Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 240 Changing the Day

After    Winters entered the city, Andre took him to the warehouse for the first time.

   "Revodan is so fat!" Andrei smiled and rode straight to the barracks with Winters: "Now we have everything!"

  There are still many dried bloodstains on the school grounds of the military camp, but the bodies have been cleaned up.

  The grain depot is in the corner of the barracks, and a yard is surrounded by the corner of the wall.

  Andre kicked open the door of the grain depot, and the board houses and grain enclosures that were widely separated appeared in front of Winters.

   Winters had not seen so much grain in a long time. Although he was mentally prepared, he was still quite shocked.

  Andre said with a bright face: "I checked, the grains and wheat are divided into half, and they are both this year. Not bad?"

"It's good, I'm happy, and a little unhappy." Winters looked at the grain depot with complicated eyes: "With this grain, we don't have to be hungry or full. But we also have to know that these are from It was stolen from the hands of the peasants."

"Why do you think so much? It's in our hands, it's ours!" Andre laughed, took Winters by the shoulders, and said smugly: "And the vault! The arsenal! All belong to us! After all, the city is better! The countryside can’t compare!”

   Having seen the grain depot, Andre was excited to take Winters to check the vault and the weapon depot.

  Wealth will be concentrated in the city, and the capture of Gervodin alone is incomparable to robbing a grain cart a thousand times.

   "Where's Bud?" Winters asked.

   "Laoba is in the archives, I don't know what he's doing. It's all waste paper, what's there to care about?" Andre disagreed, he pulled Winters: "Let's go! Let's go to the weapons warehouse!"

  Say Bud, and Bud will be there.

   He walked into the grain depot with a scroll, and when he saw both of them were there, he asked with a smile, "How is it? Is the grain depot okay?"

   "Okay! Great!" Andrei laughed.

"I'll bring you a better thing." Bud handed the scroll to Winters: "Better than ten or a hundred grain depots. If I say, add a dollar to the other seizures in Gervoudan, It's not as valuable as that."

   "What?" Winters took the scroll.

   "Since the establishment of Tiefeng County, all records of land transfer, tax payment and population migration in the past 30 years." A few smiles appeared in Bud's eyes: "All."

  Winters unrolled the scroll. He was holding a list of all the files and dossiers in the Revodan garrison. The list seemed to be endless.

"The land deed requires three-phase verification. The files of each town are stored in the town office, many of which have been destroyed. The land purchaser has a land deed, but it is not enough to be used, and it is not enough to be trusted! Only the files of Revodan are the most reliable. record." Bud's voice trembled.

The title deed of   Wolf Town has been reduced to ashes along with the old town hall, and the title deeds of other towns have also been lost.

   The deeds in the hands of land purchasers are difficult to count and can be forged, but the deeds of Gervodin will never be wrong.

   Hearing Bud's words, even Andre was thoughtful.

"By getting them, we can know where there is a master and where there is no master; we can count the acres and allocate the farmland; we can re-plan the world according to our wishes!" Bud's eyes flushed, and he asked Winters: "You don't want to smash this **** world? This is your first cornerstone."

   "No, you're wrong." Wintesla took Bud and Andre's arms: "It's ours."

  …

   At noon, Captain Montagne entered the city.

   In the afternoon, the [City Commissioner] of Gervodin was “invited” to the city hall by the ferocious soldiers.

   There are 21 municipal councillors in the district of Revodan, 12 from the city and 9 from outside the city.

   The complete Gervoudan includes both the urban area and the surrounding villages.

   Some farmers whose land is relatively close to the urban area even go out to farm during the day and return to the city to sleep at night.

   Although these farmers are not "citizens" in the general sense, they also have the citizenship of Gervodin.

   Also, because Gervoudan now has walls—albeit very low, she can also be called a "city" instead of just a "city".

  The city councilors came to the government hall tremblingly, and they were ready to be savagely killed by the bandits.

   But what they saw was a kind young officer: broad-shouldered, big-handed, wide-mouthed and high-nosed, his eyes were always smiling, and he looked very honest.

   The young officer named "Bud" won the trust and goodwill of the city councilors almost immediately.

Lieutenant   Bud patiently explained the policy to the city councilors.

   One word - don't move.

   No levy, no apportionment, and no oath of allegiance to city councilors and citizens.

  What the Revodan station did in the past, the new station will do.

  As much tax as the old stationed station collects, the new stationed station will charge as much tax, but some unreasonable tax items will be removed as appropriate.

   Even the house number and office location are not changed. The current official external name of the "Montagne gang" is [(New) Station Office].

  If they can stay in Gervoudan for a long time, the [New] that is in front of the [Garrison] will soon be omitted.

  The city councilors breathed a sigh of relief.

   They have a wealthy family and a stable life, and the most feared thing is "chaos".

   messed up, but nothing happened.

   For a long time, Gervoudan was a semi-autonomous city, and the garrison was only responsible for three things: collecting taxes, selling land, and killing unsightly bandits.

   And Gervoudan is very small, the population will be more than 500 households. City councilors only meet once a week, and they discuss trivial matters.

   According to Lieutenant Budd, it means that the garrison is still a garrison, but it has been replaced by another group of people.

  Although Major Ronald and others were involuntarily laid off, it had no impact on the lives of others.

   Seeing that Lieutenant Bard was so talkative, the blacksmith and city councilor [Shoi], who has always been known for his boldness, asked: "Lord Lieutenant, Ronald was before... No, Ronald gang! They..."

"It doesn't have to be like this!" Bud interrupted with a smile: "We are a family with Major Ronald, but there is a little difference, just continue to call Major Ronald. I'm not a lieutenant, you can call me a lieutenant. , Lieutenant Bud, you can."

   "Okay, okay." Although the other party was smiling, Shaoyi's knees trembled involuntarily.

He bit his head and continued: "Lord Lieutenant Bud, before Major Ronald forced the Gervodin security team to join the army. Without the security team, all the bad guys came out, and no one was in charge of stealing and robbery. You can see Can you…”

   "Please rest assured, we have already thought about it. Security, the garrison will take care of it first. The former guards will be screened first, and they will be released if there is no problem. In the future, the city hall will be responsible for the security of Revodan."

   The big stone in the hearts of the ruling committee members fell, and many people were worried about the blacksmith Shao Yi just now.

   There were only 20 members of the Gervoudan Guards, all of whom were in the city, so it was okay to let them go—this was the result of the discussion of the six-member group.

"Just say it." Bud smiled and said to the blacksmith Shao Yi: "Although Major Ronald forced the city guard to join the army, he also arrested the security, and he did a good job. When we came, instead Not anymore."

   The hearts of everyone put down, and they suddenly raised their throats.

   "No no..." Shao Yi's head shook like a windmill.

  Bud smiled and looked at the city committee members: "This is a fact, what can't I say? The new station is not there, I just want to be honest with everyone."

   He smiled and said amazingly: "I know, you want to ask us for [city treasury]."

   All the city councilors stopped breathing.

  …

  The warehouse in the station and the warehouse in Revodan are two different things, just as the station and the city hall are two different teams.

   But the irascible Lieutenant Don Juan didn't care so much. When he saw the warehouse, he looked for the key first.

  According to the original plan, all the Revodan warehouses should be emptied.

   But Juan and Moritz decided to change the backup plan, so all the warehouses were sealed and guarded.

  …

Bud kindly reassured everyone: "I know that the committee members want to ask for the city treasury, but they dare not open their mouths. You are afraid that we will kill people without blinking an eye, that we will not save face and take revenge in secret, and that there is no room for negotiation if we make it clear. I can promise you that none of the above will happen. We are a garrison, not bandits."

   The city councilors were a little relieved to see Lieutenant Bud's eyes calm, his tone sincere, and not pretending to be fake.

   Since seeing Lieutenant Bud, their hearts are like waves, rising and falling for a while.

   Shao Yi dared to speak softly: "We really want to ask about the city treasury, but we have absolutely no intention of asking..."

"Let's be open and honest, there's nothing we can't talk about, it's better to talk about it." Bud's voice was mellow and low, and everyone was very comfortable to listen to, but his words sounded the opposite: "I can tell you clearly here, the arsenal, We'll stay. Food banks, we'll stay. We need arms and food."

  The city councilors could not hide their disappointment, because Gervoudan spent a lot of public money on the arsenal and grain storage.

After    mercilessly burst the bubble of hope, everyone easily accepted the reality.

   After all, the other party is... how could it be possible to return the weapons and food?

   "The arsenal and grain depot are in a special situation, I hope everyone will understand. But the Revodan vault..." Bud changed the subject and smiled: "The station will be returned to everyone in its entirety, ensuring a lot of silver coins."

  The city councilors let out a long breath, their taut cheeks and frowning brows also relaxed.

  The treasury is still there, very good, very happy.

  Budd went on to add: "As for the rebuilt city guards, the garrison will provide them with weapons and training free of charge. Make sure they can take up the responsibilities of maintaining law and order."

   Hearing Budd's words, all twenty-one city councillors were delighted.

   After all, I only promised to return the people before, but I didn’t promise to return the weapons. If I think about it, the city hall will have to pay for the guards to buy equipment.

   But now Lieutenant Bud has promised to provide weapons to the guards, you don't need to pay extra, just give it to the arsenal.

"Not only that." Budd said with a smile before he finished speaking, he announced with a smile: "The storage of the Revodan arsenal and the grain depot will also be paid at a discounted price. We are stationed in the Revodan, and we will never rob all citizens in vain. precious property!"

   Blacksmith Shao Yi stood up abruptly and slapped hard.

  Other city councilors stood up quickly or slowly, and applauded along with Shao Yi.

   There was loud applause in the city hall, as if there were hundreds of people in a warm meeting.

  …

The    six - Winters, Bud, Andre, Mason, Juan, and Moritz - have discussed it carefully: food and weapons cannot be returned, but money can be returned.

   Winters is not short of money, not only is he not short of money, he has two tons of gold buried in the great wasteland.

   With the current situation in Tiefeng County, there is no way to buy food and weapons even with gold and silver.

   So the six-member group decided to simply "purchase" the arsenal and grain depot from the City Hall.

  The price is up for debate, but as long as it's not too much, the City Hall will happily accept it if it suffers a bit of a loss.

  No one knows better than Winters: stealing money can anger a city more than death.

   Gain mutual trust through equal transactions, and Gervoudan will be able to stabilize.

What the   6-member group wanted most was "stability", and no one wanted to see Gervoudan catch fire.

   They also don’t plan to take over Gervoudan completely. As long as the tax is paid according to the amount, it would be better for Gervoudan to continue to be autonomous.

  Budd has obtained all the archives of the Revodan station and is sorting it out.

   How much tax should be paid by Gervodan and when it should be paid.

  …

  Bud raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop.

  City Hall suddenly returned to silence.

   "There is still good news in the station, let me tell you here!" Bud continued to announce: "The grinding wheel tax in Tiefeng County will be written off from now on! There is no need to pay it again! Everyone can freely use and make grinding wheels!"

  City members cheered and applauded again.

   But they were just cheering, not really slapping like before.

  Because they have status, status, and property, the grinding wheel tax is not a real pain for them.

  Wheel tax, that is, the tax levied on the grinding table.

  People don't eat wheat, but people eat flour, so wheat has to walk on the mill sooner or later.

   So taxing millstones became a natural choice for rulers.

   In Palatu in the feudal era, serfs, tenant farmers and even dependents had to go to the mills designated by the lords to grind flour, and paid different amounts of flour for this.

  It is a crime to hide a grinding wheel: the first offense is five lashes, the second offense is hard labor, and the third offense is to chop off the arm;

  Those who make millstones stealthily are directly hanged.

The    reduced weight goes into the miller's pocket as "loss" and then flows to the lord's pocket.

  In a different day, after entering the republic era, the [mill monopoly] was banned as a legacy of feudalism.

   So the Republic of Palato changed to a tax on grinding discs - each one was paid semi-annually.

   And each place strictly limits the number of craftsmen allowed to manufacture grinding discs, ensuring that each grinding disc is registered.

The   mill tax is the most hated and most helpless tax by the people who are still struggling to survive.

   Bud, who announced the lifting of the grinding wheel tax, smiled contentedly and sincerely.

   Later, he announced another big event:

   "This weekend!" Bud's smile became brighter: "The station will [publicly try] criminals in the city square. I hope you gentlemen will set an example and do your work, and let every citizen of Gervoudan come to participate."

   The smiles of the city councilors froze on their faces.

  …

The    meeting ended, and the city councilors said goodbye to each other and went home.

   But before half an hour passed, the twelve members of the city reunited again at the tobacconist [Priskin's] house.

  The crowd sat around old Priskin, and you and I talked about what happened today.

  Old Priskin was sixty-four years old, and his body was still very strong. He was the most respected city councillor in Gervodin.

   It was just that he had suffered a serious illness at the beginning of the year, so he resigned as a city councillor.

  Everyone wanted to elect his second son, Priskin Jr., to succeed him, but the old man refused, and finally had to give up.

After    resigned from the post of city councillor, old Priskin's physical condition gradually improved.

  Although he has resigned, he is still the backbone of the city committee, and everyone else comes to him to discuss things.

"The new little officer named Bud." The blacksmith Shao Yi swallowed hard and said with emotion, "It's like playing with us like holding a thread. We will be happy and scared for a while, but he is completely led away by him. ."

  Old Priskin listened carefully to the story, frowned and asked, "That Lieutenant Budd always calls himself [Garrison Station]?"

   "Yeah." Everyone nodded, and someone sneered: "The rebels enter the city and claim to be the official army, it's really funny."

   Everyone laughed and laughed, and the room was full of happy air.

   "Confused!" Old Priskin slapped the table and scolded angrily: "He is not an officer, he has torn his face and become a bandit, and robs, kills, and raids his home. Isn't it funny? Are you happy?"

   The person who said the sarcastic words was startled.

Old Priskin's brows stretched out: "They don't want to be officers, we all have to coax them to be; now they want to be officers, we have to cheer. Business is done, life is passed, what's wrong? We All the wealth and wealth are in Revodan, do you still expect them to kill?"

   "Then... that public trial meeting." Shao Yi licked his lips and asked, "Are we going to participate? He didn't say who was to be tried, he just said it was going to be a public trial."

"Why don't you go? Not only go! You have to take people there, it has to be lively!" Old Priskin hated that iron was not steel: "Hold it! Understand? Put them up high, the higher the better. "The higher they are, the safer Gervoudan is and the safer we are."

  Others nodded silently when they heard the words.

   After being quiet for a while, Old Priskin asked thoughtfully, "Have you seen the leader known as [Blood Wolf] this time?"

   "No." Shao Yi shook his head: "I only saw him from a distance when he entered the city. He was riding a tall horse and wearing an officer's uniform. He was also very young, but he looked quite majestic."

   "He turned out to be the resident officer of Langtun Town?"

   "It is said to be."

   "Blood of the wolf." Old Priskin chewed on the word and asked the crowd: "Wolf and blood are both murderers. Who knows how he got this nickname?"

   "Langtun Town." Someone said it for granted.

   "No." Old Priskin sneered: "I don't think it's that simple. What's his name?"

   "My surname is Montagne, I don't know what it's called." Another replied.

   Old Priskin frowned: "Montagne... This is not a Platonic surname."

   "Maybe from other provinces?" Shao Yi asked tentatively.

   "Go and ask, but be very careful." Old Priskin urged: "Don't release maliciousness, we are just curious about the origin of the nickname Blood Wolf. Can you understand what I mean?"

   All the city councilors nodded.

  Old Priskin thought for a while, and then asked, "You didn't see him at City Hall, so where is he now?"

   "I know." Shao Yi hurriedly replied: "I heard from my brother-in-law that the captain named Blood Wolf only stayed in the city for a while. Before noon, he left the city again."

   "Out of the city?" Old Priskin frowned: "Where did you get out of the city?"

"North Gate!"

  …

   Winters didn't know anyone was studying him.

   Within an hour of entering the city, he and Andre and Senior Mason led a team of cavalry out of the city again.

The    cavalry rushed to the town of Hammerburg with a secret weapon to join Juan and Moritz.

   Juan and Moritz are besieging Hammer.

   Hammer Castle and Hammer Castle Town cannot be equated. Hammer Castle refers specifically to the wooden castle in the center of the town.

   "Hammer Castle has surrendered" was actually made up by Winters in order to dampen the morale of Ronald's troops, just like "Sixteen Town Protectors".

   He is currently only the protector of Seven Towns, and [Forge Township] has not reached an agreement with him.

  Because the town of Forge was right next to Rewardin, Winters couldn't stretch his arms that far.

Captain   Epper overcame difficulties and dangers, and finally took the lead in occupying Hammer Fort - Don Juan did not know that there was such an inconspicuous small fort north of Gervoudan.

   In order to hide his tracks, he took the road from Wangqiao Town to the St. George River.

  The Hammer Fort is small and made of wood and has been in disrepair for a long time.

   But it is indeed a fortress, and it is not worth the cost of storming.

   So at this moment, the man who was holding a door panel close to the Hammer Fort was the "blood wolf" that Old Priskin was talking about.

   "Senior Epel!" Winters shouted, "Come out and surrender!"

   There is no sound on the fort.

   "The bandit leader Ronald has surrendered! You are the only one left!" Winters reached out from behind the door and waved two flags: "This is his flag, look!"

With a    "ding" sound, an arrow was inserted into the door panel.

   Captain Eper stuck his head out and shouted in anger: "I'd rather die than surrender!"

   "Don't worry! Surrender to avoid death!" Winters responded.

   "[The most vicious swear words of the Paratus people]!" Captain Eper shot another arrow.

   "If you don't surrender, I'm going to bombard you!" Winters continued to convince people with reason: "Think about it! Don't let your people bury you with you!"

   "Who are you scaring?" Captain Epert cursed: "Gervodin doesn't have a cannon! Where did you get a cannon? Come! You kill me! I'm waiting for you!"

   "Okay!" Winters threw away the door panel and simply turned to leave.

   His attitude made Epel a little uneasy.

   Even more disturbed were Epel's men, who peered nervously through the cracks in the wooden wall.

   "Senior." Winters returned to Mason: "Epel wants you to shoot him."

   "What nonsense are you talking to him?" Don Juan on the battlefield was always very irritable: "Bomb him! Two shots down, I'll make him surrender!"

   "If you can persuade, don't use force." Moritz sighed.

  Senior Mason is very cautious: "My cannon can only shoot shotgun shells, and the damage effect on wooden walls is not very good."

"You he..." Don Juan suddenly realized that Mason was a senior, and swallowed back the swear words: "You don't need to load cannonballs at all! As soon as the cannons sound, the waste inside can be scared to pee your pants. The key is to make the sound louder. Big caliber! It's going to look scary!"

   "That's it." Winters laughed: "My words are not for Senior Epel, but for the soldiers in Hammer Fort."

   "Then give it a try." Mason also laughed: "It takes a lot of effort to bring it here, and it can't be justified without making a few noises."

   He greeted Andrei: "Come on! Pull the cannon over here!"

  Andrei lifted the veil when he heard the words.

   He and his cavalry mobilized the horses, dragging four black cannons to slowly approach the Hammer Fort.

   From a distance, the caliber of these four artillery pieces is extremely terrifying, and the size is also terrifyingly large.

   But when you look up close it will reveal the filling because they are made of wood.

   This is the secret weapon that Winters, Mason and Andre brought from Gervoudan. They were originally going to give the defenders a shot at the most intense siege of Gervodin, but they didn’t expect the defenders to fight so hard.

  Because the gun body is made of wood, it is very light and can keep up with the marching speed of the cavalry.

   was mounted on a carriage and transported over bumps along the way.

  Mason was thinking about his [horse-pulling artillery] idea, and this time it was a small experiment.

  The four cannons are getting closer and closer to the Hammer Fort.

   In order to better deceive the enemy, Winters also had the four wooden cannons painted black.

   Together with the temporary assembly of the gun carriage, and the movement method of "two draught horses pretending to be desperately dragging the guns", it looks really decent.

  Epel was stunned when he saw Winters' subordinates launch four cannons.

   But the more he looked, the more strange the opponent's cannon became.

   "Fuck!" He yelled, "He cheated us! That's **** wood!"

   The roar of artillery drowned out his scolding.

  The four wooden cannons roared in succession, but only one had cannonballs placed in it—scales, broken iron, and other broken iron items.

  Although the wooden gun barrel reinforced by the iron hoop was shaken out of the crack, it still withstood the internal pressure.

  The gunpowder gas pushed the contents of the gun chamber to spray out and flew towards the Hammer Fort.

   The "cannonball" smashed the outer wall of the Hammer Fort with ping-pong sounds and sawdust flying.

   A thunderous roar penetrated the smoke: "Drop! Or die!"

  The people in the Hammer Fort pried open the wooden planks nailed to the gate, and ran out, rolling and crawling: "Surrender! We surrender! Spare your life!"

  Epper pulled out his sword in desperation and wanted to kill himself.

   But the blade stopped at his neck, and he couldn't move. The more hesitant, the more unable to do it.

   He threw away his sword, sat in the corner, and cried out in grievance.

   [This chapter also has a map]

   [The grinding wheel tax really existed in history. Forcing serfs and even people to go to designated mills to grind noodles is also something that feudal aristocrats did]

   [Sorry for being late. Because the plot after entering the city is denser. It took some time to sort out the narrative sequence. The current narrative sequence should be the best]

   [This chapter is also a big chapter, 6700 words, the number of words is rather strange, because the emotions are together, so they will not be developed separately, thank you everyone]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)