Reggie made an offer to Sophia, one million pounds of grain in exchange for the lives of Prince Sean and the Assistant Minister.
It took Sophia a long time to understand what Reggie meant.
"Are you... extorting?"
Reggie didn't deny it, nor did he blush: "That's indeed what I meant."
"You are blackmailing Bayer Country!"
"Is there anything wrong?"
Sophia looked at Reggie in surprise, shook her head and said, "The Bayer Country has never had a precedent of redeeming prisoners of war."
Reggie said: "There has never been a precedent for a prince being captured in Bayer Country. One million pounds of grain can be exchanged for a prince and an important minister. I think this business is still a good deal."
"This is not business!" Sophia gritted her teeth, "This is a humiliation to Bayer Country!"
"Then it depends on how you measure the value of life," Reggie said with a smile. "The lost dignity can be regained, but the life lost will be lost forever."
"You are not qualified to tell me the value!" Sophia shouted, "If your king is willing to negotiate, I can consider your request."
"The king is not here, and the prince is not in his hands. This is not a request, it is a condition, a condition for redeeming the prince. One million pounds is not a small amount. I hope to see these grains within five days, otherwise
I can no longer guarantee the safety of the prince and the lord chancellor."
Reggie left with the guards, leaving Sophia alone and messy in the wind.
He really didn't break his promise, he really let himself go.
This lunatic dared to blackmail himself.
Pay a ransom to the Lion Kingdom?
And to a stupid viscount?
Her father would definitely not agree to such a thing.
In fact, her father didn't even know about Sean's defeat and capture.
Stupid Reginald, he has no idea what he is doing.
Sophia, still frightened, returned to the farmhouse and put on her robe again. She sat silently in the farmhouse for a long time, and did not leave Reggie's territory until dark.
…
Reggie did not return to the castle, but went directly to the kiln in the east of the city.
There were ten craftsmen in this kiln, and their task was to smelt iron and make ironware. Bachelo chose a craftsman named Nolos to be the person in charge of the kiln.
Reggie named the kiln No. 1 Smelter. The term smelting is very special, but the prefix No. 1 made Nolos very excited.
Ever since Jarvan Gusta became the commander of the First Army, the residents of Shattering Snow City have formed a consensus that being first means the highest status and power.
Reggie gave Nolos the official position of factory director and paid him a salary of twenty-five silver coins every month. This was really an enviable position, but Nolos was not satisfied with this. His goal was to be like
Khalaf became a respected engineering bachelor.
He always believed that his craftsmanship would never be inferior to that of Calaf, especially the skill of iron smelting. No one in Shattering Snow City could do it better than him. He once made a spear for Bachelot.
He gave the spear to the knight Gusta. During the battle with the Bayer Kingdom, Jarvan always carried this spear. This was enough for Noros to brag about for a lifetime.
But in the past few days, Nolos had been extremely disappointed with his work. He thought Reggie would let him use these fine iron stones to make weapons, but who knew that Reggie asked him to make a bunch of useless iron barrels?
.
According to Reggie's drawings, beat the pig iron into thin iron sheets and make a bucket. Then make a lid on the bucket and drill a small hole in the lid. This is the task Reggie gave him.
What is the use of this kind of thing? Pig iron rusts easily. Such an iron bucket can neither hold water nor rice, and cannot even be used as a urinal. In an era when clay pots were prevalent, the iron bucket was worthless.
Weird, looking at these embarrassing products is simply a humiliation to a craftsman.
Look what Calaf is doing? He is making black powder, the most terrifying weapon in the Bayer Kingdom. It is said that he also helped the lord make a sacred potion that can bring the messenger Simon back to life.
There is also Wenske, the director of the second factory. He can use worthless white stone to make priceless yellow stone. This is simply the magic of turning stone into gold. The lord actually taught such a magical magic to that idiot!
There is also a third factory where they are burning special lime that can turn into stone after being poured with water.
Look, they are all learning the lord's magic, and only he is doing the most meaningless work. This is obviously the lord's contempt for him.
A craftsman made an iron bucket. It is not easy to process an iron bucket. Pig iron is very brittle and has poor ductility. Each iron bucket requires a lot of effort, but Nolos didn't even bother to take a second look.
Put it directly in the finished product area.
It was getting late, the last furnace of molten iron was poured out, and Nolos was about to ring the iron bell to tell the craftsmen to get off work.
This iron clock was made by Noros himself, imitating the big clock on the stone tower. He had always wanted to show off his craftsmanship in front of Reggie, but since the completion of the kiln, Reggie never showed up again.
"Who cares about these broken iron barrels?" With the sadness of being unappreciated, Nolos was about to pull the rope under the iron bell when he suddenly saw a guard rushing over and said: "The lord is here, let your workers
Cheer up, everyone."
This guard is called Thackeray, who was originally Bachelot's slave and Nolos' best friend. He once worked as a gladiator. Erwin admired his skill and asked Reggie to redeem his body for him.
He became a member of the Lord's Guard.
Hearing that Reggie was coming, Nolos was so excited that he almost rushed into the kiln.
"Choose the best iron stone, use the best charcoal, and make another furnace of molten iron! Hurry up, hurry up! Look at your damn appearance! Are you still considered craftsmen? How do you hold your hammer? Your sink
It’s almost dry! Wash the dust off your face! And you, hurry up and take away these rotten iron slag!”
Nolos jumping up and down made the lifeless No. 1 Smelting Factory instantly become lively. When Reggie arrived, a craftsman had just finished building an iron bucket. It was obvious that the craftsman put a lot of thought into it, and the iron bucket was
It was polished to a shiny finish, but his thoughts seemed to be in the wrong place. Reggie quickly discovered a problem, a very serious problem.
He asked the craftsman to fetch a bucket of water. When he lifted the bucket, Nolos's face turned pale instantly.
"Did you see it, my factory director?" Reggie lowered his eyes and looked at Noros, "I can even take a shower down there!"
The iron bucket leaked, and there were more than one leakage point. Reggie had repeatedly told Nolos that the quality of the iron bucket must be guaranteed, but Nolos did not understand the concept of quality because there was no concept of using iron buckets to fill water in this era.
.
Reggie looked at the finished iron buckets. After counting, there were forty-two in total. There were only ten craftsmen here. While making the iron buckets, they were also responsible for smelting iron. This efficiency was not too low.
Reggie asked the craftsmen to fill each iron bucket with water. After inspection, there were only twenty-nine iron buckets that were truly qualified.
"It's my fault," Reggie sighed, "I should have made clearer technical requirements."
Technical requirements...
Noros couldn't understand these unfamiliar technical words, but he saw Reggie's disappointment.
Unable to do such a simple thing well, Nolos felt that his dream of getting a bachelor's degree in engineering was getting further and further away from him.
"Sir, please punish me!" The helpless Nolos knelt on the ground, and guard Thackeray said beside him: "Sir, please allow me to say one more thing, Nolos is the most outstanding blacksmith, he is really
Very attentive..."
"I don't blame you," Reggie helped Noros up. "I know you are the best blacksmith, so I gave you the most important task. It seems that I was too careless. I should at least be more careful."
I’ll give you some more manpower.”
The most important task, the lord said, this is the most important task.
Noros wished he could slap himself on the spot to see what he had done? See what he had missed? He had misunderstood the lord's thoughts and failed to live up to the lord's expectations.
"There is no need to send more manpower, sir!" Noros said, "I will throw these rags into the furnace tonight, and I will definitely send you the best iron bucket tomorrow!"
"Let the workers rest today, and be sure to repair the leaking iron barrels tomorrow," Reggie said. "I will ask the bachelor to add more manpower to you. One hundred qualified iron barrels must be processed within two days.
By the way, where has the Grand Master gone?"
Reggie and Batchelor made an appointment to come to the kiln together. Batchelor's manor is not far from here, so it stands to reason that he should have arrived long ago.
Reggie was about to ask the guards to ask about the situation, but saw Calaf running over with red eyes.
"Lord," Calaf said in a trembling voice, "Miss Windsor is missing!"
"Miss Windsor?" Reggie could never remember the girl's name.
"It's Alice," Calaf couldn't hold back his tears anymore, "We can't find her anywhere!"