King Uther!
Uther Pendragon!
King Arthur's father!
He reigned for over a decade, achieving nothing of note. The only useful thing he did was establish a Knight Order called the Knights of the Round Table. This Knight Order was an elite unit of meritorious nobles; each member was a powerful Knight, handpicked from thousands. They once used this Knight Order to contract their entire defense line under the siege of the Gallic Pirates, relying on the mobility of the Knights of the Round Table to launch attacks everywhere, systematically defeating the large Gallic Pirates forces that had penetrated deep into the continent without supplies.
Of course, from Kayal's perspective, this King Uther was utterly incompetent; he let people invade his homeland!
Kayal had dozens of ways to ensure that all the Gallic Pirates from that previous invasion would never return, suffering heavy losses. However, his father was also a member of the Knights of the Round Table at that time, charging into battle alongside King Uther. Perhaps this idea was even his old man's.
King Uther, relying on this single battle, immediately ascended to the top, gaining immense popularity among the people, and there were no major upheavals for decades.
Actually, it's not surprising that the Celtic people are easily satisfied. Just look at the Isle of England now; it's truly overrun by wolves. To the left, the Roman Empire, led by Caesar, has an extremely strong desire for invasion. Above, the Silver Empire, led by Silver King Isli from the far north, covets the Kingdom of Camelot due to its particularly harsh environment. And at sea, the Gallic Pirates and Vikings regularly come to plunder.
The Celtic people had been waiting for such a great victory for over ten years!
It had been too long, too long!
From this perspective, King Uther was a well-deserved hero, although in the eyes of a wise man, this victory was quite exaggerated.
By the time the two walked back to Red Leaf Fortress, it was already evening. The Guards were about to close the castle gates. Seeing the two return together, the Guards, who knew both of them, uniformly raised their spears in salute. All of them wielded Knight spears about 1.8 meters long.
Looking at these Guards, who held Knights in such high regard, Kayal frowned almost imperceptibly. Knights are very useful, holding a status similar to tanks today. In an era before gunpowder was invented, they were almost invincible. But... their limitations are too great!
Not to mention tripwires and horse traps, just a trench can prevent a horse from reaching its full speed. A horse without speed is ultimately just an iron can. This is why Camelot repeatedly lost battles against the Gauls—on the continent, ten Gauls couldn't defeat one Celtic Knight, but at sea... hehe, go feed the fish! You iron cans!
Even with tanks today, the Americans still need infantry to assist them!
War cannot be won with just one type of military unit!
Having decided to find time to persuade his father to develop other military branches, Kayal's mood finally brightened.
Dinner, however, was somewhat somber. His mother was very understanding of his already exhausted father and didn't say much. Kayal, after some thought, spoke up, "Father."
"Hmm?" Grand Duke Andrei, who was eating a steak, wiped his mouth and looked up, asking.
"How many people are there in Red Leaf Fortress now?" Kayal asked, slowly chewing his tender beef.
"Well... roughly fifty thousand households." Here, Grand Duke Andrei's 'household' referred to a family of five. In other words, the entire Red Leaf Fortress had approximately 250,000 people, which was already considered a very large castle.
Initially, Red Leaf Fortress was situated on a hillside, built in a terraced style, with Grand Duke Andrei's residence, a small fortress-like castle, on the topmost level.
Then, as Grand Duke Andrei's achievements and military victories expanded his territory, Red Leaf Fortress gradually grew. The entire mountain was transformed into Red Leaf Fortress, which is how Red Leaf Fortress gained its leading position in the south. Of course, this was inseparable from King Uther's support.
Furthermore, the 'roughly' Grand Duke Andrei mentioned was not a statistical figure but a rough estimate made by looking down from the highest castle in Red Leaf Fortress.
"Father, don't you think Red Leaf Fortress is too crowded?" Kayal asked.
Red Leaf Fortress was indeed, as Kayal said, a bit too crowded. Apart from anything else, just consider 250,000 people in a castle the size of a town. The daily faeces and garbage produced would have to be calculated by the cartload. It's difficult to get out, and difficult to get in. Who cleans up the faeces on the ground? Stepping on it means a stinky yellow mess, which is truly what they call 'dog shit luck'.
Although the entire city was orderly, it couldn't be described as clean. Grand Duke Andrei was also troubled by these issues.
"Indeed." Grand Duke Andrei nodded, thinking it was Kayal's complaint.
"Father, what if we encourage the people to live outside?" Kayal suggested.
"That's impossible." Grand Duke Andrei was startled. "Unless we use force, the people will never go outside. It's not safe out there."
"Father, why isn't it safe outside?" Kayal asked with a half-smile.
"There are bandits, monsters, pirates..." Grand Duke Andrei suddenly froze. His thoughts were still stuck over a decade ago. Now, the monsters had been driven into the forests, bandits no longer had a motive for crime due to the people living in peace and prosperity. As for pirates... Red Leaf Fortress was still over ten kilometers from the sea. If pirates dared to overestimate themselves and land, then walk on foot to Red Leaf Fortress, Grand Duke Andrei wouldn't mind using his Knight Order to show the Gallic chickens the might of the Celtic people!
"But the people don't know it's safe outside." Although Grand Duke Andrei was delighted by this suggestion, he was very troubled about persuading the people. Being a benevolent leader, he disliked using force to solve the people's problems, which was a great quality of Grand Duke Andrei, who came from a martial background.
"Heh heh, Father, why be troubled? The people don't want to go out simply because it's more dangerous outside and better inside. As long as our propaganda is in place, the people will naturally go out." Kayal's smiling appearance was very handsome, but right now, he looked exactly like a nurse about to eat a chicken.
"What is propaganda?" Grand Duke Andrei asked.
Kayal, feeling frustrated with Grand Duke Andrei's cultural level, could only explain in detail, "It's rumors."
"Those are just rumors. What if they don't believe them?" Grand Duke Andrei had fought battles his entire life, so he naturally knew that the truthfulness of rumors was completely unreliable.
"So, this requires representatives to show the people the benefits," Kayal smiled.
"Representatives?" Grand Duke Andrei hadn't reacted yet.
"Father, what if a very famous person in the city, after hearing rumors, goes out to produce and makes a lot of money?" Kayal asked with a smile.
"Then the people in the city will flock outside," Grand Duke Andrei said thoughtfully. After all, he had been a lord for decades and understood the collective consciousness of the people very clearly.
"And if you, Father, guide them a little further..." Kayal smiled, like a fox.
"The entire Red Leaf Ridge will become empty because these people leave, and these people will also be able to create wealth..." Grand Duke Andrei's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and his speaking speed quickened considerably. He became excited, speaking continuously: "This way, the population will grow, and Red Leaf Ridge will no longer center around Red Leaf Fortress. In the future, it will become Red Leaf Town, Red Leaf City!"