Chapter 304 Chapter 274

In a blink of an eye, summer has passed, when the westerly wind gradually rises.In October, when the busy farming season was over, conscription notices were posted simultaneously in several towns at the junction of Desa province and Nulin province.The announcement was a conscription order signed by Duke Tulip, the lord of the Desa province, and Bohan, the governor of the Nulin province. The Duke of Tulip obtained the permission of the Imperial Military Command to recruit troops across the border. He planned to recruit about two infantry reserve divisions and one cavalry reserve division in Nulin Province, a total of 60,000 people.

Such a large-scale conscription order caused an uproar in the entire Northwest! To people's surprise, in the Duke Tulip's announcement, he set a higher salary for the soldiers of the private army of the Tulip family than the official soldiers.Under such circumstances, the situation in the northwest, which had gradually calmed down, became lively again! Such a large-scale conscription is the first time in so many years.To recruit 60,000 people at one time, even if the population of Nulin Province is double that of Desa Province...it is still a heavy burden. But to the surprise of the outside world, it seems that Governor Bohan of Nulin Province is quite supportive of this matter, even at the expense of the population, and has abandoned many government affairs before the winter, mobilizing a large number of grassroots officials and some The garrison went to various conscription sites to maintain order.

On Du Wei's side, Al Qaeda, who has the reputation of "little two hundred and five", was sent to be in charge of conscription.Although this guy is a bit rude, he is good at leading the cavalry. He is responsible for assisting Al Qaeda, and it is Robert Knight, the commander of the infantry division of the Tulip family. According to the secret deal between Du Wei and Governor Bohan, the two infantry divisions recruited this time, one for each family.And a cavalry division is also divided in half. Near the border of the two provinces, a camp has been built in Du Wei's territory, and in the next year, this camp will be further expanded and built into a permanent military fortress.A military city strong enough to station one hundred thousand troops.From the geographical point of view, such a military fortress also played a certain role in restraining the Northwest Army.

Recruiting is a busy and complicated job.Du Wei has ordered to strictly follow the procedures to avoid letting people from hostile forces mix into his army as much as possible.With the cooperation of Governor Bohan, every recruited soldier must carefully investigate the native place and background of the other party. Fortunately, Bohan has been operating in Nulin Province for many years, and he still has a solid foundation in administrative work in this area. In addition, Du Wei also ushered in a piece of good news. Du Wei's old friend, Captain Beinrich of the Snow Wolf Mercenary Corps in the north, also personally visited Du Wei with the latest batch of goods a month ago, and at the same time expressed his wish: many lifetimes The old mercenaries who retired after the adventure, after quitting the adventure career, these men who used to lick blood on the edge of the knife often have a miserable old age.Although some people have quite a lot of savings, more people are not good at managing money, or they have developed the habit of drinking, gambling and other things in their adventurous life all year round. They often spend a lot of money and make life difficult.

After all, these people are old mercenaries with special skills. Although most of the retired mercenaries are more or less due to old age or even disabilities, it is a pity that these experienced old mercenaries are left to fend for themselves. . After Du Wei heard Beinrich's words, he immediately made a decision in person: from now on, Du Wei will accept all the retired mercenaries of the Snow Wolf Mercenary Corps. After all, these people have risked their lives. Although they are old or disabled, their martial arts skills are still there. Even if they can't be used as soldiers, sending them to the barracks to serve as instructors and train recruits' martial arts skills is absolutely perfect!

Beinrich was extremely grateful for Du Wei's generosity, and immediately joined several small and medium-sized mercenary regiments he was familiar with, and sent some retired old brothers. In this way, although Du Wei gave the other party a favor, in fact, it also greatly solved the problem of his shortage of manpower. Governor Bohan's conscription work is in full swing.And Du Wei is not idle here. According to the order of the Imperial Military Command, the 20,000 cavalry stationed on the grassland finally arrived at Loulan City and settled down in the barracks outside the city.

Du Wei handed over the matter to 250th General Longbottom.According to the secret agreement between Du Wei and Prince Chen, Du Wei can keep 6,000 cavalry! Du Wei's expectations for these 6,000 cavalry are very high!After all, these people were not recruits, they were all experienced and well-trained elite cavalry, and many of the officers were Longbottom's old subordinates. After receiving them, they could form combat effectiveness in a short time. On this matter, Du Weike was not polite to Prince Chen at all. He asked Longbottom to take the military order to the barracks outside the city, and let the 20,000 cavalry come out in line, and then Longbottom went to pick them one by one. All the best boys in each team were intercepted.After that, the best of the best was selected, and the 6,000 people selected from the 20,000 cavalry were definitely an elite cavalry!

In the end, with a swipe of his pen, Du Wei retained all the people who had been Longbottom's old subordinates in the officer's roster.In this way, although 14,000 people were returned to Prince Chen, the real strongest combat power has been left under Du Wei's hands. The horses that the prairie people paid for, and Du Wei's share, were all thrown to Longbottom to replenish the cavalry. As for the 10,000 cowhide... Du Wei sent people to transport them to Gilliat City. Less than five days after the 10,000 pieces of cowhide were transported to Gilliat, the first batch of hot air balloon airships had officially taken off in the sky of Gilliat.

Du Wei had done hot air balloons when he was in his hometown in Luolin Plain, but at that time, the so-called hot air balloons were far from mature, and could only be used to transport some letters or valuables. It is mainly the dyes used to burn hot gas, and the preparation is not high enough.After the research of several magicians in Gilliat City, plus some formulas provided by Du Wei himself, a final dye formula was finally determined: a potion solution extracted from sixteen magic potions, and after After dilution of specific quantities, dyes are produced in batches. The hot gas produced by the burning of these dyes has achieved the best effect currently available in terms of buoyancy and stability.

The formula of this dye was also ordered by Du Wei to be strictly kept as a first-class secret. Even the production procedures were strictly separated into several processes, and there was no connection between them. Du Wei knows that this kind of technology may not be able to monopolize for a long time, but if he can monopolize for one more day, he has an advantage for one day. Ten thousand pieces of cowhide were urgently made into balloons. According to the previous plan, this batch of airships was used as a means of transportation. According to the load capacity, the largest load-bearing airship can carry about four tons.

For such things, Du Wei is very clear that the airship of the hot air balloon is extremely backward and fragile in terms of speed and defense. It is impossible to appear on the front line as a combat force and can only be used as a logistics transportation tool. However, at least I have another air force, which can be regarded as a supplement to the "air force" in my conception. After sending out several letters from Du Wei, soon, on the Luolin Plain, the "FedEx" founded by Du Wei has opened branches to the northwest, and the first branch was established in Loulan city. Afterwards, the hot air balloon airship became the hottest topic among people in Northwest China. It's a pity that Du Wei doesn't know anything about steam engines, otherwise, he really wants to create an industrial revolution. However, even if it is not so magical.Du Wei finally counted the strength in his hands. After conscription, his total strength reached 60,000, including a cavalry division, and the combat effectiveness was not weak. In addition, there is the only air force on the mainland-this is the only air force so far, and it is even in a state of no opponent. And looking at his subordinates, they can also be regarded as masters like clouds.Two paladins, plus several outstanding powerful magicians (including such terrible existences as Gandolf and Medusa). With such strength, he gradually gained a firm foothold in the Northwest. Whether it is the Northwest Army or the grassland people, he can be regarded as having a certain amount of confidence. The only thing that worried Du Wei was Ruolin who brought the entire fleet to Nanyang.Since this female knight went to Nanyang last year, there is still no news... Could it be that the United Kingdom in Nanyang has turned its face?Leave one of your own fleets in Nanyang?However, this possibility is not great. Du Wei knew that it was almost impossible to intercept Ruolin's fleet with the wrecked ships of the Nanyang United Kingdom.With Ruolin's vigilance, even if she encounters danger, she won't fail to return even one of the messengers. As the time approached the end of the year, as the cold air in the northwest wind became heavier and heavier, people finally realized that winter seemed to be coming. Although Du Wei did not perform miracles this year to produce the crazy harvest of grain, but after a year of preparation, this winter is not sad, and the grain reserves are still sufficient so far. But Du Wei encountered a new problem. The Earl of Villa and the Fatty Delanshan both sent people to find Du Wei on purpose: they were all very interested in the hot air balloon airship that Du Wei made! The technical content of the hot air balloon airship is not too high.The biggest key lies in the dye!Not just anything that burns can produce the heat that makes the balloon float!Du Wei strictly kept the formula and even the dilution ratio of the dye secret in order to monopolize the technology. He didn't want to share these things with others now - although Count Villa and Delanshan had a good relationship with him, and he had received a lot of benefits from these two.But... the sky... For the time being, Du Wei still has the intention of occupying the sky of Roland Continent alone! It was not easy to refuse the people sent by the Earl of Villa and De Lanshan, so they made a few excuses to delay. Nine hundred and sixty-one years of the empire will soon pass.According to Prince Chen's order, Du Wei is about to leave for the imperial capital to participate in the new year's celebration in the imperial capital.But Du Wei knew very well what was waiting for him when he went back this time... Prince Chen's marriage proposal was still on his mind. Finally, before returning to the imperial capital, Du Wei found his subordinates. He decided to talk about it formally. After the announcement of Prince Chen's marriage proposal, the subordinates had different reactions.The indifference on Longbottom's face clearly meant: none of my business. Dardanelle was a little happy for Du Wei, but also with a touch of regret: this guy was purely happy that Du Wei could take this opportunity to enter the royal family, but he was also secretly regretful—he originally hoped that Du Wei Those who can marry the Liszt family. The other generals simply congratulated Du Wei. The only one who remained silent was Philip. After everyone finished speaking, Du Wei's current number one staff member was the last to speak! "My lord duke." Philip sighed, "Although these words sound a bit... um, a bit outrageous, but the people present here are all the most trusted colleagues under the lord duke, so I'll just say it straight." After a pause, he looked around the audience, and then said in a deep voice, "This incident is definitely not a blessing, on the contrary, in my opinion, I'm afraid it will bring endless troubles to adults!!" Many generals were a little surprised, and Du Wei's eyes lit up: "Go on!" "Your Excellency." Philip said slowly: "When you were in the imperial capital, His Highness Chen did not show the slightest intention of marrying you! So I conclude that this matter must be the regent's idea just recently! Then, everyone May wish to guess, why is this? His Highness Chen is one of the few outstanding emperors in the empire in modern times... well, although he has not officially ascended the throne yet. But judging from his various deeds, he is more powerful than Augustine VI. But it’s more than a little bit clever! Do you want to propose marriage at this time... Hehe! Of course, our lord has always received the honor and favor of the regent, everyone knows this. After coming to the Northwest for a year, when the foothold is getting stronger, the intention is worth pondering. The strength in the hands of the adults is gradually growing, and in the Northwest, the East resists the Northwest Army, and the West defends the grassland people. After a year After all these things happened, my lord is not strong enough to make people understand your talent and strength! In the heart of Prince Chen, the evaluation of you must have risen to a new level! Proposing marriage at this time is a wooing and a temptation! wooing Your Excellency, enter the royal family to strengthen your loyalty. Tempting... Hehe, I don’t need to say more! The most subtle thing is, my lord, regarding you and the Liszt family, the Marquise is now telling you I'm afraid even the merchants in the roadside hotel know about it! Doesn't Prince Chen of the imperial capital know about it? Then he clearly knows that the Liszt family intends to marry you, but he still proposes marriage for his sister. This intention is even more serious. It's worth your deep thinking! At least one thing is very clear: I guess, Prince Chen probably doesn't want to see you marrying the Liszt family!!" Du Wei nodded, and asked back: "What if I directly reject the kindness of the regent?" "Then..." Philip sighed: "Then, I'm afraid the regent will have some estrangement and even suspicion towards you in his heart. After all, you now have tens of thousands of military power in your hands, and you are in the complicated situation in the northwest. The place, the most important thing is that the empire has too little restraint on you! Ladies and gentlemen, haven’t you noticed? The imperial capital has almost no means of controlling us! It can be said that if your lord has a rebellious heart now... Hehe, even if you don’t really rebel, as long as your lord is willing, follow the example of Lu Gao from the Northwest Army, ignore the orders of the imperial capital from now on, close the door and become the emperor of the earth, will Prince Chen have anything to do with us?" When the last sentence was spoken, everyone's expressions suddenly changed! After thinking about it carefully, it seems that the imperial capital does not have much control over the province of Desa!Almost everything in the Desa Province is self-supporting and does not rely on any help from the imperial capital.Finance, military and government are all self-contained systems.If Du Wei wants, he can become the second Northwest Army at any time! ! Seeing that everyone was silent, Philip sighed: "My lord, I have thought about it, even if Prince Chen appreciates you, but as an emperor, there is a force like you that is almost completely uncontrolled by the central government under his hands. No matter how magnanimous this emperor is, he will feel guilty in his heart!" Du Wei's expression was also very serious: "Philip, so you think I should agree to Prince Chen's proposal to reassure him?" "No!" Philip suddenly loudly denied Du Wei's question, and then said confidently: "My lord, no matter from any point of view, I firmly oppose your marrying the royal family!!" Du Wei cheered up, and the generals next to him also looked at Philip in surprise, and Dardanelle was the first to ask: "Mr. Philip, but you just said that if you don't get married, I'm afraid the imperial capital will die." I will be suspicious of the Duke..." "You don't have to be married if you want to eliminate suspicion." Philip smiled, then his expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice: "My lord, we are in the northwest, and the reason why we are free is because we are far away from the hustle and bustle of the imperial capital. , the political situation is relatively simple. Although the Northwest Army and the prairie people are under great pressure, they are still in the clear. But once the royal family is involved, the problem will be troublesome! Sir, you should understand that although the regent is in power now, but After all, he still has many problems to solve. The first is the struggle between imperial power and divine power that has not been resolved for hundreds of years! During the last coup, the temple supported His Highness Chen at a critical moment, but there must be something between the two sides Transactions, anything, once it involves the struggle for imperial power and divine power, it will be complicated! My lord, you are more comfortable in the northwest now, but once you are pulled into the royal system, then you will become in the royal system An important power figure! At that time, the temple will somehow be regarded as an important person on the opponent list by the temple... Is this worth it? And secondly, in the long run...My lord, let me say something disrespectful! If you marry the regent's younger sister and the little princess, then, even if you don't forget the old love in your heart, you also marry Master Vivienne... Well, then, even if you treat the two wives equally, regardless of each other... ...But what about the future? Once your wife gives birth to a child in the future! According to the status and status of the little princess, no matter how much you love Mage Vivienne, no matter how you look at it, you will be forced to give birth to the son the princess gave birth to immediately. For the heir!!" Du Wei nodded. Philip smiled slightly: "But in this way... Your Excellency, after a few years, when you and everyone here are no longer in this world, can the Tulip family continue to exist? If the child born to the Duke and the Princess , Inherited all the family property of the Duke... Hehe, he is one step closer to the royal family in terms of blood! Then, as long as the royal family operates skillfully, the next generation will marry again... I am afraid that within two generations, the Tulip family will be merged. Into the royal family!!" Speaking of this, Philip said in a low voice: "I'm definitely not alarmist. Historically, this is a common trick of the royal family. Facing a powerful foreign family, if you can't eradicate it, but also take precautions, you will probably Use this kind of "soft knife" to sharpen slowly! If thirty years is not enough, it will be fifty years! If fifty years is not enough, it will be one hundred years! It will eventually swallow the other party's family! In the history of our empire, there are several An example of this! This is a kind of emperor's technique!" Suddenly, Philip looked at Du Wei's eyes, and there was a faint flash of strangeness. After hesitating for a moment, he said in a low voice: "Let's not talk about the far-away examples, let's talk about the near ones! My lord, your original Luo Lin family is a living and living family. example!" Du Wei was taken aback: "The Luo Lin family? What happened to the Luo Lin family?" Philip smiled bitterly and said, "This...my lord, don't you know yourself?" Looking at his expression, he seemed a little embarrassed, as if he deeply regretted his wrong words. Du Wei took a deep breath, and his eyes flickered: "Philip, you just say it directly. Since I have called everyone to discuss things, there is no topic to avoid! Let's talk!" Philip sighed. He hid his hands in his sleeves, gently clasped them, took half a step back, slightly bowed his body, and said softly, "Then, forgive me for lying." After he stood up straight, he said slowly: "The glory of the Luo Lin family began at the beginning of the Augustinian Dynasty. Your lord, the heroes of your ancestors, fought south and north, saved the empire from embarrassment, and officially named the empire Marshal! And was granted the entire Luolin Plain as the territory by His Majesty the Emperor at that time! I won’t go into details about the story of the ancestors of the Luolin family being granted the title. Just imagine, how glorious and glorious is the rank of Marshal of the Empire? Luo Lin at that time The family can almost be called the number one wealthy family in the empire! But after that, until now... Although the previous generation's patriarch, Earl Raymond, has also joined the military command, but in terms of momentum, it is far inferior to what it was back then... This is unacceptable. Not to mention, it is also the result of the royal family's intentional operation!" "My lord, I know that you are proficient in coat of arms and heraldry, so you should know the meaning of the crown symbol on the coat of arms of the original Rowling family?" "Of course." Du Wei replied: "That is the symbol of the royal family. Back then, my ancestor Marshal Luo Lin made great contributions, and the emperor married a princess to him... Because of this marriage, the Luo Lin family was included. A collateral branch of the royal family has become a royal relative." Philip smiled slightly, and then said lightly: "Look...how similar to today's situation." Du Wei frowned, and still didn't understand Philip's words. Philip has already continued: "This is the royal family's first move against the Luo Lin family! We should form an alliance first. Anyway, Marshal Luo Lin's loyalty to the royal family is known to everyone, and the royal family is not worried about him. This kind of long-term soft knife is used to deal with the Luo Lin family... because the royal family will never tolerate any other family that is too powerful. The first princess married to the Luo Lin family, so that the Luo Lin family has a royal family in name Marshal Luo Lin's descendants are equivalent to having royal blood... From this point of view, my lord Duke, you also have a certain amount of royal blood." "Go ahead!" Du Wei vaguely guessed something. "From the perspective of lineage, according to the currently generally accepted standards, it is three generations! That is to say, the son born to Marshal Luo Lin and the princess became the successor patriarch of the Luo Lin family, but that patriarch came from blood. He said that he already has half of the royal bloodline! Then, according to the royal family's plan, if the second Earl of Rollin is married to the royal family, then the third Earl born will be equal to a quarter of the blood. Three's royal bloodline!! My lord...if a person has three-quarters of the blood on his body from the royal family, and only one-fourth is from Luo Lin... Then, please tell me, is he considered to be the royal family after all? What about people? Or count as Luo Lin people? Well, if this is not enough...then the next generation, the royal family will marry him again?! Then, how much blood of the Luo Lin family is left on the future generations??" This question made everyone feel cold! In the end, Philip smiled and said: "As long as you marry the royal family for three consecutive generations, in the end, this family will naturally be merged by the royal family!" Du Wei's face had gradually darkened, and he vaguely remembered something! really! Philip's expression also changed, and he said in a low voice: "Back then, if I guessed correctly, the Luo Lin family's military achievements were too great, and their power in the military was also worrying. The royal family used this kind of soft knife to deal with the Luo Lin family. Gradually, after at most three generations, the Luo Lin family will be annexed by the royal family. But... Unexpectedly, there will be a problem later on, which will disrupt the long-term plan of the royal family." Having said that, Philip looked up at Du Wei, and said with a smile: "My lord, I have read the history and know that there is an earl among your ancestors, who was supposed to be married to the royal family back then, but this Earl Rollin He is a lover, despite the opposition of his family and outsiders, he fell in love with a very famous female astrologer at that time! In the end, he married that female astrologer as his wife... Isn't that right? This action made the royal family very dissatisfied, and after that, the Earl... died young, and his heir was not very old, but the result was that the huge Luo Lin family fell into decline for a period of time, until later in the family. A few outstanding figures came out, and it revived again." In love with a female astrologer?Married a female astrologer as his wife? Of course Du Wei knew who Philip was talking about! However, when Philip talked about this matter now, he vaguely seemed to have another meaning. Die young?Could it be... is there any conspiracy here? His mind was in such a mess, Du Wei couldn't hear Philip's words clearly, and only vaguely heard Philip say: "...the refusal to marry that time made the royal family very dissatisfied. Several years, it was the result of suppression from all parties. In the end, because the power of the Luo Lin family no longer worried the royal family, it had a chance to revive again. The momentum of the Marshal's era has fallen too far..." Du Wei's face froze, but suddenly he heard a faint sigh coming from his mind. ... Semel!