Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords

After Leah left, Skye also led the team to the depths of the wilderness to investigate the news.

As the vanguard, their duty was to investigate the movements and strength of the Minotaurs. After resting for a few days at High Cliff Castle, they started their journey again.

"A busy and eventful time."

The lord stood with his hands behind his back at the highest point of the hill, looking out over everything in the wilderness.

Dark clouds loomed, and the cold wind whistled. Looking out, theunmown rye grass that barely reached the ankles surged like wheat waves, gloomy and terrifying, with a hint of the approaching end of the world.

Two days later, it began to snow. Except for the lord and the strong Orc barbarians, everyone put on seasonal cotton clothes to resist the cold.

What Li Wei didn't expect was that he didn't wait for Skye, who had gone deep into the wilderness, but instead waited for the army from White Stream City.

A messenger stopped his horse about a hundred paces away from High Cliff Castle. Obviously, he was an old hand and knew this was the edge of the alert line. If he went any further, he would be warned by the people of High Cliff Castle.

He was carrying a flag with an "eagle with a sword in its beak" embroidered on it, which was the symbol of the Martell family.

Li Wei led a team of dozens of people down the hill, looking back curiously, and asked familiarly, "Knight, which big shot from White Stream City is leading the team this time?"

"My lord, it's a very big shot, one that you would never expect." The messenger didn't expect the lord of High Cliff Castle, who was rumored to be so mysterious in White Stream City, to be so simple, so he boldly played a trick and then revealed his intention, "Duke Flynna asked us to station near High Cliff Castle, saying that you would arrange it."

"Then I'll wait and see." Li Wei replied absentmindedly, pondering in his heart.

There were many big shots in White Stream City, but few that he would not expect.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning crossed the lord's mind, and the lord murmured to himself uncertainly, "Could it be that Flynna is here in person?"

But after thinking about it, it was unlikely. After all, the southward movement of the Minotaurs seemed like a big deal, but in reality, Flynna could easily solve it by sending one of her legion commanders, which was far from enough to warrant a duke's personal visit(莅临: presence).

Unable to figure it out, Li Wei simply stopped thinking about it. No matter what big shot it was, he would meet them later.

As for the matter of the White Stream City army being stationed, Flynna had indeed written to him about it some time ago.

After all, the area near High Cliff Castle could be considered his territory, and even a duke could not allow soldiers to enter a noble's territory at will.

Li Wei had already sent people to clear a piece of wasteland below the hill. He couldn't say it could accommodate tens of thousands of people, but a few thousand would be easy.

...

When the number exceeds 10,000, there will be a visual effect of being boundless. Although the marching team does not have 10,000 people at this time, there are about 8,000 people.

Now, the hillbillies of High Cliff Castle, who had never seen the world, were shocked by this, a scene they had never seen before.

A team of four flag-bearing armored soldiers with sharp weapons cleared the way, followed by a huge team stretching backwards. The cavalry roamed around the team on patrol. Looking back along the line of sight, it was like a line of advancing ants, boundless and endless, until the end of the horizon.

Li Wei even saw thunder lizard beasts behind this team. These giant beasts were more than three blades(刃: ancient measurement unit) tall at the shoulder, weighed several thousand pounds, and were covered in scales like armor plates. They also had an exceptionally sharp horn on their heads.

But unlike their ferocious and terrifying appearance, they were gentle in temperament and completely herbivorous. Although they moved slowly, they had sufficient endurance and great strength.

They were generally used in the army to pull heavy logistics goods as beasts of burden(役兽: beast of burden).

But even knowing this, the vibration caused by the pillar-like hooves falling to the ground was enough to be thrilling.

Li Wei couldn't imagine what it would be like if thousands of thunder lizard beasts launched a charge at the same time.

Aside from the accompanying auxiliary soldiers, the real regular soldiers should be about six thousand.

This was Debe's common legion formation. A small legion was fully staffed with 6,000 people, divided into 12 detachments. The first detachment had 720 people, and the rest had 480 people, with 80 people in a squad.

And often the first detachment was a cavalry team, so there were more people.

This legion could be seen from its appearance that it was not a temporary rabble of civilians. At least it was a legion that had been trained full-time, otherwise it would never have been able to advance in silence without saying a word like it was now. The entire sky was only filled with the sound of neat footsteps and the metallic friction of armor.

With the waving of the messenger's flag, they quickly stopped fifty paces away from the waiting lord.

The team naturally separated into a path, and a silver-armored knight who was slightly thinner than the other knights rode over on a magical beast that Li Wei had never seen before.

Li Wei narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at him.

The plate armor worn by this silver-armored knight was engraved with exceptionally exquisite patterns, and there were cat's-eye-sized gems inlaid on the chest and back of the hand. Let's not talk about whether the defense was good or not.

Just the price alone was absolutely exorbitantly expensive beyond the lord's imagination.

And the knight sat upright on an unusually handsome mount that resembled a deer but was not a deer.

This mount had a slender and strong body, with elegant blue hair, but pure white fluff on its chest. Its head was like a fox but had two antlers on top, and its eyes were exceptionally intelligent.

This was definitely a magical beast with no small amount of intelligence!

After a series of judgments in his mind, Li Wei had to admit that just thisflamboyant outfit was enough to scare people to death.

Fearing that he might accidentally bump into it and go bankrupt, the lord swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva before suppressing the idea of doing a robbery.

"Li Wei, long time no see." A familiar voice came from the silver-armored knight's visor.

"Hmm?!" The lord looked surprised, seemingly a little unbelievable.

"Li Wei, it's only been a few months, have you already forgotten me?"

The silver-armored knight took the initiative to lift the visor, revealing an extremely familiar face.

"Duke Flynna?"

Li Wei was shocked.

The person who came was someone he did not expect. From any point of view, he really did not expect the person who came to be Flynna.

"Did you not expect me to come? Or did you not expect that I didn't come in a carriage?" Flynna's expression was very playful, and then she explained to herself, "Don't look at me as if I am weak, I am a Dou Qi(斗气: martial art) master, even Skye is not my opponent, just riding a few days is nothing."

"What's more, I'm riding a magical beast, and its back can be made soft at will, so in fact, I'm no different from sitting on a velvet cushion."

After Flynna finished speaking, she reached out to Li Wei, and the lord sensibly raised his hand to hold her, helping her down from the horse.

"No, it's just that I'm flattered that the Duke can visit my poor and remote place." Li Wei showed what he thought was the most handsome and suave smile.

Zat turned his face away and pouted. His boss's tone was very different from usual, which made him feel uncomfortable, as if he had lice all over his body.

Regardless of what Flynna's intentions were, she was still his and Leah's most powerful ally, and a duke could not be neglected.

Li Wei naturally couldn't easily ignore it.

"Li Wei, I have been hearing legends about you in White Stream City. You are very famous."

Flynna said with a smile.

In fact, unlike those civilians and mercenaries, she knew more.

This lord was so famous, and the head of the Kovitch family, Rolina, had made a great contribution.

Of course, it was undeniable that the baron had paid her to do this, but being able to have so many bards sing the stories of this lord was not something that could be done with money.

It could also reflect a certain aspect of this legendary merchant's energy.

"Haha, they are all false names, all false names." Li Wei laughed.

He really spared no effort in promoting High Cliff Castle, so much so that everyone felt that it was a bit of false propaganda.

For example, the huge castle with eighteen blades of male wall guards in the story was actually just a large village surrounded by a circle of low walls on a hill.

Compared to the group of merchants in his previous life, Li Wei felt that he had only embellished it a little. At least High Cliff Castle was indeed called High Cliff Castle, and it didn't even have the wrong place name.

Li Wei waved his hand, asking Zat and Mil to hand over matters to the military officer of this team, and he and Flynna went up the hill together.

Whether it was because she was confident in her exquisite Dou Qi, or because she felt that the army was by her side and an opening baron would definitely not dare to attack her.

In short, Duke Flynna walked towards High Cliff Castle alone with the lord.

"Where is Skye?"

Flynna took off her helmet and asked.

A waterfall of red hair instantly fell to her waist, without becoming tight against her scalp and oily because of the long journey and the pressure of the helmet.

Seeming to see the lord's curiosity, the duke explained, "This helmet is a magical equipment, and it has a cleaning spell engraved in it, which will automatically clean the dust."

As for whether there were more spells engraved in it, there definitely were, but Flynna did not continue to say.

Forcing his gaze away from the fist-sized gem on Flynna's chest, Li Wei smacked his lips and said, "Skye took people deep into the wilderness a few days ago to investigate the movements of the Minotaurs, and has not returned yet."

"Well, in fact, these Minotaurs are not worth my personal visit. I have another deeper meaning in coming here."

Walking into the lord's hall, Li Wei filled the duchess with a cup of hot tea before continuing, "Oh? What is it that can make our hard-working duchess come here in person?"

"I have drunk this tea. Yours is too astringent. It is obvious that you bought fake goods that are of inferior quality." Flynna took a sip of the warm tea, first criticizing it, and then said, "Although our king is doing his best to stop the southward movement, and the noble garden is also standing on the wrong side, it is actually a foregone conclusion."

The lord cursed the black-hearted merchants who had maggots in their hearts. This tea was specially bought from White Stream City to entertain Leah. There was not much of it, and he had been treasuring it these days, but he did not expect that these two bastards would blacken his money.

No wonder Leah's face changed slightly when she drank tea a few days ago, but she didn't say anything, probably because she was afraid that he would lose face. Only Flynna didn't have this concern.

Damn it, they even dare to scam a baron. Don't they know that they can't make money without being greedy? When I lead the soldiers south to White Stream City, I will clean up these profiteers first and let them see what a military nobleman with real power is!

Flynna did not specifically say why it was a foregone conclusion, but only set a tone first before continuing, "There are often disturbances on the northern border, but they are all small troubles."

"The soldiers have been slack for a long time and urgently need an opponent to hone them, but this opponent is difficult to choose. They must not be too strong, resulting in heavy losses that are not conducive to going south, nor can they be too weak, making the soldiers as relaxed as traveling. At this time, the Minotaurs came into my sight."

"They seem to be aggressive, but in fact they are just a makeshift team put together temporarily. In terms of numbers, they can indeed be called a force to be reckoned with, but the real backbone inside is only the group of Minotaurs. As long as they are defeated, this team will collapse on its own, which fully meets this requirement."

After saying so much in one breath, Flynna's Adam's apple could not help but roll. The lord poured a glass of cold boiled water with great vision.

After drinking the water to moisten her throat, Flynna continued, "Originally, sending a negotiator some time ago was to delay the time so that the soldiers could be mobilized to come, but I didn't expect that this group of Minotaurs would directly kill my people."

"I originally wanted to defeat them, whether to capture them for the arena or use them as line-filling soldiers to attack the southern border, but now none of them can live!"

Speaking of this, Flynna's smile was very cold:

"Li Wei, I saw the Jingguan(京观: a mound of human heads) that you piled up. It's very good. In a few days, I will use the heads of this group of Minotaurs to pile up a ten-thousand-man Jingguan in the wilderness to completely defend the reputation of the Martell family in the northern border!"

"Hiss!"

The lord took a breath of cold air, making an indispensable contribution to the warming of this world.

This duchess looked charming and was a rare beauty, but he didn't expect her to be more murderous than him, Lord Li.

A ten-thousand-man Jingguan was simply unimaginable.

However, Li Wei noticed another use of the Minotaurs in Flynna's mouth. This group of Minotaurs was really good for using as cannon fodder to attack the enemy.

In the past, using civilians as line-filling soldiers easily led to them being defeated and rushing towards their own team, disrupting the formation, which was often counterproductive.

But this group of Minotaurs had no such worries at all. Once they activated berserk, they would lose their fear and would not stop until they died or ran out of energy.

Perhaps as regular soldiers, they would disrupt their own formation due to the berserk spell, not distinguishing between friend and foe, but as front-line fillers, they were simply the chosen ones.

Whenever they encountered a majestic city, they would first let this group of stubborn people attack the city to consume the opponent's supplies and manpower.

When it was almost done, they would send out their precious elite soldiers.

However, now that a duke has decided not to leave anyone alive, this group of Minotaurs is destined to not survive.

Li Wei shook his head and shook his head, saying that it was not good to provoke anyone, but they had to provoke a woman, and a female duke with real military power.

This time, the Minotaurs were going to be in trouble.

The lord gave a compassionate sigh.