It seems that he has to work harder, Roland shrugged his shoulders secretly, it is not an honorable thing to be left behind by his subordinates.

Fortunately, Chishui City has now largely returned to stability, and seventy percent of the nobles who passed the screening decided to continue to run their original industries, while the rest wanted to try their luck at the city hall - although the basic requirement for applying for the administrative examination was "literacy" was not a problem for them, Roland did not think that the chances of these people passing the final examination and becoming official officials were not very good.

After all, the habits of the aristocracy are not so easy to change.

Of course, even working as a clerk is much better than losing your head.

There were even three nobles who wanted to join the First Army, all of whom were knights and had no hidden intentions under the observation of the Nightingale, but he still upheld the decision he had made at the beginning of the army's creation and rejected their applications.

After the issue of reclaiming the sub-seal rights was resolved, the city and the surrounding area were significantly more efficient, with more than 20,000 people boarding ships bound for Neverwinter in just over a week, and many more people converging on Chishui - the abandonment of small towns and villages on the surface seemed to make less territory to control, but in fact it greatly increased the control of the town hall.

In this era when even roads are scarce, it is tantamount to a fool's dream to let the government decree be implemented in the countryside, and it is barely feasible to put together a set of leadership groups in a year, and it is difficult for a strong man to let grassroots cadres blossom everywhere. Barov has also asked him more than once why he insisted on transporting the population back to Neverwinter, rather than letting things go as usual after unifying the kingdom, and he never answered comprehensively and systematically.

Because the head of the town hall can neither imagine how many people can be absorbed by a coal-iron composite industry, nor how much effort and time will be required to build such an industry.

And most importantly, those remote territories don't really work, and from a resource point of view, it's a waste to keep them.

Therefore, concentrating the population in a few major cities with convenient transportation systems is more suitable for the current situation of Gray Castle.

From the moment of the land change, Roland really had jurisdiction over the Chishui region.

And his next target is naturally Silverlight City.

It was much easier to clean up the satellite city of the old royal capital than the behemoth Chishui City - it was originally an ordinary fiefdom, no different from the dozens of fiefdoms surrounding the royal capital, until the discovery of the first open-pit silver mine made its existence special. As more and more precious metal vein caves were excavated, the area became more and more lively, and finally changed into what it is today.

Considering the importance of Silverlight's output to the coinage of the Grey Keep, the latter lords were not only held by the "good old man" William Earl, who was loyal to Wimbledon, but his power was also limited, and for decades, there were almost no other nobles.

In other words, as long as the city lord takes a stand, Silverlight City is in his pocket.

And with the bloodline of Wimbledon III and the status of the current supreme heir, Roland believes that it will not be difficult to "convince" the other party.

However, he was a little concerned that the city built on the ore vein was also the home of the Nightingale.

Although every time he asked, the reply he received was "I've disowned the Gülens, so you don't have to worry about what I think", he always felt that the nightingale seemed to be avoiding something. It's just that Roland's busy government affairs can't take up too much time on speculation, so he has to suppress this matter for the time being.

On the fourth day after receiving the Iron Axe Secret Letter, the Eastern Front of the First Army drove into the territory of Silverlight City along the artificial canal.

......

Almost the same as the itinerary for entering Chishui City, Earl William led a team out of the city to greet him, and after a warm greeting, he was invited to dinner. The difference is that the welcoming party in Chishui City is all divided nobles, while the old city lord's team has many more merchants, and even includes the old acquaintance Hogg.

In the evening, the Count's opening remarks set the tone for the banquet - he was willing to surrender the right to divide the feud and give his full support to His Majesty Roland's new policy. There was a round of applause in the room, which made the latter's prepared words swallow all the words in his stomach.

And Hogg's threading turned the welcome banquet into a business meeting.

"Didn't you keep asking me how that machine in the mine works?" he said triumphantly in front of a group of merchants, "and now its true inventor is standing in front of you—it's this Roland Majesty! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you don't have to go to the West, you can get the answer directly in the Silverlight City!"

Immediately the merchants swarmed in.

"Your Majesty, can you tell us why it has so much strength?"

"I don't know if you'd like to sell more rail systems, but the Diamond Chamber of Commerce is looking forward to working with Neverwinter. ”

"Your Majesty, do you remember the Clipper Society, which provided you with several sailing ships to transport refugees from the East two years ago - we are definitely one of the best chambers of commerce in the Central Region in terms of trade power, and if we can, the Clipper Society would like to buy a complete set of steam engine manufacturing equipment. Of course, the price is absolutely excellent!"

Thinking of the "good news" that the businesswoman Margaery had revealed to him, Roland couldn't help but cry and laugh in his heart - "Hogg will take a large number of merchants to the West", but he didn't expect that he was ahead of the curve.

If the rest of Greycastle were like Silverlight City, how beautiful the world would be.

After satisfying the merchants' curiosity, he finally found a chance to be alone with the old city lord.

The two walked across the hall and onto the evening-breezy terrace, temporarily isolating the hustle and bustle of the banquet behind them.

Roland held the wine glass and looked down at the city at night for a long time before he spoke, "Don't you feel sorry at all for handing over the right to divide the seal?"

"I didn't really own it in the first place, so what's the pity...... Count William smiled, "Your father, and your father's father, although they didn't say it explicitly, they would never allow Silverlight City to have a group of their own clusters, and the William family's family motto is to never divide the seal, so it is not as important to me as you think." He paused slightly, "Besides, I don't need this power." ”

"No?" Roland couldn't help but be a little curious.

"The original intention of the partition was to strengthen and consolidate one's own power from the prying eyes of others, but Silverlight City did not have this risk - anyone who attacked the idea of the city would be tantamount to openly provoking the authority of the royal family at Wimbledon, so as long as the family pledged its loyalty, there was no need to worry about being violated. The Earl took a sip of wine, "In turn, the division is also a weakening of itself in a sense—it divides the resources that belong to it to others in exchange for the latter's effectiveness. Rather than putting these resources in the hands of others, I would rather be able to run them myself. Do you know how much Silverlight's output has increased in the last twenty years?"

Roland shook his head.

"Sixteen times over, and I have devoted most of my energy to this...... "The old lord said with high interest, "It was only an open-pit silver mine at the beginning, but now there are more than a dozen kinds of ore veins excavated, and at first there were only gathering teams sent by the royal family, but now there are not only all kinds of ore and jewelry merchants here, but also many auxiliary industries that have developed through mining, such as oil lamps, shovel making, etc., and your steam engine can also be counted among them, am I not mistaken?"

"That's true," Roland smiled.

"It's like raising a child, watching it grow, and you say how could I be willing to cut it open and give it to someone else? The Count let out a sigh of relief, "Your Majesty, will you let me continue to run this city of silver light for you?"

"Of course, if you will," he said, holding up his glass to the other, and the two of them looked at each other and smiled, and then the glasses touched each other with a crisp sound.

"By the way," Roland changed the subject after drinking his wine, "do you know anything about Gülen's family?"

"Glenn?" Count William thought for a moment before raising his eyebrows, "I'm a little impressed, but I don't remember it too clearly—after all, it's been a long time since there have been new nobles in Silverlight City, and these families have existed here since before the discovery of the silver mine. If memory serves, the last Gülen must have changed his surname two years ago, and now the land belongs to the Somei family. ”

When the other party said this, Roland felt the nightingale instantly grasp his arm.