Seizing the Castle

In the dead of night, outside the castle of Sweet Sorghum Territory, a group of uninvited guests were quietly approaching the side wall of the castle under the cover of darkness.

These soldiers, clad in leather armor and wearing black hoods, are the Marine Corps of Edmund's fleet. Since the reorganization of the Kingdom Navy, naval warfare has only been one of Kingdom Navy missions. In order to expand its territory, the Kingdom Navy has established a powerful Marine Legion from the very beginning.

Normally, these Marine Corps are evenly distributed among the ships to act as oarsmen, because the waters near the Tears of God Inland Sea are calm, and oars can help the ships move quickly when there is no wind.

When land operations are required, these Marine Corps will be sent ashore and assembled, and commanded by the commanders of each squadron. They usually number around seven or eight hundred, which is close to the size of a battalion.

Edmund's mission this time will involve a lot of land combat, so Commander Laou Allen simply reinforced his fleet. With the addition of the Marine Corps from the other two squadrons, Edmund can mobilize a total of 3,000 marines for this operation. Including the sailors that can be drawn from the fleet, it is enough to form a regiment.

These troops were enough for Edmund to roam freely throughout the western part of the Grand Duchy, since most of the private armies of the Western nobles territories had already arrived at the front lines of the Carson Mountains, attempting to attack the Northlands.

The group of soldiers below Sweet Sorghum Territory Castle was not large, only a little over 100 men, and they finally reached the side wall of the castle.

"Is this the place, Hashim?"

The leader, Bertley, pointed to the side wall and asked Hashim was dressed similarly.

Hashim nodded. "This is it. Wait while I look for it."

After saying that, Hashim began to search carefully at the base of the wall, tapping on the wall as he searched.

Bertley watched Hashim searching for something, feeling somewhat impatient, but he also remembered Edmund's instructions and kept his mouth shut.

After receiving a positive reply from Edmund, Hashim finally spilled everything he knew.

This includes information about Lord Benn's origins, the situation within the territory, and even the defensive vulnerabilities of the castle.

After receiving this intelligence, Edmund wasted no time. He knew that time was of the essence. Although their fleet had arrived here undetected, except for Hashim's family, they were still very much in need of time.

The coast where Edmund's fleet docked was too close to the territories of the Western nobles, and according to Karask, although the waters around here were remote, other fishermen would occasionally come here.

Edmund's fleet is too large to hide its tracks; it will be discovered sooner or later, and may even be seen within days.

Edmund did not intend to delay for that long. After learning the information from Hashim, he compared it with the map of the western region of the Grand Mansion that the Kingdom Navy had obtained, and Edmund quickly formulated a plan.

He handed the plan over to the two fleet commanders, Gilles and Tesla, and persuaded them. He then immediately dispatched troops, with Bertley leading an elite squad to accompany Hashim to the castle of Baron Sweet Sorghum.

According to Hashim's intelligence, there should only be a few dozen guards in the Baron's castle at present. Most of the private army of the territory has been taken by Ben's knights to accompany Count Sibeth to the Carn City in the north. It can be said that the castle is now at its weakest in terms of defense.

Hashim also said that during his stay in the castle, he often wandered around inside the castle to fill his stomach and accidentally discovered a passage that led to the outside of the castle. According to his understanding, this passage was probably too old for anyone inside the castle to know about.

After hearing this, Edmund thought it was a good opportunity and immediately asked Bertley to join forces with Hashim, leading this elite squad to secretly infiltrate the castle and take control of Baron Benn's entire family.

Edmund led a portion of the army behind to control the roads and villages along the way, while the two squadron commanders, Gilles and Texera, led the remaining troops in two separate groups, guided by Karask and Gaita, to try to block the two access routes of the sweet sorghum.

After Bertley and his men occupy the castle, they will block anyone who might try to escape from the territory and minimize the leak of information.

After the division of labor was clear, Bertley led his squad of soldiers, following Hashim through mountains and valleys, along various trails, bypassing residential areas, and trying to sneak into the heart of the Sweet Sorghum Territory.

To Bertley's satisfaction, Hashim was indeed very reliable. Although the routes he found were all remote, the journey was very safe, and he was not afraid of being discovered. Bertley believed that he could definitely complete the task assigned by Edmund.

Just then, Hashim suddenly whispered, "Found it, the passage has been found."

Upon hearing this, Bertley quickly ran over and saw Hashim lying on the ground, prying aside a bunch of bushes by the city wall. Sure enough, Bertley followed the bushes and found a small hole at the bottom of the city wall.

Bertley stared at the small hole, lost in thought. As the second son of a noble family, he often visited noble castles in the Raine Kingdom and knew a bit about their structure.

Bertley told himself that if his memory served him right, the small hole in the wall in front of him should be a drainage outlet reserved inside the castle. These outlets are usually located at the bottom of the castle and are used to drain water from inside the castle. They are also sometimes used as outlets for household waste.

Hashim noticed that Bertley had suddenly stood to one side, his expression somewhat unpleasant, and knew that Bethel might have some objections to the passage.

But at this moment, Hashim was eager for revenge and didn't care much about Bertley anyway, so he simply said, "Are you leaving or not? If not, then get out of the way."

After saying that, Hashim lay back down on the ground, preparing to enter the castle through the passage, but at that moment Bertley grabbed him.

"Move back a bit. You're the guide. We'll need you to lead us to capture the nobles of this territory later. If you get injured, it will affect our operation."

After saying that, Bertley immediately took the lead, lay down on the ground, and began to crawl along the passage into the castle.

Sure enough, after climbing into the castle, there were no signs of anyone having walked there. Then Hashim and the other warriors followed the passage into the castle.

The subsequent actions were straightforward: Hashim and Bertley found Baron Benn still asleep, and Bertley's troops captured all the castle guards and confiscated all their weapons.

The entire battle, from start to finish, took only a dozen minutes. It was all so easy that Bertley was somewhat taken aback, as he had been prepared for a bloody battle.

But the guards of the Sweet Sorghum Territory had no will to fight at all; they surrendered as soon as they saw them, giving them no chance to fight back.

Bertley then quickly sent out the signal to occupy the castle. This time, Bertley specially brought a set of signal lights from the ship to facilitate sending signals at night.

Just one hour after the signal was sent, Edmund arrived at the foot of the castle with his troops.

Bertley quickly opened the castle gates to welcome Edmund into the city. After Edmund entered the castle, he said to Bertley, "Bertley, you did a good job. This time, you captured all of Baron Benn's relatives, saving us a lot of trouble."

"By the way, where did Hashim go?"

Edmund looked around but couldn't find Hashim. He shook his head and said, "Never mind, take me to see Baron Benn."

Bertley hesitated for a moment. Edmund looked at Bertley with some surprise, as Bertley was usually a decisive person.

At this moment, Bertley said, "My lord, Hashim should be with Baron Benn. Please come with me."

Bertley led Edmund into the castle, and after walking around, they came to a staircase leading to the castle's basement.

Before Edmund had even finished half of his lesson, some screams were heard.

Bertley scratched his head. "Sir, it must have been Hashim who did it. I'll call him right away."

After saying that, Bertley shouted "Hashim!" a few times. A moment later, Hashim came out. Edmund saw that Hashim's clothes were covered in blood, and he immediately understood what had happened.