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Chapter 204 "Secret City"
(Author's Note: Keep your promise! Begging for votes ~)
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two months had passed. The winter snow had already melted, and although the northwest wind still carried a biting chill, but in some places, the signs of spring were gradually revealed. The more flexible the water, the more tender the sprouts on one's toes, it was clear that winter had left.
Although the northwest is a bitter and cold place, but spring can be said to be the best season – although it is a bit short.
Most of the migration to Miracle City had been completed, and the current population of the new city had reached 100,000. As for the original Anglia City, it was almost empty.
The new capital city was located on the shore of Loulan Lake, which had fertile land that was rarely seen in the northwest. Coupled with the fact that it was close to a water source, and after a series of preferential treatment decrees from Duke Du Wei, Miracle City was full of vitality after spring.
The department in charge of the migration of the population, had long queues almost every day. People from all over the Desa Province, even if they didn't plan to move, would still choose to come and see with their own eyes this majestic city that was built in just a few months after the snow melted and the roads were cleared!
Ten miles outside of Loulan City, a new military camp had been built, and Du Wei's Tulip Family's first infantry division had been formed. This army of 20,000 was built with the four thousand rebels as the backbone, and with the addition of new recruits. Later on, in order to solve the problem of manpower, Du Wei once again sent people to Big Ear City to bribe Commander Biaidro. After a few months, more than two thousand prisoners were brought over. Although Biaidro was not successful in the bureaucracy, but in Big Ear City, he still had absolute authority. These prisoners only needed to be casually marked with two strokes on the list, saying that they died of illness or died of exhaustion while being escorted. In the end, because the number of prisoners was inevitably too large, Biaidro simply reported that there was a plague in Big Ear City. Those who sold the prisoners to Du Wei simply said that they died in the plague.
In a place like Big Ear City, the higher-ups didn't care about it, and when they heard that there was a plague, who would be willing to go there to investigate? Biaidro became bolder and bolder, and even the batch of prisoners that were supposed to arrive this spring were "pre-sold" to Du Wei before they even reached Big Ear City.
For these prisoners, Du Wei promised to let them serve for three years, and after three years, they would be granted freedom. If they performed meritorious service, they would also be rewarded with land! In any case, the northwest Desa Province had a small population, but there was a lot of land. As long as the prisoners have a glimmer of hope of freedom, they would be given a chance to live. Although most of the land in the northwest was barren, it was still real land!
Currently, the first division of the Tulip Family consists of 4,000 rebels, 2,000 prisoners, and 10,000 new recruits. Among them, other than the 4,000 rebels who were originally the trump card of the rebel army, the combat power of the 2,000 prisoners was far higher than that of the ordinary recruits!
This is only natural, after all, Du Wei spent a lot of money to pick out the strongest and most of the young men in the Big Ear City. Plus, most of them had their backgrounds checked. (In fact, there's no need to check. Since they were sent to the Big Ear City, most of them don't have any background. If they did, they would've been rescued long ago.)
Just like what Du Wei said, these prisoners who were originally in despair, after seeing a glimmer of hope, they were willing to give it their all to grasp it! Therefore, during the training, these people were especially willing to endure hardships. In just half a year, they had already begun to show some signs of improvement. Even from Knight Robert's point of view, these people may not have reached the level of the empire's main army, but they were not much worse than the average garrison troops.
In the past few months, General Totoro of the Northwest Army had sent people to ask for money twice. The first time, Du Wei used the word "delay" to fool the other party, but the second time, the other party's attitude was a lot tougher. Du Wei considered that he did not have the capital to fall out with the Northwest Army, and the annual spring drill is coming soon. The Northwest Army will be mobilized on a large scale, so he had to be on guard. In the end, he simply compromised and paid 50,000 gold coins as military expenses. Only then did the Northwest Army people leave.
Compared to a fully formed infantry division, the number of cavalry soldiers was much lower. After all, a good cavalry is much harder to train than an infantry. Although the Northwest is a tough place, Longbottom's selection criteria for his subordinates are extremely strict. Up until now, Du Wei only had a cavalry division of 3000 people. Half of them were Longbottom's old subordinates, and the other half were new recruits.
However, Longbottom's strict training of the new recruits made people sigh. What's more, Longbottom did promise Du Wei that even though there are only 3,000 of them, but after being abused by Longbottom, the fighting strength of these 3,000 soldiers is already comparable to the regular cavalry of the empire.
In fact, in the beginning, Longbottom had gathered a total of nearly five thousand people, but this guy's training was very harsh. Many people couldn't endure to the end and left. There were also people who were kicked out because they couldn't meet Longbottom's requirements. Later on, Longbottom actually brought these few thousand people out for a tour. Who knows what he was up to, but they only returned a month later with less people.
After asking around, Du Wei found out that Longbottom actually brought these people out for a "real battle"! According to Longbottom's words, "Soldiers who have never fought with real swords and spears, who have never seen blood, are useless no matter how much they train! This is because skills are not gained through training in the barracks. Some people who are usually brave will pee their pants on the battlefield, and some ordinary people will become excellent soldiers on the battlefield! "
Therefore, Longbottom led these few thousand men on a light patrol. They did not bring any heavy equipment, only a few days worth of rations. They followed the Energy Horse Mule Mountain Range all the way to the northwest. They passed through the Desa Province's territory and entered the northwest corridor. They ran all the way to the desert outside the corridor and fought with a few small groups of mounted bandits. This allowed these new recruits to gain some real combat experience.
Sure enough, when they returned, the temperament of these new recruits was greatly different. Every one of them seemed to have shed off their original naivety and revealed a bit of blood-soaked prowess.
Although Longbottom's leadership was harsh, he was absolutely good to his subordinates. After they returned to Miracle City, Longbottom, as a general, brought a group of people to visit a brothel. There were a few disputes in the middle, which gave Dadaneier, who was the first garrison commander of the new capital, a headache. However, Du Wei told him that as long as the matter was not too out of line, he should do as much as possible.
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Early in the morning, a carriage rushed on the road to the new capital, Loulan City. There were more than a dozen cavalrymen around the carriage, skillfully controlling the horses with a serious expression.
Du Wei was sitting in this carriage with the Tulip Family emblem. He received the news last night and hurriedly left for Loulan City early in the morning.
In fact, Du Wei's Duke's Mansion had already been moved to the new capital. The new Duke's Mansion built in imitation of Rollin Castle had already become Du Wei's new home. It's just that Du Wei has been staying in the abandoned city of Anglia for the past few days.
Anglia City, this abandoned city, the original population had already been completely evacuated! In the end, Du Wei did not let this empty city be abandoned. He even spent some manpower and material resources to repair the outer city walls and rebuild the parts that had collapsed.
In Du Wei's view, Anglia City was not qualified to be the capital because it was located in a remote area with the Kilimanjaro Mountains behind it. It was unable to cover the entire Desa Province. However, this remote city had other uses for Du Wei!
As early as a month ago, after the last batch of residents had moved out, Du Wei ordered the entire city to be sealed off and then started construction in the city!
This was because in Du Wei's plan, this remote and extremely safe city would be his best backup production base!
Of course, this was not a place to produce ordinary weapons. This broken down territory in the northwest had no minerals and lacked iron ore, so Du Wei was unable to mass produce weapons here. However … … Du Wei still had many other things he needed to produce! Some secret weapons that he did not want to reveal for the time being!
Moreover, what was more suitable than an empty city to be used as a production base?
The original Anglia City was broken down, but after all, it was still a city! All the living facilities were extremely complete and the outer walls were the best defense. As long as the walls were well guarded, no spies or secret agents would be able to enter or leave!
As for the people in the city, they did not need to enter or leave. The city had perfect living facilities, wells, houses, and even Du Wei had specially opened up a piece of land to be used as farmland. This way, the people inside could be completely self-sufficient! A completely sealed production base was enough to meet the requirements of confidentiality!
As for this abandoned city, the current production base, Du Wei had completely handed over to Thorskei and Seth, the two magic geniuses.
After that, he had bought over a thousand slaves from Big Ear City. Among them were men and women, old and young. Du Wei had only one promise to these people: After working in the city for five years, they would be free! After that, they would be able to obtain their own land!
And these people, from the status of slaves, had become Du Wei's production base workers.
What made these workers terrified and surprised was that they had originally thought that what awaited them was extremely heavy labor … … Many prisoners had died in this kind of heavy labor. But in this production base, the work was far from as hard as they had imagined!
They even had very comfortable residences (The original residents who had moved out had left behind large areas of empty houses). There was delicious and ample food. Even Du Wei had ordered that after these people woke up in the morning, they would work until sunset and then rest for a period of time at noon.
And the content of the work wasn't too heavy, it was just a bit strange … In a few workshops built in the city, they followed Sir Thorskei's orders and mixed many medicinal ingredients and powders that they didn't recognize, and then produced them in large batches.
These people naturally did not know that these unknown powders were Thorskei's greatest invention, the "Magic Fire Element", which was also the gunpowder Du Wei relied on.
As for the people under Lord Seth's management, their job scope was even stranger. They opened up a piece of land in the city and planted all kinds of trees. Lord Seth taught them how to graft and plant … Then, some of the people selected from the prisoners who knew how to craft would do their best to complete the next step … carving!
In this production base, the rules were not too strict. Food, rest, and safety were all guaranteed, but Du Wei only gave a strict order: No one was allowed to leave the city!
During this time, there was only one person who did not know the difference between life and death and secretly tried to escape. In the end, he was caught by the soldiers before he even reached the city gate. Then Du Wei hardened his heart and broke his legs in front of everyone.
"I can give you hope … … but I can also take your life at any time!" Du Wei announced to these people: "So, for the next five years, you better remember this!"
Early this morning, Du Wei had no choice but to leave the production base because he received news that Marquise Lister's younger brother and sister had already entered the Desa Province. According to the information he received along the way, they would arrive at Miracle City tonight.
In view of his good relationship with the Lister Family, Du Wei, as the master of the Desa Province, of course had to rush back to greet them.
In particular, he was very curious about the Marquise Lister's younger sister who wanted to seduce him … …
(This chapter is mainly a transition, the plot needs, hehe ~ Ten thousand words today, begging for votes ~ So tiring, so tiring … …)
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(To be continued, if you want to know the future, please go to www. qidian. com, support the author, support the original reading!)
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