Chapter 152: News Brought by the Caravan

Slowly, the distance grew closer. On the south side of Brandenburg, two drawbridges stood side by side over the moat. Having one for entry and one for exit was actually a clear way to solve the traffic problem.

Only after getting closer did George realize that there were very few people actually entering the fortress to head north. Instead, caravans returning from the north were endlessly streaming out of another city gate tunnel.

Looking at the scene before him, George could not help but blurt out, “Oh my, it looks like there really is going to be a war soon.”

“Are you so sure about that? Although the Barbarians’ southern invasions happen during these months every year, the specific dates are never the same!” Hiren’s voice came from behind George.

As a result, that guy was immediately suppressed by Knight Ahuatan standing nearby, “You kid just like to make a fuss. George must have reached this conclusion based on records of past Barbarian invasions and his own analysis and investigation!”

‘Hey! You two are taking this way too far! How could an ordinary sentence lead to so many associations from you two!’ George kept shouting in his heart, ‘Now I have to find a way to smooth this over, while also considering the face of both of them. Leaving a grudge in anyone’s heart is not a good thing.’

“Since I was coming to guard the border, of course I conducted a relatively long period of intelligence collection and investigation beforehand. This work started before the New Year, but progress has not been great. After all, we don’t have an intelligence network on the grasslands; we rely entirely on uncertain news from third parties like caravans. It is not an easy task to truly screen out useful intelligence from that. At most, combined with the data provided by the military, we can roughly know the names of some tribes that are bound to come south this year. As for the specific time of the invasion, there are too many factors involved; even the growth of the pasture this year, or the weddings and funerals of individual tribal leaders will have an impact. Even after they actually assemble and set off, it is difficult to confirm exactly which day they will arrive at the city walls.” As he spoke, George sighed.

Immediately after, his tone changed, “Although we can’t know the specific day right now, based on the collected intelligence and the situation in previous years, I am sixty percent sure that they will launch an offensive before the end of this month. Looking at the recent large tribes, if they drag it on any longer, they won’t be able to wait—the growth of the pasture in the southern area this year isn’t very good! And seeing the situation with these caravans right now, my confidence is even greater.”

Saying this, George pointed at one of the carriages, which was carrying quite a few yellowish-brown bagged items. Of course, there were also neatly stacked pots, pans, and bowls tied up with ropes.

“Do you mean salt and daily necessities?” Knight Ahuatan immediately understood, but that guy Hiren still hadn’t returned to his normal level!

While withdrawing his gaze, George still did not put his hand down, “Yes! Inside these specialized waterproof bags is either salt or spices. Look, they even have the shipping seal of our Bolerum Territory on them! This batch is the sea salt we sold not long ago. After being purchased and loaded onto wagons in our Bolerum Territory, as soon as they reach the grasslands, even for the nearest tribe, after deducting all transportation costs, there will be at least double the profit. If they trade back for specialties of the grasslands, then the original capital for a round trip will at least triple. With the greedy nature of those merchants, they would never leave money unearned and return with their original cargo like this.”

“Then there must be some situation that will threaten their lives and property.” Hiren figured it out this time. He showed an expression of sudden realization.

George put his arm down and explained, “Exactly, only such a threat could make them temporarily give up the profit right in front of them. In fact, most of the time on the grasslands, these caravans are quite safe. In most cases, the various tribes would prefer to trade with them rather than loot. Because always looting would completely scare these merchants away. Although with 300% profit, merchants dare to risk the threat of death. But if they are destined to be robbed, then there is not even a chance to make money. The saying ‘someone will do a business that risks beheading, but no one will do a business that loses money’ is exactly this principle.”

After talking for quite a while, George felt his mouth was a bit dry. He moistened his throat with a water flask and continued, “And those guys on the grasslands have very many daily necessities—like salt—and some items like spices—that they cannot produce themselves. The former concerns the survival of the tribe, while the latter affects the quality of life. Without caravans, they can only supplement such supplies through southern looting. Such extremely unstable supply will seriously affect the development and combat effectiveness of various tribes. After all, no one can be sure whether the next southern looting will be successful, or what goods they can loot even if they succeed. In most cases, they would not do such a thing as cutting off their own livelihood for the passing caravans.”

After George deliberately paused, Hiren seemed to have a flash of inspiration and immediately continued, “Unless it is when those Barbarians are preparing to invade the south.”

“That’s right, only at such a time will they let go. For them, since they are going to loot the south anyway, the caravans on the grasslands become fat meat delivered to their mouths; there is no reason not to eat it! What’s more, those near our Duchy of Nohan are guys who haven’t succeeded in invading the south for many years. However, safety most of the time coupled with generous profits is enough for those caravans to continue ensuring the smooth flow of trade routes. Although the uncertainty of the annual invasion time means there are always caravans that get looted, news of such things cannot be blocked every time. Those merchants who learned the news bought with the blood of their predecessors will definitely turn back and won’t be stupid enough to go and die.” George was very satisfied with Hiren’s reaction; at least this guy wouldn’t be as slow and clueless as before.

After sizing Hiren up for a while, George turned his head and stroked his chin, starting to think about things, ‘It seems Hiren’s recovery can truly be described as rapid. Maybe it won’t take too long before he can become a qualified military leader. By then, he should be able to truly integrate into the army and become a relatively outstanding officer. After satisfying this condition, it would be considered steady to announce the news of his promotion to the Black Lead Rank and becoming a Formal Knight!’

In a certain sense, concealing the news of Hiren’s successful promotion was caused by multiple factors. Initially, it was because the situation in Kalado was a bit strange, coupled with potential war threats from foreign countries, making hiding strength a necessary method to confuse the enemy. Later, George was preparing to go north to guard the border, so Hiren naturally used this as an excuse to mix in with the ranks of Squires and come along with George. The safety of this kind of personal protection is much higher than other protection methods!

Of course, these were reasons that could be directly told to Hiren. But there were other factors that were really not suitable to say to him directly. Knights represent not only high-end combat power but also the most basic mid-level commanders in the army. They must all possess the ability to command a team of at least three hundred people to fight independently. This was one of the key points required to be mastered during knight training. After all, as an important part of the Duchy’s violent apparatus, a knight who cannot lead troops to fight is unqualified.

But in reality, there really was a portion of knights who were clumsy when it came to leading troops to fight. Of course, this refers to their ability to independently lead troops in combat; in situations where they are not the top leader of the army, they can still serve as a screw in the army. And the biggest problem before was that Hiren probably couldn’t even do the latter. In the past ten-plus years, his learning of things like marching and fighting, and setting up camps. Heh! It could be fully described as ‘a full bucket of water makes no sound, a half bucket of water splashes around.’ In other words, if this were a game, he would be a high-level elite wild monster rather than a monster commander.

This situation had happened before in the past; after all, the world is big, and there are all kinds of strange people! But Hiren had one biggest difference from them: this guy had a fearsome father. In this world where ‘dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and mice give birth to children who can dig holes,’ others could use words like ‘I’m really not good at this, everyone has shortcomings, don’t they?’ to brush it off. Others usually wouldn’t overthink it after understanding.

But Hiren couldn’t. If he didn’t want too many rumors like ‘a tiger father with a dog son’ appearing in the Duchy, he had to at least partially make up for this shortcoming. Even if he couldn’t independently lead troops in combat, he had to learn the knowledge of army management thoroughly. And in the past, due to the side effects of the Secret Art, his level in this area had always remained extremely low. To reduce the probability of others gossiping behind his back, Knight Val proposed this approach. Postpone the announcement of Hiren’s promotion news, so that he would have time to make up for this shortcoming. Because before the successful promotion, the side effects of the Secret Art had already been lifted. Now, when he learned these things, he was not as clueless as before. Looking at it this way, Hiren’s current situation was a double ‘screw-up’—he was letting his father down while also being set up by his father.

Just as George was wandering in his thoughts, he suddenly discovered that his soldiers were driving away certain strangers who had suddenly approached.

“What is going on?” came Knight Ahuatan’s voice.

Very quickly, the noise over there disappeared, and the matter seemed to have been resolved satisfactorily.

After Knight Ahuatan returned, George asked, “What happened over there just now?”

“This has a little something to do with your previous behavior, George. The person who came over was the leader of the caravan belonging to the carriage you pointed at just now. Because someone in the caravan saw your action, they didn’t know what was going on, so to be on the safe side, they asked the leader to come over and find out what was happening,” Knight Ahuatan said, half-angry and half-amused. This kind of misunderstanding sometimes really gives people a baffling feeling.

‘Eh! It seems my every move now has such a big impact on the people around me? This is the influence of power, and my traveling together with this group of soldiers is its most obvious external manifestation. Otherwise, the other party probably wouldn’t have been able to easily discern my identity and status, and certainly wouldn’t have made such a somewhat excessive reaction. Also, this incident gave me a reminder that my behavior now represents the will of the entire territory externally! It seems I must be cautious with my words and deeds during my time in the fortress. At the very least, I shouldn’t let those around me over-interpret things.’ George immediately set new requirements for himself based on today’s sudden situation.

This was not his own territory, Bolerum Territory, nor was it Karada, a political center where nobles walked everywhere. As an Heir to a territory, after bringing his own army here, your every word and deed would have a greater or lesser impact on the surroundings. These impacts could be good or bad, and for a qualified Lord, you must produce as much good influence as possible while reducing the generation of bad influence. Because even if those bad influences could be resolved in time, since they had already occurred, they would definitely form some sequelae that could not be solved.

‘Is this the first test for us Heirs? The Duchy’s training ground is indeed worthy of being a training ground! And since we Heirs all belong to the Duchy’s army, coming here to polish ourselves beforehand is really a good arrangement before truly fulfilling our duties.’ George seemed to suddenly understand another layer of meaning in why all family Heirs of the Duchy must come to the Northern Fortress to guard the border. In the past, his understanding was merely staying at the level of experiencing war and valuing military affairs.

‘Then the Continental travel after becoming a Formal Knight can also be said to be a case of a White Dragon dressing as a fish! If I didn’t have this army with me today, that caravan probably wouldn’t have made such a cautious reaction. That is to say, different “momentum” leads to different results; by that time, we will only be able to rely on our own strength. Is this behavior, besides increasing knowledge and broadening horizons, intended to warn us that only our own strength is the true reliance? Or is there some other meaning inside?’ George suddenly discovered that the matters inside were far from as simple as he had previously thought. Just from the feeling given to George just now, the water inside was deep!

When the team arrived at the city gate, Knight Val, who was responsible for the advance arrangements, was already waiting there. Because of his prior arrangements, the inspection for entering the city became quite smooth. Watching the soldiers holding different weapons climbing up and down his own wagons, George realized this was his first time having such an experience!

After several people dismounted, a civil official immediately walked up to them and handed over specialized visa documents. This was the proof of service for George and the others for this year. After taking the document, signing his name, and stamping it with his signet ring, George handed his copy of the document back to the civil official.

If one were to ask about George’s first feeling after entering this fortress—it was turbidity. The air here was really quite turbid; even with the whistling cold wind constantly blowing around him, it was still difficult to blow away that smell of numerous breaths mixed together.

5,000 soldiers plus auxiliary personnel, and those who survived by depending on them. In the entire Brandenburg, there was a permanent population of close to 10,000 people. And when winter came to guard against the Barbarians’ southern invasion, the population here would far exceed those previous numbers. Coupled with the scents of various goods and the smells of all kinds of livestock in the caravans coming from south to north. The air of the entire Brandenburg became like a crowded market from before the time travel. After everyone walked into the city gate, what came into view directly was the Commercial District inside the fortress. The Commercial District of this fortress sat in a long strip right on the central axis of the fortress. It developed entirely relying on these two entry and exit roads coming from south to north.

Brandenburg was actually a pass in a canyon. However, because the width of this canyon was really not short, after generations of continuous construction and expansion, it became the current nearly square super-large-scale fortress.

Between the two roads were stalls set up for isolation, with wooden poles and tarpaulins for shade, and rattan baskets, square boxes, and wooden tables holding goods. The goods on them included everything from vegetables and fruits, chickens, ducks, and fish to daily necessities.

Under Knight Val’s introduction, George also learned the reason why it developed into this. The stationing of a large population would certainly have considerable consumption. And the logistics support for the army in this world had not yet reached the time when it was independent into a system.

Even in the Tianchao from before the time travel, stationed troops still needed a large amount of external procurement. Therefore, local procurement became a main method for stationed troops to solve their supplies.

And the most critical point was that the stationed troops here came from different territories. Except for grains provided by His Grace the Duke, they all needed to purchase on their own. This was because although the Duchy’s territory was not considered large, there were actually quite large differences in dietary habits between different territories. Unified procurement could easily cause this or that problem. However, George thought the main factor was the worry that unfair distribution by purchasing personnel would cause conflicts.

Only with buying and selling would there be killing… No! It should be that self-purchasing would naturally attract all kinds of merchants. The earliest to appear were the subjects from within the Count’s territory who wanted to subsidize their households; they often carried goods in baskets on their shoulders and hands to get here. Due to the Duchy’s preferential treatment for soldiers, their generous spending quickly attracted many small merchants who discovered business opportunities to come here. And after the trade route to the grasslands was opened up, a large batch of gold diggers gathered here even more.

By now, a market was vividly set up in the center of the two roads. Under the constraints of the fortress managers, this small market also played a good role in one-way isolation.

“Do we purchase all our future food from here?” George asked doubtfully.

As the team leader, Knight Val said, “Fresh vegetables and meat are all provided by them. Without them, our food standard would drop by at least half, if not more!”