Since the end of the Demon Moon, there have only been two rains in the West, and the rest of the time it has been sunny, seemingly making up for the share owed throughout the winter. The office has also swept away the musty smell before, the air has become fresh and natural, and when you open the window, you can still smell a light fragrance wafting from the garden from time to time.

By now, the land route between the town and the Changge Fortress has basically been restored to its original appearance, and Roland has become particularly concerned about the movement of the fortress.

According to the previous year, after the resumption of land transportation, merchants would soon go to the border towns to sell their daily goods, but he had not seen a single merchant from the fortress of Changge yet. Lightning conducts reconnaissance twice a day to make sure the town is well prepared before the enemy arrives.

In the past week, the First Army has entered the stage of comprehensive exercises, which include two parts: the defensive line to meet the enemy and the field pursuit. The former relied mainly on lightning to report the enemy's distance in the air, and the artillery and musket teams fired according to the instructions - this part was relatively easy, and both the instructions and the corresponding actions were clear and clear. For example, solid shelling at 800 meters and 500 meters, shotgun shelling after approaching 300 meters, musket fire after 50 meters, and so on. As soon as they see the flag raised by the lightning, each team leader informs the team members of the method to attack.

The key lies in the field pursuit phase. According to Roland's plan, after the opponent was defeated, it would take three days to retreat back to the fortress as when he came. Even if the militia and mercenaries were left behind, it would take no less than two days, so the other side would have to camp in the wilderness. This gave the First Army the opportunity to pursue. Monitored by lightning, the First Army pursued on foot in a safe area undetected by scouts, while artillery and ammunition were transported by the town. When the opponent sets up camp for the night, the troops complete the encirclement, and then launch a flanking attack in the early morning to annihilate the opponent.

The plan didn't seem complicated, but in the absence of radio communications, it was almost impossible to separate the troops and then strike together. Roland can only put witches in this link to make up for the lack of communication. He didn't know what the final effect would be.

Another point was that there were not many reserves of gunpowder, so there was no live firing during the comprehensive exercise, and the main training was the coordination between the musket team and the artillery team, as well as the cooperation between the First Army and the witches. He had already sent people farther to Falling Dragon Ridge and Chishui City, hoping to find more sources of saltpeter there. If the gunpowder could not be replenished in time, I am afraid that after two battles, the muskets in the hands of the First Army could only be used as spears.

Roland put some new procurement plans on paper, including saltpeter, grain, seeds, and other supplies, and planned to send another apprentice to the Grey Keep to try his luck. There was an abundance of commodities, especially saltpeter - and as summer approached, the nitrate mills in the royal capital must have been in full swing. As a city with a large number of nobles and wealthy merchants, the consumption of saltpeter can be staggering when the weather heats up. He hopes to find a stable supplier to supply a steady stream of gunpowder raw materials for the border town.

Prior to this, he had already sent two guards to carry out the plans to "gather witches" and "find the fruit". The former generally disguised themselves as travelers or merchants, spreading rumors of witches in border towns in the streets, taverns, black markets, etc. Of course, the containment is not the fourth prince Roland, but the Mutual Aid Society, which has finally found the holy mountain and hopes that the witches will go to settle down. The latter head straight to the port to buy seeds for exotic crops from across the fjord. Of course, if there are any rare crops in the cities you pass through, you can also bring back their seeds.

After writing the purchase order, she handed the book and asked her to go to the town hall to hand it over to Barov. After the scroll left, Roland stretched and tried to take a sip of water, but found that the cup was empty.

He was about to get up to get the kettle when the nightingale had brought it to his desk. Not only that, but she smiled and filled the cup and brought the kettle back.

Roland took a sip slowly, puzzled in his heart. Recently, the nightingale's attitude is really wrong, she always smiles at him, and she takes the initiative to help bring tea and water, is this to raise her salary? In the past, she sat directly on the sofa chair and held a basin of dried fish slices and nibbled on them for an afternoon.

Although Roland also asked the reason, the other party laughed and did not answer, so he simply had to let it go.

Could it be that Gwent cards can really make people full of fun? In the future, if you get out of poker and mahjong and open an entertainment city, you will simply sit back and wait for the money...... Stopping, Roland shook his head and threw the distractions behind him. Now was not the time for pleasure, he had to think about what would happen after he took the fortress.

Roland had been thinking about this for a long time, and moving the capital to a more prosperous place seemed tempting, but in fact it was not a good choice. Unlike the border towns, the fortress has been built for more than 100 years, and the forces are intertwined, and the nobles are also a big handful. Territories are managed according to a feudal system, and it is difficult for even a fortress lord to stick his hand in other territories. It is almost impossible to completely turn it into your own territory without a revolution. Not to mention that in that kind of mixed place, your own safety factor cannot be guaranteed. He didn't want to be taken by some radical nobleman while walking through the streets.

Border towns, on the other hand, have the final say in their territory, and the surrounding land is vast, so they don't need to expand their territory urgently. The people are mostly made up of miners and hunters, and their reputation in the area has risen since they successfully fended off the Demon Moon. More importantly, after the ideological propaganda of the First Army, which was composed entirely of the people, the majority of the people accepted the existence of witches. Compared to the church's influential fortress of song or other urban dwellers, the town could easily have developed into a place for witches. As a result, Roland decided to make the town his core.

As for the fortress, you can support others to manage it on your behalf, as long as the energy source continues to provide for your own working population and tax revenue. What he lacks most now is people and money.

Roland's initial idea was to use the money from the Changge Fortress to hire people from the Changge Fortress to contribute to the border town. The golden dragons scavenged from the defeated nobles were returned to the people and collected through taxes to the fortress, which was handed over to him and then spent. In addition, some preferential policies can also be adopted to keep some people with special skills for a long time.

However, these are still only a rough outline. For example, who to support and the specific tax policy should be considered after the battle is over.

At that moment, a yellow figure flew in from the window, and then stopped firmly in front of the prince's table—it was lightning.

"Good work, drink a saliva," Roland picked up the cup and handed it to her, but she took it but didn't bother to drink it, and cried out loudly, "Your Highness, they are coming!" (To be continued.) )