OBS Chapter 13: Testimony Under the Eagle Flag
Chapter 13: Testimony Under the Eagle Flag
Before dawn, the Blue Fork Valley was still shrouded in a thin layer of grayish-white mist.
Mist crept up from the river surface onto the muddy ground, bypassed the three newly erected boundary markers, and slowly flowed along the still-unclosed stone wall. The quicklime scattered on the battlefield last night had hardened into a pale white crust in the dampness, making it look like a frost-covered graveyard from afar.
The Hohenzollern territory is not asleep.
The hearth in the longhouse burned all night. The groans of the wounded, the sound of boiling water, the thud of wooden basins hitting the ground, and the occasional suppressed sobs mingled together, creating a heavy and chaotic breathing pattern.
Otto stood outside the longhouse, wearing a still-damp wool cloak, but his face showed no signs of fatigue.
He hadn't slept all night.
But at this moment, he cannot show any signs of fatigue.
What a territory that has just survived a bloody battle needs most is not the lord's grief or anger, but that the lord still stands. As long as he stands, those who have lost their husbands, brothers, and fathers by the hearth will believe that this land has not fallen.
Jack, accompanied by two scouts, was already fully prepared and ready to go.
They carried no flags, nor wore Hohenzollern black eagle cloaks, but only old cloaks like those of ordinary hunters. The three horses were light steeds that had been captured the previous night and were still able to walk. The black raven brand on their bodies was covered with ashes and mud, and their horseshoes were wrapped in rags to prevent them from making too much noise on the stone road.
Otto personally handed Jack a wooden box wrapped in oilcloth.
"Do not open it until you reach Haijiang City."
Jack nodded.
There were three things in the wooden box.
First, there is the sealed letter Otto wrote to Earl Jason Mellist.
Second, there were copies of the confessions of the three prisoners. Each copy had the prisoners' bloody fingerprints underneath, as well as the witness marks of the two hunters and Polliff.
Thirdly, there are physical evidence: a black raven-patterned leather buckle, a stirrup brass nail with engravings from the Raven Tree City branch workshop, and a small copper piece removed from the inside of an enemy's sword sheath.
They are neither glamorous nor amazing.
However, in the laws governing feudal lords, these things are harder to deny than corpses.
"Take the old hunting trails," Otto said. "Avoid the main roads and villages. If you encounter Frey scouts, tell them you're going to Seafront to report the casualties. If you encounter Blackwood men, don't argue, burn the letter, abandon your horse and go into the woods."
Jack looked up.
"Sir, are letters more important than people?"
Otto looked at him.
"No. As long as people are alive, there will be another letter. The letter cannot fall into the hands of the enemy, but you are not pawns to be discarded either."
Jack paused for a moment, then looked down.
"clear."
Otto added:
"When you arrive at Haijiang City, don't exaggerate your achievements or cry excessively. Just tell us what you saw with your own eyes. Haijiang City doesn't need our theatrics; it needs evidence."
Jack mounted his horse and, with two scouts, disappeared into the morning mist.
The sound of horses' hooves was quickly swallowed up by the wet grass.
Pollifer stood behind Oto, holding the plank, his face pale.
"My lord, what if Earl Jason is unwilling to step forward?"
Otto did not answer immediately.
He looked in the direction where the scout had disappeared, his voice low.
"He won't stand up out of pity, nor out of loyalty to me. A lord is not a monk. Jason will ask himself three questions: Is the silver mine still worth protecting? Can Hohenzollern still be defended? Will standing up drag Seafront City into a losing war?"
Pollifer swallowed hard.
"And what's the answer?"
"So what we send is not pleas, but choices."
Otto turned to look at the stone wall that was not yet topped out.
"If he shelters us, he gains a border fortress that continues to produce silver and protect us from harm. If he backs down, he loses the silver mine and lets all the neighbors see that Melist's eagle banner cannot protect his vassals."
His tone turned cold as he said this.
"Politics is not about begging others to do good deeds, but about making others understand that it is more beneficial for them to support you than to abandon you."
Pollifer lowered his head and remembered those words.
As dawn broke, the cleanup efforts continued.
The mud pit has been sealed off.
Otto ordered thick hemp ropes to be strung around the mud pit, forbidding all children, women, and unrelated laborers from approaching. Two boys tried to see the dead warhorse, but Martha slapped them both away. In the sweltering heat of summer, putrid blood and ruptured intestines were more dangerous than swords.
Old farmer Matt and his men added a wooden cover to the shallow well and dug a shallow drainage ditch around the wellhead. Only two fixed wooden buckets were allowed to be used to draw water; no one was permitted to put their own buckets into the well. Hands, cloths, and knives stained with blood from last night's battle had to be washed with boiled water downwind.
Otto walked to the well and personally inspected the fit of the wooden cover.
"Add a ring of gravel around the wellhead. This will prevent sewage from flowing back in when it rains."
Horsesty head.
"Sir, we have enough stones, but we're short-handed."
"Stop half of the exterior wall stonework first, and protect the well."
A bricklayer standing nearby couldn't help but look up.
"Sir, the wall is not yet closed."
Otto glanced at him.
"If the wall is breached, the enemy will have to bleed to get in. If the well is broken, everyone will die without the enemy even needing to enter."
No one objected anymore.
This is not about being careful.
This is domination.
Otto understood perfectly well that in this newly formed territory, authority wasn't gained by sitting on a high place, but by accumulating through every correct command. Only those who could save lives had the right to command death.
The enemy corpses have been registered beside the shallow pit on the south slope.
The fallen soldiers were wrapped in burlap and temporarily placed in the shade of the high ground. The enemy soldiers, however, scattered lime and buried them in separate pits, recording their locations, belongings, wounds, and markings. Otto did not allow the bodies to be desecrated, nor did he have them beheaded.
Cole was clearly puzzled by this.
"Sir, they came to rob us of silver last night. Hanging a few black crow heads on the border will keep those people in the south much more obedient."
"Can you behave for a few days?"
Otto countered with a question.
Cole was taken aback.
Otto looked south.
"Heads can create fear, but fear without the backing of law will only give the enemy more excuses. Now we must let Seafront City speak first, and let Blackwood be embarrassed first. Only when everyone is deaf and dumb can the stakes speak."
Cole paused for a moment, then lowered his head.
"Understood. Let the nobles stick to the rules themselves first."
"It's not about making them stick to the rules."
Otto's voice was cold and hard.
"It's about forcing them to admit that the rules are in our favor."
At this point, the three prisoners were led to the wooden stakes next to the longhouse.
They had been given simple first aid last night. Otto forbade anyone to use torture or insults. Each prisoner was given half a bowl of water, but no meat or wheat porridge.
Live prisoners are weapons.
Torture reduces the value of a weapon.
Otto approached the first prisoner. The man, named Hagen, had confessed the previous night to being a scout from the northern camp of Raventree City. He was now ashen-faced, and blood seeped from the bandage on his left arm.
"Say it again, why did you cross the line?"
Hagen gritted his teeth and remained silent.
Otto was not angry; he simply gestured for Pollifer to bring out the parchment.
"Record. Captured Hagen, a cavalryman from the northern camp of Raventree City, refuses to repeat yesterday's statement. He has a black raven-patterned leather belt buckle, and his horse tack comes from the same workshop. His silence does not affect the validity of the evidence."
Hagen's expression changed.
He didn't understand all the legal principles, but he did understand that "silence is useless."
Otto continued:
"If you insist you are a bandit, I will hand you over to Seafront as a flagless raider. If you admit you are a member of the Blackwood family, at least there is a possibility of being ransomed. The choice is yours."
Hagen lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.
"Sir Seri said...that there are people illegally mining silver here, and that according to the old borders, this cliffside area is disputed. We're just here to investigate."
"Does reconnaissance need to be conducted discreetly?"
Hagen, shut up.
"Does investigating require drawing a sword to extort mining taxes?"
Hagen was sweating.
"I'm just following orders."
Otto did not press him to continue.
That's enough.
He turned to Pollive.
"Write: The other party claims to be acting on the orders of Sir Seri, entering the territory of Hohenzollern under the pretext of scouting the disputed border. They did not carry any letter, did not notify the Seafront City, and their entourage is fully armed."
Pollifer quickly took notes.
Otto didn't want Hagen to reveal Count Tettos's name. That was unbelievable. How could an ordinary ranger possibly know the count's true intentions?
What he wanted was to keep things in the most useful position:
The Blackwood family soldiers have crossed the line.
They had no flag, no letter, but carried weapons and extorted money from the silver mine.
This is enough.
Just enough for Haijiang City to exert its strength, and just enough to avoid putting pressure on Earl Jason to start a war immediately.
In the afternoon, two Freys patrolmen appeared on the other side of the river.
They didn't cross the boundary markers, but just watched from a distance. Black crows, tattered rags, lime pits, smoked horse meat, makeshift graves, and the broken chainmail newly captured from the Hohenzollern soldiers all came into their view.
One of them clearly recognized Blackwood's horse tack, and his expression changed slightly.
They stayed for less than half an hour before turning their horses and leaving.
Pollifer frowned.
"Sir, they will go to Raymond."
"certainly."
"Will Raymond be afraid?"
"meeting."
Otto looked across the river.
"He'll also be excited. The fact that Blackwood bled here shows that this valley is more valuable than he thought. He'll realize that the ten percent he's holding isn't silver, but a red-hot iron bar. Holding on to it is advantageous, letting go will burn your palm."
"Should we send a message to appease him?" Pollifer whispered.
"No."
Otto shook his head.
"Make him uneasy first. A greedy person who is never afraid will start raising the price. Let him know that we need him, and also let him know that we are not the only ones who can beg him."
This is the difference between Otto and the accountant.
Pollifer would think about how to stabilize an expenditure.
Otto was thinking about how to make a greedy dog both willing to guard the door and afraid to bite its owner.
On the same afternoon, in Haijiang City.
When Jack arrived at the main castle, the horse was so exhausted that it was foaming at the mouth.
He wasn't immediately taken to the Earl, but was first questioned by the gatekeepers of the Seafront City. The wooden box was delivered to the maester, the sealing wax on the letter intact. Only after the double-headed black eagle ring was confirmed was Jack brought into the lord's hall.
Jason Mellist is having a meal.
Upon hearing the urgent message from Blue Fork Valley, he stopped cutting the meat and put down his knife.
The old scholar opened the letter, his brow furrowing more and more as he read.
Patrick stood to the side, his expression darkening slightly when he heard "the cross-border armed forces with black raven patterns".
Earl Jason did not speak immediately.
He examined the physical evidence first.
Stirrups, belt buckles, and copper plates on sword scabbards were laid out one by one on the table. The old scholar examined the engravings and then inquired about Jack's delivery route and the battlefield situation. Jack remembered Otto's instructions and did not embellish, only recounting what he had witnessed: the enemy crossed the border, extorted money, drew their swords first, fought on the muddy ground, three were captured, and four escaped.
"How many died?"
"Count Jason asked."
Jack lowered his head.
"Our side has seven men, six of whom are seriously wounded. The enemy has eight dead, three captured, and four escaped."
Patrick's eyes flickered.
"You used forty peasants to repel fifteen Blackwood Rangers?"
Jack replied, "My lord, the lord has softened the mudflats and dug shallow trenches beforehand. He's not going to attack head-on."
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Earl Jason suddenly chuckled.
"He was honest, at least. He didn't call mud courage."
The old scholar said in a low voice:
"My lord, if this evidence is true, it will be difficult for the Blackwood family to claim that this is just a simple disappearance. But if we directly accuse the Earl of Tettos, things will escalate."
Earl Jason looked at the map.
The small blank space of Blue Fork Valley was originally not worth his attention. But now there is a silver mine there, a capable vassal, and a rift that could drag Haijiang City into a land conflict.
Patrick spoke:
"Father, Otto is forcing us to take sides."
"certainly."
Earl Jason spoke calmly.
"But he pressed me very thoroughly. He didn't mention the Blackwood regular army in his letter, nor did he demand that I send troops immediately. He gave me evidence, not orders."
Patrick frowned.
"So what do we do?"
Earl Jason picked up the black raven belt buckle and rubbed it in his palm.
"Send the Maester Seron and six cavalrymen to verify. Take with them salt, linen, and one hundred pounds of wrought iron. Ostensibly, it is to comfort the attacked vassal, but in reality, it is to tell Theodorus: the city of the sea has been seen."
The old scholar nodded.
"The prisoner?"
"Bring two back, keep one for Otto."
Patrick looked at his father.
Earl Jason said:
"Bring them all back, and Otto will have no chips left. Leaving them all to him would make it seem like I'm neglecting him. Bring back two judges, and leave one to guard the border. Let him know that the Eagle Flag protects him, but it doesn't mean he can fly around freely."
This was Mellist's response.
It's not about passion or loyalty.
It is a balance of power.
Further south, Seri Blackwood finally escaped back to a tower on the outskirts of Raventree.
His arrow wound in his shoulder had become infected, and he was delirious with fever. When faced with the steward sent by Count Tettos, he did not mention that he had underestimated his enemy, nor that he had been scattered by the mud and shallow ditches.
He was telling a different story.
"There was an ambush in Haijiang City... at least a hundred spearmen... they weren't refugees, they were trained infantry... Hohenzollern was just a dog placed in front, Melist has already reached in..."
Lies protect the losers.
It can also mislead the lord.
Upon hearing this, the steward's face grew increasingly grim, and he immediately dispatched a fast horse to Crowtree City.
Tytos Blackwood would soon find out that the muddy ground of Blue Fork Valley was not an isolated adventure by a fallen knight, but rather a wedge that Seafront City had deliberately driven into its borders.
This will anger him.
It will also make him cautious.
As night fell, the fire pits in the Hohenzollern territory were lit again.
Otto stood in front of the boundary marker, looking at the southern treeline.
He didn't know who the Sea Frontier City would send, nor did he know whether Tethos would choose to endure or retaliate. But he did know that since last night, the territory of Hohenzollern was no longer just a pioneering camp.
It became a point on the chessboard.
Very small.
But it can no longer be easily erased.
Behind him, Bob was quietly instructing a few recruits in the longhouse on how to bury their feet in the mud and brace their shields. Cole's hammer rang out again. Matt led his men to pave the well with gravel. Pollifer sat by the fire, transcribing his second statement.
This is the order Otto wanted.
It's not that there was no blood.
Rather, even after the blood has been shed, the land continues to function, the orders remain effective, and the promises are still kept.
He raised his hand to support the newly nailed wooden sign on the boundary marker.
It says:
Anyone who crosses the border with weapons will be considered a bandit. They will be disarmed and tried; resistance will result in death.
Otto said in a low voice:
"Let them read it."
The wind blew from the south, and the black crows, their tattered cloths swaying gently on the boundary markers.