Medieval Empire Soldier Chapter 91

   Chapter 91 Ninety-two · Sorceress Tower (Subscription)

  In the beginning of July, in the office of the 3rd floor of the lord's longhouse, the Imperial Midden Collar, Oak Collar.

The sound of local knocking came from the window. In the residential area and the big market of Oak Village, the dwarf stonemason was directing more than two dozen craftsmen to build basic water conservancy facilities such as aqueducts, wells, drainage ditches, etc. The experienced dwarf stonemason Caressing their long beards, they expect to be finished before the end of the year.

  There is a serious shortage of water for daily life in the large human towns in the north. Small rivers cannot support the consumption of the huge population. The residents at the bottom are living in hardships, and they have to travel more than ten miles every day to fetch water, which is also one of the reasons for hindering the development of the population.

  Oak Village is located by the York River and has abundant water resources. Naturally, it is necessary to take advantage of this geographical advantage.

As the weather continues to heat up, the dirty sewage cannot be discharged, the garbage piles accumulate day after day, and the pungent odor can be smelled far away from the village. If this continues, a highly contagious and incurable plague will breed. Diseases such as malaria, cholera, measles, Oak Village will all be destroyed.

   To this end, Laylen recruited dozens of craftsmen and civilians, intending to solve the problem from the root cause, minimize the chance of the spread of plague diseases, at least not to break out a large-scale plague from Oak Village.

  In the midsummer season, the light yellow wheat waves fluttered in the wind. There were nearly three thousand acres of farmland in the territory, and there were busy figures everywhere. The villagers used brand-new dwarf hoes and rakes for farm work.

   On the York River, five large waterwheels pump water from the York River around the clock and pour it into the aqueduct. With the help of dwarf construction machinery, Oak Village has not experienced drought this year, and it is expected to be a good year for a bumper harvest.

  A livestock farm under the leadership of the oak leader and a trading post of the Overland Chamber of Commerce on a commercial street in the village are all on the right track, and it will not be long before they can play their due role.

The affairs officer, Pittman, was dressed in the correct manner, and began to report on the development of the territory one by one: "My lord, the winter wheat planted at the end of last year has matured, and the tax collectors have already been dispatched. The farmland for winter wheat cultivation occupies five According to the 30% tax rate you set, it is estimated that the harvested food crops are worth about 110-140 imperial gold coins, if not converted into gold coins, the barn in the territory can be filled by half."

   After annihilating the Wolf Thieves more than three months ago, Lailun obtained nearly 2,000 imperial gold coins from it, plus several coins from the Wood Elves, Knight Kingdom and Araby, the total number exceeds 2,600.

From today onwards, the accounts of the Kingdom Knights have shrunk considerably, and there are only less than 700 imperial gold coins left, training halberdiers, continuously expanding the population, recruiting craftsmen, etc. The expenses are huge, and Lailun spends money lavishly, It would be a long time ago for any nobleman to cry.

"Excuse my offense, my lord." The affairs officer hesitated for a while and continued: "Although there is still a surplus in your account, which is enough to support the expenses in the second half of the year, I need to remind you appropriately that next year's leader will The tax paid by the earl and the elector is very amazing, about 260 gold coins, and the newly promulgated war tax, which is about 170 gold coins, and there will be a knight of the elector in mid-August. Come to collect."

   "This letter was sent by the flying pigeons of Kronborg, and the seal at the end of the letter is the family crest of the Elector's family." The clerk took out a letter and handed it over.

   When it comes to numbers and messy tax accounts, the lords and nobles who are good at fighting on horseback are very uninterested. At most, they set a certain amount and the figures on the accounts, and then they can safely throw them to the private tax officials to deal with, even if they cannot avoid embezzlement and stealing ink.

  Although Lallen trusts his affairs officer very much, and Pittman is also loyal to him, he still needs to review the general ledger before making a final decision.

   This is not a question of trust and loyalty. As a lord, the most important financial power is firmly in the palm of your hand. Too much "generousness" cannot be exchanged for gratitude, and the outcome of delegating power is empty.

"War tax, as far as I know, the northern provinces of the empire are peaceful and the war has subsided. After the Nordland coast has been strengthened, the long ships of the Norsca barbarians have also become rare. Where is the war?" Letters to Pay War Taxes.

"The midsummer is here, my lord, the new round of Beastmen war initiated by the elector has entered a white-hot stage." Pittman said seriously: "According to the secret report a few days ago, the warriors of Midenland smashed a million-dollar war. Magic Rock, several large Beastmen war gangs, and even once invaded Duncan Castle in the hinterland of Dracowald Forest, but now the whole battle is at a low ebb, the situation is not clear, the provincial army is slowly at a disadvantage, and the marginal army It was divided and annihilated by the enemy. It is said that not long ago, there was a **** battle in the Black Pit Forest with tragic casualties. More than 70 kingdom knights, more than 360 ranger knights, 2,700 imperial soldiers, 3 A company of white wolf knights perished."

"Then Your Excellency the Elector should have issued a war order to summon more troops. What is the use of conscripting hard gold coins? Without the imperial army, would he have to use piles of gold coins to smash the Beastmen to death?" Bewildering behavior, Lallen has no other choice but to complain: "Pay the war tax in time, and prepare a full amount of gold coins in advance before the Elector's tax knight arrives."

"Okay, I wrote it down." Pittman replied: "By the way, my lord, the land granted to the wood elves to build trading posts and watch stations has been planned. According to the current progress, it will probably not be until autumn. built."

"Really? It's good news." Laylen nodded and reminded again: "Remember to arrange for craftsmen to lay a stone road leading to the wood elves trading station. There will be more merchants in the future, and the road will be muddy and difficult to travel. It will reduce a lot of perception.”

   "One more thing, add more security staff and keep an eye on the wood elves and dwarves. When they meet, they will quarrel, and if they quarrel, they will make trouble. I don't want to see a war between dwarves and dwarves in my own territory."

   "No problem, my lord, I'll retire first."

   "Well, thank you for your hard work."

   Watching the clerk walk out of the door slowly, Laren stood up and walked to the balcony of the longhouse to look at it.

  Drakovald Forest in the northwest appeared at the edge of the line of sight. No one knew what kind of dangerous creatures were infested in the dark forest.

The number of troops in Oak Village has remained stable, with one kingdom knight, one celestial sorceress, one wood elf ranger, one dwarven runesmith, six knights, fifteen rangers, one A company of eighty halberdiers, fifty-three crossbowmen, forty-seven rangers, and a handful of spear militias

If an unfortunate war befalls this land, ample food storage, coherent and strong walls, steadfast and heroic sergeants, plus a small army of wood elves and dwarves in the territory, and a half-griffin that is enough to decide the balance of victory and defeat , Leron is confident against four times the number of enemies.

In times of peace, the enemies you will face in the future will become more and more difficult. From the bandit suppression operations and the heathland defense battle, it can be seen that it is the right choice to eliminate archers and train crossbowmen in batches. It's not enough.

The weight of the crossbow string increases, in exchange for a further reduction in the loading speed. The heavy crossbow held by the crossbow soldier has a maximum range of about 170 meters to 200 meters. It is extremely difficult to manufacture. It requires excellent forging skills and has dozens of A veteran craftsman with years of experience, although dwarf craftsmen are good at making crossbows, the materials needed for heavy crossbows are extremely lacking, and the crossbow strings even require the spine of the monster Chimera.

  The foundation of the empire, steel, gunpowder, faith.

The limitation of    crossbowmen was broken by black powder. Since the dwarves discovered the mystery of black powder thousands of years ago, it saved the capital of the dwarven kingdom of Eternal Peak, Kalazar al-Kalak, which was surrounded by tens of thousands of green-skin orcs at that time.

After that, after more than 400 years, the stubborn and persistent dwarves perfected the configuration of gunpowder, studied the caliber and power in depth, and the Son of the Mountains selflessly shared the mystery of gunpowder with humans. With the thundering muskets and heavy artillery, humans and dwarves Defeat two waves of Chaos Invasion and get the now huge empire territory.

The powerful armor-piercing damage of the musket, just pull the trigger, you can easily penetrate the thick armor of the ranger knight, kill with one blow, under the overwhelming concentration of fire, hundreds of musket salvos, several head of the charge, **** minotaur also drink hatred and fall.

When    attacked the fortress of the Wolf Bandit Corps, Laylen saw the power of the muskets in the hands of the robbers. Especially during the frontal attack on the gate of the fortress, the ranger knights who were defending with their shields were killed one by one.

The requirements for making muskets are extremely demanding, and they still have problems such as instability, low output, large movements, high maintenance costs, and troublesome loading. Not much, and the share of musketeers is less than one-tenth of crossbowmen.

"I wouldn't pay 2000 gp for a pistol made by dwarves! One made by Imperial craftsmen is good enough for me!" - Dagmar von Horstup, former Kronborg nobleman and chief of the guard, dead in the blast.

   For many reasons such as price, craftsmanship, environment, etc., it was destined that the poorer northern provinces of the empire lacked musket power, and large-caliber cannons or low-cost mortars were also scarce.

   In the evening, Lailun took a comfortable hot bath, and the waiter in the long house brought a clean towel and wiped his body for him.

   A few minutes later, the steaming and steaming kingdom knight walked out of the bathroom, changed into dark brown casual clothes, fastened the belt embroidered with the wolf's head, and stepped on deerskin boots on the stone road to the sorceress's tower.

   The stars are shining and the constellations in the sky are intertwined with each other, and the Aegir horoscope is always so mysterious and fascinating.

  The knights of the kingdom walked to the corner of the lord's longhouse, and a fence gate stood in the lush forest appeared in front of him. Lailen waved his hand, and the four ranger knights behind him saluted and left quickly, guarding outside the lord's longhouse.

Pushing through the fence gate, one side of the tower is facing the water, and the other side is surrounded by a tree wall to obstruct the view. The sorceress Rosamina von Julevno carved a magic circle that disturbs the vision in the wall of the mage tower, and two A simple defensive array.

   A small garden was opened up, divided into several pieces by a fence, and planted with various plants and herbs for making magic potions.

It is worth noting that in the corner, there are a few white flowers bathed in the moonlight, protected by a thin layer of mask, looking extremely ethereal. fragrance.

  When the stars are bright, the top of the tower will refract weak light. In the sight of ordinary people, there is no difference between peaceful and unremarkable buildings, and it is difficult to detect it if you look closely. Only a mage who masters the wind of magic can see the essence behind it through the fog.

   "Boom~~" Lailun stood in front of the empty wall, and the heavy stone door withdrew on his own.

   In fact, the knights of the kingdom are the masters of the tower, and the sorceress is only the user,

   What came into view was still the mysterious statue covered in a black hood and hidden in a black robe. The difference from the last time was that the top of the obsidian staff in his hand was filled with milky white light.

  In the tower, the temperature is pleasant and full of good smell.

Lailun took a deep breath and felt refreshed. The interior decoration of the tower has been renovated. The cherry wood tables and chairs, the large floor-to-ceiling magic lamp radiates warm colors, the log floor is not stained with a trace of dust, and the painted murals and decorations , adds a bit of mystery to the tower.

"Ah, it turned out to be Mr. Lailun." A slightly surprised and crisp female voice came from above, and the soothing creaking of the wooden board sounded. Rosa Mina leaned on the handrail of the circular staircase and said with a smile: "Welcome, The knights of the kingdom with the oak collar, are you here to admire the starlight?"

She is wearing a light blue long skirt with ruffles, with a pair of full ravines slightly exposed at the neckline, a string of sky blue necklaces, symbolizing Comet Aegir, falls on her chest, black hair falls on her shoulders, and she is draped behind her shoulders. The dark blue robe looked at Lallen with a smile.

  Lyren couldn't make up a good reason after thinking about it, so he simply told the truth: "I heard that Katarina is recovering from your injuries, so I... come and visit."

   "Oh~" The sorceress smiled a little more and waved to Lallen, motioning to follow her: "It seems that what I said before is right, come with me."

   Stepping on the circular staircase in the middle of the tower, Lailun followed the sorceress step by step. The silver pendant hanging from the ceiling of the tower, and several magic lamps inlaid with magic spar radiated soft light, illuminating the tower.

The sorceress rearranged the tower according to her own style. Each floor has corresponding characteristics and corresponding rooms. The furniture is made of a full set of projects, and various decorations are also made of emeralds and glazed jade, as well as several noble ivory carvings. .

   Rosamina took the Kingdom Knights to the fifth floor, then stopped and opened the wooden door of a room.

  Lairn looked around and asked casually, "I remember that the gold coins provided for you to renovate the tower were less than 300, right? This place looks much more luxurious and more imposing than my lord's longhouse."

"Hehe~ Is that so? I think so too." The sorceress chuckled, reaching for a bottle of magic potion on the table, with the name "Calendula" on the bottle's mouth: "The potion I made is a lot of mercenaries. Welcome, a bottle of calendula potion like this can be sold for six gold coins, and it can heal cuts, stab wounds in a short time, and it is the favorite of those who are bleeding from the knife."

   Ask for tickets and subscriptions!

  NTR first

   (end of this chapter)

Chapter end