The outbreak of war came faster than Yam had imagined.
Just three days after the Lord of White Mountain Territory received an urgent order from Count Shufang, even before he could finish mobilizing his troops, he had already received news that Red River Territory had successively lost two villages.
The most troublesome part was that these two villages were located precisely between Red River City and White Mountain Territory's borders, meaning that if the Lord of White Mountain Territory wanted to reinforce Red River City, he would have to retake these two villages.
But everyone knew that by the time White Mountain Territory received this news, it meant that the combined forces of Gem Territory, Dense Forest Territory, and Red Soil Territory had already occupied a considerable area of Red River Territory, and even had enough strength to deploy troops along the border to prevent the arrival of White Mountain Territory's reinforcements.
What the Boer Family's Chief Knight was most worried about was whether White Mountain Territory's intervention at this point would mean the very likely outbreak of an all-out war?
But White Mountain Territory had no choice.
So, the two Knights of the Boer Family could only lead their troops to the front lines first, entering Red River Territory to engage the enemy, while the Gem Territory Baron would depart two days later.
Two Bloodline Knights, leading fifty militiamen conscripted from their fiefs, thus headed to the front lines.
Then, two days later, the Lord of White Mountain Territory, with two hundred private soldiers and a supply of provisions, also began to march towards Red River Territory.
This was Yam's first time witnessing a war between Bloodline Nobles.
But he still had many unanswered questions.
However, the only thing that made Yam happy was that he finally managed to bring his mother to White Forest Castle.
After Giggs found someone to help diagnose Yam's mother, although Yam's mother remained thin, her overall spirit and energy had noticeably improved, no longer as sickly as before, suddenly giving off a feeling of "life is vibrant."
In White Forest Castle now, Giggs held the real power, and as Giggs's sworn Knight, Yam's status naturally rose with the tide.
Even Nika, an experienced Bloodline Knight, had to stop and give way when she saw Yam.
After all, her loyalty was to the Boer Family, not solely to Giggs, so when Giggs held sole power as the acting Lord, her status as someone not in Giggs's inner circle was naturally inferior to Yam's.
This was also the first time Yam truly felt the changes brought by "status."
Because he clearly remembered that in White Forest Castle, whether it was the Boer Family's Chief Knight, or Nika and the other Bloodline Knight, when the Lord of White Mountain Territory was present, these three Knights, while not malicious towards him, were never particularly friendly either, maintaining a very polite sense of distance.
But now, with the Lord of White Mountain Territory's departure and Giggs formally taking over the management of White Forest Castle, and even White Mountain City and White Mountain Territory, Nika's attitude towards him had changed very noticeably.
However, Yam did not change his attitude towards others because of this.
But he did notice that Giggs seemed unhappy.
"I thought you'd be happier."
"Why?" Giggs asked, somewhat puzzled by Yam's question, "Just because I'm the acting Lord now?"
Yam nodded.
"I'm the acting Lord now, which is why I'm even more nervous." Giggs shook his head, "I haven't experienced war..."
"Neither have I," Yam suddenly said.
But this sentence made Giggs pause for a moment, and then his mood inexplicably relaxed quite a bit: "Haha, then by that reckoning, this is our shared first time."
"Although I always feel like there's something wrong with that sentence, but..." Yam shrugged, "It can indeed be said that way."
"Hey." Giggs chuckled, "I'm actually very nervous and troubled right now. ...White Mountain Territory isn't wealthy, you know that, and my father took almost all the troops, so White Mountain Territory is more empty than ever before."
White Mountain Territory's assets had always been on the poorer side, so the Boer Family had never been able to support too many private soldiers.
Moreover, due to the benevolent rule of the Lord of White Mountain Territory, White Mountain Territory did not have the custom of conscripting serfs, so two hundred private soldiers constituted the Lord of White Mountain Territory's entire armed force.
And this time, when sending troops to reinforce Red River Territory, the Lord of White Mountain Territory brought all of his private soldiers.
The current defense of White Forest Castle was still handled by twenty militiamen Nika brought from her fief village and fifteen militiamen conscripted from Bolai Village.
As for the security in White Mountain City, it had already been handed over to the guards and servants of the city's wealthy merchants for assistance in management.
As for the militia group of twenty villagers from Fisher Village, for some unknown purpose, they were not mobilized or assigned.
So, at present, the entire White Mountain Territory's defensive strength, at full count, consisted of only fifty-five militiamen.
Giggs saying that White Mountain Territory was unprecedentedly empty was not a humble remark.
"I don't quite understand why it's necessary to reinforce Red River Territory?" Yam said, somewhat puzzled, "Given the obvious disparity in strength between us and the enemy, wouldn't abandoning the reinforcement be the correct approach?"
"Because of factional alignment."
Before Giggs could speak, Cynthia's voice had already sounded.
"Miss Cynthia." Yam turned around and saw Cynthia pushing the door open, immediately bowing in greeting.
Cynthia nodded slightly in return before continuing to explain: "Dense Forest, Red Soil, Red River, Gem, White Mountain, and Six Territories including Bayuol, were all fiefs of Count Bourbon a hundred years ago, and this area was also known as Bourbon Territory.
Even the more distant Deadwood Forest and the adjacent Eagle Head Mountain Range were also part of Bourbon Territory."
"But after the fall of the Bourbon Family, these territories fell into a long period of chaos, until later, due to their respective factional alignments and relationships, they gradually re-formed into a relatively tacit stable state.
However, this stability was only for higher-level situations; in reality, small skirmishes between the various territorial families privately never ceased."
"So, White Mountain Territory and Red River Territory are both related to Count Shufang?" Yam wasn't stupid; he just hadn't adapted to the identity of a Bloodline Noble yet, but after Cynthia's explanation, and connecting it with the Lord of White Mountain Territory's repeated mentions of Count Shufang's name, he probably understood something, "And Red Soil Territory, Dense Forest Territory, and Gem Territory belong to Count Shufang's opposing faction?"
"Strictly speaking, only Gem Territory," Cynthia said, "Behind the Gem Territory Baron is Marquis Vissen Cassen.
His relationship with Count Shufang is not very good; there are considerable frictions between them, but because both their noble ranks are not low, it's inconvenient for them to personally handle many matters, which is why there are conflicts between our Baron families, because only this way can the scope of influence be controlled to a certain extent."
"What about Dense Forest Territory and Red Soil Territory?"
"These two are Viscount territories, and they are in the same faction as Marquis Vissen Cassen; they are all members of the Royal Family, but their stances are not necessarily the same." Cynthia's face also showed a hint of worry at this moment, "Logically, the Viscount of Dense Forest and the Viscount of Red Earth should not intervene in the dispute between Red River Territory and Gem Territory, because if they clearly intervene, it often represents the will of the Royal Family, and then the scale of the conflict would even expand to an issue between the Royal Family and the Southern Territory Duke."
Although Yam didn't quite understand, he was very good at making identity conversions.
The relationship between the Tyrellan Royal Family and the Southern Territory Duke seemed to be not very good.
Count Shufang and Marquis Vissen Cassen had conflicts with each other, so they often allowed their subordinate Barons to clash.
The war between Red River Territory and Gem Territory was the result of Count Shufang and Marquis Vissen Cassen allowing each other to act, but because these two territories were evenly matched, it was impossible to determine a winner in a short time, so the intensity of the conflict remained within the control of these two important figures.
The Viscount of Dense Forest and the Viscount of Red Earth were not subordinate to Marquis Vissen Cassen, but they were part of the same faction, and this time, due to the participation of these two parties, Red River Territory simply could not withstand the siege of three parties, and therefore needed to request aid.
And as White Mountain Territory, which bordered Red River Territory and was also subordinate to Count Shufang, it was naturally required by Count Shufang to reinforce Red River Territory, and even secretly sent three Bloodline Knights to support it for this purpose.
"If Count Shufang can send people to secretly support, then Marquis Vissen Cassen can too, right?" Yam suddenly spoke.
"That's precisely what we're worried about." Giggs sighed, and then finally revealed the reason for his earlier unease, "We simply don't understand why the Viscount of Dense Forest and the Viscount of Red Earth suddenly joined this war.
But there's been no movement from the Duke's side, which means this isn't an issue between the Royal Family and the Duke, so it's even less likely for the Duke to make any moves or statements at this time."
"But because of Count Shufang's involvement, this gives Marquis Vissen Cassen an excuse: since Count Shufang can send people to support, why can't Marquis Vissen Cassen?"
Upon hearing this, Yam finally understood.
"This is a losing war!"
Cynthia and Giggs, the siblings, also had grim expressions at this moment.
If even they knew this, how could their father not know?
But what could be done?
Sending troops for reinforcement was an order from Count Shufang; they simply had no choice.
Red River Territory clearly could not be saved, but Count Shufang could not let Red River Territory be lost without any statement, as that would greatly damage his prestige, so he sent three Bloodline Knights to secretly reinforce Red River Territory under the guise of White Mountain Territory's reinforcement.
But since the excuse was provided by White Mountain Territory, it meant that White Mountain Territory was also dragged into the war, so what the two siblings truly worried about was that this war would spread to their White Mountain Territory.
Cynthia said in a low voice: "So the way to break the deadlock now is that we must find a way to figure out why the Viscount of Dense Forest and the Viscount of Red Earth joined this war."