Chapter Thirteen: Eliminating Bandits

  On the other hand, Raymond's side was apathetic, with thick-skinned people who didn't care about anything, each one looking like they had nothing to do with it, and the gap between the two sides became apparent.

  Javier quietly observed the subtle changes in both parties, then smiled and changed the subject: "Lord Reed sent me this time, apart from understanding the current situation of Haidington, it's also about establishing a trade relationship between our two sides."

  As soon as he finally got to the point, Charlotte's side immediately showed a attentive expression. Javier looked at everyone and said: "Mr. Reed said that he is very willing to do business with you all. However, there is one prerequisite, that is, Haidington must have a stable environment, otherwise we will not take the risk of sending merchant ships. Do you all understand what I mean?"

  The meaning of this sentence is already very clear. Obviously, if the bandits outside the town are not eliminated, Reed's merchant ship will be out of the question.

  So Charlotte and others immediately turned their gaze towards Raymond.

  It was so hard for you to tell the truth at first, but now you can't wait. Raymond had no choice but to spread his hands: "Don't worry, when Dreya's ship comes back, I'll start taking action."

  "Oh? I wonder what plans you have?" Javier said with great interest.

  "Simply put, I plan to gather the three thief groups together and take them out in one go."

  "There are nearly 6 or 700 of them. Even if we add the town's defense team, we only have around 300 people, how can we win?" Lambert couldn't help but exclaim.

  "Yes, I've also heard about the general situation. Isn't taking them down one by one the best approach?" Javel also said.

  "Raimon waved his hand: 'That would take too much time, if the thieves were startled and escaped, it would be troublesome to clean them up later, so I plan to do it once and for all.'"

  "As for the gap in numbers, it has not yet grown to an unbridgeable extent."

  There is actually another reason that Raymond did not mention. That is, to execute this tactic of breaking through one by one, an army that has undergone strict training is required. Because the biggest characteristic of this tactic is rapid movement, which tests the soldiers' level of training very much.

  And his gang of thieves, although they had been trained by Rutz for a few days, only learned to listen. The training of the Haidington guard was even worse, relying on these people to carry out continuous mobile warfare, it's obviously a fantasy, when the time comes, running tens of miles, if the troops don't disperse, it would be a blessing from heaven.

  So, gathering a group of thieves together and using strategy to make up for the difference in numbers, then annihilating the opponent in one move is the best plan.

  "So, how can we get those few robbers together?" Javier asked again.

  Raymond glanced at Freddy, who said in a low voice: "Since no merchant dares to come to Haidington, I believe those guys haven't robbed anything for a long time. If a batch of valuable goods is suddenly transported out of the city, the three robber gangs will definitely not let it go. Since they have had the precedent of uniting against the mercenary group before, we believe that at that time, they will gather together to share the spoils."

  "How can I let them know?"

  "It's simple, while Dreya's ship was entering the port, I had already sent people to spread rumors. Those guys have been guarding outside for so long, they must have informants planted in the city, and it's possible that the rumors have reached their ears by now."

  "Brilliant." Javier couldn't help but slap his palm with a loud smack.

  "By the way, was the batch of things I ordered shipped together?" Raymond asked.

  Javier nodded: "Don't worry, they're all top-notch."

  "I'll be eagerly waiting for that moment then."

  A few days later, a small rumor began to spread in Haidington. The foreign merchant group led by Raymond planned to secretly transport a batch of precious goods purchased from overseas out of Haidington and sell them in other towns.

  Then came the upgraded version of various rumors, from the detailed quantity, type, value of these goods, to the secret transportation time and route, all were gossiped out, of course, there are all kinds of statements, making it difficult for people to distinguish between true and false.

  But one thing is certain, and that is that these goods are extremely valuable.

  As the rumors gradually dissipated, Raymond also intensified his preparations. The number of people they could mobilize this time was limited to only 100 people who had just transformed into a guard squad and Haidington's 200-man garrison.

  During this time, the thieves were hiding in Haidington's eyes and were found one by one. Don't forget what Freddy was born for, with his skills, dealing with those unprofessional eyes was simply effortless.

  At the same time, good news came that the robbers with a good tradition of cooperation gathered together to share this rare fat sheep.

  Everything is ready, and now it's time for action.

  Two days later, on a silent night, a carriage quietly left Haydington under the escort of over a dozen people and sped into the darkness.

  Just as the carriage was leaving the city, behind a pile of rocks outside the city, several pairs of eyes were also staring at the speeding convoy. Until the carriage went far away, several men hiding behind the rocks jumped onto their horses and rushed into the night.

  However, neither of them noticed that while they were focusing on monitoring the carriage, a pair of blue and yellow double-colored pupils on the city wall outside Haidington also saw all their movements.

  "Alright, the bandits' scouts have all left. I'll go inform Master Xiao, you guys proceed with the plan." Baxte jumped down from the low wall and said to a group of people waiting below.

  There, unmistakably, were about 30 cavalrymen, from their uniforms, the garrison of Haddington. But apart from these thirty men, all the rest of the garrison and the hundred ruffians under Raymonde... oh no, now it should be said, guards, had vanished into thin air.

  As a trading town, Haidnton had a garrison that was responsible for escorting small merchant caravans when it was still prosperous. As such, they were equipped with a certain number of cavalrymen. Now, although the town has fallen into decline and is barely holding on, there are nearly 50 people left, aside from over 10 who left with the horse-drawn carriage, everyone else is here.

  The leader nodded in understanding and immediately a group of cavalrymen left the town, following the road where the carriage had departed, keeping a steady pace.

  "Alright, I'm leaving too." Bast said, turning his head again.

  Not far away, under a house, Charlotte, Morini and other leaders of Haidington were all there. This attack was related to the future of Haidington, so even if they couldn't help much, they still came. Javier was also among them, but unlike Charlotte's tension, he seemed very relaxed, as if waiting for a good show.

  "I'm counting on you." Charlotte said with a deep breath, trying to remain calm.

  "Don't worry, the young master will definitely take care of all of them." Bast said confidently. She waved her hand at a few people and disappeared into the night like a ghost.

  Leaving Haydton, Bastet dashed directly into the wilderness, unfolding her legs with all her might and speeding towards her destination at a surprisingly fast speed.

  About half an hour later, the cat girl suddenly rushed up a slope and stopped to take a few urgent breaths.

  Looking down from here, I suddenly found that on the empty land behind the mountain slope, there was a large group of people in black. On such a dark night, they didn't light up any lights or fires, which seemed quite mysterious.

  Are all the robbers hiding here?

  After waiting for the air to calm down a bit, Bast walked down the mountain slope. What was strange was that she didn't hide her figure as usual, seemingly not afraid of being discovered by the other party. However, after all, she was a first-rate scout, and under the cover of night, she almost swaggered to the side of the group of people before they became alert.

  A man who was resting suddenly found someone beside him and was so frightened that he jumped up: "Who is it?"

  But before he had even finished speaking, the man felt a tap on his shoulder and Bast's figure was already gone from sight. At the same time, a voice came from behind him: "You're too slow."

  The man was greatly startled and hastily turned around, but saw a white figure already several meters away.

  At this time, others also discovered Bastar, but it didn't cause anything. Because these people were actually the part of the team that had lost contact.

  They are not in Headington and did not follow the cavalry to protect the carts, how did they run here?

  At this time, Raymond beckoned to Baster from the crowd: "How's it going over there?"

  Bast walked over and said: "As soon as the carriage left the gate, it was spotted by enemy scouts. Our cavalry has also followed according to plan."

  "Alright." Raymond nodded. He sat down on the ground, with a simple map spread out in front of him, and beside him were Harlot and a man dressed in a Guardian uniform. Strangely, Rutz was nowhere to be seen.

  That map was drawn by Bastet, who had received strict training in cartography. When she was searching for the bandit camp a while ago, she drew this topographic map. The map clearly marks the location of the bandit camp, Haidington City, and nearby roads, as well as their approximate distances from each other.

  Although it only has some simple lines, triangles, circles and other shapes, looking extremely crude, people who know the goods can see at a glance that this is absolutely a standard military map that can be used as a reference for combat.

  "According to the plan, the carriage will probably arrive near the bandit camp in about an hour. The valley over there is the best place for an ambush, so they'll definitely make a move."

  "As he spoke, Raymond pointed to a location between the bandit camp and Haidington City: 'We'll be here. If we leave immediately, it should take about half an hour to reach the rear of the bandits' camp, just in time to coordinate with the action on that side.'"

  To make up for the deficiency in marching speed, they left Hedington ahead of time and ambushed here. To coordinate with another route's troops to launch an attack on the bandits.

  "Are you sure that's all right? There are only 50 brothers over there and one Rutz." The officer of the guard unit asked worriedly.

  His name is Shawn, the commander of the Haidington defense team. He used to be a mercenary and was also in the army of the Kingdom of Dierke. He has rich combat experience. Although he doesn't have any special talents, his strengths lie in this, being mediocre but having no major weaknesses, and he is very aware of his duties as a soldier.

  This time Charlotte ordered him to listen to Raymond's command, he had no complaints and fully cooperated, which was quite rare.

  "Don't worry, as long as Rude is there, that side won't be a problem." Raymond wouldn't worry at all. With Rude's formidable combat strength, battles of the hundred-man level were simply not worth mentioning.

  "The main battlefield is still on our side, but don't worry, although we have fewer people than the other side, as long as we follow the plan, we will definitely win." Raymon encouraged him.

  "Alright then, I'll go gather the troops."

  As he spoke, Shawn left. Harriet saw this and also stood up.

  Raymond suddenly grabbed him: "This is our first battle, don't let me down."

  "Don't worry, brothers aren't cowards. Since we've decided to follow you, why would we back down? Besides, no one wants to go back to their old ways."

  After being "trained" by Rudz for these days, coupled with Freddy's occasional brainwashing, the original robbers had some idea of surrendering and became loyal to Raymond.

  "Alright." Raymond said with satisfaction: "Those guys have been hoarding for so long, they must have grabbed a lot of good stuff. Tell them, this time as long as we win, I will definitely not treat them unfairly."

  Halo immediately lit up his eyes, he excitedly nodded and walked towards his subordinates: "Everyone get up and gather, listen to me, tonight we must fight with all our might, we absolutely cannot lose to those defenders!"

  These obviously provocative words immediately made the guards on the side look sideways. Both sides had a grudge against each other because of past grievances, and no one was pleased to see the other. This time they were paired up for battle, and naturally there was also a competitive mindset.

  However, the people in the guard team were not very enthusiastic. They just responded lazily and obviously didn't care about this kind of motivation method.

  With a flick of her eyes, Harlotte shouted again: "Lord Ramon said that as long as we win, there will be a heavy reward!"

  Everyone was stunned at first, and then they all burst out in a cheer, the atmosphere completely different from just now.

  Raymond could only respond with a helpless bitter smile, although he had "turned over a new leaf", these people still retained their old habits, which is why they reacted so enthusiastically to this kind of robber-like motivational method.

  However, as Freddy said, these guys are good at fighting and have nothing to lose. If used properly, they are absolutely a force that cannot be underestimated. Just look at the momentum they burst out with, far exceeding that of the defending team with more people, and you can see it for yourself.

  Thinking of this, he stood up: "Alright, let's set off!"