Chapter 147

"My lord, this plan of yours is brilliant—the western savages will surely fall for it!" Mi Gen's eyes lit up upon hearing it.

"Enough. We'll only know if it works once we try it. If the scheme fails, we'll have to resort to brute force."

Soon, Gervas began making preparations.

He led over a hundred slaves disguised as routed troops toward Aujin Wood Fort.

Lei Meng and the Magic Swift Eagle squad would remain hidden for now, infiltrating the wood fort later to launch a coordinated strike once the savages were fully deceived.

"Depart."

After completing the arrangements, Gervas gave the order, leading the disguised force toward Aujin Wood Fort.

……

"You fools, move faster—if you don't want to die, the savages behind us are almost upon us!"

In the night, muffled curses drifted faintly through the air.

This immediately drew the attention of the tribal sentinels.

Because they had been forewarned that Commander Tikala would launch an attack tonight, the tribal warriors on guard had not slept.

"What's going on?"

"Captain Ram, it sounds like a noble's voice—they've appeared!"

"Really? Those damned nobles and their lackeys? Get everyone ready for battle!"

Ram's face glowed with excitement—he hadn't expected noble troops to actually flee toward them.

He had already resigned himself to never experiencing the thrill of slaying a noble.

As the curses drew nearer, Ram and his men finally spotted the group of figures on the northern road.

There were just over a hundred people: two or three mounted knights, plus five or six carts, the group disorganized and hastening forward—clearly fleeing for their lives.

"Stop!"

Sensing something amiss on the fort, the group halted a hundred meters away.

"Who are you?" came the noble's uncertain voice from below.

"Ha! Damned noble, who do you think we are?" Ram burst into laughter.

"No good—it's savages… savages? How can there be savages here too?" The noble's voice trembled.

"Ha! Damned noble, we've been waiting for you a long time—you're not getting away!"

"I advise you to surrender peacefully. I, Ram, can give you a quick and painless death."

"Otherwise, you'll learn what true suffering means!"

"Savages… no, tribal warriors, I'll give you all my wealth and supplies—just let me pass through this valley!"

"I was only forced to come fight in this southwestern front—I've never killed a single one of your tribal warriors!"

"I have gold coins, silver coins, copper coins—oh, and I've got two carts of smoked meat, three carts of wheat, and half a cart of fine wine."

Gulp!

Hearing the noble's plea, Ram swallowed hard.

The gold coins and smoked meat weren't the issue—it was the wine, the most exquisite thing Ram had tasted in over twenty years.

Had it not been for this tribal alliance's offensive against the noble lands, they'd never known such a delicacy existed.

Yet he would never let this noble go, nor would he stoop to using the noble's false lies.

"Noble, you think we'll spare you? Impossible. But if you surrender all these supplies—including the wine—to me, I, Ram, swear by the Totem God to give you a quick and honorable death. I've heard nobles value honor above all!"

"You… you're dreaming, savage! If you won't let me pass, you won't get a single thing of mine!"

"Damned noble, then die! Shoot!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A volley of arrows shot forth from the wood fort.

"Go, hurry!"

Sensing danger, the noble immediately shouted for his guards to turn around in panic.

Instantly, the distant group erupted into chaos—though the arrows, due to distance, struck nothing.

But in their fright, they drove the carts off the road, and one cart sank into the mud beside the path.

The soldiers pushing the cart dared not linger—they fled in terror, pissing and shitting themselves.

"Ha! Cowardly fools! Come on, let's see what's in that cart!"

Ram laughed loudly; seeing the noble's group flee, he immediately led his men out of camp.

Of course, he was cautious—he and several subordinates descended from the fort using ropes.

"Smoked meat—my god, it's a whole cart of it! How many elk or yak must this take, at least a hundred?"

"Dried meat, good heavens, truly a whole cart of smoked dried meat; with so much dried meat, it must be at least the beef of a hundred elk or yaks."

His men grinned ear to ear.

Ram, however, stared intently at the fleeing carts in the distance.

Those bastards had terrible luck—after running a few hundred meters, two more carts sank into the mud.

But since they were farther away, this time the noble didn't abandon the carts—he was whipping his men to push them.

"Those carts still hold at least half a cart of wine, plus three carts of wheat—and they've only got a hundred men!" Ram said.

"Captain Ram, are you suggesting…?" His subordinates had caught his meaning.

"Captain Ram, what do you mean?" The surrounding subordinates had already caught on to some of the implication.

"But Captain Ram, Commander Tikala's order was to hold the wood fort!" One subordinate hesitated.

"The order is correct—but it was meant to guard against large-scale enemy routs!"

"The order is correct, but it was meant to guard against a large force of enemy retreating troops!"

"You've seen these enemies yourselves—only a hundred of them, and they're as timid as mice!"

"That half-cart of fine wine in their convoy could trade for at least three carts of smoked meat like this in our tribe. Are you really willing to let them escape, only to hand the spoils over to other tribes?"

"And to deal with these hundred, we don't need many; three hundred men will be enough to finish them off with the greatest speed and the least casualties!" said Ram.

The subordinates were instantly swayed. "Captain Ram, we'll all follow your orders!"

Woo-woo-woo!

The great gate of the Aojin Wood Fort swung open; amidst the sound of ox horns, three hundred tribal warriors charged out of the camp, roaring "Ah-woo, ah-woo!"

"Ah, savages are coming! Run quickly!"

Seeing the savages drawing ever closer, the nobles helplessly abandoned yet another cart that had not yet been pulled from the mud.

"It's all wheat! A whole cart of wheat!"

Ram and the others approached, opened one of the sacks, and confirmed the cargo of this second cart!

"Chase! That fine wine is what matters most, hahaha!" Ram grew even more excited.

Thus, the tribal warriors pursued at a frantic pace, while the noble convoy fled in disarray.

In the end, almost every cart was abandoned.

At this moment, with one side chasing and the other fleeing, they had already run a full two and a half li away from the camp.

"These damn nobles; their speed in fleeing is far too fast!"

Ram cursed under his breath; although all the spoils were secured, the noble convoy had run faster than monkeys.

This had prevented them from properly enjoying the blood of the noble army.

"Captain Ram, the wheels on these carts seem to be broken!"

"Broken? Then we'll carry them by hand; let's move the goods back to camp first!"

The savages were not skilled at repairing the nobles' carts and other tools; looking at the noble convoy, which was also stopped four or five hundred meters away.

Ram decided to carry the goods by hand; otherwise, the moment they left, the noble convoy would surely return to seize the cargo!

What Ram did not know was that while they were cheerfully beginning to unload the carts, a force of nearly three hundred men had quietly launched a surprise attack on Aojin Fort.