Chapter 724 713. Bad finances
The northern city wall is made of a large amount of shale containing iron ore. In order to build this twelve-story city wall, it is said that Duke Newman invited three great magicians from the Magic Union of Bena Province. The 'explosive flame technique' detonated the two soaring stone thorns buried in the middle of the mountains on both sides.
It was these two 100-meter-long stone spurs that collapsed and blocked the Dodan Canyon. On top of this, the craftsmen of Bena City built this nearly 400-meter-long road with a large number of iron-bearing shale strips. The city wall with a width of one meter, this city wall reaches the mountain walls on both sides of the canyon, and is integrated with the mountain.
The rough surface of the shale has now been made into wall stacks by masons, and the city wall is also very wide. Even if there are many bed crossbows on it, there is still a lot of space behind to store various materials.
Suldak and Quartermaster Handel inspected the defensive facilities on the city wall. To our delight, the ordnance on the city wall was well preserved.
It is estimated that the mayor of Marko did not have any excuse to move the ordnance on the city wall, so that these ordnance can be preserved.
"I will truthfully report the situation here to the military department, and the final decision must be made by the military department and the Wilkes City House of Representatives. Mayor Marko is a noble baron after all, and is subject to the noble regulations of the Green Empire. Protection, even if he goes too far, we have no right to intervene." Quartermaster Handel said slowly, touching the icy rocks on the wall and looking at the lush forests at the foot of the mountains on both sides of the canyon.
He turned his head to look at Suldak, and said with a smile: "A nobleman who is willing to go to a remote border town on the plane, no matter what he is now, when he was young, he was at least a group of people who were willing to dedicate their youth to the empire. Even if the military has a tough attitude, it is estimated that the House of Representatives will come forward to protect them."
Suldak also knows that the nobles of the Green Empire are themselves a class of power, and even the pores of their bodies are protected by the Imperial Code in every possible way. Rarely is there a death penalty.
In fact, Suldak never thought that the mayor of Marco would be sent to the guillotine by the military. It is estimated that at most he would pay a fine and send him to a more barren and remote place, such as the island prison where he became a warden. The drudgery of class.
Handel added: "They probably made a calculation. The supply convoy from the Logistics Department will arrive at Dodan Town in the next few days. They will take the opportunity to make a fortune. They probably offended others too hard. Make it what it is now."
Suldak told Quartermaster Handel that the slave trade group secretly controlled by Mayor Marko was looted by an adventurous group of exiled criminals controlled by the trader group. Later, these exiled criminals were also in the woods outside the town.
Only then did Handel suddenly realize that he patted his thigh and said, "I'll just say, there must be something wrong. It turned out to be because of this incident. Generally speaking, the local business group would not dare to offend the local governor too much, but I have also heard about the boss behind the trading firm here, he is so bold, it seems that the conflict between the two did not accumulate in a day or two."
Suldak passed an alloy bow from the guarding soldier next to him. He wrapped a circle of flax thread around the handle of the alloy bow. Bright.
Suldak used to be a shield warrior, and later learned riding skills, becoming a first-turn knight with a halo of strength. His bow skills are indeed not very good.
However, he didn't pick up the alloy bow to show off his archery skills, but to draw the alloy bow to its full capacity and throw it high into the sky.
Because it was standing on the 40-meter-high city wall, the steel arrow flew to the highest point and then fell in a parabolic shape. It fell on the grass 200 meters below the city wall, still full of vigor.
About two-thirds of the entire arrow was inserted into the soil.
Quartermaster Handel knew that Suldak had something to say, so he withdrew his gaze and stared at him.
"Even if the projectile of the alloy bow can only shoot 200 meters, can the Wilkes City Military Department support a few catapults?" Suldak asked Quartermaster Handel.
Handel only felt that his feet were a little weak, and he said to Suldak with a slumped face: "Master Commander Suldak, you really dare to think! You probably don't know about the stone throwing at the ordnance workshop in Bena City. The monthly output of the catapult is less than a hundred, not only because the main pole of the catapult requires adult iron wood, but also because the magic rune board inlaid on each catapult cannot be bought at all. It is said that in order to ensure the structure of the magic pattern Orders for magic rune plates for other catapults have been suspended.”
Suldak once participated in the Battle of Moyunling. At that time, the 57th Heavy Armored Infantry Regiment attacked the evil ghost army on Moyunling. He once dispatched two catapult regiments to join the battle. He never thought about it. It is so sought after in Bena.
Seeing Suldak pondering, Handel went on to say: "Only these dozens of catapults were approved by the Duke of Newman, and the ordnance workshop was able to produce them. According to the request of Emperor Charles the Great, all provinces are required to Forty percent of the catapults produced will be handed over to support the wars in other provinces of the empire."
The planes of the lords of Bena province have not been attacked by the dark army so far, so the situation is relatively good among the many provinces of the empire.
However, even without the direct impact of the Dark Legion, the main army of the Bena province is now trapped in Handanar County in the Warsaw plane.
In addition, a certain quota of various strategic materials in the province of Bena must be allocated to support other provinces of the empire.
Handel complained to Suldak: "The rest of the catapults have to support the Pena Army on the Warsaw plane, and the remaining provinces are distributed according to needs. Strategic ordnance such as catapults can't be rounded anyway. Go to the Bailin plane!"
As a veteran quartermaster who has served for more than 20 years, Handel knows these things very clearly.
Finally, he held Suldak's hand and said earnestly to him:
"The fire-scale bombs transported this time have also been accumulated for a long time. When the beast hordes attack the city, they can save as much as possible. Besides, the beasts killed by the fire-scale bombs are basically useless. The value is far worse than being shot to death with a bow and arrow, even if there is a hole in the fur, it can be sold."
"I see. Now that you said that, I remembered something. Next time, I will ask you to bring more salt." Suldak patted his forehead and said.
"Salt?" Handel couldn't understand.
Suldak smiled "hehe" and said: "When the beast tide comes, there are so many beast carcasses that I can't finish eating. I'm going to marinate them all to make bacon. If I can't finish eating, I can put them in the storage room for many years. Neither will be broken!"
Handel looked blank, but Wilkes City has no shortage of salt, so he just said: "Bacon? Okay, next time I will send you a cart of salt..."
Then he thought of something, and reminded Suldak: "Commander Suldak, what you have to do now is to make a list as much as possible according to the real needs here before I leave, and send it next time. The supplies may not be as complete as this time, but they will definitely be supplemented in a targeted manner."
Suldak saw that the Wilkes City military department still attached great importance to this beast horde, and he felt a little more relaxed, so he said, "Okay, the list will be handed over to you tomorrow morning."
The three of them walked down the rough stone steps to the bottom of the city wall, and saw a clerk of the town hall running up from below.
Perhaps it was because he was usually negligent in exercising, and only climbed more than a hundred stone steps, using both hands and feet, with a flustered expression, sticking his tongue out of his mouth like a dead dog.
Seeing Suldak, the clerk was sitting on the steps with his whole body prostrated, panting for a long time, and then he let his breath go, and then said:
"Commander Suldak, Mayor Marko took away all the property in the town hall's vault last night, and secretly left Dodan with his family!"
Suldak sent Samira to monitor Marko last night, and he had a premonition that he might slip away with money.
But in front of everyone, he still had to put on a show, frowning and asking in a deep voice, "Why are you reporting now?"
The clerk's face was pale, and he complained to Suldak in a low voice: "We subordinates, how dare we monitor the mayor, but someone discovered that the tax official was **** in the vault, and we rescued the tax official. Only then did I find out that the mayor took away the treasury property."
Suldak looked at the shocked Handel and said, "Let's go to the town hall now."
Handel did not expect that Marko, the mayor of Dodan Town, would be so impatient that he would abscond with money.
At this time, I can only bite the bullet and say: "I guess I can't run very far, should I send some cavalry to chase along the way?"
A group of people walked down the city wall, and Suldak asked the clerk named Earp to understand something, and then said:
"Major Marko's family should have left Dodan last night. It's about a day's journey away. Andrew, you can find a few local guides in the town and send a team of cavalry on all possible roads. Make sure to bring Mayor Marko back."
"Yes!" Andrew gave a military salute and rode away.
Quartermaster Handel looked at Suldak with some sympathy, and secretly lamented that he was unlucky. Among the five pass towns, he chose Dodan Town. Since arriving in Dodan Town in the morning, he has not been able to After eating a good meal, I also encountered such nasty things as the mayor absconding with money.
Just following Suldak to climb the city wall, he exhausted the last of his physical strength. Now he didn't even have the strength to ride a horse, so he called his assistant to call his magic caravan, and saw the coachman holding a plate. I popped the last peas into my mouth and wiped my oily mouth with my sleeve, feeling even hungrier.
…
Ms. Luna sat at the desk with a haggard face, and her hair, which was usually meticulously combed, was a little loose.
Holding a quill in her hand, she was absent-mindedly writing on a piece of parchment. She didn't even know what she had written, but felt that her otherwise decent life had suddenly turned upside down.
Although she has been looked down upon and cast aside by the people in the town in the past few years, after all, the person behind her is the mayor of Marco, who is the uncompromising consul in the town. Those who spurn her will still be flattering in front of her She also pretended not to know what these people were talking about her behind her back.
As long as life is decent, what does it matter if she is Mayor Marko's mistress?
Anyway, in this small town, Mayor Marko has more than one mistress. How many women can't envy her!
She knows that in the past two years, she has grown a little older. She is middle-aged and has a few shallow wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. Even the mayor of Marko rarely spends the night with her recently. She knows that Marko I found two more young sisters in the town, and my life is not as comfortable as before...
But he is still his secretary after all, he still needs to help him with some official duties at least.
But now, she was completely panicked.
Without Mayor Marco behind her, holding up an umbrella to protect her from the wind and rain, she didn't know what her future life would be like.
Ms. Luna is married, and her husband's family is also a prominent family in the town.
Now Marco just ran away like a bereaved dog, and he didn't bring himself with him! Mrs. Luna covered her face, she couldn't even think about her future life...
A magic caravan parked outside the town hall. Mrs. Luna quickly cleaned up her mood, rubbed her stiff face, and stood up to meet the people who came to clean up the mess.
Suldak walked into the town hall.
The receptionist standing at the front desk immediately stood up, and the other officials standing in the lobby on the first floor who were talking a lot also surrounded themselves consciously.
Seeing Mrs. Luna coming down the stairs, Suldak asked seriously, "How is the tax officer?"
Madam Luna stretched out her hand to gather her long golden hair behind her ears, and smiled at Suldak with a forced calm, saying:
"Still in the lounge, **** with a rope all night, his legs are so swollen that he can't walk."
Suldak frowned, seeing so many people in the reception hall of the town hall, he said with some displeasure:
"Take me to see."
Ms. Luna led the way. Instead of going up to the second floor, she walked straight along the corridor on the side of the reception hall.
Suldak followed behind and asked:
"Have the losses in the town been counted?"
Mrs. Luna stopped in her tracks. She didn't see the young commander's furious look. She felt that he was a very sensible person, so she handed the prepared account book to Suldak, wanting him to know more about Dodan town accounts.
Suldak was not reached for it.
As the local garrison commander, Suldak has no intention of taking over the town of Dodan.
Ms. Luna hugged the account book back to her chest, pursed her lips and said, "All the 1,357 gold coins in the safe in the treasury were taken away by the mayor."
Suldak asked with some astonishment: "The treasury in Dodan Town only has more than 1,300 gold coins?"
Madam Luna frowned slightly. The more than 1,300 gold coins were almost accumulated from the tax revenue of Duodan Town for a whole year.
But what she read in Suldak's eyes was 'Is there only so little money? '
(end of this chapter)