The Fifth Army's Luck Runs Out

Falling Leaf Town

After a struggle, it finally concluded with the collapse of the Rebel Army. Although they had recaptured a large town, Knight Chels couldn't feel any joy.

It was too clean. Not only were there no treasures of gold and silver, but the granaries had also been set ablaze by the Rebel Army.

If they hadn't reacted quickly enough to salvage a batch of unburnt grain from the inferno, all their efforts would have been in vain.

Clearly, the Rebel Army had been well-prepared, knowing they couldn't hold Falling Leaf Town and had already transferred their supplies.

Glancing at the townsfolk kneeling to greet them, Chels was forced to extinguish his desire for plunder. There was no way; the old and young gathered before him made it impossible to act.

Of course, the most crucial reason was that these people were too poor to yield any profit. Even if they were to be sold as slaves, no one would be interested.

"Your Excellency, the Rebel Army was clearly prepared. What should we do now?" Baron Mecher asked bitterly.

They had taken such a great risk to plunder, only to harvest a pile of grain, as if they were desperately short of food.

This wasn't the desolate northwest. As nobles of the Southeast Province, the "granary of the Kingdom," who didn't have a few granaries of their own?

To put it bluntly, even if they had zero harvest for two to three years, no one would starve.

At other times, it would be fine, but this time they had risked sneaking out to plunder. Carrying this grain with them would completely cripple their mobility.

Frowning, Chels said with a grim expression, "We can't possibly take all this grain with us. For the sake of the Lord of Dawn, let's do a good deed and leave it for them.

It's only five days until the Battle of Ethel Fortress. Even if the Rebel Army was prepared, they couldn't possibly transfer all their supplies to their stronghold so quickly.

We'll continue to the next stop. If there's no harvest, we'll pursue them towards Dadir City. Even without any gains, we can rendezvous with the supply convoy in time."

Without much hesitation, everyone agreed. Since they had come this far, they couldn't leave empty-handed. Not taking anything back would leave them feeling unfulfilled.

After a brief rest, the Fifth Army set off again. They truly "came in a hurry, left in a hurry. Waving their sleeves, they took not a single piece of bread."

Seeing the noble lords depart, the unrestrained villagers suddenly became energized and joined the scramble for the grain.

An elder, driven by hunger, directly grabbed a handful of roasted rye and stuffed it into his mouth, only to immediately start foaming at the mouth.

This was just the beginning. Villagers who consumed the food collapsed one after another.

"The food is poisoned!"

Perhaps their luck had run out. Just as Hudson ordered them to set up camp and start cooking, he saw Griffon Cavalry circling low above their camp.

Hudson's intuition told him that the Fifth Army's plundering expedition had now been exposed.

There was nothing he could do. Despite his best efforts to cover for them, they had ultimately been found out.

To buy enough time for their allies to plunder and to ensure the safety of the supply convoy, Hudson had deliberately suppressed their marching speed.

They marched every morning and set up camp at noon. In the afternoon, half the time was spent on formation drills and the other half on ideological work. Their days were packed, leaving no time for idle thoughts.

Hudson had calculated that at their current pace of twenty li per day, they would reach Dadir City in just six days, perfectly ensuring the supply of food and fodder for the main force.

It was a win-win situation for everyone. Who knew Count Pierce would have a sudden change of heart and send knights to urge the Fifth Army to speed up their march.

With the Legion Commander absent, Hudson had no choice but to receive them. Although he concocted what he believed to be a flawless excuse, encountering only one noble along the way made it obvious something was amiss.

If nothing went wrong, this Griffon Cavalryman before him was the result of the knight from yesterday reporting back.

At a distance of less than ten meters, even the worst archer could hit them with an arrow. After a moment's hesitation, Hudson ultimately abandoned the idea of silencing them.

In front of so many people, maintaining secrecy was too difficult. The Rebel Army didn't have Griffon Cavalry, so if they were to claim it was an accidental injury, no one would believe them.

For nobles, deceiving superiors was just basic operation. Even if the matter was exposed, the Fifth Army would bear the responsibility together.

The law doesn't punish the masses. Even if Count Pierce wanted to enforce military law, he wouldn't be able to.

Even though the legion commanders had a strained relationship before due to their conflicting interests, if Count Pierce were to lay a heavy hand on the nobles of the Fifth Army, they would immediately turn their attention to him.

In the world of nobles, there were only benefits and drawbacks, not right and wrong. Minor nobles attached themselves to major nobles, while simultaneously banding together to oppose the major nobles. This was both a political balance and their way of survival.

This principle also applied upwards. Major nobles attached themselves to the Kingdom, while also banding together to oppose the King, which was also a form of the Kingdom's political balance.

In Hudson's view, the kingdoms of the Aslant Continent were like companies, and the nobles and kings within them were shareholders.

The only difference was the amount of shares they held; fundamentally, they were all masters of the company. For the sake of profit, they would argue and contend as needed.

The major shareholders had more shares and greater say, but the combined shares of the minor shareholders far exceeded that of the major shareholders, enough to negate the major shareholders' decisions.

While there was a certain gap in their status, they fundamentally possessed the power of equal dialogue.

Even the King could not arbitrarily execute a noble without due cause. Even if a noble committed a serious crime, they could only be executed after being judged by the noble council.

Of course, these were all on the surface. No one could guarantee what happened behind the scenes.

Theoretically, disobeying military orders on the battlefield could result in immediate execution. In practice, however, it was not that simple.

As long as the mistake was not a fundamental one, and the person wasn't particularly incompetent, a large group of friends and relatives would step forward to plead for them.

Especially in cases of collective disobedience, as long as it didn't lead to catastrophic consequences, it would ultimately be a case of making a mountain out of a molehill.

Compared to disobeying military orders, killing Count Pierce's Griffon Cavalry would have more severe consequences. The former was a matter of public duty, while the latter involved personal grievances.

Watching the Griffon Cavalry depart, Hudson was already calculating the aftermath. Notifying his allies to return was clearly too late, and besides, he didn't even know the specific targets of the plundering army.

Sighing helplessly, Hudson finally decided to give up. Whatever happened, happened. He was powerless anyway.

Even if Count Pierce pursued accountability, it wouldn't have much to do with him. At most, he would be accused of knowing but not reporting, which was insignificant compared to disobeying military orders.

As for the others, they could only fend for themselves. They were all adults and should have been prepared for exposure from the moment they decided to plunder.