33 Opportunities and Development in Windrun Town

When Duke Ryson informed Milo and the Viscount of the Emperor's order, they couldn't accept it for a while, but they both remained extremely calm. What the viscount has been worried about will develop into the current result, for him, territorial independence is harmless, there is no need to worry about the empire levying various taxes, just bury your head in the development of your own, this is a beautiful difference that all territorial lords can't ask for. As for Milo, he had been fearing that he would be arrested and exiled to the Misty Jungle instead of doing so simply, and instead forbade himself to return to his homeland or set foot on the territory of his allies. Both of them were far beyond their expectations, and even their imaginations could not guess the minds of the Empire's decision-makers.

Xia Fei was not so lucky, and by this time he had been transported to the Misty Jungle to start his life in exile. The Praetorian Guard adjutants and other generals who had plotted with him were also demoted or replaced, and the rank-and-file soldiers were not dealt with because they had been deceived into orders. The Xia Fei family's territory and wealth were confiscated, and only a little was left for his family, and the rest was mainly used to pay for the families of the fallen Imperial soldiers, and the last rest was used as compensation to Windwalk, which was also a large amount of property, including a hundred advanced flintlock muskets, which would be transported to Windrun in batches - the viscount guessed that this was the Empire's defense support for Windwalk's "independence", of course, this was done in secret.

It is worth mentioning that the soldier who fled from Windrun to the capital, he is an experienced veteran of Charlie's squad, and when the Praetorian Guards cavalry pursued Charlie's squad, he actually escaped death. And he also firmly believed in Domi's prophecy for him: "If you can return to the capital after the war, you will be guaranteed to make a fortune." The Imperial Commander gagged him with a large amount of money, and Domi's prophecy was fulfilled once again.

There is still a great mystery that puzzles those who have experienced it: the reaction of the emperor and the imperial decision-makers to the death of the crown prince can be described as a drop in the bucket. Even Xia Fei didn't understand what the crown prince meant to the emperor and decision-makers.

But as things stand, the results are very satisfying.

Duke Risen did not arrest Milo on the grounds that "Windrun is a neutral territory" and that "the Imperial Army has no right to arrest prisoners on non-national or allied lands" - he only brought six retinues and three guards, which shows that he had no intention of arresting him in the first place.

By the time Risen left Windwalk, the matter of Windrun becoming an independent territory had become a hot topic of discussion among the townspeople, and many people immediately understood that the southern port had to be repaired quickly, and it was believed that the first merchants from the sea would appear within a few months. Of course, the planning and arrangement of the construction work was discussed by the viscount and Milo, and Milo would personally bring the workers to build together.

Three months later, the port was almost completely repaired, with a long wooden breakwater to protect the port from sand and ice, and a makeshift pier that could accommodate about ten ships at the same time. Of course, these wooden temporary buildings will soon be replaced with stone ones, and it is believed that in the near future, this port will become one of the busiest places in the northern part of the mainland.

Traders from the land also began to come and go, the merchants of the country of Obe brought large quantities of goods from east to west, and the merchants of Spellet also transported all kinds of goods from the west to the east in large packages, and the town of Windrun had to vacate a large number of houses as temporary hotels and warehouses to cope with the sudden increase in the flow of people and logistics.

Fortunately, many people also wanted to settle or live temporarily in Windwalk, including the soldiers of Milo's team who escaped through the tunnel during the Praetorian Guard's siege, and the residents who had fled Windwalk. Soldiers and militiamen with combat experience were invited by the merchants to serve as escorts and bodyguards, and under their protection, the merchants were no longer afraid of beasts and possible robbers, and the size of the caravan grew.

In April 1803, the first merchant ship from the Aube Empire docked in the southern harbor of Fengxing Town, bringing with it more than a dozen demobilized Aube soldiers in addition to the cargo, all of whom had been part of the Aube Coastal Infantry Regiment, and needless to say, the leader of which was Parrett Chevalier.

"Alas, we were originally sailors and fishermen, and we were reorganized into a coastal infantry regiment during the Djinn crisis, and now that the war is over, we have come here to ask for some work." As soon as Parrett heard that Windwalk had become an independent territory, he brought his former comrades to settle here, attracting many caravans and opening new trade routes.

In May, the first merchant ship from Dragon also docked, and they brought with them a lot of seafood, fruits, crops, timber, etc., which were not available in both Sprelet and Aube, and the goods were snapped up by many merchants before they arrived at the warehouse, and they were directly loaded into horse-drawn wagons and shipped to Spalet and Aube and other countries. Parrett soon became a popular mercenary among the merchants, his tall, burly stature was a powerful guarantee of the safety of the caravan, and sometimes he could scare away wild beasts and bad actors with the sound of a hammer and whirring wind.

By June, the permanent population of Windrun had jumped to more than 1,200 people, and the most lively buildings in the town were the inns and taverns, which were still not enough to triple in size and add two more floors, so Milo had to take people to continue the expansion. Fengxing Town, which was once regarded as the most remote territory of the empire, has become an important trading town in the north under the arrangement of the empire's decision-making, and at this rate of development, it is not impossible for Fengxing Town to develop into a city. The original militia in the towns also evolved into paramilitary town guards, well-equipped and on par with the Imperial army. The Viscount's two right-hand men, Night Sparrow and Snow Dog, are in charge of the town's defenses, and they are also very busy in their new posts.

Milo is in charge of the development and construction of the town, and he is looking forward to the start of new projects every day, hoping to dilute a certain emotion in his mind with his busy work. He was always the first to dig up the land, build the walls, and devote all his energy to building the town, and when the progress of other works slowed down a little, he would give a few words of instruction mercilessly, and then personally assist in the work, his impatient temper was sometimes annoying, but on the whole people appreciated this enthusiasm for labor. Melo and Parrett sometimes drank and chatted together, and the two formed a strong friendship. But what puzzled Parrett was that, on days when there was no work, Mellot always liked to sit alone at dusk by the haystack in the cultivated field south of town, leaning on the haystack alone, holding a cloak, and watching the sun set thoughtfully as if he were missing someone......

In August, the summer in the north is not particularly hot, and it can even feel a little chilly inside the stone fortress. One night, Melo gently pushed open the door to Heidi's room, which had been furnished as it had been since the maiden left, and had been carefully cleaned every once in a while, and no one else had ever been allowed to live here.

The furnishings were simple: a wooden single bed, a wardrobe, a table and chairs, a wardrobe with only two sets of changing civilian clothes and a paramedic overalls, and two pieces of parchment, inkwell and pens on the table.

After Heidi's departure, Mello returned to the room for the first time, where he had stayed for a short time, but had not dared to enter it since. Mello always remembered that Heidi said that her family was in Dragon, and now that there were more and more ships traveling between Dragon and Windwalk, he also paid some merchants and seafarers to help him find out the details of Heidi's family, after all, there were thousands of islands in the Dragon's Empire, and it was impossible to land and find them one by one.

Milo looked around at the furnishings in the room, and remembered the argument between the two of them here late that night, if the girl had fled with him, the rest would not have been what it is today. But Milo never made such assumptions, he slowly laid the folded cloak on the bed, covered up the ivy crest, carefully laid it out, and looked around the room again, which was so shabby that it did not look like a girl's room—he suddenly remembered that Heidi had said that there was a secret door here, and he suddenly became nervous, like a child who had discovered a great secret, and his fingers twitched slightly, and he clumsily found the secret door switch, and a corner of the wall showed a mezzanine.

The space in the secret door was narrow and dark, and Milo lit a candle to see what was there—

He found a piece of letterhead full of words......