Chapter 350: Chapter 23: Dispossession Status
“How many blacksmiths are there?” Aaron quickly got the answer.
“57 people, but most of them are apprentices who only know how to forge.”
“What about their families?”
“Probably around three hundred people,” answered the Squadron Leader.
Aaron said, “Take them all, leave no one behind. Tell the blacksmiths that they are now slaves of the River Valley King, and they’d better behave and not make things difficult for us. If anyone resists, tie them up.”
Roman needed these skilled craftsn as well as those scholars who could read and write.
The market town had developed from the prosperity of craftsn and comrce, making it more complex than a typical village, with more social classes and harder to manage.
Aaron implented military control as soon as possible.
The training ti for the Heavy Soldiers was extrely long; they suffered the least reductions, with the earliest batch having served for three to four years, qualifying them for squad leader positions in a regular squad.
Their lengthy military training had given them a high level of discipline and cooperation.
More importantly, each of them could read, and all the soldiers had a vocabulary ranging from one hundred to a thousand words, which certainly did not count as illiterate in that era.
Aaron had sent them out, and in just over ten days, they had learned the situation here.
Not to ntion the total population of the town exceeded six thousand; more importantly, they figured out the age distribution, job structure, and food reserves.
According to the plan, Aaron was supposed to seize the people and leave. However, the surrounding nobility forces of Apple Town were tightly clustered and reacted extrely swiftly. Seeing the town fall, they imdiately cut off their escape route.
The Heavy Squad was thus forced to station there temporarily.
And Aaron took this ti to gather intelligence about Apple Town.
After the reporting Squadron Leader left, a Squad Leader ca to report.
“Commander, they’re getting restless.”
Half a month had passed, and as they observed the conquered town remain impervious amidst the isolation, the nobility forces began to grow uneasy again.
They had attempted to take back the city by launching surprise attacks.
Attacks ca by day, by night, but any enemy soldier who rushed into the town was imdiately caught and disappeared without a trace like a clay ox entering the sea.
The nobility ceased their foolish attempts to storm the city individually.
Led by the Filin Family, the surrounding Barons and Earls, both minor and major, began to mobilize their forces and prepared for a large-scale war.
There were two reasons.
First, the Heavy Squad and auxiliary forces had been consuming the town’s reserve food, which could sustain Aaron for another two or three months—they could not delay any further.
Second, this force had ventured deep into enemy territory and, being trapped with no sight of reinforcents, seed abandoned by the River Valley King, which greatly bolstered the Earl Filin’s confidence.
“They want to swallow us?”
“Seems likely,” the Squad Leader said uneasily.
In the past, the River Valley King had always kept a watchful eye on their training and growth. But now, isolated and out of the King’s watchful gaze, and removed from their warst holands to this foreign and chilling land, even the most experienced veterans could not help but feel shaken.
“They can’t do it, Jon, don’t panic. The River Valley King said they are no match for us.”
The River Valley King claid they were no match, but aside from Aaron, everyone else believed that the focus of this phrase would always be the River Valley King.
They all believed the strength to defeat their enemies ca from that great ruler.
He had brought victory to his army, but now without him, how were they to fight?
Could the Highness’s gaze reach here? Jon wondered.
Without seeing the Highness’s towering figure, without hearing His gentle voice, their courage was like that of a traveler who accidentally steps into a swamp.
Except for Aaron…
Jon had never seen any semblance of wavering on Aaron’s stern face. His gaze remained resolute, determined, and silent, like an immortal boulder.
Life in the camp was tough, with training by day and studying at night. Sotis, they would find fun, mock their superiors, talk about the dashing and clear-minded Green, ntion the devilish instructor Jet, speak of the vengeful Kao, and seldom ntion Aaron, whom they secretly described as a turtle carrying so heavy burden, therefore reserved and taciturn.
He had a low presence in the past, but now he had beco the highest commander, and everyone was surprised to realize how steady and reliable he was. He was one of the first knights to follow Lord Roman.
Jon asked again, “Squad leader, shall we defend.”
The town had a wall, albeit a low one, but the Heavy Equipnts were skilled in defense.
They believed that even if the Giant Dragon fiercely attacked their defense array, it would fall dead on the spot.
Given the current situation, a conservative strategy seed appropriate.
“No, we shall attack!” the most conservative Aaron denied Jon’s suggestion, “We must obliterate them completely, or we can never leave this place.”
Defending a city was passive; the rhythm of the war was controlled by the opponents. They dictate when to attack and when not to, and they urgently needed to clear a path, needed to eliminate all obstacles in the way.
“So, how shall we deploy the troops?”
Aaron said, “Let the new recruits stay in the town for defense, maintain order, and the entire squad of Heavy Equipnts shall strike.”
Having received explicit orders, Jon quickly relayed them. As the battle horn resonated through the town, the prisoners looked up to the sky in terror as they heard the horn, and then saw one figure after another carrying heavy shields passing their doors and streets.
Aaron raised the flag high, above the Thorny Iron Ring floated a shield, he puffed out his chest and shouted, “Warriors from the River Valley! Smash all obstacles ahead!”
…
“Are you sure about this?”
The Black Iron King asked one of his noble vassals.
“Without a doubt, Your Highness!”, one of the knights of the Filin Family said vehently and sincerely, “I ask you to sign this denunciation! To punish that disrespectful vassal by stripping him of all his rights over the River Valley and his feudal taxes.”
Iao III had a broad fra and strong limbs, truly bearing the deanor of a king.
He sat on the cold Black Iron Throne, with a white-dressed woman standing beside him.
Both the Fury Family and the Riptide Family deserve to die! Iao III thought in anger. The most deserving of death was that arrogant Roman!
In this royal council eting, quite more than half of the participants stood up in opposition to the River Valley King, asking for the revocation of his noble status.
This was the second impeachnt.
However, the first one was far less extensive, since now the actions of the accused had touched too many sensitive nerves of the nobles.
They had expected him to behave, but he repeatedly crossed lines that the nobility could tolerate.
This ti, even the normally neutral nobles refused to stand by idly. They joined in, and the balance imdiately shifted.
They collectively asked him to issue a denunciation.
The Black Iron King had that right, but the latter would not be willing to be stripped of his title willingly.
Just as he hoped to tie relations with Roman through marriage, expecting him to respectfully call him ‘father’ like Alster, but the latter showed no appreciation.
Now, he was additionally accused of several major cris including treason, harboring a witch, conspiring against nobles, maliciously undercutting prices, massacring the innocents, and fostering a private faction.
Brutal tyranny, vile and evil, outrageously against the Conqueror Order…
Even so, he still did not intend to sign this denunciation.
He held the decision power. If he said no, it was no.
Iao III glared coldly, amidst the nobles who seed to form a storm over the royal council, with him at the center, not alone, but with another.
This man had seaweed-like disheveled blue hair, a face as eroded as a statue, and rough yet profound features, the contemporary Grand Duke of Fury.
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