Riding and Slashing

Chapter 182 The Beacon on the Frontier

The lord led the team to run overnight, one person and two horses, and rushed to a place he was very familiar with at the fastest speed.

Near Qicha Fortress.

This is where Li Ang led the merchants to make a fortune...

Now to the south of the Sava River, the hilltop where the Double Eleven trade fair was once held belongs to the Kingdom of Sleet Lions.

Since Sir Lehman took charge of Fort Seven Forks, he has placed some fortifications on both sides of the Sava River. In this way, he has completely controlled the section of the Sava River near Fort Seven Forks and controlled the bridges on the river—— He even started to levy a 'bridge tax' and a 'boat tax'...

Of course, these are all privately added taxes, which are not very legal.

However, these days the lords rely on the mountains to eat the mountains and the water, and of course they have to charge some tolls if they rely on the rivers and bridges...

Besides, Qicha Fortress is a military fortress, there are no residents around, and even military supplies can only be supplied by Sarleon City. If there is no way to make some money, how will the soldiers live?
Therefore, a makeshift 'toll station' was built at the south end of the Qicha Fortress. Several rows of horses blocked the bridge, and a group of soldiers sat at the end of the bridge, yawning with their spears.

"Hey, captain! There seems to be a caravan over there? There are at least twenty or thirty people!"

A soldier looked east twice and became excited.

There are not many people passing by on the bridge recently, and it is not easy to meet a caravan of dozens of people—since tolls have been collected, there are not many people on this road...

Of course, not many people passing by is also good, at least it is good for defense, which is a good thing for a military center like Qicha Fortress.

But of course the soldiers at the toll booth at the bridge head hope to have a few more people. They are on duty in rotation, and the opportunity to guard the bridge head is a benefit that comes only once a month...

"But they don't necessarily know how to cross the bridge... Maybe they are going to Sarleon City..."

A halberd soldier known as the captain stood up with a long halberd and took a look, then suddenly became excited: "Hey! That seems to be a Singalian, ha, it seems that we have income!"

It was a Singalian horse team of more than 20 people, with a few covered carts. It looked like a Singalian trader—maybe a slave trader, because the riders seemed to be skilled warriors.

But no matter what business he is in, for the soldiers guarding the bridge, the most important thing is to collect tolls.

That team of Singhals is indeed coming here, and it looks like they are going to cross the bridge.

"stop!"

The halberd soldiers led the group of heavily armed infantry to stand behind the Juma at the bridge head.

"Ah... Brothers, you have worked hard, we are merchants from Singal..."

The leader of the Sinjars was a bearded warrior, and he was the only one riding a armored hunting horse, and the others were light riders.

"It doesn't matter who you are...tolls! Five dinars each!"

The halberd soldier began to speak loudly—there were too few people passing by today, so he temporarily raised the price, which was a little outrageous.

"what?!"

The bearded man had already started groping for the money bag to prepare for bribes, but when he heard the price, he was furious on the spot: "Why don't you go grab it!"

But just after he finished speaking, he changed his words again: "Damn it! You guys are robbing!"

"Oh! You wild donkey don't want to live anymore, do you? Just in time, the large army in our fortress hasn't come out to suppress bandits for a long time..."

The Halberd Soldier sneered, using the scornful name the Sarleonians used for the De'Shar.

The bridgehead is indeed quite close to the Qicha Fortress, only a few miles away, and the bastion of the Qicha Fortress can be seen with the naked eye from a distance.

"You guys, this is..."

The bearded man was very upset at first, but after looking back at Qicha Fortress, he held back his anger and began to search for the money bag.

But he didn't seem to have much cash in the bag. After opening the bag and taking a look, the bearded man gritted his teeth and threw the bag directly to the halberd soldier: "Take it all! Let's go there!"

The captain of the halberd soldiers squeezed the wallet slowly: "This is not enough... One, two, three... 24 of you, you get 120 dinars!"

It seems that this halberd soldier is not bad at mathematics, and he can probably be regarded as a cultural person in this day and age...

"Hey! Don't go too far! You can see that this is all the money I have on me!"

The bearded man had already suppressed his anger, but now his hair is blown up again...

"Don't you have more than 20 brothers? Ask them to make up, I don't believe that so many of you can't make up a mere 120 dinars..."

Judging from the meaning of this halberd soldier, it is obvious that he wants to squeeze all the oil and water out of this group of Singalians...

The bearded man pursed his lips and glanced left and right, then turned around and went back to his brothers.

"Captain, look at his back...is that the Noldo sword?"

The sharp-eyed armored infantryman had been staring at the weapon on the back of the beard, and suddenly asked softly.

"It seems to be really... This is very valuable..."

The halberd soldier threw the money bag to his subordinates, and took two steps forward with the halberd: "Hey! Stop! Put down your weapons! This is a military control area!"

To be honest, this is really a military-controlled area. If someone intends to enter the territory of the Sarleon Kingdom from here, it is a normal requirement not to bring weapons into the country.

But the problem is that they don't intend to enter the Lion Land, but simply cross the bridge - they brought it from the east side of the Sanwu area, and they are going to go back to the Dexia territory through this bridge...

Therefore, as soon as the halberd soldier said these words, blue veins popped out of his bearded forehead, and he turned around and directly drew out the Noldo Rune Sword behind him.

But after his face twitched a few times, he actually looked at the sword in his hand, then slowly put the sword on the ground, spread his hands and took a step back.

The halberd soldier smiled triumphantly, moved away from the rejecting horse in front of him, and stepped forward to pick up the sword.

"Can we go?"

The bearded man asked in front of him.

"Don't worry, what cargo are you transporting? Is it a slave?"

While leaning over to pick up the sword, the halberd soldier answered casually, apparently still thinking about how to squeeze out more oil and water.

"...Yes, slave."

While talking, the bearded man took a step forward.

"Boom!"

Just as the halberd soldier was squatting on the ground looking at the sword, the bearded man rushed forward with a lunge and slammed his knee hard.

This knee hit the halberd soldier's face, sending him flying two meters away.

Afterwards, he rolled over and picked up the sword on the ground, and chopped off the halberd soldier's shoulder armor, but the blade landed on the halberd soldier's neck accurately.

"Now you are my cargo too, slave!"

The bearded man spat to the side, and looked at the halberd soldier with a smirk.

"Tie him up!"

The bearded man kicked the halberd soldier whose face was covered in blood from being hit by his knee to his subordinates, and directly overturned the rejecting horse in front of him with his sword.

The bridge deck was blocked by several rows of refusal horses, which must be cleared first, otherwise the cars and horses would not be able to pass.

The more than 20 Singalians also all got off their horses, drew out their weapons and rushed up.

The halberd soldier's mouth had already been gagged, and his hands had been tied firmly behind him in a few seconds. The speed at which these Singalians tied people was extremely astonishing.

A dozen infantrymen looked at each other, a little at a loss.

"Are you going to war with the kingdom!"

An armored archer shouted loudly.

But the beard turned a deaf ear and was still cleaning up the rejection horse.

"Shoot arrows! Block the bridge deck and light the beacon fire!"

The archer gritted his teeth, and gave an order that was reasonable in the current situation but had serious consequences. It seemed that the armored archer was probably the vice-captain of the team.

Seven or eight Sarleon armored infantrymen blocked the bridge deck, and five or six archers also started shooting arrows. I won't be cowardly.

It's just that they really didn't expect that these Singals really dared to attack them!
After all, they are the regular army of the kingdom, and they are professional soldiers stationed in the border defense area of ​​Qicha Fortress. Attacking them is tantamount to declaring war on the Sarleon Kingdom!

The individual combat ability of the bearded men is obviously much stronger than these Sarleon soldiers. Those guys who appear to be Singalian riders on the surface will definitely not be inferior to those knights on this continent.

Moreover, all of these people use Noldor weapons!

Although the narrow place on the bridge obviously restricted the performance of these riders, after only a few minutes, the dozen or so infantry guarding the bridge fell to the bridge head, while none of the Singal riders died.

However, the beacon tower next to it has been burning very vigorously in the past few minutes, and the raging black smoke rises high in the sky, and the Qicha Fortress must have seen it!

"Get out!"

Seeing that there seemed to be smoke and dust rising in the direction of Qicha Fortress, Lu Hu and his men left quickly, not daring to waste any more time to deal with the corpses and beacon fire, and just took away the tied halberd soldier.

Those are his slaves, strong halberdiers are also very valuable in Singal!
……

Only 10 minutes later, Li Ang's cavalry arrived here.

The lord stepped forward to look at the corpses, then at the still burning beacon, and frowned.

"My lord...these are the wounds of the Noldor sword! These are the Singalians! The blood is still hot, and they are not far ahead!"

At this time, Wenda Dier was dressed as a female human explorer, with a helmet covering her long pointed ears.

She has studied sword skills for 300 years, and she is too familiar with the Noldo sword.

"Vendatir...I know this is the work of the Singal slave catchers...but this is the border between the Sarleon Kingdom and the Bacchus Empire! You probably don't understand what it means for these garrisons to be killed and the beacon to be lit... ..."

The lord sighed deeply: "They are declaring war on the Sarleon Kingdom! These Singals will cause chaos in the world!"

"My lord, there is no way, we still have to pursue immediately...but we can't go this way when we come back! Shall we put out the beacon fire?"

Lisa Dilan understands this situation better-soon there will be countless troops blocking this place, and it is likely to trigger a large-scale war!
"No, it will only be worse if it is wiped out! Never mind, let's catch up with those Singalians first!"

Li Ang knew that he couldn't inform Qicha Fortress that it was done by the Singals - otherwise the Sarleon Kingdom would have to declare war with the D'Shar Principality!

Facing the Bacchus Empire is already very troublesome, and then declaring war with Descia... Emperor Marius of the Bacchus Empire will definitely be very happy, and White Hart Castle will probably face another bloody battle!
He also can't extinguish the beacon fire or do other extra things, because the beacon fire Qicha Fortress here must have been seen a long time ago. If it is suddenly extinguished now, it will only lead to a greater misjudgment-do not occupy the bridge deck after killing people, Only when the beacon fire was extinguished, it looked more like a large-scale enemy army was setting up an ambush.

Moreover, it was also difficult for Li Ang to explain to the people of the Sarleion Kingdom why he chased those Singalians—he couldn't just say that he was trying to save the Noldo girls, right?Then Li Ang is not only treasonous, maybe he will be said to be a betrayal of mankind...

Simply ignore it!It is true that there is no time to waste now, Li Ang can only lead the troops to pursue as soon as possible.

Half an hour later, another team of people also came to the bridge.

This army is large in size and carries the red double lion flag.

It was the Knights of the Lion led by Lehman.

From seeing the beacon fire to completing the preparations for the whole army and rushing from the Qicha Fortress to the bridge a few miles away, Lehman's troops only took four to ten minutes-the efficiency of leading troops is quite high, and even wearing armor requires Ten or twenty minutes.

Moreover, he brought more than 500 people, one hundred lion knights and more than 400 lion retinues. These are all the members of the lion knights who stayed in Qicha Fortress.

"Master Lehman, there is indeed no corpse in the river..."

Several wet guys emerged from the gentle and clear Sava River: "My lord, with the weight of the equipment of a halberd soldier, if it falls into the river, it will definitely sink to the bottom, but there is nothing in the river."

"That is to say, the beacon fire was lit here more than half an hour ago, the team guarding the bridge was killed, and the leader of the halberd soldiers is still missing..."

Lehman looked at the corpse and muttered something, then stood up and sent an order: "Send someone to Sarleon City! An enemy army has invaded! And the enemy army has also captured a captain who knows the defense zone and password as the tongue of the guide. The situation is very serious!"

"My lord, do you think the Bacchus Empire did it?"

A lion knight next to him asked.

"The wounds on the corpse were all caused by very sharp swords. This really looks like the style of the Bacchus Empire..."

Lehman shook his head, got up and looked in the direction of the Bacchus Empire: "In any case, we can only stay here to see the situation. Send a messenger to make the surrounding towns take precautions and search for any traces of suspicious persons! If you wait until If we don’t find the enemy tomorrow, then we will cross the bridge and go to the Bacchus territory just like the enemy! If the enemy wants to fight, then we will fight!”

"Ha! Glory is my life!"

The lion knights under Lehman shouted in unison.

……

Near Turda Fortress, a group of men in black were silently marching northwestward, with a total of about 300 people.

'Good brother' Ramon is in the line.

His unit was nameless and unknown.

Because those who can see this army have basically been reincarnated.

Most of the current Singalians are Ramon's 'good brothers', and this force has not been mobilized in two or three years.

In fact, these men in black are not the army, they are working for Ramon, they are employees of his large entertainment city in Singal that integrates hotels, casinos, auction houses, taverns, brothels, etc.

Of course, the work content is not too fixed, sometimes you have to serve tea and water, sometimes you have to squeeze your shoulders and beat your back, sometimes you have to stab people with a knife, and sometimes you have to dig a hole to bury the body.

Before working for Ramon, these people had another identity—they were all slaves at the bottom.

The kind that are bought and sold like cattle in the Singalian markets.

Either sinners who have lost their civil rights, or prisoners of war who have not been redeemed, anyway, they are the kind of animals that have completely lost their future, that is, the 'untouchables' whose children and grandchildren can only be slaves.

However, when they were bought by Ramon and became Ramon's 'good brothers', no one would treat them as slaves anymore.

Ramon gave them a new job and life, and allowed them to marry and have children, and even let their children receive education-even the dead brothers, wives and children will also receive such care.

— This alone is enough to make them die for Ramon!

As long as Ramon is alive, their wives and children will still be treated as normal civilians. The wives will not be reduced to selling their bodies in the alleys of Singal, and the children will not be able to compete with wild dogs for food.

Probably this is the real brotherhood. Although Ramon is not a good person, he is at least a good boss.

"Lord Ramon, Feruz's convoy is in the valley ahead."

A black cavalry reported to Ramon.

"Very good...go tell him, I'm here to pick him up..."

Ramon waved his hand, and followed the cavalry into the valley by himself.

And the men in black behind him consciously spread out and surrounded him in a circular arc.

Not long after, Feruz—the bearded man from before—saw Ramon.

"Your Excellency Ramon! Why are you here? Could it be that you came to welcome me? Ahaha... That's really an honor!"

Feruz looked surprised.

"Ha, brazen fellow, have you got what I need?"

Ramon smiled and rode to Fruze.

"Of course, I, Fruz, have ever let anyone down? I can catch any slave!"

Perhaps thinking that meeting Ramon meant he was safe, Feruz looked rather smug.

"Let me see...you didn't waste these precious goods, did you?"

Ramon rode straight to the side of the carriages, drew a sword from the waist of one of Fruz's riders, and broke the rope that tied the tarpaulin.

Of course, the riders under Fruz recognized Ramon, and pulled back the tarpaulin cooperatively.

Several carriages in the front and back carried a lot of Noldor equipment, and there was also a bloody Sarleon halberd soldier.

And in the carriage in the middle, there were three Noldo girl rangers who were gagged and tied into zongzi, and one of them was wearing an exquisite headband and purple eyes.

"We won't make things difficult for dinars...Your Excellency Ramon, everyone knows that the price difference between girls and women is at least ten times!"

Fruz smiled even more proudly: "This time is a big harvest, I can probably retire and enjoy the blessings! That is a real Noldor noble girl! She probably has a blood relationship with an elf king!"

(End of this chapter)