"So, my lord, King Ulric asked you for the hundred thousand dinars just to hire an army for this kind of thing?"
Anson frowned tightly, and it seemed that he had a new understanding of the king and the nobles.
"He probably thought that the blood of the Noldor could cure his disease, or he wanted his offspring to have the blood of the Noldor... Who knows? Anyway, a king who knows that he has a terminal illness is likely to do anything crazy..."
The lord did not hide these things from his own people, and he now also felt that this matter was difficult to handle.
"Unless we can convince the Noldor that the White Hart Keep will not be involved in such a thing, I am afraid that this disaster cannot be avoided..."
Amy also became worried after learning about the situation.
"Lisadiran, if you want to help your people, I can let you leave temporarily. This may be a good opportunity for you to return to your people. I have not forgotten my promise. But I also have a request. You'd better let your people know that these mercenaries have nothing to do with White Hart Castle, and White Hart Castle is willing to support the Noldor to fight back against the enemy... In fact, I am willing to form an alliance with your people. Only by coexisting peacefully can we develop together. You know, I have no prejudice against the Noldor."
The lord first expressed his attitude to the Noldor elves.
Lisadiran nodded and said, "Thank you, my lord. I can try to contact my people... but I am a criminal of my family, and it is too difficult to make any Noldor trust humans in this situation..."
Lisadiran naturally understood that the Lord had no hostility towards the Noldor, but he didn't know how to deal with it.
"I can give you something that may interest your family... I have one eighth of the Noldor bloodline, that's true. You can try to see if this news can interest the people in your family..."
The lord finally mentioned this relatively secret matter.
He also used this method to tell others that he really wanted to live in peace with the Noldor.
"I will do my best, my Lord..."
Lisadilan stared at the lord for several seconds, then bowed deeply and left.
He was not used to having meetings with so many people.
The other people at the round table were of course also surprised by the news, but this kind of thing was easy to accept, and everyone's current focus was not on the marriage of the lord's ancestors, but on the current crisis.
And everyone knows that Risadilan was exiled, so it is hard to say whether he can get in touch with his tribesmen. We can only give it a try.
The discussion continues.
"I think since we want to make our stance clear, it would be best not to allow any mercenaries to enter White Hart Castle, or even provide them with supplies."
Sarah shook her head. "But if that happens, we will have to make it clear that the Ebony Gauntlet Knights are also excluded. This may lead to disputes... After all, the Ebony Gauntlet Knights are a formal knight order."
"That doesn't matter. No matter what knight order it is, they have no right to enter the nobles' territory without permission. Roland, let's do this for now. Guard the city gates and don't let anyone enter the city with weapons."
The lord doesn't care whether he will offend anyone or not. He has enough enemies anyway, so he doesn't care if he has one more.
"But we can't keep White Hart Castle closed forever, and it's actually more dangerous to let them mess around outside the city... There are all kinds of people in those mercenaries . If we don't let them enter the city, they will go to various villages. Who knows if they will bring any harm. Unless we can find a suitable reason to completely expel them from the territory openly and honestly, and even the Noldor will know about it..."
Amy lowered her head and rubbed her hair anxiously, ruffling her neatly tied long hair into a mess.
"Find a suitable reason to expel them... Yes! Amy, you are really smart. I think I have a solution... The way to solve a problem is to create a problem..."
The lord thought about it and seemed to have an idea.
"Anson, hurry back to McShane Territory and announce the ban. Tell them that a large number of prisoners of war will be sent to McShane Territory for forced labor. Military control will be temporarily implemented in Ayrshire. Except for the market in McShane Territory, no other places will receive outsiders."
"Sarah, go to Changhe Town to get some information and see if there are any other knights coming here. By the way, check the whereabouts of Lord Godric. We haven't heard from him for a long time, which is quite abnormal..."
"Amy, wait for my news at White Deer Castle. If there are mercenaries coming from Maixiangling, have them go south to the camp built by the 'Second Legion of the Bacchus Empire'."
The lord assigned tasks to each of them and adjourned the meeting, then took his troops back to Maixiang Territory.
…
That evening, not long after the lord returned to Maixiang Territory, John came to complain.
John is the mercenary who was also good at swimming and once shared the spoils with Eric. He is now the leader of the bus fleet.
"My lord, the Ebony Gauntlet Knights wanted to requisition our convoy, but I refused. This seemed to have angered them, and they even resorted to violence... Now they are causing trouble in Maixiang Territory..."
John's face was swollen and his head was covered with bruises. It was obvious that he had been beaten.
But the fact that he came to complain after getting beaten up clearly showed that this guy's ability to handle affairs was really not that good...
With the same background and the same opportunities, Eric became an official knight and was able to take charge of complex affairs independently.
But John could only be a team leader, simply because he was loyal enough and worked hard.
But this conflict was actually expected by the lord - he sent Anson back to MacHermitage urgently to issue a military control order in order to create a conflict.
Maixiang Territory suddenly announced martial law in the afternoon, and the Ebony Gauntlet Knights were probably caught off guard. No matter what this knightly order would do, it was normal to have some minor disputes in Maixiang Territory.
Because the scope of regulation is "places outside the market" - no matter what era, as long as a restrictive decree is not applied equally but proposes a separate area, disputes are bound to arise in this area.
There is actually reason to expel the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet now, and no one can blame them, but if we want the Noldor to understand Ayrshire's attitude, expulsion alone is not enough.
The Lord thought for a moment and looked at John: "Did they hit you? Did you fight back?"
"No, sir. There are many of them, and they are knights after all... I am worried that they will harm civilians..."
Leon sighed as he looked at John's timid appearance. It seemed that this guy would achieve limited success in his life.
Although Leon knew that John was a kind person, kind people need to have flexible minds, otherwise it is usually difficult for them to serve as mid-level managers or above.
Even though commoners these days probably have to swallow their anger when facing knights, to Leon, the Ebony Gauntlet Knights are nothing but knights...
The history of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights is indeed very long and they are very well-known. They were originally a knight order of the ancient Pendor Kingdom.
Ever since the outbreak of the Red Death plunged the continent of Pendor into chaos, unlike most knightly orders, the Ebony Gauntlet Knights insisted that the plague was caused by long-eared elves, and they wanted revenge on these "enemies of mankind."
So they no longer just recruited nobles, but anyone who was willing to "suppress the Noldor" - you can imagine how complex the composition of this knightly order is.
Later, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet even abandoned horses, a companion that was of great significance to traditional knights. Now both their knights and their squires were all heavy infantry crossbowmen - these guys who had been fighting against the Noldor in the forest for a long time did not need horses, after all, it was impossible to ride horses in the primeval forest.
For more than one hundred and fifty years, these Ebony Gauntlet Knights traveled in groups between the Noldor Forest and the Rocky Bay, often ambushing lone elves and small elven patrols on the outskirts of the forest.
The equipment of the Noldor is all rare and high-priced commodities on the black market, and the beautiful Noldor girls are in short supply among the nobles - the same is true for boys.
Thus, this order of knights seized a great deal of wealth by their unique way of "fighting for humanity".
But at the same time, this also made this knight order very unpopular...
Although most of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet live in the Rocky Bay of Sarleon, all their energy is spent on launching the "Eastern Crusade" against the elves, and they have hardly made any contribution to the Kingdom of Sarleon.
Many nobles believed that the Ebony Gauntlet Knights neither pledged allegiance to anyone nor performed the duties of a knight, had no faith other than dinar, and were all heavy-armored crossbowmen fighting on foot - they were not worthy of being called knights at all.
Most of the other knightly orders also publicly accused the Ebony Gauntlet Knights - they used crossbows to fight, which was not in line with the spirit of chivalry; and their behavior of trafficking in human beings was the same as those of the criminals of the Red Brotherhood. Even those illegal knightly orders would not fall to such a level.
As for the civilians, they don't have a good impression of them either - the Ebony Gauntlet Knights neither help civilians, nor protect merchants and travelers, let alone defend their country.
Although they would not rob civilians like bandits, if your home was being invaded by foreign enemies and you found that this group of knights was still only thinking about hunting the Noldor, and watching the enemy kill the villagers without doing anything - then no civilian would have a good impression of them.
But this world is sometimes very absurd. Even though most people don't like the Ebony Gauntlet Knights, they can still live a good life, much better than the average knight order...
Because the great nobles of Cliff Rock Bay and the Fierce Lion King all need their presence.
However, Mai Xiangling is not Qiaoyan Bay, and Li Ang is not the Fierce Lion King.
For the lord, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet are essentially a group of mercenaries recognized by the Valides Charter, and most of those so-called knights are not nobles.
Faced with such a knighthood, John, as an official of the Lord of MacArthur, could have fought back, and he would have been right.
So what if there are a lot of people?
Do the Ebony Gauntlet Knights dare to engage in direct battle with the kingdom's barons?
John is indeed too honest, as he can't even use the tiger's skin to make a big banner.
"Come on, take me there. Anson, call all the troops!"
…
In the square of Maixiangling, a crowd of people were watching a riot.
The road from Maixiangling to White Deer Castle was blocked by civilians and merchants. A group of people from the Ebony Gauntlet Knights were surrounded in the square, constantly greeting the coachmen and the female relatives of the merchants.
The war of words between the two sides has been going on for a long time and has now entered the stage of slight physical contact.
Fortunately, both sides were relatively restrained and no excessive violent conflicts occurred.
What happened was originally a trivial matter.
This afternoon, Maixiangling suddenly issued a military control order, requiring all outsiders to leave Maixiangling, and only people were allowed to move around in the market.
It is true that a war had just broken out in Bailubao, so it was normal that many prisoners of war would be sent to Maixiangling, and the transportation of prisoners of war would indeed be strictly controlled to avoid any unexpected situations.
——If this kind of military control order is not obeyed, the county lord has the right to chop people off on the spot.
But the market is definitely not very convenient, so the Ebony Gauntlet Knights originally planned to leave Maixiangling and go directly to White Deer Castle.
The territory of Bailu Fort is large, and there are many villages around it. Even if the city is also under control, at least there are villages nearby where people can stay temporarily, without having to camp in the wild.
Then they spotted the bus - since it was already afternoon, dozens of leading knights from the Ebony Gauntlet Knights wanted to reach White Hart Castle before nightfall, so that they could also make some stationing arrangements for other mercenary groups.
The king entrusted the hired mercenary groups to them, of course because the Ebony Gauntlet Knights had the most experience in dealing with the Noldor elves.
For the Ebony Gauntlet Knights, this was also a good opportunity to increase their influence, so they helped coordinate mercenary groups from other countries along the way.
Out of anxiety and a bit of curiosity, they set their sights on the buses parked at Maixiangling Square waiting to depart.
But their behavior was a bit rude. They drove all the civilians who had already boarded the bus off the bus - this kind of behavior is very common in other places, as civilians have no status to begin with.
But this is Mai Xiangling.
So John came forward and directly refused them from boarding the bus, saying that everyone should follow the rules of Mai Xiangling and queue up to get on the bus.
This was originally a reasonable request, but John was a commoner...
In addition, after the military control order was issued, the number of people queuing in the square waiting for the bus to depart increased. Wouldn't it take until midnight to queue up to get on the bus?
As a result, a quarrel broke out.
After a few words, the members of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights relied on their status as knights and threatened to "requisition" these carriages.
Of course, this couldn't happen. In fact, the Ebony Gauntlet Knights were probably just saying a few angry words.
So John refused sternly and planned to drive the civilians who had just been kicked off the car to White Hart Castle himself.
As a result, John was beaten for being "disrespectful to the knights".
Subsequently, this incident angered the merchants in Maixiangling Comprehensive Market.
Although John is neither smart nor flexible, he is a good person with a good reputation in Maixiangling.
From diligently repairing roads in the beginning to conscientiously managing the fleet later, he was always eager to help others when they encountered troubles.
Many businessmen have received his help in transporting goods.
Naturally, the businessmen were upset to see such a good man being beaten.
So the merchants surrounded the Ebony Knights, protected John and went to complain to the lord, and then began to denounce the barbaric style of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights.
The Ebony Knights probably didn't expect that beating a civilian official in Maixiang Territory would arouse public anger, and they didn't want to offend the merchants.
These are merchants who do wholesale business of various supplies, including some processed food and daily necessities, many of which are necessary supplies for entering the forest to fight.
They have come from afar to fight, and if the merchants stop selling their goods, it will be difficult for them to get supplies.
Besides, Maixiangling is the territory of Baron Leon and is currently under martial law. It is said that this baron has a big business and once defeated the Three Prophets, so they certainly won't make a big deal out of it.
Of course, the merchants could not fight against the fully armed knights, so both sides started to gather and quarrel.
After the quarrel lasted for half an hour, in order to prevent the matter from getting out of hand, several knights led by the Ebony Gauntlet Knights began to smooth things over, and the matter would have been over soon.
However, the merchants refused to do any business with the Ebony Gauntlet Knights at this time, and all truck and bus drivers also said that they would not transport anything today and everyone would take a day off.
He also cursed all the Ebony Gauntlet Knights to die in the forest.
On the one hand, the quarrel just now really made people angry;
On the other hand... the Lord secretly sent a few soldiers to stir up trouble...
In addition, as more and more mercenaries gathered around, the people of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights might have felt embarrassed and found it difficult to control their emotions, so both sides began to push and shove each other.
A few knights with hot tempers from the Ebony Gauntlet actually started to rob the carriage.
The consequence of the robbery was that the people of Maixiang Territory and the merchants joined hands to block the road with horse-drawn carriages, and began to surround the Ebony Gauntlet Knights under the leadership of the security patrol.
For the next hour, the people of Maixiangling were in a standoff with the Ebony Gauntlet Knights, and both sides were sending people...
The Ebony Gauntlet Knights have gathered more than three hundred people, including fifty or sixty knights and about three hundred sergeants. These are probably all the people they have sent here.
On the other hand, the civilians and merchants in Maixiangling gathered together, gathering nearly a thousand people to surround them.
The other mercenary groups were all watching the fun...
It was already evening when the lord and his cavalry "arrived" - in order to wait for the small dispute to escalate into a "big commotion", Li Ang took more than an hour to arrive at the scene.
In fact, the distance from his station in Maixiangling to the wholesale market was only a few hundred meters...
"Lord Leon is here!"
"Let's all give way... Let Lord Leon teach these bastards a lesson..."
Seeing Leon coming with his men, the merchants who were blocking the intersection made way and let the lord into the square.
"What's going on? Are you, the Knights, planning to declare war on me? I don't think I allowed you to carry weapons into my territory!"
Leon stared at the leading Ebony Gauntlet Knight with a bad look, and started to tip his hat as soon as he came.