Our family is in decline

The Earl and Bruce couldn't help but look at each other, and both could see the strangeness in each other's eyes.

After all, the name Hamlet is not unfamiliar to them at all, because they just talked about it.

Discuss how to capture the remaining parts of Hamlet, and then push Bastia to another level.

The earl thought he had been very cautious. He took action as soon as the news of Hamlet surfaced, without giving him any time to develop. He was already doing a great job.

They originally thought that their biggest enemies were the other noble lords in the surrounding area, and they also took into account the influence of barbarians and empires.

So what I just discussed was the surrounding situation, and how to capture Hamlet in this environment.

But he never expected that an entire knight group would be captured by this newly revealed Hamlet!

What is this concept? Catching them alive is more difficult than killing them!

The Count could tolerate their deaths, which would be an excuse for them to take action, but... being captured brought the biggest trouble to his plan that he had been planning for many years.

"Go on, tell me everything you saw and heard."

The count didn't speak, but Bruce already understood what was urging him.

"They didn't mention how they captured the Knights, but they mentioned that they wanted to exchange for a ransom. They probably didn't know the identity of the Knights yet. At that time, I was afraid of being exposed and didn't dare to stay too long, so I quit. What was the specific situation? do not know either."

Laura covered the wound on her waist with one hand, her painful expression covering up the trace of unnaturalness.

She knew that the more she talked, the bigger the flaws would be. In front of these big shots, it was best not to even pretend to be stupid, but to just shut up and lower her head. Naturally, she had no clue about their questions.

Fortunately, her injury gave her enough cover, otherwise she might have exposed her secret from the beginning.

"You did a good job." The Count also seemed to know that the escaped eagles could not ask more questions. He waved his hand to the butler next to him, "Take her down and let the doctor treat her."

Laura’s downcast face couldn’t help but twitch slightly when she heard this.

War and active mercenary activities have promoted the level of treatment of trauma in Bastia. A skilled doctor can determine what weapon caused the injury and when it was injured just by looking at the wound.

And those with more experience can even see the angle and strength.

It is obvious that the doctor who is responsible for the castle is definitely the best in Bastia. If he is seen through...

But can she say no?

A trip to the doctor would be a gamble and he wouldn't be able to tell, and refusing would probably mean death now.

"Please come with me~"

The butler's voice woke her up, and Laura had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow him. Her unnatural movements became even weirder, and beads of sweat continued to appear on her face, and her body was trembling.

It is not necessary to go directly to the doctor. There are many rooms in the castle. After choosing one, you can directly find a servant and notify the doctor.

Soon a middle-aged man wearing simple robes, a short beard and a pair of glasses who looked like a scholar walked in with a leather bag.

The housekeeper didn't seem to have any intention of leaving, and just stood aside with a standard but emotionless smile on his face.

"Lie down and the doctor will cure you."

Laura didn’t dare to resist and could only lie down on the bed. The doctor also put on leather gloves and took out scissors and pliers from his bag.

It can be seen with the naked eye that Laura's already pale face has become more haggard, and there is no trace of blood on her face, which seems to be caused by the wound, and her lips are still trembling slightly.

The bandage wrapped around the waist was cut directly by the doctor, and then a charred wound was revealed, with obvious burn marks on it. Even the superficial flesh and blood turned into charcoal, while dark red and even somewhat eroded flesh and blood was revealed inside. Blood was still oozing out.

When seeing this, both the doctor and the housekeeper were stunned.

"The wolves of the Langya tribe will follow the bloody smell of their prey, so they must stop the bleeding as soon as possible to avoid pursuit." Laura also added.

Why did she come up with this idea after seeing a musketry match?

Because it is not difficult to create a wound, the most difficult thing is how to cover it.

As a hard-core ruthless person, she directly inserted an arrow into herself, and then burned the wound with gunpowder to completely destroy the traces.

She originally thought she could get through it, but she didn't expect that the earl's move almost exposed her secret.

Forced to have no choice but to follow the housekeeper, she pressed her hand against the wound under her green robe, which was why she was sweating profusely in pain, but it also made the wound so difficult to distinguish. appearance.

It was obviously impossible for Laura, a hawk like the Count's dog, to use precious medicine on her. The doctor did not say anything, but just picked up the tools and started to clean the wound, and then applied medicine and bandage...

The study on the other side also fell into a weird atmosphere after Laura left. It was Bruce who spoke first to break the calm.

"Father, what should we do now?"

"Why do you think this happened?" The Earl had calmed down. At this time, he still wanted to train the heir.

"The loyalty of the knights of Bastia is worthy of recognition. No matter what enemy they encounter, they will never choose to surrender." Bruce frowned. He could think of only one possible situation in which this happened, "Unless this kind of loyalty Be exploited……"

After saying this, he couldn't help but pause, and looked up at the earl. No matter how much he wanted to defend Alvin, he could only continue speaking.

"Only if Alvin is caught first and uses his identity to coerce the rest of the Knights to surrender, even Baron Lawrence will be restrained by his identity."

"Alas~" The Earl couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. The only reason that could be explained was this. "You were right before, I shouldn't have any illusions about Alvin."

For the future of the Bastia family, like other nobles, he focused on cultivating his eldest son. He was worried that other brothers and sisters would fight and could only hide them.

Daughters getting married can stabilize the family, but it is hard to say whether these sons will become rich men in a manor or farm, or they will just become wandering knights. Anyway, they cannot endanger the status of the heirs.

But he still has a glimmer of hope for this son who is ambitious and capable.

This expectation was not brought about by Alvin's ability, but because the Earl himself was the second son without the right to inherit. He came to the throne only after the death of his eldest brother.

With the idea of ​​​​exercising a little, if he shows talent, it can be regarded as a backup plan.

It's a pity that this time he gave him a slap in the face.

"Father! Now we have a reason to take action." Bruce stood up and spoke righteously, "I will lead the troops to crush Hamlet and rescue them!"

"What if they push Alvin and those knights out before the formation?"

The count made Bruce fall into silence with just a few words.

He really wanted to shout "Charge", they all died for Bastia.

But reason told him that this behavior might cause violent turmoil, because those were not civilians, but knights.

Although he has no fiefdom, he is still a knight of Bastia in name only.

"This is not bravery, this is stupidity." The Earl waved his hand, "Sit down."

Bruce was still thinking about the solution and was distracted for a while, but he got a loud shout from the earl.

"sit down!"

The count seemed a little thin in front of Bruce's strong figure, but at this moment, he was like a sleeping tiger waking up and roaring.

And Bruce suddenly woke up like a kitten in front of him, and his body couldn't help but tremble before he reacted.

The count waited until Bruce sat down again before he continued.

"This is not your mission. You have to know that you are the heir of Bastia. You can withstand controllable dangers, but you must never put yourself in unknown dangers.

Alvin just led the knights into a trap. Have you ever considered what impact it will have on Bastia once you fall into it and two men from the Bastia family fall in Hamlet one after another?

When the time comes, the barbarians will challenge us, and even the people below will notice our weakness. You have to know that this world has never been short of challengers. "

"Yes!" Bruce finally knew why his father suddenly scolded him. He really couldn't take any more risks before the situation was clear.

Seeing Bruce admitting his mistake honestly, the earl did not continue to hold on to him, but continued to teach him step by step how to become a qualified lord.

He took many wrong paths and stumbled to get to where he is today. He didn't want the next generation to do the same.

"As a lord, you must know that you represent the entire territory. You are no longer alone. You must remain calm at all times. Any emotion may lead your judgment to the wrong direction. You Any decision will bring immeasurable losses to the territory.

besides! Everything just now is just our conjecture. In fact, based on the words of a group of eagles, we are not sure what happened to the Knights. As a lord, we cannot make judgments through conjectures. We must get actual evidence to understand. situation at the moment. "

"I understand, I will let people redeem them before the news spreads, so that the situation will not worsen." Bruce also realized that he was still too impulsive.

But the earl frowned, his dissatisfaction becoming more and more obvious, and he raised his hand to tap on the table.

"Why didn't you realize this was an opportunity?"

Bruce didn't react.

Chance? what chance?

You just said not to send troops, and you said not to take risks. Finally, you said not to damage our prestige.

Isn't this just a way of concealing the news and then hastily redeeming people before the news spreads?

"Unlike war, politics is not about fighting and killing. Politics is about human relations." The Earl slowly calmed down. "We have indeed encountered difficulties that cannot be avoided. That is, the Knights have been captured and we must redeem them. So as a lord, when faced with this dilemma, you must consider how to use various means to maximize benefits."

The Earl is still teaching Bruce that what happened in Hamlet left a deep impression on him, telling him the damage a failed heir can do to the territory.

Bruce is a perfect heir in the eyes of others, but he still has a lot to learn if he wants to be an heir that satisfies the earl.

"Instead of blocking the news, we have to promote the topic of hype. The external caliber is still chasing the barbarians, accidentally entering Hamlet, and being stabbed in the back by Hamlet during the bloody battle with the barbarians.

The key point is to portray us as tragic characters who, for the sake of the overall situation, sacrificed their lives to protect the empire from the barbarian invasion during the current civil war in the empire, and paid a heavy price but were oppressed.

To resonate, bury Hamlet's negativity in the minds of Bastians, making them suffer humiliation while building our innocence and weakness.

How can fifty knights be enough? There were two hundred knights. We sent two hundred knights to chase the wolf. The remaining ones were seriously injured and captured in the bloody battle. "

This is no longer a double, but a super double!

The count directly set up the captives, and at the same time showed Bastia's "weakness" to others.

The entire empire may not be able to gather three thousand knights, and two hundred knights will definitely be a strain on Bastia.

Bruce was immersed in the Earl's explanation. He was not stupid, on the contrary, he was very smart. However, as an adult, he spent many years leading troops for training, so he rarely received his father's teachings.

If you interact too much with the barbarians in the mountains, your brain will be pulled to the same level as them.

"And this is the first step. Next, we have to promote Hamlet. From all aspects, we will use the previous rumors to process them. No matter who spreads them, we will directly add a piece of firewood to make the fire burn brighter.

We must know that we, Bastia, were not the only ones who divided up Hamlet back then. Those guys also couldn't sit back and watch Hamlet rise again. When we hyped up Hamlet's power, who do you think would be the first to sit still? "

But this was part of the count's plan, and the subsequent operations directly echoed the previous layout.

“At this time, the previous foreshadowing will come into play. What do you think will happen when the previous news gets out?

That would almost make Bastia's weakness public, and we would have an excuse to relax the restrictions on the mountain barbarians, let them in, and put the blame on Hamlet.

The third step is to encourage barbarian invasion, making Bastia appear to have been trapped in a difficult war with the barbarians, and is too weak to care about other situations.

Then at this time, whether it is the Empire, Hamlet or other surrounding lords, they will temporarily ignore our existence, because we are already 'weak' and are not qualified to enter.

When they start fighting, we will conserve our strength and let the barbarians come down and enter Hamlet to fight with them.

It's like watching the wild beasts in the hunting ground hunting each other. When the time is right, when we come out, they will all become our prey. "

Thanks to [Big Cuckoo Chicken] for the 1500 reward

Thank you to [Ren Puppet 02] [Hidden Sword of Hidden Sword Village] [Ban Jiansheng] for the 100 reward