Lady Shipu Aisi finally relented.
Back when Ryan’s father hadn’t yet taken Saxon City (now Prince Lemont’s stomping ground), Biluo’en Castle was originally built to defend against the northern enemy.
As a result, the fortifications focused on the north, while the southern defenses were somewhat weaker.
The castle and its surrounding villages relied on a small river to the south as their main water source.
The river split into two branches, one of which was only fifteen to sixteen feet wide.
This branch cut right through Biluo’en Castle, then flowed into an underground opening.
When Biluo’en Castle was built, this opening was incorporated, but the branch wasn’t blocked off.
Instead, a water gate was added to the wall, sealed with a metal grate.
This was Biluo’en Castle’s biggest weakness.
Not just a weak point in the walls, but the only water source!
Lady Shipu Aisi hoped to trade this information for her child’s life.
As for herself, she was willing to accompany the army and personally persuade her husband to surrender.
That being the case, the time to strike had come!
On January 15th, the main Maximilian family quietly issued a mobilization order.
Count Hess dispatched a hundred men, General Keleiduosi led two hundred, Ryan personally led two hundred, Alicia brought her two hundred EDF troops, Mosuosi took thirty cavalry, and three knights answered the call with their retainers.
Elder Lord Enlaike was placed in charge of overall rations and supplies.
The total force numbered about eight hundred men.
Though the numbers were small, this was the first battle after the Maximilian family implemented military reform.
Everyone involved was a regular soldier trained under the new system.
The mobilization order was issued on the 15th.
Ryan marched while waiting for the troops to assemble.
By that afternoon, they were ready.
On the morning of the 16th, the guards of Biluo’en Castle were horrified to spot this army right under their noses.
Biluo’en Castle was about twenty-five miles from Lide’an City, with some roads being rugged, narrow mountain paths.
Even so, the eight hundred-man army reached the walls of Biluo’en Castle in just half a day.
Keep in mind Ryan only had thirty cavalry.
Most of his forces were infantry, marching on foot along snowy mountain trails in the freezing cold.
That speed was already astonishing.
Now, about Yang Pigu.
His territory consisted of just one castle and a few surrounding villages.
His income came from village rents, castle tolls, and skimming off the top from his superiors.
After all, running a castle was tough, and it wasn’t a big city, so there was practically no commercial tax revenue.
He barely had four hundred men under his command, and those were cheap peasant soldiers.
Then Ryan came along with his military reform—not only did he want to disband Yang Pigu’s troops, he also planned to take back his military power!
Land and money without troops—what kind of noble was that?
Without soldiers, even if you were the Jade Emperor, no one would care.
This was a chaotic era.
A noble with nothing but a title was like a stray dog by the roadside, liable to be kicked to death at any moment!
On top of that, that bastard Alicia actually let her soldiers beat him up!
Are you kidding me?
His noble dignity was completely ruined.
How could he ever hold his head up in the Maximilian family again?
So Yang Pigu gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and cursed, “Screw this! I’m out! Jumping ship!”
As for his wife and son left in the city—well, sorry about that! After all, brothers are like limbs, women are like clothes.
Lose a wife, and you can remarry.
Lose a son, and you can have another.
But lose military power and face, and you’ll never lift your head again!
Prince Lemont, of course, warmly welcomed this friend who came over of his own accord.
He clasped Yang Pigu’s hands tightly and said with deep emotion, “Welcome to my side. Don’t worry, joining me is walking down a broad road. Together, we’ll make Ryan’s life hell.”
See, harvest season was coming soon.
Everyone was busy reaping grain and had no time to bother with you.
In winter, heavy snow would block the roads.
Even with basic gear, peasant soldiers from Lide’an City would take at least two days to reach you—they’d freeze to death on the way!
And that Alicia who beat you up?
Don’t worry about her!
If she dares to come, the two of us will sandwich her from front and back, top and bottom!
We’ll screw her over good!
Of course, Saxon City doesn’t have much grain to spare either.
Once winter sets in, brother, you’ll have to look out for me, scrounge up some food.
Then after spring starts, we’ll combine our forces and march back to Lide’an City!
For a moment, the Lemont rebels were shouting that rebellion was justified, their morale high and arrogance soaring.
Sure enough, things seemed to go just as Lemont’s “divine chicken temple arithmetic” predicted.
All autumn, Lide’an City was busy with the harvest, completely still.
After the New Year’s celebrations passed, everything remained calm.
It looked like Ryan wouldn’t move his troops until at least after spring!
Yang Pigu was greatly relieved.
He hoarded grain and drilled those few hundred militia, comfortably lying in his castle, dreaming grand dreams.
Until—
Bam!
The door was slammed open.
A pale-faced guard stumbled in, gasping for breath.
“Excellency! Terrible news! Outside the city… outside! Prince Ryan’s army is already at the city walls!!!”
“What?!”
Yang Pigu fell off his bed with a thud.
“Quick! Go to Saxon City and request Prince Lemont!”
Yeah, when the Jade Emperor was beaten by the Great Sage, he shouted the same thing: “Quick, go to the Western Paradise and summon the Tathagata Buddha!”
As it turned out, Yang Pigu was no Jade Emperor, and Lemont was no Tathagata.
Most importantly, the messenger was just a mortal, not some heavenly general.
So, Yang Pigu’s messenger had barely gone a few hundred yards from Biluo’en Castle when Cheka agents tied him up tight in the woods.
His horse was seized, he got a solid whack on the head and passed out cold, and the letter in his pocket was snatched and brought to Alicia.
“Hmm, I see. A hundred men guarding the grain transport—the previous intel was a bit off. But good work, you’ve done well!”
The girl on horseback nodded approvingly, casually stuffing the letter into her coat.
She ordered the agents standing by: “Keep intercepting messengers between Biluo’en Castle and Saxon City. And don’t let any lone scouts slip through either. I want Yang Pigu and Lemont deaf and blind!”
“Understood, Lord and Master!”
The agents took their orders and vanished swiftly into the woods.
“Hey, I never would have guessed you had people this skilled under you!”
Mosuosi’s face was full of envy.
“How much does that cost? I’ve never seen you run any business.”
“Tsk, so sour! So sour!”
Alicia pinched her nose and laughed.
“Can’t see it? That’s the point! Maybe you misjudged me yesterday, you’ve misjudged me today, and you might misjudge me again tomorrow. But I’m still me. I’ve never feared being misjudged!”
“Oh, so you’re quite lookable, eh, Lord and Master?”
Andrew quickly interrupted his young lord’s rambling.
“Can we speed this up? Let’s cut off the water source and force Yang Pigu to surrender, then we can head home early. Hanging around in this freezing weather—is that really a good idea?”
“Who’s hanging around!”
The girl glared, turning her head away.
“Sir Mosuosi, please take the cavalry and keep searching. According to Lady Shipu Aisi, the river branch should be nearby.”
“You got it!”
Mosuosi called to his five cavalrymen and galloped forward.
What about the rest of the cavalry?
The rest, along with a hundred of Alicia’s men, had stayed with Ryan.
For this mission to cut off the water, Ryan had only given her five cavalry and a hundred infantry.
After all, Biluo’en Castle was short-handed.
Even if they came out to fight for the water, they couldn’t deploy too many troops.
But successfully cutting off and holding the water source—that was a major achievement!
“Following you, Lord and Master, sure has prospects! How do you always land these low-risk, high-reward jobs?”
Andrew sidled up with a fawning smile.
“Please make sure to bring me along for jobs like this in the future!”
The girl puffed out her chest and lifted her chin proudly.
“That’s because your lord and master has sharp eyes and natural talent! Stick with me, and you’ll be set for life!”
Before long, the cavalryman from before came rushing back.
“Excellency! Found the water source. About thirty guards were there, but we scattered them!”
“Great! Let’s move fast. Cut off the water and force them to surrender!”
As Alicia said this, she sneakily pulled a big packet out of her coat and handed it to the cavalryman.
“Here, dump this into the water first!”
Andrew’s face turned serious.
“Lord and Master… are you poisoning them?”
“Am I that sinister?”
The girl narrowed her eyes in displeasure.
“What do you take me for? I have standards! See, you misjudge me again…”
“Alright, alright, you have standards, you’re upright and noble. Then what’s that?”
Andrew quickly interrupted her long-winded speech.
The girl rolled her eyes at him.
“Just laxatives. What, did you think I was some kind of butcher? There are civilians in the castle who drink the water too. If I poisoned it, I’d be killing everyone in the castle.”
“Laxatives?”
“That’s right! Laxatives! They’ll get diarrhea and vomiting, lose all their strength, won’t even be able to stand guard on the walls. Naturally, they won’t have much will to resist. How’s that for humanitarian?”
Andrew opened his mouth, staring at his lord’s “praise me, praise me” expression.
For a moment, he was speechless.
He could only watch as the cavalryman rode off with the order.
…
From the moment Ryan laid siege to the castle, Yang Pigu frantically begged Lemont for help.
He sent out messengers more often than he ate.
Unfortunately, most of the messengers were caught by Cheka agents.
Occasionally, a lucky few made it to Saxon City, but that bastard Lemont turned out to be a real scumbag.
He clearly took the help and then didn’t want to deliver—no troops to spare, but he did send back a letter.
The agents intercepted that letter and brought it to Alicia.
After reading it, the girl burst out laughing, even ordered the agents to release the messenger and deliver the letter to Yang Pigu unchanged.
In the letter, Lemont actually told Yang Pigu to hold out for half a month with the castle’s only well, and boldly claimed that Ryan would definitely withdraw when spring plowing started!
He also dangled a big carrot, saying that after spring, he would send a massive army to crush Lide’an City.
When Yang Pigu received the letter, he nearly got high blood pressure from rage.
It felt like being lured into bed by a blond guy with an 8888-carat diamond ring, only to find out the diamond was glass, the ring was stainless steel, and after finishing, that blond guy had the nerve to ask for the crappy ring back!
It was obvious he was being treated like an idiot.
Yes, Biluo’en Castle had a well, but the underground river level dropped sharply in winter.
They could barely draw a few buckets of water.
And on top of that, the people in the city had diarrhea from whatever shady trick Ryan’s army pulled, severely dehydrated.
Hold out for half a month like that?
In three days at most, everyone in the city would die of thirst!