Unknown Knight

Chapter 361 Unworthy of respect

The fierce fire continued to burn for more than half an hour, during which time several explosions occurred. The explosions splashed the burning incendiary oil everywhere, creating more than a dozen fire points. The splashing incendiary oil even ignited some buildings in the central fort, and some of the incendiary oil stored there was also ignited and exploded.

The entire castle was ablaze. Even the soldiers on the siege towers outside the city could feel the heat coming towards them. They had to hold their shields in front of them. Their cheeks were already burning from the heat.

After the fire was extinguished, the soldiers led by Aix climbed up to the top of the city wall and found that there was not a single living person in the entire outer fort. Those who could escape had probably escaped long ago, and those who could not escape had nowhere to hide. Even if they hid in the soldier cave under the arrow tower, they would be baked alive like bread in the oven. The whole outer fort was filled with a disgusting smell of meat.

Not only the outer fort, but also the middle fort had no defenders. It was not until the inner fort that the enemy troops who were holding out appeared on the city walls. At this point, Aix no longer thought about surrendering the enemy and directly ordered an attack.

The enemies on the city wall were still trying to hold on, but they were overwhelmed by the precise attacks from the catapults, crossbows and more than thirty sharpshooters on the mountain, and they couldn't even raise their heads.

The city walls here were not prepared for defense at all, and the enemy troops guarding here could never have imagined that the soldiers of Lord Aix would break through the outer and middle castles so easily. Apart from defending against attacks from overhead and shooting sparse arrows, they had no other means of stopping the enemy. They dared not use any more flaming oil, in case they were ignited by the people on the mountain and exploded, they would be finished.

Soon, the soldiers of Aix climbed up to the top of the city wall, and the inner fort was also declared breached. The fire blocked the back door of the middle fort, forcing Ulusama, who had intended to escape, to hide in the main fort. At this time, he could no longer be an ostrich with his head buried in the sand. He bent his waist and led a sheep, and took the initiative to surrender to Aix.

Even at this time, this guy was still thinking about his dignity as a nobleman. He lowered his head and said to Aix:

"Respected Axboye, as a noble of the same class, Benayan formally surrenders to you. I hope you can give me the corresponding respect. At the same time, Benayan hopes to redeem himself with 500 gold coins. This is the highest ransom that a castle noble can currently offer. I hope you can agree to it."

After hearing what Urushamayan said, Aix couldn't help but burst into laughter, wantonly and full of contempt. After a while, Aix, who was laughing so hard that Urushamayan's liver was trembling, stopped laughing, waved to the guards to bring a piece of parchment that had been prepared in advance, and said to him with a sneer:

"Dignity? You, a bandit leader, still want to ask me for respect?

On May 20th of the year before last, your tribe disguised themselves as grassland bandits and raided my caravan near the village of Turbuk, killing three and injuring five, and stealing goods worth 120 gold coins.

On July 13 of the same year, these grassland bandits attacked my caravan again near Dreifahban. This time we were prepared. Although you didn't rob the goods, you killed six people and injured four people in the caravan.

……

As of last month, your grassland bandits have robbed my caravans a total of 29 times, causing 33 deaths and 54 injuries to my subordinates, with direct cargo losses amounting to more than 2,000 gold coins.

That's not all. You also charged my caravan a transit tax at Fort Sageche at a price three times higher than that of our peers, and in total you collected more than 3,000 gold coins in extra taxes from us.

Now you are talking about dignity to me, tell me, look me in the eyes and tell me, do you have dignity? Well, do you have dignity? Answer me! Do you deserve it? You have the nerve to tell me, I deserve it, I deserve it, I deserve it, who made me aristocrat, fuck your aristocracy!

Come, take the bandit leader out and skin him alive. Hang his head on the city gate for public display. All his relatives will be demoted to slavery and forced to work in the mines until they die."

Axe couldn't help but swear, and his angry scolding scared Urushamai so much that he collapsed to the ground on the spot, with feces and urine flowing everywhere.

Immediately, two ferocious-looking soldiers came up and dragged Wu Lusamai away like a dead dog, beating and kicking him as they went along. This guy had been causing trouble for the caravans in the territory over the past few years and was the public enemy of all the people in the territory. Everyone wanted to deal with him, and he would definitely not be well after he was taken away.

Then Aix ordered Bandak to preside over the interrogation of the surrendered personnel of Fort Sageche. Anyone whose hands were stained with the blood of the people of the territory would be executed. Those who committed heinous crimes, those who instigated riots, and the Nayan leaders who led the troops would also be executed. All their relatives who were related to these people would be demoted to slaves.

This is the first battle for Aix to break the impasse. The reason why he treats the prisoners so harshly is to tell all hostile forces that it is best not to stand up against him, otherwise you will not be able to bear the consequences.

After giving instructions on how to deal with the problem, Aix began to order his men to search for the spoils of war. Fort Sageche was located on a strategic road, and in recent years, the Wulusamai had been collecting bribes and allowing thieves to rob. The looted property must have been considerable.

Sure enough, after a search, they found more than 5,000 gold coins, more than 13,000 silver coins, and 50,000 to 60,000 copper coins. The rest, such as gold and silver jewelry, all kinds of jewelry, jade curios, various precious metal utensils and utensils, etc., were difficult to count and estimate at the moment.

The various types of materials seized were also very valuable. For example, a large amount of food and supplies were stored in the central fort. Although a lot of them were burned by the kerosene, these materials were generally stored separately and isolated, and most of them were not damaged. Roughly speaking, the food alone was enough for everyone to eat for half a year, not to mention the wool, linen, leather, and iron tools.

More valuable materials such as velvet, spices, olive oil, snow salt, refined iron, etc. were stored by Urushama in the inner castle. These materials were almost intact and filled several warehouses. Some were covered with dust, apparently having been stored for a long time, and some had even decayed and deteriorated.

Obviously, these things must have been robbed by the grassland bandits under Wulushamai. Only those who do not know how to cherish the property that comes from illegal sources will not treat it with care, otherwise they would not deal with it so casually and let it be wasted.

Now all these things belong to Aix. Many of them are materials that the territory urgently needs. Those that are not urgently needed can be quickly converted into cash with the sales capabilities of the territory's caravans. This will greatly ease the financial situation of the territory. Aix feels very happy when he sees the cash flow that is about to become abundant.

Another important gain was the incendiary oil stored in the inner fort warehouse. A lot of the incendiary oil in the Sageche Fort was ignited and exploded during the battle, but most of it was still stored intact in the inner fort warehouse.

Don't underestimate these barrels of inferno that can only be used in combat. Their production cost is much higher than olive oil of the same quality. Most of the inferno in the warehouse is worth at least thousands of gold coins.

At the same time, the reply letter from Saiga Khan was also found. Knowing that the enemy's reinforcements would arrive in two days, Aix couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He originally estimated that with the mobilization capabilities of that era, Saiga Khan's reinforcements would take at least four or five days to arrive. Now the time has been doubled, which is enough to show the importance this Khan attached to Sageche Fort.

Moreover, this is just the vanguard. It is possible that Saiga Khan wants to take this opportunity to mobilize the entire country and launch an attack on Kudan City.

This possibility made Aix feel like he was facing a great enemy. He did not mobilize all his troops for the attack on Fort Sageche, but only summoned less than a thousand people. It seemed that the situation required the territory to send more troops to deal with the upcoming storm.