You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 290: Giving the entire land a small but powerful shock from the Origin City! (Seeking monthly votes at the end of the month)

Roman's title was both a prince and a lord.

The latter is a special title.

Those who were granted titles not only received the highest honor in this land, but also shouldered a mission.

The mission of maintaining the order of the conquerors.

Roman still remembered what the Lord of the Black Iron had said to him when he sent his minister to this remote valley to bestow his title: "You must go out and quell the rebellion. Pirates, barbarians, demons, alien races—whatever threatens our safety, go and fight it."

Damon may or may not remember that sentence.

For a strategist who manipulates power like this, there are countless words to say every day.

But he certainly remembered how he had squeezed a huge shield tax out of Roman last year because of that statement.

And now, he's back again.

He stared intently at Roman, praying in his heart that the lord wouldn't abandon his post.

If this lord were to say something like, "This is not for the sake of securing a corner of the land, but for the peace and tranquility of the people in this region," or "Now that the countries are in chaos, a governor should be appointed to bring order," then...

If he uses this as an excuse to stay away from troops and sleep soundly, then the Black Iron King really can't do anything to him.

if not?
If you push them too far, they'll just rise up in rebellion and turn against you!

Then Black Iron will have to send troops to quell the rebellion.

After the king of the valley rebelled, he closed the gates and went to sleep in the valley.

How does Black Iron quell the rebellion?

Are we going to block the entrance together with the Holy See's holy war army?

Sinnoh has abundant military strength, and the Holy See has an inexhaustible supply of believers; they can hold out, but Black Iron cannot.

More importantly, once they break up, the taxes and black iron from Origin City will definitely not be collected.

Oh, Ulster, what a mess you've made.

Roman pondered for a long time, and then said, "You want me to send troops, but how can I send troops now?"

"That's why a young king like you can't stay in this canyon forever, or you'll become just like Lord Ulster. Isn't the Church your enemy? You've openly protected witches; they all say you've inherited Lord Ulster's will..."

Roman frowned: "Who said that?"

“Everyone’s saying it,” Damon shrugged.

Roman remained silent, but under Damon's somewhat anxious gaze, he slowly nodded and said, "I will send troops."

The minister breathed a sigh of relief: "We can't delay any longer."

"next year."

The minister tentatively suggested, "Should we send troops before autumn?"

"can."

The ministers praised him unanimously: "You truly deserve to be called the son of Ulster!"

Now he could go back and report to his king with peace of mind.

Roman asked, "But Lord Damon, I must ask, what exactly are His Majesty's plans?"

Political warfare is not about speaking riddles or exchanging secret codes; you have to be clear about what you're saying to avoid misunderstandings.

"I would have told you this even if you hadn't asked... But before that, Lord, may I know how many troops you have right now?"

Roman shook his head. "This is not important."

Damon emphasized, "I need to know this to know how much of a chance you have of winning."

Roman glanced at him: "It's my win, that's all that matters. This is none of your business."

Damon wasn't annoyed and smiled, "If Lord Roman is so confident, then I'm relieved."

Roman had no interest in revealing the true nature of Origin City to outsiders.

He had set up a fog of war in Origin City from the very beginning.

The purpose of the fog of war is simple: to keep outsiders completely unaware of what's happening here.

This is very easy to do.

To put it simply, even Roman himself didn't know how many people he had plundered in the territory of Kant, or how many slaves the pirates had brought here. They only determined the final number by counting them one by one in Origin City.

This is no exaggeration at all.

For example, during the flood, the pirates dispatched more than 300 warships, some large and some small, to transport nearly 20,000 slaves.

Do you think they counted the number of people one by one when they boarded the ship?

Wrong!
Such a massive and rapid operation involved tens of thousands of slaves.

The pirate king might not even know the number of warships he has sent.

After all, this is business, a quick trip and a quick return, not war, so there's no need for precise troop allocation.

Counting the population takes time, so just stuff as many people as you can into the city. Once you feel that's enough, or that you can't fit any more, then set sail and row to Origin City to make a trade with Roman.

If Roman had deliberately concealed the number of his hundreds of slaves, the pirates would not have noticed a thing.

Roman simply couldn't be bothered with such despicable behavior.

But so-called organization is also reflected in this aspect. While pirates may have survival knowledge passed down through their tribes, compared to the civilized world, barbarians are still barbarians.

The civilized world isn't much better; it's just a slightly more advanced barbarian world.

In the eyes of outside forces, Origin City is now a black hole.

They knew absolutely nothing about the population, size, army, or system of the city of origin.

The same applies to all the residents of Origin City; they can't even sell information.

Putting aside other things, even most people living in modern rural areas don't know the exact number of people in their village.

The city of Origin has a population of nearly 80,000 and 9,000 brick houses, with 90 residential areas alone.

A settlement is a small village, with anywhere from three or four hundred people to over a thousand.

The difficulty of command and dispatch alone is unimaginable.

“If there’s a chance of winning,” Damon said. When the young man agreed to send troops, there was no fear, anxiety, or tension on his face. He was trapped here, yet he remained calm and composed, as if the jihadist army outside was just a paper cage that he could tear apart with a little effort.

Damon, having seen countless people, could tell that this confidence wasn't feigned; he genuinely believed it.

Damon suspected he might have made a deal with some unseen being, but fortunately the scholars of the Citadel and the astrologers of Sinnoh never received any revelation from the stars.

While Damon was thinking about those supernatural things, he said aloud, "Then you should defeat the Holy War Army. His Majesty the King may be able to use this to talk to the Pope and get the Papacy to withdraw its troops."

Roman immediately understood and said, "What if the Pope refuses? What if things get even worse?"

Roman felt this was a gamble, and Black Iron would most likely lose.

Given the current situation, a single victory is insufficient to curb the Papacy's expansionist trend.

"Then this is something our King should consider," the minister said, spreading his hands.

“Lord Roman, we all have to take action. As you know, no one dares to be your neighbor. Lord Kant has moved to the side of distant relatives. Now the Holy War Army wants to take over this place. It's fine if they stay for a year or two and then leave, but if it goes on for too long, who will own this land? This is not a good sign.”

It's certainly not a good sign. Kangdeling doesn't have many resources, but its food production is quite considerable.

The noble alliance came, but none of them intended to annex the territory of Kant.

First of all, being poor is one thing, but it's not worth it to take it, as it would ruin the family's reputation.

Secondly, the conqueror order had not yet collapsed at that time.

But the Holy War Army is different. They came to burn witches. Even if Count Kant hadn't run away, they wouldn't have been able to do anything about being usurped.

Once those 20,000 holy warriors resume production, they'll be firmly established, and they'll surely start sowing seeds in the spring...

Roman said, "I want that piece of land."

Damon was taken aback. "You mean the territory of Kant? You can have it, I'll explain it to His Majesty. All you have to do is pay a tax. But with so many jihadist troops, can you hold them off?"

After all, the Iron King only asked Lord Roman to fight a decisive battle.

Roman said, "It's just 20,000 jihadists. Just because we couldn't hold it before doesn't mean we can't hold it now."

Damon was stunned again: "Who told you there were only 20,000?"

Seeing Roman begin to frown, he continued, "It seems you really don't care. They started with 20,000, but now there are over 30,000, and by next year there will be 40,000 or 50,000. You might be wondering where the population came from, but I must tell you, there are many believers of the gods in the Black Iron Lands. After hearing about the Holy War Army, those farmers fled en masse with their families. Many nobles are dissatisfied with this, and His Majesty the King has over a dozen letters of complaint on his desk. Those nobles don't dare to go to the Land of Condé to demand the return of those fleeing farmers, after all, the Holy War Army really would go to war with them for those believers whose piety is questionable..."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Roman, who was deep in thought, and said, "So... Lord Roman, you'd better be prepared."

In the past, believers were forbidden from gathering in the Black Iron Land, and they were even more prohibited from launching large-scale missionary work and marches.

The knights were eyeing the defenseless peasants with predatory intent, ready to pounce on any who dared to form a gang.

But now it's different.

The Holy War Army is here, and all believers can receive the protection of the gods. Many farmers who were unhappy with their lives were immediately blessed.

In three more years of development, not only in Kant territory, but all other lords will have to kneel before the priests.

Roman's attitude remained unchanged, and he said, "I understand."

“Then His Majesty the King and I will await your good news at Blackburg,” Damon said. “By the way, there is one more thing. Since you were able to mine a thousand catties of gold this year, next year’s tax will only require three hundred catties of gold. Two hundred catties will be mining tax, and the other one hundred catties will be your other miscellaneous items this year. I suppose I don’t need to list them all out.”

Roman closed his eyes for a moment and nodded gently.

On the one hand, they sent him to fight, but without any support in terms of troops or supplies.

On the other hand, they also levied a high tax on him equivalent to 50,000 gold coins, but those tax categories had been in place from the beginning; that was how the aristocratic system was in the Middle Ages, so there was no question of targeting him specifically.

It can only be said that the Origin City is too lucrative.

On the other hand, as long as taxes are paid, they have a high degree of autonomy, equivalent to local emperors.

Even when faced with the finance minister inquiring about the population and military strength of Origin City, Roman could silence him.

After conveying the Black Iron King's decree, the minister took the gold and left Origin City that same day.

It started snowing again in December.

Roman wasn't in a hurry. He believed that once winter was over and spring arrived, the wheat seedlings would grow rapidly...

At that time, it will give the entire land a small shock from the Origin City!
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P.S.: It's the last day of the month, please vote with monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)