Lord: Starting from the Pit-Dwelling Courtyard

Mad smiled and thanked the other party.

"I see. I've only just become the captain of the hunting party and didn't know that. Thank you, Sir Knight."

The guard knight, Doron, smiled and shook his head, then went back to maintain order.

Mad's back, which had been hunched over from years of hunting, has now straightened completely.

"I've spent half my life hunting and served three lords, and this is the best. Don't ask why; you'll understand once you've known him for a while."

In the breakfast queue, Mad began to sing praises of Ron at length. As the criminals listened, their eyes changed, and many of them showed longing.

In the evening, Fanta came to the convict camp to register the participants in the war.

"Those who go to war tomorrow can have three pieces of black bread and meat soup tonight. They can also eat meat every day after they go to the battlefield tomorrow."

Fanta didn't give a passionate speech; he simply drew the attention of all the criminals with a single sentence.

"The lord has decreed that after this battle, all prisoners will be freed and become the lord's subjects. As long as you do not commit crimes again, you can live in houses and eat meat. You can even become the lord's subordinates like Mad and enjoy better treatment."

A bearded man among the criminals stepped forward, his sharp gaze fixed on Fanta. He asked calmly, "Knight Commander Fanta, will the lord use us as cannon fodder? How many of us will return after this battle?"

Fanta's eyes sharpened, and he slowly placed his hand on the hilt of the sword.

Old Hall then burst into laughter: "The territory is in dire need of development, and Your Majesty urgently needs to expand the population. How could you possibly consume a large number of people? If you're just going to be cannon fodder, it would be better to keep you in the territory for construction. There are no better slaves than criminals, aren't there!"

With his last words, Old Hall stared intently at the bearded man.

The bearded man understood that it was Old Hall's threat, but when he thought of the lives of dozens of his brothers, he hesitated to say something.

Old Hall suddenly laughed: "Da Vinci, come with me to see the lord! I'm sure he'll give you a reasonable answer."

After thinking for a moment, Da Vinci, with his bushy beard, nodded.

"Wait here for my news."

Leonardo da Vinci was led by Old Hall to the courtyard of the pit house, where a pile of processed wood was placed in the corner, and no one could understand what its purpose was.

Old Hall also glanced at it curiously a few times.

Ron was called out by old Hall and, inside the cave, was clearly instructed to persuade Leonardo da Vinci.

Ron asked bluntly, "What do you want?"

Leonardo da Vinci thought for a moment and said, "We want both freedom and survival."

"There are always deaths in war." Ron shook his head and took the towel that Old Hall handed him to wipe his hands.

"I can only guarantee that I won't use you as cannon fodder, and I promise you that as long as you come back alive, you will receive the treatment you deserve."

Da Vinci was somewhat dissatisfied and was about to speak when Old Hall pressed him to the ground with a mage's hand, his bones cracking.

The Mage's Hand is arguably one of the few offensive methods available to the Architect Mage.

"Who gave you the right to refuse?" Old Hall said coldly.

Ron waved his hand, signaling old Hall to stop.

"You can refuse, or you can lead all the prisoners to refuse, but before we set off, I'll dig a hole and bury you all as fertilizer."

This was Ron's ultimatum. Da Vinci lay on the ground, and even without the Wizard's Hand pressing him down, he dared not get up, his body covered in sweat.

"All nobles are the same; I shouldn't have any hope!"

After a long while, Leonardo da Vinci slowly stood up, bowed respectfully to Ron, and said, "My lord, I understand what to do."

He stopped resisting and realized that he had no choice, but perhaps he could seize this opportunity to prove his worth on the battlefield.

This might save the rest of our brothers!

Ron smiled and nodded. After Leonardo da Vinci left, he spoke again: "I hereby appoint Leonardo da Vinci as a knight of the territory, in charge of the criminals in this battle."

Old Hall immediately became anxious, worried that Leonardo da Vinci would take the opportunity to cause trouble.

Ron smiled and shook his head: "With the guards and militia of the Fanta Territory following behind the criminals, what can he do? When he comes back, we'll just transfer him to the guard team."

Upon hearing Ron's arrangement, old Hall reluctantly nodded.

Sure enough, before Leonardo da Vinci could even tell his companions that he had become a territory knight, the news had spread throughout the criminal community. This was naturally thanks to Mad spreading the word, otherwise it wouldn't have been so fast.

When they returned from Davinsi, all the prisoners had already started eating. The broth not only had oil but also small pieces of beef, which made the prisoners very happy.

When Leonardo da Vinci saw this, his mouth slightly agape. He suddenly realized that nothing he said now would make a difference; instead, they would see him as a traitor.

Now we can only continue down this wrong path.

Early in the morning, before the sky was fully light, Mrs. Moriel and her men prepared breakfast for the expedition. Today's breakfast was the same for both prisoners and commoners.

Old Hall then arranged for people to move all the wood in the courtyard onto the cart that had been made the night before.

In addition to the 77 criminals and 50 militiamen, Old Hall also assigned 50 laborers to handle logistics and transportation for this battle.

Forget about food, even the big thing Ron prepared couldn't be hauled by a single cart.

Before setting off, Ron stood at the front of the group and shouted, "This battle will make Ashwood Territory famous. The goblins think they're after us, but they're wrong. We're the ones after the goblins! Goblins love to capture women. Once we break into the goblin's lair and rescue those women, everyone who kills will get a woman."

Upon hearing that women could be shared, many men let out wolf howls.

Mad immediately shouted, "My lord, do we prisoners get points too?"

Ron raised his right hand and shouted, "Everyone is welcome! There are no criminals or civilians in this war, for we are all Ashwood people!"

Old Hall was dumbfounded, never expecting his young master to have such eloquence.

Fanta was already fired up and roared loudly.

Seeing Fanta's furious roar, his second-in-command, Doron, helplessly covered his forehead.

"They're all so old, yet still so passionate. I really don't understand how the leader became a suicide squad member back then."

After the pre-battle declaration, the army set off, and Ron tossed another heavy crossbow to old Hall.

"Here you go. Just stay with us when the time comes."

Old Hall smiled and nodded, understanding that his young master didn't want him to take any risks.

He also worked overtime last night. Pointing to a group of laborers nearby, he said, "Young master, look what they're carrying?"

Ron looked in the direction Old Hall was pointing and saw a small heavy crossbow, which should now be called a single-soldier crossbow, or a light crossbow.

"We have given them a basic lesson on how to use it. The range is only 20 to 30 meters, and it is mainly used to deal with goblins that break through and approach."

Ron nodded and gave old Hall a thumbs up.

"Are the weapons I arranged last night ready?"

Old Hall nodded, pointing to the items wrapped in burlap on the oxcart behind him.

As the group was about to set off, Ron looked at the three bison wagons at the back with a look of surprise on his face.

"Can this thing be tamed?"

Old Hall chuckled and explained, "No, that's not normal. We're mages, even architectural mages are mages! We can't use spells that require high mental strength, but spells that consume a lot of mana are no problem for us."

Ron looked at him strangely: "How did you do that?"

"It's very simple. I used hypnosis to erase the memories of the three bison, and then I simply made up some memories of domestic cattle. Of course, the younger the bison, the better. The memories of older bison have become part of their instincts, which is not good at all. In the end, it will only damage the bison's brain."

Ron nodded. No wonder these three bison looked a bit small; they were all juveniles.

"All troops, march on!"

Led by Mad, with Da Vinci leading the criminals as the vanguard, Ron and Old Hall in the center, and Fender leading the militia rearguard, more than two hundred people, nearly half the population of the territory, thus went to the battlefield.

On the watchtower of Wenger's stronghold, a sentry covered in blood rubbed his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating, as there seemed to be smoke and dust in the distance.