Pero took a sip of black tea, leaned back in the soft lord's chair, and let out a long breath.

It's been more than two months since he took over the Long Song Fortress, and he finds himself enjoying the hall more and more. The step-by-step structure allowed him to look down on the officials and attendants standing below from his main seat, and he felt satisfied with the feeling of power.

In the first month, there will be some minor aristocrats who will jump out and openly question themselves, or secretly plot riots, etc. - of course, the people behind the scenes who provoked them to come out are from the elk and wolf families. Perro heeded his father's advice and sent to the gallows all troublemakers or underground rats without titles, while the minor nobles with titles were imprisoned and expelled from the West after the family paid a ransom.

This set of thunderous measures was implemented, and the situation quickly subsided. After all, except for the Honeysuckle family, the knights of the other families were all captured and taken to the border town, and it was impossible to resist Peiluo's policy from the surface. Afterwards, he divided a part of the profits of the fortress to compensate for the losses of the big family during the capture, so that all the nobles temporarily formed a relatively stable interest group.

Now in addition to 30% of the income of the fortress handed over to the border town, the remaining 70%, 30% is used to maintain the operation of the city, 20% is used to appease the rest of the nobles, and the Hermon territory gets the remaining 20%.

Today, the portrait hanging behind the Lord's Seat has been replaced by the Duke of Lane and the fourth prince, Roland Wimbledon, who is looking forward to the day when he will be able to hang a portrait of himself, Perro Hermon.

If you can completely own the fortress of Changge, your own county can be connected with the fortress and become a veritable dukedom, and fifty percent of the surrender and pacification can also be saved and invested in the operation and trade of the fortress, so as to exchange for more lucrative returns.

Of course, the premise is that Roland can successfully ascend to the throne and become the king of the entire realm of the Grey Keep.

"Your Excellency," one of the guards walked into the lord's hall and handed over a letter, "news from the Frontier Town. ”

Hearing the word Frontier Town, Pero immediately sat up straight.

He took the envelope and shook the thin papyrus flat, and from the inferior paper it was evident that the letter had come from the eyeliner he had planted in the ranks of the serfs.

The outcome of the battle more than two months ago was unbelievable, and although Perro did not go there himself, he heard a bizarre story from his father. In order to find out the reason for the duke's defeat, he arranged a number of henchmen in the hands of the people sent to the town, who disguised themselves as craftsmen, herdsmen, or serfs, and sent the news of what they saw back to the fortress.

He believed that other families would do the same.

But so far, apart from the two men disguised as serfs, who have been sending new information every month, the craftsmen and herdsmen have not been heard from and seem to have disappeared.

Did they betray themselves, or were they all eliminated when the prince found out?

He shook his head, focusing on the secret letter.

The contents of the letter, written in charcoal, are crooked, and in some places there are signs of flooding, and it seems that it was written secretly while working.

The first paragraph says that an iron tower of unknown purpose is being built on the bank of the Chishui River. At the top of the tower is a huge iron can, three of which have been erected, each close to the fortress walls. The blacksmiths seem to have finished the tower in the town, and by the time they reached the river, they were all in one. Then there would be soldiers of the First Army who would erect a baffle around the tower, and by the next day, it would be magically erected.

"Build" ...... It's that word again, Pero thought, the same was true of the last secret letter, just looking at the information, I feel that the prince is constantly building the town, last time it was to build roads and bridges, this time it was to repair the iron tower. Could it be that His Highness wants to spend all the golden dragons looted from the fortress castle in one breath before he is willing? And the purpose of the iron tower is still unknown...... You must know that the spies in the hidden serfs are not real serfs, but well-informed guards, if it is a watchtower or an arrow tower, he will definitely be able to see it at a glance.

It's probably because the tower hasn't been fully completed yet, so it's hard to judge, Perot shook his head, maybe there will be more detailed information next month.

He moved his gaze to the next paragraph.

The letter states that a large consignment of merchants had left for a week at the town's docks before heading east, whose fate was unknown. Large piles of ingots and saltpeter were unloaded from the ship during the stay.

Buying saltpeter is easy to understand, it can get very hot from summer to the second month, and the castle needs to consume a lot of saltpeter to cool down, and it can also be used to refrigerate wine and juice, as a royal nobleman, you definitely don't want to sweat all day long, like a farmer in the field.

But the purchase of ore ingots made Pero feel a little surprised, the border town is originally an ore production area, remember that before the demon moon, when he went to the town as a messenger, Prince Roland also exaggerated, saying that he would double the total amount of ore sold, but now not only do not export ore, but also import ore ingots?

Thinking of the iron tower in the previous paragraph, which was the same height as the fortress wall, he found that he was increasingly unable to figure out what His Royal Highness wanted to do.

However, when Perot saw the last paragraph of the secret letter, he was stunned.

How many open-air theatrical performances have been held in the square in the last two weeks?

There was no admission fee, the name of the play was unheard of, and serfs were encouraged to watch it. What surprised him the most was that among the performers was the Star of the West, Miss May, who had disappeared recently!

What's going on?

May's disappearance was a big news story in the fortress recently, and several plays that were supposed to star her changed female roles, and the nobles left halfway to protest. The theater had to issue a notice claiming that May had left the theater without giving an account to anyone and that her current whereabouts are unknown. As soon as the news came out, the drama-loving aristocrats in the western region were in an uproar.

Instead, she went to a border town, where there was no theater, and she performed for the commoners and serfs...... It was hard for Pero to imagine such a scene in his mind, and he had the impression that Miss Maye was not an approachable actress.

After much consideration, he decided to write a letter to His Highness Roland to formally inquire about the matter. As a theater lover, I haven't seen the wonderful performances of Westland Stars for a long time, not to mention that I have a lot less opportunities to invite Shirryl. Since the play was performed in public in the town square, it was not surprising that the merchant was from the fortress of Changge, so the news reached his ears - so that the guards hiding in the serfs should not be exposed.

Just as Pei Luo was about to ask the attendants to draft the text, a knight walked into the hall quickly and said urgently, "My lord, the guards at the watchtower at the east gate have found that a team of knights is approaching the fortress!"

"Knight, can you tell where it came from?" he stood up suddenly.

"They are carrying the banner of the tower's two spears, my lord," replied the knight, "if not the impersonation, they should be the new king's troops." (To be continued.) )