After arriving at the small ferry in Riverside Village, the soldiers lined up to disembark, and Arthur paid the boat owner money for the fare.
The ship owner symbolically charged fifty silver deer as freight.
Originally, the cost of hiring such a boat was far more than fifty silver deer, but the owner insisted on charging only this amount, saying that it would take very little time, so he charged less.
Both Arthur and Andrew expressed their gratitude, which made the ship owner very happy.
His ship regularly runs the route upstream of the Red Fork River to King's Landing, and it is necessary to establish a good relationship with the landowner Bracken.
This time, it only took half a morning to gain the friendship of the senior officers and young lords of the Bu family, which was quite worthwhile.
After seeing the Bracken banner of the Golden Shield Horse and Lord Arthur, the farmers in the Riverside Village ran out and offered some fruits for food.
He also reported that Blackwood soldiers took away several women and the family of village chief Jace.
The soldiers happily accepted the food, while Arthur was worried about the captive citizens.
Soldier, in most periods and planes, is synonymous with bandit.
I'm afraid nothing good will happen if it falls into their hands.
After a simple meal, the soldiers assembled and lined up, and Arthur took them off.
Jiabao is not far to the east of He'an Village, and it was probably just noon when we arrived.
How to deal with it, Arthur has no idea yet.
Andrew also said to play it by ear.
Arthur wanted to discuss countermeasures with him, but Andrew was intrigued by Arthur's prophecy and kept guessing from him which lady had kidnapped Edmure.
And they are still guessing which three unlucky people died in this incident.
Judging by the slightly playful smile on his face, Arthur knew that he didn't believe it.
But Arthur didn't care, and instead encouraged him to tell this as a joke to all the Bracken soldiers he knew.
A few months later, this was no longer a joke, but another example of Arthur's correct prediction.
The reason why I say "another case" is because Arthur thought of the source of the money.
There are a lot of people in King's Landing who believe this. It only takes three or four days to ride a horse from here to the capital. Find an opportunity to go there and pretend to be a magician to make money.
…
"Sir, a large number of Bracken soldiers are coming from the east, estimated to be thousands of people." A sentry reported.
Santaga put down the whip and looked at the three corpses in front of him, a trace of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.
He has a hobby of torturing people, but due to his low status, he can only keep this hobby deep in his heart.
Never dare to show it.
This time, with Brynden tied up in this small castle, he was able to release his suppressed heart a little.
If there weren't quite a few subordinates around him, he would have screamed in excitement.
This kind of excitement was enough to paralyze his nerves, so it took him several breaths after hearing the report to realize what it meant.
"You mean thousands of Bracken soldiers?" He said with doubt on his face, "How is this possible? Not to mention the assembly time, can their ships transport so many people?"
The sentry knew that his lies would not work, but he really saw hundreds of soldiers.
Lying just to get the commander to order a retreat.
"Maybe a little less, but there is indeed a large force approaching. Should we consider avoiding its edge?" the sentry replied cautiously, trying hard not to make Chief Santaga angry.
The sentinel's advice had no effect, and Santaga was getting excited.
"You must have seen it wrong. There are not that many people at all." Santaga shouted loudly, "Call the people guarding the other doors. Let's go meet them and let them know the meaning of Blackwood."
"But Master Brynden is still in the castle." someone reminded.
Santaga thought of the wayward young master who didn't listen to her advice, and that Brynden who only listened to his distant cousin, so let him pay for his willfulness.
"They will not kill the young master. This is the tradition for treating great nobles." Santaga said.
Someone else reminded: "If they take the opportunity to escape..."
"Isn't that right? You can't run too far on the plains." Santaga interrupted his subordinate rudely, "Just do as I say and teach Bracken a lesson."
So no one dared to question it anymore, one hundred and fifty soldiers quickly gathered and set off, and several hostages were also taken away.
Not far away, the two armies met.
"Damn sentry, why didn't you remind me there were so many of them?" Seeing the array of hundreds of people on the opposite side, Santaga was frightened, frightened, and even a little angry.
Angry Sentinels don't tell the truth.
The sentry did not dare to run in front of Santaga at this time, and replied from a distance: "I said it."
Before Santaga could get angry at the sentry, he saw a man on the opposite side riding his horse forward.
The horse walked slowly, carrying the man closer.
The man has a delicate and handsome temperament, a straight nose and thin lips, bright eyes and white teeth, and a tall figure. Apart from being a little thin, he has no shortcomings.
If he weren't wearing an extremely ordinary chainmail, Santaga would definitely think that he was the heir of some top noble family.
It's really too dazzling.
"You are the one who robbed my people?" the man spoke, looking arrogant like a king.
Santaga thought for a while before realizing that this was Arthur Bracken.
Just a little nobleman.
"It's me." Santaga replied.
The army of several hundred people finally made him sober, and he thought about how to leave decently.
A head-on conflict is impossible.
With the few troops he had, the battle would be over in less than one meal.
It was at least four against one, and they were all off-duty soldiers wearing armor. How could they possibly defeat them?
"How are they?" Arthur asked.
Santaga thought for a while and replied truthfully: "Since your people wouldn't open the castle door, I killed three of them in order to let them open the door, and tied the rest behind."
"I will discuss this matter with Lord Edmure and Duke Hoster, and we will handle it according to their wishes." Arthur paused, "Now, shall we discuss how to deal with the current situation?"
"You kidnapped my young master Brynden. I will also report this to Duke Hoster." Santaga's momentum was as good as the others.
Arthur smiled, "Can you, an ordinary soldier, get up in front of the Duke? Are you worthy to talk about the report?"
Santaga didn't want to tangle with him on this issue, he just wanted to take people away.
As for Brynden, let Count Tytos worry about it.
"Yes, I am not worthy. Otherwise, I will take people away and we will each report this matter to the superiors."
Arthur snorted coldly: "Come when you want and leave when you want. Do you think the thousand soldiers behind me are vegetarians?"
"There are not a thousand people at all." Santaga corrected. He visually estimated that there were only about 500 people.
The lie was broken, and Arthur didn't blush at all. "There are still some parts on the way. We have so many soldiers that several ships can't fit them all at once."
There were only these five hundred soldiers, and one hundred gold dragons would be paid for each death. Arthur felt a little like a clever woman trying to make a meal without rice.
"Let's do this. I don't want to embarrass you ordinary soldiers." Arthur was duplicitous. In fact, he wanted to kill these people to gain experience.
"How about you send someone out to compete with me, and I win, and you surrender, and if you win, I let you go."
When Santaga heard this, he suddenly became excited: "Seriously?"
Why are these nobles always in the habit of being in the limelight?
Did he think that his thin appearance could defeat him, a veteran of more than ten years?
Arthur was also a little happy, finally he didn't have to worry about killing the Bracken soldiers.
"really!"
PS: Please give me recommendations and monthly votes.
Thanks to the friends who voted at this time, I will summarize it on Friday and send out the thank you list.
