When Victor returned to the study of the lord's mansion, he ordered the design drawings of the baggage cart and the light chariot to be brought over.

The blueprints of the two carriages actually filled a large chest, and Victor was satisfied when he looked at all the leather scrolls one by one. The contents of these drawings include the various parts of the carriage, the wheels, axles, chassis, walls, shooting holes, the ballista and trebuchet, and even the support columns and triangular brackets have detailed dimensional and test data.

It is very difficult for craftsmen who design and build carriages with experience and inspiration to perfect the parameters of assembling the carriage and reproduce the assembly of the carriage according to the parameters. In order to meet Victor's requirements, more than 200 craftsmen of the York family worked for more than three years to finally build the baggage cart and light chariot.

This is the core idea of the Grand Army strategy – standardization.

The Grand Army is not only a military strategy, but also covers many fields such as military, internal affairs, education and training, production and life. When Victor separated the three major systems of military, internal affairs, and public security, he had to rely on standardization to link the activities of the various fields of the family and implement the strategic goals of the Grand Army. Only in this way can the family become an efficient whole. When a mercenary army suffers losses, it can immediately replenish its troops and armaments, and its combat effectiveness can be restored immediately. As long as the family's roots are intact, the mercenary legions will not be completely wiped out.

In the face of an unbreakable military and political bloc, not to mention the alien races of the Southern Continent, even if the old opponent of the Alchemy Empire reappears in the real world, Victor may not be without the ability to resist.

The premise is that the Lord of Radiance has indeed leveraged the laws of the world, weakened the strength of transcendent creatures, and narrowed the individual gap between them and humans.

By all indications, the Lord of Radiance is most likely the crowning achievement of the Alchemy Empire, and that the main purpose of the ancient alchemists and archmages in creating him was to change the balance of power between otherworldly creatures and humans.

If the judgment is wrong, Victor has no better way, the Grand Army is already the most advanced strategic idea he can achieve.

Caterina once suggested that the lord family of the Centaur Hills should prepare a mercenary army of 4 or 5 hundred people to avoid the internal friction of the Centaur Hills falling into an arms race. Only Victor did not take her advice and resolutely expanded the mercenary corps from 3,800 to 6,000.

The Pioneer War is expected to wait for more than ten years, there are no major battles in the Centaur Hills at present, and the First and Second Legions consume tens of thousands of Kinsol every year, and many people cannot understand why Victor would support such a large army. But how many tricks can a mercenary army of 4 or 5 hundred people play?

These 6,000 mercenary soldiers may not need to cross the river to the south within a dozen years, but they will deduce standardized training, standardized tactics, standardized logistics supply, standardized military conduct, and standardized equipment use. Tactical ideas such as infantry phalanxes, longbowman phalanxes, and mobile barracks could not be trained by two or three thousand mercenaries, let alone the military standards for building large legions.

Victor invested heavily in establishing a set of standards that worked. Mercenary legion veterans go to military schools to teach boys between the ages of 8 and 11 about the Wolf and the Legion Training Standards, and two months of militia training each year ensures that the boys continue to practice the Wolf Skills and the Legion Training Standards after graduation. When they reach adulthood, they become the source of mercenary troops. As long as the recruits are proficient in the training standards of the legion, every 600 mercenary veterans can fully support a new mercenary legion, and 6000 mercenary veterans means that the Randall family will be able to quickly expand to 10 standard mercenary corps in the near future.

Randall must have spies of the royal family, and the baggage chariots and light chariots are proudly placed in the barracks training ground, and the top craftsmen of the Kite Fort or other forces want to imitate it, and it is not even difficult to improve it, but they do not understand the standardized production molds, standardized assembly parts, and standardized operation methods, how useful can it be to just imitate chariot equipment?

Standardization is the essence!

The Randall family has gone the furthest on the road of standardization, and by the time the major forces react, Victor has become the standard-setter and exporter. In order to achieve this goal, the financial investment of hundreds of thousands of gold soles per year is worth it, because standardization will be a huge political capital for Victor.

Picking out the design drawings of the wheels of the baggage carriage, Victor looked at it carefully, and also thought that the design scheme of the two horses pulling the baggage carriage was debatable.

Once the standard is established, the scope involved in revising it is too large. If the design of the two-horse traction wheel is adopted, then all the baggage wagons will have to be equipped with two heavy horses, which is by no means a matter of increasing the budget, but increasing the burden on the entire logistics supply system.

Baggage wagons and light vehicles serve as transport vehicles and combat platforms, and their volume and capacity are of course larger. For technical reasons, the craftsmen of the York family adjusted the volume of the carriage to the maximum, but they could not take into account the balance of animal power, resulting in a situation where one horse could not move, and two horses were wasteful.

The silver could reinforce the chassis of the carriage and increase the volume and carrying capacity of the baggage cart to the extent that it could be pulled by two horses. However, if the design of the baggage vehicle was modified, even the light vehicle had to be revised. Victor was not yet extravagant enough to make a carriage out of Thorsilver.

The possible way to do this is to replace the animals pulling the carts. Alchemy dragon lizards don't need to be considered, Victor will only use them as silver-tier war beasts. The red-haired bison, a sturdy herbivore weighing 1.7 tonnes and twice as powerful as a heavy puller, has the stamina to travel thousands of kilometres at a time. They are powerful, strong, and fierce, and even savages consider them beasts of prey to be hunted. Every year, Sophia gets a few particularly ferocious red-haired bison from the Wharton Prairie and transports them to Raven Town to give them to the barbarians as sacrifices in newborn ceremonies.

The Wharton Prairie is home to tens of millions of red-haired bison, but they have never been domesticated. But in this world, there is also no Wizard Emerson who cannot tame wild animals.

The domestication or modification of the red-haired bison was automatically included in Victor's list of research projects.

After packing up the blueprints of the chariot, Victor called Renault in, instructed him to return the chest full of scrolls back to the chamber, and said, "Call Balor to meet me." ”

"Yes, sir. Renault left the study with the large suitcase.

Victor walked to the window and looked out the window, the lawn in front of the lord's mansion was empty and deserted. After all, even Bertina, a snack snacker, has serious things to do now, going to the general education school every afternoon to be a half-day preschool teacher. The situation of the other squires is similar, which just shows that the Randall family is thriving and is gradually getting on the right track. And he now needs more time and energy to improve his talent and combat skills, and then he needs to delve into the secret method of the soul bloodline, integrate the lord families of the Centaur Hills, promote the standardization process of the Centaur Hills, participate in the internal and foreign affairs of the Gombis Kingdom, and the layout of the Golden Regiment, search for the ruins of the Alchemy Empire, infiltrate the Kamen Brotherhood, and detect the movements of the Ant-Man and the Goatron are all waiting for him to implement them one by one.

However, this does not mean that Victor will no longer be involved in the affairs of the Randall family. As the guardian of the family, you must have the means to control the overall situation. In addition to maintaining communication with the backbone members of the family, Victor also holds a mercury agent who is responsible for him alone.

It wasn't long before Barol, the head of the mercury, walked into the lord's study.

He was dressed in a brown gardener's suit, holding a straw hat with sunscreen in his hand, leaning slightly, his posture respectful and humble, and a flattering smile on his face, like a good-natured gardener.

Good-natured gardeners are generally incompetent, and it is true that Barol has no skills as a craftsman to serve flowers and plants. He was able to get a job as a gardener in Silvermoon Manor, all because he could please his master.

"My lord, are you looking for me?"

Victor turned around, looked at Balor, and asked with a smile: "The first thing my vassals said when they saw me was to congratulate me on my promotion to His Highness. Why don't you learn a little bit?"

Balor bowed and replied, "My lord, whatever your status, Mercury is loyal to you, and only to you. ”

Victor smiled, returned to his seat, leaned back in his chair, and said, "I believe in you, but how can the disciples you adopted know me except for the monkey and the red wolf, so how can they be loyal to me?"

"My lord, Mercury Manor has cultivated a group of family agents who are absolutely loyal to you, and the original family spies have grown up, and they are now scattered in the major towns of the kingdoms, serving as the inner core of Mercury, ready to replace Mia, Spider, and Feiqi. Balor said indifferently.

"Being able to take over the core members of Mercury at any time is a necessary preparation, but it does not have to be implemented. Victor nodded, and instead said, "Your three disciples should be rewarded rather than punished for their contributions to the development of mercury...... Summoning them back, I will receive them personally, allow them to be reunited with their relatives, grant them land and wealth, and allow them to swear loyalty to His Highness Randall, and grant them strength and power beyond ordinary men. ”

Balor said respectfully, "Your Highness, you are truly a generous and merciful master. ”

Victor blinked his eyes and said with a pretense of majesty, "I can understand that this is a compliment to my strength, wisdom, wealth, and power. Because a down-and-out nobleman is incapable of being generous and benevolent. ”

"Your Excellency, you are wise!" said Balor, convinced.

Victor laughed and shook his head, "You don't have half the ability to flatter me as Nelson." ”

Balor smiled bitterly and continued to flaunt his explicit sycophant skills: "Venerable master, I also admire your wisdom and strength. ”

"Alright. Victor waved his hand, smiled, and asked, "How is Mercury doing?"

"Mercury has developed very rapidly, and there are a total of 157 secret agents trained by the family as the core members of Mercury, more than 1,800 people on the inside line, and countless outside lines. Mia hides in Ascending Stone City, nominally leading the mercury organization of the Duoduo Kingdom, with 62 core members and more than 600 insiders, while Spider hides in Bronze Halberd City, responsible for the mercury organization of the Sassan Empire, with 34 core members and more than 300 insiders. Feige assists Todd in developing mercury in Rainbow City, in the northern part of the Kingdom of Seuss, with 8 core members and 34 insiders. The remainder are mainly found in the main towns of Cambes. ”

Barol paused and further explained: "In the past two years, the free and private lands of the kingdoms have been dissolved, disbanded, and co-opted, but a large part of the displaced people have flocked to the main cities such as Bronze Halberd City and Dengshi City. There are indications that the high lords secretly hired bards, rangers, and free mercenaries to propagate the outcasts, and the main city was prosperous and wealthy, with tenant recruitment points, and the large families regularly recruited tenants from among the outcasts. Therefore, many homeless people want to try their luck in the main city to see if they can become tenants of large families. ”

Victor smiled when he heard this: "This is the big lord robbing the tenant population with the small lord below. ”

"Yes. Balor continued: "There was an influx of displaced people in the main city, and it took time for the lords to turn them into tenants, and the local underground forces were the first to be impacted, and new gangs were constantly emerging, plus the freedmen of the towns needed more goods, and Mercury relied on the Bucks Chamber of Commerce and smuggling the goods of the caravans, and soon developed our own underground forces in the main city. ”

Victor nodded and muttered, "The development of mercury in the Seuss Kingdom doesn't seem to be going well?"

Balor lowered his head and said: "My lord, the underground forces in the main city of the Seuss Kingdom are all under the name of the Kamen Brotherhood, and there were originally more than 100 thugs under Todd and Feiqi, and dozens of people died in the process of infiltrating the Seuss gang...... Seeing that the situation was not good, Todd and Feige took the rest of the men to the town of Cattail, north of the Duchy of Medin. It was an outpost town against the Gnolls of Dusk, a gathering place for mercenaries, rangers, and exiled knights, an intricate underworld, and only 5 days away from Duke Meddin's Rainbow City. Feige hides in Cattail Town, remotes the inside line of mercury, and manages to infiltrate Rainbow City. ”

Victor furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Why did you choose Duke Medin's Rainbow City?"

Balor replied, "My lord, the situation of Seuss is different from that of other kingdoms, where there are mostly plains, lack of mountains and forests, and there are very few camps and camps of the homeless people. Without homeless people, there would be no tenants, and the gangs in the major towns were calm, and it was very difficult for mercury to penetrate. The thugs we sent out joined the local gangs, but they were all treated as meat rabbits, so many people died......"

Gangsters have gangsters' ways of survival, and there is a limit to how many villains and thugs a town can support, and outsiders who want to join gangs are almost self-defeating. When Barol was in the streets of Blackcastle, he once instructed his subordinates to lure the new homeless people into trying out the goat inn opened by Victor, and the homeless people all died at the hands of the gangsters, in order to blackmail the old John of the goat hotel. This kind of newcomer is the meat rabbit in the mouth of the gangster.

With no spare space for the Seuss gang, and the smuggling caravans' goods not being able to get there, it's no surprise that Feige and Todd broke their heads.

"Only Duke Meddin's Rainbow City is recruiting the Eastern Alliance's outcasts, and according to Feige's report, Rainbow City has taken in more than 20,000 Eastern Wanderers. With the help of these people's cover, Mercury was able to occupy a place in the underground forces of Rainbow City. ”

Victor knocked on the table and said, "As the Grand Lord of the Northern Realm of Seuss, Duke Medin has the desire to continue to develop the Twilight Forest, and he really needs to gather the outcasts and turn them into tenants...... Do you believe it or not, there must be core members of the Brotherhood of Masks among the more than 20,000 eastern refugees?"

Balor said in a deep voice: "My lord, isn't it Mercury's task to infiltrate the Kamen Brotherhood and find out the wizarding organization behind them?" Even if they are exposed, the wizards will not be able to find your head. ”

Victor smiled disapprovingly and said, "The wizards' abilities are so strange, who knows if they will find out if they will find out my head?" After a pause, he asked, "What is Todd doing?"

"My lord, Todd assumed the pseudonym Duncan, registered as a ranger in Cattail Town Church as a wandering knight, and was hired by the local lord to deal with the monsters of the Dusk Forest. Barol said respectfully, "You can find his name in the church's roster of rangers, but he is at the bottom of the ranking. ”

The status of the ranger is special, and he often has to deal with mercenaries, gangsters, bards, and can also talk to priests and nobles, so it can be said that he is a well-informed group. Moreover, the Church-registered Ranger belongs to the knightly aristocratic class, and wizards must be very cautious when they want to deal with a Ranger.

Victor was stunned and praised with a smile: "Todd is a very thoughtful guy...... Feiqi is more dangerous, you transfer Feiqi back first, and then order the mercury agent of the Suss Kingdom to sleep, leaving only two lines for Todd. ”

Balor raised his head and suggested, "My lord, in this case, the development of mercury in Rainbow City will be too slow......

Victor raised his hand to interrupt him and said, "The Duke of Medin brokered the marriage of his daughter, Princess Celine, to the eldest son of the Grand Duke of Peter..... whose eldest son, Raymond Peter, once sent someone to assassinate me. ”

Balor's pupils contracted instantly, and his gaze was as sharp as a falcon's, but he stood motionless, listening quietly.

Victor showed a look of appreciation and continued: "Of course I won't let Raymond go, but this guy sent someone to assassinate the Moon Elf bloodline noble, and it is very likely that he was bewitched by the wizarding organization. I'm guessing he's the face of the Eastern Wizarding Order...... According to this hypothesis, there must be members of the wizarding organization among the outcasts of Rainbow City. Mercury is developing an underground force in Rainbow City, and the probability of encountering wizards is very high, and I asked Mercury to stick a nail in Raymond Peter's side, not wanting to startle the snake because of other things. ”

"I issued this order in Neville...... Do you have a plan now?" asked Victor, leaning back in his chair, smirking.

Barol gritted his teeth and said truthfully, "My lord, we don't have a clue...... Mercury is at the bottom, and we don't even know Raymond Peter's age and personality preferences. Even if Todd is a ranger now, his identity is too far from Raymond's identity to be contacted. ”

Victor said coldly: "Mercury asks for money for money, and people for people...... If you can't, then I'll let the agents in Kite Castle do it. ”

Beads of sweat oozed from the corners of Balor's forehead, and he saluted respectfully: "My lord, please give me five months to make a plan." I also need information about Raymond Peter, especially about his assassination of the nobles of the Moon Elf bloodline, and I want to use Paul. ”

Paul was Barol's most proud student, and because of his outstanding appearance, intelligence, and aristocratic demeanor, he was sent by Victor to study in the Silver Tower. At first, Paul was discriminated against in the Silver Tower, but as Victor's status and fame grew, Paul became the object of the Tower's students. Victor even asked the church to reshape the bodies of Paul and another spy who was studying in the Tower twice.

Victor thought for a moment and said, "I'm not going to let Todd or Paul lurk around Raymond, I have to be unaware of the nail I want...... The elite guards of the family can't be sent either. ”

"My lord," said Balor, "I understand your concerns, and I am also very jealous of the wizards' methods...... I used Paul to give him advice and find the right person to nail the nails. Because he is now the one who knows the upper class best with Mercury. ”

"Yes. ”

Victor nodded in agreement and asked instead:

"I once asked you to go to the Rand Empire to investigate the hunting director of the Baron Thornton family eighteen years ago, has the matter come to fruition?"