It seemed he needed to step up his game as well. Roland shrugged inwardly; it wasn't glorious to be left behind by his subordinates.
Fortunately, Redwater City had largely returned to stability. Among the nobles who had passed the screening, 70% decided to continue managing their original industries, while the rest hoped to try their luck at the City Hall. Although the basic requirement for applying for the administrative exam, "literacy," was a piece of cake for them, Roland didn't think these people had a high chance of passing the final review and becoming official officials.
After all, the nobles' way of handling things wasn't so easy to change.
Of course, even being a clerk was much better than losing their heads.
There were even three nobles who wanted to join the First Army—they were all knights by birth, and under Nightingale's observation, they didn't seem to harbor any hidden malice. However, he still adhered to the decision made at the beginning of the army's creation and rejected the three men's applications.
After solving the problem of recovering the enfeoffment rights, the efficiency of Redwater City and its surrounding areas was obviously much higher. In a little over a week, more than 20,000 people boarded ships bound for Neverwinter City, and more people were still gathering in Redwater—the practice of abandoning small towns and villages seemed to reduce the controllable territory on the surface, but it actually greatly improved the City Hall's control.
In this era where even roads were scarce, it was like a fool's dream to enforce government orders in the countryside. It was barely feasible to put together a leadership team in a year, but it was difficult to have grassroots cadres blossom everywhere. Barov had asked him more than once why he was so persistent in transporting the population back to Neverwinter City, instead of letting everything remain the same after unifying the kingdom, and he had never given a comprehensive and systematic answer.
Because the Chief Steward couldn't imagine how many people a coal and iron complex industry could absorb, nor could he understand how much effort and time it would take to build such an industry.
And the most important point was that those remote territories couldn't really operate freely. From a resource point of view, keeping them was a waste.
Therefore, concentrating the population in several major cities with convenient water transportation was a more suitable approach for the current situation in Graycastle.
From the moment of the land reform, Roland truly possessed jurisdiction over the Redwater area.
And his next target was naturally Silverlight City.
Compared to the behemoth Redwater City, cleaning up this satellite city of the old royal capital was much simpler—it was originally an ordinary fief, no different from the dozens of fiefs surrounding the royal capital, until the first open-pit silver mine was discovered, which made its existence special. As more and more precious metal ore veins were discovered, the place became more and more lively, eventually turning into what it is today.
Considering that Silverlight City's output was extremely important to Graycastle's coinage, the later lords were not only held by Earl William, a "good old man" loyal to the Wimbledon line, but also had their power restricted. Over the decades, they had hardly enfeoffed other nobles.
In other words, as long as the city lord made a statement, Silverlight City would be in his pocket.
And with the bloodline of Wimbledon III and his status as the highest-ranking heir, Roland believed that "persuading" the other party would not be difficult.
However, what bothered him a bit was that this city built on a mine was also Nightingale's hometown.
Although every time he asked her, the answer he got was, "I've broken away from the Ge Lan family, so you don't have to worry about my thoughts," he always felt that Nightingale seemed to be avoiding something. It was just that busy government affairs didn't allow Roland to spend too much time on speculation, so he had to put this matter aside for the time being.
On the fourth day after receiving Iron Axe's secret letter, the First Army's Eastern Front Army sailed into Silverlight City's territory along the artificial canal in a mighty manner.
...
Almost the same as the journey to enter Redwater City, Earl William led a team out of the city to greet them, and after a warm exchange of greetings, there was a dinner invitation. The difference was that the welcoming team in Redwater City was made up of enfeoffed nobles, while the old city lord's team included many merchants, and even an old acquaintance, Hogg.
In the evening, the Earl's opening remarks set the tone for the banquet—he was willing to hand over the enfeoffment rights and fully support His Majesty Roland's new policies. The venue immediately erupted in warm applause, which made all the rhetoric that the latter had prepared stuck in his throat.
.
And Hogg's matchmaking turned the welcome banquet into a business negotiation meeting.
"You've always asked me how that set of machines in the mine works, haven't you?" he said smugly in front of a group of merchants, "Now the real inventor is standing in front of you—it's His Majesty Roland! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get the answer directly in Silverlight City without going to the Western Region!"
The merchants immediately swarmed over.
"Your Majesty, can you tell us why it's so powerful?"
"I wonder if you're willing to sell more rail systems. The Diamond Merchant Guild would be very much looking forward to cooperating with Neverwinter City."
"Your Majesty, do you still remember the Quick Sail Association? Two years ago, we provided several sailing ships to transport refugees from the Eastern Territory—in terms of trade strength, we are definitely one of the best merchant guilds in the entire territory. If possible, the Quick Sail Association hopes to purchase a complete set of steam engine manufacturing equipment. Of course, the price will be absolutely generous!"
Remembering the "good news" that the female merchant Margaret had revealed to him, Roland couldn't help but feel a little amused—"Hogg will lead a large group of merchants to the Western Region," but he didn't expect that he would arrive ahead of them.
If the rest of Graycastle were like Silverlight City, how wonderful the world would be.
After finally satisfying the merchants' goodwill, he finally found an opportunity to be alone with the old city lord.
The two of them walked through the hall, onto the terrace where the evening breeze was blowing, temporarily isolating the noise of the banquet behind them.
Roland held a wine glass and overlooked the city under the night sky for a long time before speaking, "Aren't you feeling any regret handing over the enfeoffment rights like this?"
"I never really owned it, so how can I talk about regret..." Earl William smiled, "Your father, and your father's father, although they didn't say it explicitly, would never allow Silverlight City to have a group of its own supporters, and the William family's family motto is to never enfeoff, so it's not as important to me as you think." He paused slightly, "Besides, I don't need this power either."
"Don't need it?" Roland couldn't help but feel a little curious.
"The original intention of enfeoffment was to strengthen and consolidate one's own power to prevent others from coveting it, but Silverlight City doesn't have this risk—anyone who covets this city is tantamount to openly provoking the authority of the Wimbledon royal family, so as long as the family guarantees loyalty, they don't have to worry about being harmed." The Earl sipped his wine, "Conversely, enfeoffment is also a weakening of oneself in a sense—it divides the resources that originally belonged to oneself to others in exchange for the latter's service. Instead of putting these resources in the hands of others, I would rather manage it myself. Do you know how much Silverlight City's output has increased in the last twenty years?"
Roland shook his head.
"A full sixteen times, for which I have invested most of my energy..." The old city lord said with great interest, "At first, it was just an open-pit silver mine, but now there are more than a dozen kinds of ore veins being mined; similarly, at first there were only collection teams sent by the royal family, but now there are not only various ore and jewelry merchants, but also many auxiliary industries that have developed through mining, such as oil lamps, mining shovel manufacturing, etc. Your steam engine can also be regarded as one of them, am I wrong?"
"That's true," Roland said with a smile.
"This feeling is like raising a child, watching it gradually grow up. How can you say I'm willing to cut it open and give it to others? So I don't need that kind of power." The Earl let out a long breath at this point, "Your Majesty, are you willing to let me continue to manage this shimmering silver city for you?"
"Of course, if you're willing," he raised his glass to the other party. The two looked at each other and smiled, and then the glasses clinked together gently, making a crisp sound.
"By the way," Roland changed the subject after drinking his wine in one gulp, "Do you know about the Ge Lan family?"
"Ge Lan?" Earl William pondered for a while before raising his eyebrows, "I have a bit of an impression, but I don't remember too clearly—after all, Silverlight City hasn't had any new nobles for a long time. These families existed here before the silver mine was discovered. If I remember correctly, the last Ge Lan should have changed his surname two years ago, and now that piece of land belongs to the Sommer family.
Everything."
When the other party said this, Roland felt Nightingale suddenly grip his arm tightly.