Imperial Crown.

Chapter 479 Iron Maiden

More than 20 days passed in a flash, and the Bloody Roar Province finally felt a little chilly.

Today is December 1205, 12 in the Guangming calendar.

"Sir, in three days, the large army led by Silver Mane will arrive here."

Link came over and reported.

"It's time to set off." Raven's voice came from behind the curtain, "How is the ship going?"

"It has been 23 days since the last battle with the wild boars. All kinds of rafts have been built." Link and the hyena looked at each other. "Thor has already ordered the Third Legion, the Fourth Legion and the logistics to set off yesterday."

"Oh?"

Behind the curtain, Raven's voice was a little surprised, "This is a good job. Was it arranged by Eric?"

The hyena shook his head, "No, the father and son have hardly spoken to each other in the past month. Link and I came here today to ask you to leave with Madam Lux."

"Um"

Having more people under his command, although the expenses for food and clothing are huge, there are also advantages to having more people. There are too many things that Raven does not need to worry about. Of course, this is mainly because Raven needs to deliberately pretend to be old, so he doesn't take care of things at all.

But to be honest, this feels really good. No wonder it was so easy for incompetent rulers to appear in ancient times.

With a beautiful woman by his side, plenty of delicious food, and the ability to sleep until he wakes up naturally every day, to be honest, Raven doesn't miss the old days that much in this mental state.

Seeing that Raven no longer paid attention to them, Link and Hyena didn't dare to say anything. They originally wanted to come here to ask for a job, but it seemed that Lord Raven had no intention of accepting the offer.

After all, Raven had told them more than once that the most important task of this group of old ministers was to protect Raven's personal safety.

Since entering the Orc Empire, Lord Raven has been afraid of death to the core. If it was a short time, Link could understand it. But now it has been almost 3 months, and Lord Raven's fear of death has not eased, but he has become more anxious. He often asks them to stand guard at night, standing for a whole night, and only leave when Lord Raven wakes up naturally.

Link walked down from the dragon chariot in frustration and shouted at the wild boars, "Hurry up and lift the dragon chariot. Be steady, or you will end up like that idiot!"

Over the past 20 days, although there was no decisive battle, there was no shortage of small-scale harassment and contact battles between the two sides, almost day and night! Thor was afraid that the other side would notice that he was building a ship and running away, while Jing Ge wanted to complete Silver Mane's task and act as a gesture to delay the other side!
All we can say is that everyone has their own calculations.

During these 20 days, the Eagle Army killed more than 5000 wild boar men and captured more than 200... In addition, Silver Mane and others were about to arrive, and Jing Ge had not sent soldiers to harass them for several days. If the harassment continued, his legion would be almost gone, which made Jing Ge very distressed.

These captured boarmen and goblins were mainly engaged in some logistical work, such as cutting down trees, carrying logistics, carrying the dragon sedan for Raven, emptying the manure basin... and so on.

Link and the hyenas led the dragon chariot carried by the boar men toward the Tallinn River. When they arrived at the Tallinn River, various simple wooden plank roads had been built, allowing them to enter the deeper areas of the river. They slowly lowered Raven's chariot into the Tallinn River and let it float downstream.

Link stood on the dragon chariot, controlling the direction of its drift, while Hyena and the remaining group of boar men boarded another larger simple raft.

These boarman and goblin captives were all shackled and could not escape at all. Most of them were cannon fodder among the orcs and were extremely afraid of death. As long as they could have enough food, it didn't matter to them where they stayed.

"Orcs will never be slaves!!!"

That day, there was a sudden commotion outside, which aroused Raven's curiosity. He and Lux ​​walked out and looked in the direction of the roar.

I saw four or five rafts not far away. Each raft was equipped with a dozen uniquely shaped cages similar to human figures. Each cage contained an orc, boar man, bear goblin, and even eagle man and tiger man.

Their bodies were covered with blood holes. The blood in the wounds had turned black and red, and all kinds of blood-sucking flies, insects, maggots and ants were crawling on them. Just looking at them made people feel sick. Raven was a little surprised and asked Link, "What is that?"

"Sir, those are prisoners who refused to surrender, so Hyena ordered people to build the 'Iron Maiden' and locked them up inside to torture them." Link explained hurriedly.

"Iron Maiden?" Raven wondered, "What is that?"

"It is a human-shaped cage made of steel. There are many spikes inside. Once it is closed, it will pierce into the human body without killing the captives." Link explained carefully: "But now the conditions are limited, so we can only build this kind of hollow wooden iron maiden. The effect is actually the same."

"There is also a kind called 'Iron Bull Calling', which is to put a person into an iron bull sculpture and then burn it slowly over a low fire. Once the person inside screams, it sounds like a bull calling."

Link said one by one.

Raven's eyebrows raised when he heard this. "Why didn't I know that hyenas can do this before?"

Link quickly complained, "The hyenas were so bored that Thor was kind enough to let him manage these captives. He heard that these were the punishments used by the hyenas' mothers in their hometown, and he had always wanted to get them. This time he finally found the opportunity. It was very useful! The female boar leader Bu Yu of the Blood Swamp Tramplers that Thor brought back before was also very stubborn at first! It was because of this kind of punishment that she was tortured and surrendered, and betrayed a lot of information about Jing Ge, which allowed Thor to gain the upper hand in subsequent small-scale harassment!" At this point, Link glanced at Lux on the side, covered his mouth with his hand, and whispered in Raven's ear, "To be honest, the hyenas secretly dug out the shit that the goblins buried in you several times, and said that your shit was thick and hard, and you didn't look sick or weak. It's very likely that you were pretending!"

Raven:"……"

Raven was speechless, feeling that his subordinates were all a bunch of perverts and psychopaths! They were so bored!
"Look! Raven! It's the coward Raven coming out!"

"Hahaha, it's been 3 months! I finally get to see what Raven looks like!"

The only tiger captive shouted loudly. Although his voice was hoarse, one could still hear the excitement in his tone, "Raven! You bastard! If you have the guts, let me go! I will kill you! A coward like you is not worthy of being a human noble! I have never seen a noble who is so afraid of death as you!"

"Hey! Now you see it!" Raven said unwillingly.

"..." The tiger captive was choked by Raven and was speechless. He screamed, "Shameless! Raven, you are too shameless! The honor of the nobility! The courage of the nobility! Why can't I see even a little bit of it in you?!"

"Sir, let me kill him!" Link requested with cold eyes.

Poor Link, he hasn't killed a single orc since he entered the Orc Empire, and he's been itching to kill!

"No need," Raven shook his head and refused, "How many days until we can get ashore?"

"It will take five days in total. In one more day, we can go ashore, sir!" Link said, pursing his lips. After thinking it over, he couldn't help but plead with his voice, "Sir, let me fight the goblins this time! I, I..."

He originally wanted to say "I am willing to work for Thor", but before he could finish his words, he saw the cold eyes of his master looking at him, and he dared not say the rest of the sentence no matter what.

To be honest, as one of the elders who had followed Raven from Eagle Castle and was comparable to Eric, Link knew very well that every step Raven took was based on deep intentions and plans, but he was too bored. If the mercenaries hadn't occasionally used gold coins to invite him to be an instructor and give some advice on tactical coordination, Link felt that he might really be bored to death.

Most of the time, Link was practicing his moves on his own, because he felt that if he continued like this, his limbs would soon degenerate! Ever since Link proposed to use merit points instead of gold coins as salary, the mercenaries stopped even "occasionally" asking for him to come over, and no one would easily invite him over, because every merit point was too precious to the mercenaries!

In order to buy the merit points from the mercenaries, Thor had already offered 2.37 gold coins per point! That was gold coins! Not silver coins, let alone copper coins! Even so, he only received less than 30 merit points! Thor had been borrowing money from Eric for this reason. There was already a conflict between father and son. Now Thor refused to admit his mistakes and borrowed money with a flattering face, which made Eric very angry and he was unwilling to lend money again. This led to the fact that the father and son had hardly spoken to each other for nearly a month.

Back then, when Raven first arrived at Eagle Castle, there were only three guards in Eagle Castle, namely Eric, Gore and Link, but Eric was already extraordinary at that time. He and Gore were just ordinary guards. Now, things have changed. Link has personally experienced the death of his friends one by one. The first generation who can survive are only him and Eric, an old acquaintance... Gore, the best friend; Mosingan, Volaf, Calais, White, the slightly younger generation; the brothers Humpherson and Humphrey who killed each other because of hatred for Weston; Bent who rebelled and died in battle... Now, even Lady Nancy and old Gordon have left one after another! Therefore, only the veterans like Link know what kind of pressure Raven has endured along the way! What kind of pain he has endured! And how he has walked on thin ice, cautiously, and with great difficulty to start from scratch and become the earl nobleman admired by everyone today!
To say that he started from scratch is a bit of an exaggeration. After all, the mess that Donald left behind still owed thousands of gold coins in foreign debt!
“No matter how powerful a person is, he is powerless against time.”

Eric is 52 years old this year, and he is 48 years old. Perhaps in the Baron's mind, they are really old? Link couldn't help but think of this long-standing proverb.

But he couldn't figure out why Raven wouldn't let these old officials fight! Link also agreed that he wanted to train the second generation to have successors. He didn't have to seize the command of the commander-in-chief. Even if he was allowed to be a soldier carrying the flag, Link would be happy! After all, if he wasted every day like this, Link was so bored that he felt like a useless waste.

"Could it be that Lord Cheng is on guard against someone? And this person is in our camp?" Link's mind moved and he thought of a possibility.

As the old ministers who have been with Raven the longest and have always been his confidants, none of them are stupid. The hyena can judge Raven's physical condition from the shape of his feces, and Link can naturally analyze various clues.

……

"My Lord! Master Shaman! Don't sleep! The Eagle Army is coming!"

In the dim cave, Jiujiulinga was sleeping on the stone bed when he was suddenly awakened by someone.

Looking at Pujiji's panicked face, Jiujiu Linga rubbed his eyes sleepily, "Am I dreaming?"

"No! Chief! Really! The Eagle Army is really here! Someone has seen Raven's dragon chariot!" Pujiji shook Jiujiulinga's shoulders.

"What's the meaning?!"

Jiujiu Linga was still a little reluctant to believe it. "It's been almost a month, and Silver Mane and the others haven't arrived yet? Didn't they go to encircle and suppress Raven? Why is Raven here? Is he a deserter from the defeat?"

"No! Silvermane and his men didn't fight the Eagle Army at all. They just arrived and the Eagle Army came to our side!" The Tallin River almost split the Bloody Roar Province in half. Now Silvermane and his men have gone to the east of the Tallin River. Only the Goblin Army and the Eagle Army that just landed are on the west side of the Tallin River. That's why Pujiji was so panicked. Now when the Eagle Army is mentioned, every goblin changes color.

"Damn it! We've been fooled!" Jiujiulinga was so smart that he quickly realized that Yinzong and the others were not going to encircle Raven, they were deliberately forcing Raven to fight with them!

Damn Silvermane! How cunning!

He had sent out scouts during this period, but the goblins had very limited intelligence and were either captured alive or killed. However, the news that came back one after another was that Raven was still on the other side of the Tallinn River.

How did they suddenly come to the west of the Tallinn River? And they came to their own camp?
"Could it be that Raven wants to fight me?"

Jiujiulinga suddenly thought of something that might have made him shudder, and became even more angry. "Raven of the Groove! For your sake, I, the chieftain, even disobeyed Silvermane's orders! And you have repeatedly taken advantage of me! Do you really think that my goblin clan is weak and easy to bully?!"

"Pujiji, bring me some paper and pen. I want to write a letter! I want to write a letter to Raven!"

When Pujiji brought the paper and pen, Jiujiu Linga began to write furiously:
"Dear human noble Lord Raven Griffith:

I think that as the most respected people in each other's camp, you and I should speak and act reasonably!
First of all, you sent people to attack my logistics. After I discovered this plan, this clan leader was magnanimous and did not hold it against you, because I felt that as two parties fighting against each other, I respected and understood your motives.

Later, when you fought with Jing Ge, Yin Zong ordered me to cross the Tallin River to attack you from both sides, but I did not do so because this clan leader felt that it would be an unfair victory!
Now, Yinzong has ordered me to join him and launch an unprecedented campaign against you, but I still remained inactive and disobeyed Yinzong's orders!
But what about you? You damn little bee, after crossing the Tallin River three times, you actually came straight to me. What does that mean? Do you want to be an enemy of my goblin clan? !
Raven, I must warn you, my goblin clan is not as vulnerable as you think!

If time could go back, I really want to go back to 32 years ago and give your father a condom, so that he and your lowly and dirty mother would not give birth to such a shameless, despicable and unethical person like you!

This clan leader will give you two months to think about it! If you still haven't crossed the Tallin River after two months of rest, you can fight against Silver Mane and others!
Then you should be prepared to face the wrath of the great Goblin Chieftain!!!"

After finishing writing, Jiujiulinga felt that his words were a bit too harsh, so he added, "Leven, please cherish the remaining kindness of this clan leader, and do not go gently into that good night!"

Although Jiujiulinga did not understand the meaning, he learned it from the bards. It was fine as long as he wrote down what he could to show his talent.

After folding the letter and sealing it with wax, Jiujiu Linga instructed Pujiji: "You must deliver this letter in person. You must deliver it to Raven in person! If he knows what's good for him, he won't attack us! I only need to wait another two months and I will be fully recovered! By then, Raven will be a dog that I can trample on!"

……

(End of this chapter)