"Duke Otto led more than a dozen cavalry to break out of the siege?"
After receiving such a report, Ella did not appear too surprised. She had already seen the power of Duke Otto's cavalry, and it was expected that a ragtag group of citizens and craftsmen could not stop them.
On the other hand, the twenty or so pirates surrounding Ella looked a little angry and shouted: "King of Sweden, send us to chase them immediately!"
"Do you want to race a horse?"
"We can't catch up at first, but after a day or so the horse can't run anymore. By then we can catch up!"
"...Yes, is that so?"
Ella felt that she still couldn't understand the brain circuits of these pirates.
"...But it's not necessary. Spread the news that Otto has escaped, and ask the enemies who remain in the city to stop resisting. All the prisoners will be handed over to the city of Hamburg for disposal. Call all our people here to gather and discuss it.
One step of action.”
After half a day, the riot in Hamburg calmed down.
The mayor of Hamburg brought a carriage of gifts and walked towards Ella with a smile on his face.
"King of Sweden! Thank you! Otherwise we would all have been deceived by Otto's sanctimonious thing! This is a gift from the city of Hamburg to you, hoping to bring us long-term peace."
"Grand Mayor, I heard that the Alemannic Federation has a rule that nobles cannot lead troops into the Free City." Ella stared at the mayor of Hamburg with suspicion, "Otto did such a thing in Hamburg.
You really weren’t involved?”
The mayor of Hamburg was so frightened that he hurriedly defended: "No! How could I be involved? I want to know that those three women were killed by Otto, who was worse than a beast. Even if there is no sword in his hand, I
Even if you pick up the stool, you're going to rush forward and smash Otto's head in!"
"There is no need to pick up the bench. Duke Otto has run away. In order to get rid of this disaster, we will launch an attack on the Duke of Anglia next. Mayor, go and prepare supplies and equipment."
The mayor of Hamburg suddenly froze: "Materials and equipment?"
"What? Isn't it possible?"
"It's not impossible...but...I...but...you...but...by the way, King of Sweden, if you continue to attack, you will probably be regarded as an invader! Although we really want to maintain peace with the Kingdom of Heroes
Trade relations, but if the King of Sweden becomes the common enemy of the Alemannic Federation, we will be forced to regretfully terminate the agreement under pressure! I think you, King of Sweden, don’t want to see this kind of thing..."
"So, it cannot be me, but you - it is the city of Hamburg that wants to conquer Duke Otto, and I am just your mercenary, do you understand?"
"I...we? Why should we...?"
"I don't have any problem with me withdrawing here." Ella shrugged, "However, Angria and Hamburg are very close to each other. Are you sure that Otto won't come back for revenge after I withdraw?"
"However, it is completely unprecedented for the Free City to send troops to attack the lords of Alemany...and what reason do I have to attack them?"
"As long as you are willing to look for it, you can always find a suitable reason. On the other hand, because you are just a mercenary from the city of Hamburg, all the spoils will belong to the city of Hamburg - I just want Duke Otto's life. He is like this
Nobles are not qualified to rule territories."
"I understand." The mayor of Hamburg took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face, "I wonder if the King of Sweden is going to dispatch... I wonder how many people we need to hire?"
"I only have a thousand men on hand, of whom two hundred need to defend Stade, and the number that can be dispatched is about eight hundred. The shortfall will be supplemented by the mayor, who can find other mercenaries."
"Eight hundred people!???" The mayor of Hamburg was shocked by Ella's words for the third time. "Duke Otto controls the two duchies of Frisia and Anglia. It is said that he can recruit at least 8,000 people."
!Where can I find so many mercenaries at once?"
"It takes time for eight thousand people to gather. Just end the battle before then."
"Even so, there are more than 2,000 defenders in Minden, the capital of Duke Otto! How can we attack the city with 800 people?"
"There are so many defenders in Minden, but not necessarily in Oldenburg. I passed by there when I came back from Ile-de-France. The defenders there were only two to three hundred people."
"Oldenburg? Starting from Hamburg, passing through Bremen, you can reach Minden immediately. Why did Otto take a long way to Oldenburg???"
"He will go to Oldenburg. Lord Mayor, you'd better go and prepare for the expedition."
"Listen to this, did the King of Sweden have an ambush on the road?"
"I didn't know how many troops Duke Otto and other nobles would bring, so I brought as many of my troops to Hamburg as possible. There were not many people sent to ambush. But I thought, I just asked Otto to change his route.
Oldenburg is still fine."
"How is this possible? To ensure that Otto goes to Oldenburg instead of Minden, interference must be carried out along the border between Bremen and the Duchy of Anglia. But there is a large plain there, and there is no place for an ambush.
Ah? Duke Otto has many fortresses! How can you force Duke Otto to change his route?"
"Probably...it's called the trick of a fox pretending to be a tiger's power?"
The confidence Ella showed seemed to have victory in her hands.
"By the way...I need some horses, right away."
…
…
Duke Otto rushed out of Hamburg with more than a dozen cavalry, not daring to stop at all, and ran towards his capital overnight. His horses ran faster than the rumors, and before the news of the Hamburg incident spread, he was already successful
Passed through Bremen and arrived at the border of the Duchy of Angria.
A large river blocks the front, and you can see a dark shadow on the river in the distance. It is a small fortress specially built by Duke Otto to resist the plundering of pirates many years ago. Fortresses like this are also set up on the river.
In several places, they can prevent the pirates of the Pirate Kingdom from entering and exiting the river at will, and have successfully protected the Duchy of Angria from pirate plunder.
As long as he passes through this fortress, Duke Otto can quickly return to his capital.
There was a fire ahead. At first, Duke Otto thought it was his soldiers making a fire outside, but as he continued to approach, the flag of the Pirate Kingdom suddenly appeared in front!
"Oops, this place has been captured by the Pirate Kingdom!" Duke Otto hurriedly stopped the troops.
These forts are not big. The original purpose of setting them up was to delay the passage of ships from the Pirate Kingdom and to send an early warning to the inland. The places close to the mouth of the sea were still heavily guarded, but the forts on the inside of the river were not.
Several garrisons.
The Pirate Kingdom has its troops stationed in Stade. It is easy to capture this fortress by land.
Just from the sound, there weren't many pirate kingdom soldiers lighting fires outside. But in the dark fortress behind them, there were an unknown number of enemy troops stationed inside.
Fortunately, the soldiers of the Pirate Kingdom had not noticed his whereabouts yet. Duke Otto asked his soldiers to turn the horse's head slightly. After carefully walking a certain distance while holding the horse's steps, Duke Otto let the horse under him gallop like flying.
stand up.
"Well, was there any noise there just now?"
A pirate looked in the direction where Duke Otto was going.
"Whatever, hurry up and cut up the fish!"
Another pirate was grilling fish in circles over the campfire.
"Brothers above, why don't you come down and have a grilled fish?"
The third pirate shouted to the defenders on the fortress from a distance.
The soldiers on guard on the fortress were so greedy that they drooled, but they did not dare to go down, so they had to shout: "Who wants to eat your grilled fish! Put away your flag first!"
"How can that be done? We are ordered to sell grilled fish here to support the military expenditure! The King of Sweden has told us that we need to plant more flags to make our grilled fish famous!"
"It's up to you!"
The sentry on the fortress ate a large piece of black bread angrily and took a sip of water.
The Alemanni coalition had just suffered a major defeat at the hands of the pirate kingdom, and finally gained peace. They did not want to provoke these pirates.
And if there are just three people grilling fish, it doesn't seem to be a big problem.
Duke Otto's flag was still erected on the fortress, and Duke Otto's soldiers were also standing. But in the dark night, Duke Otto came from far and near, and the first thing he saw must be the pirates beside the bonfire.
The royal flag. Even if he had taken a few steps closer, he would have been frightened and immediately changed his route when he saw the pirate kingdom soldiers calmly grilling fish and the dark fortress behind them.
