Chapter 26: Anya's Advance!

On a small slope by a stream.

As Deng Ken and his group gradually approached, the Duke of Tintagel stood up and took the initiative to welcome the knight who had come to his rescue.

He was the Duke of Cornwall and also possessed a large area of territory; his strength was second only to King Uther, and the two were also in a competitive relationship. Before the massive invasion of the Saxon barbarians, he had even had conflicts with King Uther.

A long time ago, when meeting King Uther, the Duke of Tintagel brought his wife, Igraine; at that time, King Uther fell in love with Igraine at first sight and thought of her day and night.

Later, with the help of the knight Ulfius and Merlin, King Uther transformed and sneaked into Igraine's bedroom, spent a night with the beautiful Duchess, and conceived King Arthur.

Cornwall was at the very bottom of the British map, in that corner that stuck out a bit; because they were avoiding Saxon pirates at the time, the landing point of Deng Ken's group was already a bit off.

Deng Ken's group gradually approached.

Gorlois, the Duke of Tintagel, could not help but look at the group who had just saved his life; the most eye-catching among them was undoubtedly Severus, because his attire was too famous on the island of Britain in Celtic mythology.

A Druid priest!

Subsequently, his gaze fell on the young man who was alone on horseback, carrying a bow and a sword; he was too young. The first human incarnation was only nineteen years old this year and had just been a blacksmith's apprentice for half a year; he was driven back to the border village of Bran because he had hooked up with the charming landlady next door.

Handsome, upright, with deep eyes and restrained divine light, his facial features were like an ancient Greek statue, making it impossible for people to look away. When his eyes looked directly at people, it made their hearts tremble slightly. The Duke of Tintagel prided himself on his extraordinary appearance, but seeing this young knight, he could not help but feel a bit self-deprecating.

In fact, the first human incarnation had the foundation of appearance; otherwise, he could not have taken a shortcut, but to say he was truly extraordinarily handsome, he was just above average.

The true transformation began from the moment Deng Ken started killing his way here; his appearance formed a unique temperament with the slaughter. When he was still, he was as calm as an abyss; when he moved, he was like thunder and lightning, and the cold light bursting from his eyes made people tremble.

Unknowingly, the slaughter of blood and fire formed a unique temperament for him, and coupled with the blood of the Holy Grail and the improvement of physical fitness, this change became more and more obvious.

The Raven Queen Su Lisi wore a veil, covering her stunningly beautiful face.

So the Duke of Tintagel soon let his gaze fall on the Witch Anya; his expression had a hint of amazement, as if he was captured by Anya's beautiful face, and he was actually stunned for a moment.

If it weren't for the fact that so many people had died in the battle just now, and he had also luckily escaped alive, he would definitely have tried to strike up a conversation with such a beautiful Roman noblewoman.

But now, his gaze was concentrated on Deng Ken alone, and his eyes were quite fiery.

A fierce warrior!

He had never seen such a brave knight in his life!

Deng Ken rode forward, Anya was half a horse's head ahead, and the others fell behind, so the distinction between primary and secondary was immediately obvious.

"It seems that the Roman noblewoman has the most noble status."

The Duke of Tintagel soon realized this, but he also noticed that the fierce warrior had a high status, and everyone else was led by him; the beautiful Roman noblewoman also turned to look at him from time to time, with obvious reliance and admiration in her expression.

The aura of the old Roman Empire nobility on Anya was too heavy.

Whether it was her arrogant posture, or her facial features, skin, attire, etc., it was all the temperament of an old-school noble of the empire; if she didn't come from a truly well-founded noble family, she couldn't have cultivated this wealth.

After the last Roman legion in the British province withdrew, other forces were divided, and the Duke of Tintagel inherited a portion of the Roman legacy.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to form the British legion, which was a low-profile field army.

The Duke of Tintagel took the initiative to step forward, his gaze always falling on Deng Ken, but he greeted Anya first: "Thank you all for your help!"

A fierce general!

What he lacked most now was such a fierce general brother.

In contrast, although Anya was stunningly beautiful, his wife Igraine was also a top-tier beauty on the island of Britain, and he had seen so many that he had naturally formed a resistance.

Anya nodded slightly to indicate, although her status was not as good as the other party, her momentum could not be lost; the old Roman nobility would not lose their momentum even if they lost the person, and the momentum was strong.

You don't say, Anya's proud posture really bluffed the Duke of Tintagel.

After all, the island of Britain belonged to a remote area, a remote and abandoned imperial province; the title of Duke sounded scary, but this was not the Middle Ages, and a Duke was really not as good as a Count, because a Count was a real commander of the imperial field army.

Anya was originally a socialite of the empire, and dealing with a remote rural Duke lord was more than enough; she displayed the arrogance of the Romans to the fullest, so much so that the Duke of Tintagel felt a bit guilty about his own background.

After a simple exchange, Anya answered fluently, immediately making the Duke of Tintagel realize that this Roman noblewoman came from a true imperial field army commander family.

Although the imperial legions had withdrawn, in the vast empire of hundreds of years, the Romans still had a certain influence on the island of Britain.

Even the Duke of Tintagel's own ancestors were Roman legion commanders who married the daughters of indigenous chieftains.

If you discuss background like this, Anya was obviously more noble than him.

Although the Duke of Tintagel was communicating with Anya, his gaze looked from time to time at the cold guard Deng Ken who was half a step behind; without much thought, this fierce general must be the personal guard lover of this Roman noblewoman; it was difficult to recruit such a fierce personal guard knight if one was not an old imperial noble.

Among the whole group, only Anya's status could be put on the table.

Deng Ken came from the bottom of the empire, so it was a bit difficult to play; Anya, even if her status was low enough to be close to daily necessities, was very proud at this moment, and even dared to look back at the Raven Queen Su Lisi provocatively.

The Raven Queen Su Lisi smiled without saying a word, the corners of her mouth hooked into a playful arc, which scared Anya into shivering.

Endure.

Now was not the time to challenge the status of the Raven Queen Su Lisi head-on.

Anya was born to deal with nobles; compared to her inadvertent elegance and arrogance, the Duke of Tintagel was even like a rude rural local tycoon. He had always felt that his wife, Igraine, was an elegant and noble beauty, the rose of Britain, but compared to Anya at this moment, he felt that perhaps only his wife's beauty could be compared.

The Duke of Tintagel was so anxious that he was scratching his head, and he never had the chance to communicate well with Deng Ken.

Fierce general brother!

No matter how beautiful that woman is, she is just a down-and-out noble; I am a lord with real power, why not defect to me, and I will seal you as a noble knight.

It must be said that as long as a man is on the battlefield, a fierce general is more attractive than a beauty.

Beauties are common, but fierce generals are hard to find.

This mutual probing also figured out the background of both sides; whether one is truly of noble birth, many things can be distinguished, and pretending to be a noble is not that easy. The Duke of Tintagel also learned the reason why Anya and her group were stranded on the island of Britain.

They encountered Saxon pirates!

In recent years, the British had been defeated steadily, and the coastline was basically controlled by Saxon pirates.

The group returned to the castle together.

On the way, Anya fell slightly behind and whispered to Deng Ken: "Speak less in a while, leave it to me to deal with."

In the eyes of the two witch big sisters, Deng Ken was just a tender grass of 19 years old and could not deal with such an old fox.

Anya was very good at observing words and expressions; seeing the Duke of Tintagel looking at Deng Ken, she knew that this person was very interested in her "personal guard."

She wanted to take the initiative!

If she wanted to grasp the initiative, she had to fish for this rural Duke; Anya really didn't look down on him much. A rural Duke on the island of Britain, what kind of thing, he couldn't even get a seat in the imperial court.

The orthodox nobles of the Roman Empire were just so arrogant.

It was time to let this man see her means; the Raven Queen Su Lisi, humph, was just a barbarian with a little martial power.

Since they had escaped alive, the Duke of Tintagel could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He did not dare to go back to gather the routed soldiers, but only wanted to escape back to his territory quickly, and then gather other troops, seek help from the indigenous tribes close to him, and intercept the enemy's invasion again in front of the castle.

This field battle was because he had a numerical advantage, felt that the advantage was with him, and had a lot to do, but he didn't want to fight head-on and was directly hammered.

Over three thousand people fought over a thousand people and were directly crushed in one wave.

Along the way.

Anya communicated slightly with the Duke of Tintagel, but did not mention anything about the battlefield, just saying why she accidentally ended up on the island of Britain, and promised that if the other party helped her return to Rome, she would definitely reward the other party heavily.

This was the first step to take the initiative; Anya took it step by step, just waiting for the Duke of Tintagel to take the bait.

Sure enough.

The Duke of Tintagel immediately took the bait and said righteously: "You saved my life and didn't ask for any reward."

"I will definitely find a way to escort the lady back to Rome."

At the beginning, the purpose could not be too strong.

Anya said directly that she wanted to use his power to return to Italy; after all, they had no ships at this time.

Farmland appeared in front, all in the plains, areas with rivers and lakes.

Anya was unhurried, talking about things in the Roman court, including the current imperial emperor Valentinian III and the Protector Aetius, as if she was also very familiar with these imperial high-level officials.

This was the second step, raising the status.

The island of Britain was closed to news, and the Duke of Tintagel was indeed fascinated, knowing that the empire was also in trouble now.

But a lean camel is bigger than a horse.

The Roman Empire could still confront the 500,000-strong army of the Hun Empire's massive invasion; this number made him, a rural Duke, tremble in his heart. Compared with the vast territory of the empire, the British province completely belonged to land that could be abandoned.

That was the empire!

For hundreds of years, Britain was the most inconspicuous province; it was abandoned because it did not have enough value. In the eyes of the empire, setting up a province was becoming more and more unprofitable, belonging to a losing business.

Anya secretly observed the other party's expression, continued to fish, and sighed softly: "Originally, I wouldn't have accidentally ended up in Britannia."

"It's all because the North African region is restless, and the Vandals have invaded Carthage."

"So my business has also been greatly affected."

Hmm?

Hearing Anya's words, the Duke of Tintagel immediately pricked up his ears.

This was the third step, interest temptation.

Anya's words were indeed facts; after the empire lost the grain-producing area of North Africa, it immediately fell into financial trouble, and her chamber of commerce was also greatly affected. Originally, the fleet controlled by Anya had two trade routes, one from Rome to Alexandria in Egypt, with many port cities along the way, and the trade profits were extremely rich. (The most profitable route, even able to go to Jerusalem and connect to the Silk Road.)

Another trade route was from Rome to Carthage in North Africa; this trade route was also very profitable, and North Africa was an important grain-producing area.

Now Anya had broken one arm, and the other arm had also been broken.

The entire caravan had fallen into trouble, and it was estimated that it could not last long.

She went to the Gaul region by sea, because it was already fighting outside the Alps.

A rich woman?

A very wealthy widow?

The Duke of Tintagel was quite moved, but looking at the cold and heroic Deng Ken, he felt that he had no chance. How could he compete with that young man who looked like an ancient Greek statue? And he was also a human essence; he could see that Anya didn't take the Duke of the island of Britain seriously in her heart.

It's like you are a prince or noble in the capital, your ancestors hold military power, and you live in the most prosperous place in the world. How much can you look down on a local tycoon who controls one or two counties in the Yunnan border area?

That's about what it means; the governor of the British province was more valuable than those kings and dukes.

The Duke of Tintagel was approximately equal to a daimyo force in the Japanese Warring States period.

She has a fleet?

Can she still run long-distance trade in the Mediterranean?

Can she go east to Alexandria in Egypt? Can she reach Carthage in North Africa to the west?

This is too exciting.

The island of Britain is very remote and was not the core province of the empire. There used to be maritime trade, but after the Saxons invaded, it was all messed up. Saxon pirates almost blocked maritime trade with the European mainland.

Cornwall is a bit remote, in the corner of the island of Britain, but it also has advantages, that is, it is close to the coastline.

As a qualified ruler.

The Duke of Tintagel realized that this was an opportunity. If he could get the support of this Roman noblewoman, perhaps he could recover some old blood. Whether it was food, weapons, or goods, it could make the economy of Cornwall, which was affected by the war, recover quite a bit.

This was Anya's means.

Only real interests could attract such political creatures.

Deng Ken on the side was also a bit surprised; he had heard the Raven Queen Su Lisi mention that Anya was very rich and had a chamber of commerce fleet, but he didn't expect her to run so far.

Actually, it was also normal.

A down-and-out descendant of the former dynasty's nobility (a confidant of Julian the Apostate), why would she marry the current hot imperial field army commander?

By beauty and money, it's that simple.

After Anya's husband died accidentally in battle, she also legally inherited most of her husband's family's estate.

She was truly rich.

Well, it seems I still underestimated her; next time, be lighter.

Deng Ken thought to himself.

Anya stopped talking after saying this, giving the Duke of Tintagel on the side room to imagine for himself; fishing had to be done step by step. Now it was nesting, and her true purpose was still Deng Ken's mercenary idea, but her appetite was bigger.

She wanted to legitimately and legally possess a piece of territory on the island of Britain.

Preferably a place with a port.

Once she had a foothold on the land of the island of Britain, she could consider transferring a portion of her family's wealth here. Although the business was not as good as the Mediterranean, there were many port trade cities along the way from Britain to North Africa.

If you have a foothold, you have an opportunity.

The most critical thing is that she can prove that she is the best virtuous wife to help Deng Ken rise!

Men are still more comfortable when snatched.

Humph!

The Raven Queen Su Lisi, just a barbarian.

Undoubtedly.

The Duke of Tintagel had already taken the bait.

His status on the island of Britain was very awkward; King Uther was the king, and he was a Duke, equivalent to a vassal, so his status and strength were not as good as the other party. If it weren't for the invasion of the Saxons, he would probably be beaten by King Uther.

In legend, after he died in an accident, King Uther also died suddenly two years later, local vassals rose, and the island of Britain entered a true era of turmoil.

Later, it was Merlin assisting King Arthur to the throne, and the famous "Sword in the Stone" event.

Tintagel Castle.

The Duke of Tintagel, who fled back in a sorry state, had an ugly face, but he still sent people to settle Deng Ken and his group, and at the same time let the personal guard knights gather troops to defend against the further invasion of the Saxons.

His territory was actually not small; at its peak, it was controlled around Winchester, but it started in Cornwall. He had constant conflicts with King Uther, but later became weaker and weaker, the lords who were loyal to him turned to King Uther, and he himself was beaten by the Saxons and couldn't find north.

The area of the British mainland was about 240,000 square kilometers, England was about 130,000 square kilometers, Scotland was 80,000 square kilometers, and Wales was 20,000 square kilometers.

The war was mainly in the England region.

There was only such a large area in total, and many lords divided it, and the territory controlled was not large.

Inside the castle.

Anya quietly walked to Deng Ken's side, stuffed a bag of gold into his hand, and whispered: "Reward the servants in a while."

Don't be too generous, but don't be too stingy either.

Everyone was hungry after running away all the way. Although the Duke of Tintagel was defeated in a sorry state, he still wanted to maintain his dignity and ordered the preparation of a banquet to welcome everyone.

Saxon barbarians were not good at sieges; they might not dare to storm the castle.

His strength had fallen sharply, but as long as people didn't die and the family foundation was still there, it wouldn't be destroyed all at once.

Deng Ken nodded slightly.

During the preparation of the banquet, inadvertently, but seen by others, he rewarded the servants and knight attendants who were serving with gold coins one by one.

Not too many, not too few.

Exactly five gold aurei, the front was a half-length male image with a crown and long beard, Augustus, and the back was a winged goddess of victory, weighing about 4.5 grams. Inside the empire, such a gold coin could be exchanged for 30 to 50 denarii silver coins.

This reward undoubtedly made the serving servants very surprised and quite humble and diligent.

Romans were arrogant; in their eyes, Britain was a remote rural area, and the cities were all built with their help.

The higher Anya's posture was, the more they believed it.

Not long after.

One of the gold aurei was sent to the Duke of Tintagel. He looked at the gold coin in front of him, listened to the knight attendant's words, narrowed his eyes slightly, and didn't know what he was thinking.

A whole bag of gold.

The knight attendant's eyes were straight; if it wasn't a real rich woman, who would carry a bag of gold with them?

Ding.

The Duke of Tintagel threw the gold coin away casually, and the knight attendant caught it happily. He was thinking, not because of the gold, but because of the meaning represented by this gold.

Before, Anya had vaguely revealed that she actually had a private armed force under her command, which was a standard private legion of the empire. (The exiles Deng Ken recruited.)

He believed this.

Because Deng Ken's strength and combat style were clearly the benchmark of the army.

"This is an opportunity!"

The Duke of Tintagel soon realized this, but the problem was how should he strive for cooperation with this Roman noblewoman?

The best way, of course, was for him to marry this wealthy widow.

But his wife would not agree, and the other party might not be willing. Other forms of cooperation were clearly not as stable as marriage.

But no matter what.

This noblewoman who seemed to have met by fate made him think of a possibility to get out of the current predicament.

This was Anya's brilliance.

She didn't intend to take the initiative to unite with the Duke of Tintagel to request cooperation, nor did she intend to join the British island faction as a low-status mercenary. She wanted the Duke of Tintagel to take the initiative to ask for her help, act as an ally, and by the way, do what Deng Ken wanted to do.

That was to establish a basic foundation for an armed force on the island of Britain.

A legitimate, legal, non-invader, basic foundation that could truly take root on the island of Britain!

"Duke."

"The lady is here!"

At this time, a maid came to report.

The Duke of Tintagel was obviously a bit impatient; Igraine had given birth to three daughters for him, had no male heir, and had been married for many years, so it had long since gradually faded. He had even thought about finding a lover to give birth to a son.

Not long after, a graceful and beautiful noblewoman walked over. She was about thirty years old. Seeing the impatient Duke of Tintagel not far away, she couldn't help but tremble all over, panicked and covered her mouth with her hands.

Her husband returned from a crushing defeat.

And who was the person who spent the night with her the day before yesterday?

The Duke of Tintagel didn't realize at this moment that he had suffered a crushing defeat, and even his home had been stolen by King Uther.

……………… ===== CHAPTER 27 =====