Robbery Race

Under the pretext of searching for remaining enemy forces, inventorying supplies, or simply any other excuse, they would roam in groups of three or five, violently kicking open the doors of every shop and every house.

The definition of "resistance" has been expanded infinitely.

Any male head of the household who tried to hide even a little grain or Silver coin, any woman who screamed in fear, any old person or child whose eyes merely showed dissatisfaction or hatred, could be accused of "resistance" on the spot and killed with a single blow.

The soldiers stormed into the house, ransacking it and stealing everything they deemed valuable: coins, jewelry, decent clothing, even a piece of cured meat or a bag of flour.

What they couldn't take away, they wantonly smashed and destroyed.

Even more tragically, the women in the city, from noble ladies to common women, could not escape the clutches of evil.

Crying, pleading, and resisting would only invite more cruel treatment or even death. In the streets and houses, shrill screams and desperate cries could be heard from time to time, mixed with the wild laughter and clamor of the Sauron soldier.

Many families had their meager savings accumulated over a lifetime stolen, wives and daughters were humiliated, men were killed, and once-complete families were shattered in an instant.

The prosperous Field City was transformed from a paradise into a terrifying hell in just a few days, with chaos, violence, and death permeating every corner.

After plundering Field City, its most prized prey, Asgeir did not stop there.

He left a small force to garrison the city, which had been drained of its resources, and then led the well-supplied and even more enthusiastic Tiger Corps to continue sweeping through the other towns and rich countryside of Field Territory.

Wherever he went, the lessons of Ward Town and the "demonstration effect" of Field City had already spread, and almost no one dared to resist anymore. Garrison commanders and officials in various places followed Sir Elmer's example, opening their gates to pay tribute and offering large sums of money in exchange for their lives.

The entire Field Territory, one of the kingdom's most prosperous lands, was transformed in a very short time from the kingdom's granary and treasury into a plundering ground and supply base for the Sauron, who could take whatever they wanted from it.

Meanwhile, Prince Harald's main force also achieved brilliant results on another front.

They bypassed the heavily defended Pustenburg and penetrated deep into the defenseless northwest of the kingdom, capturing several important towns in succession. The amount of wealth they plundered and the number of people they took as slaves were equally staggering.

With the easy fall of Field City, a major northern town, and the rapid collapse of the entire Field Territory, the other Sauron legions, such as the Hound Corps, the Sword Corps, and the Rain Corps, which had been confronting the Broomflower garrison at border fortresses like Worton Fort, were now completely unleashed.

They broke through the already weakened defenses and poured into the relatively flat and fertile eastern region of the kingdom, like several packs of hungry wolves, starting a frenzied robbery competition, afraid of falling behind and missing out on any profits.

The northern and central parts of the entire Goldflower Kingdom were almost completely plunged into anarchy.

The Sauron Cavalry rampaged across the land, and the kingdom's army was either defeated, fled, or retreated to a few isolated strongholds.

Everywhere were burning villages and fields, everywhere were streams of refugees fleeing in panic, and desperate cries and the shadow of death shrouded this once peaceful land.

The kingdom was in a state of utter chaos, with widespread suffering and despair.

The atmosphere in Prye City was oppressive and suffocating.

Friedrich and Sir Kylan often stood atop the city walls, gazing at the billowing smoke rising intermittently from the distant horizon, listening to the occasional cries carried on the wind, their hearts breaking.

They knew that the Sauron were wreaking havoc outside the city and further afield.

Friedrich was particularly distressed and angry.

He repeatedly petitioned King Heinrich XI to lead his cavalry out of the city to attack the Sauron raiding forces and rescue the suffering people.

"Your Majesty! We cannot stand idly by and watch the barbarians burn, kill, and plunder on our land! Give me a thousand cavalry, no, five hundred! I am willing to swear a military oath to bring back a few barbarian leaders and blunt their arrogance!" Friedrich's voice trembled with excitement.

However, each time, his requests were rejected by Heinrich XI with an almost stubborn attitude.

"Sir Friedrich! Your loyalty and bravery greatly please me! But the Royal Capital is the foundation of the nation and must not be lost! The barbarian troops outside the city are formidable. If you rashly launch an attack and something goes wrong, who will defend the Royal Capital? What will become of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians inside?"

The King always used this rhetoric to effectively dampen Friedrich's enthusiasm.

In reality, Heinrich was terrified by the strength of the Sauron. He only wanted to hold onto the Prye City, and he had neither the time nor the ability to care about the people and land outside the city.

Friedrich could only watch helplessly as the Sauron raiding parties returned laden with spoils, as more and more refugees tried to escape to Prye City only to be mercilessly slaughtered outside the city walls by a hail of arrows, as he watched the kingdom's fertile lands be ravaged inch by inch...

This feeling of powerlessness is more tormenting than facing a massive army.

He often clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, but he couldn't change anything.

The Sauron ' advance reached as far as Franklin before being halted.

That area was the territory of Duke Schmidt, a place crisscrossed by waterways.

Duke Schmidt had been preparing for battle, building a solid defensive line with his powerful river fleet and familiarity with the waterways.

The Sauron Cavalry's mobility was greatly reduced in the face of the complex wetlands and rivers of the south, and several probing attacks were repelled by the Duke's elite navy and coastal defense forces, resulting in considerable losses.

Harald, seeing that the southern water towns were not conducive to his operations and that the main targets of his plundering had been largely achieved in the north and central regions, wisely abandoned his plans to continue south.

By this time, it was already late December of the Heinrich VII.

The Northern Territory cold intensifies, rivers begin to freeze, and vegetation withers.

For the Sauron, who are accustomed to life in the Northern Territory, the long winter is unbearable, and the loot they have plundered has piled up, requiring time to be transported back to their tribes and processed.

The feast of plunder was finally drawing to a close.

The Sauron army, laden with spoils and slaves, began to slowly recede northward, gathering at the pass they had passed through on their way here, preparing to embark on their return journey.

For the Goldflower Kingdom, the disaster is almost over.

For Carnford, however, the disaster had only just begun.

The retreat of the Sauron also foreshadowed the final and most brutal reckoning.

In order to make a smooth retreat, they will likely have to remove the "nails" that are still blocking their retreat route.

And Carnford was undoubtedly the most conspicuous thorn in Harald's side.