Like most noble castles on high ground, Arthur's small castle is located on a hill. In addition to the residences of servants and soldiers, there is also a training ground nearby.
Therefore, it is very convenient to gather the thirty-five soldiers of the Bracken family.
Including Arthur, Yule, Gray Robe Amber, and six villagers from Riverside Village, there were a total of forty-three combatants.
If you pass through the villages under Bracken on the way, you can also recruit some more peasant soldiers.
These troops are enough to deal with a dozen unarmored bandits.
After discussion and coordination, Arthur left eight soldiers to guard the castle, and then he led the remaining thirty-four people towards the riverside village.
Riverside Village is to the east of Breckenberg. If you want to track the bandits, you must first go to Riverside Village.
If the bandits don't all ride horses, then they must not be moving very fast.
At this moment, the sun is at its peak. I guess the bandits haven't gone far, and it's still too late to pursue them now.
Jules, who had changed into chain mail, also wanted to stay and defend the castle, but was firmly taken away by Arthur.
There were seven horses in the entire team, but only Arthur was riding a horse, and the rest of the horses were led by their owners.
The group of people moved forward along the trail. Not long after setting off, the humid and hot weather in the riverlands made Arthur break out in a thin sweat.
The young man named Darren from Riverside Village saw that Lord Arthur was not very strict, so he ran over excitedly and asked.
"The plan is...well, to act as the situation arises." Arthur replied casually.
He was studying the army interface, but he didn't expect that someone would disturb him.
"Don't you have those detailed battle plans, that is, the idea of who is responsible for detecting the sentry, who is responsible for leading a few people to outflank, and who is responsible for cutting off the enemy's retreat?"
Darren's eyes were bright and he was obviously looking forward to it.
It’s not his fault, what man didn’t like these when he was young?
Arthur thought for a while, he really had never planned this.
He didn't even think about how to track the bandits. He just set out on a whim with thirty-four people.
If we just walked along the banks of the Red Fork River, we might not find any bandits until we reach the confluence of the three tributaries of the Trident River.
Even if you find the bandits' lair, you may still let some bandits escape with valuables such as silver deer.
It seems that some planning is needed.
"Yule, Amber, village chief Jace, you guys come here."
After several people called by Arthur approached one after another, the young lord asked:
"Do you have any ideas about hunting down bandits?"
Several people looked at each other, and the village chief replied first: "After passing the Riverside Village, chase down the Red Fork River and you will find those damn bandits."
Amber is the chief steward and is very familiar with the small territory of the Bracken family. After hearing what the village chief said, he said disapprovingly:
"There are few trees along the Red Fork River. It is all farmland and has a wide view. It is impossible for bandits to operate along the river bank during the day. If you look along the river bank, you will definitely not find them."
Darren thought for a while and agreed with Amber's opinion: "God's Eye Lake is on the south bank of the Red Fork River, and we are on the north bank of the Red Fork River. And the farther east, the more densely populated it becomes, so bandits cannot live there."
Arthur nodded and acknowledged the two people's opinions:
"I also think the bandits are more likely to go north and to the southeast of Shenyan Lake just to confuse us. Uncle Yule, what do you think?"
Yule sneered, "What can I say? When your grandfather was alive, there were not many bandits in the whole river land. How come now, there are actually bandits and they dare to rob a village."
The period of Grandpa Arthur mentioned by Yule should be the period of Targaryen’s Mad King.
In the early days of the reign of Mad King Aerys II, Tywin Lannister, a kind father and filial son, served as the king's hand and governed the entire Seven Kingdoms.
It can be called ruling the world!
Although they later experienced the Usurper's War, the situation quickly stabilized after Robert became king and Jon Arryn came to power.
The coast of the Red Fork River is the hinterland of Hejian, with flat terrain, numerous rivers, dense population, and extremely developed agriculture and handicraft industries.
In other words, there is no environment for bandits to grow.
The bandits who robbed the riverside village of more than a dozen people were already a very large team.
According to the memory of the original owner, no bandits have appeared in recent years.
There was no notice from the nobles in Riverrun and nearby areas to guard against bandits.
So where did this group of bandits come from?
Arthur expressed his doubts: "Did these desperadoes jump out of the stone?"
"Maybe they came from the mountains of Erin Valley." Darren guessed.
The village chief found Darren jumping around in front of the lord very displeased, so he retorted: "Not to mention that from the Erin Valley to the north bank of the Red Fork River, you have to pass through so many lords' territories, let me ask you, they
How to cross the Green Fork River and the Blue Fork River?"
The Green Fork River, Blue Fork River and Red Fork River are the three major tributaries of the Trident River, distributed from north to south.
Since the Green Fork River is not generally wide, the Frey's Twin River City is the only way from Twin River City to the confluence of the three forked rivers.
This is also the reason why Robb Stark must pass through the Frey Twins after he raises his army.
If you want to run from the high mountains of Arryn Valley to the north bank of the Red Fork River, you must first run from the Blood Gate in the valley to the King's Road, then cross the Ruby Ford to the south bank of the Trident River, and then cross the Red Fork River to
North Shore.
The Xueguan and Ruby Beach crossings are heavily guarded, and it is impossible for more than a dozen adult men with weapons to pass through.
Darren was at a loss for words. He was a farmer, and his education was limited to writing his own name. He couldn't even read a map, let alone the geographical knowledge.
Amber said to herself: "It's not from the east. Could it be from the north? That's even more impossible. The north is Blackwood, a great noble!"
When Arthur heard this, he also felt that it could not be bandits from the north.
Because the Blackwood family is to the north, and their family strength is enough to rank among the top five in the Riverlands. They usually support two to three thousand retired soldiers.
You must know that the stronger the nobles are and the stronger their control over the territory, the fewer bandits and bandits will be in the territory.
"This is really strange. Why did bandits come to rob my eldest nephew as soon as he became the governor of the house?" Yule, who was well-informed, expressed his doubts and also mocked Arthur.
.
From what he said, it seemed that there were bandits because of Arthur.
The lord also felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
This is the continent of Westeros. Under the attack of lords, lords, kings, armed churches and other forces, there are almost no bandits.
"Forget it for now." Arthur said loudly, "When you get to the river bank village, Amber will go north and Yule will go east. Each of you will take two people on horseback to follow the bandits."
"Village Chief Jess summoned some villagers who can shoot arrows and use big axes."
"Let's go kill these nasty bandits!"
PS: Newbie, new book, please collect it, recommend it, and vote for it monthly.
