"Not only that, but it's very likely that they will buy your servants to poison your food, and this kind of drama repeats itself every year. Payne said in a solemn tone, "Once it violates the interests of others, I am not surprised how crazy the other party will do." ”

"It's a headache!" Rand rubbed his hair in distress, he didn't have his own strong strength, and he didn't have enough confidence in any action, just like Ron, who led his army to burn and loot, but so far, no one dared to raise the courage to resist him or assassinate him.

"As long as the river thaws next year, I will be ready to issue a warrant for conscription, and it always feels a little weak for us to block the shallow water with our little force. Rand stood up, clamped a spring tightly, and screwed it with a simple wrench, and asked, "Payne, how much do you think we should expand the troops?"

"1,300 people, that's the most extreme number. If the number exceeds this limit, it is likely that the income in the air domain will not be able to support the army's expenses. Payne handed Rand a towel, and the expression on his face was helpless: "Lord Lord, the Kongdu Commander is too poor, if you want to form a cavalry unit, then I'm afraid this number will have to be reduced by three hundred." ”

The economy promotes development, development enhances combat power, and combat power creates economy, which are closely combined with the three gears, by observing the history of the major warlords, you can find that the stronger the army, the more it can bring enough benefits to the lord, and the lords put the benefits they get into the construction of the territory military again, so that their strength is on the next level, and then continue to use their stronger and stronger strength to create more benefits again.

This is a cycle, no one can escape, once one of the links is missing, then the structure will collapse, such as the Duke of Winton's grandfather, he used all the wealth obtained by the army for his siege of the city and land to build luxurious palaces and rare jewels, never willing to spend a penny more for his army, and the result is also obvious, he lost the throne, and almost caused the Capet family to collapse, if it were not for the appearance of the Duke of Winton, I am afraid that the surname Capet would have disappeared from this continent.

"300,000 silver coins! Payne, I'll give you 300,000 silver coins next year, and you can recruit as many people as you can support the annual consumption of the army!" Rand calculated that the silver coins promised by the Peruvian family, plus the income and taxes from the sale of iron tools in the territory, this is all he can take.

"Yes. Payne nodded, "But the Peruvian family is really generous, and it is 200,000 silver coins as soon as it is sold." ”

"If he can monopolize the luxury market in the north, he is afraid that he will make more money, and the merchants never buy and sell at a loss. Rand snapped the last pole into the groove and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "It's finally done." ”

In the light of the fire, the ballista carrying three armor-piercing arrows emitted a dangerous dark light, like a silent beast, ready to strike a fatal blow at any moment.

......

"The wind speed is very good, the light is good, and the distance of one hundred and fifty meters does not need to be adjusted!"

There was a very large plain to the east of the wooden house, the soil here was so alkaline that it was impossible to grow grain, and it was also uninhabited, and Rand had the weeds and gravel cleared, and the surrounding area was fenced so that no idlers were allowed to approach, and he was going to test the specific lethality of the ballista here.

Although Rand is confident in the power of the ballista, but in terms of accuracy and specific handling, Rand still has doubts, after all, a rudimentary aiming device like Wangshan cannot be expected to carry out particularly precise strikes, and due to the large size of the ballista, it also requires at least three people to operate, one person is responsible for filling the arrows, and the other two are responsible for turning the rudder shaft to pull the bowstring, and it takes at least ten seconds to fire once.

"My lord, the target used for the test has been erected, and in order to simulate the texture of the barbarian's skin, I have specially wrapped a layer of chain mail and a layer of leather armor on the target, which is stronger than the barbarian's flesh and skin. "It was the sheriff of Cabin Town who was in charge of testing the ballista, and Touron was by Rand's side, and after that conversation, Touron had made up his mind to come under Rand's command, and as a former warrior, Rand was the one who really deserved his follow, compared to the selfish nobles.

"Will this weapon really help us defeat the barbarians?" the sheriff was a sturdy, middle-aged man, but his face was not as confident as that of Rand, he had fought with the barbarians and paid a heavy price, "I used to stab the bastards in the arms at close range with a sharp dagger, whose skin was harder than rock. ”

"Mr. Sheriff, it's definitely more powerful than you can imagine. Rand smiled at him, took an armor-piercing arrow from the wooden box, and placed it in the arrow slot.

"I've tried the penetration of this arrow," Payne said, standing next to the sheriff, patting him on the shoulder, "Brother, believe me, it's really strong." ”

The sheriff nodded with a complicated expression, in fact he didn't have much hope for this thing, in this continent where cavalry was supreme, he preferred to believe in the impact of war horses, and the assassination power of spears.

And the development of long-range strike weapons such as bows and arrows is extremely slow, not to mention firearms such as muskets and birds, and the forces that have mastered alchemy technology in this world are very rare, and even the most basic * has not yet been configured, and materials such as saltpeter, which hide great destructive power, are now only used by nobles as cooling or making ice.

The warlords on the continent are fighting back and forth, the war has lasted for thousands of years, and it has been in the age of cold weapons, and Rand is very shocked and puzzled, is it possible that no one has been able to discover those substances that are enough to change the world for so many years?

Or maybe some high-ranking and powerful people found that the appearance of this substance was likely to be detrimental to their rule, and the pattern of the continent might change because of this, so they secretly wiped out the people who discovered these super-epochal substances in advance.

The second conjecture made Rand suddenly feel cold, in this continent of divine supremacy, this conjecture is not groundless, I didn't see that even humans with strange powers were labeled as devils by the Holy See.

Once we enter the age of firearms, these powerful weapons will make the course of the war more rapid, and the situation is likely to be beyond the control of the Holy See, the Pope will not be able to control the balance between warlords and states, and the dominance of the Holy See will be broken, and these consequences will be enough for the Pope to kill anyone.

"When I think about it, I always feel a little chilly in my neck. ”