

And then, they discovered that Li Ang had returned.

And with Li Ang's return, there seemed to be civil strife in White Hart Castle—several troops fought in the city, and I don't know why.

Later, the spies got the result, it was Li Ang who started the rebellion in White Hart Castle!
Li Ang is really treasonous!
But the rebellion initiated by Leon seems to have failed, and he was expelled by Godric's daughter to Maixiangling - the soldiers of White Hart Castle did not rebel with Leon.

Naturally, this kind of news must be sent back to the territory of Bacchus in the fastest way.

So the remaining secret agents returned to Bacchus as quickly as possible, and the closest one was Shieldwind Fortress. Levius was the first Lord Bacchus to get the news.

However, after Levius got the news of the spy, he was in a dilemma...

Because of the civil strife in White Hart Castle, it was obviously the best opportunity to attack.

Although it is uncertain how much damage Li Ang's rebellion caused to White Hart Castle, at least this is the best opportunity that has appeared in decades!
But the problem is, Levius just sent back the news that 'White Hart Castle's military strength has increased to 2000' to Siyuan City just now...

Originally, this was just an exaggeration of the enemy's military strength, in order to get more military spending and military support.

But if the secret agents under Justus spread the news of the civil strife in White Hart Castle to Siyuan City, then the nature of this will change!

The great offensive opportunity was said by Livius as the enemy's increase of troops. This is not an ordinary false military report. It can even be considered as a deliberate attempt to deceive the emperor. Emperor Marius will definitely be furious.

After all, Bacchus was General Osa who established the country through war and conquest, and everyone may understand that he was paid a small amount of money, but this kind of military intelligence falsification is almost unforgivable.

And Levius didn't know how many spies under Justus, and there were also spies in other places, so he couldn't kill these insiders.

Then we must seize this opportunity to capture White Hart Castle first, and then the false military report will become "this is a trick by the enemy, and they are deliberately framing the governor"...

Yes, Levius is very resourceful.

But this means that it is not very easy for him to cooperate with other lords, otherwise the false report of the military report will not stand and it will be difficult to explain.

But at present, he only has [-] soldiers in his hands, and the [-] farmers don't even have equipment. The internal situation of White Hart Castle is unknown, and it seems that he is not too sure about attacking alone.

So Levius was a little tangled...

However, just when Levius was struggling, he got a piece of great news.

……

When Lisa Dilan came to Shieldwind Fortress, this place was already very tightly guarded by Levius.

Levius still has many strengths, such as adapting to changing circumstances, and protecting his own safety.

In order to avoid any disastrous consequences caused by his usual misconduct, the governor always guards his castle very well.

A high-level killer like Lisa Dilan couldn't find a way to enter the city for a while, and there were many soldiers guarding almost everywhere.

Fortunately, the elf killer's mission this time is not to enter the city to kill people, but to deliver a letter.

Given that the lord's request was to deliver the letter as soon as possible without keeping it too secret, Lisa Dilan used an unconventional method.

He didn't enter the city, but hid in the forest behind the Shieldwind Fortress, sneaked close to the Shieldwind Fortress through the protective colors of the trees, and then shot an arrow into the castle.

In order to avoid misunderstanding, and because there was no way to recover the arrow, he did not use the Noldor arrow, but an ordinary cone-headed arrow.

The shooting skills and range of the Noldor were top-notch, and the arrow tied with the letter drew a wonderful parabola and accurately shot into a small window in the middle of the tower of the Shieldwind Fortress.

The main reason for shooting at that window was that Lisa Dilan saw that there seemed to be someone there-someone had to see the arrow.

As a result, after the arrow passed by, there was a howl from afar...

It seems that there was an accidental injury, but it doesn't matter to Lisa Dilan. The most important thing is to complete the task quickly. Things like accidental injury are trivial, and they are enemies anyway...

Moreover, since the person was shot, the task must be completed, so Li Sadilan turned around and ran away.

The task was indeed accomplished—it happened to be Levius himself who was shot in the castle.

Of course, he was slightly injured, just scratched the skin.

It's just that the position is a bit awkward, the injury is just between the legs.

The Noldor Elves are obviously not familiar with the structure of Windshield Fortress...

Of course, only big people live in the tower of this castle, and the small window in the middle of the tower is only one foot in length and width. In fact, it is the ventilation hole of the toilet, which is just at the waist of a person-this is for squatting. Or just face the window when sitting down.

Poor Governor Levius was going to the toilet, and he just pulled up his pants. Who would have thought that an arrow would fly in through the window, wipe his crotch and plunge into the wall behind him.

Almost castrated him on the spot.

But fortunately, Levius did see the letter sent to him by the lord.

The contents of the letter made him feel like a big pie had fallen from the sky, and it just happened to land on top of his head...

A secret letter was tied to that arrow.

The letter was written by Li Ang himself, and it looked a bit scribbled. I guess he was nervous and urgent when writing the letter.

The letter expressed his admiration for Levius, and asked Levius if he still remembered the friendship that the lord kindly let him go back to the country...

Li Ang said that he was persecuted by King Ulrik and couldn't stay in Sarleon, so he asked the Bacchus Empire if he would give him a chance.

For this reason, he can join hands with Governor Levius to capture White Hart Castle as a pledge to defect to the Bacchus Empire, and hope that the "General Changhe Town" awarded by Emperor Marius is not just a lie.

In order to show his sincerity, the lord was even willing to give the Mai Xiang collar to Levius first.

The most credible thing is that Li Ang said that he would go to Shieldwind Fortress on July [-]th and talk to Levius about how to attack White Hart Castle.

Livius sighed while watching, and felt that the scheme of Emperor Marius and Justus was quite powerful.

It is estimated that the letter from Emperor Marius worked?
Of course Livius knew that Emperor Marius was trying to harm Li Ang, and he also knew that Governor Justus had sent many secret spies to spread rumors.

It seems that the effect of these strategies is obvious...

According to the letter and the news from the secret agent, Li Ang was probably convicted by King Ulrik and finally escaped. He originally planned to treason and stand on his own in White Hart Castle, but failed.

So now it is being attacked by the army of White Hart Castle.

Therefore, he wants to cooperate with the Bacchus Empire, join forces with the Bacchus Empire to attack White Hart Castle, and give the Maixiang collar to Livius, and then he himself occupies White Hart Castle as a shelter.

Even the reason is clearly stated, the Bacchus Empire must get the Maixiang collar, and Li Ang himself can guarantee safety in White Hart Castle.

Levius felt that if it was just a secret letter, it might be Li Ang's deceit.

But if Li Ang really came here in person, it would be very difficult to have a fake, and he could catch him first.

Besides, the way Li Ang sent someone to deliver the letter also fit the situation - if this was a fake surrender, who would send the letter in such a way that easily reveals the secret?
An arrow shot in, so hastily...

What if someone else sees it?
What if it was not delivered to Levius?
This obviously means that Li Ang's current situation is very dangerous, and there is no time to send an envoy to visit!
And July [-]th, that is tomorrow.

So Levius sent troops to set up a temporary meeting place a dozen miles north of Shieldwind Fortress.

He didn't want Li Ang to enter the Shield Wind Fortress, just in case, what if it was still a scam?
The lord did not cheat, he only brought dozens of people to the agreed meeting place, and begged to see Levius with a white flag. He looked quite embarrassed, as if he had just experienced a battle.

"Your Excellency Li Ang, I really didn't expect you to really come..."

Levius felt that the pie had indeed fallen from the sky, and this was really the rhythm of surrender.

"I can't help it. The Lion Kingdom is chasing me. Your Emperor Marius is not a good man... But since you have named me 'General Changhe Town', you can't break your word on this matter!"

The lord took out the letter from Emperor Marius and threw it to Levius.

"Then how do you plan to capture White Hart Castle now? How many troops does White Hart Castle have?"

Of course Levius knew the content of the letter, and most of the doubts in his heart disappeared, and he began to ask about the plan directly.

"White Hart Castle still has about 400 people, but it doesn't matter. As long as I lead troops outside White Hart Castle, White Hart Castle's troops will definitely chase me, and White Hart Castle will be an empty city by then! Leviu Governor Si, making an empty city shouldn’t embarrass you, right?”

Li Ang shook his head and said while gritting his teeth, it seemed that he really wanted to occupy White Hart Castle.

Although this method is simple, it seems to be reliable in the current situation.

However, Levius still said cautiously: "I don't have many troops, why don't I send someone to Mai Xiangling first to make sure there are no reinforcements in White Hart Castle?"

Li Ang nodded and agreed: "Indeed, to block the reinforcements from the Sarleon Kingdom first, you'd better send more troops, and I will send someone to lead you the way."

As soon as these words came out, Levius' doubts disappeared—this would really turn White Hart Castle into an isolated city. It seemed that Li Ang was really going to surrender to the empire this time.

(End of this chapter)