Volume II: The Iron-Blood Baron Chapter 150: The Battle of Norlandenburg (Twenty-Four)

Hearing Bahryn's question, everyone else spontaneously laid down their knives, forks, and spoons, fixing their eyes on Belyan as they waited for his answer.

Belyan wiped his mouth with a napkin, took a sip of wine, and looking into Bahryn's regretful eyes, said, "I knew you would ask this, and I didn't intend to keep it from you. I actually wanted to tell you from the very beginning, but you were crying and making a fuss back then like a child, so it slipped my mind."

Bahryn scratched his head sheepishly. "My lord, please don't make fun of me. What kind of child is as rugged as I am? Just hurry up and tell us the story, will you?"

"Very well," Belyan said. "When you went to harass the wooden fort, I was just curious and wanted to take a look. Although it wasn't very clear under the moonlight, I still wanted to catch a glimpse. But it was precisely this dim light that suddenly made me think of a question: what if the pirates were hiding in the tall grass around the wooden fort? Wouldn't that mean your scouting party had walked right into their ambush? At the time, the thought merely flashed through my mind, and I didn't really believe the pirates would dare to pull such a stunt. After all, they had suffered a heavy blow just the previous night; the highest probability was that they would merely sortie from the city to drive you back into the forest, not dare to fight you at night. Yet, as you all know, the ultimate reality was that these pirates genuinely dared to set an ambush outside and trap you."

"Ah!" Bahryn sighed. "Ain't that the truth? I thought we had hurt them badly enough last night that those pig-headed bastards would never dare to fight us at night. I never expected them to resort to such a sneaky trick."

"We are allowed to use such dirty tricks on them, but they aren't allowed to use them on us? It was precisely this mindset that caused us to make a mistake," Belyan remarked with a sigh of emotion.

Bahryn nodded in agreement and continued to ask, "My lord, how did you figure out that the pirates had set an ambush? When we first went around the wooden fort beating gongs and drums, we didn't discover any ambush at all. Besides, these pirates are so strange. If they clearly had an ambush set up, why did they still send out troops to chase us away instead of ambushing us the very first time we harassed them? If they had done that, we wouldn't have lasted until Rothier's cavalry arrived."

Belyan stared straight into Bahryn's eyes and asked, "Are you under the impression that the pirates who ambushed you had been lying in wait there for a long time?"

Taken aback by the question, Bahryn blinked and replied, "Could it be... could it not be so, my lord?"

Belyan nodded and told him with absolute certainty, "No! They only laid their ambush around the wooden fort *after* they came out to drive you away."

"Ah!" Bahryn and his subordinate soldiers were utterly shocked. They could hardly believe this was true; these pirates were truly extraordinary.

Noticing their shock and disbelief, Belyan explained, "When I first discovered this, I was just like you—I thought it was utterly bizarre. But think about it: the Toba pirates have run rampant on the seas for nearly a century; could they really be so easily manipulated by a bunch of farmers who were still holding hoes half a year ago?"

Hearing this, Bahryn and the others regained their composure, and they had to admit that after yesterday's great victory, they indeed had grown somewhat contemptuous of the Toba pirates.

"How is that? Am I right? Did you guys actually look down on the Toba pirates a bit when you went to harass them the next day?" Belyan asked with a smile.

Bahryn and the rest of the scouts nodded in agreement. Having wiped out over twenty enemies the previous night with zero casualties, and having witnessed the pirates' frustrating failure in the siege earlier today, they couldn't help but look down upon the once-feared Toba pirates from the bottom of their hearts.

"I reckon Asedan, the Wolf Lord of these pirates, precisely guessed this psychology of ours and deliberately played along. That fellow is truly formidable. To pull something like this on us after suffering consecutive setbacks—he is certainly no ordinary person." Belyan sighed deeply, feeling that this Asedan had opened his eyes to the wisdom of a military strategist in this era.

After sighing, Belyan continued his explanation: "How did I figure it out? It was because when the pirates came out of the wooden fort to pursue you, there were around two hundred torches, but when they retreated, there were fewer than half of those torches left. Think about it: they hadn't thrown their torches onto the ground, so how could so many torches suddenly vanish? Besides, when they sallied out in the middle of the night for pursuit, barring extremely critical situations, people generally do not discard the torches in their hands.

"When things reached that point, I knew what the pirates were up to. They were waiting for your second round of harassment to spring an ambush on you. Once I figured that out, I hurriedly sent someone to summon Rothier, telling him to lead the cavalry to your rescue immediately. Although we were delayed on the road for a bit, we still managed to save you before the pirates could completely wipe you out. This battle was far too thrilling. When I first understood their intentions, my heart clenched fiercely, but looking at the outcome, it wasn't too bad."

Upon hearing Belyan's explanation, Bahryn was suddenly enlightened. He slammed his thigh in fierce remorse, "Ah! It's all my fault! At the time, I was only focused on leading everyone in retreat and didn't even look back. If I had just turned my head a few times, I wouldn't have missed the problem."

At this moment, Rothier, who had just taken his seat not long ago, spoke up. "Brother Bahryn, actually, you shouldn't take all the blame. These pirates are simply too cunning. The lord was viewing the situation from an elevated vantage point and could clearly see the state of the torches, but you were merely looking at them from eye level. In front of you were either pirates or the glare of fire—how could you possibly judge accurately?"

"Brother Rothier, come! First, my brothers from the scouting party and I would like to propose a toast to you. If the lord hadn't noticed in time today, and if you hadn't come to our rescue, all of us would have become wandering souls beneath the pirates' battleaxes." With those words, Bahryn signaled his men to raise their cups and thank Rothier for saving their lives.

After they clinked their glasses and drank, Belyan continued, "Today, when the cavalry went out, I was also extremely anxious. We only have this small handful of cavalry assets here in Norlandburg. If they had all been wiped out tonight, our losses would have been catastrophic. Even completely annihilating these pirates wouldn't make up for our losses.

"Therefore, when Rothier led the unit out, I was truly nervous. I was afraid they would arrive too late, that you, Bahryn, would all be dead and they would have made a wasted trip; yet I was also afraid that they themselves would fall into the encirclement, and that the pirates inside the wooden fort would come out to reinforce them—if my cavalry and scouting party had both been wiped out then, I wouldn't even know who to cry to.

"However, Rothier and his men did not let me down. Not only did they rescue you, but they also returned safe and sound, without losing a single man or a single horse. They not only saved you, but also displayed the mighty prestige of Norlandburg's cavalry."