Sophia regained the royal capital. Of course, the royal capital was completely different from what it was a month ago.
When Sophia left the royal capital, she took everything she could carry with her.
Sean also carried out some looting when he left the royal capital.
Today's royal capital is in devastation, and even the sterling silver bear's head on the Silver Bear Throne was sawed off by Sean.
The streets were as silent as a cemetery. The civilians who had left before were unwilling to return to the royal capital. The old and weak who were left unable to move became the prey of the cold demon. Not even the starving corpses were left behind.
Romell made a simple plan. First, let the royal capital stockpile some food, then repair the damaged city wall as soon as possible, dig trenches outside the city, lay traps, and then call all the craftsmen over to build weapons and produce black powder.
…
This plan seems familiar, because it was done last year. Romell's goal is to hold on to the royal capital until spring arrives, and then launch a counterattack to drive the freezing demon into a place where there is no spring and there will be eternal cold.
Although there is nothing new in this plan, it always sounds full of hope. Salah took out hundreds of gold coins and wanted Roland to purchase some war horses for him. The Cambrian Knight who lost his war horse lost a life.
Most of the combat power, and the war horse is related to the knight's glory and self-esteem.
Nehruv was more pragmatic. He collected several boxes of jewelry and a beautiful girl and gave them to Roland. He had only one purpose in doing so, he wanted the method of making bombs.
"We have very good craftsmen, and we can make those iron buckets. You just need to tell me the formula of the black powder," Nehruv shrugged his eyebrows and said in Roland's ear, "Young man, if you think these are good enough,
If it’s not enough, just stay here for two more days and I can find better jewelry and a better girl.”
Roland declined Nehruv's hospitality.
"I'm sorry, sir, I can't accept your gift because I don't know the formula of the weapon at all."
"It's so insincere to speak like this," Nehruv's face darkened, "Just give me a price and tell me what you like best, gold or gems?"
"This has nothing to do with price..."
"It seems that you still like women. Even if you want a harem, we can still discuss it!"
Roland didn't know how to reject Nehruv, but Sophia finally resolved the crisis for him: "He really doesn't know the formula of black powder. All the formulas are in the hands of the craftsmen. Even if he knew it, he wouldn't do anything wrong."
You say a word, otherwise Reggie will hang him and his family on the gravel."
"Thank you for your understanding. In fact, our lord is not that cruel," Roland said with a dry laugh. "Now that the war is over, I think I have completed my mission. It is time to return to Shattering Snow City..."
"Wait a minute, who told you that the war is over?" Sophia took a sip of ale and put on her most familiar rogue face, "I just took back the capital, and the enemy is still near the tundra.
Occupying more than a dozen cities."
"Your Majesty, according to our agreement, Broken Snow City's assistance to you is limited to this battle. It is impossible for me to help you completely defeat the Frost Demon."
"It seems that you have some misunderstandings about this battle. The battle I am talking about refers to the decisive battle with the Frost Demon! As long as there is still one Frost Demon alive, this battle will not end."
This is such a shameless explanation. No wonder Nipoli once said not to sign a contract with the Bayers. If it comes to the point where it must be signed, every detail must be clearly written.
"Well, if you insist on doing this, I have no better way," Roland said, "At first we only promised to provide weapons assistance, but now I leave all the weapons here and leave with my people.
"
"What do you mean all weapons?" Sophia frowned, "Our contract does not stipulate the number of weapons."
"But..." Thanks to Roland's good nature, if it had been Jarvan and Erwin, he would have had a conflict with Sophia. If it had been the violent orcs, there would have been bloodshed.
"No matter what kind of request you have, I will convey it to the lord. Our contract only contains weapons, and there is no agreement about people."
"Aren't you a weapon?"
"Of course I'm not a weapon!"
"Then why did Reggie send you?"
Sophia's smile left Roland completely speechless. All the pity and sympathy for the Bayers would eventually become a bargaining chip for them to bite back.
Roland didn't speak anymore. He had to think of the next step. The peace talks were hopeless. There were only two choices left for him. One was to stay here and continue to help Sophia fight, and the other was to break up with the Bayers.
The shame is gone.
Sophia saw through Roland's thoughts, and she directly analyzed the consequences for Roland.
"If you stay and continue fighting, what awaits you will be fine wine and delicious food, as well as the girl's warm embrace. If you want to fall out with me, I am willing to accompany you to the end. You will face heavy casualties, and you will also face Reggie's
Punishment, don’t forget, he didn’t give you an order to leave!”
Roland reluctantly withdrew from the palace, and the Prime Minister was a little worried about this: "Will we anger Lord Victor by doing this? I'm afraid it won't be so easy to get his help next time."
"Next time? Do you want a next time? Don't you know the consequences of begging him?" Sophia shouted, "How many cities can I cede to him?"
No one dared to say anything. Sophia drank a whole can of ale, wiped her mouth and said: "Drive them back to the tundra in the spring, wait until winter and wait for them to come back, and then go there when we can't resist anymore."
Suixue City is asking for help. The Bayer people are fighting instead of fleeing. Men have no time to farm and women have no time to have children. If we cede cities to Reggie one after another, the Bayer country will be extinct if this continues!
This year we must defeat the Frost Demon, make it disappear forever from the land of Bayer Country, and make Bayer Country the most stable and richest country on the continent!"
Roland passed the news to Tortosa through the wizard's props. When he learned that Sophia refused to let her go, everyone was very angry. Jiawen even proposed to attack the Bayer Kingdom.
Only Reggie was very indifferent. He allowed Roland to stay in Bayer Country to fight with peace of mind and would always ensure a stable supply of weapons. However, Reggie also put forward new conditions. He asked Bayer Country to provide a large amount of iron ore.
Used to make more weapons.
Sophia readily agreed to Reggie's conditions. The country of Bayer is rich in iron ore, but for Sophia, iron ore is the least valuable thing at present. She has very few craftsmen left, but she still has plenty of pig iron reserves.
.
No one understood Reggie's decision, even Nipoli.
"Sir, if we really help the Bayers eliminate the Frost Demon, their next target will be us!"
"I can imagine that I have suffered such a loss before," Reggie nodded. "As long as you give Sophia a chance to breathe, she will find a way to bite me."
Nipoli felt even more confused: "Then why do you still want to help her? We have already obtained Silver Pine City!"
"Have you been to Silverpine City?" Reggie smiled.
"Not yet. I heard the situation there is not very good."
"The word "not good" is a bit inaccurate. It was the worst place I have ever seen. I don't want Broken Snow City to become like that."
"How could Broken Snow City become like that?" Nipoli shook his head and said, "If we could list the thirty richest cities on this continent, Broken Snow City would definitely be among them."
"If the frost demons occupy the Bayer country, Shattering Snow City will probably become like Silver Pine City." Reggie put down the ancient book in his hand. "The evil demons are far more terrifying than the Bayer people. Rather than letting the flames of war burn down the broken snow,
It is better to just close the gate of hell in Bayer Kingdom."
Nipoli still wanted to argue with Reggie, but Reggie was more concerned about another thing.
"It's already March, are you ready for spring plowing?"
"We have bought all the farm tools, and also purchased more than 3,000 cattle. This expense is really not small. My suggestion is still the same as before. We cannot provide help for free. We must make farmers pay for the purchase and take back what is due.
Take everything back."
"Not this time!" Reggie decisively rejected Nipoli. "We can't argue with the farmers now. Let the agricultural officers manage the cattle and let them help farmers cultivate for free, as well as seeds, fertilizers, and everything else."
Everything is provided for free, don’t forget to purchase more food from the White Tower Country.”
"Do you think this is really necessary?" Nipoli felt that Reggie valued food too much. "There are still tens of millions of pounds of surplus food left last year!"
"I now have eight territories and 100,000 people waiting for me to eat. There is never too much food."
"Let your people learn to survive on their own!"
"They know how to survive," Reggie said with a worried look, "provided we can protect their right to survive."