When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 823 - 774: The Pig Rider and the Dung Shoveler
As anticipated by many mountain nobles, within less than an hour, Moliat’s surprise attack was declared over.
After clearing the battlefield, the Thousand River Valley Army didn’t dare linger and quickly withdrew.
If they were caught by the decree, in their current state, they would have to shed a layer of skin to escape.
Nonetheless, this battle did stabilize morale.
In one battle, they wiped out 6,000 enemies, captured two counts alive, nine barons, and three hundred and eighty extraordinary knights.
Although it wasn’t a decisive victory, it served as a test.
After witnessing the power of a series of spring-powered weapons, the mountain nobles lost their ambitious thoughts.
They were relieved that this technology wasn’t exclusive to Horn and that the spring cannon was also in the hands of civilized people.
After a morning raid on Comita Town, Moliat returned to the vicinity of Xia Lvcheng at sunset.
The autumn sunset carried the scent of cooking smoke.
Riding on horseback, Moliat looked at the spire of the clock tower in the distant town and unconsciously furrowed her brows.
Returning triumphant and suppressing the mountain nobles were two things worth celebrating, so why did they together bring such unease?
"Your Highness, look." Lannes suddenly shouted to Moliat from the hillside.
Leaving the team, Moliat rode her warhorse up the hill and saw the main road outside the town.
The road was crowded with carts and donkeys loaded with bags, and the citizens, carrying their bundles, were heading toward the forest and mountains.
Upon closer inspection, every face was filled with fear and anxiety.
They crowded along the roadside, with chickens, ducks, and livestock making noise, and even a minor dispute could trigger a quarrel or even a fight.
However, the fights wouldn’t last long; the parties would quickly cease and continue on their way.
"What happened?"
Moliat ignored Lannes and instead looked toward the farther river.
She heard the sound of oars and sails coming from the river, so she pulled out her telescope and looked toward the Nao’an River.
In the distance on the Nao’an River, the number and density of ships were far greater than before.
The ships were heavily laden, not only filled with goods in the holds but also crowded with people on the decks.
What had happened?
Could Xia Lvcheng have been captured?
Impossible, even if Moliat was attacking outside, there were still thousands of defenders and Herman inside the city.
There were two military settlement districts nearby, able to enter the city for rescue at any time.
Most importantly, although Iron Gate Town was captured, and the enemy had supplies and a transit center, the wide lands on both sides of the river would still require time to digest.
With these fortresses, attacking the Thousand River Valley would mean either a direct assault on Xia Lvcheng or cutting off its wings first.
Not to mention the Leia people, even if Moliat or Horn adopted the same strategy as Raffel, the earliest would be three weeks later.
Yet the escape doesn’t seem fake—so what exactly happened? Rumors of unrest or a plague?
"Lannes, take a few people and..." As she put down the telescope, Moliat was about to instruct Lannes but abruptly raised the telescope again.
Just as she put it down, she spotted a familiar figure among the fleeing crowd heading west.
"Bring me the person in green riding a Kush Coarse-Hoofed Horse!"
Soon, Lannes had thrown the man in green at Moliat’s feet.
"Amian!" Moliat’s temple throbbed. "Why are you here, not handling government affairs in the city?"
This municipal official was an elder left by Moliat’s father.
Moliat trusted him considerably, having checked his loyalty many times before.
"I, I... I didn’t." The official hadn’t even had time to defend himself when Moliat lifted him so that his feet dangled off the ground, his face growing paler.
He said no, but she clearly intercepted the words "escape" and "Xia Lvcheng is doomed" from his thoughts.
"What happened? Speak!"
His teeth chattered, and Amian looked around at the curious mountain nobles who had gathered. He stammered, "At noon today, bad news came from the northern Thousand River Valley; the stronghold Qila Castle was captured."
"What?!" The mountain nobles almost fell off their horses from shock upon hearing such bad news just after arriving.
Hotam County is an open plain, with nothing to defend.
That’s why Moliat built fortresses everywhere, blocking key points on land and river to buy time for the Thousand River Valley and keep the enemy out of the nation.
But the first batch of reinforcements hadn’t even reached Xia Lvcheng, and several key fortresses had already been breached?
The new-style ramparts in Shangruifo County, which the Broken Stone Primordial People struggled against for a year, were captured by the Leia people within just over a week?
Had all those tens of thousands of pounds spent each year been for nothing?
"That’s impossible!" A Mountain Knight on horseback pointed his sword at Amian’s neck, his veins popping, "You’re lying!"
Lannes pressed down on his steel sword with a leather scabbard, preventing Amian from soiling himself.
"It’s understandable if smaller fortresses were caught off guard by the Leia people. They were unprepared." Lannes stared into the official’s eyes. "But what about Qila Castle?"
Local nobles seizing the opportunity to surrender the smaller forts is understandable.
But for a crucial stronghold like Qila Castle, which was fortified with iron defenses, the chances of a traitor or noble opening the gates were slim.
"It’s said to have been the result of subversion, also claims of insiders opening the gate, and then there’s, there’s..."
"And then what?"
The official licked his cracked lips: "A group of extraordinary knights supposedly swam twenty kilometers up the river to reach the back of the fortress and launched a surprise attack on the castle."
"A group using the Nine-Section Breathing Technique swimming twenty kilometers is slightly possible, but would such a group be dispatched for this?" Lannes looked at Moliat.
Moliat neither confirmed nor denied, "Continue."
Stealing a glance at Moliat’s face, the official gulped: "The Leia army was shouting slogans about ’killing the Duke and owed grain,’ so towns and villages surrendered wherever they passed.
The south was the same. The Leia people used captured spring cannons controlled by surrendered troops to breach key strongholds.
With nothing defensible between Iron Gate Town and Xia Lvcheng, and local nobles actively providing supplies and logistics.
Xia Lvcheng is surrounded on three sides, leaving only the eastern Nao’an River as an escape route, so of course, the townsfolk are fleeing!"
"Are you one of them?" Moliat’s gaze was dangerously intense.
Amian’s head shook rapidly like a rattle: "No, no, no! I was persuading them to return, never intending to flee."
"Then what is that bundle on you for?"
"Just rations, one must eat even when out there." Amian awkwardly chuckled twice.
Moliat was about to interrogate further when she suddenly heard something from Amian’s thoughts, and her pupils dilated sharply.
"Amian, tell me, since the fortresses were breached, what about the Mountain People’s Military District nearby?"
"Well..."
"Speak."
Feeling his collar tightening, Amian quickly confessed, crying: "Those damned Leia people incited the Plain People to slaughter the military district."
Just as Amian finished speaking, he felt his collar loosen, falling hard to the ground.
Looking up, he saw Moliat’s face clouding ominously.
"Lannes, lead the army; the rest, follow me back to the city immediately."
