The sun is shining warmly at noon, and the temperature in the north has been slowly warming up since the end of the new year.
The soldiers of Ironwood City had firmly closed the city gate at this time. The soldiers had already stood in the fighting position on the city wall according to their usual training. The beacon fires on the battlements were lit and thick black smoke was rising.
Viscount Sauter was also alerted and sent his two brothers with some soldiers to check the outer city. He put on his equipment and sat in the castle.
"Honey, what happened."
The commotion in the castle also alerted Richard's mother, Mrs. Kelly.
"It's okay, it's just a streak of black smoke, maybe some noble's guard passed by."
This is also the rule set by Richard.
There are watchtowers erected in many directions in Ironwood City, and beacon smoke will be set off if there may be enemies.
One smoke means that the danger is not great, and you can just take basic measures. Two smoke means that it is very dangerous. The city needs to be mobilized. If there are three smoke, it means that the intruder is very powerful, so you should be on guard.
Be prepared to break out and escape.
Kailin nodded worriedly and returned to the inner house. She was a woman with general knowledge, so she naturally knew that her greatest contribution would be to control the maids and family members of the inner house at this time.
At this time, Richard had arrived outside Ironwood City, and he was somewhat relieved to see the closed city gate and the billowing smoke.
It would only make him angry if the Ironwood City guard, who had been trained for so long, didn't react at all when dozens of heavily armed soldiers approached.
"I'm Richard, open the city gate and lift the alert."
Thanks to the fact that there were not many guards in Ironwood City, and Richard often brushed his face in front of the soldiers, almost all the guards in Ironwood City knew Richard.
After the captain of the city gate recognized that the leader was Richard, he decisively ordered to lift the alert and open the city gate.
Although he didn't know where that group of well-equipped strange soldiers came from, the prestige that Richard had established over the years had made him habitually carry out Richard's orders.
After entering Ironwood City with the soldiers produced by the system, they went straight to Ironwood Fort. The civilians looked at this small army with some curiosity. After all, this group of soldiers was very strange. They were not familiar with the Ironwood City guards.
"Hey, Richard, is everything okay? Who are they?"
Richard and his men happened to meet the second uncle and third uncle who came to check the situation on the street.
"It's okay. They are soldiers I trained separately. They are all my own."
Richard muttered a few random sentences.
"I've never seen these people before." The two uncles muttered in confusion.
However, out of trust in Richard, he did not stop him and instead joined the team to return to the castle.
After returning to the castle, everyone was surprised by this group of well-equipped soldiers. Some even speculated that they were guards brought by visiting nobles from the Marquis Palace or the Royal Capital in the north.
The soldiers produced by this group of systems are all wearing iron armor, and the three swordsmen are even wearing expensive plate armor. The most abnormal one is the Crusader, who looks like an iron can with his closed helmet.
The Ironwood City Guards under Richard are all equipped with cost-effective cloth armor. After all, the Hunter family is not a wealthy nobleman, so it is not practical to equip them with expensive plate armor.
Richard had no choice but to settle for the next best thing. He gathered the half-experienced blacksmiths and blacksmiths in the territory to set up the Hunter family's equipment workshop, and finally came up with a set of standard armor with a good overall cost-effectiveness, such as cloth face armor and iron bone animal skin helmets.
.
Ignoring the curiosity of the people in the castle, Richard ordered the officers in the camp to place the system soldiers in a separate barracks, and then took the crusaders to meet his father, Viscount Sauter.
"Ron, when you see my father soon, you can ignite your fighting spirit and show your strength. Can you do it?"
"Um"
This crusader named Ron has a relatively silent character and doesn't speak much but gives people a very down-to-earth feeling.
Soon, Richard took Ron to meet his father in the front hall of the castle.
At this moment, Viscount Sauter was still wearing his armor neatly. There were some signs of repair on the plate armor and arm guards, but they were well maintained and still had sufficient protective capabilities.
Viscount Sauter had already noticed Ron beside him, and looked at Richard with some inquiry in his eyes.
"His name is Ron, and he will be my deputy general from now on."
"Where did he and those soldiers come from?"
Obviously, Viscount Sauter has also noticed this group of system soldiers.
Richard was a little hesitant when he heard the words. He had prepared a lot of perfunctory words but found it difficult to say them to his father, Sauter.
These lies can be easily exposed. He can deceive his two uncles without any burden, but he does not want to lie to Viscount Sauter.
"Are they reliable?"
"reliable."
"That's good."
Sensing that Richard didn't want to answer his question, Sauter took the initiative to change the subject. He had absolute trust and unparalleled doting on Richard, his genius son, and believed that Richard had his own reasons for doing things.
"Father, our fight with the Will family should come to an end."
"Are you sure?"
Although Sauter didn't know much about territory management, he also knew that the Hunter family and the Will family were not in harmony and could even be said to be feuding.
The territory of the Hunter family and the Will family are close to each other, and the territory of the Hunter family is adjacent to the Tiemulin Sea and further north.
Before Richard's grandfather was awarded a title for his meritorious service, this large piece of land adjacent to the ironwood forest had long been regarded as their own territory by the Will family. Cross-border reclamation and cutting down of ironwood for sale were routine operations of the Will family.
It's a pity that Richard's grandfather chose this unclaimed land as his fiefdom after his meritorious service on the battlefield.
The Weir family did not dare to disobey the kingdom's orders, but Liang Zi took over at that time.
The Will family has a longer heritage. Although the family currently only has one knight, Viscount Will, there are as many as ten quasi-knights. Their strength is stronger than that of the Hunter family, and they are constantly making small moves.
In the past, the Hunter family would always suffer some small losses, but in the past two years, Richard has managed the Hunter family better and better, constantly cracking down on the Will family's out-of-bounds behavior.
In particular, Richard's reduction of land taxes and standardized management of commerce caused a large number of Will family's territorial citizens to flow to the Hunter family's territory, and the caravans were more willing to go to Ironwood City for trade.
The Will family's territory is showing signs of decline, so in the past two years, the Will family has made more and more small moves, and there have even been vicious incidents of detaining caravans and chasing escaped farmers across the border.
Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with the Will family themselves. The prosperity of Ironwood City will definitely lead to the decline of the Will family, and further conflicts between the two sides will occur sooner or later.
"Ron"
Faced with Viscount Sauter's question, Richard did not answer directly, but instead gestured to Ron.
Ron nodded when he heard this and walked forward, a faint blue-gray fighting spirit ignited.
Sauter looked at Ron in disbelief.
"Knight?" Sauter couldn't believe it.
"Yeah" Richard answered in the affirmative.
Sauter looked at Ron and was about to say something.
"Ron, please go back to the military camp first. Someone will arrange a separate residence for you."
"Yes, sir."
Ron stepped back to the door, bowed respectfully, and then walked towards the military camp where he came from.
Listening to Ron's footsteps getting further away, Sauter lowered his voice and asked, "Is he reliable?"
“Absolutely reliable.”
"call"
Viscount Sauter squeezed his hand again and again.
"Richard"
"Father"
"Just do what you want."
"yes"
…
After Richard left, Viscount Sauter pulled out the sword and waved it a few times as if to vent his inner restlessness, and finally took the sword back to regain his composure.
"Perhaps our Hunter family will also shock the Northland."
