Scene 258 A War without Smoke (Part 2)

Antitina nodded to Brando and walked out with a stack of parchment documents. 『≤Ｅ』≤Novel『≤网, www.exiaosh uo.COM≤In a sense, she is still the quiet girl who was as cautious and calm as an ancient well when Brando first met her, but originally There is a touch of healthy rosiness on the pale face, and the thin brows are slightly wrinkled. The whole person looks much grown than before.

She turned around, raised her eyelashes slightly, glanced at the other people in the assembly hall with her eyelid light, put her fist on her lips and coughed lightly: "Since repelling Count Jean Denel's unreasonable invasion..." Slight laughter came from below, and Antitina raised her head and stared at the bad guys carefully. She was not like Akane who would roll her eyes when she glared at people, but this silent look would make people Feeling at a loss, "Everything in the three areas of Fir Collar, Grisport and Mintai is quite normal, and all plans... and work are being carried out in an orderly manner..." After the venue quieted down, she organized the entire territory and Eru in an orderly manner. The situation was explained.

Overall, Fir Collar is on the road to healthy development. The most urgent food problem has been effectively solved because of the food bought from Ampelsel. The food in the Fir Castle warehouse is enough to last until April of the Year of the Sword. The rest will depend on the harvest of winter wheat. However, We may also need to purchase some more grain. When the girl mentioned this issue, she expressed her views on the current situation. War clouds are looming in the north, and the price of food is likely to continue to rise in the next few months. Therefore, she suggested that if the territory needs to purchase food, it should do so as soon as possible. .

The only few officers involved in internal affairs in the territory, such as Belu, Roman, Oldham and Ciel, agreed, and Brando naturally agreed. He wanted to go to Ampelsel immediately, just in time to buy a batch of grain. Now, under the arrangement of the temple, the nobles from the north and south gathered in Ampelsel, a permanently neutral trading port, and were preparing for final negotiations on the future of the kingdom. , in the eyes of ordinary people, this is the last hope to prevent the civil war from breaking out. Businessmen are still waiting and watching. Although the price of food has fluctuated, only a few people are secretly hoarding it.

However, Brando understood that there was no room for turning between the north and the south. The negotiations on the surface were to maintain the peace of Eruin, but under the surface, in fact, the two sides were in the final battle for the power of the kingdom. Her Royal Highness the Princess Regent will take this opportunity to meet with Anlek to reach a marriage agreement. Judging from the little information Brando has received about the north, he also knows that the envoys of the royal party and Anlek have already visited the northern states. The envoys of the duke and the king's eldest son arrived at Ampelsel in one step.

Outsiders don't understand the intrigue, but having experienced history, he knows very well that the future eldest princess and Grand Duke Anlek are likely to be among the mission, but they have not been announced to the public. Although Tony Geer today has basically no eye contact in the direction of Amperesel or even north of Firth, and all information sources and transmissions almost entirely rely on the merchant fleets of Amperesel that have briefly established contact with the fir collar. Even if there is no such information, it does not prevent Brando from knowing the truth behind it.

Because this is nothing more than a preview of history.

He still has a little time.

At this time, Antitina continued to mention agricultural issues, and mentioned spring plowing by the way. Everyone could see that Brando wanted to open up a larger situation, but if he wanted to increase the scale of Tonigel's agriculture, Then the ensuing spring plowing requires a lot of labor. In a normal year, no one except homeless people would be willing to move to such a remote area. Fortunately, the Black Rose War created a large number of war refugees. Master Belu has written to his students all over the country to organize these Refugees move to Tonigel.

The main problem here is the loss on the road. This sounds so sad to Brando that it is almost heavy. Living life must be calculated like commodities and goods. This reminds him more than once of the past world history. Slave trade. ＥNovel Network(wＷw.Ｅxiao￠shuo.ｃＯＭ) But the fact is that if these farmers and craftsmen who were driven out of their homes were allowed to stay in the war-torn homes of Viero, Karasu and Golan Elson , the final result is nothing more than self-destruction, only a very small number of people can survive, and the elderly and children basically have no possibility of survival.

This is the helplessness caused by war, and it is also a reality that the world must accept. As the half-modern man, Brando could only express silence when receiving this knowledge. He had never paid attention to these backgrounds in the game in the past. It seems that Warnd only has those magnificent myths, but they interpret the cruelty of the living world, but no one cares about it.

"...One problem is that some of these refugees are more or less taken in by the local nobles, but the nobles only need strong laborers and fertile women, and the rest are mostly the elderly and children..." Having said this, Antitina stopped and turned back to look at Brando with black eyes that seemed to be able to speak. There was a deep sadness in the girl's eyes. She talked about these homeless people as if she felt the same. If it weren't for Brando, she would also be part of the lowest level of the world: but on the other hand, Anti Tina also has difficult conflicts in her heart that she cannot express.

"It doesn't matter, the old man has experience that young people can't match. As for children, Tony Geer needs children. Children are the future of the territory. Only after they have experienced the suffering of war will they know how to cherish the hard-won peaceful life. Tony Geer They can be accommodated." Brando took a breath quietly.

He is now a lord, and there are many people standing behind him. This represents a matter of judgment that he needs to mature, but maturity does not mean that he must join the same trend as the nobles of this world: Brando always believes that even if one day civilization The world will be reduced to desolation, but the noble and beautiful culture created by mankind in thousands of years of shining history will not be weathered. On the contrary, mankind will be the first to come out of the wilderness, relying on the light of humanity. .

This is just his personal opinion, but Brando looked at other people, and everyone on the field looked at him with respect. There was an unspeakable complexity on the girl Antitina's face. She hoped that Brando could calmly reject her, but in that case she was destined to be disappointed. But he made her feel at ease again - although he knew it was a childish and impulsive decision, it was full of inspiring power.

At that moment, she felt as if she saw a young knight marching against the current in the endless darkness, holding a shining flag high. That kind of perseverance almost melted her heart. For a moment, she hoped that she could Help the young man take one more step forward so that this gentle light can exist for a few more moments before the dawn of Eruin.

"Not all old people have experience, and why do we need so many old people?" the noble girl muttered to herself, and then smiled softly unconsciously.

"I've never seen such an idiot. Forget it, I'll help you to the end." Among all the people below, Master Belu shook his head in the crowd, but his eyes were filled with tolerance and relief. After experiencing a life of exile, he realized how far Eruin's bottom had sunk. Who can save Eruin? The passion he experienced when he was a member of the royal party has cooled down. He is no longer sure whether the royal party can help Eruin, and his support for the princess side is better said to come from a party. It's just an inertia towards one's own past.

It wasn't until he saw Brando make a decision today that he felt that maybe there was something in this young man that the nobles of Eruin were lacking now. He suddenly made up his mind and wrote to some of his more proud students and a few old friends, asking them to come to Tonigel and see everything here.

After talking about the refugee issue, Antitina briefly mentioned the development of the territory. E Novel Network (wWw.Exiao ￠shuo.cOM) Actually, there is nothing to say. The White Mane Guards are still missing. The main reason is that there are far insufficient soldiers, and the armor and weapon workshops are also undermanned and cannot fully operate an entire army. The "magnificent city" built by the old dwarf Oldham is still on paper. According to his words, he runs around every day like a rabbit digging holes to build fortresses and tunnels on several mountains. It's really a ghost.

The Schafflund Silver Mine operates stably and is the territory's main source of funding. As for the territory's future financial growth, Brando mainly focuses on the Black Forest. With the help of the Druid, he can easily open the border areas of the Black Forest. The most important thing now is the rich crystal mine he discovered. , although the output is not too high, the monthly income has the potential to catch up with the silver mines.

Other specialties, such as alchemy materials, wood, furs and some rare items, are small but only Tamar praised him once for these. By the way, Tamar's alchemy level has now been improved by one level. Level, this is the conclusion Brando drew from the quality of the dragon blood potion he helped refine.

Finally, it is mainly the expansion of Gris Port. The small fishing port has now been expanded with two berths for large ships to berth, and a new trestle has been built. It is no longer the calm small port in the past. Its main task in the future is to maintain the increasingly prosperous commercial activities. It took a lot of manpower to renovate the port. However, Roman did not conscript the people, but used hired workers to complete the project. Not only did he not do what other lords did, Despite widespread complaints, it has won unanimous praise.

Nowadays, the only problem with Brando's reputation in the territory is that the reputation is not justified, and the residents of the territory are more or less worried that the war will happen again. But in other respects, most people have recognized this wise and kind man - at least many times more kind than Grudin.

On the other hand, in fact, the expenses of the hired workers were eventually recovered through food recycling. Roman deliberately left a small part among the people. According to her words: Only when small money is left in the hands of hard-working people will more people be born. It was a small amount of money, Roman just had to earn it back when the time came - as if the money was already in her pocket.

But the rich territory means Brando is rich, and Brando doesn't mind how she does whatever she wants.

"...The current situation in the territory is almost like this. Because of the emergency in the north, Count Denel is in danger of being involved in the war with the Archduke of Viero, and he may not be able to turn around and deal with us for a while. Although Eruin is in danger The situation is unstable today, but Tonigel can just win a breather."

After Antitina said this, she stopped and raised her eyelids slightly to look at Brando. Now it can be said that Tony Geer is thriving and everything is on the right track. Everyone on the court can't help but have some hope in their hearts when they hear it. Most of them who followed Brando were desperate. They didn't expect this step at all. But they didn't expect that this miraculous young man would lead them step by step to fight through all the obstacles and find a way to survive. Then again, in When Denel's army pressed on, who would have thought that this young man could bring an alliance with druids, tree elves and centaurs from the black forest?

Everything that has happened in the past few months seems to everyone present here to be a miracle like a dream.

But this miracle has indeed happened, and it is happening right now.

Then, they seem to have created an established fact. Occupying this territory and becoming a true lord, everyone may have the identity of a retainer, no longer a wandering mercenary, adventurer, ranger, wanderer or other identity.

Brando nodded gently to Antitina.

"Just half a month ago, each of us tried our best, sweated, and even shed blood and sacrifices to help this new territory come out of the shadow of a war. Maybe you thought we could finally take a breath and take advantage of The nobles have no time to get away from each other and enjoy a stable life." Everyone nodded subconsciously.

"But what I want to tell you is that it's just the opposite." Brando shook his head: "Next, I will go to Ampelsel and his party. I can't foresee what this party will encounter, but what I can be sure of is that when I wait Back here again. Tonigel is about to be involved in a real war."

"Compared with the wars you have seen before, these wars are nothing worth mentioning. This war will involve the two largest factions in the entire kingdom and several princes, and countless powerful people. The powerful lords are fighting for this, and the most outstanding knights you have ever seen are just cannon fodder on the battlefield. Every enemy you have to face can crush you like an ant."

"And these powerful enemies are likely to unite and kill us. And what Tonigel will embark on next will be an unimaginably difficult road, overgrown with thorns, surrounded by powerful enemies, and even surrounded by the entire Eruin. A path that is not tolerated.”

As soon as Brando finished speaking, there was a dead silence in the gathering place surrounded by ten ancient banyan trees, and you could hear needles falling. Everyone looked at Brando, who was standing high on the stage, but didn't make any sound.

"Lord...why?" someone finally asked.

Brando thought for a moment: "Because I want to prevent a real princess with noble blood, the most legitimate heir of the kingdom, from falling into a trap.

For this reason, Tonigel may offend all her enemies, and the princes and nobles who cannot get what they want at the negotiation table will unite, and the war will spread to the entire Eruin. We have almost no allies, only Can rely on one's own strength to save this crumbling kingdom. "Everyone was dumbfounded. Only Antitina, who truly understood the truth, simplified Brando's words in her mind and said, "I'm going to get married." The noble girl couldn't help but curled her lips. She suddenly thought of something, She lowered her head and looked at a pendant on her chest. This pendant was a relic left to her by her father.

"But what does those nobles have to do with us? They have never given us any benefits. Why should we fight to the death for them?" The people in the original Gray Wolf Mercenary Group couldn't help but ask. Of all the people present, these People who have been deceived by Macaro are the most distrustful of nobles.

"The reason is very simple. In fact, the reason why we can gain a foothold here is because we have the approval of Her Royal Highness the Princess. In name, we have taken back this territory from Madara. Whether you are willing or not, if you lose this moral If we have a foothold, then when the nobles in the north decide the winner, take a breath, and look back, then we will be their next target." "Therefore, we can only join one side and defeat the other side. Although we hope It’s slim, but we have no choice.” Brando replied.

There was another moment of silence in the assembly hall.

But suddenly a voice exclaimed: "Martha, Lord! In this case, if we help Her Royal Highness Princess Griffith defeat her brother and help her ascend the throne, wouldn't we be able to help her in times of crisis? The merits of the Lord? With the merits of the lord, it will be natural to be granted a duchy!" Brando looked back, but Caglis said with a philistine look: "My lord, you are a duke. If so, we retainers must at least have the status of barons! Ha, depending on how my father teaches me, I will be considered to have a higher status than him."

Caglis had a vulgar look on his face when he said this. Melia beside him blushed and pulled up his sleeves. He was so embarrassed that he almost wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl under. She had never seen such a vulgar nobleman before, and she didn't know how Sir Mintai educated this guy.

But Brando smiled secretly. Of course he could see that this alert young man was acting as a shill for himself, but at least from this point of view, it was clear that Caglis supported him.

Caglis's words certainly caused a commotion, and why not? Everyone sees the benefits first rather than the risks that follow. What's more, you have to give it a try anyway. Since there are such generous rewards, the risks that need to be taken seem to be a bit worth mentioning.

Indeed, if they help Her Royal Highness win the throne, then Caglis's conjecture is entirely possible. Everyone knows that Her Royal Highness the Princess is now helpless. It is easy to add embroidery to the cake, but it is extremely precious to provide help in times of need. What is happening now to the first batch of families who followed the late Lord Ek?

Anlek, Sifah, and Viero, which one is not the real powerful prince?

Thinking of this, everyone's hearts started to move.

When Brando saw the looks on these people's faces, he knew that there should be no problem. He knew that those closest to him would definitely follow him, and the veterans of the November War in the Red Copper Dragon Mercenary Group would not object. They were potential supporters of the royal party. Mainly to appease the remaining mercenaries. The mercenaries had little faith. He had to let them know that they were fighting for him, otherwise there would be trouble in the future.

He nodded and replied: "That's right, so I hope you are prepared. The rewards will be huge, but only the person who wins in the end can get the rewards. I don't need to explain these truths. I think you should understand them too." "Of course, Lord!" "We are clear noses." "Lord, don't worry. With your wisdom, Her Royal Highness the Princess is really lucky to have your support!" This is a guaranteed statement. It seems that some people have already Full of confidence. Of course Brando knew that most of these guys were photographing horses, but no matter what, at least it aroused the enthusiasm of these guys.

Sometimes subordinates' minds are unstable and they cannot foresee the worst outcome, but once they know that the worst outcome is nothing more than this, then when the real war breaks out, Tony Geer will definitely be able to join the war in the most perfect condition. Brando couldn't help but touch his chin. To be honest, he didn't have much confidence in the upcoming war.

It's not that he is not confident enough, but that the enemy is too strong. He wasn't telling the truth, if the plan...

If things don't go well, he may have to forcibly destroy the marriage between Princess Griffin and Anlek, but either way, it may cause Anlek to become angry and turn to the other party. The best result is to remain neutral. And once the worst result occurs, it means that Tony Geer will almost have to face the pressure of the entire Eruin.

Eruin's strength is not strong, but that's after comparing Madara and Cruz, and with the strength of the six or seven Grand Dukes of Eruin facing a mere Tony Geer, it would be the same as between an adult and a child. The strength comparison between them is almost the same. And by then, his only ally would be the pitiful help from Her Highness the Princess.

In fact, Brando doesn't have a complete response method yet, but the time left for him is no longer enough for him to prepare thoroughly. He will never let history repeat itself. The trip to Ampersel is already inevitable. At this time, he saw Charles coming up, and he knew in his heart that the other party was going to tell him that the ship to Ampelsel was ready.

It only takes a week from Tonigel to Ampersel.