Since the end of the Months of the Demons, it had only rained twice in the Western Region. The rest of the time, it had been sunny, as if it was making up for the winter. The previous musty smell in the office had been swept away, and the air became fresh and natural. When he opened the window, he could smell a light fragrance from the garden from time to time.
By now, the land route between Border Town and Longsong Stronghold had basically been restored, and Roland had become particularly concerned about the movements of Longsong Stronghold.
According to the situation of the previous year, after the land route was restored, there would soon be merchants going to Border Town to sell their daily goods, but so far he had not seen a single merchant from Longsong Stronghold. In the past week, the First Army had entered the comprehensive training stage, including the defense line and field pursuit.
The former mainly relied on Lightning to report the distance of the enemy in the air, and the artillery and flintlock teams fired according to the instructions – this part was relatively easy, both the instructions and the corresponding actions were clear. The former mainly relied on Lightning to report the distance of the enemy in the air, and the artillery and flintlock teams fired according to the instructions. This part was relatively easy, both the instructions and the corresponding actions were clear. The former mainly relied on Lightning to report the enemy's distance in the air, and the artillery and flintlock teams fired according to the instructions – this part was relatively easy, both the instructions and the corresponding actions were clear. For example, solid shells at 800 meters and 500 meters, grapeshot shells at 300 meters, flintlock shots at 50 meters, and so on.
The key was the field pursuit stage. According to Roland's plan, after the enemy was defeated, it would take the same three days to retreat back to Longsong Stronghold. Even if they abandoned the militia and mercenaries and rode back alone, it would take no less than two days, so the enemy must camp in the wild. This gave the First Army the opportunity to pursue. With Lightning monitoring the whole process, the First Army would follow in a safe area without being discovered by the scouts, and the artillery and ammunition would be transported by Little Town. When the enemy set up camp for the night, the troops would complete the encirclement, and in the early morning, they would launch a pincer attack and annihilate the enemy.
The plan did not seem complicated, but in the absence of radio communication, it was almost impossible to separate the troops and launch a joint attack. Roland could only use the witches at this stage to make up for the lack of communication. As for the final result, he was not sure.
Another point was that there was not much gunpowder left, so the comprehensive training stage did not carry out live firing, and the main training was the cooperation between the firearms and artillery teams, as well as the cooperation between the First Army and the witches. He had already sent people to the faraway Fallen Dragon Ridge and Redwater City, hoping to find more sources of saltpeter there. If they could not replenish their gunpowder in time, the First Army's muskets could only be used as spears after two battles.
Roland wrote down some new procurement plans on paper, including saltpeter, grains, seeds, and other materials. He intended to let Barov send another apprentice to Graycastle to try his luck. There was an abundance of commodities there, especially saltpeter. As summer approached, King's City's saltpeter factory would certainly be operating at full capacity. As a city with a large number of nobles and wealthy merchants, once the weather became hot, the consumption of saltpeter would be astonishingly large. He hoped to find a stable supplier that would provide Border Town with a steady supply of gunpowder.
Prior to this, he had already sent two of his guards to carry out the plan of 'summoning witches' and 'finding the fruit'. The former usually disguised themselves as travelers or merchants, spreading rumors about witches in the streets, pubs, black markets and other places in Border Town. Of course, the host was not the 4th Prince Roland, but rather the Witch Cooperation Association, which had finally found the Holy Mountain and hoped that the witches would settle there. The latter would directly go to the Port of Clearwater and buy the seeds of strange crops from the other side of the Fjords. Of course, if there were any rare crops in the cities they passed through, they would also bring back their seeds.
After finishing the purchase list, he handed it to Scroll and told her to go to the City Hall and hand it over to Barov. After Scroll left, Roland stretched his body and wanted to drink some water, but found that the cup was already empty.
When he was about to get up and take the kettle, Nightingale had already brought the kettle to his table. Not only that, she also smiled and filled the cup, and then took the kettle back.
Roland slowly took a sip, his heart was puzzled. Recently, Nightingale's attitude was really not right. She always had a smile on her face, and even took the initiative to help him pour tea. Did she want to raise her salary? In the past, she would directly sit on the sofa, holding a plate of dried fish and nibbling it for the whole afternoon.
Although Roland had asked for the reason, the other side just smiled and didn't answer, so he simply let it be.
Could it be that Gwent could really make people feel happy? In the future, if he made poker and mahjong, and opened an entertainment city, it would simply be waiting to collect money … Stop, Roland shook his head, and put the distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. Now was not the time to be greedy for pleasure, he had to think about what to do after taking over the stronghold.
Moving the office center to Longsong Stronghold? Roland thought about this for a long time. Moving the capital to a more prosperous place seemed very tempting, but in fact, it was not a good choice. Longsong Stronghold and Border Town were different. It had been built for more than a hundred years, and the forces were intertwined. The territory was managed according to the system of enfeoffment, and even the Lord of Longsong Stronghold would find it difficult to stick his hand into other territories. If he wanted to completely transform it into his own territory, it would be almost impossible to achieve without setting off a revolution. Not to mention in that kind of place where crooks mixed with honest folk, his own safety factor could not be guaranteed. He didn't want to be shot by a radical aristocrat while walking on the street.
But Border Town was different, the territory was completely under his control. The surrounding land was vast, and there was no urgent need to expand the territory. Most of the people were composed of miners and hunters. After successfully resisting the Months of Demons, his reputation in this area had also risen. More importantly, after the propaganda of the First Army, which was composed entirely of the people, most of the people accepted the existence of witches. Compared to the Church's far-reaching influence in Longsong Stronghold or other urban areas, Border Town could easily develop into a place where witches could live. Therefore, Roland still decided to make Border Town his own core area.
As for Longsong Stronghold, he could support other people to manage it, as long as they could provide him with a steady flow of labor and tax revenue. What he lacked the most right now were people and money.
Roland's initial idea was to use Longsong Stronghold's money to hire people from Longsong Stronghold to add bricks and tiles to Border Town. The Golden Dragon that was plundered from the defeated nobles would be returned to the hands of the people, and then collected in Longsong Stronghold through taxes. After Longsong Stronghold handed it over to him, he would then spend it. In addition, he could also use some preferential policies to keep some people with special skills for a long time.
However, these were still only a general framework. For example, who to support as an agent, specific tax policies, all these had to wait until the end of the war to consider.
At this moment, a yellow figure flew in through the window, and then steadily stopped in front of the Prince's table – it was Lightning.
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