stjorthotic Chapter 78: Spirit and Morality
Chapter 78: Spirit and Morality
As soon as the ball ended, Ron had Doron make arrangements for them to leave Gorubak Castle that very night.
Doron had no objection to this.
With Gavin's help, they swam out of the city via the Gorubak River and then rode swift horses back to the Blackthorn Wasteland.
Halfway there, Fanta asked unwillingly, "My lord, this is truly an insult to chivalry."
Ron said irritably, "They're going to take me to the capital for interrogation, even persecution. Can you rescue me from there?"
"Besides, do you think the Knights of the Inspectorate would talk to us about chivalry? Do you believe that as soon as we left the city this morning, they would send a large number of people to hunt us down? I guarantee it. They might even send out Sky Knight-level experts. Can you beat them? Chivalry is for our own people. When dealing with enemies, we can only use the most brutal and cunning methods."
After listening, Thun seemed to be deep in thought, while Fanta fell silent.
As Ron predicted, things turned out just as he had expected.
In fact, after the ball, Hilfar had people watch over the four city gates to prevent Ron from escaping.
It wasn't until almost noon that Hilfa realized something was wrong and immediately went to the tavern where Ron was staying, only to find it empty.
A city-wide search was conducted, but they were not found.
The knight commander in charge of the operation, Tony Parker, coldly stated, "They fled Gorubak Castle overnight."
Hilfa was immediately filled with shame: "Sir Knight, I was too arrogant. I never imagined that the last bloodline of the Ashwood family would be so lacking in chivalry."
Tony shook his head: "That's the most terrifying thing. Gather the troops immediately, and mobilize all available infantry. We're going to attack Ashwood Territory."
Hilfa paused for a moment: "Sir Knight, attacking a frontier territory requires the Border Lord's permission..."
Tony said coldly, "The Ashwood family is a royally designated traitor. Even if the Border Lady is dissatisfied, she won't bother me for a dead man once the Ashwood territory is destroyed."
"Yes, Commander Knight! I request to be the vanguard for this attack."
Hilfa knelt down on one knee and shouted.
Tony nodded and said, "Remember this: those who betray chivalry are the most dangerous on the battlefield."
When Ron returned to Ashwood, travel-worn and weary, Old Hall immediately became serious upon seeing Ron's solemn expression.
"Young Master, what happened?"
Ron dropped his riding whip and said calmly, "Those stinking rats from the capital are coming. Prepare for war. In the territory, mobilize all available troops."
Old Hall looked at Leonardo da Vinci, who quickly responded and ran out.
Old Hall asked, "The Knights of the Judicial Review?"
"It's them."
"Royal lackeys, bastards who have betrayed the morals of the nobility!" Old Hall was furious when he heard about the Imperial Guard.
What the nobles of the kingdom despise most about the Imperial Guard is their penchant for settling scores after the fact. They disregard the tacit understanding among the nobles, and even when the emperor grants a pardon, they will still hold onto the matter and never let it go. Their favorite thing to do is to exterminate everyone.
Ron said somewhat helplessly, "I expected them to come, but I didn't expect it to be so soon."
This time, he still had too few men at his disposal.
Mrs. Moriel, who was standing nearby, hurriedly said, "Young master, there are too few crossbows and catapults. You must go and build them immediately, build as many as you can."
Old Hall chimed in, "Young Master, there's no time to lose, I'll go help too."
Upon hearing what the old Hall couple said, Ron took a sip of water and ran towards the city wall.
At this moment, Ron also noticed that the entire territory had become busy.
Both the militia and the reserve militia rushed toward the city wall.
Not only them, but the women's team also climbed the city wall carrying long spears.
Many women were responsible for transporting supplies for the city's defense. Large bundles of arrows were carried up the city walls. They could only carry one bundle at a time, but there were so many of them that they lined up and passed them up to each other.
The logs and stones were pulled up using a pulley crane, and soon the entire city wall was filled with people.
When Ron finished building the first eight-ox crossbow, ten women from the women's team immediately came over, along with thirty ordinary women.
Ron was somewhat surprised and uncertain.
Old Hall chuckled and said, "Young master, Moriel has been training the women's corps and the women's guard lately, mostly focusing on training them to operate the crossbow and catapult. After all, in frontal combat on the battlefield, women are always inferior to men."
Ron nodded, inwardly marveling at Moriel's shrewdness.
Ron's Eight-Bull Crossbow was the result of numerous improvements, pushing modern mechanical technology to its limits. He used ten sets of pulleys alone. The advantage was that it was more labor-saving and its power was greatly increased. The disadvantage was that it used more materials and required more meticulous maintenance.
Those ten sets of steel pulleys alone require twenty pounds of steel, while the territory's current weekly steel production is only a little over one hundred pounds.
Originally, there were sixteen eight-ox crossbows on the city wall, but now sixteen more have been added, which has used up all the steel in the territory's inventory.
Watching the women's team quickly cock their crossbows, although they were a bit slower than the militia, it was enough.
Mary, the team leader, quickly adjusted the angle and locked onto the target using the short-range binoculars on the sight.
"My lord, target locked."
Mary's target was a small mound of earth outside the city wall, which was mainly used by the militia and women's corps for training with the eight-ox crossbow.
Unlike other lords, Ron never skimped on training.
"Shoot!" Ron shouted immediately.
Bang!
The loud sound of the crossbow bolt snapping open was audible to almost everyone on the city wall, and then the spear struck the very center of the mound.
The distance between the mound and the city wall is more than 500 meters.
"Beautiful!" Ron couldn't help but exclaim.
"Butler Moriel, I'm entrusting the command of the Eight Bull Crossbows to you!" Ron said solemnly.
"Young Master, please rest assured and leave it to us!"
After Ron finished building the Eight-Bull Crossbow, he went to the locations of several catapults in the territory, where a group of women were already waiting, led by three official members of the Women's Guard.
"My lord."
Ron asked, "Are you in charge of the catapults for this position?"
Melissa stepped forward and said, "My lord, Eileen and Velma will be in charge of position number one, and I will be in charge of position number two, the catapult."
Ron nodded and got to work without saying a word. This time, he made two huge rollers on the trebuchet winch. As long as a person ran inside the rollers, the winch would rotate, which was both labor-saving and fast.
Melissa's eyes flashed with ecstasy at the sight. This was much less strenuous than having them slowly stir the winch, and it was also much easier to arrange manpower.
A catapult position with three catapults was not because Ron didn't want more, but because of space and manpower constraints.
The area inside the city walls is only so big, and catapults themselves take up a lot of space. One catapult site is enough to build three underground towers.
Ron spent another hour designing a two-wheeled stone-carrying cart.
The cart was round, so you could push the round stones in and push them to the side of the catapult's launch basket, then flip the cart over to unload them, saving the effort of carrying them.