Muddying the Waters

After confirming that there were no survivors left in the camp, Victor led his team away from the camp.

After leaving the camp, more than ten riders ran back into the city from outside the city gate. They were sent by Victor to hunt down the city guards at the city gate.

One of the riders leaped out and said, "My lord, all 20 soldiers guarding the city gate have been killed."

Victor nodded. "In that case, everyone shall proceed to the South Gate as planned, setting fire to the houses along the way."

"Yes!"

Victor then led the Cavalry along the route they had come from, heading straight for the south gate.

As they marched, the Cavalry either fired rockets or threw torches at the surrounding houses, and soon the flames began to spread throughout the city, and the plumes of smoke grew longer and longer.

The shouts within the city grew louder as more and more residents discovered the fire, and people continued to run out of the burning buildings.

Victor showed no pity for these people. Under his command, Cavalry armed with crossbows fired at the citizens who were trying to call for help. If these citizens appeared on the sidelines of the road, they would be met with Cavalry lances and swords.

Victor and his men fought their way through the city and finally reached the Haiden City, where they met up with Alex and Salos, who were already waiting there.

Looking at the thick smoke billowing from the city, Alex's face showed reluctance.

"Victor, is it necessary to do this? We can just take the horses. This will cause too many casualties in the city."

"Alex, we don't have the luxury of worrying about these innocent civilians. Our mission is to intercept the secret agreement. Fortunately, the Second Legion is unaware of our mission. Even if they report it up the chain of command and Silver Maple City reacts, we will have already completed our mission."

"But we've already encountered several patrols along the way. Even if the Second Legion doesn't know our purpose, they will definitely follow the trail we left and send troops to chase us. There's no need for us to waste time here doing these things," Alex expressed his doubts.

Victor shook his head. "I dare not underestimate Count Carter. He will definitely send people to pursue us. The reason I did this is to create chaos and confuse the situation."

Victor turned to Salos and said, "Steward Salos, let's proceed according to our plan. I'll leave the rest to you."

"Your Excellency, please rest assured, I will definitely complete the mission. Please also take care of yourselves and be careful."

Victor did this tonight because of the special circumstances in Haiden City.

York County is a county directly subordinate to the Duchy, and most of the land within the county belongs to the Grand Duke. Only a few lands and estates are granted to particularly favored Court Noble and members of the Ducal House, and these are reclaimed upon their death.

The cities in York County were all directly established and managed by the Duchy. For example, the Carn City, a key transportation hub, was built as a fortress. The original headquarters of the Third Legion was located here. It was under military control for a long time, but it was used most of the time as an important trade route pass. Caravans from the Northlands would enter the Central Region through here, and the Duchy could also obtain a large amount of commercial tax here.

However, after the outbreak of the Civil War, the Third Legion was severely damaged by the Northern Alliance Army and has been in a state of reconstruction. The area was given to the Sixth Legion by Grand Duke Mora. Because half of the Sixth Legion's forces were to stabilize the situation in the western region, only one regiment of the Sixth Legion was stationed here before Count Carter's arrival.

As for Haiden City, it is also a relatively important transportation hub. It is adjacent to the western region of the Duchy. From here, you can go directly west to Strath County, one of the Western Three Counties, and go north to Derby County. Traveling 50 kilometers northeast, you can reach Milan County, the Capital City. Therefore, the Duchy also has a regiment of the Sixth Legion stationed here.

Therefore, these two cities are the most important military nodes in York County, and a large number of military facilities are located in these two cities.

Haiden City itself is not large, even smaller than some towns in noble fiefdoms, with only four or five thousand permanent residents. Some are military families, and others are Freemen who serve the army. There are numerous workshops in the city, all of which exist around the army. It supplies 30% of York County's military supplies, another 30% in Carn City, and 40% from the Capital City. It can be said that Haiden City is very important to the Second Legion and Count Carter.

Initially, Victor only intended to obtain horses at the transit station to facilitate the next interception mission. However, Count Carter's military control policy and the large number of patrol troops in the county forced them to leave many traces.

Victor decided to go all out and immediately began to destroy Haiden City after taking it. On the one hand, he wanted to destroy the traces of their arrival, and on the other hand, he wanted to muddy the waters so that even if the Second Legion sent pursuers, they would inevitably have to divert some of their forces to rescue Haiden City.

Victor explained his thoughts to Alex in detail, "Do you still think I went too far?"

Alex shook his head. "No, that won't work. What you're doing will certainly help us with the next step of our plan, but it still won't shake off our pursuers."

Salos stepped forward. "Young Master, leave the rest to me."

"I will take the caravan escort and head directly to Derby County, leaving a trail of a large force along the way to attract the attention of the Second Legion's pursuers. Even if they adopt a split-force tactic, the number of troops they can catch up with will become smaller and smaller."

Victor nodded. "The Second Legion doesn't have many Cavalry. According to my and Salos's analysis, the Second Legion currently only has three battalions of Cavalry, less than 2,000 men. Most of them are just one man on one horse and don't have the ability to make long-distance raids. Moreover, apart from the troops left behind, Count Carter can only send out a maximum of 1,200 men. If we send some to Haiden City and another part to pursue Salos, we might only have around 300 men left for us."

"At the Haiden City transfer station, we obtained more than a hundred warhorses and riding horses, enough for us to rotate. As for the Aran Horse, we can give them to Salos for camouflage. That way, the Second Legion's pursuers will only be able to eat shit behind us."

Upon hearing this, Alex sighed, "I used to hear people say 'plans can't keep up with changes,' and now I finally understand. If Victor hadn't come with me, this interception mission might have failed from the very beginning."

"Alex, as the heir to the Iron Birch Territory, you don't need to participate in this kind of mission. We were just trying it out. The Count has already made preparations, and we will just do our best."

The two teams then parted ways Haiden City. Victor and Alex led the interception squad westward toward Strath County, leaving the squad with 113 men.