Fort Kavar, the night before the New Year.

Reagan and his sons had a regular conversation each evening in the castle inner hall office.

"In the end, Geebock Donner didn't agree to our terms. Pedi looked displeased, "It's clear that they know very well that we won't start a war easily. ”

"You don't know what they think. Duke Nick leaned back in the chair specially prepared for him by the window, and whispered with a casual expression: "It is our conditions that are not enough to impress Geerbock Donner, who is waiting for us to offer better terms, and he thinks that he is more valuable than his opponent." ”

Pedi was stunned and asked, "Then do we need to reconsider the conditions given?"

"Why do you think that?" Lord Nick admonished, "You need to remember that you are the one who makes the rules, and when most people do things according to your rules, those who don't follow the rules will soon be eliminated!"

When Pei Di nodded subconsciously, the old duke continued: "After a year, it has been proven that our reforms are beneficial to commercial trade, most merchants have earned more money last year, and we will continue to open more commercial transactions next year, and then merchants from Kru Territory and even other parts of the empire will support us. ”

Duke Nick raised his hand and pointed at Pedy's chest, and then pointed at himself: "The merchants will be on our side, and at that time, if we say a word, the Harrence Territory will be isolated." ”

"It's called a commercial blockade... Your treasurer, Sir Edwin, is the best at this. The old duke looked at his son and said, "You only need to tell Sir Edwin what is at stake, and you don't even have to tell him what to do, and he will be able to do it beautifully." ”

"Sir Edwin?" said Pedy.

"Don't look down on him, he's a great businessman. Duke Nick patiently admonished, "You need to learn to see things as they are, and then the whole thing will be much easier." "We can use the hands of the merchants, for by rejecting our offer would be to the detriment of the merchants, who will be more anxious than we are, and they will know what to do if we hint at the slightest hint." ”

He admonished: "As a ruler, if you can do something without meddling yourself, it is better not to meddle rashly." ”

"I see what you mean, but..."

"Are you worried that the territory will fall into serious internal friction again?" Duke Nick smiled and said, "Merchants are not nobles, they can do anything, but they will not do loss-making transactions!"

Pei Di was stunned, "But these people will do anything except not do loss-making business!"

"Haha!" Duke Nick laughed, "You'll have to figure it out... What you asked Sir Parma Nago to do some time ago is very good, and the various chambers of commerce really need to be managed in a unified manner. ”

Peidi hesitated, "Managing them requires a huge bureaucratic system, which is not a small amount of money. "There have been so many places to spend money lately, even if the Reagan family has huge financial resources, it makes Pedi feel terrified.

"Then take your time. The old duke smiled, "The unified management of the Chamber of Commerce is a must-do, it's just a matter of time... This will not only prevent their tax evasion, but also make it easier to manage embargoed goods. He moved his stiff waist, "Maybe then you will find that all the money you spent will be back." ”

"I thought about it. "Pedi isn't stupid," but there's a lot of money to spend in the realm right now. ”

"You decide. ”

Pei Di nodded and was silent for a few seconds before continuing: "There's one thing in the territory that is a bit tricky at the moment... The Heron and Byan Territories need a lot of bureaucracy, and the police station, the tax office, and the expansion of the garrison corps need people, and we don't have enough manpower at the moment. ”

"That's a problem, after all, these two territories are no better than Balan, and they can't be under military control all the time. Duke Nick thought for a moment and said, "The nobles of the court... These people can't do it!" He was rejected before he could speak, and then lowered his eyelids and thought for a while, then looked at Pedi and asked, "What do you suggest?"

"My method takes a long time and doesn't work right now. Pedi shook her head.

"Oh?" said the old duke, "tell me about it." ”

Pei Di nodded, and said after being silent for a while: "When I was serving as the sheriff of the guard department in the imperial capital, I found that many of the low-level citizens actually have a certain amount of knowledge, and some have even learned simple arithmetic..."

"You want to appoint ordinary citizens directly?" Duke Nick frowned, lost in thought.

There are many precedents for the promotion of ordinary citizens within the Empire, but they are very rare, and there will be no large-scale promotions.

In fact, a large part of the empire's vast bureaucracy was promoted from civilians, but only if the promoted civilians needed to serve in the military for more than five years, earn the title of sergeant major, and have a certain amount of knowledge.

The fundamental reason why the citizens at the bottom of the empire have been able to have a good basic education in the past hundred years is because of the existence of these sergeant majors. When these people retire and return to their hometowns, a large number of them will spontaneously teach their families the basics of the empire.

Over time, this knowledge began to spread among the lower echelons of the empire.

In recent decades, trade has become more advanced, and people with basic knowledge have more options.

As a result, more families are looking for ways to get their children to learn what they need to know after they are born.

However, for the management of local administrations, this amount of knowledge is clearly insufficient.

"The idea is good, but—" Duke Nick did not blindly deny it.

"I'm going to open up for city officials, but before that, I'm going to need to pass the tests we've set. "So I said, it's going to take time. ”

"You're not going to give a city to these people?" said Duke Nick, with a worried look on his face.

Peidi shook his head, "I didn't give the city to them, they just took care of it for me temporarily, well... It's complicated, and it's hard for me to dictate clearly, and I'll ask Sir Edwin to get a report for you. ”

"I hope to be able to see it soon. ”

"Of course, very..."

The conversation between father and son was interrupted by a knock on the door, and both of them subconsciously looked at the wall clock on the wall, which showed the time at a quarter past twelve.

It was a quarter past twelve o'clock in the evening.

"What's the matter?" asked Pedi at his father's motion.

"There's urgent information from the Twak Collar. "The voice of Chief of Military Intelligence Danmen Green was heard outside.

"Come in. As he spoke, Pedy sat back in his office chair at his father's motion, while Duke Nick himself moved to the potted pot next to the chair and took care of the potted plants attentively.

The unique sound of the door beam of the door was a little loud in the silent night, and Danmen Green walked into the room and immediately saluted Duke Nick next to the pot, "Lord Duke!" When the old duke nodded in response, and Danmen Green continued to salute Pedi, Pedi interrupted impatiently, "Okay, talk about your business." ”

"Yes, sir. Danmen Green put away the smile on his face, stepped forward and leaned against his desk, put an urgent magic letterhead on the table that he had been holding since he entered the door, and said, "The news from the Twak Collar just came... Duke Andy Barrett took advantage of the rebels' unpreparedness to raid and annihilate a rebel legion entrenched in the northeast of Twak. In the shocked gaze of Reagan's father, he continued: "According to the news from above, Duke Andy's army had arrived at Twak two hours earlier. ”

...

Twak City is the most prosperous city in the northern plateau of the empire, but since the outbreak of war last year, the city's prosperity has been decaying like autumn leaves.

Nishizawa Devin spent all the resources at his disposal, and the city of Twak was only in ruins, because the citizens of the city and nearly ninety percent of the supplies were transferred to the Bolenburg area in advance.

A year later, the city is at war again.

Duke Andy Barrett, the rightful ruler of the Twak Domain, secretly gathered nearly 100,000 troops this month and swept through the northern part of Twak with lightning speed, arriving at Twak on the day before the New Year.

The city of Twak was overwhelmed by the sudden start of the war, and Nishizawa-Devin did not even react to the news of the total annihilation of the Third Legion. Andy Barrett didn't give Nishizawa Devin time to react, as his vanguard had just arrived at the city of Twak and launched a storm on the walls of Tkawa with only two siege towers.

On New Year's Eve, under the dark night sky of the steppe northeast of Twak City, there is an endless firelight surging on the grassland. The winter snowflakes in the sky seem to be dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye in the vibration of shouting and killing and the sound of war drums!

The two sides fought until dawn, when an uncontrolled rebellion broke out in the city of Twak, which nearly led to the collapse of the entire Second Army.

At ten o'clock in the morning, Andy Barrett arrived with the main force.

At this moment, there was chaos in the main hall of Huashi Fort, and the 'nobles' of the Gondwak Kingdom were arguing over the stubborn defense and retreat.

"We should have given up on Twak City half a year ago. Someone reprimanded loudly, "With the lack of power in our hands to support the operation of this city, the great transfer of the Barrett family last year made this city an empty city, and the fall of Fort Tulbuk directly caused our kingdom to have no way to guarantee even the most basic labor force." ”

"That's right!" Count Amofero Witt, as Prime Minister of the Kingdom, looked at Nishizawa Dewen on the throne, "Look at the fertile grasslands surrounding our city, which could have fed more than a hundred thousand troops... But for the whole year of last year, we could only watch!"

"The problem is, we can't go back!"

"We can retreat to Sharptown, where we still have a corps, and the defensive line we built in the east of Sharptown last year is still usable, and more importantly, Chief Shikan will definitely not let Andy Barrett capture Sharptown. ”

These words immediately made the nobles talk.

The main entrance to the hall was violently pushed open, and Prince Ronald rushed into the hall wearing bloody armor. At this moment, all discussions and quarrels stopped, and countless pairs of eyes looked at Ronald at the door and the group of Praetorian Guards behind him.

Ronald's face was indifferent, and he directly ignored the gaze of these people and walked towards the throne.

"You—" Nishizawa Dewen, who was on the throne, frowned and asked, "How's the war going?"

"The walls are gone!" Ronald said in a relaxed tone, as if he were saying something that had nothing to do with him.

"How can it be so fast?" an exclamation interrupted the silence in the hall.

"Run away!"

"What to flee to, where to flee? The big deal is death!"

"Isn't Sharp Town still in my hands, and the vast territory to the west of Twak's territory is also in our hands. ”

Nishizawa Dewen had already stood up from his throne, with an obvious look of incredulity on his face, and subconsciously asked the question that everyone wanted to ask: "How can it be so fast?"

"The citizens of the city rebelled, and they took up arms to attack our walls from behind, and the gates soon fell to the enemy. Ronald stared at his father, "It's clear that the people here don't welcome us, and we have two hours to evacuate at most." ”

"Flee to Sharptown?" Nishizawa-Dewen's face was full of bitterness, "and then to be a slave to the orcs?" He patted his eldest son on the shoulder, "You go by yourself, I won't go." ”

.。 m.