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The whole castle was warmed by the fire. Everyone drank a lot of wine. The air could smell the fragrance of the incense burning on the side, which made people feel light. Due to the limited number of guest rooms, Brian, Iron Axe, and Tigu all had their own room, so ordinary soldiers were five people in a room. Vanna also shared a room with Rodney, Cat's Claw, Pomelo Peel, and Nelson.
Vanna took off his shoes and stepped barefoot on the thick carpet. He didn't feel the cold at all. The stove beside him was filled with firewood in advance, and the crackling sound of the dry firewood was very pleasant.
"Boss Vanna, this carpet is more comfortable than my bed at home!" Cat's claws were already rolling on the floor.
"Didn't they say there were maids in the castle? Why didn't I see any? They disappeared after dinner."
"Yes, yes, it would be great if a maid could be sent to serve us!"
"Rodney, are you stupid? How could the prince's maid serve us? It's more like she should serve His Royal Highness!"
"Nelson, you scold me again! What did I say wrong? Didn't the previous lord often use his maid to entertain others?"
"That was someone else! Not His Royal Highness! His Royal Highness is not comparable to that fat pig lord!"
"Your Highness," Pero swallowed his saliva and asked in a low voice, "Excuse me... is there a value for redeeming the Longsong Fortress?"
Roland looked at Pero with interest and suddenly laughed, "You are the first person to ask me this," he picked up the cup and took a sip of water, and said in a relaxed tone, "Longsong Fortress is undoubtedly mine, even if I am not here. However, I do need a person or a family to take care of the fortress for me. So, what you should ask is not the ransom, but the agency fee."
Agency... Pero is not unfamiliar with this word. Some sharp-eyed merchants always keep an eye on the nobles who have a large output in the territory but have no time or disdain to travel and sell goods for them. In order to obtain this right, they have to pay a sum of money in advance as a deposit.
"How many gold royals do you want?" He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"This is a long process, so you don't have to pay it all at once," Roland paused, "30% of the monthly fortress tax, and a thousand worth of supplies, the rest is yours."
It's not too outrageous, Pero thought, as long as he can completely occupy Changge Fortress, such a price can even be said to be fair. The other party was not joking, he confirmed this point, His Royal Highness really intended to do this. This is
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Pero told himself in his heart. He and the prince are not enemies. The Duke has completely failed, and his children will be deprived of the right of inheritance. If the coalition forces of the six families cannot defeat the prince, who can stop him from actually owning the Western Territory? Joining a powerful force is the basic rule for the continuation of the nobility. If they can get the approval of His Royal Highness before the other four families, Honeysuckle will become the largest noble family in the Western Territory.
"Your Highness, why don't you stay here? This castle is much bigger than the border town."
"You actually want to ask why I don't come to manage the fortress myself?" Roland looked at the slightly embarrassed Pero and smiled, "There are many reasons, for example, the forces here are too complicated, and it will take me a long time to sort out the relationships between them, not to mention making a profit from it. If I support a local noble, he must know how to govern this place better than me, and this is a win-win deal. In addition, there are many other reasons, you can think about it slowly when you go back." The prince played with the silver cup, "By the way, if you are chosen as the agent, you can't avenge me for the Duke, right?"
"Of course not, Your Highness!" Although the last question was a bit abrupt, Pero still answered immediately.
The Duke is gone, and the first thing the five families think of is naturally how to divide his territory. Who cares about revenge?
But Pero also knew that the reasons His Highness said were not the real reasons. The forces are too complicated and difficult to sort out? In the face of overwhelming power, he could completely root out the opposition. In one or two years at most, all the nobles would forget the loser Ryan, just as Ryan had done in the past. But two years was definitely not enough to build the border town into a big city like the Longsong Fortress.
His Highness Roland must have a deeper plan.
"That's good, then this city..."
"I am willing to act as your agent, Your Highness!" Pero blurted out, but soon his expression became hesitant again, "But the king - no, I mean your brother, may not agree with this result. If he assigns a new duke to the West Territory, I will not be able to fight against the capital."
"You don't need to fight either," Roland threw two letters in front of him. "Look at this, and the documents I found in Duke Ryan's study."
Pero quickly scanned the contents of the letter and couldn't help but take a breath.
The first one looked like a secret letter. The new king Timothy fought with the Queen of Green Water in Eagle City and suffered a major defeat? The second letter was even more shocking. The document was only half written, but Duke Ryan's intention to annex the North and become an independent king was already revealed on the paper. Since there was no ending, it was unknown who the document was intended to be sent to.
He immediately understood what His Royal Highness meant - there was no need to resist because the new king was already busy with his own affairs. Otherwise, the Duke would never want to raise the flag of independence. His elite knights were enough to defeat the West, but they were still far inferior to the Knights of the Capital.
The secret letter might be forged, but this document was indeed in the handwriting of Osmond Ryan. Unless the prince found a witch who could simulate other people's handwriting... He thought about it and then denied this guess.
There was no need for the other party to go to great lengths to deceive him. Acting as the agent of Longsong Fortress was not a one-sided transaction. If he could not gain a foothold in the fortress, His Royal Highness would not be able to make a profit either. Moreover, the Duke appointed by Timothy would definitely be the enemy of the fourth prince.
If Jin Yinhua wants to be above the four big families, she has to rely on the support of the prince. On the contrary, in order to ensure that the treaty of interest is not abolished, the prince must let the Hermon family sit more firmly in this position.
Thinking of this, Pero slowly stood up and bowed to Roland, "The Hermon family is willing to serve you."
"Very good," the latter nodded, "but it cannot be decided that you will be the agent now. Let me ask you a few questions first."
"Your Highness, please ask."
"How do you plan to deal with those forces that oppose you?"
"What is your estimate of monthly tax revenue? How can you guarantee the materials worth one thousand?"
"If I ask you to vigorously develop trade, what measures will you take?"
"..."
Pero originally thought that His Highness just wanted to take this opportunity to understand the intelligence of the nobles in the Western Territory, but he did not expect that the other party would ask such strange questions, as if he was testing his governance methods and business common sense.
After a series of questions, Pero racked his brains to answer them one by one, and His Highness's expression became more and more satisfied. Finally, he clapped his hands and said, "Yes, that's all for today. Once you have determined the ransom of 3,000 yuan, you can come and redeem the Earl. Don't worry, I will treat him well in the next few days."
"Your Highness, the agency..."
"It will also be announced on that day." Roland signaled the knight to see him off.
Pero walked out of the hall with mixed feelings, and then saw Carter put the God's Retribution Stone that he had taken away before back into his hands - it was still the azure and translucent one, worth fifty gold royals.
*******************
"How is it?" Roland looked at Nightingale who appeared on the side.
"Well, they basically told the truth," she shrugged, "much more sincere than the previous ones. By the way, is it really okay for you to repeat the same thing to everyone? And those letters, they all record confidential content, right?"
"Not everyone," the prince flipped through the list in his hand, "They are all from the five major families. Only these great nobles are suitable to manage the fortress on my behalf. Those who are not strong enough, even if they sit in this position, will not be able to make the fortress operate, and will only cause all parties to fall into endless internal strife. As for the news that Timothy Wimbledon was defeated by Eagle City, it is not a secret. This matter will spread throughout Graycastle sooner or later. What I have to do is to make it spread faster."
Moreover, these two pieces of news came at the right time. He thought, if the second prince had not suffered such a disastrous defeat, he would probably have to spend some effort to recruit an agent - if he used coercive means, the result might not be so beautiful.
"So... did you choose him?"
"If nothing unexpected happens," Roland said with a smile, "he is the first person to ask me about this. Initiative has always been the most important quality of an employee. And I didn't expect that there would be such a proficient person in administration and trade in the five major families. I thought they would only ride horses and kill people."
He found Pero Hermon's name on the list and circled it lightly with a quill pen.
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After asking all the five major families, Roland breathed a sigh of relief.
He leaned back in his chair, and Nightingale took the initiative to walk behind him, stretched out her hands and massaged his shoulders.
It only took one day from defeating the Duke to entering the city and occupying the Lord's castle.
Things went more smoothly than he thought. When the Duke died in the battle, most people chose to surrender. The mercenaries turned against him and knelt on the ground, expressing their willingness to serve His Royal Highness.
So the mercenaries guarded the surrendered knights and nobles, and the First Army guarded the mercenaries. A group of people marched eastward and arrived at Changge Fortress at 3 pm that day. After seeing the head of Duke Ryan and a large group of captured nobles, the guards guarding the city gate immediately opened the city gate to welcome the four princes into the city.
Roland did not gather all the nobles in the city with great fanfare to announce the city's ownership to them, but went to the Lord's Castle as soon as possible.
The castle is located at the highest point in the center of the fortress, like a city within a city. A small-scale battle broke out when entering the castle area. After Nightingale blew up the gate of the garden with explosives, more than 20 guards who did not follow the Duke to the battle tried to stop Roland from entering, but were shot dead by the First Army. The other side used crossbows when resisting stubbornly, causing five team members to be injured, two of whom were seriously injured. Fortunately, Nanawa, who was with the army, immediately cured them.
There were also ten guards who wanted to secretly take the Duke's family to escape from the back door of the castle, but they were discovered by Lightning, who was monitoring from the air, and were immediately rounded up. The Duke's wife and two sons surrendered without a fight - until this time, they were still kept in the dark and knew nothing about the Duke's defeat.
After taking control of the Lord's Castle, the First Army of Border Town immediately took over the defense of the castle area. It must be said that Duke Ryan's castle is three or four times larger than that of Border Town, and its shape is much more magnificent. Six watchtowers form its regular hexagonal outline, and the main tower in the middle is almost five stories high - it is a rare high-rise building in this era. The garden is fully equipped with residential warehouses and stables, and there is even a private prison in the basement of the castle.
He stuffed the valuable captives and the Duke's family into the cells, dismissed all the civilians, confiscated the weapons of the mercenaries, and placed them in the idle houses in the garden in batches. At the same time, he picked out a few leaders and gave them high salaries, letting them take care of themselves - in Roland's eyes, the North Slope Mine is the best destination for these speculators, but he has more important things to do now.
That is the most important lt link after a battle - commonly known as touching the corpse.
Roland and his witches searched the castle from top to bottom, and even the God's Retribution Stone placed in the vault and the secret room was not spared. The results of the search were simply touching. The two large boxes of gold dragons found in the basement warehouse alone were conservatively estimated to be as many as 10,000. Nightingale found dozens of eyeball-sized gems in the secret compartment of the bedroom, and Echo found a secret room behind the fireplace. After entering the secret room, it was not only filled with various gold crafts, such as scepters and crowns, but also many dazzling jewelry, neatly hung on the wooden racks on the wall.
This is the financial resources of a duke!
Roland looked at this huge wealth, and then thought about the ore revenue of less than 500 gold dragons in the autumn and winter of Border Town, and his heart was filled with emotion. This is the temptation of plundering. If it were not from a highly developed industrial society, he would probably be addicted to it.
However, despite his emotion, he still had to accept these things. In the foreseeable future, the working population of Border Town will increase significantly. Before the agriculture of the territory develops, he needs a large amount of money to import food from other places.
So Hummingbird lightened the boxes of treasures, and Iron Axe and the prince's guards were responsible for escorting them, and took the spoils back to his own castle for storage via the Town Ship. Considering the time spent on enchanting large items, it would take about three days to transport all of them.
This is also the reason why Roland decided not to ask for a gold dragon as ransom the next day. Eating up a duke has benefited him a lot, and now he needs living people and livestock.
"Your Highness, are you really only staying here for a week?" Nightingale asked.
"What's wrong?" Roland closed his eyes and enjoyed the numbness in his shoulders.
"Isn't this the largest city in the West?" she whispered. "Compared to Border Town, don't you want to stay in this more prosperous place?"
"The forces in Longsong Fortress are complicated and not suitable for what I want to do. It's okay if everything remains the same. If we want to make changes, the resistance we encounter will only become greater and greater, and I can't just wipe them out now." Roland smiled, "Of course, the most important thing is that the people here are deeply influenced by the church, and it's hard for them to accept you in the short term. I once said that I hope witches can walk freely on the streets, and Border Town has now achieved this."
"Well," Nightingale said softly, "You have fulfilled your promise."