After Ms. Philina left, Grand Secretary Igor came again and threatened her with words.
But after knowing the reason, Li Ang no longer intended to pay attention to him.
Ulric just wanted to get enough funds to capture the Noldor noble girl, not to kill himself, and Igor was just bluffing.
The news brought by Philina reminded Leon of Alaric of the Drunkard Gang. After taking the elixir of immortality, Alaric the Noisy gained powerful strength, but he would go crazy and lose control, suffer from unbearable headaches, and find it difficult to stay sober. Only by getting drunk could he be free from pain.
The potion that Ulric took would make him lose his strength and become weak, but it would relieve his mania and pain...
This magic potion seems to be the exact opposite of the elixir of immortality...
Is this really made with the blood of the Noldor?
Is it Ulrich who is lying, or is it the three prophets who are lying?
Or are they all lying?
In addition, Alaric the Noisy (Note 1) and the king's son Alanric (Note 2), these two names always seem to have some connection...
Leon didn't know what was going on, but he knew that Ulrich would let him go soon.
As long as the king has not become demented, he will.
All he had to do was wait—wait for White Hart Castle to light the beacon.
…
In fact, on the same day that Li Ang was imprisoned in the secret room of the palace, the beacon fire of Bailu Fort had already been lit.
Because, not long after Leon was taken away by the Lion Knight, news that Leon had committed treason began to spread in White Deer Castle and Maixiangling.
This must be a rumor spread by the Bacchus Empire, because if no one deliberately spread the rumor, it would not be possible for it to spread so quickly. Even in Sarleon City, there was no such rumor - Leon had not been escorted to Sarleon City at that time.
However, this rumor did not have much actual impact on the area around Bailubao...
For the people of Maixiang Territory, it doesn't matter whether the lord is rebellious or not. Even if he is, they will follow Li Ang - most of the residents of Maixiang Territory were originally helpless and could not survive. The lord gave them a way to survive, and they can live better than ordinary people.
The troops under Mai Xiangling have gained many benefits from following the lord, and their loyalty is even higher. Not to mention treason, they might even dare to go against the gods.
The people in Bailubao also did not believe that Leon would commit treason. You know, Leon had kidnapped two imperial governors in Bailubao half a year ago.
People from other places may not feel anything about this, but the people of Bailubao know very well that without Leon's rescue, Bailubao would now be part of the empire's territory - does it matter whether it is treason or not?
This rumor of treason was naturally spread by spies from the Bacchus Empire specifically to cause trouble for Leon.
This was guaranteed to create a rift between King Ulric and Leon, and also to make the other nobles of Sarleon suspicious - whether they suspected the king or Leon.
Because no matter whether it is true or false, any king will be very concerned about the rumors of treason, and in this case, Leon will definitely be detained.
The nobles who supported Li Ang would certainly not believe the rumors, but such rumors would make them think that the king had treated Li Ang unfairly.
Nobles who believed the rumors or suspected Leon might think that Godric and the others were also accomplices...
——This simple rumor would create a confrontation. As long as one of the king or Leon loses his patience, the spies of the Bacchus Empire could instigate a civil war.
Emperor Marius probably not only wanted to force Leon to rebel, but also wanted to cause internal strife in the Kingdom of Sarleon.
But Amy faithfully carried out the lord's orders. After hearing the news of Leon's "treason", Amy immediately lit the beacon fire and sent messengers for help to Changhe Town and Lieshi City, claiming that "the Bacchus Empire attacked again."
Of course, the Bacchus Empire did not attack. Leon asked Amy to do this in order to use the rumors about the Bacchus Empire to prove his innocence.
Everyone knows that if White Deer Castle and Maixiangling are occupied by the Bacchus Empire, the consequences will be disastrous.
Leon is the Lord of Ayrshire and the actual manager of White Hart Castle and McShane County.
If they had heard the news of "Baccus Empire attacking White Deer Castle" right after hearing the rumor of Leon's treason, all the lords and even the common people would have realized that Leon's treason must have been caused by the Baccus Empire.
This is also to force King Ulrik to release the people.
In the face of enemy forces on the eastern border, if the king allowed border county lords like Li Ang to receive any unfair treatment, he would probably lose both territory and the hearts of the people.
That was why the lord was so confident and bold to be taken away by Malbert and locked in a secret room without any intention of escaping.
In fact, Amy did something extra.
While asking Leslie and Eric to dispatch personnel to Sarleon City in Changhe Town, Amy asked the Changhe Express personnel to send a message to her mother Philina as quickly as possible, asking Ms. Philina to find a way to meet with Leon to prevent Leon from suffering any loss.
After learning about the situation, Leslie gave the snake heart stone that Leon had kept sealed in her hands to the messenger to take with him - Leslie and Eric both knew how Risa Dilan escaped.
After returning to McShane Territory, Amy, together with Sir Roland and Anson, transferred all the supplies of McShane Territory to White Hart Castle as quickly as possible.
Li Ang's orders were carried out efficiently without any compromise.
But what no one expected was that before the cavalry sent by Amy for help could reach Sarleon City, the situation in the eastern region suddenly changed.
Logically speaking, when Bailu Fort was invaded by the Empire, Amy's beacon fire for help should have received a comprehensive response from the eastern region. As long as the beacon fire was lit, Changhe Town and Yongdun Fort should have sent people to support.
But in fact, it doesn’t…
Lord Malbert was only in charge of government affairs and had few troops under his command, so he could not send anyone.
Unexpectedly, the members of the Horn Summoning Rangers were not in Changhe Town, and no one knew where they had gone.
Godric is not in Changhe Town for the time being, and the garrison in Changhe Town cannot leave their posts without receiving orders.
Leofric of BraveShield, Charles of Fletcher, and Ralph of River Camp were all missing.
No reinforcements were sent from the entire eastern region to rescue Bailu Fort.
Fortunately, the beacon fire and enemy attack were fake. If the Bacchus Empire really attacked, it would be really dangerous...
…
Godric, Leofric, and Charles were actually all together now.
They were blocked by an army of thousands of people more than a hundred miles northwest of Fletcher Village.
This is a desolate hillside on the edge of the Jatu grassland.
Godric and Charles were originally going there for actual combat training. A few days ago, they took the Red Arrow Longbowmen to look for traces of bandits in this area.
Ralph's son Raphael brought twenty rangers to help them act as scouts. Raphael discovered many bandits in the area.
But what they didn't expect was that the bandits did find it, but they found too many...
In a valley, they ran into an army of bandits led by hundreds of rogue knights.
These are certainly not some wild bandits... They are members of the Red Brotherhood that the Duke of Alma has spent a huge amount of money to gather from all over the place.
When he discovered this large army, Godric immediately led his archers up the hillside and occupied the commanding heights.
This is the right choice. Facing an enemy that is ten times larger than yourself, finding a favorable terrain for defense is the key.
Raphael reacted quickly and immediately planned to run away with the rangers, preparing to go back and call the Horn Summoning Rangers to suppress the bandits.
But young Raphael managed to escape as expected...
The Red Brotherhood's large force was dispersing and encircling the enemy from west to east, so Raphael could only run east.
But he didn't expect that as soon as he reached the ridge, he ran into nearly two hundred cavalrymen coming towards him.
Alma herself is among them, and so is Baron Kedren!
The overwhelming Red Brotherhood army was actually just a cover, and the real ambush was on the other side of the ridge...
Alma took advantage of the geographical location of the hillside and hid Kedren's troops on the other side of the gentle slope of the ridge.
This was the same method that Leon had used when he asked Leiman to lead the Lion Knight to block the enemy scouts on the gentle slope near White Deer Castle.
Raphael couldn't see the situation on the other side until he stepped onto the ridge from the valley. When he reached the ridge, the cavalry on the other side rushed over to block him, and Raphael couldn't escape no matter how hard he tried.
All twenty rangers were killed and Raphael was captured.
Afterwards, the Red Brotherhood army, consisting of about a hundred rogue knights and a thousand gangsters, besieged Godric on the top of the hill.
After capturing Raphael, Alma immediately rushed to Ralph's camp.
All the men around Godric were archers, and they were defending from a high position, so they could barely hold out for a while, but they certainly couldn't break out, and they couldn't hold out for long - they had no supplies, and they only brought a bag of arrows when they set out.
Charles and Godric were trapped at the top of the mountain.
Fortunately, Charles is lucky because he has a sister who is hidden in the dark and unknown to the public.
Riva has been secretly protecting him for the past few months and is now watching from the outside.
But Riva, who only had dozens of bandits under her command, was unable to break through the encirclement and rescue people.
But fortunately, the bandits under her looked not much different from the robbers at the bottom of the Red Brotherhood, so neither side noticed her presence.
So, the female bandit thought of an unconventional way to ask for help - she took her men and rushed to Brave Shield Castle, using this group of real bandits to lure Baron Leofric over.
After all, Riva was a bandit. No one except Leon knew that she was Oden's daughter, and Leofric didn't know her either. She could only use this method to lead Leofric to where Charles was trapped...
However, this method of asking for help by using real bandits to attract Brave Shield Castle to pursue him resulted in Leofric not bringing too many troops with him - he was facing only dozens of bandits, so he only brought a cavalry unit of more than one hundred people.
Of course, it is good to have this cavalry as reinforcement, after all, Baron Leofric's men are regular troops on the border.
In Riva's opinion, if Leofric's cavalry could be brought to the foot of the hill, it would definitely be possible to divert some of the enemies or create a gap in the encirclement.
Given a little chance, she could use her familiarity with the surrounding terrain to rescue Charles.
After all, the enemies who carried out the siege were only members of the Red Brotherhood. The battlefield discipline of those gangsters was not as good as that of the bandits under Riva. With more than a thousand people, they could only trap the infantry archers led by Godric and Charles who were unfamiliar with the environment in the wilderness.
Riva's plan was indeed successful. She successfully brought Leofric's troops to the vicinity of the hillside and allowed Leofric to see the two flags on the top of the mountain.
And the Red Brotherhood did indeed begin to pursue Leofric's cavalry as she had expected.
This time, without Alma's ambush, the Red Brotherhood's gangsters really couldn't surround Leofric, so they had to send more people to chase and intercept him, and the encirclement around the hill became much weaker.
Baron Godric also seized the opportunity. Seeing that the enemy at the foot of the mountain had made unusual movements and a cavalry team had attracted the enemy's attention, he immediately led his men to break out.
The Red Arrow Longbowmen's archery skills may not be very good, but they are not pure archers. Godric equipped them with studded armor and swords and shields - these archers can be used as infantry when breaking through.
In order to boost morale, Godric and Charles led the charge, waving their swords and rushing towards the enemy's weakest east side.
This was also the direction in which Leofric's cavalry was headed.
Godric's martial arts skills are beyond doubt. He used to be the captain of the royal guard, so you can imagine how skilled he is.
Even though he is now over fifty years old, he is still the ceiling of combat power on this battlefield. He took the lead in the charge and killed more than a dozen people in succession. The enemies in front of him retreated one after another and dared not stand in front of him. He quickly led the team to the foot of the mountain.
But just as they were about to break out of the encirclement, Charles couldn't hold on any longer...
Charles's fighting ability was far inferior to Godric's. When he broke through, he was besieged by several rogue knights and was slightly injured.
It was common to get injured on the battlefield, and Charles' injuries were not too serious, but the enemies they faced were all from the Red Brotherhood.
When these gangsters saw that Charles was injured, they abandoned the powerful Godric and no longer cared about the encirclement. They all turned around and rushed to deal with the injured little lord.
A large number of rogue knights and hooligans all flocked to Charles.
This kind of gangster mentality of bullying the weak and fearing the strong caught Godric and Charles off guard.
Godric was indeed a veteran of many battles and had great martial arts skills, but he was alone with only one sword, and he had already led the charge into the enemy group outside, making it impossible to rescue them in time.
Although he kept hacking and killing many enemies, he couldn't turn back to help in this situation.
"Ah! Get the hell out of here!!"
At the critical moment, Liva, who had been watching the battle from the side, shouted loudly and rushed into the chaotic battlefield with dozens of bandits regardless of anything...
She was still holding an iron rod more than one meter long in her hand and still wearing the old leather armor.
Behind him, there were still dozens of bandits with incomplete equipment and tattered clothes.
But her violent roar echoed throughout the wilderness, even drowning out all the shouts and screams nearby.
The people who were fighting on the several sides were all stunned. No one expected that a woman could make such a roar.
The momentum of her charge also amazed everyone.
"Get out of here!"
Riva rushed into the crowd, roaring like a wild beast and waving the iron rod in her hand wildly.
A rogue knight slashed her shoulder with his sword, but was immediately stabbed in the eye socket by her iron spike through the gap in her helmet.
Then he kicked away the body of the rogue knight, pulled out the iron rod and continued running forward.
This woman seemed to have burst out with infinite power at this moment, and completely ignored the swords swung at her. No matter who attacked her, she did not dodge, but stabbed back directly with the iron rod.
She soon had many wounds on her body, but at least seven or eight enemies were stabbed to death by her with the iron rod.
And she didn't stop for a single step.
This crazy fighting style caused her to suffer several injuries within tens of seconds, but for a while no one could stop this desperate crazy woman.
She blazed a trail in her own way.
That was the path she had paved for Charles.
This kind of fearlessness of life and death is exactly what the members of the Red Brotherhood fear the most, and it is also the reason why Riva can become the leader of bandits as a woman.
Her martial arts skills were far inferior to Charles', but her reckless performance at this moment scared the thugs of the Red Brotherhood.
A fearless leader is terrifying, even if it's a woman.
Because this will let her men know that on the battlefield, if you are not afraid of death, you often won't die!
The bandits under Riva's command also roared like her and rushed towards the enemy who outnumbered them several times.
The pressure around Charles suddenly eased, and many enemies turned around to face Riva.
Some enemies also avoided her in fear...
Charles saw Riva rushing towards him.
Under Leon's arrangement, he had cooperated with Riva to deal with Eldred. Of course, he recognized Riva and knew that she was one of his own, but he didn't know that she was his sister.
But perhaps because of the blood connection, when he saw Riva's fearless charge, he threw down the shield in his hand and gave up defense.
Then, Charles, like Riva, turned around and charged towards Riva, roaring.
He used the fighting method that he had used to kill his enemies, the fighting method that Le Ang taught him of exchanging injuries for lives, and the same way of charging as Riva was now, and went towards Riva.
After paying the price of being covered in bruises, Riva finally succeeded in standing by Charles' side with a dozen of her men.
The brother and sister stood back to back, covered in blood and staggering.
"Come on! Come and kill me!"
Charles roared like a villain and moved out step by step with Riva.
But no enemy dared to approach them again.
At this time, Godric finally led the archers to kill the enemies outside and rushed over to rescue.
The enemies were hiding away, and the people of the Red Brotherhood were already a little scared.
But just as Charles turned around and was about to break out of the encirclement with Godric, the woman he was leaning on fell down.
Riva's leather armor couldn't provide her with much protection, and she suffered too many injuries.
After the long journey, she didn't have time to rest for a moment and burst out with all her strength to charge.
She had exhausted all her energy in saving Charles.
In other words, redeeming herself.
"Riva! What's wrong... Don't sleep! Don't sleep!"
Charles picked up Riva in panic, but Riva had lost all her strength and the bloody iron rod fell to the ground.
"Charles...go away..."
Riva said only one sentence and closed her eyes. This was the first sentence she said to Charles.
"Go, don't just stand there!"
Godric supported Charles and asked several bandits to lift the unconscious Riva and quickly left the battlefield.
…
Note 1: Alaric the Noisy, Alaric, is of Germanic origin and means noble ruler.
Note 2: Prince Alanric, Alanric, means a fair ruler.
Ric or Rick, Rick means power or ruler. There are many lords with Ric in their names in Sarleon.
For example, Ulric (referring to an uncompromising and powerful ruler), Goldric (gold used in the name means a pure heart), Leofric (Leofric, referring to a generous lord), and Eric (Eric, this is a very common name, referring to a leader or a positive person).