Because of the Blue Feather Legion's siege in the Eskiline Principality, the war has not stopped this winter. War smoke broke out all over the Principality of Eskiline. Countless residents braved the severe cold and fled their homes in horse-drawn carriages with their belongings, hoping to avoid the war. So as soon as the heavy snow stopped, countless refugees appeared on the roads in the three southern counties. They carried large and small bags, drove horse and ox carts, and wanted to leave the territory that had been occupied by the invaders.
The checkpoints Markage set up on the mountain road began to generate substantial income, and the fees he offered to pass the checkpoints were astronomical. A person receives a small silver coin, and the customs fee for a carriage is a small gold coin. Although these are gold and silver coins minted by the Eskiline Principality, compared with the gold silver coins of the Kingdom of Ovelas, The exchange price is almost two to one, two small silver coins are exchanged for one silver thaler of the kingdom, and the same is true for gold coins.
However, most of the people who were able to pack their bags and flee in carriages with their families in this cold winter weather were wealthy people, and they could still afford such customs clearance fees. They actually don't care about the customs clearance fee. Instead, they are willing to pay extra tips because the soldiers are polite and do not harass their families or rob their belongings. They are even willing to buy a steaming meal at a high price.
This gave Marki another opportunity to earn extra money. He simply teamed up with the village elder to set up a large tent next to the road as a temporary roadside restaurant, and hired a few people from the village to serve as chefs on an 82-80 split basis. and helpers, and slashed the bodies of the rich people passing by who were fleeing. The things they sold were twice as expensive as those in the towns.
"Sir, I don't understand why these people are running away. Don't they know that they can only stay at ease for a while if they go to Swan Castle. When the next two second-line legions arrive, the Blue Feather Legion may go to attack Swan Castle. .When the Principality of Esquiline is destroyed, won't these people have to wait for death in Swan Castle?" McJack asked, standing next to Claude.
At this moment, Claude took Michael Jack and the big man Gimi to stand on the edge of the protruding cliff, watching the vehicles and people crowded together on the mountain road below paying the customs clearance fee in front of the checkpoint. Even the man who worked as a roadside restaurant The big tent was full of people who had come down to rest. From time to time, some familiar faces would greet them loudly and ask for a bottle of expensive wine, so they could drink and chat there.
"In fact, most urban residents will not run away, and these people who run away are mainly afraid that we will settle accounts later. The three southern counties are the most famous mining and military industry areas in the Eskiline Principality. These people are more or less related to These industries are related, or have great interests. Now that we occupy the three southern counties, we can't take care of cleaning up those mineral and military industries for the time being. After all, we don't have enough follow-up troops, and the Blue Feather Army is busy occupying larger territories.
If these people don't run away at this time, when the situation stabilizes and the kingdom sends people to clean up and rectify the mining and military industries, they will be bankrupted due to various crimes and even sentenced to hard labor. So of course they will run away knowing the result. They can be free for a while, and maybe they can go to other countries. Besides, these people have colluded with the powerful people in the Eskiline Principality. They went to the Swan Castle with the expectation of counterattack to regain the lost territory. By then, their industries and interests would be back in their hands. "Claude explained.
"Then why do we let them go? We can arrest them." McJack asked again.
"Haha, why are we arresting them? We didn't receive an order. In addition, cleaning up their properties is what the Kingdom's internal affairs department has to do. If our army intervenes, it will only be a thankless task. This lawsuit will be brought against His Majesty the King. Go in front of us, none of the general leaders above are willing to cause these troubles. Besides, wouldn't it be better if they escaped and brought us extra money?" Claude is still very clear about this. The kingdom's army is only responsible for fighting, and it is strictly forbidden to get involved. To go within the scope of responsibilities of other departments, these things have been mentioned several times by Major Leedfunk in meetings.
"Let's go, put your gun on your back and go to the forest behind Squirrel Village. The old man, the village chief, has said several times that you hear wolves howling in the middle of the night. Let's go on a patrol to see if any wolves appear near the village. . If there are any, they must be destroyed to prevent the soldiers patrolling outside at night from being in danger." Claude turned and left the cliff. There was nothing to see below.
Heavy snow covers the mountains and forests, and wild beasts who lack food will approach villages and towns. Claude knew this very well when he was in White Deer Town. The snow in the mountain forest was very thick. Claude took Michael Jack and the big man around for a walk and found several lines of wolf paw prints. It seems that it is not a pack of wolves, but an old wolf or a lone wolf that has been expelled from the pack. It came to the vicinity of Squirrel Village to look for food. You must find an opportunity to kill it, otherwise the soldiers standing guard at the entrance of the village at night are likely to be starved. A lone wolf attack.
When Claude returned to the camp, he found a soldier waiting for his return.
"Lieutenant Claude, we stopped a carriage at the crossing. In it were a young lady and her two maids..." the soldier reported.
"Well, what's the matter?" Claude asked, wondering what this guy Markchi was planning again.
"That's it, Lieutenant Claude, we found this in the car." The soldier handed over a package in his hand.
Claude opened the package and his face became serious, because the package contained two disassembled Obas III standard matchlock guns. He picked up a firearm accessory and looked at it. It was obvious that the person who disassembled the muskets was a veteran. These The accessories were removed intact, without any trace of violence.
"Tell Chief Markchi to bring me the carriage and the three women. I want to interrogate them where the two muskets came from." Claude ordered.
"Yes, Lieutenant Claude, I'll do it right away." The soldier stood at attention, saluted and retreated.
Not long after, the sound of rolling wheels was heard, followed by the scolding of soldiers and the screams of women.
"McJack, take Germi to search the carriage below carefully. Bring me any suspicious items," Claude said.
"Yes, sir." Michael took Gemie downstairs.
Then there were footsteps on the stairs, and Markchi knocked on the door and came in: "Second Lieutenant Claude, we're here."
"Bring them in one by one, and call the correspondent over to make interrogation records."
"yes."
The girl who was brought in first was wearing a thick leather jacket, but it still couldn't hide her graceful figure. She also wore a translucent curtain hat on her head, revealing only her red lips and small and delicate chin.
"Miss, please take off your hat." Claude reminded.
The red lips split upward in an arc, and the young lady chuckled: "You should call me madam, young sir, but I am still happy to hear you call me young lady. This makes me happy." Reminds me of my carefree teenage days before I got married."
She took off her hat and revealed her face. Mark Qi and the correspondent who was taking notes had piggy-like expressions on their faces. She is indeed beautiful, with a temperament that is a wonderful combination of sexy and dignified. She has a charming and helpless look on her face, which can easily arouse a man's desire to protect...
Claude stared at her for a few times, his face expressionless. He had no feelings for beautiful women. He had seen a lot of them in his previous life. No matter how ugly a woman is, as long as she learns the make-up technique that can change her face, which is one of the four evil arts in Asia, she can become a beautiful woman with countless charms. No one will be worse than the beauty in front of her. As a veteran driver, I often encounter this situation. When I wake up one night, I often find that the beauty last night has become an aunt. If I hadn't known that this was the reason for the uninstallation, I might have thought that my mother came over in the middle of the night to replace her daughter.
Knocking on the table, awakening the two pig brothers next to him, Claude pointed to the package on the table: "Madam, please tell me your name and origin, and by the way, tell us the two muskets equipped by our kingdom's army. How did it get into your hands?"
Perhaps it was Claude's indifference to his appearance that made the beautiful lady feel a little weird. She stared at Claude for a while, and when she saw that Claude still had that businesslike expression, she couldn't help but feel discouraged and hesitated. After a while, she finally spoke: "I am Baroness Sonia Luo Vacusili. I come from the city of Pacasia and am going back to Swansea Castle to visit my seriously ill father. As for these two muskets, I bought them from others for a lot of money. I didn’t know that these were the standard muskets equipped by your army. I thought they were two very unique privately made muskets.”
Pacasia City is the county seat of Palo Alto County among the three southern counties. It is the place where the military industry of the Eskiline Principality is concentrated. The largest firearms workshop in the Eskiline Principality is located there, and there are also many workshops and workshops that produce supporting products.
Claude stood up with a smile and picked up an accessory from the package on the table: "Baroness Vacusili, it is impossible to disassemble these two muskets without some knowledge of firearms. It's so thorough. Look, it's very difficult to disassemble an accessory like this intact. Most people will knock it off with a hammer. It's not the same as the ones on your two muskets. There's nothing. Traces of knocking. I believe that when you buy it, it must be two complete muskets, not such a pile of parts."
"If you knew who my father was, you wouldn't say such things." Madam Beauty retorted unceremoniously: "My father is Libweid Mirowski. You should have heard of this." name."
Libweid Miloski, who is he? Claude looked at Markchi and the correspondent who was taking notes in confusion, only to find that they were also confused.
"Ahem, ahem, Baroness Vacusili, who is your father? We have never heard of him."
The beautiful lady's face suddenly turned red, out of anger. She looked at Claude as if she were looking at a country bumpkin: "My father is a well-known firearms master in the mainland. He has designed and manufactured more than a dozen types of muskets. There are several types of muskets that have become the standard military equipment of many countries. As his daughter, she has been able to disassemble muskets since she was a child. It is not a big deal for muskets like yours. My maid can easily disassemble them under my guidance. It was disassembled.”
"You're talking about Master Bird." Claude finally remembered. Master Bird is the most famous firearms design and manufacturing master in the Eskiline Principality. Before entering the three southern counties, a list was issued. That is, when the troops encounter the people on the list, they must treat them with courtesy and then send them to the top. The kingdom needs these talents on the list to serve the kingdom.
It seems that Master Bird is ranked third or fourth on this list, and the higher-ups pay more attention to it. However, after conquering the three southern counties, it was discovered that many of the people on the list had gone to Swan Castle and were not at their own homes. Master Bird was said to have relapsed after treatment, so he went to Swan Castle for treatment, allowing him to escape. received a mandatory invitation from the Kingdom’s army.
If Baroness Vacusili is the daughter of Master Bird, then the purpose of carrying the kingdom's two Obash III standard muskets to Swan Castle is obvious, and that is to continue to research and imitate this type of precision aiming and shooting muskets. .
Although the Eskiline Principality has launched what is it called Falhiston 185 precision aiming and shooting musket, its performance is not the same as the Obash Type 3 standard musket that the Kingdom's army has begun to equip. Still a long way to go. The purpose of this beautiful lady bringing these two muskets over was for the firearms master Libweid Mirowski to continue researching, or perhaps because his father was very personally interested in them.
"Baroness Vacusili, do you have evidence to prove the father-daughter relationship between you and Master Bird? If you can't provide proof, I'm sorry, but you have to stay here for a few days until we go to Pacasia City to investigate. You must be allowed to pass before you can pass. Because you carry our kingdom's standard equipment musket, we have to suspect that you are a spy. Please forgive my presumption. Due to my duties, I have to leave you." Claude made a prompt decision. The interrogation is over.