The first caravan departed from Ravenwood, led by Mormont.

Although he does not recognize Fury's status, his allegiance to Ravenwood now depends on Ravenwood's position, and he is the only one who knows the terrain of Helim County best. In addition, he had to go back to Pinewood, where his sword was still hidden.

In the Executive Hall, Lyon has been thinking about one thing in recent days, the war that Fury mentioned.

Twenty years ago, wars spread throughout the kingdom, and the north was no exception, and it took years of war between King James and many of the great lords to settle the situation, but the remaining problems were not best solved, and the possibility of war between the regions was still there.

With only a little upheaval, the status quo of peace could be shattered.

Ravenwood is a new force, but his status as a member of the royal family makes him inevitably caught up in that period of historical grievances, the most obvious example is Hampshire, where there will be real turmoil in the future, and the town will not be able to maintain stability, whether it is active or passive, it will be involved in strife.

This is bad news.

Ravenwood is now a vast area, more than half of the lords in the north, but the population is the last one, and the limitation of the population base makes it impossible to increase the size of the soldiers, so far there are only 600 regular soldiers, including the troops stationed in Orkney Town.

Such a force had no problem dealing with bandits, and it was almost impossible to resist a large lord with tens of thousands of troops, and before a possible war broke out, expanding the population was once again the main task of Lyon.

"Recruit the paupers again?" asked York, who now took Chris's place to help Leon with government affairs, leaving the military training entirely to Hall.

"It's just a road. Leon didn't have much hope for this, and White Mist City was now heavily guarded against the people of Ravenwood, and the only way to recruit the poor was to go to farther towns, such as Elspooly and Hamp City, which were too far away from the towns for the poor to believe that there would be a place to start over.

"This is the best option at the moment. "York had no other idea, it was a time of peace, there were no outcasts to recruit, and it was impossible to buy slaves from the distant Channel city-states.

"There's a better way, buy territory. Leon said, now the town has enough strength to buy, and he is a viscount and has this right.

"Is it really appropriate?" said York, who was concerned that buying a territory was the quickest and quickest way to get a large population, but the purchase of Orkney Town was a completely unexpected event before, and now he wanted to buy other territories, but there was no good enough opportunity because they were too far away from the town, and there were many territories in between.

"The town needs a population, not a barren territory. "Leon doesn't care about the proximity of the territory, it doesn't mean much to Ravenwood, the population is the most important thing.

Although Ravenwood is only a town, it is larger than some counties in the Middle Realm, and there is not a single village in sight, which is very desolate, not only in the town, but also in the rest of the northern realms.

He had no intention of acquiring before, because he didn't want the town to develop too violently, and he needed to precipitate before the next round of development, and now he was reminded by Fury that for his own safety, it is urgent to increase the population base.

As for which plot of land to buy, it will have to be analyzed before deciding, and Lyon does not have enough money to buy two at the same time.

He had a criterion in mind, not only the large population, but also the proportion of young and middle-aged males was more important, and Ravenwood's lack of sufficient troops was the most disadvantageous factor in wartime, and it must be addressed first.

That's when the guards came in, with the latest information in their hands.

There is another big news in White Mist City.

The big merchant Silas was once again suppressed by the earl, and now he is no longer the big merchant he once was, but has been reduced to an ordinary merchant, and in just one month, nearly half of his family property has been lost.

"How do I think this count's temperament has changed, he wouldn't have done such a thing that would damage the business of White Mist City before. Leon thought it was too strange, Silas didn't have any negative news, the Earl's suppression seemed to be just a personal will, and the former president of the Chamber of Commerce fell to the bottom because of his personal will, which made the other businessmen think.

"White Mist City is prosperous in commerce, and it is not difficult for the Earl to support another without Silas. "York thinks it's normal, the Earl is a lord, and if someone goes against his will, such as maintaining a long-term close cooperation with Ravenwood, severe punishment is possible.

"It's just that Silas is willing to endure such a result?he's a big businessman, he has the right to settle freely, and he can't stop the Earl from leaving White Mist City, so why not find another place to start over?" Leon guessed the reason.

According to common sense, Silas could rely on his own strength to create commercial prosperity in other towns, such as El Splitley, and there was no need to stay in White Mist City to be tortured.

"Unless he can't leave. York thought of a possibility, and the Earl restricted his travel.

Above the realm, the nobles and the wealthy were usually free men who could choose to live wherever they liked, but there was one point that the lord had the right to confine them to a certain place if they broke the law.

Leon didn't know the exact reason, so he could only ask the spies to inquire deeply.

That afternoon, news came back that Silas had been placed under house arrest for an undisclosed reason.

"What are you going to do if Mr. Silas is innocently implicated?" asked York, Silas had more or less something to do with Ravenwood, and as the lord of the town, Leon might take action.

"If you can help, help. ”

Silas had a good relationship with Ravenwood, but there was no further contact between the two sides, and now that Silas was in trouble, Leon was morally willing to help in the shadows.

"Since the Earl wants to suppress Silas, we must choose the right time to strike, and we can't leave anything behind. "York has to plan ahead, and it's not easy to get people out of White Mist City.

Leon shook his head, it wasn't that simple.

Payne's temperament has changed dramatically recently, suppressing Silas is just the beginning, and there should be more to come, and Ravenwood is one of the targets that the Earl desperately wants to suppress, even if the rescue action is clean, the town cannot avoid being targeted.

"Get someone to talk to Silas first, and if they're willing to leave, we'll plan a move. Leon calmed down first, the premise of saving people is that the other party wants to be saved, and he can't decide the wishes of others from his own point of view.

"The spies are looking for an opportunity, and they should be able to reply in the evening. "York had already instructed the spies to meet Silas, but their family was under house arrest, and there were soldiers outside, so they couldn't enter at will.

"Then wait until the news comes back. "Leon is concentrating on the business at hand, and it seems that he will be busy for some time to come.