After an eighteen-day journey, Victor finally arrived in Raventown, the northern enclave of the Randall family.

The first thing he did when he entered Raven Castle was to climb the tower and look out over the town.

Three years ago, Raven Town had only a castle and a village fenced off by a wooden fence. Today, it has expanded by at least seven times, almost two-thirds the size of Pinghu Town. What was once a wooden fence has been replaced by a 12-metre-high and 4-metre-wide wall of brick houses and a towering church in the center of the town. Not far behind the church is a 100-acre stream reservoir that provides abundant water for the residents of Raven Town. The man-made channel connecting the reservoir acts as a dividing line, dividing Raventown into a residential area and a freight yard trading area.

Just as the snow is shining, the sun is pouring down to cover the snow carpet that covers the roof. The snow-capped Raven Town is like a fairytale town made of gold and silver, full of fantasy and charm.

Victor exhaled a cloud of white mist, and the beauty of Raven Town made him frown.

The layout and architectural style of Raven Town is very different from that of Pinghu Town, where the buildings are staggered and distinctive, with shops along the street next to each other, and there is not even a fire barrier reserved, and the streets are winding and twisted, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, not as straight and spacious as the streets of Pinghu Town. Overall, it gives a sense of urgency to thrive, crowd and grow wildly.

This is not the style advocated by Victor, who sees traces of Sophia through the architecture of the houses in Raventown, as well as deeper problems.

The straight-line distance between Raven Town and Pinghu Town is more than 800 kilometers, and the carriage journey is more than 1,100 kilometers. The alienation of space and time weakens the dominance of the family center over the enclave.

For the first time in his life, Victor deeply realized the practical significance of "not granting something to the foreign monarch's order". This is not to say that Mayor Butz of Raventown, the old Harm Garrison, and the town magistrate are going against Victor's will, but they are compromising and adapting to reality.

Raven Town currently has barbarians, more than 2,000 Templars, tax collectors from the Kite Castle, saber-toothed tiger merchants, two-headed lizards, King Friedrich's caravans, Duke Nimes's caravans, and agents from all sides...... These guys are bigger than the other, and there are many noble knights and high-ranking clergy of the church, and Old Hamm can't hold up the scene at all.

If the lord is not around, then you have to obey the arrangement of the lord mother, otherwise it is called betrayal.

Sophia naturally took over Raventown. The saber-toothed tiger merchant group has long-term cooperation with the caravans of various families, and there are always people who have contacts. Raven Town is now an important trading port, and merchants want to have their own shops in the bustling high street. They asked the Sabertooth Tiger Knight to come forward and make their demands to the government department.

Faced with the demands of the saber-toothed tiger knights and the bribes of the merchants, should old Hamm and Butz refuse or agree?

Rejecting the merchant's bribe may bring all kinds of trouble to the master, and will also cause the lord and the lord and mother to have a rift. Agreeing to the merchant's request, then you can't send a letter crow to the owner for every shop you build? So, the commercial street of Raven Town has to be squeezed out of the empty space, and illegal buildings have sprung up, and Raven Town has finally become like this.

If it is said, this is because the Butz people are indifferent and cannot withstand the inevitable result of internal and external pressures. Then change Raven Town to a noble knight mayor, and the situation will only get worse. Victor can't do anything other than collect a few lord offerings from Raven Town every year.

In fact, Boots and Old Hamm did a pretty good job. Raven Town has generally not deviated from Victor's original positioning and planning, and it has a mature tax and craft system, as well as a relatively complete infrastructure. It's just that the barbarians replaced the alchemy humans, sending a steady stream of resources from the Skylark Mountains into Raven Town, processing them into commodities, and then selling them outside. Moreover, the businessman paid out of his own pocket to buy bricks to build a house, but the property rights of the house belonged to Victor. The rent of the shops and yards they delivered this year reached 600 gold soles. Raven's Commodity Transaction Tax is more than 1,600 gold soles, and the profit from the sale of processed goods is 5,800 gold soles.

Raven handed over 8,000 gold soles in a year, equivalent to a quarter of Pinghu's annual income, and its territory was less than one-eighth of Randall's territory.

In addition to the income from the territory, the lord wants his subordinates to carry out his will. But the lord is not omnipotent, and it is obviously impossible for him to decide everything.

Whether vassal or centralized, the will of the ruling class is influenced by environmental factors. Just as the Sarsanians could make wine from barley, the southern lord would have to drench the blood of the dog he scolded if he made wine from wheat.

Different environments lead to different lifestyles, which in turn give rise to different cultures. Even modern countries with highly developed communications and transportation must adapt to changes in the environment, respect local customs, and formulate different local policies and regulations according to different regions.

Western philosophers of modern times once said: If you fight with an evil dragon for too long, you will become an evil dragon yourself, and if you stare into the abyss for too long, the abyss will stare back. However, in ancient China, there was a more profound elaboration: those who are close to Zhu are red and those who are close to ink are black, the sound is harmonious, and the line is straight.

The weak are assimilated by the environment, and the strong adapt to the environment and transform the environment. The mystery is not force, but thought.

Victor has mastered the Alchemy Tower and has a strong war potential. But compared to the church, the force at his hands is not worth a damn. Even the Auguste family can easily take him away. If it is a protracted battle, the Alchemy Tower will not even be able to deal with any of the powerful lords. It takes 12 hours for the Alchemy Tower to create an alchemy human, and the Strength Lord will be able to replenish the army supply immediately. The alchemy soldiers died in battle, the armaments on their bodies were gone, and the newly created alchemy militia fought with their bare hands?

The strength accumulated by the big family for thousands of years is by no means something that Victor can easily shake.

August has thousands of dragon knights, none of whom can control the entire kingdom of Gambis, and they still have to cooperate with the lords of various places. Not to mention the raven town, which is thousands of kilometers away from Victor, or even more distant mountain camps?

Sylvia said, "If you stretch your hand too long, you will be chopped off!" This is addressed to all forces, including the church and the king.

Force is limited by environment and distance, but ideas are not limited by space.

Victor's biggest hole card is the Alchemy Tower, but the biggest advantage is that the Randall family is as clean and pure as a baby, and he can be cultivated and transformed.

Centralization is obviously more efficient than the feudal system, but the feudal system is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the members of the Randall family are affected by it. Fortunately, they did not form a village clan force that could oppose the center of power, and Victor had a chance to create a new situation.

The tenant system allowed Randall's vassal families to be transformed into landlords, and the divide between the upper and lower classes ensured that they would not form a powerful clan power through marriage with tenants. And the small family with little strength is simply not enough to resist the will of the monarch.

The policy of hiding the wealth of the people and public education can bring small families together under the command of the monarch and form the concept of a unified family and country from the ideological level.

Extinguishing the germination of clan power, hiding wealth from the people, and public education, as long as Victor does these three things well, he can still accept knights and nobles. In another thirty years, the Randall family's competitive advantage will be unmatched. Other lord families will not be able to turn around even if they introduce the tenant system, unless a bloody revolution breaks out in their realms and the clan power in the village is scattered.

Compared to the overall development strategy of the Randall family, the architectural layout of Raven Town and the re-entry of the mountain villages into the arms of the surrounding lords are inconsequential and not worth mentioning.

Looking at the scenery of Raven Town, Victor suddenly brightened.

Victor leaves the tower and returns to the Knights' Hall at Raven Castle. Boots and Old Hamm had been waiting for a long time.

A fire rose in the fireplace, and a wave of heat dispelled the gloom of the stone hall, and on the walls hung swords, shields, battle axes, and halberds, as well as five specimens of a white cow's skull.

"Wild, raw, powerful beauty. Pretty good. ”

Victor withdrew his gaze, commented, and sat down on the lord's throne.

"My lord, these cow skulls are the work of barbarians. Old Hamle, the warden of Raven Town, said heavily.

Victor's heart moved, and he asked, "The barbarians have started a craft business?"

"They don't do the cattle skull business. Old Hamm shook his head and explained, "The Mistress is worried that the barbarians will cause trouble, so she has the red-haired bison of the Wharton Prairie transported to Raven Town to serve as a prey for the little barbarians. Barbarians value the skulls of their prey. Because we taught the barbarians the art of winemaking, they gave the cow skull to Raven Town as a symbol of friendship. ”

Victor was silent for a moment, then asked, "What else did the barbarians learn?"

Mayor Butz replied, "My lord, there is a 300-acre stream reservoir seven kilometers east of Raven Town, which was dug with the help of barbarians and holy warriors. The walls of the town were also built with the help of the barbarians, who filled the three warehouses with softsilver ore mined by the barbarians, who also helped to graze cattle and sheep, gather herbs, feed pigs, cut down trees to build houses, and forge weapons...... Just give them food and drink, and they'll do anything, eh...... In addition to farming. This is the only one they refuse to learn. ”

"Forging weapons? Who is teaching barbarians to forge weapons?"

"Paladin. ”

Victor frowned slightly, the barbarian learning the production and labor technology of human beings is itself worthy of vigilance. The most curious thing is, why did the Church teach the art of striking iron and forging to the barbarians? Aren't they afraid of losing their technical superiority in front of the barbarians?

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Victor turned to tease: "You two are full of red faces, and your life is very nourishing." ”

Old Hamm and Butz glanced at each other and sneered: "Receiving money is soft, and it won't work if you don't accept it......"

"Money can be collected, hands cannot be soft, and hearts cannot be soft. Victor laughed and said, "From now on, the bribes given to you by those people do not have to be handed over to the Ombudsman. I grant permission to you and the sheriff to keep thirty percent of it, and the remaining seventy percent to the coffers of Raventown, subject to detailed accounts. ”

"Thank you so much for the generosity of the hosts. "Old Hamm and Butz stroked their chests.

Victor waved his hand and said, "It's okay to collect money and gifts, but you must not accept women, nor touch the hostess in the tavern." This is the bottom line I have drawn for you. ”

Seeing Victor's cold eyes, Old Hamm and Butz felt a chill in their hearts, and said in a loud voice: "Master, we will never dare to go against your will. ”

Victor softened his expression and admonished: "Each family has an iron law: the village chief and the town mayor can only marry the maid trained by the lord's wife. The merchants of Ravenville are all spies of various families, and there are more spies here than merchants. You know a limited amount of things, but the power in your hands is very useful to them. Except for women and children, these agents have no control over you. Therefore, when your children reach the age of four, they must be sent to Silvermoon Manor to be educated as attendants. This is your protection. If you mess with the women outside, don't blame me for not talking about the past. ”

"Master, I will remember your teachings. The two men said in unison.

Victor nodded, leaned back in his chair and said, "I'm here this time mainly to meet Elder Harald. I can't stay in Raven for a few days. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me now. ”

"Raven Town is short of men. Old Hamm, the garrison, raised his head and said, "At present, the permanent population of Raven Town is about 17,000, of which the registered members of the family are only about 5,000. The rest came from far and wide, the Dordors, the Nevilles, the Seuss, the Bory, and the Sassians...... And these guys don't look like loose outcasts, they have their own forces, and they fight openly and secretly...... With my 280 soldiers, I can't take care of it a bit. ”

"My lord, can you send me another 300 mercenaries?" asked Old Hamm cautiously.

Victor knocked on the handrail, shook his head and said, "Raven Town is a free trade town, it is impossible for me to station too many troops here, so as not to cause a backlash from Viscount Negus and Viscount Sauron...... Raven Town has 2,000 paladins from the church, and those people can't afford to make waves. When the barbarians are gone, they will naturally leave. ”

Old Hamm and Butz had a sad face, they were not knights after all, and they lacked the ability to protect themselves in the face of the overwhelming forces of all sides.

Victor thought for a moment and then said, "Well, I'll go to the Kent priest in a moment and ask his paladin to help patrol the territory." All you need to do is guard the castle and take care of order in the town. In addition, the Two-Headed Lizard Chamber of Commerce is also a strong reinforcement of Raven Town, if there is anything, you can go to them to discuss. The army of the Grand Knight Viscount Hanas will be the first to enter Raventown. ”

"Any questions?"

"No more. Butz shook his head.

Victor waved his hand and ordered: "Prepare a car for me, and then send someone to the paladin station, contact the priest of Kent, and say that Viscount Randall is going to visit him." ”

"As you wish, honorable master. ”

Boots and Old Hamm bowed to leave, and Victor looked at their backs and secretly thought, "It's time to train the secret knights of the Randall family." ”