The Lango Highlands are not large, but their fertile land hosts hundreds of estates.
Aegon, riding Sunfyre, systematically destroyed the granaries within these estates and the crops in the fields.
Supporting the Rebel Army wasn't as simple as just providing money and weapons.
Aegon needed to ensure the Rebel Army had sufficient fighting strength while also preventing them from becoming uncontrollable.
Therefore, Aegon's best option was to provide weapons while simultaneously and decisively controlling the Rebel Army's logistics!
As long as he controlled the Rebel Army's food and fresh water sources, Aegon could naturally manipulate them however he wished.
The sun gradually set in the west.
Hidolf led the Rebel Army and completely took control of the Lango Mountain Pass.
After leaving a thousand men to garrison the pass, Hidolf led five thousand able-bodied men further into the Lango Highlands.
The Rebel Army's food supplies were nearly depleted.
If they couldn't seize more food within two days, not only would morale plummet, but infighting would even occur, ultimately leading to their piecemeal annihilation!
"Everyone, push harder! Once we occupy the estates, there will be wine and meat for everyone!" Hidolf shouted, raising his arm.
However, when Hidolf led his five thousand men to the first estate, he was stunned.
What met his eyes was a sea of fire, with slaves everywhere engaged in burning, killing, and looting.
The estate owner and guards had already been torn into bloody pieces by the frenzied slaves, the granary was burning fiercely, but the warehouse was piled high with slaves fighting over money!
"Idiots, a bunch of idiots!" Hidolf cursed angrily, "Everyone, hurry and put out the fire! We absolutely cannot let the grain burn up!"
Hidolf's voice jolted everyone awake, and a group of the Rebel Army men threw away their wooden spears and rushed into the burning granary to salvage the grain, jostling for position.
"Spartacus, take some men to control these crazed compatriots. Confiscate all the plundered valuables and ask what exactly happened."
"Alright, I'll go now," Spartacus nodded, "You few, come with me!"
Spartacus, a former gladiator, led a gladiator squad clad in iron armor and armed with excellent weapons, quickly suppressing the riot.
Several of the leading men were brought before Hidolf, their faces smeared with blood, grinning savagely, and looking utterly defiant.
"Who are you?" a bald man asked.
He had just been having a good time with a woman.
That was his former master's personal bed slave; he had long wanted to know what she tasted like!
Hidolf didn't speak, instead giving Spartacus a look.
Spartacus understood, and punched the bald man in the abdomen.
The bald man's eyes bulged, and the gold dragon wine he had just drunk, mixed with partially digested food residue, was immediately vomited out!
"Tell me, what happened here?" Hidolf's gaze was cold as he looked at another leader.
Before, he had thought these people had actively resisted the slave owners, but now it seemed these few leaders simply didn't have that capability!
Something unexpected must have happened!
"It was a gold dragon, a gold dragon descended from the sky and first destroyed the farmland in the estate, then the granary, and finally the master's mansion.
Everything happened too quickly; from the moment the gold dragon appeared until it disappeared, only the time it takes to drink a cup of wine passed, and then Johnny took advantage of the chaos to kill the guards and led everyone to loot the estate warehouse!"
The short man, targeted by Hidolf's gaze, trembled and recounted the events at a rapid pace.
After he finished speaking, Hidolf's face suddenly darkened.
He stepped forward, grabbed the short man by the collar, and said with disbelief, "You mean the gold dragon deliberately destroyed the granary and farmland?"
The short man's face turned pale with fright, his lips trembling, "No, I don't know if the gold dragon did it deliberately, but it looked that way."
Hidolf gritted his teeth, his lips also trembling.
"Spartacus, quickly, take men to check the nearby estates!"
Spartacus looked surprised, responded, and immediately led his men towards the nearest estate.
A very bad feeling suddenly surged in his heart; he had just seen panic in Hidolf's eyes!
Even when they were blocked on the Lango Mountain Pass for several days, and their supplies were almost exhausted, he had never seen any panic in Hidolf's eyes.
Spartacus's bad premonition was quickly confirmed.
When he led his men to the nearest estate, the scene before him was almost identical to the first estate!
What met his eyes was a sea of fire, with people everywhere engaged in burning, killing, and looting!
Coming back to his senses, Spartacus immediately looked at the farmland within the estate, and as expected, it was already engulfed in roaring flames, not to mention the granary.
Even though Spartacus's mind was not as sharp as Hidolf's, he had already understood one thing by now, and finally understood why Hidolf had been full of panic.
That gold dragon was deliberately consuming the food supplies in the Lango Highlands!
Why would that gold dragon's dragonrider do that?
He had clearly helped them twice at crucial moments before, so why would he now destroy the very food that the Rebel Army relied on for survival?
In the end, Spartacus couldn't figure out a reason, and could only lead his men to check several other nearby estates.
The results were all the same: what met their eyes were roaring fires, figures engaged in burning, killing, and looting, and farmland and granaries reduced to ashes!
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