9th October 299, Westley City.
"Young master, there is a letter from Baron Coreton.", Charlotte entered the tent.
Riz took the letter and started reading it. His eyes were moving left and right, trying to find the main point in that long letter.
"The baron is willing to surrender to Bideford unconditionally.", He said to Charlotte on his side.
"That saves us a lot of time and energy"
'He could just write it straight to the point, why would he waste his time writing a stupidly long pleasantries', Riz complained.
"Sigh", he then opened the second letter.
A letter from his father informing them that they have successfully captured Mabadszent. They're currently heading to Rafoldrod.
A smile appeared on his face.
"Charlotte, inform the troop that we're going to move to Tegrot tomorrow." Riz and his father plan to attack Tegrot from two sides.
One from the northeast and one from the southeast.
"Ohh yes!...Don't forget to send the gift to the count. As a noble, I should do some greeting before partaking in war, right?", he added.
"Yes, young master.", she rolled her eyes and quickly left the tent to execute Riz's order. She has grown accustomed with Riz's behavior.
While watching Charlotte's back leaving his tent, he murmured, "let's end this war as soon as possible."
He had enough with the inconvenience of travelling in this era. As someone from the modern era, traveling for days just to reach the next city is incomprehensible.
He took out a paper and started to write a letter to Baron Newbigle asking him to surrender. To put some pressure on the baron, he stated that Westley, Coreton, Csorvar, Mabadszent and Rafoldrod have fallen into the hands of Ryntum's family.
Newbigle is located in the far north on a little peninsula. The population there is not big and it is too far from other Gyalcakes'cities.
They basically can't provide any help to the Count Gyalcakes even if they decided to join the war.
'After living as a noble for some time, I know how the nobles will act. Once there are predicaments, they have a tendency to save their own skin first.'
Next morning, Riz's army starts heading to Tegrot. It will take four days to reach there.
"Hurry up and move!! This is the last battle. Once Tegrot falls, we will win!", the commander trying to raise soldiers motivation.
This is the disadvantage of the ragtag army. They easily lost motivation after fighting a war for a long time.
"Sigh...I really need to train a standing army." Riz muttered as they are marching.
"Standing army? What is that?", Charlotte who rode a horse beside Riz happened to catch his word.
"A standing army is a permanent and professional army composed of full-time soldiers."
"If we recruit a full time soldier, wouldn't our expenditure be massive?"
"I don't plan to build a massive standing army from the start, several hundreds or so will do. Standing armies can always be prepared for emergencies, defense and war."
....
12th October 299, Tegrot City
"Milord, we have prepared 10,000 people to fight against Bideford. All of them are fully equipped with armor and weapons.", reported the butler.
"Good. What about the enemies' movement?", Count Gyalcakes plans to crush Bideford here in Tegrot forces once and for all.
Since the start of war, he has aged so much. He received bad news after bad news.
While he is preparing for his army, he was completely dumbfounded when hears that five of his cities had been captured in a matter of days.
"Our scout has informed that Richard has started moving here so does his son."
"That brat is coming here? Not Coreton?", he feels weird that Riz would skip undefended Coreton.
"This...", the butler hesitated to tell. "Milord, Coreton has also surrendered to Bideford."
"I see, so everyone has started to betray me the moment they get a chance. Hahaha, those ungrateful bastards, why am I not surprised..."
"And we also received another gift from Riz, milord.", even without opening it, the butler could actually tell its content.
The count's face turns pale when hearing it. He didn't hear any news on Thomas's whereabouts after the Westley army was defeated by Bideford.
"What is it?", the count asks with a weak voice. Although he probably knows, he still asks for confirmation.
"It's young master Thomas's head. His face was badly damaged but not to the point where it was unrecognizable.", the butler tried to hold tears in his eyes.
First Maria and now Thomas. He has seen both of them grow up with his own eyes. To suddenly see their lifeless corpse, how could the butler not feel any sadness.
Indeed, that's what Riz is aiming for. He is an introvert in the past, but he observed a lot of things. He can conclude that human psychology is human's most vulnerable part. Once you attack it, its damage is irrecoverable.
His attack starts when he sends Maria's corpse to the count. The count may treat his daughters like a tool but he's still a father no matter how cruel he is.
All Riz has to do is bring out the parental love that was buried deep inside the count's heart.
People only regret something when it has already escaped from their grasp.
....
"Neigh"
"Clomp" "Clomp" "Clomp"
The sound of horses can be heard. However it was overwhelmed by the sounds of footsteps. Its loudness tells anyone that it took thousands of people to produce it.
The footsteps suddenly stop and the area becomes awfully quiet. After three days of marching, they are finally here.
Richard moves forward to take a better look at a majestic city wall of Tegrot, the capital of Gyalcakes county. The wall looks much more studier than Mabadszent and Rafoldrod.
"I don't think we will be able to destroy the wall easily. What do you think?", he wants to hear his commander's thoughts.
"I think we should wait for young master Riz to arrive and coordinate with him. We should arrange for three trebuchets hitting at the same spot repeatedly.", his commander voiced his own thought. After dealing with trebuchets for a period of time, he has gotten accustomed in handling trebuchets.
"Then, let's set up the trebuchets to hit this part of the wall", Richard pointed his finger at the city map. He continues, "when is he going to arrive?"
"He is estimated to arrive late night or tomorrow morning."
"Alright, let's set up the camp first and wait for Riz to come."
Soon, Riz arrives late at night. His army was marching for four days and only rested when it was necessary. After they made it to Tegrot, he directly ordered his soldiers to rest.
Tomorrow will be an important day and he didn't want to be in a disadvantageous situation because of his soldiers.
In the meantime, he and Charlotte ride their horse to the southwest camp where his father is.
After some greeting, they right away start discussing strategy for tomorrow. The size of the army they will face is bigger than they have previously dealt with.
Even in a typical war, raising such a big army alone is already a rare occurrence. To top it off, he even fully equipped his soldiers.
Count Gyalcakes spending a lot of money for this battle.