When the ships docked at the docks of the Imperial City, Rand realized that long before him, the merchant ships of the families who had been invited to the banquet had filled the rather large docks, and the soldiers on duty at the docks had directed the ships to dock in more remote waters.

At the cost of a few dozen silver coins, the soldiers on duty found a decent dock for their ship.

"My lord, he even dares to take your money, he must complain to the Duke, these bastards are too greedy!" said Swift venting his frustration on the side, "These silver coins can buy a lot of barbecue." ”

Rand raised an eyebrow, as if he hadn't heard the wind.

As a qualified lord, he knows very well that the salaries of soldiers are indeed too low, such harmless bribes, the family from officers to nobles are well aware, under the premise of not being able to increase the salaries of soldiers, they do not want to limit this means of making extra money, most of them choose to turn a blind eye.

And for Rand, being able to do things after receiving money is already very satisfying to him.

Although the Imperial City was his father's city, Rand felt that there was no need to delay time in order to show his identity, or for the sake of these dozens of silver coins, and in the eyes of outsiders, he seemed to be shabby.

And once this label is made, then at tonight's banquet, Rand may not be able to successfully complete his task.

The heirs of those big families are very arrogant, so they don't talk to a poor ghost about trading.

After boarding the springboard and stepping back on land, Rand breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the familiar city in front of him, remembering that he had spent the first fifteen years of his life in this city, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

If it weren't for the Duke of Winton who drove him to the empty ferry territory, I am afraid that he would only continue to be his own gentleman in the imperial city when he crossed over, leading several soldiers and knights all day long, flirting with girls, gambling and gambling, and finding someone to fight when he got angry.

Of course, let the guards do it for themselves......

Although this kind of life is also very good, but I always feel that once life is less meaningful, then the necessity of crossing over by myself will disappear, for this world, a gentleman, his soul belongs to himself or belongs to the era thousands of years later.

The world needs creators.

Call...... Well, I admit that I still want to live a carefree life, but unfortunately there is no chance to make a new choice in life......

Rand sighed silently, looking at the vast streets and bustling shops of the Imperial City, the ornate buildings, including the fountain in front of the relief in the distance, all of which made him feel like he was in a different world.

When will the air crossing collar develop to this point?

"My lord, where are we going now?" Tempest interrupted Rand in his train of thought at an inopportune moment.

After thinking for a moment, Rand decided to hire a carriage to transport the goods from the ship while he prepared to meet the Duke of Winton at Lion Castle.

As for the accompanying soldiers and the wind and the shadows, they were arranged by Rand to take another carriage to the castle.

Sitting in the carriage, Rand listened to the sound of wheels rolling outside, and looked at the Lion Castle getting closer and closer, and felt a little nervous in his heart.

A feeling of homesickness spread wildly in his heart.

What attitude will your cheap dad use towards himself?

If he knew that his son had another soul hidden in his body, what would he do, would he burn himself to death on the fire?

Rand shuddered and threw the terrible thought out of his mind.

After thinking about it, Rand felt that he didn't need to worry about this at all, the Duke of Winton hadn't met Rand for nearly three years, even if there were some changes between the two sides, it was extremely normal, if that change was developing on the good side, then the Duke of Winton probably wouldn't go into the matter.

After all, people can grow, and the changes in Rand can be summed up in the word growth, and I believe that the other party can't find any loopholes.

......

"Lord Duke," the servant pushed open the door to Winton's office and entered, saluting very respectfully, "Lord Rand has arrived at Lion Castle and is now waiting to be summoned in the drawing room. ”

Duke Winton raised his head slowly, "He never told him when he broke in before, it seems that the environment of the Empty Crossing Territory has indeed honed him a lot more maturely." ”

"Call him in!"

Rand was leaning on the sofa in the living room and tasting the red wine of the Imperial City, the wine here is more than a few points higher than that of the empty ferry collar, Rand looked at the clear wine in the crystal glass, and regretted that he did not bring some barrels, otherwise he could have brought back some red wine from Lion Castle.

I don't know if it's because of the climate, but the red wine brewed by Kongdu Ling always has a lingering sour taste, and after drinking that kind of sour red wine for a long time, Rand feels that his gums are a little soft.

It seems that it is necessary to improve the process of sake brewing.

When it comes to winemaking, Rand suddenly had a flash of inspiration, most of the wines in this era are mainly wine and beer, and there is no high-count liquor at all, is this also a hidden business opportunity?

Before Rand could think about it, the servant walked out, with a kind smile on his face, as a subordinate who had served the Duke of Winton in Lion Castle for decades, the servant was obviously very familiar with Rand.

He knew very well how bad the young nobleman's temperament was, but this time Rand's performance was somewhat unexpected for him.

From the moment they first met, Rand was polite, calm and confident.

Even he was affectionately called by Rand: "Uncle Rannette." ”

It is completely different from the bastard who was arrogant and domineering in front of his subordinates and submissive in front of the duke.

Can three years change people to this point?

Confused, Lannet walked over to Rand.

"Your Excellency, please come in. ”

Walking into the familiar room, Rand saw the figure behind the desk at a glance, the waist was still the same straight, like a majestic mountain, as if it would never fall.

He didn't wear the family uniform, and the iron-blooded temperament on his body was much weaker, but his majesty did not change because of external objects.

Even though Rand had already been mentally prepared, he was still unconsciously nervous when he faced Duke Winton in reality.

"Father. Rand took the lead and broke this rigid situation, even if the Duke of Winton had a bad impression of himself, he was also his own son, he wouldn't not have seen him for three years, and he would put on a fight and scold himself when he met, right?

"Sit. The Duke of Winton did not raise his head, he signed his name at the bottom of a document without any pause.

Perhaps the Duke of Winton didn't want to hide it at all, and Rand could just see the contents of the document.

It is a verdict on the fornication of a certain deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security.

In the Capet family, the deputy minister is already a high-ranking official, and a deputy minister can be in charge of tens of thousands of people, not to mention a popular department like the Ministry of Security, the deputy minister has even more power than the commander of the legion, and in the absence of war, the Ministry of Public Security has the right to manage military officials of the same level.

And such a man with great power was erased by the Duke of Winton.

Rand saw the word "hanging" written at the bottom of the document.

With the wave of his hand, he could decide the life and death of tens of thousands of high-ranking officials, and for the first time, Rand had a strong sense of where the allure of power came from.

"I've heard that you're doing a good job in the air crossing. Duke Winton suddenly spoke, and there was no joy or anger on his face: "Beast tides and barbarians, it's very hard to deal with, right?"

It seems that he, a cheap father, still cares about himself.

Rand coughed lightly: "It's okay, thanks to the cooperation of the soldiers, at least we didn't suffer much damage that past winter." ”

"Barbarians are not easy opponents to defeat, and even heavy cavalry can defeat them with great effort, and the fact that you can keep your territory in their hands shows that you have put your heart into it. The Duke of Winton's tone was calm, even if he was praising others, it was in that unwavering tone, "Where have all those nobles in your territory gone?"

Rand suddenly chuckled in his heart, he knew that he couldn't hide the matter of killing the nobles in the territory, but he didn't expect the Duke of Winton to ask him about it.

After all, in his opinion, the Duke of Winton didn't care about the life and death of those minor nobles at all.

"Ahem, I heard that they met a group of thieves! Before winter came, they fled from the Empty Ferry Territory, and took all their possessions with them, and the thieves near the Empty Ferry Territory were quite fierce......" Rand said without the slightest sense of shame for lying to him.

"Don't lie in front of me," Duke Winton shook his head, interrupting Rand directly.

Rand noticed that the Duke of Winton was saying "no", not "don't".

"Nobody cares about that," Duke Winton said, staring into Rand's eyes, word by word, "I just want to say that it took you three years to completely turn the Empty Ferry Territory into your territory, and I am a little disappointed." ”

"It's too slow, you're moving too slowly. ”

Rand was stunned for a moment, feeling that Duke Winton thought that he was too late to do something to those nobles!

No, if he wants to deal with the minor nobles, the Duke of Winton can do it himself at any time, but for now, he wants Rand to get rid of the nobles in his realm.

In this way, isn't the Duke of Winton's intention to exercise himself?

Thinking of this, Rand couldn't help but feel a little weird, this little old man, although he said that he disliked himself, but in his heart, he still cared about himself.

"Me too, I feel like I've been running out of money lately, so ......" Rand gave a simple and powerful reason.

"Plunder is one of the channels through which the Capetian family rises, and it is also the fastest way to gather wealth," the Duke of Winton knocked on the corner of the table: "I heard that Ron also took advantage of it, because of the fact that those nobles fled. ”

"If it were me, I wouldn't let those nobles leave the empty realm!"