Volume Two: The Iron-Blooded Baron Chapter 208: The Bloody Battle of Amondin (31)
In addition to the three letters to Valombre, Balian also sent letters to all the leading nobles in the county and the estates directly under the palace, asking them to cooperate in finding the whereabouts of the county governor, Viscount Merry.
Since then, Viscount Merry's defeat and loss of the city has become more concrete and widely spread, and Viscount Merry can't blame Balian in the future. After all, after your men regained the county, they directly asked everyone to look for you.
What a sign of loyalty this is.
After finishing all these things, according to the information from the sentinel, the Tuoba pirates who returned to Bangshui Town after two days and two nights had already put the supplies and people on the ship and began to evacuate one after another. It is estimated that it will take less than three to five days.
They all evacuated.
After it was confirmed that the Toba pirates had withdrawn from the direct county, a stone fell in Balian's heart. Before Advent, the war in the direct county was over, and he could spend the Advent with peace of mind.
However, it is not easy for him now. Although he has won three out of three battles and has recovered the county, his military exploits are particularly outstanding when the entire northern border of Brick is being crazily ravaged by Toba pirates. But this outstanding achievement
The price is that the lords who are hiding in the castle and waiting for the Tuba pirates to evacuate after enough loot must be jealous.
It's okay to make one person jealous. After all, who can satisfy everyone? However, it's not a good thing to make a group of people jealous. It basically isolates you in this social relationship.
Humans are social animals. Without these social relationships, it will be difficult to do things. After all, others will not cooperate or even cause trouble.
However, Balian also had a strategy to deal with it. Since pirate heads were the main basis for recording merit, Balian could sell the heads of Tuba pirates to these lords who had never fought a battle with pirates.
This deal was personally explained to these lords by the soldier who sent the letter. If they did not want to lose face or even make the monarch dissatisfied because of their lack of military exploits, they could go directly to Balian to buy the pirate heads.
One hundred dinars each, if you buy five, you will get one of the heads of the Brick robber who joined the Toba pirates. The price is clear and honest, but it is not that you pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other, but only
You can wait until the palace envoys come to count them before selling them.
The main reason was that Balian was sure that the palace minister sent by the monarch to the direct county this time must be Earl David. As far as the Duke was concerned, he was the palace Earl and had commanded the troops in battles. He was familiar with war and could not be deceived.
Moreover, he has already made a trip to the directly-administered county and is very familiar with it.
Personally speaking, Viscount Merry, who was defeated and lost the city, is his apprentice. He is a direct line of power and is left to others to deal with. Those with a bad relationship will try to find ways to take advantage of him. Those with a good relationship or a mediocre relationship will not be able to take action due to face.
Naturally, it would be most convenient for him to do it in person.
Therefore, Balian was sure that Earl David would definitely come and make a deal with Balian to help Viscount Merry reduce his guilt. It was best to remain in the position of governor of the direct county. After all, the direct county was important to the centrist nobles.
The sphere of influence.
If there is a deal, there is negotiation. Balian can use Earl David to deduct the merits of the pirates who have already recorded battles. If Earl David cannot do this, then Balian has no confidence in doing it for him.
Traded.
At the same time, the direct county lords who bought the head were mainly centrist forces on the side of Earl David. Earl David had no reason not to help his own people. After all, the war was like this, and they centrists had no military exploits at all.
What a disappointment to the monarch.
The military war is over, but the political war has just begun. Balian, who had planned it, secretly sighed in the study of Viscount Merrill's residence.
In Maple Leaf Manor, which was once occupied by Toba pirates, Viscount Merritt felt very complicated after reading the letter. Sir Perry, who read the letter with him, also felt equally complicated.
Both of them thought that Balian could easily annihilate five hundred Toba pirates, and that they could also make great achievements in this battle that the direct county had not encountered in decades. But as for the result, they thought
When I showed my face, my butt was exposed.
Viscount Merri, the governor of the direct county, when he learned that the Toba pirates were approaching Amundine, he decisively ran away with his family. Moreover, if it hadn't been for his cowardly escape behavior, he would have relied on the thousands of people in the city and the tall and solid people in the city.
There was no problem in fighting the pirates for twenty days on the city wall, but he didn't dare to bet, because if he lost, his family might be dead.
And Sir Perry, who successfully escaped outside Bangshui Town with his superb escape skills, once again used his skills as a "Flying General" after discovering that the Sheriff had escaped, and led his men to run all the way out of the city.
He caught him and caught up with Viscount Merri, who was running away quickly.
As he was embarrassed to return to Marshland Town and was afraid of being punished by his father, Sir Perry shamelessly followed Viscount Merry to Maple Leaf Manor in the name of protecting the county guard. He took shelter here and waited for the war to end before making other plans.
Right. However, he knew that although he was defeated, he was not the commander after all, so his guilt was smaller.
However, at this time, Sir Perry was no longer happy because his guilt was small, because Balian not only annihilated another five hundred pirates, but also recovered the city of Amundine. With such great achievements, he would be promoted to a noble title and increase his territory.
of.
As for the two of them, let alone being promoted, it would be good if they were not demoted. Especially Viscount Merri, who was defeated and lost his city, and also caused many leading knights to be captured by pirates. How could the monarch forgive him, even though he had sent people to beg him?
His teacher, Earl David, helped, but he dared not say what the outcome would be.
Like Viscount Merritt and Sir Perry of Maple Leaf Manor, Baron Collis, who received the letter and learned about the sale of Balian's head, was also in a complicated mood at this time. He originally thought that he and his son-in-law Eamonn had won two consecutive battles.
Sir De, the promotion is a certainty.
But I didn't expect that the Toba pirates were too cunning. The purpose of defeating their son-in-law was to draw out the main force of the defenders of Amundine City. As a result, more than a thousand people were destroyed and a county was lost.
defeat.
Although Baron Corliss was in the city of Amondine when the coalition forces were completely wiped out, and he also escaped when Viscount Merry abandoned the city, his loss and worry weighed on him like a heavy stone.
in his mind.
One son-in-law rebelled against the country and defected to the Toba pirates, while the other son-in-law was useless and was captured by the pirates. Now his two daughters are crying all day long at his own home, which makes him upset and can only escape drunkenly.
However, after receiving Balian's letter today, Baron Collis felt that since Balian was willing to trade pirate heads, he was not an upright and kind person, so he could deepen the transaction.