"Your Majesty, are you planning to send troops to conquer the extreme south now?" Iron Axe's always calm face showed a rare excitement, "But the evil moon is coming soon..."
"How many people do you think Neverwinter has left behind to deal with the swarming evil beasts?"
"This..." He took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his excited expression. "If we look at the scale of the previous year, a thousand people can defend the city wall."
"So to be conservative, leaving 2,500 soldiers should be more than enough, not to mention that a new batch of reserve troops has been recruited, and there is no problem in defending Neverwinter City." Roland stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, "I Let’s talk about the extreme south, you should be the one who is most familiar with it.”
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Iron Axe gave a military salute, "Most of the land in the extreme south is yellow sand, and oases are scattered along Yinchuan to the west of the desert. More than 90% of the Mojin people live in these oases. The largest oasis is on the There is a city built, and it is also the only city iron sand city in the extreme south."
"Yinchuan is a river?"
"It can only be regarded as half a river," Iron Axe explained. "Most of the time, it is buried in the ground, just like the underground Styx, and the part that emerges from the ground forms an oasis, so the Mojin people also call it an oasis. be the river of life."
Roland turned around and asked curiously, "Where does it originate? From the map, there are no mountains or lakes nearby."
"It comes from the sea and is the gift of the sea god." Iron Axe walked to the table and pointed to the connection between the west side of the extreme south and the green space, "There is a huge cave here, and the flowing sea water keeps pouring back into the cave. You can feel the tremors on the soles of your feet."
"You mean, seawater is the source of Yinchuan? But it can clearly breed an oasis."
If an oasis can be bred, it means that Yinchuan is a freshwater river whose seawater is too salty to be used for irrigation and drinking. This sounds completely unreasonable.
"The Mother Earth has absorbed the salt in the sea water, and all that area is covered with white salt powder, which also isolates the green space of Graycastle. When you need salt, you just need to carry a bucket and scoop it on the ground."
Is this a miracle of nature? The soil under the yellow sand actually filtered the salt and formed a saline-alkali land? Roland was amazed, it seems that in addition to oil, he has another resource that needs to be collected.
"How many people live in Iron Sand City?"
"About forty thousand."
"It's actually more than the old capital of Greycastle?"
"Your Majesty, the sand people's city is not the same as the kingdom capital," Iron Axe smiled, "Iron Sand City has only one core city, where the rulers of the six clans live, and the outer periphery is basically tents or thatched bungalows, layer by layer. After the expansion, it gradually formed what it is today, as long as it enters the oasis, it is even the territory of Iron Sand City."
"What about the Mojin people living in other oases? There should be a lot of them, right?" Roland asked. Population is the key to quickly turning local specialties into usable resources, and it is unlikely that he will dispatch a large number of people from Neverwinter to extract oil, and in the end, he will have to use the local people for himself.
The commander-in-chief nodded, "No one has counted, but I estimate there are at least 100,000 people."
Then building several mining stations and a transport line should be enough, the next question is how to control them.
"By the way, what happened to the sacred duel you said last time? How did the Mojin determine their dominion?"
This time, Iron Axe's answer was very detailed. After talking for about half an hour, Roland finally figured out how the sand people compete for power.
The promotion within the clan is put aside first. For these aliens who advocate force, strong strength is the only thing that can be trusted. The ruling class of Iron Sand City is usually composed of six clans. They are not a lineage for all ages, but are fought for by their own strength. However, in order to avoid bloodshed by each clan due to the struggle for power and profit, and the weakening of the clan's ability to deal with external dangers, it became the only choice to select a small number of people as representatives for a duel.
Over time, this rule has been recognized by all the sand people, and endowed with a sacred meaning, whether it is the big clan stationed in the iron sand city or the small clan born in the oasis, they must abide by the result of the sacred duel. Anyone who taints the duel will be cast aside by all the sand people.
"Could it be that the highest ruler of the Mojin people is the patriarch of each clan?" Roland asked in confusion, "You don't have such a person as a chief?"
"Big... Chief?"
"It is the leader who can unify all the clans, similar to the king of Greycastle."
"This..." Iron Axe hesitated, "There is a saying among the clans that there are only two ways to get all the sand people to surrender, one is to get the affirmation and blessing of the three gods, and the other is to open up a vast space for the clan. An endless oasis that eliminates the sandstorms that cover the sky and protects the sand people from the threat of hunger, thirst and death."
"The three gods are sure... How do you calculate this?" Roland frowned.
"Just offer the corresponding sacrifices to the three gods in the burning land. They are the giant iron-clad scorpion that dominates the earth, the unicorn sea beast that dominates the extreme southern cape, and the four-winged eagle that dominates the sky." Iron Axe paused. , "These three beasts are haunted and have taken countless lives, but no one has ever found their nests, and the bait and traps don't work. I even guess that they may be mixed-species evil beasts, already possessing the most Basic wisdom."
Both conditions are not easy to achieve, especially the second one, which can make the desert grow into an oasis, which is almost close to the power of the gods. Roland couldn't help but fell into contemplation. If he just let Echo regain the position of the patriarch and avenge his frame-up five years ago, it would not be of much help to unify the entire extreme south. Although the six clans have different status, they have no direct affiliation, let alone the sand people scattered in the oasis. He had to find a way to make himself the chief of the Mojin clan.
In addition, the sacred duel is also something that must be considered. The First Army may be able to defeat the Iron Sand City Guard in a destructive manner, but it may not be so easy to make the sand people consciously obey the rule.
The most appropriate method is to use the rules set by the Mojin tribe to realize the annexation plan.
"Can you invite foreigners to the duel?"
"There is no problem with this," Iron Axe affirmed. "I am a half-blood, but I can still take part in the duel instead of the Osha clan. In fact, brave gladiators are often welcomed by the major clans, and this is also the turn of the small clan. The only hope is that if there are three or four brave warriors in the descendants, there is hope to win a better ranking in the sacred duel."
"Really?" Roland smiled slightly, "It's much easier to do since that's the case."