Chapter 113 Warning
?<="">>Since the end of the Demon Moon, there have only been two rains in the western region, and the rest of the time is sunny, which seems to be making up for the share owed throughout the winter. The previous musty smell was also swept away in the office, and the air became fresh and natural. With the windows open, you could still smell a light fragrance from the garden from time to time.
Up to now, the land route from the small town to Longsong Fortress has basically been restored to its original appearance, and Roland has become very concerned about the fortress's movements.
According to the situation of the previous year, after the land transportation resumed, there would soon be merchants going to Border Town to sell daily goods, but he hadn't seen a single merchant from Longsong Fortress yet. Lightning conducts reconnaissance twice a day to ensure that the town is fully prepared before the enemy arrives.
In the past week, the First Army has entered the stage of comprehensive exercises, including two parts: the defense line meets the enemy and the field pursuit. The former mainly relies on lightning to report the enemy's distance in the air, and the artillery and musketeers shoot according to the instructions-this part is relatively easy, both the instructions and the corresponding actions are clear. For example, solid bullet bombardment when entering 800 meters and 500 meters, shotgun shelling after approaching 300 meters, musket shooting after entering 50 meters, and so on. As long as they see the flag raised by Lightning, the leaders of each group will inform the team members which method to use to attack.
The key lies in the field pursuit phase. According to Roland's plan, after the opponent was defeated, it would take the same three days to retreat back to the fortress as when they came. Even if the militiamen and mercenaries were left alone and returned alone, it would take no less than two days, so the opponent must camp in the wild. This gave the First Army a chance to pursue. The whole process was monitored by Lightning, and the First Army followed on foot in a safe area that would not be discovered by the scouts. The artillery and ammunition were transported by the Small Town. When the opponent set up a camp overnight, the troops completed the encirclement, and then launched a pincer attack in the early morning to annihilate the opponent.
The plan doesn't look complicated, but without radio communication, it is almost impossible to separate the two troops and launch a joint attack. Roland could only invest in witches in this link to make up for the lack of communication. He has no idea what the final effect will be.
Another point is that there is not much gunpowder left, so there is no live ammunition shooting in the comprehensive exercise stage. The main training is the cooperation between the musket team and the artillery team, and the cooperation between the first army and the witch. He has already sent people to the farther places of Zhuolongling and Chishui City, hoping to find more sources of saltpeter there. If the gunpowder cannot be replenished in time, I am afraid that after two battles, the musket in the hands of the First Army can only be used as a spear.
Roland wrote down some new procurement plans on paper, including saltpeter, food, seeds and other materials, intending to let Barov send another apprentice to the King of Graycastle to try his luck<="r">. There are plenty of commodities there, especially saltpeter—as summer approaches, the nitrate plant in Wangdu must be fully operational. As a city with a large number of nobles and wealthy merchants, once the weather gets hot, the consumption of saltpeter will be astonishing. He hoped to find a stable supplier to continuously provide gunpowder raw materials for Border Town.
Prior to this, he had sent two personal guards to carry out the plans of "calling witches" and "finding fruits". The former usually pretend to be travelers or businessmen, and spread rumors that Border Town shelters witches in the streets and alleys, taverns, black markets and other places. Of course, the taker is not the fourth prince Roland, but the mutual assistance society that finally found the holy mountain and hoped that the witches would settle there. The latter went directly to Clearwater Port to buy exotic crop seeds from the other side of the fjord. Of course, if there are any rare crops in the passing city, the seeds will also be brought back.
After completing the purchase order, hand it to Scroll, and ask her to go to the city hall and hand it over to Barov. After Scroll left at the sound, Roland stretched and wanted to take a sip of water, but found that the cup was already empty.
When he was about to get up to get the kettle, Nightingale had already brought the kettle to his desk. Not only that, she also filled the cup with a smile and brought the kettle back.
Roland took a sip slowly, feeling puzzled. Recently, Nightingale's attitude is really not right. She always has a smiling face towards him, and she even offers to serve tea and water for him. Is this because she wants to raise her salary? In the past, she just sat on the sofa chair and gnawed on the pot of dried fish all afternoon.
Although Roland also asked the reason, but the other party laughed and didn't answer, he simply had to let it go.
Could it be that the Gwent card can really make people happy? In the future, we will get out both poker and mahjong, and open an entertainment city, just waiting to collect money... Stop, Roland shook his head, and put his distracting thoughts behind him. Now is not the time to be greedy for pleasure, he has to think about what will happen after taking down the fortress.
Move the office center to Longsong Fortress? Roland considered this for a long time, and it seemed tempting to move the capital to a more prosperous place, but it was actually not a good choice. The fortress is different from Border Town, it has been built for more than a hundred years, and the forces are intertwined, including a lot of nobles. The territory is managed according to the enfeoffment system, and it is difficult for even the fortress lord to insert his hands into other territories. If you want to completely transform it into your own territory, it is almost impossible to achieve it without a revolution. Not to mention that in that kind of place where fish and dragons are mixed, one's own safety factor cannot be guaranteed. He didn't want to be shot with an arrow by some radical nobleman while walking in the street.
But Bian Bian Town is different, the territory is completely decided by itself, the surrounding land is vast, and there is no urgent need to expand the territory. Most of the people are miners and hunters, with a single composition. After successfully resisting the Moon of Demons, their prestige here has also increased. More importantly, after the ideological propaganda of the First Army composed entirely of people, most of the citizens accepted the existence of witches. Compared with the Church's far-reaching Longsong Fortress or other urban residents, the town can easily develop into a shelter for witches. Therefore, Roland still decided to make the town his core area.
As for the fortress, you can support others to manage it on your behalf, as long as you can continuously provide yourself with labor force and taxation. What he needs most now is people and money.
Roland's initial idea was to use the money from Longsong Fortress to hire people from Longsong Fortress to contribute to Border Town. These golden dragons looted from the defeated nobles will be returned to the people, and then collected in the fortress through taxation, and he will spend it after the fortress is handed over to him. In addition, some preferential policies can also be used to keep some people with special skills for a long time.
But these are still only rough outlines. For example, who will support the escrow and specific tax policies must be considered after the battle is over.
At this moment, a yellow figure flew into the window, and then stopped firmly in front of the prince's desk—it was lightning.
"Thank you, drink some water," Roland held up the cup and handed it to her, but she took it but didn't bother to drink it, and shouted loudly, "Your Highness, they are here!" (To be continued.)<="">< =""><="">