The production of the artillery is also progressing steadily, the second cannon has entered the reaming stage, and the third cannon is still hoarding material.
With any luck, in a month's time, he'll have a gorgeous lineup of four twelve-pounders. There is no doubt about the advantage of firepower, but how to convert the advantage into victory is a question that Roland has been considering.
He was just a mechanical dog before crossing, and like most people, his understanding of war comes from history, movies and games. If it is a complete cold weapons war, he will let Carter and Iron Axe command. But this battle is not the same, no one can understand the way of fighting with hot weapons better than himself.
In this case, he can only combine all the knowledge he knows, and formulate every step of the plan with a vision higher than this era.
In order to ensure victory, Roland asked Lightning to travel back and forth between the fortress and the border town every day. One was to observe the road conditions, and the other was to accurately calculate the distance. Roland believed that the victory of the war was based on a lot of reconnaissance and calculation. Whether it is tactical formulation or deduction of the battle situation, these two points are inseparable.
Using the dimensions he set when he cast the cannon last time, he made several one-meter iron rods and 100-meter hemp ropes, and then at the artillery test range in the west of Border Town, he drew the lines based on the hemp ropes and wooden rod projections. A runway about a thousand meters long. Lightning practiced controlling the consumption of mana, repeatedly traversing the distance of one kilometer at a fixed speed.
After she had memorized this magic output skillfully, Roland started to measure the distance from the fortress to the town. Using the round-trip time obtained by the sundial, he calculated the distance between the two places to be about 54 kilometers.
Of course, this is only a straight-line distance. In fact, there are two big bends on the road to avoid the foothills of the Desperate Mountains. In any case, if the Duke chooses to march from the land, it will take at least three days to reach Border Town.
With Lightning as a scout, Roland can clearly understand where the enemy is and what actions to take.
Within two kilometers to the west of the town, he has been filled with signal objects for marking the distance. As long as the enemy enters this range, the artillery team can quickly adjust the corresponding muzzle angle without firing a watch.
Now he is starting to worry a little, what if the other party doesn't come.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Nightingale, who had been lying on the sofa and chewing dried fish flakes, disappeared instantly. Roland coughed twice and said, "Come in."
It was Barov, the assistant to the minister who pushed open the door, "Your Highness, there is a noble from Changsong Fortress who wants to see you."
"Who?" Roland didn't react for a while, "They sent ambassadors again?"
"No, it's not the ambassador," Barov shook his head. "It's Baron Corris, who left before the Demon Moon and has now returned."
Roland thought for a moment before remembering that there were indeed fortress nobles living in Border Town before. But how dare they come back? And he came here just after the beginning of spring. Haven't you seen the iron fist of the royal family's dictatorship? "What does he want to see me for?"
"His house was demolished because it obstructed the defense of the city wall," the assistant minister said, "If you don't want to meet him, I can help you reject it."
Roland wanted to agree, but changed his mind in a second, "Let the baron wait for me in the living room."
Maybe he can pass him and put a little pressure on Changsong Fortress, the prince thought.
After lingering for a quarter of an hour, Roland slowly came to the living room. On the side of the long table, a man with a chubby belly was already waiting impatiently. He walked back and forth, the flesh on his face shaking with the pace. Seeing His Highness's appearance, the baron stopped, barely bending over to give a salute.
"Sit down," Roland returned to the main seat and sat down. According to his usual habit, even if it's not dinner time, he would let the kitchen serve a dessert, but today he didn't even let him prepare tea.
"His Royal Highness," said Baron Corris hurriedly before he could sit down, "how could you let those stupid masons demolish my house! It's a good house, and it's made of stone and bricks. The parapet and the beam-column roof are also made of the best quality logs. When it was built, it cost me a hundred... no, one hundred and fifty gold dragons!" He gestured with his fingers.
One hundred and fifty pieces, Roland sneered twice in his heart. If he had just worn it to Border Town, he might have believed it based on the prince's memory alone. But now... "You mean the house at the far west end of town?"
Corris nodded again and again, "That's right, it's that one. It's the second largest house in town after Baron Simon's residence."
"That's really a pity. It's too close to the city wall and hinders the passage of my subordinates." Roland paused for a moment, "But the city hall has already made compensation."
"How much... how much?"
Roland stretched out two fingers, "Twenty golden dragons."
"This is too little! Your Highness..." Koris opened his mouth, as if he wanted to argue something, but finally endured it. He took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead, "Okay, twenty is only twenty, where should I get this money?"
"Receive it?" Roland pretended to be puzzled, "The money has been distributed to the owner of the house."
"What? Wait, wait... I'm the master of the house!"
"It's not you, it's Blair, the captain of my second militia."
"Who is that?" cried the baron. "Your Highness, you are mistaken! I am the owner of that house!"
"Really? But I didn't see you in winter," Roland raised his eyebrows. "How can you say that house is yours?"
"Of course I'm going back to Changge Fortress. Who wants to stay in this hellish place, they'll have to feed evil beasts if they're not careful!"
Stupid, Roland commented in his heart, still maintaining a flat tone in his words, "So you want to say that you abandoned your lord and escaped because of fear of evil beasts, don't you?"
"Uh, I..." The Baron was stunned.
"Guards," Roland clapped his hands, and immediately walked into two personal guards outside the living room door, sandwiching Coris in the middle.
"His Royal Highness, what do you mean!?"
"It's very simple, now you have two choices," Roland stood up from his seat and looked at each other contemptuously, "One is that you admit that you were wrong, that house doesn't belong to you at all, I can treat it as a farce, now Let you go. The second is that you betrayed your lord during the month of the devil, left the territory without permission, and fled shamelessly to Longsong Fortress. I will put you in jail and hang you on the crime of treason Die. Which do you choose?"
Corris's forehead couldn't stop sweating. He swallowed and hesitated for a while before trembling: "Your Highness, I... I made a mistake, that's not my house."
"So it was a misunderstanding," Roland shrugged and said to the guard, "Send Mr. Baron out of here."
When Corris came to the door, the prince stopped him: "By the way, when you go back to the fortress by boat, help me with a letter and tell those... well, the nobles who will have the same misunderstanding as you. If you don't plan to If you choose the second option, you don't have to waste time making a special trip to the town."
"As... as you wish, Your Highness." Koris said with a forced smile, but the moment he turned around, Roland saw the other's gnashing expression.
As a result, there must be an uproar in the fortress, right? he thinks.