Unknown Knight

The next day, Aix had planned to rush to the city of Rivadin immediately, but he felt that there was no need to be too proactive. Moreover, the Kingdom of Vigia had been in a state of food shortage since the previous war. Now their annual grain harvest was not yet ripe, and it was a time of food shortage. Aix decided to use twenty new trucks to sell some new grain, which could be regarded as a disguised gift.

Soon, led by Aix, followed by Manid, Liu Tang, Sophia and Niza, a merchant team consisting of thirty cavalrymen and fifty infantrymen, escorted twenty new-style trucks out of the Black Forest and headed towards the city of Dehrim.

Along the way, Aix passed through villages and towns, and gradually filled the trucks with the new grain of the year. When passing by the city of Dehrim, Aix was still hesitating whether to enter the city. Suddenly, he saw a group of people and horses galloping out of the city. Aix recognized the two people in the lead who were whipping their mounts desperately. They were Fatis and Ran Hu, whom he had not seen for many days, and behind them were more than a dozen surviving cavalrymen from the territory.

In the distance behind them, riding slowly towards them were the Marquis de Claude and his sons and a team of cavalry led by them.

After surviving the disaster, they never thought they would meet again here today. They were all excited and laughed, and some sensitive ones secretly wiped their tears. Finally, Aix asked them about their experiences after they were separated, and only then did he know what happened to them at that time.

It turned out that on the day of the sneak attack, Fatis, Ran Hu and Bandak all escaped, but they thought that Aix had either fled to Paraven City or Dehrim City, so they split their troops into two groups. Bandak led more than ten riders to search in the direction of Paraven City, while Fatis and Ran Hu led more than ten riders to search in the direction of Dehrim City. They never expected that Aix would be taken by Niza to the unrelated territory of the Rhodok Kingdom.

As a result, they had not met up with Fatis and Ran Hu until today. During this period, they also heard that Aix had been stripped of his title. With nowhere to go for the time being, they had to agree to the kindness of Marquis Claude and temporarily stay in the city of Dehrim. Once they had definite news, they would come back to look for Lord Aix.

Unexpectedly, a patrol soldier reported today that they had spotted the dragon flag of Aix outside the city, so the two led the surviving cavalry to see what was going on. Unexpectedly, it was really Aix and his party. The two strong men, Fatis and Ran Hu, were so excited that they shed tears.

The group then stepped forward to thank Marquis Clays and Earl William of Dale and his son, and entered the city of Dehrim together.

In the evening, in the hall of Deherim City, the host, Marquis of Clays, entertained Aix and his subordinates. He did not invite other nobles nearby because, considering Aix's situation, in order to avoid embarrassment to everyone, he only invited his son, Earl William of Dale to accompany them.

During the dinner, Marquis de Claude told Aix several times, both explicitly and implicitly, that if he really had no place to stay, he could lead his troops to camp in his own territory, the village of Aimelin. Of course, he could not give him the title of nobility, as he did not have that status after all.

Aix felt that this was a good place to go. It didn't matter whether he got the title or not. The most important thing was to settle the subjects who depended on him. However, the Kingdom of Vigia didn't know what arrangements King Yarogelk had made, and Marquis Klaus couldn't say for sure. He could only say that he was invited to the banquet by King Yarogelk, and he would discuss the details with his subordinates after returning.

Marquis Claude was an old and shrewd man, so he had no idea what the man meant by that. He took the initiative to tell him what he knew about the political situation in the Kingdom of Vigia, as well as the various matters that needed attention there, just as a favor.

Similar to what Aix thought, the Kingdom of Vigia was also a relatively powerful kingdom. Although King Yarogelk occupied the richest royal city, Rivadin and its surrounding areas, there were four large cities in the country. The mayor of each city had a large blood relative to rely on, and they were very independent. The entire country was equivalent to four independent small kingdoms.

Originally, they were in a three-way balance of power, but the last war with the Khergit Khanate almost wiped out the relatives of Rodelaboye, the lord of Kulau City. Therefore, King Yarogelk has been making things difficult for Rodelaboye, just picking on the weak and trying to find a reason to take over Rodelaboye's city for himself.

The large blood relatives of the lords of the other two cities are still there, and have been entrenched in the local area for many years. They are the princes who only obey King Yarogerk's orders and not his words. King Yarogerk can't do anything about them, and he has to clean up their messes when something goes wrong, just like what happened to Voldratboye last time, which angered the Kugit Khanate. If King Yarogerk hadn't handled it properly, the entire country would have been almost lost.

Now Aix is ​​going there, and he is likely to be granted a title by King Yarogelk. Marquis Kleis's advice to him is to be loyal to King Yarogelk's faction, unite with Lord Rodlaboye of Kulau, and keep a distance from the nobles of the other two factions. This advice is actually similar to what Aix had imagined before.

The next day, Aix did not stay in the city of Dehrim. He bid farewell to Marquis Claude and his son and went to the city of Zhivadin in the Kingdom of Vigia.

Before leaving, Aix met with the workshop owner Prius and talked with him about the current situation. He also got an important piece of news from him: the mayor of Aichemor, Tojunayan, may have been angry about the last attack on his territory and the death of his youngest son, and repeatedly looted Aslum, Shules and other places outside Kudan. Now, except for Kudan and the nearby village of Tismo, the rest of the territory of Voldratboye is almost deserted.

After hearing the news, Aix felt that there was a high possibility that a war would break out again between the Kingdom of Vigia and the Khergit Khanate. This might also be good news for him, so he ordered everyone to speed up and rush to the city of Rivadin.

Two days later, in the royal palace hall of Rivadin City.

King Yarogelk, accompanied by several close ministers, met with Aix. King Yarogelk, who was in need of someone, tried his best to show a friendly side on his sinister face. He gently asked Aix about his recent situation with some polite words, then changed the subject and said to Aix:

"I heard from Rodlaboye that you rescued many people from the Kugit Khanate last time?"

"Your Highness, this is true. Toju Nayan of the Khugit Khanate enslaved and tortured my people. When I found out, I personally led a team to rescue them."

"Oh, Rodelaboye also said that you killed more than 300 elite cavalrymen on your way back?"

It was clear from King Yarogelk's tone that he was deeply skeptical of this information.

"Your Highness, there aren't that many. There are only a little over 200 Kugit cavalry, both light and heavy cavalry, and there are a few young Nayan nobles among them."

Aix told the truth and felt there was no need to pretend.

"Oh! What I know is that they sent elite cavalry that time, and frightened old Voldrat Boyer so much that he didn't dare to go out of the city to fight the enemy. How many troops did you bring with you at that time?"

Obviously, King Yarogelk was very surprised by what he said. In his opinion, in order to defeat the pure cavalry Kugits, an army several times larger than the cavalry would be necessary. Obviously, as a newly promoted noble, His Majesty the King certainly did not believe that Aix would have so many troops.

"Your Highness, I only had more than a hundred people at that time. I was inspired by your victory over the Kugits last time. I targeted the cavalry's weaknesses, formed a battle array with my back to the river, and used the swampy terrain on the river beach to limit the advantage of their cavalry. In the end, I was able to repel the Kugits."

Aix deliberately took the opportunity to flatter King Yarogelk. In fact, in that battle with the Kugits, he still relied on the old-fashioned chariot formation to kill so many Kugits in the battle. It had nothing to do with the king. But when he said this, it seemed as if he also had a share of the honor in it, which made King Yarogelk very happy and laughed heartily.

In the king's opinion, it was probably because Aix had trapped his troops in a desperate situation on the riverbank, and all the soldiers fought to the death with the Kugits, which made the Kugits feel that the gains were not worth the losses, so they had to retreat. If he knew that Aix had easily killed so many Kugits with only negligible losses, he would be shocked.

However, King Yarogerk, who thought he knew the whole truth, still recognized Aix's strength. He nodded to him with appreciation and said to him:

"I have heard about your story. Harlaus, that drunkard, is unable to recognize a talent like you. It is his loss. I wonder if you are willing to serve in the Kingdom of Vaegir?"

After hearing this, Aix was delighted, but he pretended to be embarrassed, as if he had something to hide, and reluctantly said:

"So that Your Highness knows, I now have hundreds of dependent subjects under my command, and I need a large sum of money to support them. Not long ago, His Highness Griffith of the Rhodok Kingdom talked to me about this. Moreover, the territory of one village may not be able to accommodate them all, so, I am afraid..."

"I have plenty of space here. It's enough for you to accommodate all your subjects. Let's look at the map first."

King Yarogerk was afraid that Aix would disagree. He also knew that his kingdom was a bitter and cold place, and could not be compared with the Rhodok Kingdom. So he stepped forward and held Aix's arm. The two of them came to the map in the hall and pointed to the area near Aslum on the map and said:

"You see, this area has a vast landscape, all top-quality black soil, suitable for grazing and growing wheat. It is large enough to accommodate your dependents, and it is adjacent to the Kudan River, so water transportation is also convenient."

Aslum Aix had been there before when he came back from the Kugit Khanate last time. It was a village built by the river. However, the east side of the village behind the river and all the way to the foot of the snow-capped mountains were flat terrain, which was very conducive to cavalry raids. If we used this as a base, we would suffer. So he said:

"Your Highness, I heard a piece of news on the way here. I heard that there are Kugit cavalry in this area. Aslum is on the east side of the river, on the Kugit side. As long as the Kugits cross the snow-capped mountains, they can reach here in just one day. They can raid here at any time. It will be difficult for them to gain a foothold here, right?"