Unknown Knight

Aix felt relieved for a moment, and then asked about what happened when the Cress territory was breached and why she was here.

It turned out that when the territory was just breached, the girl and Ran Hu's sister Ran Ying escaped together. During that time, in order to avoid Ramon's slave hunting team, they hid from place to place and were in danger many times.

Later, Kress felt that this was not a solution. It was very dangerous for the two young women to walk aimlessly in this chaotic world. After discussing it, the two decided to go back to Kress's hometown, Shules Village, first. After all, it was a safer environment for Kress.

In this way, after a lot of hardships and twists and turns, the two finally arrived at Shules Village. What they didn't expect was that Shules was occupied by the Kugits, who were capturing slaves to build a stronghold. The two girls had no choice but to come to Aslum, where Kress's uncle lived. Her uncle's family had also been abducted by slave traders, and the house was currently empty, which was just right for them to stay in temporarily.

They knew there were Kugits nearby, so they were very careful. As soon as they saw someone riding a horse from a distance or heard the sound of horse hooves, the two women hid in the cellar behind the house. Because the cellar was relatively hidden, they hid there several times without being discovered.

But what he didn't expect was that after the two girls hid after hearing the sound of horse hooves, the people outside actually camped in the village. Kress was ready to sneak into the village and burn it down if they didn't leave tonight. Anyway, no one lived there, so it couldn't be left to the Kugit people.

Fortunately, Axe had Conan syndrome and had to come here to see if there was anything suspicious. Otherwise, if Cress set the village on fire tonight, it would be a big mistake.

When Axe asked her again if she had seen Yamila and old John and his daughter, Kress's face darkened and he lowered his head and said that he had not seen them and did not know what was happening with them.

Only then did Aix breathe a sigh of relief. He had asked many people in the temporary camp, including those he rescued from Tiha City, and none of them had seen Yamila and her daughter, let alone seen them killed, which meant that they were most likely still alive.

After listening to Cress's experiences during this period, Aix also checked the intelligence with her and told the girl about his own experiences during this period one by one, especially the matter of Sofia, which he explained in great detail, which made the girl burst into laughter and sat close to him with her arm around his.

After Aix calmed down Cress, he quickly asked Ran Hu to come over and gave him detailed instructions, asking him to lead more than ten riders to Shules for reconnaissance. He also warned him to prioritize safety and avoid exchanging fire with the Kugits if possible.

At the same time, he withdrew the remaining cavalry and asked them to patrol an area of ​​more than ten miles in radius to monitor these places and report any disturbance in time.

Worried, he sent a rider to contact Liu Tang, telling him that the Kugits were nearby and asking him to be more careful and send more scouts to investigate the surrounding area.

After explaining all this, Aix was still worried. The main force had not arrived yet. If a large number of enemy troops attacked, he would have no power to resist. So he picked out more than ten of the fifty or so subjects who were barely capable, and asked them to carve wood into spears, practice stabbing and cooperating with each other.

In addition, Aix also asked Cress to organize other people to make simple wooden fences and chevaux de frise. According to the original layout of the houses, the gaps between the houses were blocked. The original exits of the village were also blocked, leaving only two exits in the east and west. Chevaux de frise were set up at the east exit to prevent cavalry from directly breaking into the village. The west exit was set up on the riverside, where there were two boats rented in Kudan City, so they could escape by boat in an emergency.

It was almost dark after these busy days. The cavalry who contacted Liu Tang returned and said that they had passed Kudan and would arrive at the village by tomorrow at the latest. However, there was no news from Ran Hu, and the cavalry patrolling around also reported that they had found no trace of the Kugit people.

Aix felt relieved and asked the cavalry to lead the dozen or so people holding wooden spears to do the night duty before he went back to the house to rest.

On the afternoon of the second day, Manid's convoy finally arrived at the village safely. Along with the convoy came not only food supplies, but also various iron tools. Axe asked Manid to be responsible for further strengthening the village, while he took the time to study the enemy situation in Shules with Ran Hu, who had just returned from reconnaissance.

After a day and a night of investigation, the information brought back by Ran Hu showed that there were now about a hundred Kugits in Shules. They were not just Tuoju Nayan's subordinates. Ran Hu observed that the flags should be the elite subordinates of Sera Khan and several other Nayan nobles.

The purpose of their coming here should be the same as what King Yarogelk said before, which is another roundabout strategy of Sera Khan. At present, they have captured about three or four hundred young and strong people in the surrounding area, and are building a permanent fortress in Shules. They want to use it as a stronghold to gain a foothold west of the snow-capped mountains first, and then nibble away step by step, and finally achieve the goal of annexing Kudan City.

Axton felt that the village of Aslum was no longer safe. Not to mention that the more than one hundred elite cavalrymen were beyond his reach at the moment, even the big guys behind these people were people he could not afford to provoke. Even if he tried every means to capture Shules, it would only attract more Kugit people.

Aix felt that it was too dangerous to set up the base on the east bank of the Kudan River for the time being, so he decided to cross the river and look at the west bank tomorrow. Using the Kudan River, which is more than 70 meters wide, as a barrier, and with the help of his own dragon-headed ships to patrol back and forth, it should be possible to ensure initial safety and development.

As for the village of Aslum on this side of the river, Aix decided to build it into just a military stronghold, which would be convenient for retreat due to the river, and could also serve as a bridgehead for attack if necessary.

The next morning, Aix asked Ran Hu to stay in Aslum Village to be on guard, while he took Cress, Sophia, Liu Tang and more than a dozen cavalrymen and crossed the river to the west bank.

Aix spread out a parchment map, which he copied from the royal archives. His finger stopped at a place called Tangquan Fortress, which was the place Liu Tang had investigated when he first arrived the day before yesterday. It was also the haunted fortress that Igor mentioned.

From the few pieces of information available, Aix learned that this fortress was built in the Karad Empire more than 150 years ago. It was originally a military base of Prius, the leader of the Medius Dark Cult. This cult used this as a base to gradually invade the Karad Empire from the native land of Vigia. However, this dark cult was later wiped out by the emperor of the empire. The empire stationed troops here to prevent the Medius Dark Cult from infiltrating the empire from the native land of Vigia again.

The invasions of the Nords and Khergits several decades ago led to the final collapse of the empire. The Karad Empire army stationed here had to withdraw to the Kingdom of Swadia, which inherited the empire's mantle, and the fortress has been abandoned ever since.

It is said that there is a hot spring in the fortress, which makes the temperature there higher than the surrounding temperature in winter, so they chose to build the fortress here and named it Tangquan Fortress.

The group used weapons to push away the weeds and cut the vines, and it took a lot of effort to reach the abandoned fortress. However, Igor, who was accompanying them, refused to go inside, saying that the place had been haunted for decades and was very dangerous. Axe shook his head and smiled helplessly, and had to let him guard the horses outside.

Everyone entered the fortress through the half-open gate. After a walk around, Aix couldn't help clapping his hands. This abandoned fortress was simply prepared for him. Although nearly one-third of the city wall had collapsed, half of the main building had collapsed, and only two arrow towers were still standing, it was still worth using as long as some effort was put in to repair it.

The fortress was built on a small hill about 20 meters high, covering a total area of ​​about 50,000 to 60,000 square meters. Aix estimated that at least a thousand troops were stationed here during its peak period. The entire fortress was divided into two parts: the outer fort and the inner fort.

The inner castle is probably where the officers and senior officials live. It occupies the entire hill and is surrounded by walls. It is about 20,000 square meters and consists of a main building and a courtyard. There are several ancillary buildings in the courtyard, including a canteen with a kitchen and a restaurant, a warehouse, and a small military camp, which is probably where the guards live. However, the wooden roofs of these ancillary buildings have rotted and collapsed. Houses that are not inhabited will deteriorate quickly. They have become dilapidated in just a few decades.

The outer fort is relatively large, about 40,000 square meters in area. A circle of five-meter-high walls forms a concave shape and surrounds the inner fort on three sides. The spacious fortress is distributed with ancillary buildings such as barracks, warehouses, blacksmith shops, horse farms, and servants' living quarters. All the roofs have collapsed, and the entire walls of some houses have collapsed.

The hot spring that the fortress got its name from is also in the outer fort just below the hill of the inner fort. It is surrounded by walls and the ground is paved with flat stones. It seems that this was an important leisure place for the entire fortress. Aix reached out to test the water temperature, which was about 40 to 50 degrees. It is indeed a good place to take a bath and rest.

Aix was very confused. Such a good place should not be abandoned even after the army withdrew. Wouldn't it be better for the villagers to live here than in the huts in the village?

It was not until Aix found the dungeon of the fortress in a hidden corner of the outer castle that he got a rough answer. It turned out that this place was not only a military fortress, but also served as the Empire's trial room in the later period, mainly used to try important prisoners of the Dark Order of Medius.

Aix saw in the interrogation records of a dungeon that at its peak, there were nearly two hundred diehard members of the Dark Order of Medius imprisoned here. Even when the garrison here was withdrawn, there were still more than thirty members of the Dark Order of Medius imprisoned here. The garrison did not release or take them away, but deliberately forgot about them here with evil intentions.

Imagine what it would be like if more than thirty dark cultists were abandoned in a dungeon and starved to death without any food. In order to survive, some of them ate the corpses of their companions, some caught snakes, insects, rats and ants that occasionally passed by as food, and those who could not bear it any longer wailed for help, or recited scriptures from their doctrines to confess themselves.

Moreover, the main body of the dungeon was in the hill below the inner castle, and there were two ventilation holes near the hot springs. Aix estimated that when the noise occurred in the dungeon, nearby villagers were probably bathing in the hot springs. The mixed sounds of wailing, calling for help, and chanting of scriptures by the members of the Dark Order of Medius undoubtedly sounded like terrifying haunted sounds to the locals who came here to bathe in the hot springs and search for scavenges.

They knew that the army had already evacuated the fortress, but why were there still these frightening noises coming from it? They couldn't find the person making the noises, so they naturally thought they were the sounds of ghosts. So they were so scared that they fled, and never dared to go near the fortress again. From then on, this fortress with a good environment was rumored to be haunted.