Chapter 212 Caravan and New Information

In the second month of summer, which is the day of midsummer, Margaret arrived as promised. ? Bayi Chinese ?)〉)〕〕〕〕〉))>]

This time, the ships brought by the business groups far exceeded the upper limit of the terminal, and many sailboats could only berth by the river, waiting for the previous ship to unload before connecting to the trestle.

This made Roland realize that the town's pier must be expanded.

Graycastle Industrial Company finally successfully completed the task this month, reducing the scrap rate of parts to 40%, and successfully produced three steam engines before the delivery date. Although compared with the third-generation steam engine currently in use in the town, the foreign trade products produced by the factory are far behind in terms of power, air leakage, noise, vibration, etc., but compared with the first machine, it is already a long way progress.

The Crescent Bay caravan brought a team of 300 craftsmen according to the contract, and Roland placed them all in the industrial park on the south bank of the Chishui River—in addition to building a new wooden factory building next to the original factory building, he also ordered Karl A staff dormitory was built near the river bank in the park. In order to complete the facility within one month, after the huge logs were transported to the site, Karl was in charge of technical guidance, and Anna cut them. The wood processing process, which took the longest time, was completed in just two days, but Karl, Anna's former teacher, was stunned by her new ability. In just half a year, this thin and quiet girl had already Become confident and radiant.

Roland held a sumptuous dinner in the castle to welcome the merchants.

At the same time, Baijiu also appeared in the eyes of everyone for the first time.

"Every time I come to you, there will be something new, and Margaret really didn't lie to me," Hogg yelled, "Even the wine is so different, compared to this... this..."

"White wine," Margery reminded.

"Yes, baijiu! Compared to it, ale and wine are simply tasteless." He grinned, and drank the wine in his glass. "Your Highness, you must sell me a few boxes of this stuff."

"I think it tastes too hot, and fruit wine is more suitable for me," the businesswoman smiled and shook her head.

Roland smiled, "It has something to do with taste. Not everyone can accept high-concentration distilled alcohol. I didn't plan to promote it, but I just made some by chance for everyone to try."

In the era when brewing wine was still mainstream, distilled wine was obviously a new star with great development potential, such as liquor, rum, whiskey and vodka in later generations were all distilled wines with higher alcohol content, and on top of these distilled wines , And correspondingly extended a series of bartending culture. However, for the current Border Town, it is still too early to develop this industry.

"Your Highness, I have sent people to collect a lot of information about the things you wrote to me last time," Margaret said, "After Yongdong was controlled by the church, not much has changed, but the Wolfheart Kingdom's The resistance was much stronger. It is said that all the church troops gathered in Broken Tooth Castle and could not move forward for more than two months. In addition, King Dawn sent a messenger to Graycastle, thinking that the church's move was not to eliminate witches at all, but to occupy Continental Kingdom. He called on the two countries to establish an alliance, expel the church forces, and jointly fight against the holy city of Hermes."

"How did the capital respond?" Roland asked.

"The Imperial Chancellor, the Marquis of Wick, rejected this proposal and accused him of being nonsense." Gamol shrugged, "This matter has caused a lot of trouble in the king's capital, and even the nobles have not reached a consensus. As far as I know, Many people support the alliance, after all, the church has no sign of returning the ruling power to the successor of Eternal Winter."

"Tifeco didn't show up?"

"The Prime Minister's answer must have come from Timothy's instruction. He himself has already rushed to the east with his army," Marlan said with a serious expression, "I heard that a huge fleet landed in Seawind County, They looted wantonly along the coastline of the eastern region, even the churches were not spared, and many fjord merchants also suffered.”

"A large number of fugitives have appeared in the eastern border, and Hogg and I have taken in many of them," Margery added, "They said that this group of looters not only robbed money, but also would not let anyone go, and things that could not be taken away Burn them all down, as if turning the entire eastern region into a piece of white land. This is definitely a heavy blow to Timothy, who has just conquered the nobles in the eastern region."

Timothy's attack should have been a happy thing, but when he heard that the other party was looting the population, Roland felt a burst of heartache, "Those fugitives..."

"Are you interested?" Margaery said with a slight smile, "When I saw that letter, I guessed that you might want to buy a large number of slaves to enrich the labor force in your territory. But compared to the foreign refugees from Eternal Winter and Wolfheart, These Graycastle people may not be willing to sell themselves as slaves."

"I don't need to use them as slaves. As long as these people are willing to settle in Border Town, they will have food and housing, and they will be paid for their work." Roland corrected and realized that this was a good opportunity to expand the number of people. Although the news came with a slight delay, "How many of them are there?"

"Most of the able-bodied refugees have been taken in by nobles and caravans. There are still nearly 10,000 people gathered outside the capital city, but there are more young people and women."

"It's okay, I will send someone to screen and lead the way," the prince said, "Do you need to deal with the officials of the royal capital to take them away?"

"No need," Margaery waved her hand, "They wish you could take this group of people away, otherwise the relief food will not be enough, and if their number continues to increase, it may lead to a refugee riot."

...

After the dinner, Roland returned to the office and called his personal guard, Tasa.

This incident made him realize that his intelligence system was very backward. If he could know about the fugitive incident in the first place, he could have made preparations to bring more people to Border Town. At present, all his information about the outside world comes from the caravan, and the transmission speed once a month cannot meet the demand at all.

Even if troops are stationed in Fortress Longsong and outposts are established, they can only monitor one area in the western region. If one wanted to compete for the throne of Graycastle, one had to expand one's sights to the entire country, or even the entire continent.

Roland didn't have so many loyal people to form a complete intelligence team, let alone the spies and secret agents lurking in various places. So he planned to start from the basics first, and arrange some people to go to the capital to collect information gathered from various places. Not to mention detailed monitoring, at least you can quickly understand the changes in the overall situation, and you will not be as passive as today.

Tasa, who is very familiar with the forces of the underworld in the capital, is the best candidate for the prince.

"You want me to return to the capital with the caravan?" Tasa was stunned.

"That's right, you have two tasks. The first is to take in the refugees from the Eastern Territory for me. I will send a squad of about 100 soldiers to escort them. I will tell you the detailed screening conditions before the caravan leaves."

"yes!"

"Second point, after the refugee wave is over, you will stay in the capital and collect information for me from all over the world. You have dealt with underground rats before, so you should know what to do, and Margaery's caravan will do its best I support you, and ask them directly for the cost of the mission. Unlike the last time I went to Chishui City to spread witch news, this time there is no upper limit on funding." He put a revolver on the table, "Be careful to protect yourself, I hope Hope to hear good news from you soon."

... (To be continued.)