Clay City, an important town on the Western Plains, is located in the middle of the Royal Capital Circle and the Longxiguan Defense Line. It is stuck at the intersection of several official roads. It is an important transportation hub on the Great Plains. Its prosperity
Even though the level is not as good as Golden Dragon City, it is still far above Piaoxue City in the north.
Heading west from Clais City, if you drive fast, you can reach the royal capital in only three or four days. Traditionally, it is one of the cities with stronger control in the kingdom.
It's just that there were originally two legions stationed in Clay City, a first-class legion of nearly 50,000 people. Shortly after the Battle of Longxiguan began, all of them were sent to Longxiguan for support. Now the troops staying in Clay City are
There is only a weak front-line garrison. Although the 20,000-strong garrison has undergone a short period of training and added a few soldiers, it is a little more presentable than before, but it is only a little stronger. With the transfer of the main army,
, the kingdom’s control over Chrysler City has still declined slightly.
After all, the Golden Dragon Kingdom is not a completely centralized kingdom. Nobles can raise private soldiers. In addition to the armed forces directly affiliated to the central government, there are also many private soldiers of nobles in various places. A big city like Clay City has at least 10 people around it.
There are dozens of noble families, and these nobles have a great influence on all aspects of the city.
Of course, because Clay City is within the radiation range of Golden Dragon City, it is traditionally an area with strong royal power. Even without the army and dragon knights, the kingdom still has strong control over this place. The city's administrative team
Like most of the nobles, they are still aligned with the kingdom.
The kingdom's orders can be effectively implemented most of the time. If the order harms the interests of the nobles, it can be implemented at a discount on the surface. However, the kingdom's eldest prince Ward is responsible for reorganizing the garrison and the defense of each city.
Obviously he cannot be content with his orders being carried out at a discount.
A luxurious manor in Clay City is surrounded by fully armed guards. They are all wearing dark blue heavy armor. The armor has no extra decoration and looks extremely simple. Compared with the bright colors of the private soldiers of various noble families,
The armor and fancy decorations are a lot drab.
But those who are interested can see that the cost of these armors is definitely much higher than that of ordinary soldiers' armor. The dark blue armor is made of the unique green iron ore in the dwarf veins, and coupled with the dwarf's forging technology, it does not increase in weight.
In this case, the defense strength can be directly increased by half.
Only a few elites are willing to wear the equipment. Even among Richard's men, only officers and a few elites can wear it. Moreover, because the price is too high, Richard is still trying to find ways to replace it with self-produced armor.
Of course, these guards are not soldiers in Kress City. The city's garrison cannot afford these dark green armors. They are personal soldiers brought by the eldest prince. To rectify the local armed forces, he will definitely not be able to do it by himself.
In reality, you must have a familiar team to quickly grasp the place.
To this end, the eldest prince not only brought thousands of personal troops, but also a large number of middle and low-level officers who could be used. In a short time, he sorted out the garrison and set up a stand.
In the past, many people, including Richard, felt that although the eldest prince had good abilities, he had a shortcoming, that is, he was impatient and almost blatantly cultivated his cronies. Although Ren didn't say anything, everyone was still worried about the eldest prince's behavior.
Sweating all over.
But in the current situation, the eldest prince's familiarity with the army has become his biggest advantage. With an order from Ren, all the garrison regiments on the Great Plains were nominally under the eldest prince's command.
Regardless of whether it is out of public or selfish motives, the eldest prince must do his best to handle this matter. So far, the results seem to be good. Several cities and more than ten garrison corps have allowed the eldest prince to re-establish the airs and replenish the troops.
, restored a certain degree of combat capability.
In the process of reorganizing the garrison, he relied on his royal status and his good team to eradicate some interest groups, causing the original rentiers to remain silent for a while, and no one dared to come out to look for him anymore.
trouble.
The eldest prince Ward was sitting on the throne in a military uniform, with a neat beard, a resolute face and recent iron-blooded methods, which made the nobles in Clay City feel a little more in awe, facing this kind of truth
There are a few nobles with evil intentions who are not afraid of those who dare to kill people. They usually dominate the city of Clays, but now they keep their posture low when facing the eldest prince.
But the eldest prince's first words immediately frozen the scene.
"The garrison in Clais City is seriously short of vacancies. Together with the four flag regiments in surrounding towns, the vacancy reaches more than 20,000. I am afraid that everyone sitting here will benefit from it."
Some things are basically open secrets. The original garrison corps was actually the private reserve of local officials and nobles. The reason why they could maintain the combat power of the first-class corps was because Clays City was not far from the king, so they didn't dare to look too ugly.
.
But it would be a bit embarrassing for the eldest prince to reveal such an open secret. Everyone didn't know what the eldest prince would do next after he revealed such a thing. Anyway, he couldn't wipe out all the nobles in Clay City.
Well, Richard was so domineering in the Northland and the River Valley, but he was just fighting with one faction after another.
"His Royal Highness the Great Prince..."
The nobles present looked at each other in confusion, and finally there was an unlucky guy who wanted to stand up and make a quibble at everyone's suggestion. He couldn't just acquiesce.
But before he could finally come up with the excuse, the eldest prince waved his hand to stop them, took out a stack of paper and said:
"These are the lists of garrison corps in various places. You know how many vacancies there are and who has received the food and military pay."
The person who was about to speak was stopped by a word. He stopped speaking and just lowered his head, not daring to trouble the eldest prince again.
The eldest prince did not care about the reactions of the nobles and officials below, and took out a stack of paper and said:
"The number of military fields occupied by various companies and a lot of farmland occupied beyond the scope of the territory have been verified, but there are only a few."
"If we want to pursue these matters, it will take the heads of all of you to deal with them."
Having said this, the eldest prince glanced at everyone again and paused slightly.
"However, this time I will give you a chance to atone for your sins. There are still thousands of soldiers missing in the garrison. Each family must provide me with qualified soldiers within three days!"
The eldest prince deliberately said the word "qualified" in a very strong way, which was emphasized again.
There are at least thirty nobles in Clay City and nearby towns. It is not difficult to recruit thousands of soldiers, and the number of people per family will not exceed two hundred. The key is to have qualified soldiers, which is not that simple.
At least they can't just grab some farmers on the territory and send the eldest prince away. In the past, they might have dared to do this, but with the eldest prince's current aggressive look, none of them dare to take the lead. At least they have to use
The backbone of the family's private soldiers and even the children of the clan, mixed with some young and strong people with equipment, can get through the test.
"The second is to make up for the land tax that should be paid in the past three years. Not a penny less!"
The eldest prince has organized an army and expanded it. It is impossible to feed the army simply by relying on the food of the kingdom. To train strictly, the soldiers must be well fed. Tens of thousands of young and strong bellies must be fed, which is not a small number.
, the eldest prince knew very well that after several rounds of preparations for the war, the common people had almost exhausted their supplies, and they had to get some food from the noble families.
"this…"
Paying back three years of land tax at once is not a small amount, and it is not a one-time deal. If you pay it back this time, it means that you have acknowledged the existence of these invaded and hidden fields, and you will have to pay it every year in the future.
Although these nobles are not incapable of paying, who would be willing to spit out most of the benefits gained.
If someone else, even a high-ranking official from the royal capital, wanted to inspect the land and ask them to return it and pay taxes, then the nobles present would definitely make a fuss. After all, the nobles of the Golden Dragon Kingdom were even more powerful than the gentry and landlord class in ancient China.
The fighting power is relatively low, and each family has more or less knights and some armored soldiers. If there is any trouble, it will just end in mud.
But this time, the person above had a strong background. He was one of the most promising heirs of the Charman family. What was even more terrible was that he still had the strength. When they were hesitating, a circle of soldiers around them stared at them.
If they dare not cooperate, they will not be able to get out of this door.
After the eldest prince finished speaking, he sat above him and squinted his eyes and said no more. However, this put tremendous pressure on the nobles below. After standing for a while, someone finally stood up.
"The Labelli family is willing to send three knights and two hundred soldiers to make up for the vacancies in the garrison for the eldest prince, and to make up for the lack of food within three days."
Seeing someone compromising, the surrounding nobles became more and more shaken. It would be okay if everyone remained frozen, after all, the law does not punish the public, but if someone started to compromise, wouldn't those who still hold on here become the ones who stand out?
"good!"
"The LaBelli family, right? If they achieve military merit, it is not impossible for the LaBery family's title to be raised to a higher level. By then, those hidden fields will really become the LaBery family's fields."
The LaBery family members nodded to the eldest prince and stood aside again, seeming to feel a lot more relaxed.
After that, several more people came forward one after another and expressed their willingness to cooperate with the eldest prince's order. For this kind of thing, some people mainly compromised, and it was difficult for the rest to hold on. After a while, the nobles below all made their own commitments.
The number of knights and troops that will be sent, and the part owed before will be made up.
After everyone promised to make up some numbers, the eldest prince asked everyone to leave. After all the nobles who were present with pained faces left, the color of the eldest prince's face changed, and his originally calm face was full of anger.
color.
"I really want to learn from that brother-in-law and completely bury these greedy guys in the loess."
In the eyes of the nobles, they have made huge concessions, but in the eyes of the eldest prince, these people are digging corners of the Charman family. Now it is so difficult to make them spit out anything. They are all a group of people who deserve to be killed.
.
"If we hadn't arranged for the LaBery family to take the lead in advance, I might not have been able to get even this price so happily!"
This little trick of getting some benefits in advance and recruiting one or two nobles to cooperate with your actions seems very simple, but the effect is indeed good.
"Your Highness is wise."
"well!"
"I don't trust these people. Freeman, go and supervise them. The personnel and food must be in place within three days. They must not be allowed to delay."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The adjutant who had been following the eldest prince also remained silent at this time. The people under the eldest prince were basically professional soldiers, many of whom were from the Royal Knights Academy in the royal capital. Most of these people were from civilians, and they were used to supervise Chrysler City.
As a nobleman, Ward is quite relieved.
Freeman had just gone out. Before the eldest prince could rest for a while, a soldier carrying a message came in, which immediately cheered up the eldest prince.
"Your Highness, Lord Richard is here to visit. He is outside the manor now."
"So fast?"
"Get ready, follow me out to meet Lord Richard!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The eldest prince, who was originally worried, now had a warm smile. With the help of the waiter, he straightened up his image a little and then personally greeted him outside the manor.
No one thought there was a problem with the eldest prince's behavior. Although the blood of the Charman family was noble, Richard's current strength and status had already jumped out of the kingdom, and everyone was no longer on the same level.
