Before you decide who will take action, you should first send someone you trust to check.
Oran threw the letter to Nanding in front of him. Nanding also lived in the castle as the captain of the guard and often had meals with Oran.
After reading the letter, he saw the look in Olan's eyes and understood what it meant. He immediately wiped his mouth and without any unnecessary nonsense, he stood up, gave a brief salute to Olan and left quickly.
Before the sun went down that day, Nanding took thirty people to support Ladd.
These thirty people are all experienced veterans. Oran is waiting for good news, and Nanding is also very confident.
But six days later, Nanding came back dejectedly, followed by Ladd. As soon as the two men saw Oran, they immediately knelt down to apologize.
"One of you is a lord, but you told me that your food was robbed and you were kidnapped for ransom."
"The other one - my captain of the guard, if you take thirty people out, you will bring back half of them!"
"Except for the two of them, get down here."
It was dinner time, and Mi'er was accompanying Olan.
When she heard this, she left extremely disappointed. Whenever Master Oran got angry because of political matters, he would almost never summon her or Karin.
As the lord's second lover, she was also surrounded by castle maids and the wives of some merchants in the territory, and she learned how to please men from these people.
She was just about to show off today!
Olan asked people to go down, and after saving face for the two of them, he turned over a table in front of him.
Nan Ding's face turned red. He had promised the adults that he didn't want to defend himself. Men don't need to defend themselves. If they fail, they will get it back.
Ladd had a grimace on his face, but he was more adaptable. He stepped forward and lifted the table again, picking up the unbroken tableware and making his hands dirty.
Anger will pass and subside over time. Olan took another sip of tea to suppress his anger and said,
"You don't want to think that it was the two-year-old baron who personally led his men to rob you, do you?"
"And you (Ladd), taking over three villages is too much, right? I can ask others to help you share the burden."
"Sir, this group of people are soldiers of the Canaan family. Several of them were caught by my subordinates..."
Rudd Walker immediately started from the beginning.
"I followed your lord's instructions and after taking over the new territory, I immediately prepared a batch of supplies, including enough winter wheat and wool, as well as a batch of wood, to celebrate your lord's wedding.
But one night, I met this group of bandits, and I didn't take it seriously at first. I didn't expect that they were all armed with weapons. They probably had soft armor stuffed under their black cloth coats, so even if someone was shot by my soldiers, they could still escape. , a lot of the supplies I prepared were also taken away.
After that day, I took people out on patrol every night, and then I really encountered him, right at the border with Mr. Ghazi. Although the soldiers I led were not many, I was able to fight back more than a dozen people before I was caught..."
Ladd embellishes the whole process a lot.
According to the uncorrected version, when the thieves came that night, he panicked, thinking that the Vikings were coming, and that he accidentally set the barn on fire.
Afterwards, he led his team out and did encounter the enemy, but the number of enemies was only twenty. He took thirty-five people there, but they were defeated and even captured!
The enemy also asked the village manager to pay immediately to redeem Ladd and the three missing hostages.
Ladd's heart beat faster after saying this - because he told a big lie.
There was nothing to prepare supplies at all. They were used by him to trade with smugglers in the north. He even sent people across the border to hunt Sir Ghazi's forest.
If Ghazi hadn't been afraid of Oran, he would have accused Ladd a long time ago.
The tax rate set by Oran in the territory is 73% higher than that of the upper and lower lords.
If the harvest of the three village leaders in Rad is equivalent to ten silver coins, then three of them must be handed over to Oran.
The tax was so high that Ladd decided to let the thieves pay it this time.
It doesn't matter if Olan doesn't exempt him from the tax this time. If he squeezes a little more from the people, there will always be a chance.
If you are willing to waive it, you will earn it.
Olan checked these thoughts lazily and said, "Keep talking."
This time he asked Nanding, and his tone was calmer, "Get up and find a seat."
Tonight's dinner, after Olan received the news that the two of them had returned, he prepared a meat feast and wine.
Unexpectedly, it turned into a sin-examination party!
When I asked the two of them to get up and eat, I didn't intend to pursue it too much.
After the two of them sat down.
"Sir, after I arrived at Lord Ladd's territory and listened to what he said, I deployed manpower on the side of Baron Dasif - the road that may enter our territory. On the third night of my arrival, I encountered a A small force was supposed to win, but..."
"But what?"
"But I was too impatient and was not familiar with the terrain. I chased him all the way. In a weed forest, I was...defeated by the opponent's leader!"
Being defeated made Nanding feel humiliated. It was dark and he couldn't even see clearly how his opponent drew his sword.
The opponent wore a mask and used a knight's sword. Under the dim moonlight, the sword's power was smooth. It was the momentum of a knight who had truly fought.
Just a little bit, the white light on the sword passed by, and the person's blood vessels were cut open - it was as scary as a ghost!
"So, Ghazi's previous letter was also snatched by this army?" Oran asked.
"That's right, sir. Yesterday, I captured two scouts among the thieves. After questioning, I determined that they were from the border and were under the command of a knight named 'Marcus'..."
"Where are the people?"
"Brought it, waiting for your orders below the castle."
"pull over."
After Oran finished speaking, the hourglass in the hall lasted no more than five minutes. Two border soldiers with wounds all over their bodies and bruises on their noses and faces were pulled into the hall.
"I still don't bow to the noble Lord of County Durham, His Excellency Oran."
Ladd took the stick from the escorting soldier and beat the legs of the two prisoners severely. It can be said that he was in such an embarrassing state when he was captured, and how vicious he is now.
The prisoner's shouting could not satisfy Oran. He waved his hand to stop the execution and asked, "I already know everything. I want to listen to you now. If the circumstances are consistent, I can give you a way to go. Otherwise, I will chop you into pieces." Feed it to the wild beasts of the forest.”
The two soldiers vomited black blood and stained the hall floor. They begged for mercy in unclear words and slowly talked about their identities.
When "Knight Marcus" took him to rob, it was to save everyone's lives. Now he revealed the leader's name to save his own life.
"Self" is obviously greater than "everyone".
"Marcus Milo?" Oran found it hard to believe that a small border knight could have such powerful skills.
"Yes, sir, it was this bastard who did it," Ladd said.
"What bastard?" Oran asked.
"After I caught the person, I asked the housekeeper in the village and found out more news about the border. This person's mother was originally a Viking shieldmaiden. She was captured when she followed Ragnar to invade Mercia and stayed there. England, and was later baptized as a knight's wife," Ladd explained.
"That's enough, Lord Ladd, we must admit that he is a warrior." Nanding did not want to use derogatory methods to gain Oran's tolerance.
Kolad remembered that when he was arrested, he was humiliated by the soldiers' saliva and heavy punches, and said angrily, "The blood of Viking barbarians, what is it if it's not a bastard?"
"How many of you are there? One hundred, two hundred?" Olan continued to ask.
When the two prisoners saw Ladd's eyes, they remembered the collusion words that "Ladd Knight" had said in advance.
"Remember, I will beat you up. You only have one chance to survive, which is to tell Mr. Oran that you have many Vikings in your team, so you are so strong..."
"Your Excellency Baron, we have hundreds of people, including many warriors from the Viking settlement in the north." The two prisoners exaggerated the number of people.
"Hundreds of people?"
"Yes, there was civil strife in the Viking settlement in Yewei County to the north. Many people escaped and were taken in by Lord Marcus. They became our help in robbing you.
Oran said to himself, "There are quite a few people."
Nanding wanted to say something and opened her mouth again. Seeing this, Ladd hurriedly pretended to be choked by wine, coughed twice, and slapped the table.
"It's so noisy. Shut up. I'll ask and answer."
Olan's words blocked everyone's mouth, including Nanding's.
Oran then looked at the two prisoners and asked, "Having taken in so many Vikings, he also wants to be a baron?"
Knight Ladd didn't teach him this question, and the two criminals didn't dare to talk to each other directly.
One prisoner saw Oran's attitude change after hearing about the Vikings, and refused to let anyone beat him. In order to gain more chances of survival, he just talked nonsense.
"Lord Marcus once got drunk and told those Vikings that when Ragnar... the king steps into the sheep farm again, he will fight alongside the king as the number one swordsman in the Seven Kingdoms."
Step into a sheep farm?
Steal it from me?
The best swordsman in the Seven Kingdoms?
King Ragnar?
The corners of Olan's mouth rose--that was a murderous smile.
"Then I will personally send him back to 'Valhalla'!"
…
…
"Valhalla", the paradise place among the Vikings, is also known as the "Hall of Valor".
Ruled by Odin, king of the Æsir, legendary "heroes" and "kings" would come to Valhalla after their deaths.
There are also warriors who died on the battlefield - they will also join here to fight for the "Twilight of the Gods" that will come in the future.
