Chapter 281 6.29 Confrontation

Early the next morning, a long list of hostages were dragged into the encirclement of Wanghai Fortress like livestock. Before Loki could say anything, the Mercian Captain immediately ordered everyone to put down their weapons.

Because among all the hostages, the first one is King Aelle III of Northumbria with a huge belly.

Behind him, there is also the King of Kent "Lan Shaoer", the Crusader of Ten Thousands "Hamilton" and a long list of senior leaders of the coalition. When counting the number of people early in the morning, Loki discovered that the only key targets not in the team seemed to be King "Ecbert" of Wessex and Prince "Lancero" of Mercia.

If your team had better luck yesterday, catch these two people as well.

The war might even end there.

The group of people swaggered back to Wanghai Fortress under the gaze of countless ballistae and lancers. For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether they were turtles in the urn or generals returning in triumph.

Suddenly there were so many distinguished guests in the "Prisoner of War Camp". As expected, the Mercian Engineering Team had no intention of poisoning them anymore, just as Loki thought.

What was unexpected was that Loki did not choose to go out of the city to defend against the enemy, and he did not choose to use the hostages in his hands to start negotiations.

The two sides inside and outside the fortress were once again in a stalemate.

This stalemate lasted for half a month.

**

For half a month and 15 days, no one knew what the Viking Duke was going to do. The soldiers who were watching on the carriages only knew that he would regularly drag several kings to the city wall for a walk to let the soldiers outside the city know that their kings were still alive.

Other than that, it was a long and boring stalemate.

"This guy"

"He doesn't want to kill us here?!"

The Mercian captain who was in charge of the entire "Wanghai Fortress Siege Plan" asked the adjutant next to him in confusion.

"Doesn't he know that with the production capacity of the seven countries in England, we can afford to spend another 10 years with him?"

Faced with this question, the adjutant smiled bitterly and shook his head.

If they could understand what the Vikings were thinking, this war would not even have started at all. The shrewd kings had a hundred ways to kill them through agreements and negotiations, instead of passively fighting each other.

"Your Excellency, what I don't understand is why these Vikings haven't extorted gold coins from us yet?"

“Aren’t these beasts going out to sea to rob just to get gold coins?!

Good guy, they have almost gathered half of the royal families from the seven countries of England. With this kind of trump card in hand, they can negotiate even if they want to leave half of the kingdom.

But look

How many days in a row has the chief minister in charge of negotiations been turned away?

Is it possible that this Viking lord captured the three kings because of his hobby? "

When the generals outside the city were confused, the king, generals and nobles who were imprisoned in the city were also very puzzled.

Loki did not abuse them. Instead, he ate and drank well every day. He even captured a group of servants to take care of their daily life. The English nobles were not afraid of Viking pirates asking for money or making any exaggerated conditions.

As long as he puts forward conditions, things can be discussed.

What they fear most is that Loki remains silent throughout the whole process without any substantive communication. He neither made any conditions nor harmed their lives.

Playing your cards according to the routine is not terrible.

People who can't figure out the routine are the most troublesome.

At this time, Loki, who was being speculated by everyone, was having dinner with "Honest Man" Elan, the king of Mercia, in the suite on the top floor of the castle as usual.

With a large number of hostages of the king and nobles in hand, Loki can safely leave the cooking task to the English servants. As a result, food within the fort has improved significantly.

Today's rice bowl is peas and beef stew, served with a long baguette. Entering the room with food, Loki first served a bowl to the old man.

On the second night, he did not put it down in front of him, but instead handed it to the girl in white across the round table.

On the night of the raid on the apple orchard, the girl in white on the roof of the manor faced Loki with a question and a request after transcending the dead souls.

The question she asked was: "Are you a Viking lord?"

Loki nodded.

The girl looked at him, her blue eyes seemed to be able to penetrate his soul.

"Take me to see my father, I miss him."

Therefore, Elizabeth Ellan was brought back to the Sea Watch Fortress by Loki. She became the only "hostage" who could travel freely within the castle.

Loki discovers that Elizabeth is a true saint.

Before meeting this girl, Jerome was what he ideally expected a Holy Bishop to be. However, compared with Elizabeth, Jerome is still a little more "human" after all.

During the defense battle of Hanshui Village, he could pick up weapons without hesitation and chop down Duke Bernard's private army.

After the war, he took up arms and sent the dying people to heaven, and he did so without hesitation.

Elizabeth is different.

After entering Wanghai Fortress, even though the Viking warriors around her were her enemies, she would use holy light spells to treat any sick or wounded as soon as she saw them.

After a brief contact with Loki, she immediately became impressed with this lord when she discovered that the legendary Viking barbarian immediately released the residents and craftsmen in the city after capturing the city.

This respect transcends race, class and status.

In the eyes of the girl, he is even more merciful than most of the Holy Bishops and Generals.

In the past ten days, Loki has had dinner with Elan and his daughter almost every day. At first, they went from eating stiffly to chatting about the living habits of the English. After ten days, most of the barriers have been eliminated.

Finally, on this day, when the old man put the first spoonful of food into his mouth, he asked the question that had been bothering him for a long time.

"Duke Loki, what do you want to do?"

He captured three kings of the seven kingdoms of England, more than forty hereditary nobles, and nearly a hundred generals. If the Duke Loki's request was just "land" as he said, the chips in his hand could almost be exchanged for any province in any country in England.

Even if he asked for more, he could open a negotiation with a lion's mouth.

Because the resource of "hostages" is time-limited.

If it is delayed for a long time, a new king will be elected in the kingdom, and the hostages in his hands will immediately become worthless.

Faced with this question, Loki just smiled and shook his head.

"Old man, I once said that I need land.

Excuse me, with the ability of my subordinates, it is effortless to plunder territory by violence. But if I do this, I will fall into the endless resistance of the people of Mercia.

To put it bluntly, whether in terms of culture, economy, or even force, I do not have the ability to fight against the sea of ​​people. If I really do this, the most likely thing to happen is that both my warriors and the people in the Kingdom of Mercia will fall into the abyss.

Therefore, I must form an alliance with you and take land from you in a fair and cooperative way.

Since it is a cooperative relationship, I must show you my work ability.

Catching these neighboring monarchs who are plundering is just a prize on the negotiation table.

Later, I have a bigger fish to kill!

I have a hunch that this big fish is about to be hooked!"