Chapter 255
There was silence in the hall, everyone lowered their heads and said nothing.
Everyone knew that the Earl - now the Duke - had a volcano in his heart, but no one thought to find out what was going on.
Bad news, the Greiman family's army suddenly went south, invading Emden-Kent Family's former territory, and drove away the officials and vassal lords stationed by the Kent Family along the way.
Good news... It's not actually good news, but it's a little better than the previous one - Alarda People stopped not far from Bairan Castle.
Paul Greiman... It's simply crazy. Doesn't he know what he is facing?
Kent Family has always been the second most powerful family after Northwest Bay. Now it has become even more powerful after obtaining the position of Duke. That is to say, it is not convenient to fight now, so there is no time to pay attention to him.
And it's too despicable to cause trouble while everyone is busy Spring Planting. According to the news, there are more than a thousand people in Alarda People, which is not too much, but it is still a lot. Especially for Arda, which has a small population, it is a pity that so many young and strong laborers are not working in the fields.
Ah, they can steal food. This is really... this is really... such an act of banditry.
Maltz Kent looked around the hall and asked, "Do you have any good way to drive Alarda People out?"
Everyone was a little surprised. Duke's tone sounded very calm. How could he be so calm even when his hometown was being attacked?
But now that the Duke has asked a question, the people below have given their suggestions.
"Duke, we only suffered a small defeat before, but Greiman became so rampant. Please gather your troops again to fight them."
"It's better to take back Biduo Fort first and avenge the shame!"
"Alarda People firearms are sharp, we need to find a way to restrain them."
"You cowards, no matter how powerful you are, how powerful can you be? How can they stop us from gathering the cavalry to charge?"
The hall was noisy.
Malz actually felt a little bitter in his heart. The Emden lords who were driven to Cent City by the Alarda Army cried to him. In their words, they were all frightened by the other party's fire crossbows and Thunder Hammer.
"After the smoke rose, men and horses fell down one after another, even if they were wearing armor, it was useless."
"It roars like thunder, and one shot can hit dozens of miles!"
Although some people's words are exaggerated at first glance, the power of the Alarda People weapon seems to be correct.
Damn it, this is clearly magic and witchcraft. Okay, biased bastard Church.
The noise in the hall made the Duke very upset. He inadvertently saw his Intelligence Director sitting there silently, so he waved to him and went to the study together.
"Duke, why did you come to me...?"
"How have you been collecting information on Arda recently?"
"Uh... I have gained a little bit. In fact, I wanted to talk to you about this after the meeting. Since you came to me, I will present it to you first."
Intelligence Director took out a roll of parchment from his arms and handed it to the Duke with both hands respectfully.
Since the war broke out, Duke's Mansion ordered an end to all trade with the Anti-Kent Alliance's territories, which naturally included Arda. As a result, the territories on Maltz Kent's side could no longer enjoy cheap paper, and everyone had to use expensive parchment paper again.
Anyway, what Maltz Kent saw was like this. Letters were exchanged, official documents were submitted, and all he received was parchment.
Malz glanced a few times first, then waved to the supervisor.
"I want to analyze it carefully. You can wait outside first."
"Yes, sir."
The supervisor resigned respectfully. In fact, he felt a little strange. The Duke's hand seemed... trembling?
After the supervisor went out, Malz put his arm on the table, put his right hand on his forehead, closed his eyes and frowned for a long time, and then unfolded the parchment roll again.
Too underestimated! Too careless! I really should have killed the Greiman boy last year.
Below is what's on the parchment.
Dear Duke: After our various inquiries, we have a general understanding of the military strength of the Greiman Family. The information is now summarized as follows.
Since being invaded by pirates last year, Arda has been maintaining a Standing Army team, and over the past year, the size of the army has grown larger and larger, and now it is estimated to have about 2,000 to 3,000 people. In other words, Arda only invested less than half of the army in Battle of Biduo Fort.
This force of more than 2,000 people includes a water force of at least 600 people, which should have been established after the pirates were wiped out last year. As for why it was retained after the pirates were eliminated, according to our investigation at Franklin Harbor, Greiman seems to have plans to develop ocean trade and has already put it into action. Arda invented a new ship that is suitable for ocean voyages. People in Franklin Harbor are saying that this kind of ship has sailed to the corner of the bay for a generation.
In terms of military equipment, although the armor coverage rate is not high, they have deadly fire crossbows and Thunder Hammer. When Greiman marched into Bairdin to counter the rebellion, they still mixed fire crossbows and spears. By this year's Battle of Biduo Fort, all the troops we organized were equipped with fire crossbows, and the fire crossbows were further improved and equipped with Bayonets, so that Soldierss could attack from a distance as well as fight at close range.
As for the two new weapons, Fire Crossbow and Thunder Hammer, intelligence shows that they were most likely invented by Paul Greiman himself.
In terms of the quality of the army, according to the information reported by the spies, the slogans Soldiers can be heard near the military camp every day, non-stop from morning to night, and it seems that there is only one day on the weekend where there is no movement. Although I didn't find out what was being trained inside, the six-day training rate per week was far higher than that of the general army. Even the knights rarely practiced martial arts for six days a week.
In addition, high-intensity training means a high level of food supply, otherwise Soldiers's bodies will not be able to sustain it.
With advanced and sophisticated weapons and sufficient material support, this army definitely spends a lot of money.
A year ago Arda was still a barren county, but its current performance has subverted our previous impression of it. We analyze the reasons for this change as follows: First, Greiman "unified" the separation Although Bairdin and Arda on the wall are poor, Bairdin is considered relatively good among Northwest Territories. This move can increase the tax revenue several times.
The second is the invention of various new things, such as porcelain, paper, and cans. These are things that people have never seen before, and they can also bring great convenience to people's lives. Before the technology to make them spreads, Greiman will continue to make huge profits from them. In addition, Arda also has a method that can produce large amounts of salt, which greatly reduces the cost of salt. Now almost all salt merchants in Northwest Bay are purchasing from Arda.
Porcelain, paper, cans, and salt, in the words of Arda businessman, these are their "hit products" for foreign trade.
In addition, Greiman is also selling an expensive Agricultural Machinery to the landowners in the territory. The role of this device in promoting agriculture has yet to be examined, but it has already earned him a large amount of gold coins.
The third is the rise of industry and commerce in Arda and Bairdin. After the emergence of "hit products", Greiman adopted supporting policies for industry and commerce in the two places, attracting a large number of private factory owners and businessmen to participate in the production and sale of these products. Although the tax rate was reduced after the implementation of the policy, due to the expansion of scale, taxes in this area have still increased a lot.
What a nightmare week!