Siege Camp

Victor saw what Belger was holding and his heart skipped a beat. He looked up at the fleet of ships in the river and said to Belger, "Sir Belger, go and seize another ship. I want to see what's on it!"

"Yes!"

At Belger's shout, the soldiers immediately gathered. They then surrounded a boat with a smaller fire and began splashing water on it from the riverbed.

Fortunately, the ship's firepower was not strong, and with the efforts of a group of people, the fire was successfully extinguished after half an hour.

However, most of the cargo on the ship had been burned. Fortunately, Belger personally led a team onto the ship to sift through the ashes and found a sack of cargo that had not yet been ignited at the bottom of the ship.

It took Belger a tremendous amount of effort to drag the incredibly heavy sack to the shore.

Victor, who was standing to the side, drew a sharp dagger from his waist and stabbed at the sack without hesitation.

With a sharp "rip," a long gash was torn open in the sack.

Surprisingly, what should have flowed out of the bag was not golden wheat grains, but a pile of grayish-white wheat husks!

Victor grabbed a handful of wheat husks and squeezed them in his hand. They felt very light, but this was different from the way Belger had dragged the sack earlier. Victor continued to cut open the sack and saw that it contained several stones wrapped in wheat husks at the very bottom.

Sir Belger had been observing from the sidelines, and only asked when Victor had stopped, "Viscount Victor, the fleet is almost completely burned. Should we continue to put out the fire?"

Victor glanced at Belger, "Let's all get ashore. Forget about the boats. Let's build a fire and warm everyone up!"

Belger hurried off to command the troops, and Victor muttered after he left, "That Knight Belger is too cautious!"

That makes them very obedient when you're in charge, but you have to ask them about everything, which is also troublesome!

And so everyone stopped fighting the fire and returned to shore, including the laborers.

They lit a campfire right on the shore to dry their wet clothes and also started cooking dinner.

Victor, accompanied by his guards, randomly selected a few men from the guards of the grain transport fleet and began interrogating them.

What does your fleet transport?

"Sir, it's definitely all grain!"

Who was in charge of guarding this grain before?

"Sir, it's the Governor's guard!"

"What's the name of the officer in charge of transporting your grain?"

"Sir, the grain transport officer's name is Book!"

"Before leaving Blackwater City, did the grain transport officer see anyone?"

"Yes, Book Booker seems to have met the Governor's secretary!"

Victor interrogated the men separately, asking them the same questions. By comparing their answers, Victor concluded that the soldiers genuinely did not know what was on the convoy they were escorting.

They all assumed the fleet was carrying grain for the duchy's army, because previous grain shipments had been the same: the grain was guarded by the Governor's Guard before being transported, and then handed over to the grain fleet's Guard Corps just before departure.

Those who know the truth are none other than the grain transport officer who ordered the fire and subsequently committed suicide, and probably also the governor's secretary.

Victor looked at the interrogation results in his hand and found it amusing. It seemed that this governor was probably trying to set up a "fire dragon burning the granary" and was being used as a tool to balance the books.

"This Viscount Krick is quite interesting; he's very good at business!"

Victor also had a plan and decided to make a fuss about this.

After everyone had eaten, Victor led the Cavalry and prisoners back to the walls of Blackwater City. By then, the other troops had already set up camp near the docks of Blackwater City.

Victor ordered Belger to lead his troops to disband and return to their respective camps to rest. He then sent someone to find the liaison officer of the Northern Frontier Chamber of Commerce.

He quickly arrived before Victor. "Viscount Victor, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, we need your help with something. Are you still able to contact the branch in the city?"

The liaison officer quickly nodded. "Sir, there is absolutely no problem. Our chamber of commerce has long since established channels in all aspects, and our communication with the city is very smooth."

If needed, we can also send people into the city, but no more than ten people!

Victor thought for a moment, then shook his head. "That won't be necessary. You can just send a letter and a package to the city for me!"

After speaking, Victor handed a prepared envelope and package to the liaison officer, who quickly took it.

"Sir, who do you need this for?"

"Just give it to Viscount Krick. As long as it's in his hands, you don't need to reveal your identities, but try to keep it a secret from unrelated people!"

Don't worry!

We already had people stationed at the city lord's mansion; we could have placed it right next to the governor without alerting anyone!

The liaison officer patted his chest and assured him that Victor had nothing else to do, so he left to prepare to get the goods into the city as soon as possible.

After the liaison officer left, Victor took Little Paru to explore the camp, and he found the location of the camp to be familiar.

Just like the camp where he temporarily stopped in Blackwater City after the end of the Civil War, except this time he was not there to visit Blackwater City, but to attack Blackwater City.

"It's a pity that Knight Jack is still with the main force, otherwise it would be quite interesting to call him along."

Victor stood on the watchtower built at the edge of the camp, looking towards Blackwater City. The Sun had already set, the city gates were tightly closed, and the city walls were patrolled by soldiers carrying torches, so the defenses were very tight.

Blackwater City is an important transportation hub on the Blackwater River and also a large city. In order to limit the number of troops he brought, Victor simply set up camps in the south and north of the city. The main camp was located in the north of the city, which is where he is now, directly opposite the city gate of Blackwater City.

He only arranged sentries and Cavalry patrols at the other two city gates, but the troops Blackwater City were also limited, so they probably wouldn't dare to launch a night raid outside the city!

Victor thought to himself, "I only have less than 6,000 troops at my disposal, which is twice the size of the garrison in Blackwater City. We also lack engineering equipment. If we want to take the city, we'll have to find another way."

But there's no rush. Blackwater City is already under lockdown. Let's wait and see how that letter goes!

The next morning, a knock on the door woke Viscount Krick from his bed in the city lord's mansion.

He yawned repeatedly, thinking how exhausted he was last night. Captain Book's wife wasn't exactly a virtuous woman either; he had easily succeeded and spent a pleasant night with her.

A voice came from outside the door; it was Gaita: "Governor, as you requested, the three Battalion Commander of the Garrison Regiment will be here shortly. You should get up and have breakfast!"

Viscount Krick then remembered his work from that morning. He stood up and called out, "Gaita, come in first!"

Gaita walked straight into the room with a few servants, his eyes fixed straight ahead, ignoring the tattered cloth on the floor, and went directly to Viscount Krick.

"Good morning, Your Excellency!"

After saying this, Gaita directed several servants to help Viscount Krick change his clothes and tidy his room, while he began to report the day's itinerary to the governor.

Just then, from the pile of soft silk and down comforters on the bed, a pair of fair arms suddenly emerged, like two fresh lotus roots just pulled from the water, their fingertips still slightly curled, still drowsy.

The blanket slipped off, and Mrs. Buke was awakened by their conversation; her blond hair was disheveled and draped over her smooth shoulders.

She propped herself up and groggily opened her bright blue eyes. The first thing she saw was Gaita standing in the center of the room with a half-smile, and behind him were several servants with their heads bowed, not daring to breathe.

Mrs. Buke gasped involuntarily, but just as she was about to utter a sound, she realized how terrible her situation was and quickly covered her mouth with one hand, forcibly silencing the sound.

With her other hand, she frantically grabbed the slipped silk quilt, pulled it up sharply to cover her chin, and wrapped herself tightly, revealing only a pretty face that was both panicked and flushed with embarrassment.

Just then, Krick had already put on his coat with great ease, even his bow tie was perfectly neat.

With a satisfied yet slightly mocking smile on his face, he slowly strolled to the bedside.

He ignored Mrs. Buke's embarrassment and seemed not to see the other people in the room. He reached out and slipped his hand into the seemingly secure blankets, precisely finding the mound of white flesh and grasping it lightly.

"Mmm..." Mrs. Buke stiffened, then couldn't help but let out a short, sweet moan through her tightly clenched fingers, the sound mixed with shame and a hint of a physical reaction that she couldn't completely hide.

She recoiled as if she'd been electrocuted, her ears turning bright red.

Krick felt the heavy weight in his palm, chuckled smugly, and reluctantly withdrew his hand.

He leaned down, close to Mrs. Buke's burning ear, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "My dear, don't rush. I'll come back and spend more time with you after I've finished my business."

After saying that, he left with Gaita.

"The rebels outside the city haven't made any moves, have they?"

"You can rest assured about that. According to the report from the officers on duty last night, the rebel forces are not many. They have only set up camps at the north and south gates of the city."

Everything was peaceful all night.