TALES OF THE REINCARNATED LORD discontinued Volume 2

598

Tarkel was sitting in his office he was troubled by some of the reports of fury bear along the river, what looked like professional mercenaries were beginning to gather at the border, at first it was unnoticeable but within one month they had doubled. Tarkel had men sent to the other side of the river it was the same situation, he had operatives at the border and silver river go deep undercover to find out what they were up to. He was awaiting a reply from the house in the meantime counter measures were put in place, the nobles dominion sprawled across 2 prefectures it was too big, he had every body concentrate their forces in one prefecture, all outlying dominions were stripped of all useful materials. Only empty skeletons were left not one place could be easily defended because doors and gates were taken and fortifications disabled. During winter they managed to reach out to another 2 prefectures of nobles they managed to rope in a little alliance headed by a count Mable and contained two viscount and 6 barons who joined them, their forces amounted to another 3000 men.
They had over 200000 refugees already from the region and and many more joined them everyday. Nobles further away had no interest to move because of the distance and confidence in their own forces, they were warned a huge bandit force was being amassed they paid no heed saying White lion legion were sweeping the bandits in the prefectures they preferred to wait till then. What was very suspicious was the captured bandit forces and Duke Mable's forces reported of an unknown bandit force that had 3000 plus men with many silver rank knights, one of his gold rank guards were still injured from an encounter with them, that's why they decided to band together.
Tarkel had arranged a trap in Duke Mable's dominion, it was a prefecture away from white lion legion very close to the heart of the kingdom. He had replaced the defending forces into a joint force of Garcia's 4000 cavalry and the defending force from the dukes alliance of 3000 men. His hunch was that somebody from the kingdom had been raiding the Redlis region, now White lion legion and the Nobles of the region were standing up to do something about it. The conspirators would rush their operations it was a chance to catch them slipping, if I'm lucky I may catch some juicy fat birds.
The operation to capture the border provinces and silver river was put on hold until the suspicious forces made a move. The house had notified him of the mobilisation of of a Corps of Tigersoar and the artillery division would be mobilised soon. It also instructed him to let them enter the Kingdom then cut them off from behind, then the forces with White Lion Legion's would sweep down and meet the raiding force. The remaining forces of Garcia and the Nobles would surround them trying to capture as many alive as possible, Shazin forces in Kibria would cut off the route to Duke Fisablen territory and Duke Felim was sending his elite cavalry legion after the rainy season. The north desperately needed manpower for its many projects, they needed to capture as many criminal's as possible. So far the Bandit camps and bases they managed to find only amounted to 7000 criminals that could be sentenced to the Malik defence line, the rest would stay and and serve their sentences under the Nobles jurisdiction. With the houses Direction the refugees where put to work revamping the region, building roads and settlements in the Nobles dominions. The prefecture under their control was ready to to sow the fields for harvest for the coming year, the region was beginning to resemble a semblance of life.
Tarkel aides rushed into his office after a light knock a message from headquarters he shouted as he handed it over. Tarkel instructed his aide to declare a war Council, he unfolded the message, his instructions were to proceed as planned he had made the right calls and praised for his efforts. He was to capture the foreign raiding force who were operating from within the kingdom, orders to capture as many alive as possible, they would be transported to White Lion legion to bait a trap for the rest of their forces.
The free union would send a legion to the Falik plains to the border of the Kingdom then he can begin to close off the border tightening the noose. Then the refugees and spoils of War could be transported to the base at Morante and then by ship to the North too speed up the transportation process. They had to act quickly before the king caught on, he would not appreciate them sneaking around his back. This would be one of the last time they could take advantage of the king they had to make it count, for the next decade their would be no need for huge military movement like this. Tarkel had to at least attract 500000 new refugees and a minimum of 50000 criminals for the labour force for the dangerous section of the Malik defense line. The house didn't really care about the spoils they were sold to allies for cheap or as loans, viscount Tebri was an impressive merchant he set up a merchant guild with the other counts and nobles naming it triumph, all unnecessary spoils were handed to them to handle, this was the first steps of their future merchant operations in the Redlis region.