Lord: Starting with Summoning the Regular Army of Earth

Chapter 75 A Despicable Scheme (Please Subscribe)

Inside a tent at a camp outside Ironrock City, Renault kicked over a makeshift sand table in front of him, sending wood chips flying. He cursed angrily, "Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

The frustration of the past few days and the devastating news of the entire patrol team's annihilation last night nearly drove him to the brink of losing control.

A few days ago, the Blood Raven bandits massacred Oakwood Village, enraging his father. Although they knew that these guys had escaped from the Tully family's territory, and it was even very likely that the Tully family had deliberately let them in, there was nothing they could do.

The only thing we can do now is to completely eliminate these guys and prevent future troubles.

So Renault's father, Count Cress, entrusted him with this arduous task, allocating him two squadrons of city garrison troops, plus a cavalry unit.

He was ordered to hang the heads of these scumbags on the city gate within ten days.

However, things have not gone as smoothly as Renault had anticipated in the past few days.

He led his troops to repeatedly raid the mountains and forests where the bandit gang might be hiding, but they repeatedly came up empty-handed.

Those robbers were like cunning foxes, always managing to move first.

To make matters worse, just last night, his ten-man patrol was ambushed near an abandoned village close to the border, and the entire team was wiped out, with all their equipment and horses looted.

So when Renault learned the news, he was furious.

"Young master, please calm down." A middle-aged man with a small mustache and shrewd eyes, Harold, Renault's personal advisor, whispered to him, "These bandits are extremely familiar with the terrain and their movements are unpredictable. Our search is very passive, and we are even being outmaneuvered by them. Moreover, I suspect that they may have spies watching our movements."

"Eyeliners?" Renault forced himself to calm down. "Then what do you suggest we do? Are we just going to let them run rampant?"

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Harold's eyes as he leaned closer and whispered, "Young Master, we can lure them out. These bandits are like hungry wolves; given enough meat, they'll surely show themselves. We can set a trap."

"Tell me about it!" A hint of anticipation appeared in Renault's eyes.

"My initial plan is this: we can disguise a convoy transporting military pay or valuable supplies, but it shouldn't be too large. We'll pretend to be making a secret transport, deliberately passing through areas where they might be active, and inadvertently letting our guard down. Meanwhile, our main force will lie in ambush at pre-arranged locations. Once they attempt to rob the convoy, we can surround them and annihilate them in one fell swoop. The key to this plan is that the bait must be enticing, but it must look like a piece of meat that can be swallowed, not an obvious trap."

As Renault listened to Harold's plan, his fingers unconsciously tapped the edge of the map.

This plan is conventional and a common method used in bandit suppression, but Renault always felt it lacked "power".

"Harold, your idea of ​​luring the snake out of its hole is one way. But ordinary fat meat probably won't be enough to hook these cunning foxes." Renault's voice turned gloomy and full of calculation. He walked to the map, his gaze sweeping over the area around Ironrock City, and finally, it fixed on that isolated spot in the southwest corner—Emberstone Ridge.

A bolder, more vicious, and more multi-pronged plan instantly took shape in his mind, growing wildly like a poisonous vine.

"Haha, I've got it!" Renault's voice rose slightly with excitement as he pointed to Ember Ridge. "Use a small convoy as bait?"

The Blood Ravens might not take the bait, and even if they do, they might only send a portion of their forces, not eradicate them completely. If we're going to play, let's play big!

A cruel and smug smile spread across his face: "Look here! A ready-made, irresistible piece of meat—our esteemed Prince Matthew and his abundant development funds." If we were to openly and ostentatiously organize a convoy laden with gold and silver treasures, under the guise of the Kress family's aid to His Highness, and send it in a grand procession to Emberstone Ridge—would those bandit spies not know? Those guys wouldn't dare openly rob our convoy, but Emberstone Ridge, with its vast wealth, weak defenses, and proximity to the Misty Mountains, would be an irresistible temptation for them."

Harold immediately understood his young master's intention, his expression a mixture of surprise and complexity. He hadn't expected his young master's plan to be so ruthless and audacious: "Young master, this plan is ingenious, but if Emberstone Ridge is truly wiped out by the bandit gang, I'm afraid—"

"What's there to be afraid of? He's just a bastard. His Majesty the King has wanted him dead for a long time, otherwise he wouldn't have been enfeoffed to Ashstone Ridge. If we get rid of him, His Majesty might even be grateful to us. Besides, they were killed by bandits. What does that have to do with our Kress family? We did our best to avenge them!" Renault snorted disdainfully, his tone full of confidence.

After all, anyone with eyes could see what was going on, and the Queen's hatred for Matthew's mother was common knowledge in aristocratic circles.

Harold wasn't worried about Matthew, but rather the Blackwood family. After all, Will was the eldest son of the Blackwood family. But seeing how determined the young master was, he couldn't say anything more.

Anyway, if something unexpected happens, it won't be their fault.

"Hmph, as long as we send a big enough lure to Emberstone Ridge, those bandits will definitely target the weakly defended Emberstone Ridge. I can even guess that they will hide in the Misty Mountains after their plan succeeds. At that time, we just need to ambush them around Emberstone Ridge and take them by surprise when they attack Emberstone Ridge. We can definitely wipe out those bastards." Renault felt more and more that the plan was feasible, and his smugness was evident in his words.

Upon hearing this, Harold remained silent. The plan was indeed clever, but it was also too despicable. He feared that no survivors would be left in Emberstone Ridge, or there would be trouble later.

Most importantly, he knows Renault very well; he would never really give those "bait" to Emberstone Ridge for nothing. Therefore, Emberstone Ridge has only one ending: to be destroyed by the bandit gang.

Then Lord Renault, along with the knights of the Kress family, wiped out the bandit gang, avenging Emberstone Ridge, and all the supplies returned to Lord Renault's hands.

"Harold, you will return to the city with me later. Send men to spread the word that my Kress family, in gratitude for His Highness's arduous pioneering efforts, has allocated a large amount of gold, weapons, and food to aid Emberstone Ridge!"

"Yes, young master!"

"I'll handle the supplies. The key to the plan's success is authenticity!" Renault said to Harold with a burning gaze. "Those people at Ember Ridge aren't fools. Conrad and Will are shrewd. If our aid is too meager or perfunctory, they'll definitely become suspicious. So, this time, we need to make it real!"

Harold immediately understood: "Young Master means we really need to prepare a decent amount of wealth?"

"That's right! In any case, these valuables are only temporarily stored at Emberstone Ridge. Once the Blood Ravens are wiped out, they will be returned to their rightful owner."

The principle is simple, but it's difficult to put into practice.

Although Renault's own private vault and treasury were substantial, it was still a struggle to amass enough "wealth" to make a gang of ruthless bandits envious.

"Young master, this expense is considerable. Should we inform the Earl?" Harold cautiously reminded him.

"No!" Renault flatly rejected the idea. "If Father knew the details, he would not agree to our plan. This must be done in secrecy." He pondered for a moment, a shrewd glint in his eyes, "I have my own ways of securing funding and supplies."

That night, Renault, carrying his wicked plan, rode swiftly back to Ironstone City to begin preparing the gifts to give to Emberstone Ridge.

He first used the pretext of "being on the Earl's secret orders to carry out special military duties" to "borrow" one hundred sets of nearly new chainmail from the family armory.

Two hundred longswords and fifty strong bows, along with a large quantity of arrows. This armament was so extensive that it could equip a small army, and it was exactly the hard currency that the bandits desperately needed.

Over the next few days, he began to use his status as heir and the prestige of the future earl to "borrow" money from the Black Bear Merchant Guild and the Golden Flower Merchant Guild.

In the end, Renault successfully "borrowed" five carts of grain, two carts of fine cloth, one cart of salt and sugar, and even several boxes of valuable but small gold and silver utensils and jewels, to be used by the "prince for his living quarters".

Finally, Renault took out five hundred gold coins from his own personal assets, filled a sturdy oak box, and placed it in the most conspicuous position in the convoy as the finishing touch to the "expansion fund".

In this way, the ten large trucks were packed full, covered with rainproof tarpaulins, and adorned with the Cress family's lion crest flag, making it look like a valuable and sincere "aid convoy".

Everything is ready.

That morning, Renault himself led a squadron of soldiers, escorting aid supplies, and drove out of Ironrock City in a grand procession toward Emberstone Ridge.

During the journey, they deliberately took a few short breaks and loudly proclaimed how precious these supplies were, urging everyone to protect them carefully and not to let their guard down.

These words were actually meant for the bandit gang's spies hidden in the shadows, as he believed their informants were definitely watching everything from the shadows.

When the convoy was less than ten miles from Emberstone Ridge, Matthew, who was in the lord's manor, also received a message from the sentry.

"Ironrock's caravan is coming this way?" Matthew was completely confused and couldn't figure out what was going on, so he immediately sent Conrad on horseback to meet them and find out the details.