After arriving at He'an Village, Yule and Amber each led people to track the bandits in the east and north directions.
The village chief Jace gathered the young adults among the villagers and let the lord Arthur choose directly.
…
[Fifteen Riverland peasant soldiers have joined your team.]
A blue light curtain emerged, reminding Arthur of the changes in his troops.
After rectifying military discipline, Arthur determined a preliminary battle plan based on his own understanding.
It's already noon now. By the time we find the bandits and chase them, it may take until midnight or even tomorrow.
At that time, the wife of the village chief Jess was really the "overnight wife", and the farmer's daughter who was snatched away might also have been defiled.
So act quickly.
After arriving at the bandit's hiding place, twenty Riverland sergeants armed with chainmail and round shields charged forward, followed by twenty-one Riverland peasant soldiers.
Ten sergeants are equipped with powerful crossbows and eight peasant soldiers are equipped with hunting bows. Both can be used as fire suppression during the charge.
Including Yule and Amber, there were seven people on horseback, outflanking the bandits' retreat and preventing the bandits from escaping.
After a group of people had lunch organized by the village chief Jess in Riverside Village, Yule brought the people back.
There wasn't even a rabbit to be found along the Red Fork River, these were his exact words.
Soon, Amber rode back to the north, saying that he had discovered the fleeing bandits, and left one person to monitor them from a distance.
Although he didn't quite understand why the bandits didn't escape far, Arthur immediately gave the order to set off, and the entire team trotted forward to catch up with the bandits heading north.
Yule, Amber and the others naturally had lunch on the way.
…
"Do you think Arthur Bracken will take the bait?"
In the "bandit" team that Arthur and his group were chasing, a young man riding a horse asked the middle-aged man next to him.
Although the young man was wearing coarse clothes and his face was deliberately smeared with mud, you could still see that his skin was delicate and shiny.
The middle-aged man looks much darker, but his body is strong and his muscles are strong. He is not comparable to the skinny and malnourished bandit.
Just looking at their skin, these two people are definitely not bandits.
Not to mention the exquisite armor with their collars and cuffs exposed.
"Arthur usually has a pretty good reputation. For the sake of the people's property and these two women, he will definitely catch up."
"We are not walking so slowly just to let the Bracken family catch up. Otherwise, according to the original plan, we would have run back to Sweetwater Spring in the afternoon," the middle-aged man replied.
"Roger, there's nothing wrong with this plan, right? If it's discovered, you won't be punished by the king, right?" The young man may have been a little unconfident, with a hint of vibrato in his tone.
"There is no problem. This time, I must kill Arthur Bracken and capture the nine villages of Moulin Rouge."
The middle-aged man said angrily.
The reason why he planned to kill Arthur was very simple. One was to consider his own territory, and the other was that the Bracken and Blackwood families were feuding families.
Yes, the middle-aged man is Roger from the Blackwood family of Raventree City, and the young man is Brynden, the eldest son of Lord Tytos, the governor of the Blackwood family. The two are distant cousins.
Blackwood and Bracken have been fighting in the Riverlands for thousands of years, and their grievances can be traced back to the Age of Heroes.
From Blackheart Harren's construction of Harrenhal to the Dance of Blood Dragons to the Blackfire Rebellion, whenever there is a major turmoil, these two families will always fight.
Generally speaking, the Blackwood family's territory is on the north bank of the Red Fork River, with Raventree City as the center, the Bracken family's territory is on the south bank of the Red Fork River, and the family governor is in Stone Hedge City.
But there are exceptions, such as Bracken in Moulin Rouge. In order to have a strong claim to several villages on the north bank of the Red Fork River, the Bracken family divided their territory long ago and divided them into separate families.
This is equivalent to setting up a stronghold in front of Blackwood's house.
The so-called thorn in the flesh is a thorn in the flesh.
Therefore, for the past hundred years, Blackwood on the north bank of the Red Fork River has been looking for trouble whenever possible, making the Bracken family of Moulin Rouge restless.
However, with the help of the Bracken family on the south bank, Blackwood refused to occupy this small territory.
There hasn't been much happening recently, so Roger Blackwood has come up with the idea of building these villages.
Because he was just a proletarian knight and had no inheritance rights, he had to plan for the territory in advance.
According to the territorial customs of Westeros, if the Blackwood family robs this land and then distributes it to Roger, then he will become a wealthy knight.
If you do some meritorious service, you can advance to the rank of knight, baron or other minor nobles.
And Roger has recently used his sword skills to gain a relationship with Brynden, the eldest son of the Blackwood family governor.
Brynden is the most beloved son of the family governor, Earl Tytos. If Roger and Brynden get these villages, and then Brynden says a few good words to his father, will Roger get the land?
A bit of a problem.
The young Brynden Blackwood also expressed support for his cousin's idea of taking over Arthur Bracken's territory.
He also wanted to do something to impress his doting father, so he led ten soldiers disguised as bandits to rob the river bank village.
In order to wipe out Arthur Bracken's troops in one fell swoop, one hundred and fifty heavily armed Blackwood soldiers were waiting near Sweetwater Spring, waiting to kill Arthur who left the castle to protect the people.
After Arthur was killed, they claimed that Arthur entered the Blackwood family's territory in the name of catching bandits and had evil intentions.
Then these nine villages were confiscated, creating an established fact.
The incident happened suddenly, and the Bracken family on the south coast probably couldn't react, and they couldn't fight against the Blackwood family, who were equally powerful, for the life of a small lord who was separated from the family.
We can only go to Riverrun to file a lawsuit with the Tully family.
Hoster, the governor of the Tully family, is seriously ill again, and the affairs of the Riverlands are in charge of the eldest son Edmure.
Edmure was a notoriously bad guy, so he would not offend both sides, so the matter fell by the wayside.
Therefore, the core of the entire plan is to take advantage of the chaos to kill Arthur Bracken, and then occupy these nine villages as quickly as possible.
"Are those two people at the back still watching?" Roger asked the "bandit" behind him.
"I was here just now, maybe I went to report." The Blackwood soldier, who was wearing chain mail but deliberately covered with a layer of tattered robes, replied.
"It seems they haven't caught up yet. We're not far from Sweetwater Spring here. Let's slow down a little so that those guys can catch up." Roger ordered.
Brynden expressed his acquiescence in his cousin's actions, and the soldiers disguised as bandits were ordered to continue to slow down.
But the situation was not quite what Roger wanted. In front of them, the sound of horse hoofbeats sounded, and seven people including Arthur appeared in their field of vision.
"'So that those guys can catch up', who are you?" Arthur asked as he slowly drew out his ancestral two-handed sword.
The expression of the younger Brynden Blackwood changed. He did not expect that Arthur Bracken actually rushed forward with several soldiers on horseback.
Roger, who looked around, laughed, knowing that Arthur's large army was still behind.
The knight, who had just turned forty, knew that his chance to show off to his future head of the family had come.
Whether it was the ratio of twelve to seven in numbers or the comparison of high-end combat power, the opponent was at a disadvantage.
According to rumors, Arthur's fighting ability is not outstanding.
"It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is that you are already a dead man!" Roger also pulled out his sword and rode forward.
He pointed his sword forward and shouted:
"You deserve to be called Arthur? Do you deserve to have the same name as the Sword of Dawn?"
PS: Newbie, new book, please collect it, recommend it, and vote for it monthly.
