Mount & Blade: Wind of War

There were several bags of gold coins in Rhodes' storage ring. He did not expect that he would be discovered as soon as he arrived at the city gate, so he did not make any preparations. When he bribed Moro, it was already the bag with the least gold coins in the storage ring, but he did not expect that his identity would be exposed.

Although he originally wanted to conduct a secret investigation, he decided to make the best of it and turn the secret investigation into an open investigation. Rhodes, Fatis and the other four entered the city and roughly checked the problems of urban development.

"Dadal, you have managed the White Stone Castle very well, but there are still some problems."

"Please give me some advice, Your Excellency the Duke."

"The economic value of the White Stone Castle itself is not high. Its most important value is its military value. Therefore, you have done too much to open up the mountains and burn the forests to arrange farmland. It is enough to be self-sufficient. I don't need it to produce more food, or even become a big city for food production."

In fact, the land around the Lonely Mountain Castle is relatively barren. Although there is a large amount of grain storage now and the grain price is very low, in the long run, a large amount of food supplements are still needed. Dadal is also developing in that direction.

However, for the time being, Rhodes would rather continue to transfuse blood to the White Stone Fortress than to produce too much grain here.

Otherwise, once they face a powerful enemy in the future, they will first capture the White Stone Fortress and use it as a military base, which will be a great supplement to the enemy.

"I understand, I will immediately order people to return farmland to forest."

"That's not necessary, just stop the subsequent farmland expansion. I allow the White Stone Fortress to develop animal husbandry, which has higher economic value and the people's lives can be more prosperous."

"I obey your order."

Looking at the sheepman leader Dadar who bowed his head deeply in front of him, Rhodes knew that no matter how good his acting skills were, there would be a thorn in the other party's heart, just like no matter how loyal Dadar was, Rhodes would be on guard against him.

If it was a human civil servant, he might argue with Rhodes here, because under the premise of ensuring the occupation of the White Stone Fortress, developing agriculture near this town would be an excellent supplement to the Lonely Mountain Fortress.

As the leader of the sheepmen, Dadar Edelweiss was one of the few foreigners in the upper echelons of the Lonely Mountain Castle. He listened to whatever Rhodes said without any argument or explanation.

In the Middle Ages, raw fields and cultivated fields had completely different agricultural outputs. Although he had the support of the human empire Styak, as a border lord, Rhodes was also always on guard against the orc forces in his north.

Once the other side really attacked, it would be impossible to defend three towns at the same time with the troops he had now, or even two towns.

Therefore, Rhodes made strategic preparations for a strong defense, although it would affect the economic development for a certain number of years.

White Stone Fortress was a town where many races lived together, and the foreign population even reached nearly 40% of the human population. Therefore, Rhodes used Dadar, the first sheepman leader who surrendered to him, as the leader to appease the people.

However, if he fought with the orc forces in the future, Rhodes did not expect these sheepmen, lizardmen, and foxmen to firmly support him. As long as he could ensure that his strategic military goals were achieved, these people would let him go.

However, the absolute military power of the White Stone Fortress must be in his own hands. This is the cornerstone and the underlying logic.

But in addition to this, Dadar still managed the White Stone Fortress very well. The people's life satisfaction is high, the town has good public security, and the army has maintained a high level of vigilance and combat effectiveness.

Historically, few sheep people can reach the height of Dadar. After all, the sheep people are not a strong fighting race. The sheep people's heavy infantry can be used, but it is only at the level of being useful.

With the experience and lessons of the White Stone Fortress, after riding the griffin to the City of Redemption, the four people's disguise became more cautious.

Therefore, although the guards of the City of Redemption were also vigilant, they still let the four people into the city after a round of inspection.

This time, Rhodes led the horse to find an old woman on the street and asked:

"Madam, how is your life recently? We are travelers to the Lonely Mountain Castle. If you have time, can you tell us about it?"

"Oh, the recent days are pretty good. The lord who rules here is Blevins. You must be careful here. Once you break the law, you will be immediately arrested and enslaved. It will be difficult to get out at that time. The City of Redemption is a city of ore and slaves. Although there is no death penalty here, there are many slaves who are beaten to death by supervisors every day."

The old woman carrying the basket was quite talkative and kind. She told everything she knew and reminded Rhodes not to break the law in this town.

That night, Rhodes, Fatis, Cress, and Osana stayed in the tavern in the town.

Drinking, playing cards, gambling, and even those wanton dancers, in short, everything a tavern should have, it seems to have everything here.

"I feel like Blevins doesn't run this place as well as Whitestone Fortress." After taking a sip of wine, Cress said this beside Rhodes.

"Each city has its own unique temperament. Whitestone Fortress is run by Dadar, an agricultural city composed of a group of people who desire peace and tranquility, while the City of Redemption was originally a city of sin/thieves. It is difficult to change the temperament of this city in a short period of time without killing all the natives. It is also unfair to Blevins."

Blevins was the first thief leader to pledge allegiance to Rhodes when he conquered the City of Sin. He was also one of the few former thief leaders who was still alive and had ascended to a high position.

Janice, who had a blood feud with the thieves, did not kill this guy. On the one hand, it was because he was the first to pledge allegiance to Duke Rhodes, and Janice had to consider Duke Rhodes's thoughts. On the other hand, it was because this guy did things without any leaks. Over the years, the City of Redemption has continuously exported raw materials to the Lonely Mountain Castle, and there has almost never been a large-scale turmoil.

Such subordinates who can do things and get things done, no superior will dislike them. Of course, whether they are valued or not is another matter.

At this time, chaos broke out among the crowd in the tavern.

Two drinkers who drank two more glasses of wine started fighting. Except for the tavern owner who stopped them, the people around cheered and applauded.

However, it didn't take long before the two drunkards really decided the winner.

A group of bear warriors wearing leather armor broke through the door with a bang and rushed in. These bear warriors, who were more than two blades tall on average, beat civilians like adults beating children, knocking them down with a wave of their arms.

"The city lord ordered that all those who fight after drinking will be punished as mine slaves and sentenced to two years in prison!"

No matter who was right or wrong, who was right or wrong, both drunkards were arrested. As for whether they could walk out of the mine alive in two years, it depended on their luck.

"Good guy, the bear security team?" Even Rhodes couldn't help but speak out when he saw this scene.

"Brother, is this your first time to the City of Redemption? Our city lord has raised a large number of alien warriors to control us humans, damn it."

Use alien warriors to control public security, and use human troops to control alien warriors. When Rhodes heard the complaints of the brother next to him, he quickly grasped Blevins's idea as the operator of this city.

Faced with the brutal and tyrannical bear warriors, most people dared not resist, and just accepted being oppressed. Races like lizardmen and gnolls lost their temper when they saw the fat and strong bodies of the bear warriors, and even humans were the same.

However, no matter how tyrannical these bear warriors were, they were still slaves in nature. Once they angered Blevins, the city lord, and attracted the army to suppress them, even if these bear warriors were facing a volley of heavy crossbows, they would still have to die.

Even, no one would hold Blevins accountable for the death of these bear warriors. This means of balancing the left and the right was objectively very clever.

"The continuous development of freedom will inevitably lead to chaos, and absolute freedom represents absolute chaos. Only order can quell chaos, but absolute order will form slavery, and only the will to freedom can end slavery."

Playing with the wine glass in front of him, Rhodes whispered to himself.

This trip to the territory not only stimulated and strengthened Fatis, but also brought great benefits to Rhode.

Fatis relatively preferred the stable and free environment of the White Stone Fortress. However, if Dadar was placed in the City of Redemption, he would not be able to manage it as well as Blevins, and even the City of Redemption would inevitably fall into chaos, because many people here were originally thieves.

"Then, what is the best choice for us?" Fatis asked.

"Maintaining free circulation between towns, I'm not sure this is the best choice, but I know it will be a good choice, giving people more power to choose. We have this condition, so why not do it?"