The driver's voice came from outside the carriage curtain: "Respected Priest, Salt Marsh Town is four miles ahead."

"Are we there yet?" Pompey lifted the curtain of the carriage, took a few glances, and shook his head with a wry smile, "This Wuleglindo, how can he stay in a place like this..."

In Pompeii's impression, Woolley was not only extremely intelligent, but also very knowledgeable about life and enjoyment. He was the kind of person who was willing to design and tidy up his home beautifully. However, the scene before him was desolate and bleak, and it seemed that even the clouds in the sky were very low and dark.

After ordering the coachman to stop, Pompey got out of the carriage, held the beam and waved to the back, and then a young man in leather armor rode over.

"Lord Pompey." The young man's face was like a sculpture, with distinct features and extraordinary handsomeness, especially his eyes, which were as clear as a stream in the forest.

"Sares, go to Saltmarsh Town and inform Lord Wu Lai first. It would be bad if so many of our carriages and horses suddenly approached and caused misunderstandings," Pompey said.

"As you command." Sareth bowed and nodded, shook the reins, and the horse under him immediately ran...

At this moment, Wu Lai was standing on the rooftop of the governor's residence, looking in the direction of the convoy led by Pompey with a telescope in his hand. Behind him, El was standing there a little nervously, with a big red flag at her feet. As long as Wu Lai waved his hand, she would raise the red flag for warning.

"These carriages don't look like they belong to merchants. I'm afraid the Gulus won't be that fast either. They must be our people." Wu Lai put down the telescope, turned around and nodded at El, "You did a good job. Looking at the duties in the Governor's Residence, I haven't found anyone as smart as you."

"Thank you for the compliment, young master." El said with a smile, and a stone in her heart fell to the ground. After staying with Wu Lai for a long time, she always unconsciously thought about Wu Lai and was happy to share his worries. For example, today the observation post in the official residence was sick, so she took the initiative to come to stand guard for him.

"You continue to be on duty. I'll find someone to replace you at noon." Wu Lai smiled slightly. "The caravan that came has stopped and sent a rider over. I'll go to the arrow tower at the entrance of the town to take a look."

El nodded quickly: "Master, take care."

…

After slowing down his horse, a hint of curiosity appeared in Sales' eyes. He had been to many towns, but this was the first time he had seen a defensive arrangement of canal guards and arrow towers like Salt Marsh Town - a wide canal surrounded the town, with chevaux-de-frise lined up on the inner bank, a tall city gate at the entrance of the town, and a stone arrow tower on each side guarding it. The stone walls of the arrow towers spread out like wings for more than twenty steps and connected to the surrounding houses, making it difficult to see the scene behind the gate. The ground in front of the city gate was not dug up, leaving a road as wide as the city gate for two carriages to run side by side.

It's really a bit weird. Sarres muttered in his heart, but he couldn't help but admire the designer of this defense. This defense may not be the best, but it is the most adapted to local conditions. Although the wall is good, once the number of enemies is large, the number of troops needed to deploy will also increase greatly. Otherwise, it will be useless. The canal is different. It is twenty cubits wide, with a low outer bank and a high inner bank. It is difficult for human power to cross. Although horses can, there are rows of spurs on the inner bank. And this city gate is not only thick and heavy, but also has no city gate hole. In other words, the arrow towers on both sides have no blind spots in the defense of the city gate. Whether you want to get close to set fire or carry a huge wood to directly collide, you must first advance in the rain of arrows.

The city gates were closed, so Sares had no choice but to shout at the door. Just after he shouted twice, a figure appeared on the wooden bridge connecting the two arrow towers above the city gate.

When he saw clearly at first glance, Sares' heart skipped a beat. The man who appeared on the wooden bridge was a young man who looked less than 20 years old. He was wearing a simple black linen shirt, but it couldn't hide his extraordinary heroic appearance. He seemed to have the aura of a king who dominated the world. His handsome features seemed to be carved out of marble, and the lines were perfect, especially his eyes, which were sharp and deep. Although he was more than 20 steps away, Sares still felt a sense of oppression unconsciously...

There is such a person in Salt Marsh Town? Could he be Lord Wulai? After thinking about it, Sarres raised his voice and shouted, "I am Sarres Tobias, the temple knight. I have been ordered to escort the priest Pompeii Berses to Salt Marsh Town. The convoy is waiting four miles away. Please inform Lord Archon Wulai Grindo immediately."

"I am Wulai Grindo!" Wulai smiled...

…

"Oh, my Lord Wu Lai, please tell me first, did you ask me to come here?" Pompey asked after hugging Wu Lai with a smile.

"Of course it's me." Wu Lai laughed and said, "Don't look at the current appearance of my Salt Marsh Town. In a year or two, this place will change dramatically."

"Of course I believe this. I mean the 'great changes'. Also, thank you very much." Pompey's gratitude was heartfelt. He knew very well what rank the Salt Marsh Town Temple would be after it was built. Being the head priest here, his status would be no less than that of the high priest in the city-state temple.

"You're too polite." Wu Lai waved his hand. "Salt Marsh Town currently has 4,000 residents, and there will be more in the future. I'll rely on you to spread the divine light. Only with the blessing of God Amon can I feel at ease."

"That's polite." Pompey said with a smile, "I've brought you all the craftsmen, equipment, parts, and manpower you asked for. How can you arrange them?"

"I'll let El take care of this later." Wu Lai pointed at Sarres with a smile, "Please introduce him to me."

Pompey smiled and said, "Lord Wu Lai, this is the Silver Knight of the Temple Guard Knights, Sarres, Sarres Dobia."

"It's Knight Sares, hello." Wu Lai nodded. The Assyrian Temple has a temple guard knights. Although their members are all knights, they are divided into four levels: apprentice, bronze medal, silver medal and gold medal. The status of silver medal is lower than that of gold medal, but it can be regarded as the "middle-level leader" of the knights. You should know that there are only four gold medals in the entire knights, and only sixteen silver medals. Considering that the classification of the knights is calculated according to personal combat power, the strength of Sares in front of him should not be underestimated.

"Lord Wulai is too polite." Sarres saluted with a knight's salute and said with a smile, "Your Excellency may not know that although I am a Silver Knight, I am a commoner. My current citizenship was granted by the honorable High Priest. I cannot compare with you, my lord."

"In my opinion, even if you are still a commoner, you are the same as me." Wu Lai said with a smile, and he had a higher opinion of Sares. A commoner could become a Knight of the Silver Medal, which showed that he actually possessed strength beyond the Silver Medal. It was precisely because of his commoner background that he stopped at the Silver Medal. According to Assyrian custom, commoners who were granted citizenship were always demoted, and even the temple was no exception.

"Knight Sares, don't be in a hurry to leave. Would you like to stay in my Salt Marsh Town for a few more days?" Wu Lai invited.

"Yes, Knight Sares doesn't need to be so anxious to go back and report." Although Pompey didn't know why Wu Lai wanted to keep Sares, he would naturally help Wu Lai unconditionally if Wu Lai wanted to do it. Not to mention that Wu Lai specifically named him to help him this time, just for the relationship between the two of them in Seneca, he had to speak up for him, right?

"Then... I'll stay a few more days." Sareth nodded with a smile.

"Well, there's no scenery to see in Salt Marsh Town, but my kitchen is full of good wine and good food." Wu Lai laughed and said...

In the evening, Woolley held a banquet to welcome Pompey and Sales. Not only did he invite a group of officials to join him, but even the small nobles in the town were all present. The atmosphere was quite harmonious.

But just as Wu Lai and his companions were drinking and chatting happily, a group of 100 bandits appeared near the stone mountain where the quarrying team was located...

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Before dawn the next day, a large number of bandit cavalry appeared on the horse trail ten miles away from Yanmarsh Town. The middle-aged strong man with a beard and mustache at the head was the leader of this bandit group of 800 people - Osius.

In terms of numbers alone, Ossius's bandit group barely surpassed the Crow Valley, but in terms of combat power, his bandit group named "Fox Wolves" was one of the best in the city-state of Lunvington, and was capable of confronting a legion of equal number of elite soldiers head-on.

In the history of the Fox and Wolf Bandits, Osius led his troops to fight the First Legion four times in total. In terms of the number of casualties, the two sides ended in a draw. After that, the First Legion never bothered the Fox and Wolf Bandits again, because Osius took the initiative to admit defeat - the First Legion had a large number of people and they would be replaced by one if one died in battle, which basically meant that they could not be defeated completely. However, the Fox and Wolf Bandits would lose strength by one point for every casualty. Osius naturally knew that if he continued to fight, he would lose all his resources.

Just like some other bandit gangs, Osius continued his bandit life after admitting defeat. He still robbed people on the road, but his life was much more comfortable than before. Occasionally, he would sneak into the city of Lovington to have a drink and chat with some big shot. Of course, tribute was also indispensable, and sometimes he had to do some "private work" for these big shots, such as this time's attack on Saltmarsh Town.

From Osius's perspective, he really didn't like coming to Salt Marsh Town because there wasn't much money to be made here, but he would do a couple of jobs related to Salt Marsh Town almost every year, such as robbing a salt transport convoy from the salt field once or twice, or just rushing into the town and taking away a few lives.

The last time Osus rushed into Salt Marsh Town was last year. His mission that time was to kill the then consul. So one night, he led his team into the town and easily cut the poor guy's throat.

The mission this time seemed to be simpler - rush into the town and set fire to as many houses as possible, especially those supply warehouses. It would be best if all the houses in the town could be burned down, of course, except for those that needed special attention.

But Osus thought that this task was not easy at all, because he understood the current situation of Salt Marsh Town - Salt Marsh Town not only had a canal strong enough to block cavalry, but also had six tall and sturdy arrow towers guarding the three city gates. Most importantly, Salt Marsh Town now had a consul with unfathomable strength. The disastrous defeat of the Crow Bandits seemed to indicate that the new consul had a powerful private army.

A fast horse came galloping over. As soon as it approached, the rider dismounted and reported with a smile: "Boss, we have captured all the people. Not a single one was left alive. One hundred and seventy-one."

"Okay." Osus smiled and nodded. He didn't want to lose troops by attacking the city gate. When it would save trouble, he was always willing to take shortcuts.

"Light the torches! Let's go!" Osus shouted, waving his whip and heading straight for Salt Marsh Town. Now with the nearly two hundred people from the quarrying team acting as shields, would it be difficult to open the city gate?

After nearly two hundred torches were lit one after another, the blooming flames illuminated the low clouds red...

After a while, torches lit up one after another from the direction of Osius’s attack, six, three, and one mile away from Salt Marsh Town. However, they were extinguished in a short moment. Then, the dense drumbeats in Salt Marsh Town rumbled...

When he heard the drumbeat, Wu Lai, who was lying on the bed, gently opened his eyes and said to himself, "It's finally here."