…
When all five families had been questioned, Roland gently breathed a sigh of relief.
He leaned back in his chair, and Nightingale took the initiative to walk behind him, stretching out her hands to massage his shoulders.
From defeating the Duke to entering the city and occupying the Lord's castle, it only took one day.
Things went smoother than he had imagined. After the Duke's death, most of the people chose to surrender. The mercenaries even changed sides and knelt on the ground, expressing their willingness to work for His Royal Highness.
So the mercenaries guarded the surrendered Knight and nobles, and the First Army guarded the mercenaries. A group of people marched towards the east and arrived at Longsong Stronghold at three o 'clock in the afternoon. When the guards at the gate saw the head of the Duke Of Ryan and a large group of captured nobles, they immediately opened the gate and welcomed the 4th Prince into the city.
Roland didn't summon all the nobles in the city with great fanfare to announce the ownership of the city. Instead, he immediately went to the Lord's castle.
The castle was located in the center of the stronghold at the highest point, just like a city within a city. When they entered the castle area, a small-scale battle broke out. After Nightingale blew up the garden gate with a bag of explosives, more than 20 guards who didn't follow the Duke tried to stop Roland from entering, but were killed by the First Army. When the other side stubbornly resisted, they used crossbows, causing five soldiers to be injured, two of which were seriously injured. Fortunately, Nana, who accompanied the army, immediately healed them.
There were also ten guards who wanted to secretly escape with the Duke's family through the back door of the castle, but they were discovered by Lightning, who was monitoring from the air, and were immediately surrounded and arrested. The Duke's wife and two sons were captured – until now, they were still in the dark, ignorant of the news of 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 had to be said that the Duke Of Ryan's castle was three or four times larger than the one in Border Town, and its shape was also much more magnificent. Six watchtowers formed a hexagonal outline, and the main tower in the middle was almost five stories high – in this era, it was a rare high-rise building. The garden was equipped with residential warehouses and stables, and there was even a private prison in the castle basement.
He packed the valuable prisoners and the Duke's family into the cells, dismissed the civilians, confiscated the weapons of the mercenaries, and placed them in the spare rooms in the garden. At the same time, he picked out a few leaders, gave them high salaries, and let them look after themselves. In Roland's eyes, the North Slope Mine was the best home for these opportunists, but he had more important things to do now.
That was the most important loot after a battle, commonly known as looting.
Roland took a group of witches and searched the castle from top to bottom. He didn't even let go of the God's Stone of Retaliation that was placed in the vault and the secret room. After a thorough search, the results were simply touching. Just the two big boxes of Golden Dragon found in the basement storage were conservatively estimated to contain as many as 10,000 Golden Dragon Pills. Nightingale found dozens of eyeball-sized gems in the secret compartment of the bedroom, while Echo found a dark room behind the fireplace. After entering the secret chamber, not only were there all kinds of gold handicrafts, such as scepters and crowns, but there were also many dazzling pieces of jewelry that were neatly hung on the wooden shelves on the wall.
This was the financial resources of a Duke!
Roland looked at this huge wealth, and then thought of Border Town's autumn and winter revenue of less than 500 Golden Dragon Ores, his heart was filled with emotion. This was the allure of plundering, if he didn't come from a highly developed industrial society, he was afraid that he would also be addicted to it.
But even though he was emotional, he still had to accept these things. In the foreseeable future, Border Town's labor population would increase significantly, and before the development of agriculture in his territory, he needed a large amount of money to import food from other places.
Therefore, Hummingbird lightened the boxes of treasures, and Iron Axe and the Prince's personal guards were responsible for escorting them. Through Border Town, they would bring the spoils of war back to their castle and store them there. Taking into account the time needed to enchant the large items, it would take about three days to transport them all.
This was also the reason why the next day, Roland decided not to ask for the Golden Dragon as a ransom. He had already benefited a lot from eating a Duke, but now he needed living people and livestock.
"Your Highness, are you really only going to stay here for a week?" Nightingale asked.
"What's wrong?" Roland closed his eyes, enjoying the bursts of soreness coming from his shoulders.
"Is this the largest city in the Western Region?" She whispered, "Compared to Border Town, don't you want to stay in this more prosperous place?"
"Longsong Stronghold's forces are complex, and it's not suitable for what I want to do. It's better to maintain the status quo, but if I want to make changes, I will only encounter more and more resistance, and now I can't brutally eradicate them all. " Roland smiled, "Of course, the most important thing is that the people here are deeply influenced by the Church, and it will be difficult for them to accept you in a short time. I have said that I hope witches can walk freely on the streets, and Border Town has now achieved this. "
"Well," Nightingale softly said, "you have fulfilled your promise."
*****
On the morning of the third day, Pérot hurriedly brought his list, and Roland received him in the hall as usual.
"Your Highness, I have chosen."
"Let me have a look." Roland took the list. Similar to what he had expected, the list was filled with serfs with a value of 2 points, about 800 people, 100 cows and 300 sheep accounted for a total of 900 points, and the rest were all kinds of craftsmen.
"Your Highness, is this okay?"
"Of course, as long as you have enough points, it's okay." Roland returned the list to Pérot, "When can you gather these people and supplies?"
"Today is possible, this is the arrangement I made according to the property and people of the Honeysuckle Family territory. But Your Highness, if you want to bring them back to Border Town, it may take about half a month. "
"This will have to be done by yourself," Roland knocked on the table, "You should have the experience of organizing caravans, right?"
"Yes, Your Highness." Pérot hesitated, "Then my father …"
"You can bring him back today," the Prince said with a smile, at the same time handing him a parchment roll, "If you feel that there is no problem, sign and leave your fingerprint on it."
"This is … an agency contract?" Pérot glanced at the beginning, his voice became excited, "Did you agree to grant the agency to the Honeysuckle Family? Please wait a moment. "He spread out the paper roll and began to carefully read the contract.
The other side's cautiousness made Roland nod with satisfaction – as a collaborator, paying attention to the contract was the most basic requirement.
After a moment, Pérot raised his head, "The content is basically the same as what you told me yesterday, but there is one point …" He pointed to the end of the contract, "Your Highness, shouldn't my father's name be written here? He is the Count of the Honeysuckle Family, and also the representative of the family. "
Roland smiled, "Of course not, it was you who discussed the matter of the agency with me, not your father. So, the end of this contract is naturally written with your name. "
Pérot was startled for a moment, he asked with some disbelief, "Your Highness, do you mean that I should —"
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