Chapter 65 The War Begins
On the last day of October, envoys from the Kingdom's House of Nobles arrived in Maixiang Territory.
This is to issue the imperial decree.
Leon's pioneer territory verification report was submitted by Godric in advance - Godric's review was very sloppy, it was obvious that it was a covert operation, he didn't even come to take a look...
Moreover, he did send a group of archers to "assist Mai Xiangling in protecting the caravan."
But Leon always felt that the Baron was afraid that he would run away with the money, so he sent them to keep an eye on him. The archer leading the group seemed to be the one who "escorted" him when he went to White Deer Castle last time.
Of course, the Lord had no intention of running away. Besides, Maixiang Territory was actually developing well, so it would pass the review if necessary.
Witnessed by a large group of merchants and a small group of subjects, Leon is about to become a real baron.
The reason why it is said "will be" is because he must swear allegiance before the king before the knighthood is officially established.
The face-to-face ceremony of pledging allegiance is a necessary procedure.
"Mr. Leon Griffin has made great contributions to the expansion of the kingdom and the protection of the people. I propose to confer the title of Baron of Maixiangling on Mr. Leon. Please take this decree and meet His Majesty the King immediately."
After reading this, the envoy of the Kingdom's House of Nobles handed the scroll in his hand to Leon.
The seal of the scroll was stamped with the Kingdom's House of Nobles, and the emblem on the cover was an iris pressed in silver foil, which did not look fancy at all.
Watching Li Ang casually put away the scroll, the messenger smiled at him kindly.
Only then did Leon
"Is the Earl all right?"
Li Ang asked casually.
The attendant looked around and whispered, "The Earl just resigned from the House of Nobles not long ago and returned to Yongdun Castle to lead the troops to prepare for war..."
As he approached Li Ang, his voice became softer: "Lord Li Ang, the Earl asked me to tell you that you'd better go with him in this war."
Li Ang nodded, shook the attendant's hand and said, "Please thank the Earl for me! You have worked hard!"
There is a handful of gold coins in his hand.
The attendant tightened his grip on Li Ang's hand and smiled sincerely, "You are young and promising, and will surely become a pillar of the kingdom... My personal suggestion, sir, is that it is best not to send your troops to the front line this time."
"Thank you! My friend, write to me often."
Li Ang smiled and nodded, watching his entourage leave.
Not long after the entourage of the House of Nobles left, a knight arrived with the king's summons.
This is a Lion Knight from King Ulric's service.
He did not speak, but held up the Golden Lion Flag and handed the summons to Li Ang, then continued to rush to Bailu Fort without stopping .
"Please see this order and lead your army to gather at Qicha Fortress. Order from the Marshal of the Kingdom of Fierce Lions."
The emblem on it was a golden lion - this was the king's summons, and it looked much more advanced than the imperial decree. It even used gold foil to suppress the emblem. Leon even wanted to peel the gold foil off...
The king has officially summoned the lords to prepare for the war, so it seems that the oath-taking and enthronement ceremony can be completed along the way.
In fact, even without Count Oden's reminder, Leon had no intention of charging into battle to grab the credit.
Because he had not had time to convert all the dinars he had obtained into combat power.
He hasn't had time to recruit soldiers and still has only a few men under his command.
Just because there were so many merchants coming, he bought a batch of heavy two-handed broadswords and heavy crossbows, as well as several full-face light helmets from them.
Originally, more standard equipment was ordered, intending to arm the generals and civilians as well, but it takes time to manufacture the equipment, and the call-up order has already arrived.
Fortunately, just as Leon had imagined, after getting their new two-handed swords and light helmets, the Mettenheim warriors were immediately upgraded to 'Mettenheim Greatswordsmen', and their proficiency was already sufficient.
The crossbowmen were all replaced with heavy crossbows and upgraded to "armored crossbowmen" - the word "mercenary" disappeared. From the moment they received the shares, they had all sworn allegiance and became the army of Mai Xiangling.
Mettenheim Great Swordsman, 10/10;
Armored crossbowmen, 17/17;
Pende recruits, 30/30;
Li Ang gathered 30 people from the territory, all of whom were pure new soldiers, but they were not used for fighting. The lord asked these people to use all the Gato horses they had to pull away more than 20 carts of goods...
These new recruits now all have fancy new titles - 'Manager of XX Company'.
Because the large-scale commercial activities of Maixiang Group are about to be officially launched...
"Everyone, the great opportunity to make a fortune has arrived!"
When the team from White Hart Castle passed through Maixiang Territory, the Lord led a troop of about 60 people and a caravan of more than 800 people, and together with Godric's team, they began to move towards Qicha Fortress...
The lords who saw this army along the way were all dumbfounded. Who the hell was this? Their military seemed stronger than the king's! Look at the army behind them. There were hundreds of "baggage wagons" alone!
What kind of strength does it take to mobilize such a large-scale force!
In order to keep enough defenders for White Hart Castle, Godric actually only brought 300 people with him, but when combined with the nearly 1,000 people and hundreds of carts behind Leon, they looked like a main force!
So the small lords or knights along the way approached this "main force" to seek a sense of security, and were then called by Godric to move forward together.
When they arrived near Qicha Fortress, the size of this "troop" exceeded two thousand people!
Seeing this, other lords who had been camping near the fortress also joined the army - they thought this was the king's army...
After all, a team of this size is not something that an ordinary lord can create...
So, Lord Li Ang took the opportunity to start selling...
"Everyone, it's boring on the expedition, right? Are you used to the days without good wine? Is the dry ration hard to swallow? Do you feel that the days of expedition are boring? Come on, welcome to Maixiang Group!"
It is certainly quite tiring for lords to lead their troops on expeditions, especially the boring wait before the marshal arrives.
Many lords have been waiting here for a while - they are all lords who are relatively close to Sarleon City or Qicha Fortress, and the summons were passed to them first.
But they could only feed mosquitoes in this wilderness, because the marshal who led the troops, King Ulrich, had not arrived yet.
As for the king, it’s not a question of distance…the boss always arrives last.
The lords and soldiers who arrived early could only wait in the military camp, where their food, clothing and other necessities were very poor - Qicha Fortress was not a city, but a pure military fortress, with nothing in it except the thousand or so men stationed there.
There is no place to buy towels nearby.
So the various subsidiaries of Mai Xiang International Group brought them food, wine, daily necessities, and even entertainment venues...
Of course, the price is a little bit higher...
But they have shipped it from thousands of miles away, so it’s not excessive to charge a little more for shipping, right?
If you are not satisfied, you can also go to Sarleon City, which is more than 300 miles away, to spend money - of course, you deserve to be labeled a deserter if you leave the barracks without permission.
