Chapter 499: Prelude to the Spring Offensive
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Garden Mansion, the Inner City of King's City, Kingdom of Graycastle.
Since Roland Wimbledon's surprise attack on the palace which successfully destroyed the Hall of the Sky Dome, Theo's status had greatly improved. Every member of the "Dove and Cylinder" showed him great respect, and this intelligence organization was finally established.
Along with several core personnel, Theo could also affect Skeleton Fingers' decisions as a result of his contributions over the past six months. He also had a good knowledge of the activities of the other Rats' organizations, since he had informants in both the patrol team and the Black Street. They provided him with privileged information only for the money, and they did not care at all who they worked for. However, his gold royals still could not buy his way into the circle of the upper nobles, who cared more about family background and titles. Fortunately, through his connections with the heads of the Rats, who had close relationships with the great nobles, he managed to get some less important information now and then.
For example, he heard the news below.
"Timothy is sending a platoon of 500 men to block the Redwater River?" Theo tapped on the arm of his chair and asked. "Is he really going to do that?"
"Yes," Rockhill answered, "half of his platoon will be Blood Sail Rats. That's what the boss said himself. It's a profitable job, so the Rats fought each other over it, and several of them even got injured or killed."
"Indeed, it's profitable," Clown whistled and said. "Just think about it... What will they block in the river? The merchant ships! And what's the punishment for violating the king's ban? Confiscating the cargo and imposing a fine! Who can do a better blackmail job than Rats? Ah, of course... the patrol team is also good at it?"
"Half of them are Rats, so the other half must be Timothy's guards," said Hill Fawkes calmly. "I'm told that in the countryside this morning, there were four hawk-headed ships in the harbor."
Theo could not help but frown. The hawk-headed ships were high-speed, inland river warships that had slender hulls, with sails and oars, as well as embolons below the water and iron hooks on both sides. Once they caught up with their target, they could be tightly hooked together to enable the soldiers on one ship to easily jump onto another one to fight, making it difficult for merchant ships to escape from them.
"Based on all the information we've collected already, it's clear that Timothy is going to send a fleet of four warships carrying more than 500 people, including over 200 fully armed guards, to block the Redwater River." He sighed inwardly, thinking that it was really bad news.
They had got wind of Timothy's intention to block the Redwater River trade route before the Months of Demons, but most people did not take him seriously back then and thought he would only set a blockade in the canal of King's City. Nobody believed that he would dare to set a blockade between the Western and Central Region to declare an economic siege on the City of Neverwinter. That would anger the lords of Silver City and Redwater City, who would never allow this ban to cost them any great economic loss.
However, now with four warships that could easily block merchant ships anywhere they wanted, Timothy's situation was different, as the other lords could not compete with him at all on the water. Even though this blockade would turn the lords against him, nothing could shake his resolve to defeat Roland.
Theo looked at Hill, who nodded at him and voiced the same thoughts, "Timothy may not set a fixed blockade on the Redwater River. He'll just attack any caravan he spots, and his troops will act as pirates on water and bandits on land. An enemy force of 500 people is indeed a nightmare for any caravan. By doing so, he'll probably succeed in cutting off the Western Region's supplies."
"We have to report this to His Highness as soon as possible," Theo said in a deep voice.
Last year, Border Town had bought a large amount of grain, clothes and ore, and this year, because of the town's merger with Longsong Stronghold, it had a much higher demand for resources. If Timothy succeeded in his attempt, it would definitely cause Prince Roland massive trouble. They worried about this vexing issue for His Highness and wondered if he could solve this problem.
Sounds of flapping wings then came from the backyard.
As Theo stood up to open the door to the backyard, a gray falcon flew in as quickly as a flash of lighting and gently landed on his shoulder.
The circus members simultaneously lowered their heads, putting their hands on their chests, to show respect for the message from the Western Region.
Theo took a piece of paper from the messenger and glanced at it. His heart skipped a beat.
"Ha... haha." He could not help himself from laughing out loud, even though he knew that he should hide his emotions as an intelligence officer. It was such timely, good news for him. "We don't need to worry about it anymore," he said with visible joy.
"His Highness already knows about it?" Hill asked.
"No, but he's going to solve it once and for all," he said in a low but excited voice.
"Once and for all?" Clown was confused. "You mean..."
"Yes, the First Army of His Highness has already left for King's City!" Theo clenched his fists. "It's time to overthrow Timothy!"
He had known that His Highness would launch his attack this year, but he never expected it to happen so soon, as the prince had not told him any specifics about the attack in order to keep the plan secret. Now, he finally knew that the attack was actually scheduled for spring, just in time for the plowing season.
"It's finally time." Hill inhaled deeply, suddenly got down on one knee, and said, "Just give us His Highness's orders."
"For the new King!" the other five people shouted and kneeled likewise.
The thought of the new kingdom also excited Theo. If Timothy was overthrown, Roland Wimbledon would become the only successor to the throne of the Kingdom of Graycastle. And if Roland was crowned king, Theo would probably gain greater power and reach a new height that he had never dreamed of before.
He did not even have to think about their chances of winning. Anyone who had witnessed the First Army in action would never doubt that Roland would be victorious over Timothy in this attack.
"His Highness orders us to stay away from the west gate of King's City. He also orders us to prevent the Rats from taking advantage of the chaos during the attack, and to restore the social order as soon as possible after the war." Theo slowly read out the remaining part of the secret letter. "Do everything in your power to help the civilians suffering in the war, such as providing medical aid, free shelter, and food, and hand over this job to the First Army when the situation is stable."
"Th-that's it?" All of them looked at each other and were totally at a loss. "His Highness didn't order us to trick the guards into opening the city gate, or set fires in different directions in order to mislead the enemy?"
"No, those're His Highness's wishes," Theo put the letter away and said with a smile. He thought it was just like Roland's style to care more about the people and social order, not to compel any intelligence personnel to step onto the battlefield. He felt that Roland's order also suggested that the prince thought nothing of Timothy's forces.