Chapter 229 Chapter 711 The Road to the Royal Capital

Chapter 229 Chapter 7.11 Road to the Royal Capital

Year 3576 of the Fengfu calendar.

After discussion, the Aiger Empire finally gave the rules for the northern territory, that is, the royal family took back the ownership of the northern territory, and then recalled Carret to the imperial capital to teach him until he was fully grown up.

The reason of the imperial capital royal family may be that Carret is too young to grasp the infiltration influence of many factions on the northern territory. They have to manage this land before he reaches adulthood.

In fact, the imperial capital royal family compromised with the powerful ministers.

The decision in the imperial capital suddenly poured cold water on the thriving cause in the north and eliminated many legitimacy of Carret's actions in the territory.

When the envoy of the Aiger Royal Capital arrived in the Xiange Territory, the legitimacy of Lord Carret disappeared.

Although this storm will not temporarily interrupt the cooperation between Carret's industrial territory and small and medium lords, but ah, as time goes by, the lack of authority - the idea of ​​these small and medium lords to take advantage will develop.

In order to avoid the "tree falls, monkeys scatter" effect. Carrett must respond to the decision of the imperial capital with "I am unhappy".

Wei Keng has now been promoted to the seventh ring, and is much stronger than most seventh-ring mages. At least six seventh-ring spells are engraved in his mental power, but this identity cannot be exposed now.

A 16-year-old seventh-ring mage, this one looks like "carrying a heavy burden".

In this world of extraordinary power, any existence of a god's favor, before it has completely grown into a demigod, will attract the covetousness of those who have not yet become gods, but are crazy and bold.

So on the surface, Carrett is a second-ring mage with a mentor who is a high-level arcane mage.

Wei Keng wrote in the system memo: The identity of a second-ring mage can make barons and lords respect him, and viscount-level lords treat him with courtesy. But it is still impossible to effectively rule such a large territory. But what about the industrial group led by hundreds or thousands of mage apprentices?

It seems that Wei Keng suddenly felt a little too stubborn.

System prompt: "Did you ignore the charm value given to you? You can use the eloquence skill." Wei Keng: "I don't have the habit of instigating people."

~

Before the imperial escort team arrived.

Carret readjusted in the territory.

He entertained all the lords with a banquet without wine, only boiled water and fruit plates,

and finalized many businesses: the water supply of all canals in all seasons and the supply of fertilizers will have clear prices. At the same time, the details of industrial loans were also clearly determined.

Carret: I borrowed your money based on my ability and will repay it on time. I also have the ability to guarantee the supply chain and will strictly follow the time specified in the terms.

Since I will not be their lord soon, I might as well talk business.

The newly opened land of the Industrial Party is in addition to the reclaimed land within a five-kilometer range near the canal. Most of the newly opened land is the land reclaimed by these lords, and even crossed the border of their own territory.

Carrett made it clear directly: the purchase of grain output from these newly reclaimed lands must be coordinated by himself, otherwise, water and fertilizer will be tightened. This made these lords nervous. They had been watching "the imperial capital's operation on the northern territory" and now suddenly felt that the pressure was shared on themselves.

So at the meeting, some lords immediately began to cram and declared: "We support Carrett's succession as lord." The subtext is that if Carrett needs them to protest against the imperial capital's order, they will stand together.

Of course, such a "support" statement will not make Wei Keng relax his attitude. He doesn't want to win over these fence-sitters at all now - but to push them out and bear the wind and rain.

Master Wei didn't plan to completely turn against the imperial capital: then what's the use of their verbal support.

And only if Master Wei directly turned against the imperial capital: their support would be useful, and now if he confronted the imperial capital head-on, he would have no chance of winning. How many of them would really be die-hards?

Master Wei is a mediocre historian, but remember that Zhang Xun was fooled in this way.

~

Wei Keng did not intend to continue to maintain any meaningful alliance with these nobles.

Especially the daily cost of this alliance would have to be paid by himself.

Rather than letting them shrink back and watch the situation, it is better to shrink strategically and let these guys who are indecisive bear the cost of such an order from the imperial capital.

As for whether they will turn around and fight back? Master Wei, who owes money, would rather they don't talk about morality first.

The people and base that Wei Keng has identified are the Industrial Party, which now has many arcane apprentices, seven industrial parks, and the large agricultural mechanized farming areas that have been opened on both sides of the canal.

This is what he can defend! Even if the empire continues to send new lords, they can't take it away.

The personnel and core resources of the industrial zone are in the hands of the organization and the technical class (currently only Carret).

More importantly, the empire can deprive a lord of his territory in legal terms, but it cannot confiscate the wealth of arcane mages!

For arcane mages, according to the traditional practice of the capital, the lords can only propose to collect taxes and use the price of raw materials to buy magic items.

The Aeg Empire has an empire in its name, but it is different from a real empire.

Only the dynasty after Qin Shihuang in China can be considered an empire, and the imperial power is executed by officials who follow orders. As for other local forces, they have to lie down in front of the executive officers, otherwise it is a rebellion and they will be executed with all their clans.

As for the kingdom! That is the constraint of the great lord on the small lord. The great lord grants the small lord glory, and the small lord has the obligation to pay taxes and provide troops. After meeting these two obligations, the great lord cannot send people to kill the small lord. The tax officer of the great lord is not a "court official" concept, and has no authority to change the tax amount of the small lord at will!

Because to change the tax is equivalent to changing the obligation. And to change the obligation, the great lord can only talk to the small lord in person, and talk to the small lord with the attitude of a patriarch.

As a staff member who is not in the feudal system, the tax officer is not qualified to cross the level to punish the great nobles who are attached to the king.

~

In the system of Egg, arcane mages are also allowed to build factories and cities in the barren areas of the kingdom. Compared with the nobles, the settlements created by these arcane mages are just not hereditary.

Therefore, Carret's limited militia, which is still in its infancy, cannot fight against the feudal system, but it can exploit loopholes in the system. With the system of Egg, it is impossible to mobilize all its strength to suppress you.

In this way, the regulations of the imperial capital are not all bad for Wei Keng. Carret's hereditary territory has been deprived, and in theory, he no longer has the obligation to worship the great lord.

There is no obligation to the family territory, but there is still the royal identity. When the tax officials come to collect taxes, they may have to bow first.

As for Carret's delay in taxation or bargaining over magic taxes, claiming that this is the property created by his mentor? Tax collectors can only be cautious when dealing with a high-level arcanist, and can only take their meaning back.

And the royal capital has very few means to use for public and private purposes

Carret has its own organization of arcanists. It is not a down-and-out nobleman who is forced to pay debts by merchants with contracts. He even has money to maintain the army!

Since then, the only way for the capital to restrict the industrial city (Occult Territory) built by Carret is the status of the head of the imperial royal family. Using the status of feudal relationship, Carret is required to fulfill his obligations to the family and the empire, and to supply wealth to the family to the best of his ability.

As for what is the extent of this "to the best of his ability"?

If the royal family asks too much from an apprentice of a high-level wizard. The arcane mages in the kingdom will feel disgusted by such cases.

The arcane pursues the truth, and the arcane mages' territory has the obligation to give priority to the supply of magic items to the empire and provide a mage group (employment relationship),

but there is no obligation to serve the rule of the empire. Even if Carret has a noble status, as long as the territory is hereditary, the kingdom's tax collection is paid by the arcane territory, which makes the arcane mages feel that their boundaries have been violated.

So in summary, the dual identity of Carret arcane mages and the royal family will cause the Eger royal family and the powerful faction of the imperial capital a lot of headaches in the future.

~

Carret looked at the small and medium nobles in the territory with a smile, thinking of looking at a batch of green leeks.

Drawing a clear line with them is a stop-loss strategy to avoid continuous "bleeding".

After Wei Keng drew the line on the account, he directly gave a date and took out the fertilizer ticket and water ticket.

The kind-hearted Master Carret would not treat these former followers unfairly. For the nobles who owed him a lot of money, he would exchange the IOUs for the amount of this quarter and then send them back. As for those who still want it in the future, they should honestly follow the business contract.

At the end of the meeting, Wei Keng picked up boiled water and said to the nobles: "Let's have a drink. Although I will not be your lord in a few months, I hope our friendship will last forever."

Nobles of all sizes raised their glasses insincerely, looking at the young master Carret (Master Wei blushed) in front of them with pure hair, bright smile, and rosy cheeks, and toasted unevenly: "May our friendship last forever!"

Master Wei used his mind to understand their true attitudes with interest. When he saw that someone sincerely wished him "an early death", the smile on Master Wei's face became sweeter.

~

After sorting out the things in the territory, he was ready to deal with the summons from the imperial capital.

The messenger sent by the imperial capital was waiting in Xiange. If he refused to pay attention to the king's order, it would mean that he had abandoned his identity as an Aige royal family and became a free mage pursuing the truth, but he would lose money.

Some things don't need to be defended, but there is no need to throw them away, because they can be used to argue and exchange for benefits. ——As a person with oriental thinking, Wei Keng is like an old man who collects junk. He keeps cans and scraps of paper, maybe they will be useful in the future.

Since he has decided to go, he will wait for good things.

Carret is going to bring a few steam tanks with steam power. The tanks are steam-powered and can automatically string the bowstring, allowing the siege crossbow to charge.

The large crossbow arrows used by the tanks are made of light metal inside and wrapped with special organic matter outside. They are loaded with 67 runes, which can make the aluminum shell metal react instantly as an oxidant, forming a scorching replacement reaction.

The thermite reaction in this world cannot concentrate heat to weld steel because of tunnel diffusion, but it also creates that with a slight modification, it can already be as lethal as the fourth-ring energy spell (heat radiation).

The limit of the charge of this thing is to hurt the five-color dragon. Well, the upper dragon has high resistance, so it is estimated to be a bit difficult, but most of the sub-dragons that come to the city to collect money will die.

Such a tank is priced at thousands of gold coins. Compare the price of the mechanical "Dragon Slayer Crossbow" by the dwarves. This price should be very cheap for the capital.

According to the routine of 4S stores in ancient times, the maintenance, ammunition and accessories of these steam vehicles are the biggest expenses.

In fact, the factory price of a bare car here in Wei Keng is 128 gold coins. The most expensive rune cylinder deducts the R&D cost, and all forging processes consume 14 gold coins. Under the condition of various standardized forgings of the transmission structure, the price is greatly reduced. Master Wei's production efficiency is higher than that of the dwarves.

~

In July, after the 20 steam car fleets of Carrett were ready to go,

then new escorts from the imperial capital arrived.

The two intermediate mages were sent from the magic tower, and there were eight knights, one of whom was a great knight.

On the cement street, seeing this line of brightly dressed people, Carrett first spotted the leading great knight. This tendon meat is very "hero unit", and the war hammer hanging on the warhorse has a regular blue enchantment line.

Wei Keng has no doubt that this warrior holding a solid war hammer can smash the tracks of his five-ton steam chariot in a few strokes like smashing a wooden door.

In this world, a high-level warrior smashing an unenchanted steel plate is like dismantling a plywood.

Carret, who is currently adjusting his strength, is sure that he can't get away from a move within a ten-meter range.

Of course, as a wizard, Wei Keng's high-level teleportation (seven rings) can quickly retreat like a swordsman who twists the plane.

And the Nord Knight is looking at Wei Keng, who is wearing a safety helmet and a ceramic shell corset.

When the group arrived at the industrial area, they saw a large number of mechanical vehicles on the street, and they have been looking at the bizarre things here.

Before arriving at the strange Aofa Tower they knew, which was actually an industrial building,

the knight met Carret with the ceremony of meeting the royal family.

Because the gods responded to the prayers in the temple: there were many surprises along the way.

After meeting Carret, the Knight Nord hoped to set off immediately and travel day and night to the Loken Fortress, a hundred kilometers away in the south. There is a teleportation array (eight-ring spell) built by the Egg Empire with a lot of resources, and return to the empire.

For this reason, they rode thirty horses and galloped. The biggest bottom line in the heart of this great knight is to equip Wei Keng with a carriage, which is in consideration of the delicate temperament of the noble young master.

Carret's next plan is to completely disrupt the plan of the knight commander.

Wei Keng brought a team of 30 engineers and eight siege tanks, which were tightly lined up on the roadside. ——This is not planning to take the teleportation array.

~

"The sun is shining in the sky, the flowers are smiling at me, and the birds are saying good morning. Why do you carry a pack of explosives? I'm going to blow up the school. The teacher doesn't know. I'll run as soon as the line is pulled..."

"Dangdangdang..." Wei Keng hummed a little tune, pulled out a wrench from the side of the tank, and knocked on the shell to beat the rhythm.

While greeting the people around him, "Let's go~" with a cheerful tone, the Nord knight's just established somewhat extraordinary impression of Carret returned to the image of "noble young master outing".

The steam engine started with a click, and began this journey that would make the capital feel long.

Wei Keng leaned on the tank armor, which had a hammock installed on the outer shell, which made the tank's bumps on the road become a comfortable sway.

The Nord knight who followed and protected him on horseback seemed to think that Wei Keng was too relaxed, and could not help but remind him: "Prince Carret, your itinerary is being watched by various parties, please pay attention."

Wei Keng was quietly controlling the magic puppets to carry various alarm spells and cruise around. Hearing the words of the Nord Knight: "Well, someone will hire a dragon to assassinate me?"

Nord said seriously: "Prince, please don't joke."

Wei Keng exhaled and said: "The road to Boggart (Imperial Capital) must be open and aboveboard. I don't want to be checked as an item. I will often take this road in the future. If I am regarded as a valuable item, then there will always be people who will take risks. But I will run over it, and no one will be blind in the future."

Nord: "I admire your intention, but you still lack the strength to avoid being coveted by others."

Wei Keng: "Thank you for your advice, I will work hard."

When saying this, Wei Keng looked at the east side, where his high-level magic warning came.

~

Wei Keng clapped his hands, which was a very dandy and reckless posture in the eyes of the escort team.

Wei Keng: "All turrets are ready, based on the due east direction, -13.33, elevation 24.44, kinetic energy release third gear."

After Wei Keng's parameter command was issued, the tank's turret began to rotate, and then, its steam cylinder slot loosened, the cylinder pressure slowly released, stretched, and drove the large wheel, and the mechanical wheel began to string the bowstring.

With all this completed, a person's thigh-long, forearm-sized warhead in the slot was placed on the launch slide.

As the bowstring burst, ten tank mechanical siege crossbows fired the long warheads.

~

In Wei Keng's eyes, the map was guided at this time. The initial velocity of the warhead was 70 meters, and the range was exactly 500 meters.

Before the warhead fell in the air, the tail of the warhead sprayed out the high-pressure steam stored in it like a whistle. Wei Keng snapped his fingers, and the explosion began above the bushes.

Tunneling effect control can make blasting more flexible. The explosives carried in these warheads are more evenly spread under the control of pharmaceutical technology, which means that the detonation speed is reduced, but the burning temperature is spread wider, about 50 meters.

The sky above the entire forest instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

The knights of the distant team looked at the "meaningless" scene of throwing powerful and expensive enchanted crossbows, and couldn't help but feel distressed. They felt a little alienated from the fancy of the noble Wei Keng.

But after the initial few seconds of disdain, the two arcane mages suddenly realized something! It seemed that something was hit in the exploding sea of ​​fire.

Something that was obviously not a deer, wolf, or leopard sprang out of the burning flames.