novelraw Chapter 524: Zheng Bo Defeats Duan at Yan
Chapter 524: Zheng Bo Defeats Duan at Yan
"You—"
Falcon Karl was speechless. He was conflicted, incredibly conflicted!
He was completely thrown into disarray, but anyone could see that he was truly tempted.
Because Jiang Xinran was a 4th-Tier Mage. Once she was resurrected, she would be registered to his Pioneering Card, permanently bound to him with no escape. She would no longer be the free and unrestrained Lord she was before.
Moreover, with the grace of saving her life, Jiang Xinran would be very obedient.
It was hitting multiple birds with one stone.
Even Li Wei could tell that Falcon Karl truly wanted to agree; he was just a tiny bit away from doing so.
But after a few seconds passed, he ultimately chose to object!
He opposed the Faction Schism.
Mountain Eagle Parker's proposal was rejected, and the price for attempting to split the faction was that all three of them were deducted 50 points of World Reputation. Naturally, Falcon Karl didn't gain any World Reputation either. The occurrence of such an event was originally caused by his insufficient capability as a leader; how could he expect to earn World Reputation from it?What was he thinking!
Mountain Eagle Parker, Li Siyuan, and Fierzway didn't say anything further, nor did they forcefully defect from the faction. They directly exited the demiplane, acting as if the whole thing was just a farce.
But Li Wei almost broke out in a cold sweat.
Because once the trio of Mountain Eagle Parker successfully achieved a Faction Schism, they wouldn't have to pay any price in World Reputation. They could immediately launch an attack on Li Wei's territory, attacking simultaneously from three directions. Against the backdrop of the cold wave, and before Li Wei's Tier-2 Mage Tower was constructed, it was entirely possible that his territory would be breached and destroyed, leading to his family being ruined, him being stone dead, and sent packing back to his hometown.
Yes.
This was Mountain Eagle Parker's vicious plan. Because Li Wei was too fat; he was radiating golden light all over. Even if all of Li Wei's people engaged in a fight to the death and refused to retreat or surrender, they still wouldn't be able to win.
In the end, it would only result in total annihilation, allowing Mountain Eagle Parker to smoothly harvest over four thousand Gold Cards and Purple Cards.
Yes, this was indisputable.
Presumably, Li Siyuan and Fierzway were persuaded to join precisely because they saw how fat Li Wei was.
This was an outcome where even Falcon Karl wouldn't be able to save Li Wei.
However, Falcon Karl had temporarily saved Li Wei through another method.
Although, it still wasn't secure enough.
That is, if Mountain Eagle Parker and the others were truly willing to consume another 100 points of World Reputation to defect from the faction.
"Li Wei, hurry back. Set up defenses immediately and prepare for battle. This younger brother of mine has always liked taking a reckless gamble. He is far too covetous of your family fortune! Furthermore, here are fifty Sequence Three Magical Crests, fifty Silver Tokens, and five hundred 2-Star Attribute Cards. Take them. Sigh, I trust you, but right now, I can only help you this much."
Falcon Karl spoke with a complex expression. He no longer held any hope of whether Li Wei would continue to pledge allegiance to him.
There was no helping it. Ever since his father, Duke Will, had clearly been playing a double act with Duke Kaidel and causing trouble, even his own younger brother, Mountain Eagle Parker, was itching to make a move.
His position as the Duke's Heir Apparent had now become a joke.
Li Wei gazed at Falcon Karl and wanted to say something, but in the end, he just nodded and left.
At this very moment, he had to win this battle and survive first before he had the right to say anything.
And after Li Wei left, the demiplane also dispersed following a sigh from Falcon Karl. At the same time, in the Falcon Capital hundreds of miles away, a beautiful young woman appeared beside Falcon Karl.
"Father, did my Uncle Parker ultimately fail to hold back?"
"Sigh, Anna, my feelings are very complex, and I am very sad. Parker is too prone to going to extremes," Falcon Karl spoke with a look of deep sorrow, as if he were truly heartbroken.
But his daughter Anna gave him a glance and didn't continue discussing the matter. Instead, she asked, "Father, can Li Wei win?"
"I don't know, it's uncertain, it's hard to say. But we have absolutely no control over this matter."
"Father, aren't you worried that if Li Wei wins this war, he will grow too powerful because of it?" Anna was aggressive, relentlessly questioning.
So much so that Falcon Karl could no longer maintain his feigned expression of deep sorrow. He looked at her helplessly, "Anna, you were the one who didn't want to marry Li Wei, and you were the one who came up with this plan to provoke your Uncle Parker. And now you come asking me. If you truly had the intention to marry Li Wei, then even if I had to risk my old face, I would have married you off to him in grand style."
"That's different, Father. Even the wisest can make a mistake, and I didn't want the situation to spiral out of control."
"Hah, Anna, the difference between Li Wei and Parker lies precisely in the fact that his ambitions are very large. Parker's ambitions, however, only see Li Wei's glittering wealth. He is too proud, and too greedy. He never looked favorably upon Li Wei from the very beginning, believing that he was destined to defect. But in my view, precisely because Li Wei's ambitions are so large, he will not easily betray us. He cherishes his reputation and cherishes his image very much. Even with immense ambitions, he will absolutely never walk the path of betrayal."
"That boy will only wait for me to make a mistake, wait for me to fail, wait for the faction to scatter, and only then will he regain his freedom. This thing called World Reputation is not that simple. Once you are stained with a certain stigma, it cannot be washed clean until the end of the mission. On the contrary, it's Parker—he only betrayed me, he hasn't betrayed our father. The nature of the two acts is different."
"Do you understand?"
As Falcon Karl finished speaking, the look of deep sorrow had vanished from his eyes. Mountain Eagle Parker was certainly his biological brother, but he was too headstrong and arrogant, and too intolerant of others. If he hadn't made things difficult at every turn, how could Jiang Xinran have defected and joined Tyrant William?
Especially since Mountain Eagle Parker, under the banner of assisting and following him, was actually snatching benefits and resources in every possible way!
Karndorf Fortress was such an important location. When they jointly conquered it, logically speaking, as the Faction Leader, he should have been the one to take Karndorf Fortress.
As a younger brother and a subordinate assisting him, wasn't it perfectly normal to go build a fortress somewhere else? Who was the master, and who was the subordinate?
But the result was that Parker demanded Karndorf Fortress, forcing him, the Faction Leader, to go to a location with no geographical advantages to build the Falcon Capital from scratch.
So at that time, Falcon Karl arranged for Li Wei to be stationed sixty miles behind Karndorf Fortress.
On the surface, it looked like he didn't trust Li Wei and wanted to use Karndorf Fortress to restrict Li Wei's development. But little did anyone know that at a distance of sixty miles, Liwei Keep was effectively aiming a bayonet right at the back garden of Karndorf Fortress!
Whoever was the most uncomfortable in this situation knew exactly what was going on!
Especially when he deliberately announced that he would marry his daughter Anna to him, yet nearly a year had passed, and the Anna who was supposed to be married over still hadn't arrived. On one hand, this made Li Wei feel uneasy, thinking he was just a vanguard pawn and constantly preparing for rebellion. On the other hand, it made Mountain Eagle Parker increasingly uncomfortable because he was also very anxious.
Under these circumstances, Li Wei was a ticking bomb, and no one dared to gamble.
Therefore, during the Battle of the Nameless Swamp, using the excuse of his vanguard being blunted and being injured, Parker sat back and watched Karndorf Fortress get besieged, only arriving belatedly after the losses reached a certain degree.
But what he hadn't expected was that Li Wei would shine brilliantly in that battle. To Mountain Eagle Parker, this was adding fuel to the fire, making him even more uncomfortable.
Over the next three months, Karl just dragged his feet on marrying Anna over, up until now, when he successfully used the backdrop of the impending ten-year cold wave to force Mountain Eagle Parker into rebellion.
Yes, he had to do it this way, otherwise it wouldn't look good for his reputation. As an elder brother, how could he cruelly harm his sworn brothers?
And if his younger brother clashed with a Lord under his command, as long as he didn't intervene, his father wouldn't interfere either, because that old thing truly didn't care whether they lived or died.
Once upon a time, he had thought that at least he was an exception.
But reality had ruthlessly slapped him across the face.
It woke him up, and it also woke up Mountain Eagle Parker and his other siblings.
So, he was very sorry, but the struggle for the position of heir apparent had always been like this.
The light of the Troubled Times Pioneering Card slightly faded. Li Wei returned from the demiplane, but before he even had time to issue a war warning, the notifications of Mountain Eagle Parker, Gray Wolf Li Siyuan, and Wild Duck Fierzway defecting from the faction rapidly surfaced before his eyes.
【Faction Announcement】
【Based on their respective ambitions, their disappointment in Faction Leader Falcon Karl, and their hatred for Blazing Li Wei, former faction member Mountain Eagle Parker believes that it is necessary to 'purge the brother's side and execute Li Wei'. Only in this way can they restore a healthy and orderly development atmosphere to the faction. Therefore, they have decided to temporarily defect from the faction, execute Li Wei, and then return to the faction.】
【Mountain Eagle Parker, Gray Wolf Li Siyuan, and Wild Duck Fierzway have each been deducted 100 points of World Reputation.】
【Mountain Eagle Parker issues a declaration of war, launching a punitive expedition against Li Wei.】
"Damn it, what is bound to come will come after all!"
Li Wei gave a bitter smile. What was this called? Wealth brings woe. Moreover, he kept feeling that all of this was indulged by Falcon Karl.
Yes, Li Siyuan and Fierzway were both Mountain Eagle Parker's confidants, yet when this old fellow allocated territories, he bunched them all together, while coincidentally placing Li Wei right here.
No wonder Li Wei had always felt that Mountain Eagle Parker was very hostile towards him, harboring a faint hostility.
How could there not be hostility?
What a great territory Karndorf Fortress was! It was the impenetrable Hulao Pass controlling the Ness River and the mountain passes of the Locke Mountains!
But what was the result? Li Wei's Liwei Keep was situated exactly sixty miles behind Karndorf Fortress on a flat plain. Once Li Yue's Blazing Legion set out, they could gut the back garden of Karndorf Fortress in an instant.
It was no wonder Mountain Eagle Parker was so wary and covetous of the Blazing Legion.
If it were Li Wei himself in that position, he wouldn't be able to sleep either!
It was just that Li Wei had been too naive before, thinking that Falcon Karl and Mountain Eagle Parker were biological brothers, born from the same mother. Who could have imagined that they would stage a plot of "Zheng Bo Defeats Duan at Yan".
This sloppy Karl was too damn absurd!
No wonder he said he was going to marry his daughter Anna to him, yet there had been no movement for so long. It had been almost a year, and this Anna was still "on the way".
Now it was all clear.
The only thing Li Wei was curious about now was, how was Falcon Karl so certain that he would definitely win? Or perhaps it didn't matter, and as long as both sides suffered heavy losses, it would be perfectly fine?
"Li Wei, what exactly happened? Why is Mountain Eagle Parker attacking us?"
At this time, Li Yue, Hathaway, Zhao Xuanxuan, Tucker, He Yibo, A Su, and the others hurried back. The outbreak of war was far too abrupt. They were allies just a moment ago; could they be any more treacherous?
"Prepare for battle! Now, give your respective reports. Li Yue, you go first."
"Yes! Over the past three months, we have produced a total of 240 Sequence Three Magical Crests. Although it's not enough to equip the entire Blazing Legion, we are confident in defending the river defense line."
"Additionally, the condition of the three hundred heavy cavalry veterans has greatly improved. Besides me, the other five Thousand-man Commanders are all capable of leading their respective Centuries to unleash Legion Skills."
"Good! Now, the Blazing Legion will be responsible for holding the river defense line. You will decide the specific tactics yourselves. Hathaway, you and the Mage Tower you are responsible for will provide magical support to the Blazing Legion! At the same time, you are responsible for information communication and marking targets for command."
"Understood!"
"He Yibo!"
"To reply to the Lord, the Frost Legion is ready for battle. All soldiers are capable of fighting, but I hope that the Ranger Legion can coordinate with us in this battle. The Fate Resonance Volley of the Ranger Legion will be a major lethal weapon for our side, so if you have the means, My Lord, please try to enhance it as much as possible."
"Alright!"
Li Wei directly took out the five hundred 2-Star Attribute Cards and handed them to A Su.
Subsequently, he took out the fifty Sequence Three Magical Crests and handed them to He Yibo, ordering him to distribute them to the main forces.
As for the fifty Silver Tokens, after keeping two for himself, he dismantled the rest into Black Iron Tokens and distributed them as appropriate to the Royal Guard. In this battle, he would personally lead the Royal Guard into combat.
"Tucker, you are responsible for providing magical support and information communication to the Frost Legion and Ranger Legion, as well as marking targets for command."
"As you command, My Lord!"