In October, the autumn harvest was once again ushered in in the midst of the war, and the fields were harvested, and the warehouses were filled with sweet potatoes and corn.

According to the rules of the kingdom, only Prince Railton now represents the royal family, and each territory should pay the taxes of the territory to Dragon City. But now that the kingdom is in tatters, the lords have their own selfish intentions, many people are in a wait-and-see state, retaining materials and strength to go other ways, and almost all the lords are unwilling to pay taxes for Dragon City.

It was quite difficult to collect taxes in times of war, and Mozart put a lot of effort into this. He asked his two sons to lead the guards to collect them from town to town, and even used force against those stubborn lords, so that all the taxes in Hwaseong Autumn were put into the treasury. However, Mozart's second son, Salas, had an arrogant personality, and his violent collection of taxes caused complaints among the people of the territory, which made many people in the territory disgusted with the Duke's palace in Hwaseong.

Mozart was most anxious about the taxation of the territory, because he had to be the most active in front of His Royal Highness the Prince, so that he could try his best to establish a good image with Carter. As soon as the tax was in storage, Mozart couldn't wait to prepare the convoy and send the tax to Dragon City accompanied by his eldest son Charles.

It was supposed to be a crowded and boiling day to pay taxes, but in Dragon City, it was the same as usual, nothing special different. Mozart's movements were relatively fast, and the tax convoy of Huacheng had already arrived at the gate of the Duke of Longcheng's mansion before the collection of its own taxes in the territory of Dragon City had not yet begun.

Accompanied by Thatcher and Carter, Prince Railton warmly greeted him at the palace and was moved by Mozart's loyalty.

Railton smiled and said, "At the most critical time, it is the Duke of Mozart who cares most about the kingdom. It seems that there are more than a thousand of these tax-paying carriages, and my Dragon City reserves are finally in place. ”

After hearing this, Carter frowned and asked, "Your Royal Highness, the refugees on Duke Haba's side still have to rely on these rations to survive the winter, and these can't be used as reserves for the time being." ”

Unexpectedly, Carter would question the prince's words in person, and Duke Thatcher immediately reminded Carter and said: "His Royal Highness the prince has his own arrangements, so you don't need to ask more." ”

Carter hurriedly said, "But ......."

But Thatcher immediately coughed loudly, immediately interrupted Carter, and then said to Mozart with a smile: "Duke Huacheng is not harmed, please enter my Longcheng Duke's Mansion to rest, we will have a few drinks today." ”

Mozart smiled and said, "Okay, I can't ask for it, hehe!" ”

Then Thatcher arranged for the guards to accept the tax convoy, and then led Mozart to the door, and saw that Carter was still standing on the side of the road without moving, so he turned around and said: "Come on, Carter, let's go into the palace and accompany Lord Mozart." ”

Carter was a little unhappy, and replied coldly: "No need, I'll arrange the collection of taxes on the territory, you can go." ”

After saying that, Carter left sullenly, and didn't even bother to say anything else.

Thatcher was a little embarrassed, and he said to Prince Railton ashamedly: "Hey, this kid is a little anxious, and please don't blame him, Your Royal Highness." ”

Mozart hurriedly echoed: "It's His Royal Highness the Prince, Carter is very serious, and a talent like him is really rare, Your Royal Highness the Prince, don't take it to heart." ”

Railton smiled back at Mozart, nodded silently, his eyes fixed on Carter's departing back, and his mind kept thinking.

After Carter left the Duke's Palace, he rode directly to the west of the city, and he didn't bother to care what the prince would think of him, but he felt that their way of doing things was a bit difficult for strong people. The Duke of Nahaba led 200,000 refugees to the territory, and even if he reclaimed the wasteland to grow crops, he would not have food until the spring wheat of the next year was ripe at the earliest, and all of them had to rely on food supplies from all over the country to survive, otherwise everyone would starve to death. Now that the Hwaseong territory has sent food, they don't consider the suffering of the refugees, the first thing they think of is to replenish the reserves of Longcheng, this approach is no different from the previous king, they only care about the so-called overall situation, and completely ignore the lives and deaths of the people.

Just as Carter was upset about this, there was a fight at the intersection ahead, as if a fallen knight was dueling.

Carter immediately turned over and dismounted, and after handing over the horse to the guard, he strode over.

The knight was in his early thirties, with unkempt hair and old scars all over his body, and it was immediately clear that he had fled from the battlefield. The poor knight's armor was torn and dirty, and the knight's sword in his hand was still cold.

The duel with him was a noble man from Dragon City, and he didn't know why the two of them fought, and both sides looked angry.

But the unexpected soon happened, and it took only a few rounds for the knight to knock the nobleman's sword to the ground, causing the crowd to applaud and cheer him.

Unconvinced, the nobleman immediately summoned a Dragon City guard chief to continue the duel for him. From the nobleman's tone of calling the chief of the guard, it can be heard that the chief of the guard is his brother-in-law, and this is a relative who has helped a relative.

When the knight saw that the duel was still in this way, he was furious, and with only one move, he put the long sword directly on the neck of the chief of the guard, which made the chief of the guard break out in a cold sweat.

At this time, the knight angrily rebuked: "I am just hungry and have nothing to eat, I just sell my long sword, if you don't sell it, you will leave, dare to humiliate me, you are asking for nothing." ”

The chief of the guard was put on his neck with a long sword, and asked in fear, "There is something to say, there is something to say." How much does your long sword cost, I buy it, can't I buy it? ”

The knight swished and thrust the sword back into its scabbard, and replied coldly, "My sword is only sold to real knights, and people like you are not worthy." ”

The captain of the guard breathed heavily, and he stepped back again and again, muttering, "If you don't sell it, you won't sell it, let's go." After saying that, he pulled the nobleman in front of him and left.

When Carter saw that the duel was over, he stepped forward to the knight and asked, "Your Excellency, the sword is like your own life to the knight, so why do you sell it?" ”

The knight looked up, and saw that it was a young man, so he replied casually, "People are going to starve to death, and what do you need a sword for?" ”

Carter smiled slightly, reached out and took out ten silver coins from his arms, handed them to him, and said, "That's all I have on me, you take it first." ”

The knight looked at the silver coin, hesitated for a moment, and then took the silver coin, handed the sword to Carter, and said, "Okay, this sword will be half sold and half given to you." ”

"No, no, no!" Carter excused himself and said, "I gave this money to the Knight." As I said, the sword is like life to a knight, and you should continue to wear it. ”

The knight was shocked when he heard this, and then he noticed the true meaning of the young man's words, and instantly felt that he had indeed damaged the knight's dignity by doing so.

Carter continued, "If Lord Knight comes to Dragon City and has nowhere to stay, and you don't dislike it, I can give Lord Knight a good errand. ”

"Oh?" It was a great thing for the knight that someone was willing to give him a way out when he was down, and he hurriedly asked, "What kind of errand is that?" I don't want to take care of the house. ”

Carter smiled and said, "I'm the new head of Dragon City, and I don't know if Lord Knight is willing to be my head knight." ”

The knight was shocked again, and he hurriedly asked, "Are you the young Carter?" ”

Carter nodded slightly, and replied, "Yes, I am Carter." How about it, would you like to work with me, an underage child? ”

The knight frowned and looked at Carter, and then he saw the chief guard behind Carter and countless knights, and then he believed Carter's words.

Soon the knight saluted Carter and said very respectfully: "My name is Asel, and I was originally a knight chief under the command of King Luo Khan. After King Luo Khan was killed in battle, his brothers were slaughtered by the barbarians, but I was the only one who managed to escape. Now I have no relatives and no reason in this Dragon City, and I have nowhere to live, thanks to Lord Carter's dislike, I should be loyal to Lord Carter in the future! In the future, Master Carter will do everything he can, and he will not disappoint you. ”

Unexpectedly, he was the old subordinate of King Luo Khan, Carter replied cheerfully: "No wonder your swordsmanship is so powerful, it turns out that you were originally a knight elder." Fortunately, please let me go, I will take you to eat first, and then go home and have a good rest. ”

"Okay!" , Assel was very cheerful and agreed without hesitation.

When the two of them returned to their lodgings after dinner in the tavern, they happened to meet Duke Mozart coming to visit. After asking the chief of the guard to take Assel to arrange his accommodation, Carter followed Duke Mozart to his annex in Dragon City.

In the huge hall, the guards retreated after bringing wine and snacks, leaving only the two of them to have a long chat alone.

Mozart admonished Carter: "His Royal Highness the Prince is a noble person, and he will be the new king of our kingdom in the future, and he must not be reckless in his treatment of His Royal Highness." ”

Carter listened attentively, didn't say a word, and just ate the fruit silently.

Mozart continued: "As this afternoon, you should not question His Royal Highness's decision in public. Even if you have other ideas about the arrangement of these foods, then you can make suggestions to His Royal Highness the Prince in private. To do great things in the kingdom, you have to learn to judge the situation, and you should have some things to say and some things not to say, and you should have the bottom in your heart. ”

Carter looked up and asked, "Connor, the former First Duke, that's what he did?" ”

"Of course!" , Mozart said solemnly: "Duke Connor is such a powerful person, he can not only do what he wants to do, but also do not offend anyone, this is his most clever point." ”

Carter nodded silently after listening, he felt that what Duke Mozart said was very reasonable, and bowed his head very sincerely and said, "I'm sorry Duke, I disappointed you." In the future, I will learn more and try to restrain my impulses. ”

Mozart smiled and said, "Hehe, that's right." It's not a big deal, what you say is the truth. It's just that His Royal Highness the Prince thinks further, to prepare for our Knight's future, and he can't say that it's wrong to do this, it's all forced by the situation, and he has to do it as a last resort. ”

Carter just nodded his head and didn't say anything.

Mozart looked at him, then asked in a low voice, "Carter, how did you come to know Arcel, what is he doing here?" ”

Carter was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "Why, Lord Duke also knows him?" ”

Mozart said silently: "Back then, the third prince Bruce was known as the most suitable person to inherit the throne, and King Furyk specially invited the knight chief of Assel from Luo Khan to the royal capital, and asked him to teach Prince Bruce various knightly skills. There are only a handful of characters like him in our knights. He appeared in Dragon City, this is for people to do things? ”

Carter replied stunned, "No, I didn't do anything for anyone." I saw him dueling with others in the west of the city, as if he was hungry and wanted to sell his sword, and got into an argument with someone. So I gave him money, took him to dinner, and took him in to be my chief knight. But I didn't know that he had also been an instructor for His Royal Highness the Third Prince, such a powerful character, I, didn't I snub him? ”

Mozart smiled after hearing this, shook his head again and again and said: "It's not that you are sluggish, the soldiers are wild and chaotic these days, and it would be good for someone like him to escape from Luo Khan alive." I think it's a perfect thing for you to take him in. ”

"Oh?" Carter asked, puzzled, "What do you say?" Please also ask the Duke for advice. ”

Moza nodded and said, "Hmm." Judging from the way His Royal Highness the Prince looked at you today, it was probably that you were a little dissatisfied. The main reason is that you are only in charge of civil affairs, not a commander with knights, which is not very important to the prince, so he will probably mean to despise you. If you want to gain a firm foothold in Dragon City, you still have to practice your own sword, and in the future, you have to bring your own knights into battle to kill the enemy, and only by establishing meritorious deeds on the battlefield, His Royal Highness the Prince will naturally respect you. It's hard to build feats on the battlefield, so you'll need some strong subordinates. Assel is now following you, which is a good first step for you, and then you have to recruit more powerful people to assist you, and in the future, it will only be good for you. ”

"Recruit more awesome people?" , which obviously stumped Carter. Knight has to have so many powerful characters, and he won't end up in a defeat like today, thinking of this, Carter feels that the future is very slim.

However, Mozart was more confident, he comforted Carter and said: "Don't worry, you are still young, the time is still long, take one step at a time." Come, drink! ”