Grand Duke Rickman led his army to take a short rest in the castle.

An angry Joyce captured several subjects and interrogated them harshly, only then did he realize that all his wealth had been distributed by Redel to the poor in the castle.

Moreover, some people followed the other party and ran away before they arrived.

Joyce was so angry that he cursed loudly. He immediately gathered all the poor people who were still stranded in the territory and ordered them to return all the property they had taken. They also had to pay an additional 20 silver coins as punishment. Those who couldn't pay would be whipped! At first, Joyce personally carried out the order, beating several people to a bloody pulp. He was so tired that he breathed a sigh of relief and handed the matter over to the guards to carry out.

Some of the poor people who were reluctant to give up their fields and houses, or who did not have a good impression of Redel and did not obey his orders to hide outside for a while, were extremely regretful and their resentment towards Joyce became even deeper.

As for the nobles and wealthy businessmen who had escaped everything by hiding in tunnels and dark rooms, they were jubilant. When Joyce denounced Redel's banditry, they even spontaneously assembled a private army of 500 people and let Joyce be the commander to kill those damned miners and take back their treasures! This was obviously a pleasant surprise for Joyce. Before, he was even considering whether to recruit some poor people to form a temporary serf army, at least to strengthen his momentum, so that he would not be completely without manpower and could only rely on the Grand Duke's guards.

It is much more convenient now, and it is really unbecoming of a noble to let his own troops carry hoes and miners to the battlefield.

At night, the spies that had been sent out earlier reported back that they had found the miners about ten kilometers away from the castle. There was a large sparse group of them, roughly estimated to be tens of thousands.

"It seems they haven't run far!" Rickman breathed a sigh of relief. What he was most worried about was that these people would break up into small groups and disappear without a trace, making it impossible for him to complete the eldest prince's request. That would be a real problem.

"Keep tracking, but don't alert them!" Rickman instructed. He had no intention of pursuing them at night, but was going to rest here for a night.

Rickman had already understood the other party's insidiousness and cunningness from the previous experience, and chasing him in the dark in the middle of the night might bring him trouble again.

Try to intercept the enemy in the plain area ahead, then all their despicable conspiracies and tricks will be exposed!

Thinking of this, Rickman shook his head and sneered, "If these stupid miners hold on to this castle, it might take some time to deal with them."

"They must have heard of your reputation, which frightened them so much that they fled in panic. Even if they have the support of the castle's strong walls, it cannot make up for their inner weakness!" Joyce flattered.

Rickman couldn't help but burst into laughter, and a group of nobles also echoed him. They gathered together to talk and imagine how generous the reward would be from the generous Prince Harold after this victory.

"By the way, where is the Second Prince? Why didn't I hear any action from him when I was in the capital?"

Listening to everyone's boasting, Rickman suddenly remembered this matter and felt vaguely uneasy. This matter was related to the establishment of the crown prince, and the other party should be very anxious.

"I heard that His Highness Hattar and several earls had disagreements on the deployment of troops. Perhaps this is the reason for the delay." A baron responded after thinking carefully.

"There is an internal conflict at such a critical moment. His Royal Highness the Second Prince is indeed not fit to ascend the throne..." Rickman said mockingly, and his heart was completely relieved.

Spies had reported before that an earl who supported Hattar was leading a small army, which was far behind him. It seemed that he was unwilling to give in, so he sent people to keep an eye on their movements.

Everyone present raised their glasses and shouted in unison for His Majesty Harold!

…

Early the next morning, just after daybreak, Grand Duke Rickman summoned his troops to chase after them. To prevent these people from escaping, he dispatched a brigade of cavalry to go ahead and drive them to a suitable location.

Rickman had a big appetite. He not only wanted to defeat the rebellious miners, but also planned to annihilate them all in one go! Such a hearty victory would be the best gift he could give to the new king!

However, things did not always go as planned. Under the pursuit of the cavalry, Redl and his men ran all the way to a valley and defended on the spot. However, it did not go as Rickman expected. Due to the unfavorable terrain, the cavalry did not continue to pursue.

"If we had known we would be blocked here, we might as well have defended in the castle. Maybe we would still have a chance." Ham complained. Now they were trapped in this valley and couldn't even run away.

"That fortress belongs to Earl Joyce after all, and no one knows if he has left any tricks behind. It will only make things more troublesome when the situation becomes difficult both internally and externally." Redel explained, and then said with a smile. "And our waiting is not in vain, the reinforcements have arrived, haven't they?"

"Reinforcements? Where are they?" Ham asked in confusion.

"It's in the sky!" Redel said confidently.

Ham and others looked up at the sky blankly, but there was nothing there.

Redel didn't see anything either, but he firmly believed that reinforcements had arrived because the wizard told him so himself.

The next moment, the miners felt the ground seemed to shake violently, and then a burst of light surged in the empty valley, and airships appeared in front of everyone.

Ham and the others stared in amazement at the exquisite creations in front of them that were difficult to describe in their shallow language. Each ship was more than 20 meters high. Recalling what Raeder said about the reinforcements coming from the sky, someone immediately shouted loudly.

"This must be a creation of God! God has come to save us!"

To these desperate miners who had never seen magic, these airships that suddenly appeared in the valley were like gods sent to save them!

For a moment, the shouts spread throughout the valley, and many miners knelt down and worshiped these huge structures that were taller than houses.

(End of this chapter)