After two days of turbulence, Julian finally returned to the Kempen Valley territory.
His fiefdom is in the northeast corner of the Kempen Valley Territory, a village located at the foot of the mountain called Stenden Village.
"Cathbet, I think we can spend a day repairing in my territory, and then go to Tonysburg to bring Simon's reply to Lord Lange." Julian looked at the familiar shape of the ridge in the distance, and he knew, Now he's back on his turf.
"Of course there is no problem, my lord, that would be perfect." Cuthbet rubbed the dark circles under his eyes, looking a little tired. Last night, in order for his companions who were camping in the forest to have a good sleep, he stayed by the campfire with eyes wide open for half the night.
This time, Julian was at the front of the team. He led his men on the muddy main road like a proud king, inspecting the shrubs and trees on both sides of the road with a sense of accomplishment.
This forest belongs to him, and everything in the forest, including every grass and tree, belongs to him.
On his first day as lord, he and his fellow citizens announced a law - no one was allowed to enter the forest except the hunters who worked for him and the woodcutter who specialized in collecting firewood.
The locals complained about this, but in the face of the armed soldiers who arrived with the new lord, they had to hide their dissatisfaction silently in their hearts.
The entire village of Stenden has eighty villagers, which can provide the lord with twenty-one levies in time of war. As elsewhere, these levies were just farmers with pitchforks and hammers who had never received any training.
There are no taverns, mills or bakeries in this village. All it has is cultivated fields, half-ground huts of the villagers, and an extremely small stone church.
When the Duke of Cologne granted this barony to Lange, he said that it was a rich territory. The Duke was right. Compared with several nearby territories, at least the residents here can still fill their stomachs, and some people can even do some small business. It can indeed be called rich.
But compared to Simon's territory, this place is really a desolate and barren land.
Julian was thinking about it and suddenly found that in the woods on the left side of the road, behind a dense bush, a stranger with his entire face hidden under a gray hood was spying on them from a distance.
After realizing that he had been discovered, the man turned around and disappeared from Julian's sight.
"Who is that? Damn it!" Julian had a bad feeling. His hunters and woodcutter would not dress up like outlaws.
Sure enough, when the anxious Julian hurried back to his village, he found that the faces of the villagers who had gathered one after another were obviously worse than when he left. It seemed that they had been suffering from hunger for a while.
"My lord, you are finally back." The village chief was a wrinkled elder. His hand on crutches and his weak voice were trembling. "While you were away, a group of robbers were armed to the teeth." They looted us. They claimed to be raising food for the school officer Heralt..."
"You cowards," Cuthbet interrupted the village chief rudely, "won't you take up arms and drive them away?"
"..."
The village chief fell silent, and the residents looked at Cuthbet with disdain in his eyes with anger. Everyone knew what it meant to take up arms and resist. If they did, what Julian would see now was a deserted village filled with rivers of blood and corpses eaten by crows.
Julian's heart was filled with anger. This group of damn bandits and their leader Heralt are some of the remaining private soldiers in the army of the former Earl of Loon. These people were not originally engaged in serious business. When they lost the protection of the nobles, they began to degenerate. They rob passers-by, kill people and steal goods, and even rob entire villages.
They have sophisticated equipment, and most of them are veterans equipped with iron helmets and leather armor. This is their capital that they have been able to escape unscathed despite harming one party many times.
You know, in most knightly territories and fiefs, except for the lord, his attendants and a few subordinates who are well equipped, the rest are weak farmers who have no way to resist such an invasion.
And every time they succeeded, they would retreat directly into the forest. When the baron led his troops to clear them out, even if they rummaged through every inch of soil in the territory, they could not find any trace of them.
Before Julian set out for Simon's territory, he had only heard that a group of fierce bandits had troubled Baron Shigerburg in the territory next door. Unexpectedly, he would be the one to suffer so soon.
However, Julian was a calm man and he quickly calmed down the anger in his heart.
As Count Lange's most trusted person, he has been secretly serving as Lange's spymaster. He thought, since this group of elite bandits have been doing mischief in this area, as a sharp sword, why can't they become a double-edged sword?
Perhaps, he could send someone to contact the school officer Heraldt and ask him and his elite bandits to ambush Simon on his way to the wedding banquet.
If they really succeeded, he, who was the first to take the lead, would definitely be promoted to baron by Count Lange who had obtained Simon's territory.
At the same time, no one would accuse Count Lange of being involved in the murder of his biological brother, because at least on the surface, Heraldt had attacked Lange and the territories of his vassals. Their relationship was that of enemies, and Simon The encounter is more like an accident in terms of emotion and reason.
Julian's gloomy face evoked a sneer. He looked around and found that his men and villagers were watching him, waiting for him to make up his mind.
"This group of damn scum actually dared to attack the village of Stenden. He had no regard for me and the authority of my monarch," Julian spoke, and raised his voice so that everyone could Everyone heard clearly, "Now, he is not only my enemy, but also the enemy of my monarch, Lord Lange. I swear, I will hunt them down, even to the ends of the world. We will not stop until we die!"
The villagers burst into cheers. Although Lord Julian was a selfish and tyrannical man, at least he promised to seek justice for the villagers.
Unfortunately, what they don’t know is that this is just a set on the surface. Instead of chasing those bandits, Julian would cooperate with them. What a ridiculous thing.
In Julian's view, all this is just a stepping stone for him to climb to the throne of Baron. Even if some villagers are killed, he doesn't care much.
After sending away the satisfied villagers, Julian asked his men to strengthen the village's defense, and then led his squire Cuthbet on horseback to the lord's mansion on the mountain.
"Cathbet, I need you to contact Heralt, no matter what method you use." Julian said expressionlessly.
"No problem, my lord." Although Cuthbert was surprised, he immediately replied to Julian. These are the advantages that make Cuthbet stand out. He is loyal, capable, and will never ask more questions than he should.
You are a genius, remember in one second: Red Oasis:
