Chapter Twenty-Four: Loving Care from the Imperial Capital
"Your Honor, your decision-making is incredibly wise. Although we are not yet sure whether it is unrefined gold and Mithril, even a single iron-rich mine is enough to cause great trouble for the territory. If this news reached the imperial capital, the empire would most likely ask us to hand over the mining rights of this iron ore mine, and at most it would give us some fine iron or money. ”
"Grandpa Geralt, are you worried?" Imperial law clearly stipulates that everything in the territory is the private property of its lords, and after the imperial power recognizes the division, it has no right to take it back, so I remember father Quark. Li Bing turned his head and looked at the butler.
"Lord, you are right, the law stipulates so, but the imperial law also stipulates that the lord's right to the territory is premised on the absolute loyalty of the lord to the empire."
"Of course I know this, but unless I commit treason, even His Majesty the Emperor has no right..." Li Bing, stuck, also thought that if the Empire wanted to own the iron ore and he was not interested, then he would definitely be hanged in the name of treason.
The crowd in the conference room was silent.
After a long silence, the blacksmith's father said in a loud voice, "Do you just give up?" Obviously there is iron ore but can not be used? ”
"Let me think about it, Dad. I am also not willing to develop iron ore but can not mine, what is the difference between this and lying in the grain pile and starving. I really didn't expect that I had been lying on the Golden Mountain and being poor. Let me think about it, we must take advantage of this development. "Lord Lord is also unwilling to guard the mineral deposit of great value such as iron and cannot use it in the light.
"But my lord, you must know that the Empire will not easily give up the strategic resource of iron ore. I dare to say responsibly that if we were not on the border, we would have nominally the responsibility of royalty. With the amount of fine iron we buy, the Empire has already sent people to inquire. Even now, I dare say that every fine iron we buy will be recorded. ”
"Yes sir, although our weapons are only equipped with a guard of six hundred people, outsiders will not think so. The equipment of the barbarian warriors is made of steel, and they can arm more than twenty people with iron generals on their own, and according to this amount, they can easily calculate the strength of the territory, which is slightly beyond the limit of the self-recruited troops in the border areas. ”
"My Lord, the Empire beyond this military strength will definitely ask questions, and if we exceed the system, the emperor will definitely take the opportunity to ask for guilt." The two old men sang a harmony and talked about troop strength and etiquette, but in fact they did not approve of the lord's idea of mining iron ore.
Since fine iron is a strategic material, why can I successfully purchase so much? Li Bing groaned for a while, and a dangerous thought suddenly appeared in his mind, and he probably had unconsciously fallen into the trap of a big man. But at this time, he was already in the mud, and even if he figured out the causes and consequences of everything, he couldn't do anything. Thinking of this, Li Bing's heart was fierce, since he could not get out, why not simply stir up the storm in it, at this time to do this chess piece at the mercy of others, there may not be a possibility of getting out of the chess player in the future.
"No, I don't think the Emperor would have acted too drastically even if he knew about our intelligence until we had won the war against the Dark Elves. You know, the Dark Elves are not only occupying my fiefdom, but also the territory of the Empire, which is equivalent to slapping the Empire in the face. I think that the Reason why the Empire's crusade against the Dark Elves was so great was not military incompetence, but more likely out of consideration for the political environment at that time. His Majesty the Emperor and the Crown Prince were afraid that Wu Xun would support the Second Prince with self-respect, so they would let the Dark Elf clan go. Now that the Regent has put His Majesty under house arrest, His Majesty is still the titular monarch of the Empire, the Regent does not have enough reason not to overturn the armistice agreement between His Majesty and the Dark Elves, and the Dark Elves are well aware of this, so they have always submitted superficially and paid tribute to the Empire, so that if the Empire sends troops, it will be unknown. But we are different, the territory is the personal property of the lord, we have every reason to send troops to recover, this is also recognized by the emperor, but we did not have the ability before. So if we lose this battle, the Prince Regent will certainly act on us at once, and then my best outcome will be to take back the fiefdom. If we win, His Highness will surely see our ability to draw me to his advantage, and I cannot refuse, because the Empire can sanction us under the pretext of overreach. Since our winning or losing is beneficial to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, let us develop within the scope he thinks is controllable, otherwise why do you think we have mastered so many profitable livelihoods and no one has been looking for trouble? ”
The two old men did not expect the young lord to analyze the situation so thoroughly, the two looked at each other, and then the teaching father asked, "My Lord, your grasp of the situation is meticulous, but I still have to say that we are not sure of the victory of the war of the dark elves." Although our guards are superior in combat, there are not many barbarian warriors after all. And once the situation is not good for mercenaries, it is difficult to guarantee that they will fight for us. Speaking of this, the teaching father said in a dismissive and mocking tone: "They are just a group of rabble-rousers, who can only be brave in their fights, and they can only follow the Battle of Sfong when the legion fights." Once the battlefield is lost, I can guarantee that they will run faster than rabbits. ”
"Grandpa Geralt, you're right, but now that the arrow is on the string, if we don't use troops against the Dark Elves, it won't be long before we face all kinds of troubles from the imperial capital." Now man-made knives trick me into fish meat, and we can only be chess players in the future if we do a good job. ”
Raising his hand to stop the teaching father who tried to continue the advice. "Grandpa Geralt, I now understand why my grandfather and father gave up forming territorial armies, why they would rather give up the vast gains in the dark forest. I was still naïve, and from the moment I decided to form the Guard, I had stepped into a whirlpool, and all this was what I was willing to do. This is the handiwork of the big man, not moving like a mountain, just waiting for the prey to take the bait himself. Needless to say, we normally smelt iron and steel for preparation. As for fine gold and Mithril... First find a way to confirm authenticity, and then decide how to act. Father Quark, you try to contact the mage of the Beast Mercenary Corps, and if possible, coax him to join us. In addition, try your best to recruit mages, and now we have money to throw into it. ”
"Reveal to the two mercenary groups that we can make steel ourselves, in fact, even if we don't say it, they have already guessed about it when they see so many steel weapons." Now that we have revealed it ourselves and tested the reactions of all sides, it is also an indirect proof to the Empire that we have no two hearts. ”
"Lord, what if the Empire asks us for a way to make steel?" Just hand it over? ”
"My blacksmith father, you don't think that there is no way to form an empire that can form an iron floating heavy armor cavalry, and that heavy cavalry is equipped with steel armor."
Li Bing looked around and saw that several people no longer had objections and said, "For the time being, let's do this first, seize the time to actively prepare for the battle to make the momentum bigger, and at the same time secretly try to find a way to confirm the authenticity of refined gold and Mithril." The arsenal can smelt iron by itself, but to the outside world, it can only be said that the excavations are poor mines. ”
Meanwhile, in one of the imperial mansions.
"Your Highness, Your Royal Highness has done something to Ross over there."
"The result."
"Our guys revealed the news to Rose in advance and he ran smoothly."
"My brother is going to lose his temper again, but that little guy is of great value to the Empire now, and he can't let you spoil it." However, someone knocked on this little guy or not, saving him from having a mind that he shouldn't have. ”
"Your Highness, the news from our people is that the Wasteland Lords seem to have mastered the method of steelmaking, and recently they have provided a large number of steel weapons to the mercenaries, but they have not detected that they have trade with the dwarves, and it is very likely that they smelted themselves."
"Oh? This little guy surprised me with nothing but fine salt and coal, and I don't know what interesting things he had in his hands. Let people stare, there is a development in time to report to me. ”
"Obey your highness.")
"In the blink of an eye, can that little guy who pee his pants do it?" Li Fu, I didn't expect it, your father and son raised obscure Taoguang for two generations, and now the third generation of your Li family has finally come to the lonely eyes. No one dared to hear the adult's self-talk, and there was only a lonely figure standing in front of the window in the vast room at this time, and the morning sun pulled his shadow through the window, and the old elder who was dimmed around him was dimmed with a dazzling light.