Mount & Blade: Wind of War

In this world, never think that others are all fools and you are the smartest. Anyone who thinks so is often the fool.

Many people in Lonely Mountain Castle believe that their lord has conquered an enclave for the Styak Empire, a vast territory of millions of square kilometers. With such merits, it is probably enough to split the land and establish a country.

However, Rhodes thought more deeply than most people in Lonely Mountain Castle, that is, whether the Styak upper class really wants this land:

If not, there is a strategic buffer zone, and the Styak Empire is not adjacent to the two major orc kingdoms of the Hoffman Empire and the Sims Royal Court.

Once this land is occupied, the future war with the two major orc kingdoms is simply predictable.

Rhodes can see that the country's interest groups are intertwined, encroaching on the interests of the middle and lower classes, making it increasingly difficult for the people who are the cornerstone to survive. The nobles, officials, and rulers who rule this country can also see it.

In such a difficult period, is it appropriate to launch a full-scale war? This decision even affects the rise and fall of the entire empire:

Warfare is a major issue for a country, a matter of life and death, a way of survival and destruction, and it must be carefully considered!

This world may not have such a classic summary, but it does not prevent rulers from gaining similar wisdom.

Moreover, those who have risen from the bottom like Rhodes tend to strive for progress and survive, but the vested interests, the rulers of the empire, tend to move left and right and slowly adjust the entire empire.

The Chief Minister of the Empire and the Minister of Finance, Marquis Angel, is a master of this. He does business with the two human empires of Raymond and Saint Laurent: from food, horses, weapons, minerals, to slaves, people, and even legions, everything is rented and sold.

Marquis Angel's theory is to transfer the negative ills of the Styak Empire for two hundred years to the two human empires of Raymond and Saint Laurent through capital operation.

You fight the war, you bear the danger, and we take all the benefits. People like this hate the emergence of variables like Lonely Mountain Castle and Rodhart, because the emergence of Lonely Mountain Castle may drag the entire empire into the quagmire of war, and then all his management and governance over the past twenty years will be in vain.

Fame, profit, and talent are the three important demands of Rhode when he came to Fastel this time.

Fame refers to the title level granted by the Styak Empire, profit refers to financial subsidies and tax-free support, and talent refers to specialized talents in various fields and a large number of population filling.

The wilderness covers millions of kilometers of land, and the population of Lonely Mountain Castle and Redemption City is too difficult to maintain. If there is population migration promoted by national power, it can be regarded as a real foothold.

However, at the banquet, Rhode, as the protagonist, tried to talk to the Minister of Finance Marquis Angel several times, but he avoided him.

Obviously, although he did not want to offend, Marquis Angel did not want to support Lonely Mountain Castle, trying to avoid irritating the nerves of the Orc Empire.

Fortunately, Rhode did not have two or three preparations other than normal communication.

"Your Majesty, I have come thousands of miles from Lonely Mountain Castle. In addition to sending back Princess Anna, I have also brought you a unique gift from the North." At the banquet, Rhodes suddenly stepped forward to salute and said loudly.

"Oh? Lord Rodhart, I want to take a closer look at the gift that you have traveled thousands of miles to bring. What is it?"

His Majesty, dressed in a red silk dress, has a head full of white hair, but he is in good spirits, with a sword on his waist and a straight back. If you don't look closely, standing among the princes and princesses, he looks more like a brother than a father.

"Pull it up!"

With His Majesty's promise, the huge iron cage wrapped in linen cloth that was blocked outside the palace was pulled in little by little. It can be seen that it is very heavy. Even if several guards pull the chain together, they are very strenuous.

During this process, Rhodes noticed that behind the third princess and the fifth prince, as the iron cage approached, there were followers subconsciously approaching.

"Mages and priests? Their perception is quite high."

"Lord Rodhart, what exactly is this? Don't keep me in suspense. I'm already very curious."

"In that case, I will solve your majesty's puzzle immediately."

As he spoke, Rod walked towards the iron cage, and then he pulled off the linen covering the iron cage.

"Oh, my God!" The next moment, there was an uproar in the whole hall.

Because an ugly and terrifying creature that no one present had ever seen appeared in front of them:

A strong body, bull-like horns and hooves, scales all over the body, and a gradual flame burning on the surface. This is an elite flaming horn demon, a terrifying and bloodthirsty lower-level purgatory creature.

After several months of continuous dark environment and bumpy transportation, it appeared again in front of many humans. The flaming horn demon in the iron cage was irritable and violent. Suddenly, its body burst into terrifying high-temperature flames and attacked from all sides.

However, amid the exclamations of the guests around them, they were not injured.

Because bright emerald green inscriptions suddenly appeared around the iron cage. The power of these inscriptions greatly dissipated the power of the Flame-Horned Demon. Therefore, even if it spread out, it was only a billowing heat wave, and the power was less than one-tenth of it.

But even so, it was enough to scare the gentlemen and ladies at the banquet and make them retreat again.

Those barrier inscriptions were the masterpieces of Likia Qiusha, and she replenished her magic from time to time, so that the defensive barrier could be maintained to the capital.

"Your Majesty, this is the gift from your minister to you. The lower-dimensional creatures, the Flame Horned Demons, have a large number of lower-dimensional space cracks in the wilderness of the northern border of the empire. Although I have led troops to frequently clear them, I am still worried that these lower-dimensional creatures that have been missed will break through the defense line and harass the people."

If you want to win as much military support as possible, the most intuitive and effective way is of course to directly show the enemy's ferocity, brutality, and strength.

What's more, this is just the first round of offensives. In Rhodes' eyes, it is just laying a foundation.

Make certain preparations to obtain huge funds from the empire's finances.

"Well, thank you for this gift from Lord Rodhart. Put it away and send it down." His Majesty Ledson Revic had no sadness or joy on his face, and his expression was the most ordinary.

It was as if what Rhodes gave him was a perfectly normal gift. No one could know what was in the mind of this supreme being at this moment.