"What's your name?" Daniel sat opposite, and the captive opposite also had a chair, but this chair was made of ice and was not comfortable to sit on.
The captain endured the tingling sensation under his buttocks and said to Daniel with tearful eyes: "Honorable Sir Wizard, you have asked this question countless times, my name is Rien, Rien! Please, just ask me something useful, and I'll tell you everything. "
Daniel, expressionless, continued: "Okay, then tell me, what's your name?"
Daniel learned this method from Salin. He had been interrogating the captive for more than an hour, repeatedly asking only one question. If the captive did not answer, he would use magic to stab the captive's soul for a while. This stimulation was gradually increasing, and it was impossible for the captive to get used to it.
The captive rubbed his fingers, and did not dare to stand up. He just looked at Daniel with pleading eyes. Daniel felt that it was about time. Salin's method was useful, and he himself did not want to carry out this boring interrogation. However, except for him, there was some technical difficulty in the execution of other people.
A guard took the prepared pen and paper and threw it on the table. Daniel said to the captive, "I'm going to rest for a while. If you think of anything useful to me, write it down. When I come back, if I'm not satisfied with it, we can continue."
After Daniel finished speaking, he left the room. The captive lost all will to resist, immediately grabbed the pen and paper, and began to write. He wrote in the common language, and although the grammar was very different from the popular language of Myers Continent, it could still be understood in writing. Fortunately, he was an officer who had read, otherwise, a soldier might not be able to read.
Daniel did not go to rest. He began to sort out the things that others had interrogated, and began to compare and analyze the authenticity of them. The records of these interrogations were similar. The captives came from the island country tens of thousands of miles away in the East China Sea, and their goal was Lianyun City. This expeditionary force had more than 300 warships, divided into more than a dozen fleets, and headed west.
On the way, the fleet encountered a storm and lost several ships. They accidentally came to the vicinity of Salin City and found the two warships docked on the island, which led to the subsequent events.
More than 300 warships? On average, there were about 1,000 soldiers on each ship, which was 300,000 troops. This was only the number of regular troops, and did not include sailors and auxiliary soldiers. The combat strength of those armed merchant ships was not good, but the number of people they could carry exceeded that of a powerful battleship.
But to conquer the Myers Continent with just 300,000 people? Were the kings of these countries crazy?
The squad leader, Ri En, wrote down everything he knew on a piece of paper. Naturally, someone asked him to explain it in spoken language and then translate it into Qin Yin language. However, just the testimony from the ordinary soldiers was enough for Daniel to understand what had happened.
300,000 soldiers might not be able to conquer the continent, but taking down Lianyun City was not a problem. Lianyun City was a medium-sized city with a population of more than 200,000 and a garrison of about 20,000. It also had a fleet of 12 ships. In addition to the 20,000 soldiers stationed in Lianyun City, there were also some scattered mercenaries and private soldiers of nobles. Altogether, there were only about 3,000 people. It was impossible to defend against the attack of 300 warships. Apart from the armed merchant ships, all the warships were equipped with magic catapults. The walls of Lian Yun City would not be able to withstand them.
After reading the confession, Salin immediately came to a conclusion. He was troubled again. One of the warships that Rex took with him was still in Lianyun City. Rex obviously wanted to bring some people to Lianyun City and return here by sea. There must be a large number of mages in this group. If her people were in Lianyun City, they would have to help the nobles in Lianyun City to resist the invasion.
The number of mages on the other side was also not small. It was truly a national expedition. There was a Great Mage assigned to every 1,000 soldiers. 300,000 people, there were at least 300 Great Mages. There were very few Great Mages in Rex's hands, and most of them were low-level mages. If they really encountered the other side, Salin knew that not many of these low-level mages would survive.
What troubled Salin the most was that there was no teleportation array between here and Kushui Commandery, so they could not quickly communicate with each other. If there was a teleportation array, he would have to remind Rex to change the route no matter how many gold coins he had to spend. A warship was nothing. The low-level mages in Rex's hands were the most important. The money needed to nurture those low-level mages was enough to build hundreds of warships.
Now Salin finally understood why many nobles who owned cities could only save tens of thousands of gold coins in a year. Cities could bring in large amounts of tax, but to keep a city, the investment was also huge. He could be considered a rich man now. The rare materials in his hands could not be gathered by others in a lifetime. He hunted on a large scale in the outskirts of the Frozen Sea, so the number of magic cores in his hands was astonishing.
But at what level a person reached, there would be corresponding huge expenses. Salin wanted to raise 24 thunder dragons, and he had to raise them at a speed that was 100 times that of a normal thunder dragon. He had to raise these thunder dragons in a year, and the consumption of magic cores and food was simply an astronomical figure.
This city had to expand, and its territory had to be at least a thousand miles to the west. Only then would it be meaningful to develop and attract more people to farm and do business. Therefore, Salin considered building an army of at least six battalions. These six battalions would have a regular army of 60,000 people. Including the auxiliary soldiers, Salin could not afford them at all.
The cost of a set of infantry armor was more than 10 gold coins. According to Salin's standards, even 100 gold coins would not be enough. These armors would also be worn out during training, and they had to be maintained and repaired every week. This was another investment. In comparison, feeding these soldiers was throwing money every day. If he wanted the soldiers to be able to fight, the food couldn't be bad. Meat had to be added to every meal.
Want to eat meat? Then he had to buy it in large quantities. How much land would he need to build a ranch and raise cattle and sheep?
These soldiers had families. If he wanted the soldiers to fight in peace, he had to take care of their families. Private soldiers were different from ordinary soldiers. The families of these soldiers were also your subordinates. These soldiers did not care who the enemy was. Even if the pope stood in front of them, they would not hesitate to slash at him.
Why were private soldiers so loyal? Because their families all depended on you as their leader. As long as the nobles did not die, they would always be responsible for the families of the private soldiers. The empire limited the number of private soldiers, in the end, because they were afraid of the nobles rebelling.
Salin was now spending his money carefully. Rex had not returned yet, so his investment was limited after all. Right now, he had more than two thousand Caucasian soldiers, which was already a powerful force. But it was still not enough to protect such a big city. His city did not have a real teleportation array. The one on the Coiled Turtle alchemy ship could only teleport people a few meters away. A real teleportation array could teleport people thousands of miles away.
For interplanar teleportation, it could only be done with something like Rex's God Luo Ring. That was not a problem that could be solved with money.
Fortunately, fortunately, he had discovered an island of considerable value. This island was rich in iron ore and many associated ores. Otherwise, Salin would have had a headache buying resources with money. Although it cost a lot to go back and forth to the Frozen Sea, Salin would rather die than buy equipment directly from the four big families.
No matter how good his relationship with Ainphent was, Ainphent would not dare to sell him any equipment at a low price. That was strictly forbidden by the empire. A large part of the Clyde family's income had to be taxed. Otherwise, why would the emperor trust the four big families? The other more powerful families did not get involved in this business, because the emperor did not want to leave it to the nobles of a higher rank. If any duke could manage a mine, it would become a huge problem for the empire sooner or later.
The mine that Salin found did not need to be exploited by Holy Rock City. It was not the empire's territory anyway. He could totally treat it as his own magic territory, just like Alchemy City did. On the island outside Alchemy City's sea, there would definitely be precious mines.
Salin had not paid much attention to the mine, but after hearing Ainphent explain the relevant problems, he suddenly understood that the income from magic cores was not important. Although the Monster Nucleus seemed to be more valuable than metals, it was something that no one could control, nor could it be controlled.
If Salin did not have a huge iron mine, he would have to bear the high price if he wanted to buy weapons. No matter how much money he had, he could not afford to raise the price.
Salin became excited. In his room, more than eighty skeletons stood there obediently, not moving at all. He had to quickly build some smaller ships and let these skeletons explore the mines overseas. He did not need too many. If he could find three to five more islands like the one he had, Salin could guarantee that the supply of weapons would no longer be controlled by others.
He could not trust anyone else with this. Fortunately, the Winged Skeleton could train these evolved skeletons. He had to let these skeletons complete their transformation in the spirit pool as soon as possible. Otherwise, their lifespans would soon come to an end.
Sigh, if this continued, he would become a necromancer.
Salin sighed. Necromancers were really fortunate to have many trustworthy necromancers to use. The contract was mutually beneficial. But what about elementalists? Other than magic strings, they had no one else to rely on.
He was still too young and thought that building a city was too easy. He thought that with his teacher's support and Rex's help, it was not a big problem. But now, he had not finished building the city walls. Only the city center had been built. The construction of the harbor had taken up his time. If he supervised the construction of the entire city himself, he would not have any energy to practice magic.
No wonder no magician was willing to do the work of the nobles. To a magician, it was very stupid to waste time.
But who around him could do such a thing? Zola and the Beast Swordsmen were good, but they did not have the ability. Sicar? He had to manage the Caucasians. There would be more and more of them in the future. Without Sicar, it was not possible for Salin to directly command them. He could not count on the barbarians. They only knew how to hunt and fight. What about Neris? She was in a bad mood and did not care about the future. If she could kill all her people, she had to control the demons by her side.
He could not count on the magicians of Serg Island. They could be trusted, but they could not be used as administrative talents. The swordsmen of Serg Island were loyal, but they would not care about anything other than fighting.
The only person he could count on now was Ainphent. Without Ainphent's reminder, he would not have paid much attention to that island. Only someone from a business family like this was suitable for management. But Ainphent was also a magician, and would not put too much effort into such things.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
