...
When all five families had been questioned, Roland breathed a sigh of relief.
He leaned back in his chair, and Nightingale proactively walked behind him, reaching out to massage his shoulders.
It only took a day to go from defeating the Duke to entering the city and occupying the Lord's castle.
Things went even smoother than he had imagined. After the Duke's death, the vast majority of people chose to surrender. The mercenaries even defected, kneeling on the ground and expressing their willingness to serve His Royal Highness the Prince.
So the mercenaries guarded the surrendered knights and nobles, and the First Army guarded the mercenaries. A large group of people marched east and arrived at Longsong Stronghold at three o'clock that afternoon. The guards at the city gate, upon seeing the head of Duke Ryan and a large group of captured nobles, immediately opened the city gates to welcome the Fourth Prince into the city.
Roland did not ostentatiously summon all the nobles in the city to declare the ownership of the city to them, but went to the Lord's castle as soon as possible.
The castle was located at the highest point in the center of the stronghold, like a city within a city. A small-scale battle broke out when entering the castle district. Nightingale used explosives to blow open the courtyard gate. More than twenty guards who had not followed the Duke on the expedition tried to stop Roland from entering, but were killed by the First Army. The opposing side used crossbows in their resistance, causing five team members to be injured, two of whom were seriously injured. Fortunately, Nana Wawa, who was traveling with the army, healed them immediately.
There were also ten personal guards who tried to sneak the Duke's family out of the castle's back door, but they were discovered by Lightning, who was monitoring from the air, and were immediately surrounded and captured. The Duke's wife and two sons surrendered. Until this time, they were still in the dark and knew nothing about the Duke's defeat.
After controlling the Lord's castle, the First Army of Border Town immediately took over the defense of the castle district. It must be said that Duke Ryan's castle was three or four times larger than that of Border Town, and the design was much more magnificent. Six watchtowers formed its regular hexagonal outline, and the main tower in the middle was almost five stories high—a rare tall building in this era. The courtyard had everything from residences to warehouses to stables, and the castle's basement even had private prisons.
He stuffed the valuable prisoners and the Duke's family into the prison cells, dismissed all the commoners, confiscated the mercenaries' weapons, and placed them in the idle rooms of the courtyard in batches. At the same time, he picked out a few leaders and gave them high salaries, letting them manage themselves. In Roland's eyes, the North Slope mine was the best destination for these speculators, but he had more important things to do now.
That was the most important loot part after a battle—commonly known as corpse looting.
Roland, with a group of witches, searched the castle up and down, and he did not let go of the God's Stone of Retaliation placed in the vault and secret room. After a thorough search, the results were simply touching. The two large boxes of gold dragons found in the basement warehouse alone were conservatively estimated to be worth tens of thousands. Nightingale found dozens of eyeball-sized gems in a hidden compartment in the bedroom, and Echo found a secret room behind the fireplace. After entering the secret room, it was not only filled with various gold crafts, such as scepters and crowns, but also many dazzling pieces of jewelry, neatly hung on the wooden shelves on the wall.
This was the wealth of a Duke!
Roland looked at this huge wealth, and then thought about the Border Town's total ore revenue of less than five hundred gold dragons in autumn and winter, and felt a lot of emotion in his heart. The allure of plunder lies in this. If he were not from a highly developed industrial society, he would probably be addicted to it.
However, despite his emotions, these things still had to be taken. In the foreseeable future, the labor force in Border Town would increase significantly. Before the territory's agriculture was developed, he would need a large sum of money to import food from other places.
So Hummingbird lightened the boxes of treasure, and Iron Axe and the Prince's Guards were responsible for escorting them, taking the spoils back to their own castle for storage via the Small Town. Considering the time it took to enchant large items, it would take about three days to complete the transportation.
This was also the reason why Roland decided not to demand gold dragons as ransom the next day. Eating up a Duke had already benefited him a lot, and now he needed living people and livestock more.
"Your Highness, are you really only staying here for a week?" Nightingale asked.
"What's wrong?" Roland closed his eyes, enjoying the tingling sensation coming from his shoulders.
"Isn't this the largest city in the Western Region?" she whispered. "Don't you want to stay in this more prosperous place than Border Town?"
"Longsong Stronghold has a complex web of power and is not suitable for what I want to do. It's fine to maintain the status quo, but if I want to make changes, the resistance I encounter will only increase, and I can't brutally eradicate them all at the moment." 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 the short term. I once said that I hope witches can walk freely on the streets, and Border Town has already achieved this."
"Mm," Nightingale said softly, "You have fulfilled your promise."
*******************
Early on the third day, Pello brought his list in a hurry. Roland received him in the hall as usual.
"Your Highness, I have made my selection."
"Let me see." Roland took the list. As expected, the main items listed were serfs with a value of 2, about a hundred people, and a hundred cows and three hundred sheep, totaling 900 points. The rest were various craftsmen.
"Your Highness, is this acceptable?"
"Of course, as long as you reach three thousand points." Roland returned the list to Pello. "When can you gather these people and supplies?"
"Today. This is the arrangement I made based on the property and people of the Honeysuckle Territory. But Your Highness, if you want to take them back to Border Town, it may take about half a month."
"This has to be done by yourself," Roland tapped the table and said. "You should have experience in organizing merchant caravans?"
"Yes, Your Highness." Pello hesitated. "What about my father..."
"You can take him back today," the Prince said with a smile, while handing him a parchment scroll. "If you think there are no problems, sign and put your handprint on it."
"This is... an agency contract?" Pello glanced at the beginning, his voice becoming excited. "You have agreed to grant the agency rights to the Honeysuckle family? Please wait a moment." He flattened the scroll and began to read the contract carefully.
Roland nodded with satisfaction at the other party's caution. As a partner, valuing the contract was the most basic requirement.
After a while, Pello raised his head. "The content above is basically the same as what you told me yesterday, but there is one thing..." He pointed to the end of the contract. "Your Highness, shouldn't my father's name be written here? He is the Earl of Honeysuckle and the representative of the family."
Roland smiled. "Of course not. You are the one who discussed the agency matters with me, not your father. So, naturally, your name is written at the end of this contract."
Pello was stunned for a moment, and asked in disbelief, "Your Highness, do you mean for me to..."
"That's right, you will replace the Duke's position and manage Longsong Stronghold on my behalf." Roland nodded. "If the contract is executed smoothly, you can continue to own this city after I become king." He paused, put away his smile, and said, "But if you violate the contract, the consequences will be the same as those of the Duke. I can attack Longsong Stronghold once, and I can do it a second time. Do a good job, Ambassador."If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote and support. Your support is my biggest motivation.
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