Chapter 184 A Series of Changes
Milgan is probably lucky, but also unlucky.
Because Granlon and the Lion Lake City Flag Guard unexpectedly turned the mission of chasing Mirgan into a surprise attack on the city, Mirgan fled to the vicinity of Yaragal, which is a village west of Qicha Fortress.
Then, he met Rayman who was looking around for 'enemies'.
Both Rayman and Milgan were well-known, and they knew each other and had some friendship - they were both frequent visitors to the Sarleon City Arena.
After all, both of them are knights with great martial arts skills, and they still have some appreciation for each other.
"Milgan? You look really miserable... Where's your mercenary group?"
"Sir Lehman, Lion Lake City...Fothert has rebelled!"
Milgan didn't know that Granlong had already gone to Changhe Town. In order to use Leiman to help him escape from the pursuers, he lied to Leiman and the first sentence he said was the breaking news.
Leiman was shocked: "What happened? Wasn't he exiled?"
"He killed his father, the Duke of Alma! He also killed all of the Duke's descendants with his own hands! Now he is the only one in the Horton family who can inherit the estate, and he has indeed regained control of Lion Lake City... My newlywed wife, Nelda, also died in his hands!"
Milgan became angrier as he spoke. He was indeed angry when he lost his power.
Leiman was indeed shocked. The fight between father and son might not be a new thing, but it was rare for a son to kill his own father...
Moreover, he killed all his brothers and sisters with his own hands - the last person to do such a thing was Alma himself!
Lehman even wondered if the Holden family had this kin-killing gene in their blood...
So, Lehman believed it because Milgan made the whole story sound believable and most of it was true.
Mirgan told Lehman that he had previously accepted the task of escorting Nelda, and thus developed feelings for Nelda, and was also favored by the Duke of Alma.
It just so happened that Nelda's relationship with Granlong, the flag-bearer of the Lion Lake City Flag Guard, had broken down, and Granlong had been unfaithful to the Duke of Alma - when Alma and his son were fighting for power, Granlong defected to Fothert, so Nelda wanted to divorce Granlong.
Milgan claimed that Duke Alma also agreed with this, so Alma originally planned to let him marry Nelda and take over the Lion Lake City Flag Guard, and even planned to establish his "Griffin Sword" mercenary group as a knightly order.
So he dueled with Granlong, forcing Granlong to agree to divorce and marry Nelda, and then was appointed as the military officer of Lion Lake City.
And Granlong was deprived of his military power. As a result, Granlong held a grudge and led the Lion Lake City Flag Guard to rebel. He also brought back the exiled Fother and directly rebelled...
The final result was that his newlywed wife Nelda was killed, his mercenary group was killed and dispersed in the riot, and he himself was blamed by Fotherg, "unjustly suffered" and had to flee.
—It sounds true because it seems to be true...
Milgan was able to deceive so many girls, so of course he must be very good at weaving lies, and he could tell nine truths and one lie very smoothly.
He even found a motive for each person's behavior...
Granlon lost the duel and was divorced, and he was unwilling to be deprived of his military power, so he would turn to the exiled Fotherg and help Fotherg to regain power. This is reasonable for everyone.
And Fothert had been exiled by Alma. Before being exiled, he was tortured by Alma himself with whips and salt water until he was unrecognizable. Many people have heard about this. In order to regain the power that should have belonged to him, it is very likely that he would commit patricide - after all, Alma himself had done so before, and the father's kindness and the son's filial piety are passed down from generation to generation...
Mirgan did not portray himself as an innocent victim. He admitted that he had been in a relationship with Nelda before her divorce, and admitted that he insulted Granlon during the duel in order to anger him.
This advanced method of weaving lies, which puts the big blame on others and keeps small mistakes on oneself, is actually very easy to convince others.
In addition to Leiman's understanding of Alma's family, Leiman completely believed Milgan's words.
Moreover, Lehman felt that the reason his bridge guards were killed was very likely because of this incident. If Fothert murdered Alma, he would definitely be suppressed by the king. Whether it was killing the Duke or patriarchy, such a criminal would inevitably be punished.
In order to avoid being suppressed before he can gain a firm foothold, Fotherg would definitely do something.
Therefore, it is very likely that Fothert deliberately killed the garrison guarding the bridge at this time to trigger a war between the Sarleon Kingdom and other countries, especially a war with the southern countries. Sarleon City is very close to the Seven Forks Fortress. If a war is declared with the southern countries, the king will be too busy to deal with Fothert, but at least he can buy him time and space.
Yes, for Lehman, this kind of judgment is not just a figment of his imagination, but a reasonable inference based on the testimony. It is a very logical judgment. Lehman thinks this is the case...
Yaragal was quite close to Sarleon, so Rayman took Milgan to Sarleon immediately, intending to report the situation to the king. He felt that he should lead his troops to capture Fothert while he was still unstable.
After all, the dozen or so soldiers who were killed guarding the bridgehead were all Leiman's men, and he must seek justice for his men.
However, Leiman was unable to meet King Ulric in Sarleon City - the king was undergoing treatment for the past few days and was temporarily unable to handle official business.
Leiman only met Prince Alanric and Grand Maester Igor.
However, just after Leiman told Prince Alanric about the situation, Alanric issued an order that Leiman had never expected - His Royal Highness the Prince arrested Leiman on the charge of 'stealing the king's seal'!
This was mainly because Rayman met Alanric at an unfortunate time...
Prince Alanric's original plan was to gather an army to "suppress the rebellion" on the grounds that he suspected Alma of stealing the king's seal with the intention of rebellion.
Since the current marshal is Ulrich himself, who has not been replaced for more than half a year, and the king is ill and cannot lead the troops, Alanric can temporarily replace his father as a prince to lead the troops in person - killing the rebels is the king's duty, and the nobles will certainly not interfere in the business of cleaning up the house.
Alma is powerful, so Alanric can legitimately recruit the military forces of the nobles across the country and take the opportunity to get as many troops as possible into his own hands. For example, the Knights of the Lion...
As for Alma's crime, this was actually the reason why Alanric helped Alma escape and gave Alma the order to transfer the seal of Changhe Town - they had discussed it and cooperated to act out a big show together, and there was no need to really fight a huge civil war...
After Alanric took control of the military, he and Duke Alma would find someone to take the blame. In fact, the person Alma had envisioned taking the blame was Leon...
Of course, Alanric did secretly put the King's Seal in Lion Lake City - if he can control your military force smoothly, it is not impossible to kill Alma in a real way...
But who would have known that Alma would die before he could gather his army, and die so suddenly!
Now Fothert has regained control of Lion Lake City, and the way to control it is to kill his own family! In fact, at this time, the king should have summoned an army to attack Lion Lake City, but Fothert had not discussed it with Alanric, so he would definitely not cooperate...
Moreover, someone else has to be found to take the blame for bringing the seal to Lion Lake City.
When Leiman met Alanric, the prince was discussing with Igor who should be blamed for stealing the seal - Igor couldn't admit it himself, or he would be beheaded...
Although Leiman's title was not high, he was a vassal directly loyal to King Ulric, the lord of the Qicha Fortress, and a close military officer who specialized in dealing with rebellions. He also had many Lion Knights under his command.
This was obviously a problem for Alanric.
But Lehman had no leverage over him, no relatives to use, and he was not easy to bribe. He was neither lustful nor greedy for money.
Therefore, Alanric simply put the crime of stealing the king's seal on Leiman. If possible, he could try to force him to support him. Even if he couldn't, he could try to get Leiman's Lion Knight by threatening him.
If the vice-captain of the Lion Knights, Lehman, committed the crime of treason, then the Lion Knights would most likely be declared an illegal order, and a large group of suspicious accomplices would inevitably be 'discovered'...
As a result, Leiman was detained by Prince Alanric without knowing why - sometimes, the person who was accused did not make any mistakes and may not even know anything.
In fact, it wasn't just Reiman who was accused of a crime without knowing anything. Prince Alanric himself also felt quite wronged...
Because Duke Brunus also returned to Sarleon at this time, and broke into the House of Nobles with the Lion Knights, intending to find Alanric to ask for clarification.
Because Leon taught the halberdier some words, Brennus thought that Alanric had ordered the killing of the garrisons and the conflict between the two countries...
For Brennus, it didn't matter who the king of the Kingdom of Sarleon was, whether it was Ulric or Alanric, and it was not a problem if Prince Alanric wanted to fight for power.
In fact, Brennus would rather support Prince Alanric - because unlike Ulric, this prince has no control over the Lion Knights and can only rely on Brennus.
In this way, the Order of the Lion could be controlled by Brennus for a long time.
And in Brennus's opinion, the young Alanric probably hasn't learned "balance" yet. As the most powerful duke at present, a young and inexperienced king is obviously easier to deal with...
But, but…
For Brennus, no one can use the safety of the kingdom as a means to gain power! And the Lion Knights cannot be used as cannon fodder!
Because the Sarleon Kingdom is shared by all the nobles, not just the king.
As the Duke of the kingdom, Brennus certainly cannot allow Alanric to mess around!
But when Brennus led his troops into the tower of the House of Nobles, Alanric had a misunderstanding - he thought that it was because he had privately detained the deputy commander of the Lion Knights, Lehman, that the commander-in-chief, Brennus, came to question him...
The result of this little misunderstanding was a conflict between Alanric and Brennus...
Because the first thing Brennus said when he saw Alanric was: "Your Highness, why did you put the kingdom in danger? A place of life and death like Qicha Fortress is not a place to play games!"
Brennus' original intention was to ask Alanric why he "provoked the dispute between the two countries", to see what the prince really wanted, and to see if there were other ways to solve the problem.
But Alanric thought that Brennus was talking about his detention of Reman - Reman was the lord of the Seven Forks Fortress...
Alanric was not willing to share his frame-up with anyone, and the prince felt that Brennus' tone was disrespectful to him, so he gave a very unhappy answer: "Do I need to report to you about my actions? Brennus, you led your troops into the king's private residence, are you planning a rebellion?"
As a result, as soon as the hat was put on, the hot-tempered Brennus immediately concluded that Alanric had no trust in him at all.
So Brennus didn't plan to have any more communication with the prince, and directly put forward an ultimatum: "No matter what you want to do, you must resolve all outstanding conflicts between the kingdom and other countries! Otherwise, you can't do anything!"
Then he left with his troops.
Alanric did not expect Brunus to react so strongly. He did not want to be hostile to Brunus. In addition, he had to attack Lion Lake City and ensure that the kingdom had no external threats. So he had to arrange for Igor to negotiate peace with the Bacchus Empire.
Of course, Brennus's reaction also made Alanric determined to take control of the Lion Knight himself.
So Igor went to the Qicha Fortress.
Igor was indeed tasked with going south to Siyuan City in the Bacchus Empire to negotiate peace.
But the more important task is to use the charge of "stealing the king's seal" imposed on Leiman, as well as statements such as "accomplice" and "the Lion Knights are unreliable" to divide and coerce and bribe the Lion Knights under Leiman.
The deputy leader, Leiman, was involved in the crime of treason, so the Lion Knights were of course panicked - because this might lead to the Lion Knights being judged as an illegal knight order again!
You know, it has only been ten years since the Lion Knights were recognized by King Ulrich and became a national knight order again.
These new generation of Lion Knights had just gotten used to their privileges as Royal Knights, and they were reluctant to become ordinary Royal Guards again. The Royal City Guards were actually just retainers, and their status was much lower than that of the Lion Knights...
At this moment, the lord arrived at the bridge, but was surrounded by the Lion Knights ordered by Igor.
Igor obviously intended to frame Leon on the spot - who made Leon come back from Bacchus?
Since Lehman said that it was most likely Fawcett who ordered the murder of the garrison at the bridgehead, the university scholar planned to use Lehman's own judgment to say that Leon was the specific executor of the murder of the garrison at the bridgehead, that is, Fawcett's accomplice - considering that Fawcett had provided Leon with a large amount of precious food, this statement at least made sense.
But these Lion Knights under Leiman had just participated in the process of taking Leon away from White Hart Castle on suspicion of treason not long ago. The Lion Knights all understood that Leiman must be innocent, and Leon was likely innocent as well.
But now they must obey Igor's orders - anyone who disobeys will definitely be considered by Igor as "Lehman's accomplice."
In order to save their own lives and to preserve the legal status of the Order of the Lion, they had no choice.
Of course, the lord would not surrender. Although he had always been avoiding battles that would cause huge losses, the situation this time was obviously different. Igor obviously intended to kill him!
"Lion Knights, where is Rayman? What is Igor threatening you with?"
Leon heard some clues from the Lion Knights' reactions and Igor's additional orders - Leiman was probably arrested? Even charged with a crime?
"Don't talk to him, catch him, or kill him!"
Igor shouted behind the Lion Knights .
He was blocked by the crowd and Leon couldn't see him, but Igor didn't even dare to say much, so the lord could naturally be sure of at least one thing - Igor could not make the Lion Knights obey absolutely.
As long as we can capture or kill Igor, perhaps we can convince these Lion Knights?
So Leon did not retreat but advanced, suddenly drew his sword and forced back the two lion knights who were surrounding him, and rushed towards Igor's position.
But Igor was quite smart and hid on the other side of the bridge - more than a hundred meters away.
The Lord was blocked by the Lion Knights and couldn't rush over. He could only shout, "Kill that skinny old man!"
A short bloody battle began.
The soldiers on both sides were originally good at lances, but neither side was able to speed up, and in this siege battle they all used two-handed broadswords or two-handed and half-swords.
This made it difficult for both sides to quickly inflict heavy casualties - the Lion Knights had no intention of killing Leon, and Leon's cavalry were only trying to break out, so neither side engaged in a violent fight to the death.
Basically, they were using swords and shields to block each other, making a lot of clanging sounds.
In Leon's team, a strange man with gauze wrapped around his head covering the entire upper half of his face, a warrior wearing a full-face knight helmet, and two female explorers dressed as people followed behind the lord.
The man was wrapped in gauze, and his eyes were also bandaged, like a seriously injured person with injured eyes. In his hand was a strange big bow with an arrow already on it.
This is Wendyll.
The other, of course, is Vendatil.
Igor obviously had no combat experience. He was originally a scholar, and as a court scholar, he had probably never been on a battlefield before.
He probably thought it was safe to stand more than a hundred meters away...
At this moment, several arrows flew out from behind Leon at incredible speed.
The target of the arrow is Igor!
This is the important task that the Lord has assigned to Wendylf and Wendatil - they both have the ability of sonic shooting, and the Lord uses them as snipers to kill the enemy's leaders.
