If I let you farm, will you become the emperor of the empire?

Roman's title is both a king and a lord.

The latter is a special title.

The knight not only receives the highest honor of this land, but also shoulders a mission.

The mission of maintaining the order of the conquerors.

Roman still remembers what the Lord of Black Iron said when he sent his ministers to this remote valley to confer the title on him - "You have to go out to quell the rebellion. Pirates, barbarians, demons, foreign races, anything that can threaten our safety, you can go and fight."

Damon may remember this sentence, or he may not remember it.

For such a counselor who plays power games, there is no telling how many words he has to say every day.

But he certainly remembers that he got a lot of shield tax from Roman last year because of this sentence.

And now, he is here again.

He stared at Roman closely, praying in his heart that this lord would never give up.

If the lord in front of him said, "This is not for the sake of peace in a corner, but for the peace of the people in one corner", or "Now that all countries are in chaos, a shepherd should be appointed to settle it."

If he uses this as an excuse to not send out troops and just shut himself up and sleep, then the King of Black Iron really can't do anything to him.

What else?

If you push him too hard, he will just rise up and rebel against you!

Then the King of the Valley will have to send troops to quell the rebellion.

After the King of the Valley rebelled, he closed the gate and slept in the valley.

How can the King of Black Iron quell the rebellion?

Block the door with the Holy See's Crusade Army?

Sinnoh has plenty of troops, and the Church has an inexhaustible supply of believers. They can outlast them, but the King of Black Iron can't.

More importantly, once they fall out, the King of Black Iron will definitely not be able to collect taxes from the City of Origin.

Alas, Ulster, it's your fault.

Roman thought about it carefully, and after a long time, he said, "You asked me to send troops, but how can I do it now?"

"That's why a young king like you can't stay in this canyon all the time, otherwise you will become the same as your Lord Ulster. Isn't the Church your enemy? You have publicly sheltered witches, and they all say that you have inherited Lord Ulster's legacy..."

Roman frowned: "Who said that?"

"Everyone is saying it," Damon shrugged.

Roman remained silent. Under Damon's anxious gaze, he slowly nodded and said, "I will send troops."

The minister was relieved: "It can't be delayed too late."

"Next year."

The minister tentatively said: "Send troops before autumn?"

"Yes."

The ministers praised: "You are worthy of being the son of Ulster!"

Now he can go back and report to his king with peace of mind.

Roman asked, "But, Lord Damon, I have to ask, what exactly is His Majesty's plan?"

Political warfare is not a riddle or a code. You have to make your words clear to avoid misunderstandings.

"I would have told you this even if you didn't ask me... But before that, Lord, can I know how many troops you have now?"

Roman shook his head, "This is not important."

Damon emphasized, "Only if I know this can I know how likely you are to win."

Roman glanced at him, "It's OK if I win, this is not your business."

Damon was not annoyed, and smiled, "Lord Roman is so sure, then I feel relieved."

Roman was not interested in reporting the assets of Origin City to outsiders.

He set up the fog of war in Origin City from the beginning.

The function of the fog of war is very simple, that is, to make people outside know nothing about this place.

This can be done easily.

Let's put it this way, even the pirates themselves didn't know how many people Roman had robbed in Kant Territory, and how many slaves the pirates had brought here. They still had to count them one by one in Origin City to determine the final number of people.

This is not an exaggeration at all.

For example, during the flood, the pirates sent more than 300 warships, some large and some small, transporting nearly 20,000 slaves in total.

Do you think they would count the number one by one when they boarded the ship?

Wrong!

Such a large and fast operation involved tens of thousands of slaves.

The Pirate King might not even know the number of warships sent.

After all, this is a business, go and come back quickly, not a war, so there is no need to accurately allocate troops.

Counting the population will waste time, just stuff as many as you can, and when you feel it's enough, or there's no room, then you set sail and paddle to Origin City to trade with Roman.

If Roman had deliberately concealed the number of hundreds of slaves, the pirates wouldn't have found out at all.

It's just that Roman was too lazy to do such rubbish.

But the so-called degree of organization is also reflected in this aspect.

Pirates do have survival knowledge inherited from their tribes, but compared to the civilized world, barbarians are barbarians.

The civilized world is not much better, just more advanced barbarians.

The current Origin City is a black hole in the eyes of outside forces.

They know nothing about the population, scale, army, and system of Origin City.

The same is true for all residents of Origin City, and they can't even sell intelligence.

Apart from anything else, even most rural people living in modern times don't know the specific population of the village.

Origin City has nearly 80,000 people, 9,000 brick houses, and 90 settlements alone.

A settlement is a small village, with as few as 300 or 400 people and as many as thousands of people.

The difficulty of command and dispatch alone is unimaginable.

"If there is a chance of winning," Damon said. When the young man agreed to send troops, there was no fear, anxiety, or nervousness on his face. He was obviously trapped here, but he remained calm and composed, as if the jihadist army outside was just a paper cage. And he can tear it into pieces with just a little force.

Damon has asked countless people to tell him that this confidence is not just an act, he really thinks so.

Daemon wondered if he had made a pact with some otherworldly being, but fortunately the scholars of the Citadel and the astrologers of Sinnoh never found revelation among the stars.

Damon was thinking about those mysterious things, but he said: "Then, you can defeat the Holy War Army. His Majesty the King may be able to use this matter to talk to the Pope and ask the Holy See to withdraw its troops."

Roman understood immediately and said, "What if the Pope refuses? What if things get worse?"

Roman felt that this was a bet, and Kurogane would most likely lose the bet.

When the situation has developed to this point, just one victory cannot curb the expansion trend of the Holy See.

"Then this is what our King should consider." The minister spread his hands and said,

"Lord Roman, we all have to take action. You also know that no one dares to be your neighbor. Lord Kant has moved to his distant relatives. Now the Jihad Army is going to occupy this place. It's okay to stay for a year and a half and then leave. But as time goes by, who owns this land? This is not a good sign.”

It's really not a good sign. Kangde has few resources, but its food output is quite impressive.

The coalition of nobles came, but no one had the intention to invade the Kant territory.

First of all, poverty is one thing, and it is not worthwhile to take possession of it, as it will ruin the family's reputation.

Secondly, the conqueror order had not yet collapsed at that time.

But the Holy War Army was different. They were here to burn witches. Not to mention that Count Kant ran away.

Once those 20,000 Jihadi troops resume production, they will take root, and they will definitely start sowing seeds in the spring...

Roman said: "I want that land."

Damon was stunned, "Are you talking about the Kant Territory? You can do it if you want. I will explain this to His Majesty. Just paying a tax is enough, but can you hold on to so many Jihadi troops?"

After all, the Dark Iron King only asked Lord Roman to fight a defeat.

Roman said: "Isn't it just 20,000 Jihadi troops?" If we couldn't defend it before, it doesn't mean we can't defend it now.

Damon was stunned again: "Who told you there were only 20,000?"

Seeing Roman frowning, he continued, "It seems you really don't care. They started with 20,000 people, but now there are more than 30,000, and by next year there will be 40,000 or 50,000. You may want to ask about the population. Where did it come from, but I have to tell you that there are many believers of the gods in the Black Iron Land. When those farmers heard about the Holy War Army, they fled with their families and their families en masse. Many nobles were dissatisfied with this. Now His Majesty the King has it on his desk. With more than a dozen letters of accusation, those nobles did not have the guts to go to Kant’s territory to take back the fleeing peasants. After all, the Holy War Army would really go to war with them for the sake of those believers who do not know whether they are pious or not..."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Roman who was in deep thought, "So...Lord Roman, you have to be prepared."

In the past, believers were prohibited from gathering in the Black Iron Land, let alone launching large-scale preaching and processions.

The knights on the expedition stared eagerly at the low-level peasants who had no force, and punched them twice if they dared to form gangs.

But it's different now.

The Holy War Army is here, and all believers can be protected by the gods, and many farmers who are not living a satisfactory life are relieved on the spot.

After three years of development, not to mention the Kant leader, other lords will also have to kneel down before the priests.

Roman's attitude didn't change and he said, "I understand."

"Then His Majesty the King and I are waiting for your good news at Black Castle." Damon said, "By the way, there is one more thing. Since you can mine one thousand kilograms of gold this year, next year's tax revenue will only be three hundred kilograms of gold. Of which two hundred kilograms are mining taxes, and the other one hundred kilograms of gold are your other miscellaneous items this year. I don’t think I need to list them one by one. "

Roman closed his eyes for a moment and nodded slightly.

On the one hand, he was allowed to send troops to fight, but without any support in terms of troops and materials.

On the other hand, he has to be charged a high tax equivalent to 50,000 gold coins, but those tax names have been there from the beginning. This is the aristocratic system in the medieval era, and there is no way to talk about targeting it.

It can only be said that there is too much oil and water in Origin City.

On the other hand, as long as you pay taxes, you have extremely high autonomy, which is equivalent to a local emperor.

Even when facing the Minister of Finance who asked about the population and military strength of Origin City, Roman could shut him up.

After the minister conveyed the Black Iron King's oral instructions clearly, he took the gold and left the City of Origin that day.

It started snowing again in December.

Roman was not in a hurry. Once the winter passed and spring came, the wheat seedlings would grow rapidly...

When the time comes, the Origin City will shock the entire land!

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