On the other side, the news that Thyssen family returned to Kovir finally reached the backward and secluded Autonomous Dominion of Eszpádén.
Along with the news that Istredd has regained power, there is also news that a demon hunter who shined in War to Reclaim the Throne has been named Grand Duke Isparaden.
The nobles of Isparaden are accustomed to putting all the taxes collected in the territory into their own pockets. No nobleman is willing to have another grand duke to share the money in his pockets.
So the nobles urgently gathered the armed forces in the territory, pieced together here and there, formed an army of 20,000 people, and rushed to Kestrel Gap in a mighty manner.
Insert picture--Kestrel Gap (red circle position)
The nobles of Isparaden are not naive enough to think that they can defeat Istredd who won War to Reclaim the Throne.
They mainly expressed one attitude:
Kovir is too far from Isparaden.
There are Talgar and Hengfors in the middle.
Isparaden is equivalent to an enclave.
It is simply impossible for Thyssen family to exercise effective rule over Isparaden.
In this case, why not just let the Isparaden people rule Isparaden? As long as the Kovir people don't force themselves to be the masters of Isparaden, Isparaden is still willing to verbally recognize Kovir as the suzerain country.
Of course, the nobles of Isparaden know that Istredd will never admit easily such remarks that blatantly divide the country.
Therefore, you still have to see the truth on the battlefield.
Only by making people Kovir realize the determination and consciousness of people Isparaden can it be possible for Istredd to give in.
Then...
Their coalition forces have been blowing cold winds in Kestrel Gap for several months.
I waited and waited, but I was surprised that Kovir's crusade army didn't arrive.
After sending spies into Hengfors League to inquire, they found out that Kovir's army was not what they thought it was, and they were looking for Hengfors League's excuse.
Instead, Hengfors League was directly destroyed.
This made the nobles of Isparaden feel a chill down their spines.
You must know that the city-states that make up Hengfors League were originally part of Kovir.
Now that Hengfors League is destroyed, what does that mean?
Isparaden is bordered by Hengfors League, so wouldn't it be their turn next?
Realizing this, the nobles quickly recruited 10,000 more peasants.
Including the previous army, the total number is already 30,000.
Even with the lessons learned from Hengfors League, among the nobles of Isparaden, there are still many nobles who are lucky.
They expected that the conquered Hengfors League would definitely rebel continuously.
Moreover, the supply line is so long that Kovir Army's supplies may not be able to keep up.
As long as they hold on firmly, they will definitely find a way.
Therefore, Isparaden's coalition of nobles continued to blow northwest winds in Gap of Rohan for two months.
Then...
The Kovir army still hasn't come.
The secret agent sent to the original Hengfors League reported:
After the Kovir people captured Hengfors League, they killed all the original nobles.
Those ownerless lands were replaced by the original Kovir soldiers.
Most of the army is still stationed in the capital of Duchy of Hengfors - Caingorn City, but a few soldiers are allowed to return to their newly acquired land to rest.
At the same time, the newly appointed Demon Hunter Archduke also promulgated many policies that were beneficial to people's livelihood.
In particular, it will liberate farmers and urban handicraftsmen from heavy taxes.
Originally, they were required to hand over 60 to 70% of their income to the nobles.
No matter how hard you work, there is very little left in your hands.
But things are different now.
Since the Grand Duke took office, the taxes have been adjusted to four for the public and six for the citizens.
That is, as long as you hand over 40% to the nobles, you can keep 60% for yourself.
The implementation of this policy attracted many immigrants to Duchy of Hengfors.
It is said that some people on the eastern border of Principality of Talgar have crossed the border to Duchy of Hengfors.
Even Kingdom of Redania has some farmers who are suffering from heavy taxes and are willing to risk being caught and flee to the north.
However, a benevolent lord can sometimes be mistaken for weakness.
But the Grand Duke used thunderous means to prove that he was not a weak nobleman.
Anyone who secretly opposed him was directly executed by him.
Criminals are also taken to high-risk places such as mines for forced labor.
Although the Grand Duke gave the common people a greater living space than before, he also required the people under his rule to be honest and good citizens.
Its harshness towards criminals even exceeds that of King Vizimir, the so-called "Justice".
Since the Kovir army was not planning to attack Isparaden for a while, the nobles started a new round of discussion on the next action.
At the military meeting, someone suggested that while the Kovir army was still not firmly established in Hengfors, it could directly send troops to attack the Hengfors area.
Anyway, they have exactly 30,000 troops on hand right now, so they don't need to spend time gathering them.
On the opposite side, part of the army had just been disbanded, and they had an advantage in terms of numbers.
This proposal was approved by some people.
But there are also objections.
Opponents believe that although their army has 30,000 people.
But more than half of them were recruited peasants and soldiers, and their equipment and training were seriously insufficient.
Especially the farmers they recruited have been here for several months. The morale of the farmers is low, they are eager to return home, and their fighting ability is worrying.
If we forcefully attack the Hengfors area, if the war goes slightly wrong, those farmers will be defeated, which will affect the morale of the entire army and the direction of the war.
At the military meeting, the nobles quarreled back and forth, just like the aunts at the vegetable market, and no one could convince anyone.
But on one thing, they still reached a consensus.
That is, this army must be disbanded.
Although this 30,000-strong army may not have the fighting capacity, it can still eat.
Even if they only eat two meals a day and only provide the soldiers with the minimum provisions, the amount of food consumed is still a terrifying amount.
Since the Kovir army has disbanded part of its army in a short period of time, it means that they have no plans to attack Isparaden for the time being.
Then their 30,000 noble coalition forces no longer need to be wasted here.
Of course, they can't disband the entire army.
Otherwise, even if the remaining Kovir troops come over directly, they will be finished.
Therefore, after quarreling and quarreling, the nobles finally came up with a plan that was barely acceptable to everyone:
Five nobles were left here at Kestrel Gap, and each noble sent a thousand soldiers to garrison at Kestrel Gap.
After a period of time, it will be rotated to other nobles.
This ensures that every noble will receive it in rotation, and no one will suffer or be unfair to anyone.
The Kovir army only has three thousand people, and they left five thousand soldiers behind.
Even if there are five thousand pigs, Kovir people cannot break through the defense line in an instant.
In this way, most of the noble coalition forces retreated and returned to their respective territories.
Only five nobles remained and continued to be stationed at Kestrel Gap.
As mentioned before, many things in Kingdom of Kaedwen need to be imported from Kovir, and if Kovir's caravan goes to Kaedwen, it must pass through Isparaden.
This is of course also good for Isparaden.
They can reap a lot of dividends just by collecting tolls from passing caravans.
When Thyssen family returned to Kovir, especially after Istredd gave a demon hunter the title of Isparaden Grand Duke, some Isparaden nobles believed that the Kovir caravan should be prohibited from passing through Kestrel Gap.
After all, they themselves were once part of Kovir, and they knew that Kovir's caravan actually acted as spies.
But this proposal was rejected by another group of nobles.
The reason is actually very simple.
If the Kovir caravan is prohibited from entering Isparaden, then the nobles in the territories that the Kovir caravan passed through in the past will no longer be able to collect toll taxes, which is equivalent to losing a lot of money for no reason.
Once their own interests are involved, people will become stubborn and blind.
Although not everyone is like this, the nobles of Isparaden certainly do not give up their own interests.
Therefore, this proposal was abandoned.
On this day, another caravan from Kovir entered Kestrel Gap.
As usual, the garrisoned soldiers conducted a strict inspection of the caravan.
There was nothing suspicious except for a bald and sturdy man in the caravan.
Regarding this burly man, the excuse given by the caravan is that the world is not peaceful now, so they specially hired a guard like this burly man.
There is nothing wrong with this argument. Now... or it has always been like this, there are few days of peace and many times of war.
The people are grateful enough to be able to live in peace for several decades.
And even in years without war, robbers and bandits will always be indispensable.
Caravans like the Kovir caravan that are fully loaded with goods are a piece of cake in the eyes of robbers and bandits.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with the Kovir caravan hiring a few guards who will stay away from strangers at first sight.
Especially when the leader of the caravan very wisely took out a few gold coins and put them into the hands of the soldiers responsible for inspection, the soldiers had no reason to embarrass the caravan.
However, what they didn't know was that when the caravan left the gap and went to a place where the soldiers garrisoned at the gap could not see, the strong man parted ways with the caravan.
This strong man is none other than Letho.
Previously, the soldiers did not realize that Letho was a demon hunter because Triss gave Letho a disguise amulet.
The effect of this disguise amulet is much worse than the effect of Glamarye that Fringilla gave to Lynn. It can only disguise the original color of hair and eyes, unlike Glamarye, which can directly change a person's appearance.
But for the current Letho, it is enough.
Letho found a suitable place nearby as a temporary hiding place.
He stayed in the hiding place until nightfall, then left the hiding place, walked in the direction of the Kestrel Gap garrison, and disappeared into the vast night.
Kestrel Gap Originally there was a barrier.
This pass was built a long time ago.
And when the later King Niedamir of Caingorn unified and established Hengfors League, the nobles of Isparaden reinforced this pass.
Because at that time, the nobles of Isparaden were worried that King Niedamir would use the momentum of victory to attack Isparaden.
Although Hengfors League was destroyed afterwards, Niedamir did not attack Isparaden.
But the nobles at the time didn't know this.
Later, when they faced off against the Kovir army, the 30,000-strong army was also stationed in this pass.
On this day, one of the five nobles who was responsible for guarding the pass, a bearded noble, returned to his room and unexpectedly found a letter on the bed.
The bearded nobleman did not pick up the letter.
Instead, he quickly exited the room alertly and shouted to the guards.
Then, the guards entered the noble's room and searched the room carefully.
After confirming that there was no suspicious person hiding in the room, the guards exited the room and left guards at the door of the room and in the corridor outside the room.
At this time, the bearded noble picked up the letter, opened it and started reading.
There are not many words in the letter and the content is very simple.
The person who wrote the letter, namely Lynn·Augustus, promised the bearded nobleman in the name of the Grand Duke that as long as the bearded nobleman is willing to swear allegiance to him, then Lynn will recognize the legitimacy of the title and territory that the bearded nobleman currently holds and guarantee that it will not be deprived of it.
But the bearded noble just crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it to the ground with disdain.
"Daydreaming!"
The bearded nobleman was not sure whether Lynn was really willing to protect his interests when he wrote this letter, or whether it was just a false promise.
But he doesn't care.
Because he had already decided to resist Kovir to the end.
The bearded noble had planned to burn the paper ball.
But then he seemed to have thought of something, unfolded the paper ball again, smoothed out the wrinkles on it, folded it into a small piece, and put it away.
That night, the bearded noble summoned the other four nobles and showed them the letter he had received during the day.
"If I'm not wrong, I'm not the only one who received the letter. Did you also receive it?"
The other four nobles looked at each other in confusion.
Then, they all took out the letters they had received.
"If you have any ideas, you might as well tell me."
The other four nobles looked at each other again.
But no one answered.
This is natural.
Others are not idiots.
Even if you privately feel that if Lynn can really protect their interests, then it is not impossible to swear allegiance to Lynn, but who would do this?
The hot-tempered bearded nobleman snorted coldly.
"You don't have to say yes, then let me tell you my opinion."
"I think this is a complete scam. Don't forget that the Grand Duke killed all the nobles of Hengfors. Will he really allow us to continue to hold the title and territory as the letter says? Think about it carefully."
The other four nobles seemed to be persuaded by the bearded noble and nodded in agreement.
The meeting ended soon.
The nobles dispersed and returned to their rooms.
But after one of the nobles returned to his room, he called several trusted cronies.
Let them go to Duchy of Hengfors via a mountain trail that is unknown to outsiders, bypassing Kestrel Gap.