Ironvine Territory

During the ensuing interrogation, the veteran from Great Oak Territory recounted his experiences during this period.

After the main force dispersed and broke through, Hank, as Squad Leader, led his squad to escape to the edge of the Ironvine Territory. During the escape, many of his former gangster brothers joined him, including the veteran.

Upon arriving at this location, they discovered a farm nearby.

At that time, the manager of the farm had already learned that the reinforcements from the Northlands had been defeated by the enemy and were currently hiding in various parts of the Ironvine Territory.

Upon learning that there was a defeated friendly force near his farm, the manager immediately sent someone to contact them.

They asked Hank what he needed. At first, Hank was very honest and only asked for some food. The manager was also very helpful and immediately sent a batch of food enough to feed the more than 100 people for a month.

Over the next two days, Hank visited the farm from time to time, and the manager treated him very warmly.

During his visit to the farm, Hank learned about its situation and, upon discovering that the farm's Guard Corps had all been redeployed, Hank hatched a wicked plan.

He found several other officers among the fleeing soldiers and tried to incite them to raid the farm, speaking ill of the manager, even though the farm was piled high with grain, ham, and cheese, and also had a large number of sheep and chickens.

But the stingy farm manager refused to give them any, even though they were reinforcements supporting the Ironvine Territory and fighting valiantly for it.

The other officers were naturally also angry, but after all, attacking friendly forces was unacceptable, so none of them agreed to Hank's request, and the meeting ended unhappily.

Hank then used some tactics to spread the news to the other soldiers. The soldiers were already under pressure due to the defeat, and they were quickly stirred up by Hank and his men.

Amidst the fervor of the crowd, they demanded that the officers take them to settle accounts with the farm. At this point, Hank seized the opportunity to suggest that the operation was simply to obtain more food for the men and that no one would be harmed. As a result, the other officers were forced to participate in Hank's plan.

"Actually, I was also swayed by Hank and his men. We were really angry at the time, and we didn't care about anything else. We joined Hank in the raid on the farm."

As a result... as a result, a huge mistake was made!

The soldier was very frustrated as he spoke, pausing several times, but Ron didn't rush him. Instead, he waited for him to calm down before asking.

"What exactly happened? And what's your name?"

The soldier quickly replied, "Sir, my name is Bick."

As for what happened, I'll just give a brief account!

Through Bick's account, Ron learned what had happened that day.

Hank and his men continued their visit to the farm, where they asked the steward for some wine and drank together until the steward was drunk. Only then did Hank and his men open the gates under the cover of night.

Then the army stormed into the farm, and most of the soldiers, led by their officers, went straight to the farm's storehouse, only to find that the storehouse was empty except for a small amount of grain, not much more than what they had in their hands.

The officers soon realized they had been tricked. They quickly led their soldiers, including Bick, to find Hank, but Hank and his men had already begun looting the farm.

When they found Hank had already killed the farm's steward family, attacked the farm's serfs, kidnapped young serf girls, and killed those who resisted. They also set fire to many of the farm's buildings.

When everyone came to question Hank simply threw out the spoils of his robbery, including some food and money. A considerable number of soldiers were attracted by these and joined Hank's camp.

The other officers also lost all power and were arrested by Hank and his men. The officer who opposed Hank the most was killed, and the others were imprisoned by Hank, who would only release them if they gave a pledge of allegiance.

As a lowly sergeant, Bick's soldiers, along with Hank's old comrades, were directly recruited into Hank's ranks without any pledge of allegiance, which is why they escaped unscathed.

Although Bick was very dissatisfied with Hank, he dared not defy Hank, after all, even other officers of higher rank than him had been killed or imprisoned.

After that, Hank led his defeated soldiers into the mountains, determined to become bandits, with no intention of leaving or obeying orders anymore.

Ron asked curiously, "Doesn't he want to go home?"

"Hank is just a scoundrel. He doesn't have a home in Sunset City, so it doesn't matter to him whether he goes home or not. He's quite happy and comfortable being a bandit here."

Later, they frequently attacked nearby villages, plundering people and food, and also recruited many defeated soldiers and local bandits with these supplies.

After Hank's men grew in number, I, being a guy with a less proactive attitude, was quickly marginalized and sent to this remote camp.

I stayed here after that. Many people in similar situations to me were driven over by Hank, and I also learned about the situation at Hank's other camps through them.

"But Lord Ron, we haven't heard anything about sending officers to negotiate. I guess Hank has already kept these things from us."

Ron was stunned after hearing Bick's words. He hadn't expected that the order he and James had given to break out separately would have such an outcome.

"That guy deserves to die; he's ruined the reputation of our legion."

Ron had no idea what this defeated army, which had become bandits, had done before, but after learning about it from Bick, he was furious.

He knew Victor well and knew that Victor valued military discipline very much. As a result, such a guy suddenly appeared in the Southern Marching Legion. Even if the enemy was repelled, it would be difficult to explain to the Iron Vine Family afterwards.

Ron knew this matter had to be handled properly; if it affected the relationship between the Iron Vine Family, the Golden Sunflower Family, and even the Great Oak Family, he and James would also be in trouble.

Ron no longer hesitated. He took the locations of the other camps directly from Bick and summoned his officers, as well as the officers of the Great Oak Territory Cavalry.

He told everyone about Hank and his routed soldiers, which immediately caused an uproar, especially among the officers of the Great Oak Territory Cavalry.

"Lord Ron, this was an oversight on our part that led to this situation. Please entrust this matter to us, and we will certainly eliminate Hank and his army."

"Yes, Regimental Commander Ron."

"We'll handle it."

However, Ron directly rejected their suggestion. "It's not that I don't want you to handle it, but we no longer have time to deal with it calmly. According to Legion Commander Victor's orders, we must firmly control the road from the ferry to Ironwire City."

James has already led a portion of his troops there and should already be engaged in battle with the enemy. I haven't gone yet because I'm busy gathering the army. If we don't arrive in time, it will definitely affect the entire battle.

Neither I nor any of you can afford this responsibility, so this matter cannot be left to you alone; I will also lead troops to participate.

We only have two days. I need to get you to Jade Belt Mountain by the day after tomorrow at the latest.

After hearing Ron's words, the officers of Great Oak Territory stopped insisting and agreed to obey orders.

Ron then divided his forces into several units, handing over the intelligence he had gathered about the camp to their respective commanders, instructing them to conceal their movements and not let the enemy discover them when attacking these guys.

And so, Ron led his troops directly into the mountains to search for and hunt down Hank and his men.

Although Hank met with the messenger sent by Ron and knew that his secret was about to be exposed, he had already begun to prepare to escape.

However, because his men were reluctant to abandon the wealth they had plundered during this period, they moved very slowly and were caught red-handed by Ron's personally led troops during the retreat.

Although Hank and his men had trained hard, they were ultimately just thugs. They could deal with ordinary noble private armies with their physical strength and street fighting experience, but they were no match for the more elite and well-trained army of the Two Rivers Territory.

In the chaos of the battle, Ron got Bick to identify the culprit, Hank. He caught up with Hank single-handedly and knocked Hank to the ground with a lance in one fell swoop.

Ron was furious and showed no mercy when using his lance. Hank Ron stabbed through the abdomen and pinned to the ground.

Ron then ignored Hank's pleas for mercy and used his hunting knife to cut off Hank's head.

Seeing their leader defeated and killed so brutally, the other bandits quickly lost their will to fight and surrendered, throwing down their weapons.

After the war, Ron led his men to clear out the camp that Hank had personally occupied, and they discovered a large amount of looted property, as well as dozens of women, all from nearby villages, many of whom were on the verge of death.

Seeing this, Ron had no intention of letting these people go. He took the spoils and prisoners of war down the mountain and joined up with several other troops that had successfully suppressed bandits.

Ron went directly to a nearby small town, found the civil official of the Ironvine Territory, and handed over the spoils of war and the Ironvine Territory citizens he had rescued.

The elderly civil official was very grateful to Ron: "General Ron, you have helped us a lot. Otherwise, these guys would have caused us a lot of trouble sooner or later."

The civil official had long known about the new bandit group in the vicinity, and that they might be the defeated and routed troops of the Ironvine Territory Reinforcements.

However, he was unable to deal with these bandits because most of the Ironvine Territory Army had already been mobilized.

When Ron brought his men to gather the remnants of the army, it was he who provided the intelligence. However, out of caution, he did not initially inform Ron of the situation of these defeated soldiers, fearing that Ron might not be able to handle the matter impartially. He thought that as long as Ron could take these bandits away and stop them from harming the surrounding villages, that would be enough.

Ron quickly dealt with the bandits, killing their leader and capturing them all. He also returned the stolen goods and women.

The old man named Luke was truly grateful to Ron, even though many of them had died or been injured in the war.

After taking stock of the valuables, Luke kept the gold and Silver Coin for himself and said to Ron, "General Ron, you can keep this money. I heard you're going to fight in Ironwire City next, so consider it your advance payment."

Ron refused outright. "I can't accept this money. We're just following the Legion Commander's orders, and besides, we're the army of the Two Rivers Territory. We can't accept money from anyone other than our lord. Just keep it; it'll at least make up for some of our losses over this period."

Luke was very moved and offered to provide some supplies for the army, but Ron repeatedly refused his kindness, saying that they already had enough military rations and had retrieved the supplies that Hank had taken, so they lacked nothing.

Moreover, Ron said that the military situation was urgent and he had to leave with his troops immediately, Luke didn't even have time to prepare a meal for them.

Having no other choice, Luke led his men to see Ron off in person. As they were seeing Ron off, Luke and his men noticed the bandits who were trapped together in Ron's army.

Just as one of Luke's young men was about to ask Ron and the others how to deal with these people, Luke stopped him.

He knew that these bandits were Cavalry, elite troops in any territory, and could not be dealt with easily.

He guessed that Ron took these men with him intending to use them to continue fighting, so he didn't plan to ask about the soldiers' fate and just assumed they had all disappeared.

As Ron and his army were about to leave, they arrived at a riverbank some distance from the town, where he ordered his troops to halt.

Ron asked Luke what the riverbank was called, Luke replied that it was just a riverbank and didn't have a name.

Looking at the white pebbles on the riverbank, Ron said, "This place has a nice view. I'll give it a name: White Stone Shoal."

"A good name."

Luke praised it, but he didn't quite understand why Ron would suddenly bring up this riverbank.

The next moment, Ron had his men bring over the bandits who were trapped together. During this time, Ron had arranged for Bick to screen these people. Those who had not committed any blood crimes and those who had been coerced had been released back to the army. The rest were all bandits who were considered to have committed blood crimes.

Looking at these men, Ron's eyes were filled with disgust. He gave the order, and the guards who were already prepared began to stab the bandits with their spears.

"Luke, this is my explanation to you. It's just a pity that the riverbank here has been dirtied."