Chapter 187: They Are All Traitors

"Why can't we live in harmony? In most of the stories written by humans, elves are considered allies. But why do they actually respond with hostility?..."
Wendy sighed and expressed her incomprehension.
"Because the stories were all written by poor scholars... but those who hold power are never poor scholars. Besides, do you think those Ebony Gauntlet Knights really hate the Noldor so much?"
The lord shook his head and smiled: "Wendy, in order to maintain the species balance in the Noldor Forest, your tribe will control the number of animals in the forest, so you will be allowed to shoot rabbits and wild deer... But do you really like shooting rabbits?"
Wendy looked at the forest next to her thoughtfully: "My Lord, if you were to become the one who controls the continent, what would you do? Would you also use this method to maintain the balance of species?"
"Haha... Wendy, the best way to maintain ecological balance is to introduce the missing animals into the forest to make the ecology complete. Killing innocent herbivores is not a method worth promoting... The Elf Kings probably just did it out of helplessness when they had no other options."
The Lord said with a smile.
"Introducing missing animals... I understand. There are not enough ferocious beasts in our forest, so there are too many rabbits, but there is nowhere to find ferocious beasts, so we have no choice but to kill the extra rabbits. Then the continent of Pendor... My lord, you should be the most scarce kind of ferocious beast, right?"
Wendy looked at the lord, her eyes full of anticipation.
"No, Wendy, I'm the one who breeds the beasts."
The lord looked at Wendy and said seriously.
"My Lord, perhaps it is indeed you who should control the continent..."
Wendy's voice seemed to be joking, half teasingly and half seriously.
At the same time that Leon returned to Bailu Castle, the latest changes in Changhe Town were also reported back to Bailu Castle - Eric also returned at this time.
Changhe Town was controlled by Granlong, the flag bearer of the Lion Lake City Flag Guard, and he was holding the golden seal of the King of the Fierce Lion Kingdom...
Although everyone thought this was too outrageous, Eric said that Lord Godric could confirm that the golden seal was genuine. So although everyone was uneasy, they could only wait and see.
But Godric did not return to White Hart Keep.
He was the chief of the Eastern Army appointed by the king. Now that Changhe Town had such a situation, he had to go to Sarlion City to get to the bottom of it. This was his duty.
Only the operation of Long River Express was completely unaffected - Granlong might not know that Long River Express was actually an army.
Therefore, it didn't take long for the Changhe Express convoy to bring complete news to Bailu Fort.
After killing all his brothers and sisters, Fothert committed treason with Lion Lake City!
The crime of parricide cannot be concealed. Alma once lost his territory because of the same thing. If Fothert does nothing, he will surely end up in a more tragic situation.
Therefore, before Sarleon could react, Fothert unilaterally rescinded his allegiance to King Ulric on the grounds that "the king was unable to protect the lives and interests of the nobles" and publicly declared that he would no longer obey any orders from the Sarleon Kingdom.
This reason actually makes sense, because the death of Duke Elfwan was very strange before, but Ulrik didn't care at all, and instead seized Elfwan's fiefdom.
During the time that Fothergill was in charge of Lion Lake City, the king did not help him, but instead used him to restrain Alma.
When Changhe Town was besieged by the three prophets before, the king did not send troops to attack. Instead, he symbolically "imprisoned" the three prophets after everything was over - without even a punishment.
The king also ignored Alma's death - of course, this was because it happened too suddenly and he didn't have time to take care of it.
But in any case, many nobles in the northern region felt that Fothergill's approach was actually understandable, and indeed many nobles who had close ties with the Houghton family responded to this matter.
Another part of the nobles who were unwilling to surrender to Fothert were forced to leave their territory and move away - Fothert required them to leave the Beibu Gulf on their own, otherwise their entire family would be exiled.
However, after Forset rebelled against King Ulric, he did not foolishly declare himself king.
He began to publicly support Lady Ursula of Ravenstern and announced that he would help Queen Ursula restore her country!
It is said that Lady Ursula promised that if Fawcett could help her restore her country, she would give the entire Lion Lake Inland Sea to Fawcett, the first duke.
In fact, Fothert has now been named the 'Grand Duke of Lion Lake Territory' by Lady Ursula - not Lion Lake City, but 'Lion Lake Territory', referring to all cities along the entire Lion Lake Inland Sea.
This is a huge area that spans most of the wealthy towns in Ravenstern and Sarleon, and is almost the size of a country.
Fawcett's series of actions actually strengthened the Horton family's confidence in Fawcett - this young dandy, after going through many things, finally grew into a real duke like Alma.
The way he acts now, he looks just like Alma himself.
Of course, the promise given by Lady Ursula was not a real reward.
Ursula is actually just a rebel in the Kingdom of Ravenstern. Like Darion, she is a claimant to the throne, not a real king.
However, she claimed the throne of Ravenstern—Lady Ursula was the sister of the current King Gregory IV of Ravenstern, her biological sister.
In fact, the legal claim she made was indeed reliable, because according to the order of succession in the continent of Pendor, Ursula, as the eldest daughter, did have the right to inherit the throne, and in theory she was indeed the first heir.
In addition, Lady Ursula is the chief knight of the Order of the Falcon. Although this "chief" is definitely just due to her background, it at least proves that she is not the kind of noble woman who knows nothing. At least she can be regarded as a man of both civil and military talents, and she should at least have the same inheritance and ruling rights as Gregory IV.
However, Ravenstern is a relatively 'traditional' place.
The men of Ravenstern call themselves the 'brave guardians of the north'. Yes, even the farmers call themselves that - because one hundred and fifty years ago, the warriors of Ravenstern did repel the massive invasion of Misty Mountain with their own strength.
These warriors of the Raven Realm, who pride themselves on being brave, value force, so they have some psychological barriers to obeying a woman, especially the Highland warriors of Fallen Bay.
Strangely enough, those so-called "barbarians" don't discriminate against women, and neither do the truly civilized people. On the contrary, those who are somewhere between barbarians and civilized people will be particularly discriminatory in this way and that way...
Probably because of low self-esteem.
Six years ago, when Gregory IV was competing with Lady Ursula for the throne, Gregory IV's original words to recruit supporters were: "My sister, the pretender to the throne and the privately appointed knight, she is a woman no matter what. Any self-respecting northern man would not follow a woman!"
As a result, such words did stir up the so-called "dignity" mentality of the men in Ravenstern. Lady Ursula lost the battle for the throne for this reason, and even the Falcon Knights were declared an illegal knightly order by Gregory IV...
This result has led to the civil war in Ravenstern continuing to this day. The "War of Restoration" initiated by Lady Ursula has never stopped for a moment in these six years.
But no matter what the situation is between Lady Ursula and Raven Stern, at least Fawcett, who claims to be loyal to Lady Ursula, is definitely a traitor.
As for Granlong in Changhe Town, it was a different story...
According to the escorts of Changhe Express, after Granlong occupied Changhe Town, he did not take down the Golden Lion Flag of the Fierce Lion Kingdom. He even hung the flag of Duke Alma back on the city wall of Changhe Town.
Moreover, he did not restrict the entry and exit of Changhe Town, nor did he even harass the residents of Changhe Town. He just kept strengthening his military strength.
The Lion Lake City Flag Guard has 500 heavy cavalry. In addition, Granlong got several hundred miscellaneous troops from somewhere, but these miscellaneous troops seem to be quite powerful.
In addition to continuously strengthening the military strength, Granlong only did one thing in Changhe Town - he held a large-scale funeral for the Duke of Alma.
Or should it be called a memorial service...
After all, Duke Alma's body had long been buried near Lion Lake City.
But the funeral that Nelda held for Alma was so sloppy that it was unimaginable. The former first duke of the kingdom was buried with only a few dozen family members present. It was even more shabby than some civilians with better relationships...
Granlong formally held a ceremony for Alma in accordance with the etiquette of a duke.
Many people in Changhe Town did volunteer to participate in the funeral, most of them were middle-aged and elderly people.
Alma actually did a good job governing Changhe Town. He might have spent his entire life pursuing power, rising in conspiracy, and dying in conspiracy, but he certainly never harmed the civilians of Changhe Town.
Alma had governed Changhe Town intermittently for many years as acting lord or administrator. To the old people in Changhe Town, he was actually a good lord.
Therefore, as many as two thousand people participated in the memorial service. The residents brought daisies that had just bloomed in early autumn to the ceremony, and the petals covered the Changhe Town Square.
Alma's life finally came to an end at this point.
In fact, he fulfilled most of his wishes before he died, and after his death, two thousand people were willing to present him with flowers. This may be a satisfactory result for Alma.
Of course, Granlong held the funeral in Changhe Town perhaps not out of loyalty to the Duke of Alma.
Maybe he was telling people in this way that he was still Alma's son-in-law!
Moreover, he achieved his main goal in this way - Fothert brought only a hundred guards to Changhe Town to mourn his father!
The entire funeral was watched by the escorts of Changhe Express. They saw with their own eyes that Fothert appeared alone in the square and was surrounded by Granlong and his men.
The two sides argued for a long time.
Of course, there is no way of knowing what they said exactly, but in the end, Fotherg was taken to the square by Granlong, and he knelt in front of Alma's portrait to bid farewell to his father.
No matter how much the father and son fight, they are still father and son after all...
After the funeral, the guards brought by Fawcett left Changhe Town, but Fawcett himself could not leave.
He was held hostage by Gronlon.
After learning all this, the lord showed a rare hesitation.
He began to repeatedly calculate the strength in his hands, and seemed determined to do something, but he was a little hesitant.
In fact, Li Ang rarely hesitates. He makes decisions quickly most of the time. Even if he makes a wrong judgment, it is better to make a quick decision and correct it quickly than to hesitate.
But this time, he fell into long thoughts and didn't even organize everyone to discuss it together.
In fact, this time, apart from Godric thoughts with...
He wanted to raise the banner of rebellion and attack the rebels in Changhe Town and Shihu City!
The Sarleon Kingdom is now full of traitors... What a great opportunity!
However, to fight against rebellion, one must do everything possible, many things must be stopped, and once the troops are dispatched, there is no turning back, there are many sequelae...
The lord's hesitation is actually because it is difficult to weigh the cost-effectiveness - is it more cost-effective to send troops to suppress the rebellion, or to focus on development?
If we raise an army to suppress the rebellion now, while Fotherg is still under control in Changhe Town, and use the escorts of Changhe Express to cooperate internally and externally to capture Changhe Town, the chances of success should be quite high.
If we take over Changhe Town at this time, we will be able to control Fothert - which is almost equivalent to taking over Shihu City at the same time!
But taking Changhe Town would have side effects. Just like Godric was unwilling to resist Granlong, attacking Granlong who held the King's Golden Seal might lead to retribution later.
At the same time, Li Ang's troops were insufficient. Changhe Town had the Lion Lake City Flag Guard and hundreds of unknown troops with strong combat power. If the escorts of Changhe Express could think that their combat power was very strong, then it must have exceeded the level of ordinary garrisons.
Moreover, he didn't know Granlong or the unknown army, so he could only do his best.
This means that if we want to fight a war, we may have to rely on the power of the Noldor elves.
However, when the Noldor elves have not yet been accepted by people, appearing in Leon's team to fight together... This may make Leon a target of public criticism, which is not conducive to future development.
At the same time, now is a good opportunity to develop rapidly in White Hart Castle. We have made so many arrangements before, and let those Noldor Rangers live in White Hart Castle. As long as we develop slowly for a period of time, reach a long-term cooperation with Islandil, and then control the eastern region with food and logistics according to the predetermined plan, it is inevitable and relatively safe to become the boss of the east in a few months.
Once a major war breaks out, these safe development plans will be interrupted and many efforts will be wasted.
So, the lord hesitated for a whole night and still couldn't make up his mind.
Changhe Town.
Granlon was playing with the king's golden seal.
He was also hesitating, and hesitated for the entire night.
What he hesitated about was whether to kill Fothergill or to exchange Fothergill for Lion Lake City.
After welcoming Fotherg from Ravenstern and taking charge of the Lion Lake City Flag Guard again, Granlon was the first to discover the King's Golden Seal in the Lion Lake City Lord's Hall - the seal seemed to appear out of thin air.
Of course, this was secretly placed in the drawer of the lord's hall by Igor 's men.
Fothert almost never stayed in the Lord's Hall of Lion Lake City. After returning to Lion Lake City, he lived in the garrison camp - he killed his own sister in the Lord's Hall, so of course he didn't want to stay there.
Therefore, Fawcett was unaware of the sudden appearance of the king's seal.
Granlon didn't plan to tell Fothert...
In fact, Granlon really wanted to kill Fotherg.
On the one hand, Nelda is Granlon's wife after all! A husband and wife are bound by love for a hundred days. Even if the relationship breaks down and they get divorced, at least they are still bound together...
But Fawcett killed Nelda as soon as he came back!
On the other hand, Granlon welcomed back Fotherg, originally planning to use Fotherg and Milgan to fight each other, while he himself would control the military power and reap the benefits.
If he didn't have this idea, he would not support Fothert. He remembered the way Fothert controlled the First Flag Guard of Lion Lake City - controlling everyone's wife, children and the elderly!
Moreover, Granlon kept jumping back and forth between the Duke of Alma and Fother, which was a sign of disloyalty. Fother would sooner or later not tolerate him...
But who knew that Fothert quickly took control of the power of Lion Lake City with a series of ruthless performances. Milgan didn't even have room to perform, and Granlong's plan was in vain.
So Granlong felt that his life was in danger, and his entire family was in danger.
So, Granlong left Lion Lake City with the Lion Lake City Flag Guard on the pretext of hunting down Milgan, and took away the King's Golden Seal.
Then, he went to Changhe Town and tried to cheat the city. Unexpectedly, he easily took over Changhe Town with the king's seal!
Granlong felt that the opportunity had come - he felt that he could lure Fotherg to Changhe Town and kill him.
If Fothert died, Lion Lake City would surely be in chaos again. Granlong could completely rely on his connections in Lion Lake City and occupy Lion Lake City with the Flag Guard, which was originally the representative of the citizens of Lion Lake City!
Even then, he could return to the Kingdom of the Fierce Lions with the excuse of "enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens to eliminate traitors for the country"...
Granlong felt that he might be able to become the Duke because of this!
Even if I occupied Changhe Town with lies, it doesn't matter...
The series of actions taken by Duke Alma after he returned to Lion Lake City not long ago have made Granlong understand a fundamental truth - as long as he has soldiers and horses in his hands, there will naturally be people to help him weave lies!
So, Granlong held a memorial service.
As expected, Fothert came and entered the memorial service alone, falling into Granlon's hands.
But Granlon didn't dare to kill him...
Because Fother claimed that he had detained all of Granlong's family members in Lion Lake City, and if anything happened to him, his men would kill Granlong's entire family.
Moreover, Foussett also proposed a plan that tempted Granlong very much - the two sides were now holding each other hostage, so Foussett was willing to exchange Lion Lake City for Changhe Town, allowing Granlong to become the owner of Lion Lake City, and in exchange Foussett to move into Changhe Town!
From the bottom of his heart, Granlong is willing to change cities, but the problem is that his current identity is awkward. As long as Fothert is still alive, it will be difficult for Granlong to completely control Lion Lake City.
Only when Fothert dies will Lion Lake City truly obey Granlong's orders.
But if he killed Fawcett, his whole family would probably die as well, and he didn't want to gamble his family's lives on what Fawcett's men would do.
So, Granlong hesitated, hesitated for the whole night.
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