Riding and Slashing

Chapter 226 Cunning and Generosity

The fire rose and engulfed the entire barracks, but did not ignite other buildings in the city.

This was originally a camp specially surrounded by General Kryon.

He was already ready.

He sent the uninfected soldiers out of the city and then returned, just to clean up the affairs of these dying brothers.

He was also the first to let go of grief and sentimentality.

"Your Excellency Li Ang, there is no need to feel sorry for this. Those of us who are alive still have a lot to do."

While the fire was still burning, he had already lifted a large bucket and started pouring lime all over the city.

Sprinkle very carefully.

"Everyone, obey General Kryon's orders and drive the plague out of Karen Lunborg."

Li Ang stood up and nodded, and followed behind Kryon. Whatever the old general did, he followed suit.

"They all have the loyalty and sacrifice of a knight...but they are not knights..."

Anson was still crying, and joined the work while crying and choking.

"Knight?... My child, I am not a knight... In fact, even the Knights of the Glorious Cross today have not been recognized by the Valides Charter. Really speaking, including Loris, all Radiant Crusader Knights are not considered orthodox knights."

Kryon whispered while busy.

The "Valides Charter" is a standard regulation for the knight order promulgated after the Kingdom of Pendor unified the continent.

There are many restrictions in it, and only knights who fully comply with the charter will be regarded as legally established knights by the whole continent.

Of course, these restrictions are mainly to reduce the number of knights...

The original Knights of the Glorious Cross was destroyed by General Osa. At that time, all combatants were killed, and only scholars and doctors were left to protect the cultural heritage of the Knights.

Today's Knights of the Glorious Cross were originally selected from the soldiers of the Bacchus Empire. This was General Osa's move to win the hearts of the people.

And the Radiant Cross pestilence exorcists were all civilians recruited to protect the doctors, including General Kryon himself, none of them were descendants of nobles.

Such a knight order naturally does not meet the standards of the Valides Charter, and the Knights of the Glorious Cross are indeed not orthodox knights.

"Charter Walides? Hmph...The charter is like a female cousin, as long as the fist is big enough, you can adjust it to the posture you want..."

Li Ang shook his head and said, "The countess Valera said she wanted to become a knight, so the Valides charter quickly recognized the legality of women becoming knights... because all nobles know that Valera really will beat them!"

"My lord... I'm a little confused..."

Anson murmured, but didn't say what he was confused about.

"From ancient times to the present, there are countless heroes who are as unknown as them. A true knight never relies on the title of a knight... Do what you should do, obey your heart, and you will not be confused, Anson. "

Li Ang patted Anson on the shoulder.

"What Li Ang is doing now is different from that kidnapper a year ago..."

Kryon sprinkled the last handful of lime in the bucket and looked back at Li Ang, as if planning to get to know him anew.

Li Ang shook his head: "I have always obeyed my inner voice. General Kryon, your subordinates are admirable, but you may be criticized by many Bacchus nobles."

"If I care about those nobles who can only brag, then I can't be a general..."

Kryon turned to look at the still burning barracks.

The fire in the barracks was gradually extinguished.

Part of Li Ang's troops have also arrived outside Karen Deer Castle.

"Sorry, General Kryon, for my own safety, I have to occupy this castle... When the troubles caused by the Snake Cult are resolved this time, I will build a monument to heroes on this ashes."

Li Ang looked at Cleon: "But I'm afraid you will lose your territory and get a reputation for being defeated."

"As long as the difficulties facing the empire can be resolved, sooner or later there will be territories... Maybe after you settle in Karen Lunborg, Bacchus and the Sarleon Kingdom will not have so many wars. In fact, I didn't want to defend the territory It's not a bad thing to be able to get away with doing what I'm supposed to be doing in this city... now."

Kryon didn't care about the territorial issue at all. He opened the city gate and walked out of Karen Deer Castle without looking back.

Li Ang was behind Kryon, looking at the old general.

He seemed to see another Earl of Oden...

In this era, it is quite remarkable to be able to climb from a low-level commoner to a high-ranking general step by step.

So it was with Lord Alden, and so it was with General Creon.

None of them are brave fighters in the traditional sense, but they are all real heroes.

They all looked ugly, short and thin, and they didn't possess top-notch personal force. They even let their subordinates use crossbows, which were regarded as 'dishonorable' weapons for sneak attacks and assassinations by the so-called orthodox knights.

They are also not very rich, and they also worry about their children like an ordinary old man.

But they all have excellent military management capabilities, they can walk into civilians unarmed, and they all have an amazing sense of purpose and determination.

Oden has spent his life fighting against the Cato...

As for Kryon, he has been fighting against the Snake Cult all his life.

It is naturally extremely rare for the soldiers under his command to die calmly, and it will be incomprehensible to most nobles.

This can only be achieved by conveying long-term unified values ​​and building a firm will and sense of mission in the army.

And Kryon, who can make the troops have this sense of mission, is undoubtedly a respectable general.

But in fact, both General Cleon and Earl Oden have a bad reputation among the nobles—they are both regarded as 'cunning' by the noble lords.

In fact, this comment usually appears on civilian lords who have no family background and rely on their ability to climb to high positions.

People who have no background to rely on, but still rely on their own abilities to achieve success, will naturally possess the will and wisdom that most nobles do not understand at all.

At the same time, they obviously have a relatively sincere attitude towards nobles and civilian soldiers.

But these things that the nobles can't understand in their entire lives, these things that make them feel incredible, will be regarded as 'cunning' by them.

Some things, in the cognition of those nobles who were born with a golden key and have nothing but talk, are completely different from ordinary civilians.

Any lord who was born in a lowly position but was able to defeat the strong with the weak, and held a high position with a commoner background, would be evaluated as "cunning" or "insidious" by the nobles.

Li Ang is now also known as a sinister and cunning person.

In the eyes of most nobles, a young pioneering lord has changed from a small role to a powerful earl in a short period of time, and he is still so rich. This must be because he has done a lot of shameless acts that are unknown...

After hearing that Li Ang had several Noldo beauties beside him, he made some more comments like 'lewd and shameless'.

Moreover, Li Ang was always mixed with merchants, and he didn't look like a nobleman at all. This was called 'degeneration' and 'insulting the dignity of nobles'.

And when Godric became rich in partnership with Leon, he was also known as a "self-willed scum"... But after he went to Eagle Claw Castle and announced the "dissolution of partnership" with Leon, the nobles Immediately said that he was a 'good-natured and kind-hearted man'...

In fact, most of the nobles who said these words had never been to the eastern region at all, and they didn't even know what Li Ang and Godric looked like...

Human nature is like this.

The benefits that you can't get, of course, are depraved...

What you can't do, of course, is shameless...

The quality that I don't have, of course, is cunning...

After all, the right to speak is in the hands of the aristocrats. They hold their pens and talk nonsense, but they are just incompetent and want to be "shameless and depraved".

But sometimes, a wording method has been used for a long time, and people will interpret it as a slang word among nobles, just like deciphering code words.

The gentleness and kindness in the eyes of the nobles can generally be interpreted as being good at socializing and being on good terms with the nobles - Justus is considered by the nobles to be a generous governor...

And "cruel temperament" can probably be understood as ignoring the tacit understanding among the nobles and killing the nobles who surrendered...

In fact, many lords who are regarded as "ruthless" by the nobles often do a good job in protecting civilians.

After all, the attitude when dealing with nobles is not the same as the way when dealing with common people.

Just as slaves and poor people regard 'brain tank' as 'conspirator', what nobles consider 'cunning lord' naturally has another meaning in the eyes of civilians and soldiers.

This meaning can probably be interpreted as 'a commoner lord who is good at solving problems', and he is the kind who has a flexible mind and is worth following.

Now, this 'cunning' general is going to go with another shameless and cunning enemy to Boshi City to continue doing things that nobles can't understand and solve the most troublesome problems.

……

Boshi City.

The situation of Governor Justus is already extremely difficult.

The plague in the city has bad news every day, the nobles who are locked in the city are making trouble every day, and the whole city is in chaos.

Although Justus issued a strict order to force everyone to stay at home and not go out, those nobles were quite disobedient and made troubles all day long.

These noble people with prominent family backgrounds are afraid of the rebel army outside and the Red Death in the city, but they are not afraid of Justus...

Because Justus is a 'generous and good man' in the eyes of the nobles.

In fact, Justus' temperament is relatively kind, probably because he is a cultural person, and his behavior seems to be mild.

But gentleness and generosity are sometimes not good qualities.

After the city was closed, the nobles probably drank all the wine in their homes, had no fruit to eat, and no gladiatorial matches to watch, let alone any singing and dancing performances, and they were not even allowed to walk on the streets...

Coupled with the fact that the terrible Red Death was spreading in the city, these people staged absurd farces one after another in the city.

Some nobles abused slaves at home and committed cruel murders, but since they tortured and killed their own slaves, this is legal according to the laws of the Bacchus Empire...

Some threw torches in the quarantined areas of the city, claiming to burn the disease to death, but fortunately, no one actually deliberately set fires, but throwing torches indiscriminately made the people in the city even more panicked.

There are also aristocrats who are using the Red Death to keep reporting who is sick and needs to be locked up, or who is reporting who intends to cooperate with the rebels outside-then these people take the opportunity to search the home of the reported person and snatch everything that can be robbed. walking things...

Boshi City was already facing internal and external troubles, but these people not only did not stop, but became more rampant, and caused panic in a large area of ​​the city.

The mentality of many idiots is really hard to understand.

But Justus couldn't kill those idiots—according to Bacchus' law, those people didn't deserve death, so Justus could only lock them up first.

However, those guys took up a lot of Justus's time and manpower, and the panic they caused made Boshi City even more difficult to control.

If it wasn't for the encirclement of slave rebels outside the city, I'm afraid there would have been riots in the city by this time...

But the movements of the rebel army outside the city also made Justus extremely anxious.

Because not long ago, a rebel army of thousands of people left Boshi City.

Justus didn't know where the departing troops would go, but obviously, this meant that the rebel army had begun to split, and they no longer had a unified leadership...

Moreover, the rebel army may be short of food.

If this continues, more and more rebels will gradually separate and leave.

This is not a good thing, although it seems that it can save Boshi City from the siege, it will also lead to the failure of all the plans of Emperor Mario and Alina.

In fact, for Justus, it was not a bad thing for the rebel army to besiege the city.

These slave troops led by gladiators did not have siege equipment, so it was difficult to conquer Boshi City. They surrounded the city, but they could prevent the disobedient nobles in Boshi City from running around and causing the red death to spread widely.

On the other hand, if they do not disperse or evacuate, they will have the opportunity to reorganize.

So Justus had to make a difficult decision.

He let his Imperial First Army take the initiative to launch an attack on the slave rebel army.

He wants to create a conflict, and create the illusion of a forced breakout...

This is currently the only way to keep this rebel army here.

However, Justus was indeed quite intelligent, and he allowed those nobles who were not resting all day long to participate in this breakout—in fact, he used the guards of those nobles as cannon fodder.

Perhaps Justus is indeed gentle and generous at ordinary times, but he is not relentless when it is time to use tricks - how can a person who can be called a 'brain trust' be easily seen by others?
Those nobles are of course willing to break through and leave Boshi City, and they are really good at making troubles. They easily attracted the attention and firepower of the slaves immediately after the battle...

The rebel army was irritated by the cruel and rampant behavior of many nobles. Instead of infighting, they quickly elected a gladiator with the best skills as their leader, and easily repelled the Empire's First Army.

Afterwards, they started a real attack, intending to conquer Boshi City, rob all the food of the nobles, and rescue all the slaves...

Just like what they did before they came to Boshi City.

Justus's strategy worked, and the rebel army neither disbanded nor withdrew from the siege.

But the situation in Boshi City has also become more difficult - the re-elected gladiator, the current leader of the rebel army, seems to hate all the nobles and soldiers of Bacchus!
That gladiator, unlike Brutus, had no regard for anyone's life.

including his own...

He launched a fierce attack on Boshi City regardless of the cost, and refused all communication!
(End of this chapter)