Chapter 266: Trial of Heretics
Ramon reached out and took the dice, laughing with an unusually happy laugh.
He jumped off his horse, walked forward, grabbed Li Ang's reins, bent down and held the stirrup, making a gesture to welcome Li Ang to dismount.
This is a kind of etiquette, the etiquette for greeting distinguished elders or close friends in the Savannah Desert.
"Lord Leon, I once gave dice to five people, but only you can understand what I mean! It seems that I have indeed found a true good brother..."
Ramon's smile was indeed genuine.
The underground king of Sinjar had his own pride. Even if Bahad Khan Kadan visited Sinjar, he would not be treated as such by Ramon personally holding the horse and stirrups.
Only friends he approves of will do.
"You gave me three loaded dice, naturally because you wanted me to throw out numbers that satisfied both of us. Good brother, you regarded me as a fellow traveler, so of course I will regard you as a true brother..."
Leon jumped off his horse and gave Ramon a hug.
This is how life is. Many people only need to meet once and say a few words to become true friends.
Only Leon understood Ramon's intention. The three lead-filled dice represented Ramon's confession to him - he truly wanted to regard Leon as a confidant.
In this case, Li Ang must return the favor with the same sincerity.
A person like Ramon might indeed be insidious, cunning and unscrupulous, but the sincerity he showed at the beginning was all real, and he also longed for the understanding and sincerity of others.
But all along, what he got in return was mostly conspiracy and betrayal.
In fact, if he repays Ramon with sincerity, he will be a true good brother - just like he treats his subordinates, he will not only take care of their work and life, but also let their offspring receive education like children of nobles and get the opportunity to completely change their destiny.
What he wants is actually another kind of fairness.
Leon's act of returning the dice means fair treatment - because Leon himself is the same kind of person.
It is indeed a blessing to have a close friend in life, as most people will never find one in their lifetime.
Ramon was lucky, he met him.
So Ramon smiled even more happily: "Good brother, then how are we going to auction the position of city lord?"
He hammered his chest with his fist to show that those who understand don't need too many words.
So, the two of them are now partners, even though there is no contract or commitment.
"Ramon, in our casino under Maixiang International, every time we meet a new customer, the dealer will let the customer win a little first..."
Li Ang spoke softly about the business practices of his own casino.
Ramon was stunned for a moment, then laughed again: "I know about this... and I have learned it now. Every time I gamble with someone, I will let them win three times first..."
"Ha, you're a quick learner... Actually, political schemes and wars are also a form of gambling. If you want to win in the end, you have to get your opponent deeply involved and wait for them to raise the stakes... The same is true for auctioning the city lord and the throne."
Li Ang nodded and got down to business.
"I see... I know what it means, but I can't describe it as clearly as you do. Brother, you are indeed a real tycoon. So, where is our target? Wait... let me guess... is it Ashley Kerman?"
Ramon reacted quickly. He was an extremely smart guy. His way of thinking was indeed very similar to Leon's. It was extremely smooth to communicate with him.
"You guessed it right, it's Aishkoman... Caliph Bahaman's troops were just defeated in the Sava River Fort not long ago, and his territory Aishkoman will soon face my army... There will definitely be many customers willing to come and gamble."
At this moment, Leon also felt like he was facing a close friend. He put his arm around Ramon's shoulder and pointed at the army behind him.
There were over ten thousand troops, boundless and endless, and flags of all kinds covered the sky.
Although half of them were caravans, at least they looked quite impressive.
There were quite a lot of lords from the Kingdom of Sarleon who followed the marshal into battle. Although the troops of King Ulric and several of the strongest lords were not among them, the troops of other small lords added up to more than 5,000 people.
In this expedition to Desha, the four overlords with the strongest military forces did not participate.
Apart from Duke Brunus, Godric of Eagle's Claw, Leofric of BraveShield, and Hereward of Mistyfen did not come - their castles were the borders of the kingdom in all directions.
Moreover, their territory was too far away from the Principality of Dexia, and Leon did not send them a summons. After all, these people were all his own people.
Li Ang had no intention of occupying any territory in this battle, so there was naturally no need to make his own people travel thousands of miles.
But even if Leon's own troops and those small lords were combined, they would not be able to stop Bahaman at the moment. On the contrary, the Turda Fortress not far away might still be able to hold out.
"As things stand now, your army is enough to run rampant in the Chavanil Desert. Bahaman might even wet his pants... But Qaiwan Khan of Turda Fortress may become an obstacle for you."
Ramon obviously understood the situation, so he also asked about Turda Fortress.
He had no doubt that Leon could capture the fortress, but if Leon's troops suffered heavy losses in Turda Fortress, they might not even be able to reach the city of Ashcoman.
"How can Qaiwan Khan be an obstacle to me... Good brother, Qaiwan Khan should be our client! He is Bahaman's younger brother..."
Li Ang tilted his head and smiled sinisterly.
"Oh... so this is how the city lord is auctioned off... ha!"
Ramon understood Leon's intention: "So, in addition to Qawan Khan, our clients also include Bahaman's son Ikram and his nephew Jamshid..."
"How come there are only a few of them? Ramon, set your sights higher, we still have many big clients... Emperor Marius, King Ulrich, Bahad Khan Kadan, and Kadan's brother Emir Xerxes... and Caliph Tahir, the Lord of Singal!"
Li Ang counted the number of major customers on his fingers.
Just one hand.
After counting, Leon looked at Ramon with a smile and said, "Good brother, now you know how I am going to auction the city lord position, right? After Ashcomb is sold, we can continue to auction the title of Bahad... I said I would auction the throne!"
"You are planning to take Bahadur Khan as well... Tsk, I see! These big clients really make me salivate... My dear brother, what do you want me to do?"
Ramon opened his mouth and began to get excited.
As the underground king of Singal, Ramon had rich sources of intelligence. He knew a few days ago that Bahad Khan Kadan was defeated at the Battle of Sarleon. Under such circumstances, he of course immediately understood Leon's intention. The throne of Bahad Khan could indeed be auctioned!
Ramon even asked for the first time in his life, "What do you want me to do?" In the past, he was the one who said, "We can do this."
"You go and prepare a large auction, find all the big customers, and start selling tickets. There will definitely be a lot of people who want to enter and watch this unprecedented auction. Charge them a huge admission fee... In addition, I need your people to go to Turda Fortress to pass on a message..."
Li Ang was not polite and began to assign tasks to his partners.
…
Turda Fortress.
Gaiwan Khan was pacing back and forth anxiously, with a worried look on his face.
His territory was facing an unprecedented crisis.
In fact, this crisis began more than a month ago.
At the beginning, Governor Kailos of the Bacchus Empire led people to request to enter the territory of Desha to track down the priests of the Snake Cult.
At that time, Desha and the Bacchus Empire were peaceful countries. Kairos was famous and did not bring too many people with him, only a few dozen shadow centurions, so Khan Gaiwan let him go.
After all, the Snake Cult is also a heresy to the D'Shar people. The reason why the D'Shar are rarely troubled by the Red Death is not because of their special physique, but because Snake Worshipers are unwelcome in most places in D'Shar and have little room to play. Only the chaotic city of Singar can accommodate all heretics.
Soon after, several small forces also requested entry.
Moreover, these people did not look like armed forces. Each team had only 20 to 30 people, and they behaved very politely. They did not conflict with anyone in Turda Fortress, but just said in a friendly manner that they came to judge heretics.
In the past, there were often polite small teams entering the country under the pretext of "trying heresy" or "criticizing corruption", but those people actually went to Singal.
——The so-called "trial of heretics" is actually buying and selling slaves. After all, if heretics are caught alive, they will basically become slaves without exception. Many nobles like to find excitement in heretics.
And "criticizing depravity" actually means looking for fallen women. The seductresses in Singal are very famous...
So Qawan Khan didn't care much about it. They seemed to be just brokers and compradors. To him, the entry of compradors who helped the nobles buy and sell slaves and have fun was actually a very common phenomenon.
Although Singal is nominally considered a territory of D'Shar, it is actually a completely different culture from D'Shar. Most Singalians are not D'Shar - they are all criminals or descendants of criminals from all over the world, forming a so-called Singal nation.
Since the Singalians do not believe in the D'Shar god, the black horse 'Wata', most D'Shar people think that the Singalians and the city itself are all heretics, so they think there is nothing wrong with the term "trial of heresy"...
But they all knew that this evil city had to exist, because Singal was located between the Sarleon Kingdom and the Savanniil Desert, and could protect the D'Shar from attacks from the Sarleon Kingdom - especially after the D'Shar went to Sarleon to plunder.
So these people would definitely go to Sinjar, and there was no need for Qawan Khan to stop them. He collected the "entry tax" as usual and let them go.
But then, things started to change...
Armed forces suddenly appeared in Desha territory one after another - and these forces did not pass through the border, nor did they come from Turda Fortress.
But these groups all claim to be 'trying heretics', and they are doing just that - instead of going to Sinjar, they are attacking the D'Shar herdsmen in the Savannah Desert!
The heretics they wanted to judge turned out to be the Desha people who believed in 'Wata'!
In Qawan Khan's territory, such armed forces consisting of dozens of people were the most common. Many civilians were attacked and a large number of horses were stolen.
It was not until Gaiwan Khan killed a small troop and captured a man alive that he realized that the people behind him had come by sea.
Shihbasha Village is a coastal fishing village, but the bay there is full of reefs and is not suitable for ships to dock. Only local fishermen fish near the coast, so there are not many troops guarding there.
But the small teams that politely requested entry before were probably the engineering teams led by the secret agents. They renovated the fishing dock of the fishermen and now can accommodate small sea vessels...
As a result, all kinds of chaotic armed elements in Bacchus landed in waves from Shihbasha. Although the temporary port could only accommodate a small boat with dozens of people at a time, they still flooded with countless small forces within a few days...
If it were just this, it would be fine. After all, these were small troops, and according to the captives, they were all outlaws from various mountains. They came from diverse backgrounds and had no affiliation. Gaiwan Khan was confident that he could kill them one by one .
Of course, Qaiwan Khan also knew that this so-called "outlaw hero" must be related to Emperor Marius, but no matter what, nominally these were bandits from Bacchus who came to Dersha to rob - such an incident could only be attributed to the poor security in Dersha...
But just as Qawan Khan sent his troops to pursue the small troops that were looting horses, his army suffered a heavy defeat.
A few days after these small troops were causing chaos, a large and elite force entered the Savannah Desert and almost wiped out an army of several hundred people under Qaiwan Khan near Ghasin.
This army did not come from Bacchus - Qaiwan Khan had already destroyed the temporary port of Shihbasha and sent troops to patrol the coast. There should be no more "heroes" coming from the Bacchus Empire.
That powerful army was dressed in silver-white armor, white cloaks and white robes. They also claimed to "judge heretics," and their actions really looked like a trial—they would burn to death anyone who did not believe in Astalia, the goddess of justice...
They called themselves the "Inquisition".
The Inquisition actually came from the northwest. Maybe they have some relationship with the Knights of Dawn in Guangxiao Bay. Anyway, their style seems similar to those of the Knights of Dawn.
It was easy for Qawan Khan to imagine why this so-called tribunal had come to his territory - this army probably came here to recruit soldiers.
Because the Inquisition took the initiative to attack Qawan Khan's troops and rescued two bandit groups, and those two small groups also joined the Inquisition.
Those bandits who used the excuse of "trying heresy" before were obviously the ones that the Inquisition wanted to recruit...
The very pretext of "trying heretics" probably gave the Inquisition a lot of inspiration - while recruiting those small gangs of bandits, the well-equipped army of the Inquisition was also doing the same thing as those bandits.
They plundered, stole horses and property, killed any men who dared to resist, and harmed the women whether they resisted or not.
They just did one more thing - forcing all the survivors to change their faith, otherwise they would use fire to execute their "judgment".
But Gaiwan Khan had previously sent out most of his troops to hunt down the small bandit groups coming from Bacchus. Now he only has a few hundred people, and these few hundred people have to guard the Turda Fortress - the large army of the Kingdom of the Fierce Lion is marching towards this side.
So Qaiwan Khan is now quite worried, he is even considering whether to flee as soon as possible...
