Chapter 320 He Met the Devourer
Gondor brought a large number of troops, more than a thousand people, all of whom were various Firdsvain axemen or guerrillas - in fact, they were pirates and smugglers who had just been converted into regular troops.
But now, these infantrymen who had left the sea were being blocked by a cavalry whose number was no less than theirs.
People who have lived on the sea for a long time would easily lose their balance on land, and they certainly could not outrun or outfight the cavalry of the Fierce Lion Realm, so these infantrymen did not dare to move at this time.
"Mr. Leon, thank you for your trust and respect. I am indeed eager to become the captain of an ironclad ship... But you may not know that King Vidis is my only friend."
When Doomseeker Gondor saw Leon, his first words were rejection: "I can't betray him."
Li Ang smiled and nodded: "I know this. Inna told me that you once saved Vidis' life. Moreover, not betraying one's oath is the most basic professional ethics of a lord..."
"Then why are you talking to me about this?"
Gondor turned around and looked at his troops: "I admit that I am no match for you on land... but I will not throw down my weapons and surrender."
"I didn't ask you to surrender... I didn't intend for you to betray Vidis, and in fact, I didn't ask Inna to betray Firdsvain - I promise that neither you nor Inna will betray Vidis."
Leon shook his head and said, "Gondor, Vidis is not my enemy."
"What do you mean? Sarleon declared war on Firdsvain, but you, as the Sarleon's Marshal, said that King Vidis is not your enemy?"
Gondor did look a little confused.
"The Fierdsvain is my enemy, but Vidis is not. I declared war on the Fierdsvain only because Sarleon had to... I have no intention of invading the Fierdsvain. In fact, I intend to save Vidis's life - I want you to save your only friend again."
Li Ang looked at Inna next to him and said, "Tell your father about the current situation."
Inna nodded, walked up and spread out the map.
The current situation is actually a bit strange. The Sarleon Kingdom's troops did not invade the Firdsvain's territory. Instead, the Firdsvain was attacking Sarleon...
Count Leofric evacuated from Highcliff Castle and turned to attack Kaine Castle southeast of Highcliff Castle.
The attack was so sudden that no one expected Leofric to do this.
King Vidis had extensive experience in both battlefields and politics, and he quickly realized that Leofric might want to solve the problems within the Kingdom of Sarleon first.
Any king could realize that after Ulrik's death, Amy, the queen, took the throne, and there would definitely be people in the Kingdom of Sarleon who would not accept it, especially those who were originally members of the Lion Knights.
This is indeed true. Leofurvan of Keineburg, Eldfred of Kelledenburg and others did not pledge allegiance to Amy.
In addition, Leon has not appeared in the army of the Kingdom of the Fierce Lion, so Vidis came to the conclusion that Leon is solving internal hidden dangers.
The most obvious signal was that Leofric gave up the siege of Highcliff Castle, abandoned Firdsvain's army, and turned to attack Keineburg, which belonged to the Kingdom of Sarleon.
This is certainly a good opportunity, and King Vidis will certainly not miss such a good chance to take advantage of the situation.
So, when Leofric was fighting Leofric to the east of Keineburg, Vidis led his troops to launch a surprise attack from the western hillside and occupied Keineburg in one fell swoop.
This seemed to be a smart surprise attack, and Vidis suffered almost no casualties.
After Leofric discovered this situation, he took the initiative to evacuate Kenesburg and retreated towards Haringosburg - there were more cavalry in his legion, and after Vidis occupied Kenesburg, he should not attack the city again. This was a correct judgment in the eyes of everyone.
Originally, King Vidis was planning to quit while he was ahead. He waited cautiously in Keneburg for two days and only tentatively sent some people to the surrounding villages and towns to investigate the situation.
But the result of this test gave him more ideas - most of the villages and towns around Keneburg were completely deserted!
There was no one to be seen in Yazhu Village. Guihu Town had previously fought a civil war and most of the residents had fled.
At present, the journey from Keneburg to Lion Lake City is almost smooth.
At the same time, scouts reported that a fierce battle had taken place in Lion Lake City and the entire city was currently defenseless!
Later, Vidis received the active surrender of a lord of the Kingdom of Sarleon - Fothert.
Vidis knew Fotherg, and the Duke of Alma was Vidis's friend, so of course he knew his friend's eldest son.
And Fotherg said that he had taken back the Lion Lake City that rightfully belonged to him.
To this end, he hoped that King Vidis would march into Lion Lake City - Fothert claimed that he just couldn't defend Lion Lake City alone, and in fact Lion Lake City had now been conquered by him.
He defected to the Firdsvain only to ensure that he could repel the counterattack of the Kingdom of Sarleon.
In Vidis's opinion, Lake Lion City should indeed belong to Fothert, and Fothert did have reasons to rebel against the Kingdom of Sarleon - Ulric was dead, and since Fothert had lost the king he was loyal to, it would be reasonable for him to switch to anyone now.
Especially if he switched to his father's friends, this would also allow him to regain the territory that originally belonged to the Horton family...
At the same time, Vidis also understood the decision made by Leofric before.
No wonder Leofric abandoned the battlefield of Highcliff Castle and turned to attack Kaine Castle. It seemed that it was because Fothert caused a big mess in Lion Lake City.
If Lion Lake City is captured, then Leofric's retreat may be in trouble, so he will attack Keineburg, not to resolve the rebellion against the queen, but to protect his own retreat;
Afterwards, Leofric retreated to Haringosburg, in order to protect Sarleon...
At this time, the Kingdom of Ravenstern was attacking Cliff Bay, and Godric's troops cooperated with the Ravenstern in Mistyfen.
Vidis certainly had no intention of interfering in the battle at Qiaoyan Bay, at least he should not interfere until the battle situation became clear.
Most of Firdsvain's army are infantry, and Vidis has only more than 2,000 people around him. After all, the most powerful lords are not here.
If he helped the Ravencrow, it would mean fighting a field battle with Brennus's Lion Knights - this was the thing Vidis was most reluctant to do.
If we help Brennus, then the Raven Stern Army and Godric will probably team up to destroy Firdsvain's troops first.
At the same time, Vidis also knew that it was impossible for him to capture Sarleon. After all, Leofric's troops and Leon's troops should be around Sarleon.
But what if we take advantage of the current chaos and occupy Lion Lake City?
Of course Vidis was tempted.
If Highcliff Castle, Keineburg, Fox Town and Lion Lake City all become the territory of the Fierdsvain, this will make Cliff Rock Bay completely surrounded by the Fierdsvain - no matter who wins the battle in Cliff Rock Bay , they will eventually be swallowed up by the Fierdsvain!
Moreover, it won't be long before Earl Edin and Gondor can complete the reorganization of the female warriors from Vanskerry at Longhowl Castle, and they can easily capture Misty Marsh Castle.
The several forces in Qiaoyan Bay have been fighting so fiercely that by then they may all be too weak to fight again. Vidis only needs to defend the city and watch the fight from a mountain, waiting for the fishermen to reap the benefits.
If Guihu Town, Lion Lake City and Cliff Rock Bay were purely inland towns, then Vidis might not have made such a decision.
But these places are not inland towns...
They are all close to the sea - although Lion Lake is called a lake, it is not a lake, but an inland sea, formed by sea water pouring into the hinterland of the continent along the bays around Falling Bay and Crow City.
In other words, these places, including Longsong Harbor and Crowstern City in the Crowstern Kingdom, are actually coastal towns.
As long as these places can be controlled first, Vidis will have the confidence to defend these coastal towns - when the battlefield becomes the sea and coastline that pirates and smugglers are most familiar with, Firdsvain will not fear any enemy!
Plus, Fothert said he would stay in Payne and personally stop the lords of the eastern part of the Sarleon Kingdom...
There is nothing to say about this, their attitude is so good...
But in this case, efficiency must be high, because Leofric has retreated to Haringosburg, which means that Sarleon City will soon get the news, and it is estimated that the troops of the Sarleon Kingdom will rush to Lion Lake City in no time.
We have to race against the Kingdom of Sarleon!
So King Vidis quickly pushed his troops from Keneburg to Guihu Town without encountering any resistance along the way.
He then sent Chief Haakon the 'Solid Shield' to Lion Lake City to monitor Fothert's actions.
Fothert was very trustworthy. He did not let his troops enter Lion Lake City. He only sent people to help Chief Haakon open the gate of Lion Lake City, and then he took his troops to station in Payne Village.
Chief Haakon entered Lake Lion City smoothly - this obviously meant that Fothert was not lying and he really wanted to surrender to Firdsvain.
Fothert himself did not enter the city, but handed the castle over to Haakon's troops. This was certainly not a false surrender.
So King Vidis sent troops to garrison in Guihu Town, and then he himself came to Lion Lake City.
There had indeed been internal strife in Lion Lake City, and traces of fighting were everywhere.
Moreover, those residents who remained in Lion Lake City and had not yet fled said that Granlong had led the First Flag Guard of Lion Lake City in a melee with some heretics, and both sides suffered heavy losses, and Granlong died in the battle.
Vidis felt that this was because Fotherg had done a lot of things before, so it was no wonder that Fotherg was able to take over Lion Lake City.
So Vidis promised Fothert that if he could defend Lion Lake City this time and finally get Cliff Bay, Fothert would become the lord of Lion Lake City and the Duke of Firdsvain.
--If we can obtain this prosperous town on the coast of the Lion Lake Inland Sea, then Firdsvain will soon become the most powerful kingdom in the continent of Pendor, and it is indeed necessary to enfeoff a few dukes.
"If that's all... then King Vidis will win a great victory, and the Kingdom of Sarleon may lose half of its territory... Lord Leon, since you can tell me this so calmly..."
Gondor the Doomseeker seemed to realize something: "Just tell me, what happened in Lion Lake City? How is Vidis now?"
"He encountered a large army of heretic Fallen in Lion Lake City... countless Fallen."
Li Ang drew three circles on the map. "I came to you because I want you to join hands with me to rescue Vidis. Otherwise, he will most likely die at the hands of the Devourer, and his soul may even be devoured..."
"Devourer? You mean...the devil?!"
Gondor asked in surprise.
He had heard this name before, thirty years ago.
At that time, a demon called 'The Devourer' appeared in Sarleon and destroyed Gondor's homeland.
But at that time, the Mad King was busy capturing rebels and didn't care about the lives of the people under his rule.
"Yes. I knew that Lord Adin would not believe me, so I asked Inna to come to you... I promise that this is absolutely true, Gondor, you should know that there is no need for me to lie to you in this situation."
Li Ang nodded.
Indeed, more than a thousand cavalrymen in the wild could directly charge against infantry whose strength was slightly smaller than theirs.
"So, Inna told me before that you wanted me to leave the Firdsvain...what does that mean?"
Gondor had actually believed it a long time ago - no lord would tell the enemy all these details.
"This is the price you have to pay to save your friends. I know your reputation and don't want to be your enemy, so I hope you will leave Firdsvain. If you agree, I will take you to save Vidis - does this count as asking you to betray me?"
Li Ang pointed at the cavalry behind him: "But if you don't want to, I will have to destroy your troops here, and then consider how to solve the problem of Lion Lake City... Of course, Vidis is not my friend, I will not consider how to save him..."
There was nothing to be unhappy about, Gondor knew that now he had no choice but to go to Lion Lake City with his enemy Leon.
…
King Vidis now understood why Fothert did not enter the city but retreated to Payne Village on his own initiative.
This was not to show their sincerity in joining Firdsvain, but because there were so many Fallen around Lion Lake City...
Yes, too many to count.
As a well-informed pirate king, Vidis had seen the Fallen before, but this was the first time he had seen such a large number of them.
They seemed to appear suddenly overnight and completely surrounded Lion Lake City.
It is impossible to count the number, and it is estimated that there are probably tens of thousands of Fallen.
Vidis immediately realized that this was probably the reason why there were no residents in Crow Village, Guihu Town, etc.
Perhaps the only good news is that these fallen ones are all outside the city.
No major problems were found in the city. Only a few ruffians took advantage of the panic caused by the Fallen army to commit crimes - this is what would happen in any city during war.
Vidis had cleaned them up immediately - he threw those rogue knights directly out of the city and into the midst of the Fallen.
There are currently only 1,600 people in the city, all of them skilled Firdsvain warriors.
There are only three lords, Chief Haakon the Shield, Earl Eri the Forkedbeard, and Vidis himself.
The other lords were stationed in Gaoya Castle, Kaine Castle, and Weird Fox Town...
If we want to defend Lion Lake City, we may have to find some reinforcements.
However, there is no way to leave the city at the moment.
However, a troop of Raven Stern appeared near Lion Lake City. That troop was Ursula's rebels, and Vidis recognized them.
But after discovering the Fallen, the rebels immediately retreated into the village of Biglen.
At the same time, from the direction of Eagle Claw Castle, some people would come to investigate from time to time, but they looked like Misty Mountain people.
Apart from Fotherg in Payne Village, there seems to be no reliable reinforcements?
But this sinister villain, Fothert... since he tricked me into coming to Lion Lake City to face the heretic army, how could he support me?
Soon, Vidis met the leader of the fallen ones.
An extremely terrifying monster.
