The First Army completed the follow-up supply work and would soon set off again.
This was also the second half of the task of the spring offensive — to seize Willow Town and Fallen Dragon Ridge. The former would unite the entire Western Region, while the latter would be the most convenient way to the Southern Region.
Considering that neither of the two towns was easy to defend and difficult to attack, Roland handed over the command to Iron Axe and did not go with the team. Since they had just conquered King's City, the morale of the army was extremely high. In addition, professional soldiers had gradually formed the embryonic form of a modern army, and they could faithfully carry out combat orders without the lord leading the army himself. Therefore, Roland was not worried about the result of the battle. As long as they did a good job of reconnaissance and used the artillery unit to steadily advance, the enemy could not make any waves.
What he needed to focus on was the reconstruction of the post-war order.
Fortunately, Willow Town was not large, so there was no need to set up a fully functional subordinate City hall like the Longsong Area. He only needed to arrange corresponding department offices. Now that the Border Area could provide a group of basic management personnel, it should not be difficult to integrate Willow Town into the political system of Neverwinter.
As for Fallen Dragon Ridge, it would be handed over to Countess Spear to manage. After Timothy's downfall, she had sworn allegiance to Roland and agreed to accept the overall management of the Western Region. In order to help her take over the city and clean up the rebellious nobles, it was necessary to send the First Army to garrison.
Moreover, whether it was to further annex the Southern Region or capture Iron Sand City in the future, Fallen Dragon Ridge was a key transportation route, so another purpose of stationing the army was to prevent accidents. In any case, this city must be under the control of Roland.
"In this way, the number of the First Army will be tight." After making a plan, Iron Axe frowned and said, "There are currently 500 people in King's City, and another 1,000 people in Willow Town and Fallen Dragon Ridge. We can freely mobilize less than 1,500 people, most of whom are artillerymen. I'm afraid that Neverwinter will temporarily lose the ability to take the initiative to attack."
"How is the training of the new recruits during the Months of Demons going?"
"Still far from the level of the regular army." He shook his head and said, "At least two or three more months of training."
Roland could not help but laugh. When he first formed the militia to fight against the demonic beasts, it only took him a month and a half of training before he had to bite the bullet and climb the city wall. Now that the army was becoming more and more comprehensive, even the qualification standards had increased a lot. In fact, being able to listen to orders, line up, aim at the target, and pull the trigger was already considered a strong army in this era. After all, lining up to be shot would still require them to advance under the enemy's firepower, and here, they were merely aiming at the enemy for target practice.
"Don't worry, when the time comes, the garrison can be replaced with these new recruits. Let them fight with the noble's guards, it can be considered a kind of training." Roland said casually. "When the emissary delegation returns, Neverwinter will welcome a new population peak. At that time, we can continue to expand the size of the army."
Conquering King's City was far from the end, and seizing Fallen Dragon Ridge was just the beginning. If everything went well, he hoped to incorporate the entire Southernmost Region into his territory before the Months of Demons.
If he could obtain a stable supply of Blackwater, he might be able to push the industrial level of Neverwinter to a new level.
Not long after Iron Axe left, Nightingale quietly appeared in front of Roland.
"Iffy wants to see you."
…
Looking at the witch of the Bloodfang Association slowly walking into the office, Roland felt some changes.
Her steps were not as steady as when she first came, and her long black hair was slightly messy. Apparently, she did not take care of it. The vigilance and arrogance on her face faded a little, replaced by a sense of confusion and bewilderment.
At this moment, she looked more like a girl of her age.
Iffy first bowed to Roland, and after a long silence, she said, "Your Majesty, what weapon does Maggie use?"
Roland had already guessed that she would ask this question. He nodded to Nightingale, who drew out the revolver from her waist and put it on the table.
"She uses a gun, which uses gunpowder to propel the bullets to kill the enemy." He deftly removed the cartridge and poured out the bullets. "The bullets used to kill you have been specially modified, so they won't penetrate your body. Otherwise, you would have been dead."
Iffy's lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed her words at last.
Roland picked up a bullet and held it in front of him. "Do you see this? It's not much bigger than a little finger, but it requires a set of very complicated steps to produce it. In this process, hundreds of ordinary townspeople and three witches are required to participate. Those witches are the non-combat witches that you thought were useless. Do you still think so now? "
"I …" She looked hesitant and did not answer for a long time.
Roland did not give her too much time to think and continued, "Maybe they can't fight you directly with their ability, but what does that mean? An ordinary person can't beat a fierce beast with his fists and feet. But it's still human beings who occupy this world, not those beasts. "
"I prefer to call non-combat witches as auxiliary witches. They can bestow brand-new powers to the vast majority of ordinary people through their own abilities, just like guards wielding longswords and shields. With these, humans can easily defeat beasts. In a sense, auxiliary witches are greater than combat witches. "
"But these weapons of yours … they can play a more powerful role in the hands of combat witches," Iffy whispered.
"This difference is not obvious, at least it can't determine the outcome of a war." Roland shook his head. "You can imagine, if you face ten ordinary soldiers who use the same weapons as you, what are your chances of winning? My territory can produce seven or eight of these guns every day, but how many combat witches are there? Moreover, weapons alone are not enough. To maintain the operation of these weapons, we must be equipped with a large production logistics team, in which the role of auxiliary witches is irreplaceable. "
He reassembled the guns and handed them back to Nightingale. "I know it's hard for you to understand this fact at the moment. The reason why human beings are greater than beasts is that they can use their wisdom to create powers that this world has never had. Magic power is undoubtedly the best tool, but you're wasting this talent. " He paused for a moment. "By the way, in the afternoon, the First Army's reserve team will have a live-fire rifle training. I can arrange for you to visit it. At that time, you can use your own eyes to observe what real power is."
"Times have changed, Iffy."
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