Around the same time that the aristocratic party was forming its rapid-mobility troop, the merchant party also received news about it and called a meeting to discuss the matter.

  The merchants took this matter very seriously—if nothing else, they could not help but hold this matter in high regard when they knew that the earl was going to lead a troop in person.

  The Commonwealth of Gold Coins was so big, yet there was only a total of two marquises and 14 earls. “Good Horse,” Earl Hauss, had always been guarding the border between the North and South. This current earl had a reputation for being brave and ruthless. This was known by almost everyone in the entire Commonwealth of Gold Coins.

  This was a dangerous figure who was going to personally lead a group of adventurers with extraordinary strength to form a rapid-mobility troop. They were specifically attacking the civilians from the rear end…… it would just take a little analysis for anyone with a sound mind to see how severe the problem was.

  “How could they do that!” a young merchant growled angrily. “It’s simply inhumane!”

  “Have the aristocrats ever been humane?” an old merchant asked coldly while stroking his beard.

  “Let’s not waste time on this topic,” a great merchant interrupted them. With a frown, he said, “What we must discuss now is how we should deal with this troop.”

  “What else can we do? We should also form a rapid-mobility troop, then find a chance to destroy them!”

  Several great merchants looked at each other. They all felt somewhat in a quandary.

  It was nothing much to destroy a troop, but it was not the same when the head of that troop was an earl! If an earl was killed, that would be a serious matter!

  “What are all of you worrying about?” asked a merchant who was also sitting near the center. He seemed to have an inkling about what they were worrying about. With a frown, he asked, “Worrying about the possible severe consequences of killing Earl Hauss?”

  The great merchants did not answer him. They merely sighed deeply.

  \r \r \r

  “There’s nothing we can do about it. No matter how serious the consequences are, we must do what we should do,” that merchant urged. “We can’t just let them be because we are worried about the severity of consequences.”

  “Maybe…… we can try asking……” said a great merchant hesitantly. But without waiting for anyone’s rebuttal, he himself shook his head and said, “No way! This will not do! Even if we fight with all we’ve got, we might not necessarily win. If we even have to carry such worries in us, then there’s really no way we are able to fight this battle!”

  “Yes, not even the tiniest bit of apprehension,” exclaimed another great merchant. “Seems like this is our only way out!”

  “Yes, let’s do that.”

  “I’m all for it. If there are any consequences in the future, we’ll bear everything together.”

  “Count me in!” ……

  Soon, the discussion concluded. The merchant party would also form a rapid-mobility troop that would be led by an advanced paladin, with a total of about 300 people. The aim was to find and destroy the rapid-mobility troop of the aristocratic party.

  In addition, the merchant party also decided to seek assistance from the Republic of Northwest through the private channels of the Great Chamber of Commerce. They would ask the Republic of Northwest to send its elite soldiers and generals to help them deal with this dangerous rapid-mobility troop of the aristocratic party.

  If it were a frontal battle, the merchants felt that their well-selected troop of elite personnel would not lose to the aristocratic party’s rapid-mobility troop. But no matter how strong they were, it would be pointless if they could not find their opponent. If they could find and block their opponent, then they would be useful if a fight really happened.

  This was why they needed more elite troops. Even just a little more would mean a little more chance of finding the enemy. It would also mean that in the future, there would be fewer casualties.

  The merchants were quite efficient. After the meeting, they got busy with two concurrent matters. On the one hand, they were recruiting personnel, as well as raising and gathering materials as they got ready to form the rapid-mobility troop. On the other hand, they sent messengers to pay secret visits to the Republic of Northwest to discuss the matter of loan of soldiers.

  A few days later, the messenger who traveled quickly with the use of magic arrived at the Void City and met with the Great Governors of the Republic of Northwest.

  “And the abovementioned is the dilemma we face,” said the messenger with a goatee, in a very sincere and humble attitude. “Though we have the heart to fight them to death, we are also worried that they are going to purposely hide and not fight us. And we really don’t have enough people to transfer about. So please do help us. There’s no need to help us by fighting, just help us by finding out where the aristocratic party’s rapid-mobility team is.”

  The few Great Governors of the Republic of Northwest had a discussion among themselves and agreed to the matter.

  This was a done deal in the first place. The Defense Minister, Leonard, had gotten in touch and kept everyone informed about it. The work on forming the rapid-mobility troop of the Republic of Northwest was already in process. It would not be long before a rapid-mobility troop of the Republic of Northwest was in place.

  And what was the purpose of especially forming such a troop, if not for fighting battles? Were they that bored?

  So when the aristocratic party’s rapid-mobility troop finally bypassed the borderline from a mountain range and entered the territory of the merchants, the rapid-mobility troop of the Republic of Northwest had also reached Rye Town. They had stationed themselves in the Rye Fortress that Sui Xiong had previously modified and renovated as they waited for the order to attack.

  It was not long before the news of the first battle between the aristocratic party and merchant party arrived.

  The main troops of both sides had hoarded the border with a large number of soldiers. All this while, they had imposed restraints on themselves. But ultimately, they still gave in and fought a battle.

  The result of the battle could almost be as good as saying both sides were well-matched. The two sides involved in the battle were a professional army under the command of the earl of the aristocratic party and a troop of the Third Army Corp of the merchant party. Neither side had overexerted themselves. They were just roughly testing the other party’s troops before retreating. Each side lost roughly four to five men—this was the result of shooting each other with a bow and arrow. On the contrary, the infantry at the front, who fought the battle with spears and halberds, only sustained some minor injuries.

  The result of the battle made the aristocratic party somewhat worried, while the merchant party, on the contrary, was very satisfied—in the past, their armies would often fall apart in the face of a wave of arrows raining upon them. This time, in the face of such a rain of arrows, they were actually able to raise their shields together to resist. This fully verified the increase in their soldiers’ quality. The combat power of the troop was also greatly improved.

  On the other hand, the aristocratic party was surprised to see that level of fighting spirit in the second-line troops of the merchant party. At least from this round, they showed no intention of losing to the professional soldiers at all.

  If the second-line troops of the merchant party really had the combat power and will power to fight against professional soldiers, then in this battle, the aristocratic party would be placed at a great disadvantage.

  Above all, even if the aristocratic party might have a large army force, it still did not have many professional soldiers. If the battle really developed into a war of attrition with the second-line troops of the merchant party, when the professional soldiers suffered heavy losses, the New Army of the merchant party would send out its first-line troops. At that time, it would be difficult to put up a resistance.

  In such a situation, even the brave men would not dare to attack easily. They could only stand their ground and wait for the opportunity.

  The opportunity that they would be waiting for would come from the central region of the merchants’ territory, from Earl Hauss, who had crept into the territory of the merchant party and was ready to wreak havoc and cause some massive destruction.

  Shortly after, they received the news that they longed to hear of.

  At least four to five towns and villages of the merchant party were attacked. The thugs had set fire and burned down a great number of houses. They killed a great number of people and animals and even scattered poison in many wells. They practically killed off the possibility of any chance of revival in these places.