I am the son of the traveler

Chapter 183
A few days later, several mercenary regiments hired by Kostas assembled outside the city of Bulllap. The large-scale operation of hiring so many mercenary regiments at once caused shock in the mercenary market in the capital city, and also caused Because the two countries did not sign an alliance agreement, the move of Macedonian envoys to hire large-scale mercenaries in the Kingdom of Cattelan will undoubtedly make King Cattelan feel jealous.

Because of this, on the night before the mercenary group was assembled, the king's special envoy sent by King Cattelan came to the Macedonian envoy's office. Under the guidance of Costas, he met Antigonus himself. He was respectful and surprised The envoy of the king, Antigonus, told the whole story of his attack, and claimed that it was only to execute the robber who offended him.

After the king's special envoy relayed Antigonus's exact words to King Adams III of Cattelan, the young king was somewhat suspicious of Antigonus' plans, but Antigonus was still in their territory anyway. If something happened, it would not be a good idea to get involved and prevent Antigon from doing anything, so he just turned a blind eye and pretended not to know about it.

Of course, besides that, he had another idea. Since Antigonus voluntarily hired mercenaries in his own name to clear up the bandits rampant in the southern part of the kingdom and help him work for nothing, why would he stop him?It is good for him to finish it, and he will not lose if it is not completed. At most, a few civilians in that area will be killed. The civilians under him were killed, and the loss was the local lord, not the king who was above him.

……

The number of mercenaries that Antigon hired through Kostas was around 5000, which was also the result of his deliberate order. Otherwise, if the recruitment was relaxed, with the capacity of the mercenary market in Bulllap City, he would have enough funds Under certain circumstances, an army of more than [-] people can be pulled up.Of course, it is impossible for so many mercenaries to be in the Bulllap area. No one will be happy to let so many soldiers around their capital, so they usually leave their agents in the mercenary market to get work. The mercenaries are on missions elsewhere.

The food and grass that more than 1000 mercenaries need to consume every day is also an astronomical figure. Fortunately, the mercenaries all bring their own dry food.

After marching for nearly a month, the army entered the territory of Donla. When Antigonus came to this area for the second time, the war between Viscount Donla and Viscount Gower had already ended, and Viscount Donla had to accept the peace agreement of Viscount Gower. , ceded several villages near the border to each other.It is worth mentioning that the village that Antigon and others visited before was not known to be massacred until it was taken over by Viscount Gower's people. Viscount Gower, who was furious, suspected that Viscount Dunla was unwilling to take over. The land was ceded to him, and before the handover, he led the army to loot the village, intending to tear up the peace agreement and continue the war.

Fortunately, the eldest son of Viscount Gower noticed something was wrong in time. He found that bandit activities in this area were becoming more and more rampant, and Viscount Dunla could no longer form a large-scale army, so he suspected that Tucun's atrocities were The robber committed it. After he told his father about his discovery, Viscount Gower stopped tearing up the peace agreement and sent someone to investigate.After a while of investigation, it turned out that the atrocities committed by Tucun were indeed committed by the Taylor Bandit Group, which fled here not long ago. After their number has grown, they have broken through the [-] mark, becoming the biggest threat in this area.

However, although their number has exceeded 200, the number of bandit fighters with combat effectiveness has shrunk significantly, only [-] to [-] people. Going to rob unarmed passers-by and villagers can turn into a first-class hungry wolf. Once you encounter a hard stubble, you will give it for nothing. The typical thing can only fight against the wind.

The village he managed to take down was ransacked by a group of robbers. Naturally, Viscount Gower was unwilling. He led the army with high morale that had just won the victory to attack the Taylor bandit group, but the latter relied on complicated tactics. The terrain of the forest was messed up, and the soldiers were lost. Even the Viscount himself was shot in the chest by an arrow flying out of the forest. Fortunately, the chain mail on his body blocked the arrow, preventing the arrow from going deeper, otherwise the high The Viscount Er is probably going to confess on the spot.

After suffering a big loss, Viscount Gower, who was lucky enough to escape, did not dare to take action against the Taylor bandit group. Anyway, they were wandering around in his newly occupied territory and Viscount Dunla's fief, and could not harm his interests much. , and let this rampant bandit group continue in that place.

Until Antigonus and his mercenary group arrived, the viscounts from both places were extremely happy when they heard that there was a stupid Macedonian enemy who was going to help them suppress the bandits. In Antigonus, he brought a team of mercenaries transferred from the office. The Macedonian soldiers entered the city of Siraya to set up a banquet, and after handing out invitation letters to the two viscounts, they agreed without even thinking about it.

Although Siraya is the site of his arch-rival, Viscount Dunla, Viscount Gower is confident that the other party will not attack him, so he swaggers to the banquet.And Viscount Dunla is also full of curiosity about this stupid and rich Macedonian. He has always wanted to meet with the other party in advance, but he is declined every time. Once the number of times increases, he will stop doing things that drop prices. , ready to wait until the day of the banquet to meet this Macedonian.

Soon it was time for Antico to hold a banquet. In order to welcome the two aristocrats, Antico specially booked a well-known tavern in Siraya, and invited cooking skills from nearby cities The taller chefs cook delicious food, and the wine is naturally the top-quality wine sent from the Kingdom of Macedonia. Both the tableware and the food are the best.

Viscount Gaskell of Dunla looked at the two Macedonian soldiers standing straight outside the tavern, and he felt a little nervous. He could more or less guess the intention of the Macedonians to invite him, and he wanted to ask for some convenience from him. Gaskell originally planned to secretly ask for some benefits, but after seeing the two soldiers who looked very elite at first glance, this idea was suddenly dispelled a lot.

How to say?
Being able to have such an elite soldier stand guard at the door, the identity of this Macedonian must not be simple, maybe he is high enough to be able to face King Cattelan directly. If he is rash, he will offend this mysterious Macedonian. I'm afraid life will not be easy.

After showing his identification to two Macedonian soldiers on guard, he walked into the tavern led by a beautiful maid in revealing clothes. At this juncture, no matter how lustful he was, he would not dare to do anything that would damage his identity, so he forcibly shifted his gaze to other places. He found that there were also a few soldiers standing in the tavern, and the quality of these soldiers was not as good as the ones outside. what a difference.

Antico's wine bureau was located on the second floor of this tavern facing the street. After Gaskell was invited into the room, he first glanced at the legendary Macedonian sitting on the main seat. When he saw it, his eyeballs almost popped out of shock. Although the eyeballs didn't burst out, he still couldn't help blurting out words of shock.

"Antiko? Why are you?"

Gaskell immediately regretted this sentence, and quickly apologized, saying: "Your Excellency Antigonus, please forgive my shock, this is really an incredible thing in my opinion."

Antico had already expected this kind of thing to happen, he smiled slightly, and didn't care about Gaskell's so-called offense just now, and said: "Your Excellency Viscount, I am very glad that you can accept my invitation and come to participate in the event I set up. banquet."

"Please take a seat."

After Antigonus finished speaking, the maid who led the way led Gaskell to his seat and sat down. Afterwards, the maid did not leave, holding a silver wine jug on the table and standing beside the viscount, ready to help him at any time Pour wine.

After taking his seat, Gaskell took a deep breath, dispelled the shock in his heart, and said calmly: "Your Excellency, Antigonus, I am really grateful that you volunteered to pay for the extermination of the bandits in Dunla Territory, those bandits are too rampant , Almost every day, innocent passers-by and caravans are murdered, but unfortunately I don’t have the strength to deal with them, so I can only watch the robbers become more and more unbridled.”

"Before I came to Dunla, I was attacked by robbers, so I hated these robbers. The purpose of eradicating the robbers was not only to avenge my previous revenge, but also to ensure the unimpeded flow of business routes and prevent Chinese merchants from continuing to Unnecessary losses have occurred."

"Your spirit is really admirable, Your Excellency Antico, please allow me to toast you." Gaskell said, and was about to get the wine glass in front of him, but Antico was not in a hurry, he waved his hand, He said: "Viscount Longfellow hasn't arrived yet, if you want to toast, it's not too late to wait until he comes."

After Antigonus said that, Gaskell withdrew his hand, and an embarrassed smile flashed across his face. He didn't want to see Viscount Longfellow very much. Thinking of the smug look on the other party's face at the scene of the agreement last time, he There was a burst of fire in my heart.

After a while, Viscount Gower Longfellow arrived late. After taking his seat, he first explained the reason for his lateness, and then apologized to the two people present. Antigonus still had a smile on his face, which made people I couldn't tell what was going on in his mind.

After the two nobles arrived, Antigonus slowly got up, holding a silver wine glass in his hand, and said: "You two lords, I think you have all heard the purpose of my coming here, to destroy the Of course, the two lords do not need to pay any price for this operation of the Taylor bandit group that is running rampant in the two places, all you need is for me to give me a warrant to suppress the bandits to prove that the operation is legal."

After Antico finished speaking, Gaskell was the first to stand up and said, "Your Excellency Antico, I am willing to give you a warrant to suppress bandits as Viscount Dunla, but I still hope that you can give me a promise." .”

"What promise?" Antigono glanced at Gaskell and asked, and he found that Viscount Longfellow was also looking at him.

"I need you to swear to the gods that the soldiers under your command will not harass the civilians." Viscount Gaskell replied.His strength has been weakened a lot. If Antigon's mercenaries took the opportunity to rob him, his income this year would be ruined.

Antico didn't expect him to make such a request, he was taken aback for a moment, and then readily agreed, then looked at Viscount Longfellow who had been silent all this time, and asked, "Then, Your Excellency Longfellow, would you What else is there to ask for?"

"I didn't ask for it." Longfellow shook his head and said, "However, I hope that after the robber group is wiped out, the leader Taylor can be handed over to me."

When he said Taylor's name, Antigonus could clearly feel that Viscount Longfellow squeezed it out by gritting his teeth.It was no wonder that he was full of hatred for Taylor. Anyone who was slapped severely after a big victory and almost died would not be indifferent to the instigator. Hatred and anger are the proper expressions.

Antigonus was silent for a second, and then replied: "Your Excellency, I can't guarantee that Taylor will not die in the battle. I can only ensure that he is captured as much as possible and sent to your castle."

"If he dies in battle, it's fine to give me the body," Longfellow went on.

"I will do what you want, sir."

……

Until the end of the banquet, Viscount Longfellow still didn't realize that Antigonus was the young knight who defeated his infantry on the battlefield before. Antigonus didn't know whether to say that the other party had poor eyesight or what, but that's fine, they There will be less disputes between them.

After obtaining the warrants from the two viscounts to suppress the bandits, Antico returned to the temporary mercenary station and began to plan an attack against Taylor's bandits.Looking at the battles of the bandit group, Antigonus found that they relied heavily on the forest terrain, as long as they fought in the forest, they could display great combat effectiveness, but if they left the forest, they would be like wild dogs whose teeth and claws had been pulled out , There is no fighting power at all.

Perhaps they are also aware of this fatal flaw of their own, so the range of activities will not leave the forest. It is almost impossible for Antigonus to lure them out. After thinking about it, there is no other way than setting fire to the forest. It's an effective way.

As for setting fire to the forest?

What a joke, it would be okay if it was in the Kingdom of Macedonia, but this is someone else's territory, and everything in the forest belongs to the local lord. There is a possibility of escalation into a war between the two countries.

Therefore, he could only think of some other ways.

(End of this chapter)