Tang Mo's private guard was not large in number, now only amounting to 20 men. These were all veterans of battle who had also gone through selection and personal training by Tang Mo.
Trained according to the standards of special forces of later generations, these men were ten times more ferocious than their peers. Each one of them could engage Wes in a long fight without falling at a disadvantage, and their marksmanship was accurate enough to hit a target a hundred steps away.
One might say they were super soldiers built with money, spending dozens of expensive bullets every day to maintain their feel for the weapons, which were as familiar to them as their own palms.
These guards were all uniformly equipped with standard weapons, including lever-action rifles and Left-Wheel Handguns, weapons that others had never seen before, which of course could take the enemy by surprise at a critical moment.
When protecting Tang Mo, they would all wear large capes to shroud their figures in black. Wes, who knew them, was aware that beneath those capes, they had brand new weapons and equipment that even he envied.
Their weapons were strategically distributed over various parts of their bodies, ready to be drawn at a moment's notice if needed.
Every member of the guard was absolutely loyal to Tang Mo. They had all been handpicked by him, and the way they looked at Tang Mo was akin to gazing upon a deity.
With these 20 soldiers, Tang Mo even had the capability to assault a legion of 1500 men and possibly break through their defenses.
It was for this reason that when Wes heard that Tang Mo had brought his guard, he immediately felt relieved.
If these 20 men could not protect Tang Mo, then bringing 200 would have certainly been in vain.
That very night, over a hundred people rushed into the Vicious Forest in carriages or mounted on warhorses, a formidable procession.
This silent forest had almost no trace of bandits left, and with Tang Mo's rangers' frequent training exercises, even large animals were a rare sight.
After all, these men would hunt wild animals, and in this era, there was no concept of wildlife protection.
After several rounds of hunting, animals like wild boars, fierce tigers, and wolves had nearly been hunted to extinction. When people were hungry, they would go hunting, and would sometimes even bring back game to the factory to improve their living conditions. How could the local wildlife bear this?
So, after being hunted in several rounds, the fierce and cunning animals hid even deeper, and those originally innocent herbivores also began to become scarce.
As they passed through this nearly conquered forest, Tang Mo's team encountered no danger at all.
That night, Tang Mo and his men had already arrived at Wolf City. At the gates of Wolf City, they were blocked by the tightly shut gates, unable to enter.
"Sorry! No one is allowed to enter! This area is under martial law! We can't let you in!" shouted a soldier next to a front-loading Shireck cannon atop the city wall.
His tone carried an unwelcoming warning to Tang Mo and the others in front of the city gates: "Don't trouble us! The gates are closed even during the day. How could we possibly open them for you at night?"
Upon hearing the soldier's shout, Tang Mo nodded, did not waste words, and turned to Tagg beside him, "Any ideas?"
Tagg shook his head somewhat bitterly: "When I was with the Earl, I wasn't particularly familiar with the officers guarding the gates. However, there must be someone among the trainees who knows this batch of soldiers."
"You have two minutes," Tang Mo said before walking back to the convoy.
At that moment, a trainee with a displeased expression stepped out of the ranks, approached Tagg and, looking up, scolded with an even worse tone: "Get your captain out here, and stop the nonsense!"
Surprisingly, the soldier above, after hearing the voice from below, didn't dare to let out another peep and instantly fell silent.
After a while, more lights appeared on the tower and voices began to grow louder, with a raspy voice demanding, "Who's the fool calling at the gates in the middle of the night? Don't you know we're in a state of emergency?"
"I'm Adam, your older brother! If you don't open the gates now and something gets delayed, I'll come up there and knock your teeth out!" The officer below was more domineering than the voice above.
"..." The ramparts fell silent once more. After a good while, a small door beside the main gate was pushed open from the inside, and several soldiers emerged escorting an officer.
Upon spotting the officer next to Tagg, the officer emerging from the city was taken aback, then hurried over with a beaming face: "It's really you, brother... I—I couldn't believe it. Why, why have you come back?"
"Open the gates; we need to enter!" Adam rudely slapped his younger brother's head with his glove and ordered with a jerk of his chin.
"Well..." The younger officer evidently still hesitated a little.
"Hmm? You want to die? Get lost! Take that attitude again, and I'll kick your ass to shreds." The officer went up and delivered a kick that sent his own brother tumbling and scrambling to open the city gate.
Two minutes later, Tang Mo's carriage charged recklessly down the deserted street, heading straight for the Earl's estate.
When Tagg jumped down from the carriage and gestured for the military academy students returning from Brunas to advance, the command of the troops stationed at the Lord Earl's estate was completely transferred to Tang Mo.
Some servants and officers who had seen Tang Mo before could almost be certain, after seeing that face filled with ferocity, that the situation at Northern Ridge had stabilized.
In the somewhat dim corridor, the sound of Tang Mo's leather boots striking the slightly worn floor echoed in a somewhat chilling "clang clang."
Wes, who was following behind Tang Mo along with several guards, also marched with a ruthless stride, making the noisy footsteps even more jarring and terrifying in the midnight stillness of the Earl's estate.
He stopped in front of a large door, and all footsteps halted abruptly. Tang Mo paused for a few seconds before the door, reaching out several times to knock, but hesitating each time.
"Click." The room door was pulled open from the inside, and a haggard Alice looked up at Tang Mo, her tear-streaked eyes still faintly visible under the somewhat dim gaslight.
Clad only in a nightgown, her slender figure was pitifully frail. She just stared blankly at Tang Mo, and the entire corridor fell into a fearful silence.
"I'm here…" Tang Mo finally spoke, finding it difficult to utter a word when faced with such a pitiable young girl.
His voice was hoarse because each word he spoke was incredibly hard, as if something was tearing at his vocal cords in his throat.
"The rest… leave it to me," he finally managed to say what he wanted.
"...Okay," Alice, devoid of any sparkle in her eyes, answered Tang Mo softly like a limp cat before lowering her head and pushing the room door closed.
In the moment the door was closing, Tang Mo reached out wanting to press against it to stop Alice from shutting the door.
But he was a bit too late after all, and with a click, the door closed, just as it had been opened a moment before.
In that second, Tang Mo felt his heart tremble. He truly wanted to hold the fragile Alice and comfort the poor girl, but he knew he couldn't.
Ronin Fisallo had just passed away, leaving Alice an orphan. Embracing a young lady at such a time was clearly not appropriate.
Although Tang Mo knew Alice would not push him away, he decided not to employ such a shameless tactic on a seventeen-year-old girl.
So, he sighed softly, left two guards behind, and walked away from Alice's bedroom with Wes and the others.
Inside the bedroom, as Alice leaned against the door and heard Tang Mo's sigh, hot tears became unstoppable. She didn't want Tang Mo to see her so disheveled and vulnerable, but she still failed.
In his presence, she naturally became lowly and weak, like a blade of grass in a storm, battered and alone.
She despised herself for lacking backbone and resolve; she hoped Tang Mo would knock again, yet also feared the knock. She longed for a comforting embrace while grieving her father's departure. She was torn, leaning against the door, wanting to cry out loud but sobbing silently instead.
Until the footsteps gradually faded, until no more sounds came from the corridor, until the moonlight poured into her room and streamed across her feet, she curled up at the doorway, silent and motionless.
"Lift the martial law here; send the troops back to their barracks! What mess do you want the military stirring up at a time ?" When Tang Mo returned to the office used by the late Lord Earl, he encountered the highest commander of the troops within Wolf City.
"On what authority are you ordering me, sir?" The officer stared at Tang Mo and retorted, "A good Samaritan? Or some ambitious usurper looking to grab a piece of Northern Ridge? Or perhaps a predator wolf ready to join the feast?"
"A good-hearted businessman, I guess," Tang Mo replied with a self-deprecating smile. "I need a stable Northern Ridge, so I came."
"And how should I trust you, Mr. Tang?" The officer continued to press, "I can't simply take commands from an outsider blindly. At a time , I can only ensure… my own loyalty."
"In fact, by standing here, you've already proven that the men I've brought with me have taken control of the military, and you've been sidelined. Since you can only stand here and watch, you might as well keep watching!" Tang Mo pointed indifferently to a chair reserved for guests.
"Stop overthinking; just watch as I hand over a complete and better Northern Ridge to the Ronin Family's sole heir, Miss Ronin Alice."