"I haven't talked to the Peruvian family messenger yet," Rand asked, after a moment's thought, "Isn't it a bit too ruthless to negotiate with our partners at such a time?"

"Moreover, there is a kind of coercion......

After listening to Rand's question, Payne shook his head very firmly: "My lord, nothing in this world is eternal, allies, family affection, and the Peruvian family only cooperates with us because we can provide them with benefits and help, once we lose our use value, they are likely to quickly get rid of us, which is a normal thing for businessmen." ”

"Only the tangible benefits are the most worthy of our trust and our efforts, and you must negotiate all the rules before the war," Payne advised.

Well, although he knew that there was a lack of warmth in this time, the words that came out of Payne's mouth still made Rand ponder for a moment, in the chaotic era, in the chaotic continent, only profit is what everyone should pursue.

As for those noble sentiments and other illusory things, Rand is not in a position to talk about them now.

With his mind determined, Rand remembered another thing, and he beckoned to Payne: "Since the last time, has the war horse been poisoned again?"

Payne shook his head, since the poisoning incident in the horse farm, he increased the number of guards in the stables from twelve to thirty-six, and implemented three shifts to take turns to monitor, even the soldiers in the logistics department were watching while they were collecting forage.

I don't know if it was this strict protection method that worked, or if the poisoner hid because the wind was too tight, but in short, the horse farm was calm during this time, and there was no abnormal situation.

"I've asked the security team to check the clues of the poisoner, but there is no news yet. Rand was silent for a moment, the iron fist of the security team used to catch thieves or rogue still has a hand, but for the detection of cases is not very good, Rand felt that it is necessary to set up a special department for the investigation of spies, or directly reform the security team, both responsible for the security of the air collar, but also responsible for the investigation, its responsibilities are equal to the police station in later generations, most of the soldiers in the security team are strong, muscular reckless, they should recruit some careful people to join.

Today, there are three departments of power in the air, the town hall headed by Touron, which mainly handles some diplomatic or construction work for Lante, as well as the supervision of manufacturing and miscellaneous affairs of the factory.

Touron is the busiest, and all the big and small things in the air crossing territory have to pass through his hands, from the construction of the territory to the stomach trouble caused by the rand yesterday, he must know everything about it, and this is the duty of the chief assistant minister.

As for Love, who was originally sitting in this position, he was completely excluded from the center of power under the deliberate instruction of Rand, and is now sitting on the cold bench in the city hall, and even the Duke of Winton, who assigned him to the empty ferry territory in the first place, seems to have forgotten his existence.

With the exception of the town hall, the army of the Empty Ferry Lords is under the command of Payne.

The composition of the army of the Kongdu Domain is very chaotic, and there are a total of 986 soldiers in the compiled list, of which 120 are veterans brought back from the Imperial City by Rand, who are from the Second Legion, and their combat effectiveness is the top existence in the army of the Kongdu Territory.

There are also two hundred of the original guards of the Kongdu Domain, since the death of the previous lord, the Kongdu Domain has been in a masterless state for a long time, and these original guards have gradually been divided from the regular army into a plate of scattered sand, and they have not been trained and fought for a long time, resulting in a rapid decline in their combat effectiveness.

But even so, they were a cut above the recruits they recruited later.

The vast majority of the soldiers were recruited by Rand the previous winter, and Rand had inspected the army of beggars, serfs, civilians, and thieves when it was first formed.

But after months of training and the winter defense of Cabin Town, this group of recruits also had a strong aura on their bodies, although their combat effectiveness was still very weak, but they were no longer the weak and uncontrollable when they were first established, as if they could be poked down with their fingers.

Payne had a knack for training the army, and after careful consideration, he evenly distributed the veterans from the Second Legion of the Imperial City into the recruit corps, serving as squad leaders or officers, these veterans who had been on the battlefield for several years had rich combat experience, and it was suitable to serve as instructors and other roles.

Based on this ratio, Payne divided the army into ten companies, which in turn divided into ten squads, ensuring that every nine recruits were led by a veteran.

But this training is not simply for the recruits to train, in order to mobilize their enthusiasm, Payne developed a set of reward and punishment system, each company has to compete once a month, the content of the content from group confrontation to individual confrontation external armed combat, and then according to the results of victory and defeat to divide the ranking.

The squad that won the first place in the company competition will be rewarded with one to three silver coins, in addition to the squad leader, who will receive five silver coins.

The last squad was punished, not only was half of the food money deducted, but also had to go to the cavalry training ground to pick up horse manure after training every day.

It's very uncomfortable.

In the vast summer, after a day of training, I already have a sore back, and I have to go to the horse farm to pick up stinky horse manure.

Several squads were lucky enough to receive such a punishment once, and immediately increased their training time by a third, vowing never to experience such a fiasco again.

And the combat effectiveness of the army, under this high-intensity driving training, is constantly rising, and what makes them more ashamed than punishment is the shame of the vanquished.

It's clear that we joined the army and trained together, so why did we lose to you!

Payne's approach is a great way to motivate the competitive spirit of the soldiers, and as a man, no one wants to hold the title of loser for a long time.

It doesn't matter if we fail once, we will work harder and defeat you next time!

Rand was pleased with the direction of the army, and although Payne had recently focused his training on cavalry, the infantry still made up the vast majority.

Although the 600-odd infantry had previously been different, they were uniformly armed with flintlock muskets and daggers under Rand's change, becoming the first pioneer unit of the thermal weapons era on the continent.