Chapter 403: The Loyal Minister Who Traitors His Country
The one who shouted "Your Majesty, be careful" was Lisadiran who was following behind Leon.
The one who shouted Leon's name was Wendy, who was nearly a hundred meters behind Leon.
The one who angrily cursed "bastard" was Sigismund who was further behind Leon.
Agathon and the dozen or so Iron Ring Centurions suddenly appeared a few dozen meters to the side of Leon. Leon and his guards did not see them, but most of the people behind him saw them.
But no one could stop the murder.
The arrows shot from behind Leon came from Lisadilan and several Twilight Knights around him.
They originally planned to move together with Leon's guards, and only shot arrows urgently after seeing the javelin thrown. This was not to kill the enemy, but to try to intercept the enemy's javelin with arrows - this was a desperate method that only a sharpshooter of Lisadilan's level would try.
In fact, they were successful - several javelins were indeed hit by their arrows, and the archery skills of Risadilan and those Twilight Knights were truly beyond the imagination of humans.
But a few arrows, no matter how powerful, cannot stop a dozen spears.
Li Ang lay on the ground with his back facing up.
A javelin was stuck in his left shoulder... or rather his left chest. The javelin entered from the biceps of his left upper arm, penetrated his left arm diagonally, and the tip of the javelin pierced into his left chest, shooting him off Alice's back and falling to the ground.
When he was hit by the spear, Li Ang was holding the battle flag with both hands - the spear was thrown from the side.
At this time, the javelin was still stuck in his body at an angle, trembling slightly.
Fortunately, Alice reacted very quickly. The moment Leon fell off the horse, Alice raised her front hooves, stopped, turned around and stood in front of Leon.
This clever mare might have just wanted to stay with her master, but her instinctive action saved Li Ang's life. If she hadn't stopped suddenly and turned around to block Li Ang, Li Ang might have been trampled to death by the horses of his own guards behind him...
Thanks to Alice blocking the way, the guards' horses passed by Leon on both sides, and then half of them dismounted and surrounded Leon, while the other half went to Agasson's position.
Of course the guards have to catch the murderer, but there is no need to catch anyone now.
Because Agathon was now also lying on the ground, also facing the sky, with a Noldor arrow stuck in his chest, and the tail of the arrow was also trembling slightly.
He was lying fifty meters to the side of Leon, holding a broad-bladed spear in his hand - Agathon actually didn't have time to make a move, and the javelin that hit Leon was the work of another Iron Ring Centurion.
The arrow that hit Agasson's chest was shot by Wendy from more than a hundred meters away.
Wendy was originally planning to let Alina continue chasing the Snake Cult according to Leon's instructions. Halfway through, Wendy looked back for some reason, and then she saw a dozen people throwing javelins.
Without even thinking, Wendy shot an arrow at the fastest speed in her life.
The Bow of the End probably did have some kind of magic. Wendy shot the arrow so quickly that she had no time to aim, but the arrow flew over a hundred meters accurately and hit the center of Agasson's chest.
If it weren't for this miraculous arrow, the javelin in Agathon's hand would probably have dealt a truly fatal blow to Leon - Sigismund had seen with his own eyes that on Mount Deshaghazi, Agathon had killed countless Desha people with his javelin, and he almost never missed within fifty meters.
At this moment, seeing Li Ang fall off his horse, everyone gathered around.
"Leon..."
Wendy ran towards Leon quickly, crying.
"Agathon!!"
Klose, Sigismund and others rushed towards Agathon with anger.
"Damn it, that bastard Agasson..."
Li Ang was also cursing with his teeth bared.
The moment he was hit by the spear, Leon realized who .
He was conscious now, but he didn't dare to move at all - Leon could feel the tip of the spear piercing his left chest, and he knew that it was best not to move at all in this situation.
He managed to crane his neck and take a quick look.
Fortunately, fortunately, Leon had a mithril arm armor on his left upper arm. Although the javelin pierced through the arm armor, there was not much remaining force after penetrating the left arm, and only a small half of the spear tip was in the left chest.
Li Ang breathed a sigh of relief. He took a deep breath carefully - no coughing, no dizziness.
In other words, the lungs were not pierced directly and the heart should not have been injured either.
But Li Ang still couldn't move. The area under his left chest and armpit was densely populated with blood vessels. The spear might have punctured the artery, which could cause heavy bleeding if he wasn't careful.
At the same time, the left side of the chest was punctured. Before the doctor arrived, the javelin must not be pulled out or loosened, that is, the chest cavity must not be allowed to leak air - otherwise there is a high probability of traumatic asphyxiation due to imbalance of chest air pressure. Emergency treatment methods are limited these days. Once this happens, even Anson will be difficult to save.
Fortunately, Li Ang was conscious and had knowledge of surgical first aid.
He began to try his best to stabilize his pierced left arm to prevent the spear that pierced his left arm from causing secondary damage to his chest.
But this is difficult - the arm was shot through, so it can't be used with strength, and the muscles will contract and tremble on their own after being injured.
Li Ang endured the pain and kept his left arm suspended in the air without moving. After a few seconds, sweat appeared on his forehead and his spear was shaking slightly.
The guards standing nearby did not dare to move.
Wendy had already run to Leon by this time.
"Wendy, don't move me... immobilize my arm and wait for the doctor to come..."
Seeing Wendy rushing to him with tears in her eyes, Li Ang quickly spoke.
"Ah...ha...I was so scared...I'm so glad you're okay..."
Wendy stretched out her hand, but retracted it after hearing what Leon said, and a smile appeared on her tearful face.
But she didn't know what to do now.
Fortunately, Alina hurried to Li Ang's side soon.
She didn't say anything, but quickly took out a handful of Noldor arrows from Wendy's quiver, crossed them and inserted them into the ground on both sides of Leon's left arm, lifting up Leon's left arm like a bonfire.
The Noldor arrows are very strong. With this fulcrum, the left arm that pierced Le Ang can be fixed. Le Ang no longer needs to maintain the movement so hard, and the javelin that pierced his left arm will no longer shake.
Leon breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Alina had learned some tricks from the Knights of the Glorious Cross. Her operation was surprisingly professional.
…
The Iron Ring Centurions had been controlled by the guards, and Klose and Sigismund ran over dragging the dying Agathon.
The arrow in Agasson's body pierced the center of his chest. It was estimated that he was beyond saving, but he had not died yet.
But Klose and the others didn't show any care for Agathon and dragged him all the way to Leon like a sack.
"How is your majesty?"
Klose asked nervously.
"Huh... Fortunately, it doesn't look fatal..."
Sigismund stretched his neck to take a look, and when he saw that Leon was conscious, he let out a long sigh and said, "Your Majesty, how do you deal with Agathon?"
The two men threw Agathon aside.
"...I'm sorry...Leon...I can't repay the debt I owe you...ahem..."
Before Leon could say anything, Agasson suddenly spoke.
When he opened his mouth, it was full of blood.
"You still remember the debt you owe me... You don't think you can get rid of it by killing the creditor, do you?"
Li Ang lay on the ground, tilted his neck, glanced at the arrow in Agason's chest, and sighed: "Damn, the loss has increased again, eight dragon tears..."
"Agathon, why are you doing this?!"
Li Ang was not angry, but Alina's eyes were full of anger: "You are committing treason!"
"Haha... ahem... yes, treason..."
Agathon turned his head and looked at Alina, with a look of relief and relief in his eyes: "Alina... you can now get rid of my 'accomplices' openly... don't let His Majesty Marius... suffer... a bad reputation..."
"What?"
Alina was stunned.
Li Ang also turned his head to look at Agasson and sighed again.
Agathon slowly took out a piece of parchment from his waist, but he no longer had the strength to hand it to Alina.
He just looked at Alina and smiled: "Alina...you are so smart...you understand...um..."
After saying the last sentence, he closed his eyes and suddenly pulled out the arrow from his chest.
Blood spurted out.
"Agathon!"
Alina stretched out her hand, then put it down weakly.
Agasson is dead.
Klose looked around and took the parchment from Agathon's hand and handed it to Alina.
Alina didn't look at the paper. She just looked at Agasson quietly without saying anything for a long time.
Just as Agathon said, Alina is so smart, she certainly understands what Agathon means...
She didn't even need to look at the parchment. She already knew what was written on it from Agathon's words alone.
That must be a list of surrender names, a letter of surrender with many noble names on it, and most of them were nobles who disobeyed the will of Emperor Marius and opposed Arina's succession to the empress.
Those nobles could considered as Agasson's 'allies' - Agasson came from the Shadow Legion, currently served as the Imperial Marshal, and was one of the five seats in the Senate, representing the army, so of course those nobles would contact him.
Moreover, they were probably planning to make Agathon the emperor...
But now, Agasson led the Shadow Legion to launch an assassination attempt on Leon and let the Snake Cult army escape. This was not only a blatant defiance of Emperor Marius's will, but also actually helped the Snake Cult - no matter how you look at it, this was an act of treason, without a doubt.
Alina could use this incident to launch a purge, directly killing those who were unwilling to obey her on charges of treason.
Agathon learned about Emperor Marius's last will from Sulla, and he knew that Sulla would assassinate those nobles...but as long as Sulla took action, everyone would know that it was Emperor Marius's order, and Agathon did not want Emperor Marius to bear the stigma.
With this list, there was sufficient evidence to show that those people were Agathon's accomplices - that is, those nobles could be considered accomplices of the Snake Cult and could be directly punished by national law without the need for General Sulla to carry out assassination and purge.
In this way, Emperor Marius would not have to bear any bad reputation, and the Bacchus Empire would not have to pay the price of domestic turmoil.
Agathon actually thought a lot...
He had already made up his mind to die here, but he didn't do it just for the sake of death.
If Leon can be killed or weakened, this is Agathon's best goal, as it will allow the Bacchus Empire to maintain its advantage over the New Pendor Kingdom;
If he failed to do so - and he himself probably felt that there was a high probability that he could not do it, then he would use his own treasonous behavior as evidence and let Alina purge those nobles who would cause trouble on charges of treason and collusion with the Snake Cult - this would not only prevent Emperor Marius from being branded as a person who assassinated nobles, but would also allow the Bacchus Empire to resolve internal risks in a relatively stable manner.
As a thug who attacked friendly forces, a traitor who "rescued" the Snake Cult from distress, and a murderer who intended to murder Leon, Agathon knew very well that even if he was hacked into pieces, at least everything on him would be carefully examined - that piece of parchment would eventually fall into Alina's hands.
In fact, Agathon has always been thinking about the empire, but his background and the aristocratic education he received since childhood gave him another way of thinking, which is different from what Leon and Emperor Marius thought.
…
Li Ang's injuries were not fatal, and since they were properly treated at the beginning, there would be no sequelae. There were doctors from the Knights of the Glorious Cross in Dilingang, and they were very professional in treating external injuries.
He just needs to recuperate for a month or two and cannot fight for the time being.
Since Li Ang was injured, the guards certainly did not pursue the Snake Worship Cult's troops anymore. Currently, the Snake Worship Cult's army was rushing northward.
Alina took on the heavy responsibility of continuing to pursue the Snake Cult army, but she was not good at commanding on the battlefield, so she did not lead the army herself, but let General Ivaylo lead the pursuit.
Leon asked Risadiran and Sigismund to lead the troops to cooperate with Ivaylo.
Klose took over Lisadiran's position and served as Leon's guard captain with three hundred Mettenheim greatswordsmen.
This is not because everyone is dissatisfied with Lisadiran's work, but mainly because Lisadiran has to lead the Noldor warriors. Neither the troops of Islandil nor Aldarian will obey human commands.
Wendy had already firmly stated that she would never leave Leon's side, so Lisadiran had to lead his troops back to protect the Noldor Forest.
Li Ang is currently unfit for action and is temporarily recuperating in the Governor's Mansion in Dilingang.
The Governor's Mansion in Dilingang was originally the residence of Kailos, a large compound covering an area of nearly a thousand acres.
This is a high gate in the literal sense - the stone arches and stone columns in the courtyard vestibule are more than ten meters high, which is a typical architectural style of the Bacchus Empire.
At the moment, Leon was lying in the yard doing nothing, and Wendy was feeding him fruit beside him.
Although his legs and feet were fine and he could get up and exercise, the injury under his armpit was very troublesome.
My left arm was pierced and the bones were scratched, so I can't use my strength. It's now wrapped in a bandage and fixed to my side. Otherwise, if I'm not careful, it will rub against the wound under my armpit.
Moreover, Li Ang's wound was relatively large, and he had to prevent secondary rupture - this was a wound caused by a broad-bladed spear. As the name of this type of spear suggests, the blade is quite wide.
The most important thing is to prevent sweating and avoid wound infection.
It is now the beginning of September, the end of summer, and the weather in Dilingang is hot. Just lying down will make you sweat. Of course, Li Ang doesn't dare to move.
Li Ang now somewhat misses the days when there was a system...
At that time, as long as Anson was on the team list, this kind of injury would heal in no time. In fact, even if Anson was not on the team, the system itself would allow Leon to have the ability to recover quickly.
But now, Leon could only lie in the shade bored, treating himself as a useless person, waiting for Wendy to feed the peeled grapes into his mouth.
Well, this useless guy knows how to enjoy himself. He lies there, looking at beauties and enjoying delicious food. He feels much more comfortable than when he was not injured...
In fact, Li Ang also found this very strange - the only time he could enjoy leisure time seemed to be when he was caught in trouble or when he was injured...
