Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 69 Capture alive
In the southern river valley region, a fortified city stands surrounded by waterways, with docks and wooden boats all around.

Upon closer inspection, the city walls were blackened by flames, with several collapsed sections, and a row of human heads hung atop the walls.

The city of Stream County, the castle of a marquis in the valley, has been captured by Isildur's army.

Although Isildur was temporarily at a disadvantage in the large-scale battle, Ivo did not intend to withdraw. Instead, he used reinforcements to capture the city of Stream County.

They are now waiting for another wave of reinforcements to arrive.

After the portal opened, large armies began transporting resources over.

The leader was Levin Anderson, a senior archmage of the Senate, who was skilled in both earth and water magic. He was not only proficient in earth elemental magic but also possessed advanced navigation skills, making him the most suitable person to launch an attack in the valley region.

The only pity is that the portal wasn't used to launch a surprise attack on the plains, otherwise Elton would have been crippled.

Ivo exchanged a few pleasantries with Levin before waiting for the main force to transport them.

At first it was normal, but after a while something was wrong, and no one came out of the portal for almost half an hour.

Once Locke led the remaining troops through the gate, Levin immediately closed the portal.

"The Angry Bear Clan and Mayor Su Mu of Cangmu Town led a team to launch a surprise attack on the city, besieging us in the square and robbing us of many resources and treasures."

Hearing Locke's report, Levin was furious: "Useless! What good are you? You can't even handle the rearguard action."

A water hammer struck Locke, sending him flying several meters into the air before he crashed down, suffering a severe fall with blood streaming from his mouth and nose.

Levin narrowed his eyes, wanting to use this human lord to establish his authority.

Ivo then stepped in and said, "Lord Levin, victory and defeat are common occurrences in war; there's no need to get angry."

I have some surrendered human soldiers here; they still have their uses.

Seeing that the Child of the Forest had spoken, Levin calmed down and turned to leave.

Ivo stepped forward, brushed the dirt off Locke's armor, and used the medical tent to treat his wounds.

“I’ve heard of Argyll of the Furious Bear family. The Burning Crusade is a well-known name even in Isildur. You’re not to blame for their surprise attack.”

Locke was moved to tears and knelt on the ground to express his gratitude: "Sir, you are a man of great wisdom. Locke is willing to swear allegiance to you to the death."

Ivo helped him up: "You are loyal to Isildur. If you can stir up trouble in the Valley, it's not impossible for me to promote you to Lord of Pegasus (a title of the Walled City, equivalent to a marquis)."

Locke bowed again, almost to the point of licking Ivo's feet.

"The Angry Bear family is one thing, but Mayor Su Mu of Cangmu Town, this man previously attacked your city, and now he's leading the main attack?"

Speaking of this, Locke was filled with righteous indignation: "That little thief not only ruined my grand plan to absorb the towns, but also had his eye on White Stone City long ago. I was careless; my previous sneak attack was utterly shameless, and now I don't know how he's managed to get on the good side of the Angry Bear family. He's a real menace."

"If I had known, I would have led my troops south and wiped out Kuraki first. In the future, you must allow me to lead troops to avenge this arrow wound."

After hearing the details, Ivo told Locke to go and rest.

He took out a map, circled the Xilin Plain, and then highlighted the town of Cangmu.

Hillel and Locke both failed in Kuraki Town. If one was a coincidence, then two was no accident. It seems that Su Mu is quite something.

If there's an opportunity, we should take the chance to get rid of it.

Ivo looked up again. Outside the city, wave after wave of transport convoys were throwing human corpses out of the city. Inside the city, the shrill screams of women and children echoed. Hirel was leading surrendered soldiers into the noble courtyards, letting them unleash their bestiality.

Everyone had to do it themselves: either kill, rape a woman, or trample the kingdom's flag, or die. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, they had no way to back down.

Given Ivo's original nature, he wouldn't have wanted to do such a thing. But after fighting in the valley for so long, the soldiers' morale was low, and coupled with the defeat in the first battle, he had to boost morale and gather as many surrendered soldiers as possible, fighting humans against humans. "By the God of Nature, Ivo has no personal interests, only the victory of the Empire!"

His gaze grew increasingly resolute and cold as he looked towards the mountains and rivers to the west.

……

Su Mu stayed in Baishi City for a full week, then took new archers and spearmen with him and headed towards Cangmu.

Within a week, White Stone City allowed nobles to enter, but not with their troops. After wandering around and finding nothing of value to gain, they dispersed.

As for the mines next to Whitestone, Argyle has already declared that this resource area will be returned to Longleat Castle. Anyone who dares to encroach upon it will face Garfield and Argyle's joint attack.

Since the Argyll family had said so, naturally no noble dared to interfere, so they all withdrew their troops, applied for some compensation for their service, and that was the end of it.

Su Mu had given this resource area a lot of thought. After all, if they occupied Baishi and didn't share any of the benefits, Garfield would probably be unhappy.

It would be better to have Maggie send some troops over as well, and turn this area into a place of cooperation, so that they can provide support in case of any trouble.

The Griffinson family suffered the most in this campaign, not only failing to gain any benefits but also suffering heavy losses in military strength and a plummeting reputation.

An interesting incident occurred during this time: Sumu sent people to find Ak Griffinson to demand the return of Ruhr, the former forestry owner of Cangmu Town.

Ak didn't want to hand the man over for fear of losing face, so he said the man was no longer in the camp.

When Ak went to warn Ruhr, he found that Ruhr was afraid and had already run away, which made Ak furious.

It seems that Ruhr doesn't trust him at all and is afraid that he won't be able to withstand the pressure and will hand him over.

The lie came true, and Ak could only explain the reason to everyone. But who was willing to believe it? Everyone made excuses about family matters and left.

Sure enough, within half a day, Ruhr was captured by a nobleman and brought over.

The fat man was bound hand and foot, and the rag in his mouth was only removed when he saw Su Mu. He immediately started crying and shouting, "Lord Su Mu, I looked down on you, please don't hold it against me!"

I was foolish, I was greedy, and I shouldn't have looked down on you when I was in Kuraki. According to noble tradition, I'm willing to pay gold to redeem my life. Name your price, and I guarantee you'll be satisfied!

"You still don't know who you've offended? Well, ordinary carpenters are just ants in your eyes. You'd just step on a few ants every day, so why would you care?"

Su Mu, somewhat disheartened, waved his hand and said, "Suppress him and hand him over to Forrest later!"

Now that it has reached this point, Ruhr is no longer a threat; it's all about keeping the promise it made back then.

After dealing with the fat man, another prisoner was brought up.

“My lord, a surrendered soldier has identified him as Terry Kyle, the second heir of the Kyle family.”

Looking at the disheveled, filthy, and foul-smelling man before him, Su Mu asked in bewilderment, "Is this Locke Kyle's second son? How did he end up like this?"

"I heard that he was in charge of carrying treasure during the evacuation. After arriving at the square, he had no way to escape, so he disguised himself as a vagrant in an attempt to flee the city, but he was recognized."

The man cried out in panic, "No! I'm not from the Kyle family, sir, you've mistaken me for someone else!"

Su Mu recalled the battle situation at the time. Indeed, a group of people were stopped outside the square. Unexpectedly, Locke Kyle was quite loyal. For the sake of the Esidor Empire, he even sacrificed his son.

"Smother him, wash him, and when we get back to Kuraki, someone will recognize him!"

If it really is Terry Kyle, just send him to Longlet Castle. The people of the Marquisate hate Kyle to the core right now; turning him to dust would be the least of their worries.

With his previous military achievements, it shouldn't be difficult for him to get a new title!

(End of this chapter)