Cold Wind City, the City Lord's Mansion, the night is thick.

After the eviction of the Longlegs, the Arad family took over the lavish mansion.

The mansion has magical fountains that swell day and night, arcane gardens that are evergreen all year round, and a patchwork of buildings. As for the Winter Temple of the Frost Goddess, it is even more magnificent, one of the best in the entire Northland.

In order to show the new atmosphere of the new rulers, the mansion building was also hung with dazzling lanterns, and the courtyard promenade was renovated to make it even more dazzling at night, adding a new view to the city.

As soon as you look up from the dilapidated houses in the artisan district of the city, you can see the shining lights on the spire of the mansion in the north of the city. How much does it cost to make the commoners and nobles in the city feel the ......?

Living in the City Lord's Mansion did not elevate the status of the Arad family. The gold coins that flowed out decorated the façade of the mansion, but it failed to improve the strength of the family.

For half a year, old Arad closed his eyes for a few seconds before going to bed, and at the same time reviewed what he had gained throughout the day?

In fact, I didn't gain anything, I just cared about arguing with other powerful people.

The strength of the Lehman and Minos families is not weaker than that of the Arad family, coupled with a large number of low-level nobles clamoring for the division of power and spoils, which makes people upset every day.

Every day when he woke up, the elder Arad thought about which opponent to get rid of to deter the other magnates. In order to maintain the stability of the rule, the family wizards and knights are constantly secretly eradicating dissidents.

The petty nobles in the city suffered heavy casualties as a result, but the dissidents did not decrease, but increased. The Arad family's situation is not getting better, but worse.

The power of the family is constantly being consumed.

A little less each time, the more times it accumulates.

It's just that the petty nobles who were eliminated did not help the Arad family. The remnants of them scattered and disappeared.

Until one day came the news that the emerging 'rich and powerful leaders' outside the city had formed a light cavalry of 100 people. Most of its members are former noble knights of the fallen Coldwind City.

This news made old Arad even more sleepless day and night, and he was restless in his sleep.

The otherworldly ruling system is very simple, with a dual structure of lords and vassals.

This is the result of low agricultural production and limited management capacity, which cannot afford to support too many real 'people'. The lowest-ranking 'human' is also a 'knight' title, controls a village, and has a lot of privileges above ordinary people.

As for the common people at the bottom, the untouchables have no rights, let alone property, and they are no higher than cattle.

When Zhou Qingfeng was in the Black Forest, he expanded this ruling system, and by integrating the original human settlements and foreign trade, more residents in his territory became real 'people'.

This is called 'improving the relations of production and liberating the productive forces'.

In order to restore the country, Inisha took away fifty adventurers equivalent to 'knights' and two or three hundred militiamen from Harmony Village at one time.

This reflects the strong mobilization capacity of the new system.

Zhou Qingfeng didn't feel that he had that set of household registration, house number, and what was special about the territory and urban planning. But this system has a strong management effect.

Old Arad had no way to open the household register and find exactly the home of a farmer in his territory, and there was no way to know how many strong men the farmer had and how much grain he could collect.

The old-fashioned lords didn't even know exactly where their people lived. The way they collect supplies is particularly barbaric, with a small number of squires or knights under their control, they suddenly surround the villages in their territory, and then ......

Robbery!

Such a low-level management method is destined to expropriate not much people and materials, and thus cannot support real 'people'. In the final analysis, the ruling institutions are too simple.

Old Arad was not afraid that the 'rich and powerful' had a civilian population of tens of thousands, and in his understanding they were just talking animals.

But more than 100 'people' are different.

Armed these more than 100 'people' into cavalry teams, so that they were completely out of production and only lived for battle, old Arad was even more restless.

This represents sufficient financial and material resources, and more importantly, powerful power and status.

In the heyday of the Long-legged family in Coldwind City, they only led more than 400 'people'. These 'people' also belong to a bunch of different small lords, large and small. It's just a part of the long-legged family.

The strength of the 'rich and powerful leader' forced the remaining magnates in the city to unite. If we don't unite, sooner or later, Cold Wind City will be swallowed by the 'Rich and Strong Leader'.

Old Arad is worried, he has reached an agreement with the other families in recent days, and everyone will join forces to fight against Victor. Hugo's rapid expansion.

It takes time, and the mobilization of the old-style lords is so slow. Just urging the knights in the territory to gather is a big problem.

Some come today, some come tomorrow. Some people say that if there is no food in stock, they must give some food first. Some people said that they had no money to pay for the journey, so they would first ask for a sum of money, and then send a slave to report back in a week that they were sick and could not come.

The elder Arad was anxious during the day, hoping that his opponent's development would slow down until he was ready. He was worried at night, afraid that he was really ready, and the opponent's strength had reached a crushing situation.

Then it really can only be slowed down.

However, I am afraid of what comes.

Old Arad had insomnia at night, and finally felt a little sleepy after a drink. The servant stumbled and reported: "Master, the soldiers of the Inspection Office are blocking the road, and even our City Lord's Mansion has been sealed. ”

What?

For the sake of the city's finances, the elder Arad had to bring Hugo into the city council as deputy speaker. The deputy speaker was also very capable, and soon collected a large tax from the council.

For the sake of money, Hugo wants to rebuild the inspection office, and the powerful people in the city have no opinion.

After all, someone has to come to provide public services, otherwise the task of cleaning up the garbage alone can be a headache to death. But in just over a month, the soldiers of the Inspection Office actually dared to come to block the aristocratic district?

Why?

The servant said with a sad face: "It is said that someone has attacked the Inspectorate, and they are locking off the whole city to arrest the assassins. ”

The reasons are bad enough.

At this time, the blockade of the whole city and the blockade of the aristocratic district is not a clear restriction on the activities of the magnates?

Old Arad had a brain teaser and tried to guess Hugo's true intentions. Just as he was about to send someone to find out more about the situation, someone fell into the courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion with flying skills, and stood outside and shouted......

"Lord Arad, Hugo has attacked the Wizard's Tower. He did it, he did it first! ”

The guards of the mansion thought that a foreign enemy was coming, but they froze when they heard the shouting.

The person who came was Piero, the changing chief of the wizarding order, and his roar without wizarding demeanor shocked the entire city lord's mansion.

The elder Arad was waiting for news in the mansion when he heard Piero's shouts. He hurried to the courtyard, only to see more wizards descending from the sky.

The wizards who sit on weekdays and pay attention to elegance and calmness are all like fleeing mice, anxious and scolding after landing, embarrassed.

All kinds of voices poured into Old Arad's ears, causing panic throughout the City Lord's Mansion.

"Stop arguing, what the hell is going on?"

Old Arad yelled, but saw that his mansion had become like a vegetable market, and anyone could come and go. The patriarch of Lehman and Minos brought a number of family forces to him.

"Arad, you idiot. You shouldn't have brought the black-hearted Hugo into the city in the first place, he's going to do it to us now. He has captured the Wizard's Tower. ”

"Arad, you have an idea. What are we going to do? ”

Old Arad's hair stood on end in an instant, his heart was cold, and the little wine he had just drunk turned into a cold sweat. There was a lot of movement in front of him, and a group of people were asking him to come up with an idea.

If he had such prestige on weekdays, old Arad would wake up smiling from his dreams. But then he hurriedly asked, "What do you mean?" Victor. How could Hugo possibly capture the Wizard's Tower? ”

The Wizard's Tower is not a pigsty.

Even if it's a pigsty, there are dozens or hundreds of pigs in the pen. How can it be captured casually?

As soon as the question was raised, Rao, the chief of plastic energy, fell from the sky and fell heavily to the ground. He was bleeding from his back, and shouted with hatred:

"Arad, gather the whole city. Hugo wants to take control of Coldwind City, he has taken the Wizard's Tower, and he will definitely not let us go. ”

Seeing that several wizarding group leaders were in front of him, old Arad felt dizzy - what the hell? Are you really all pigs?

A group of people were beaten so badly? Now if you want me to go to the top, what will I take to the top? Braincase?