Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 229: First Battle of Kalia Town (5k)

"Ted Bay is the oldest family in the East, and has existed for at least four or five hundred years. Even the Duke of the East is very polite to us. Why should we be so respectful to a group of northern barbarians? Father is really old!"

In a wilderness, the elite knights of the Flayed Family were resting here.

A brown-haired young man was slashing wildly with a sword in the woods, venting his dissatisfaction.

Red Tedby had a look of resentment on his face. As the only heir of the Flayed Family, no one knew better than him how powerful his family was.

As the oldest family in the East, countless years of accumulation have made their soldiers extremely powerful. There are 2,000 armored cavalry alone, and the remaining soldiers are enough to form three infantry regiments.

The total number of soldiers was nearly 30,000.

Because of this, he didn't understand why Count Polhaddon, his father, was so respectful to a young man younger than him.

They are clearly the only ones in control here.

"who is it?"

He suddenly felt a gaze coming at him and turned his head to see a young man who looked 70% like him, leaning against a tree with his arms folded, looking at this place.

"My dear brother, I have the same idea as you on this." The man smiled slightly, put down his hand and walked over.

"My father is old. Just some northern stinkers scare him like a newborn beaver, eager to find a mother who can protect him."

"Personally, I think that if you inherit the earldom, it will definitely make the family more prosperous."

"Hmph, Bolton Rivers, I know what you are thinking." Red looked at the young man in front of him who had the same blood as him: "You are just a bastard, without a family name, and your mother is a lowly miller's peasant woman. It is not your turn to discuss who will inherit the earldom."

"And unless I die, the title of Earl will never fall to that bastard!"

"Know your place, or I won't mind peeling your skin off with my own hands!"

Red pushed the other person away with his shoulder, snorted coldly, and walked towards the camp.

"Bastard..." Bolton patted his shoulder, the smile on his face gone, and he stared at the other's back quietly.

……

The topography of the Mis Woods is truly peculiar. The front half is still a slightly flat woodland, with mostly birch trees with straight trunks. But when you follow the dirt road built by the Skinning Family, which is wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side, and reach the depths, you will find a turbulent river that is seven or eight blades wide.

Because the water was too turbulent, there was no ice, otherwise everyone could have saved a lot of effort.

However, there is an old stone bridge that has weathered the ravages of time connecting the two banks, allowing the vanguard corps to pass through.

"This stone bridge is older than Derby. I don't know how it has remained so strong until now."

Count Ando was sitting on a small stool, with a piece of rye bread on a straight branch he had casually broken off, which he was baking over the fire.

It would take time for 30,000 people to cross the stone bridge, so several leaders built a bonfire on the open space beside the stone bridge and started a small symposium.

"Who knows? Maybe it was built by a magician who is proficient in the element of earth. The powerful magic has allowed it to survive the power of time."

Li Wei was staring at a group of cavalry passing by the stone bridge. These were the soldiers of the old man An Dao.

Everyone was wearing fine cavalry armor, and the horses under them were all fat and plump, obviously well-fed. These knights were strictly disciplined, riding three horses abreast, crossing the stone bridge at a leisurely pace. There were as many as two thousand of them.

However, the subsequent infantry were much worse. Most of them wore chain mail inside and a layer of leather armor outside, which were only slightly better than those militiamen.

It is completely incomparable to the heavy armored infantry regiment of the Legion of Thorns.

But it's normal to think about it. Maintaining two thousand elite cavalry is not just talk. It is more difficult to feed the people and horses than to maintain an army of ten thousand people.

The earl obviously knew that it was better to specialize in one thing than to be strong in everything, so he allocated most of his resources to the cavalry.

No wonder they are so confident in their ability to perform the scout mission; the elite level of this cavalry can indeed be considered first-rate.

"Old An, your cavalry is really good. Whether it's equipment or discipline, it can be regarded as the level of Derby's first-class cavalry regiment."

Seeing that the other party's bread was almost done, Levi grabbed it at lightning speed, threw it into his mouth in two bites and chewed it, and gave a fair comment: "It's a little burnt, but it's edible."

“You are a Lion Hunting Knight after all. You have fame and status, but you still want to snatch even a piece of bread.” Count Andao looked at the empty branch in his hand and sighed helplessly.

"If the noble ladies in Bailiu City knew that their dream lover was someone who would snatch even a piece of bread, I'm afraid many of them would have their dreams shattered."

"Other people's things are the best." The Lord said with a nonchalant look on his face, saying something that didn't make sense: "Besides, what you eat is yours."

Count Ando shook his head and grilled another piece of bread. "In order to support this so-called first-class cavalry regiment, I almost had to beg for food."

"Poor!"

"Damn it, you're crying poor to me? Your fiefdom is in Derby after all, you're rich and you don't have to worry about making money. I'm a big eater and I have to spend an astronomical amount of money every day. High Cliff Castle is in a remote area, and I can't even find a serf to exploit, sir."

"I'm the only one supporting a bunch of people, and my wife is almost gone."

When talking about this, the lord immediately became excited and almost told everyone that he wanted to use his special skills to hook up with a rich woman.

"Is it that serious?" Andao didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Although the lord was not particularly poor after he had iron mines and the spoils of several wars, he could be seen from the fact that he luxuriously added two eggs to his three meals a day.

But that doesn't stop him from crying poor, after all, the crying child gets the milk.

"How could I lie to you? Just look at this guy. The food he eats every day is enough for four or five people. I am almost planning to sell the sword that has been with me for many years to get emergency help. If the title of Lion Hunter Knight can be exchanged for money, I would rather exchange it for Jin Ke." Levi pointed at Zat, who was chewing a deer leg next to him, with a look of disappointment on his face.

"Hehe." Zat smiled foolishly and immediately got back to eating.

For it, the most enjoyable moments are eating and fighting.

"That's true." Andao nodded as he looked at the burly orc, then took the initiative to say, "How about I lend you some? Although I'm poor, I can still squeeze out a little."

Levi was surprised. He didn't expect that Count Ando was really kind-hearted. After thinking it over, he finally waved his hand and said, "There's no need to borrow money. After all, this is not a long-term solution."

"I'll tell you the truth, my lord. I have a good business. Do you want to take part in it?" The lord spoke his true feelings and quietly came over.

"What business? It's not going to be the promotion of some kind of chili pepper, is it?" An Dao immediately looked alert.

As a staunch supporter of the Duke, he naturally had a good relationship with Sikai, the Grand Knight of the Guard, so he often asked him about the deeds of the Lion Hunting Knight.

The promotion of chili peppers was just a joke at the time. People thought the knight was too whimsical and left a deep impression on them.

In his opinion, this knight may have excellent military talent, but he has no talent for business at all. It would be better for him to capture a few orcs and open a brothel to make money faster than promoting chili peppers.

So I am extremely wary of this so-called business.

"Damn, it's Sikai again. He tells everything out loud. Didn't I just mention the promotion of chili peppers?" The lord was so angry that his heart ached. Sikai almost made him miss a big business deal.

"I'm planning to open a card room." Levi told the truth.

In Debe, there are only a few entertainment options, and the playing cards he brought from his previous life definitely occupy a place.

However, his base was in the wilderness, and it was difficult for him to deal with the miscellaneous affairs in Debe from such a distance, so he wanted to recruit Andao, the local snake, to join his group.

The two have equal status, so even if they are arguing, they can still use reason to argue.

Ando frowned.

He has also played this new card game in the past few days. To be honest, it is really addictive, but if you play it for a long time, you will inevitably lose interest.

"Levi, let me be honest. The cards you invented are indeed fun and novel, but it's probably impossible to get people to spend money to play them."

"And once others learn it, they will immediately copy your brand and open new shops, and they may even implement it directly in brothels."

"You have no advantage in the card game. I don't think you can hold on for long before you go bankrupt."

"Unless..." An Dao kept it a secret.

Li Wei immediately asked humbly: "You say."

"Unless you turn your card room into a casino and use the cards you invented to gamble." Andao took the toasted bread off, slowly tore off pieces one by one and put them into his mouth.

After finishing his meal, he concluded earnestly: "Levi, it is not so easy to make money as a merchant. We are nobles, and there is no need for us to open a shop. It is totally thankless."

"We only need to collect business taxes from the shops in our territory to make a lot of money, or even tolls and so on."

Finally, the earl smiled meaningfully and said, "We should not think about opening a shop like merchants. If we fail miserably, we may lose everything. What we should think about is how to bring more merchants into the territory and collect 'legal and compliant' business taxes."

"Vorri, Sir, you are really my guiding light. I understand."

The lord was greatly shocked, and the chaos in his mind seemed to be cleared away by a huge hand.

Frankly speaking, opening a shop in the past was entirely due to the petty-minded thinking of my previous life, and I haven’t changed that yet.

What is he now? He is a noble now!
To put it in a broader sense, it is a country within a country, with autonomous territory. The only thing one needs to pay is some taxes to the feudal lord every year, which is protection fee to put it bluntly.

And he can also charge fees to those who are lower than him.

To give a practical example, the Mithril Chamber of Commerce opened a shop in High Cliff Castle, and he could collect taxes from them.

However, An Dao's words were so logical that the lord guessed that the other party must have suffered losses in this regard, perhaps even lost everything, otherwise how could he have such a deep understanding.

Levi combined the methods of his motherland in his previous life to verify and found that as a nobleman, there was really no need for him to open a store.

He vigorously developed his territory, built checkpoints, and made much more money than running a shop.

The plan to increase income through side business failed, but Levi didn't care much about it. As he was in charge of the iron ore trade, he didn't rely on it for a living.

The small talk ended and the real military stuff began.

"Should we leave some soldiers here to guard it?"

Levi had just thought of this. This place was only five days' journey from the southern border. The road ahead was flat, and only this place could be considered easy to defend and difficult to attack.

If this place is intercepted by the enemy, their logistics will suffer a devastating blow.

Especially since the Flayed Family is still around.

To be honest, Levi had a very bad first impression of Count Polhadn.

Although most of the reasons came from the other party's extremely cruel family training - naked people have few secrets, and skinned people have no secrets.

The opponent's flag is a skinned man. It is rumored that this man is the first person in this family to skin people, and his descendants seem to have inherited this hobby.

Therefore, the Tedby family does not have a very good reputation in the aristocratic circle.

"No, Duke Florina will leave enough soldiers here. What we need to do is to open up a bridgehead first."

Ando shook his head.

Don't be fooled by Count Polhadn's politeness just now. If they dare to leave soldiers in the other party's territory, it will definitely cause trouble.

So this matter should be done by the Duke Florina, not these little earls.

"Then let's go and leave this problem to Madam Flinna."

Levi patted his butt and stood up, then unbuttoned his pants and put out the fire with Count Andao, then he got on his horse and led the last group across the stone bridge.

……

As we entered the southern border, the other side sent out more and more scouts.

Even Count Ando's cavalry scouts felt the difficulty, with both sides winning and losing. In the end, they had to send out the werewolf scouts to easily save the situation.

You know, the wolves under the buttocks of the werewolves have soft paws, which means that even if they run, the sound is so faint that it is difficult to hear, and the sound of horse hooves is bound to be difficult to hide.

Not to mention their keen sense of smell, which allows them to detect each other's tracks several miles in advance.

The scouts competed on stealth and who could spot the other side first. The werewolf cavalry crushed the group of human knights in all aspects.

The most intuitive manifestation was that after the werewolf scouts discovered the enemy's tracks several miles in advance, they sneaked up behind them silently like a ghost and launched a sneak attack, causing them to suffer a great defeat.

However, the enemy was determined enough to leave almost no survivors, which resulted in the entire vanguard army being able to make judgments only based on the frequency of the enemy's scouts and the intelligence transmitted by the main force in the rear.

From a feeling, the one playing against them should not be the main force of the South Territory, but most likely a legion.

Another day passed, around noon, there was still sparse snow falling from the sky. Levi was in the only carriage, huddled together with Fatih, Sophia and four drow elves to discuss some knowledge about magic.

An Dao hurriedly rode over on his deer-horned horse, which had some magical beast blood in it.

"Levi, is there something going on ahead?"

Levi lifted the curtain of the carriage and jumped out.

"There is a group of Southern Border soldiers stationed in a small town, about four to five thousand people."

"Four to five thousand people..." Levi took out the map, studied it for a while, and said, "It shouldn't be Damon's main army. It's most likely that they are the lords who were recruited."

The organization of the entire Debe legion is the same, with 6,000 people as a legion and 12,000 people as a large legion.

As a whole legion, it will hardly be divided, because this will greatly affect the coordination of combat.

Therefore, there is only one possibility for the four or five thousand people, that is, the other party is either the lord of this town or the nobles recruited by Damon from other places.

The three of them looked at each other, and they couldn't hide their desire. After all, four or five thousand people were not as many as their vanguard troops, and they were not enough for them even to defend the city.

They could have taken the credit and honor of the first battle on their own without waiting for the arrival of the main army.

Doing so does not count as disobeying military orders. After all, the purpose of the vanguard army is to clear obstacles for the main army to the best of its ability.

However, whether to fight or not still depends on a careful comparison of the strength of both sides.

"Is this place an easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack pass?" asked Earl Tess.

"No." Andao, who was in charge of the scout mission, shook his head. "From the map, this town is called Kalia. It's just an ordinary agricultural town. The only specialty is cabbage."

"The city wall is only three blades high, not even as high as Levi's centaur captain."

"Our scouts have also been discovered by the enemy. Whether we should attack or retreat to a suitable location to build fortifications and wait for the main force, we'd better make a decision as soon as possible."

"Could this just be a bait? To lure us into attacking the city, and then have their large army attack us from the front and back?" Count Tess frowned. Although he was eager to gain credit, war was no joke and he had to be extremely cautious.

"I can't rule out this possibility, so I think we can surround the city, send out my scouts to investigate the surroundings, and finally make sure there are no enemy troops before we attack the city with all our strength."

"Even if the other side has a main force, as long as they can't get here within a certain period of time, we can fight."

Levi thought about it and gave a safe suggestion.

The premise of attacking from both sides is that they are fighting fiercely with the people in front and cannot take care of their own backs. Only then can this tactic be successful.

Otherwise, if they were prepared, it would not be an easy task to eat these 30,000 people.

"I think Levi's suggestion is good. As long as we take over this town very quickly, even if the enemy's main force arrives later, we can still occupy this town for defense." An Dao put away the map, folded it neatly and stuffed it into his clothes.

Although this town has no city walls, with 30,000 people stationed there, they can create sufficient natural fortifications with ice in a very short time. It is impossible to take it down without more than twice the number of soldiers.

Tess was inclined to take the credit, and since the two of them had no objection, he naturally didn't either, "Then let's give it a try."

(End of this chapter)