Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 99 Kevier's national strength

When he came out of the Mahakam Mountains, Herme's team was several times larger than when he entered.

Hogg directly handed over the weapons and equipment to the Adian people, and then added a thousand Mahakam volunteers. If it weren't for the thousand dwarves, there would be no one in Heme to take care of and pull so many equipment.

With so many people and things added, Herme's team is not going to swell.

In normal times, Herme must have been smiling because of this, and she was extremely happy all the way.

But when he thought about Ke Weier's matter, it was like a huge stone weighing on his heart.

After suddenly learning of the existence of such a behind-the-scenes manipulator of the northern economy, Herme found that many of his new economic ideas had to be postponed.

Even if it is implemented, it must be based on figuring out what is going on with Kerviel's economic penetration.

Only by knowing exactly what kind of operation mode is Keweier, can he make good arrangements for his next actions.

However, the reason why Herme was so entangled was not actually Ke Weier's hidden economic giant network.

It's just that what's the use of being strong in the economy, you don't have to kneel in the face of the sword.

And here, is the problem.

Keweier is strong not only in the economy, but also in the military, and its military strength is also frighteningly strong.

Almost 120 years ago, Redaniya came to Kadwin and Temeria, intending to take the kingdom.

Redania at that time was not what it is now. It owned three-quarters of the entire northern land.

But it was a disastrous defeat in front of Ke Weier.

Another use for the gold in the Kovir Mountains was thus revealed. At that time, Kovir's standing army numbered about 5000 men, all professionals proficient in war and plunder.

They are mercenaries from the ends of the earth, but due to the unprecedented generous remuneration and the pension promised in the contract, they are all devoted to the Keweier Kingdom, and are willing to go through fire and water for generous rewards.

And the commanders who lead these soldiers are not only experienced and talented, but are now extremely wealthy.

Even the Kings of Redania and Kaedwen at that time were very familiar with them, because they both served in the army of Kadwin and Redania, and became officers of Keweier after retiring.

To this day, Kevier is still continuing this policy, constantly absorbing outstanding veterans from the northern countries, and turning the elites cultivated by the northern countries into his own strength.

Up to now, including the Free Corps, Kevier already has a standing army of [-], which is more than the Redanian Royal Army.

This is the advantage brought by rich and powerful, and the Keweier Kingdom has plenty of money.

It is known that 80% of the gold in the world is produced here, and the problems that can be solved with money are not problems.

It also has the entire north, no, it should be said that it has the best merchant fleet on the entire continent.

In today's era, this can also be said to be the largest naval fleet in the entire North.

This is only on the surface, and Herme can be sure, just like Keweier unknowingly assembled a standing mercenary army of 5000 people under everyone's noses—or in Keweier's words, It's called the paid army—there must be more power hidden now.

For example, the Hunforth Alliance, a small alliance stuck between Kovir and Redania, was formerly the eastern part of the Kingdom of Kovir, and was separated from the kingdom after a series of wars caused by the night of the knife and torch.

Today's Hengfors Alliance sends a large number of mercenaries to the north, and even most countries in the alliance lease their own troops to the northern countries as mercenaries.

The relationship between this alliance and Keweier is very ambiguous, because an important source of personnel for the Free Corps is the Hengfors Alliance.

The provision of mercenaries is an important means for Keweier to withdraw war loans.

With this kind of relationship, and with Keweier's ability to make secret arrangements, Herme believed that there must be Keweier's arrangement in the Hengfors Alliance.

Not only that, the technical and magical power of Kevier is even more terrifying, and this is closely related to the development history of Kevier.

Initially, after King Redania's unpopular brother went to Kovir, the first batch of immigrants flocking to Kovir was attracted by the local war, and those who went to the northwest were basically mercenaries, hooligans and speculators.

After Kevier spent a lot of time completing the unification of the Northwest Territories, with the development of the local economy, especially the development of the glass manufacturing and salt industries that affected the entire continent, it became a shelter for "dissidents" .

All over the North in those decades, someone would say "Go to Povis or Kovill" instead of "Go to hell."The master will say to the disobedient apprentice: "If you don't like me, go to Koviel, no one is stopping you." The professor will reprimand the unruly student like this: "Don't bring the etiquette of Koviel here. Come!" Farmers' sons who criticized their ancestors' plowing and fallow systems were often met with a retort: ​​"Why don't you go to Purvis when you're so talented?"

In short, whoever doesn't like tradition can go to Kovill, no one is stopping you anyway.

After hearing these words a lot, people gradually realized that the road to Kovir is indeed open and can be traveled at any time.

Thus, the second wave of immigrants to the north began.

Just like the previous one, the immigrants this time are also people who are dissatisfied with the status quo and yearn for more things, but there are far more talents among them than in the first wave of immigrants.

Among those who went north were scientists who insisted on so-called "unrealistic" and "crazy" theories.There are engineers and inventors who firmly believe that they can break the stereotype of mainstream views and create revolutionary new machinery and equipment; Short-sighted businessman.

There are also farmers and ranchers who have listened to other people's claims that barren land can also be turned into good land, and livestock can be raised in large quantities in northern climates.

These "dissidents" in traditional society have injected a new force into the country of Ke Weier, making it stronger and stronger.

Also to the north were miners and geologists, who considered the uninhabited mountains and hills of Kovir to be conclusive evidence.

Since the outside is so barren, there must be treasure hidden inside, after all, nature has always been known for its balance.

Then they discovered the vast deposits of minerals in the Kovir Mountains.

With the gold dug out of the mountains, Kerviel bought everything that the North couldn't grow or farm, and everything that Kerviel and Povis wouldn't produce.

The purchase of the latter is not due to some subjective or objective conditions, but purely because the profit is not enough.

The artisans of Kovier, and the young men who came from far away with their luggage on their backs, now earn four times as much as their counterparts in the north.

What used to be "lunatics" in the eyes of folks and neighbors is now rich because of their crazy ideas.

Then, Redania found out how stupid he was to let such a land not pay taxes, and then Redania gathered the forces of Kadwin and Temeria to invade Kovir, and then the story of the fiasco .

After this war, Kevier still maintained his previous policy of absorbing all unsuccessful people from all over the north.

No matter how crazy the idea is, in Keweier, you can also get funding from the royal family. It can only be said that having money is so willful.

And as long as a crazy idea is successful, Ke Weier will get ten times or even a hundred times in return.

That's why Herme said that Kevier's technology was even more terrifying. That country might have figured out the secret of artillery earlier than Nilfgaard.

As for magic, it would be hard for Herme to believe that Kevill did not conduct a lot of secret research on magic.

In the era when the Warlock Order still existed, this country frantically recruited traitor warlocks.

Now that the Warlock Order has disintegrated, as far as he knows, the number of Warlocks attracted by the high salaries there is not small at all.

There is no need to mention the control of the economy. I am afraid that this country has already penetrated all aspects of the northern economy.

I thought that the dwarf's economic nuclear bomb was already very scary, but I didn't expect this kind of giant to exist.

Last but not least, there is the very scary blood connection between the Corviral and Redanian royal families.

Although it is said that the Thyssen family of the Kovir royal family is no longer the descendant of the prince Redania who was enfeoffed back then, they took advantage of their marriage with the original royal family to take the title of King Kovir legally. The blood of the most orthodox Redanian royal family still flows in his bones.

In the Kingdom of Redania today, the royal family only has a man named Radovid (little bald head) and his two younger sisters.

If something happened to Radovid, they could assert the throne of Redania as long as Kovir wanted to.

Herme believes that Kerviel must have made a lot of arrangements for this.

If these two countries are really united, then a power capable of unifying the entire north will emerge. When the most powerful army in the north (Redanian Royal Army) and the most powerful navy (Kevil Navy), And the wealthiest treasury combined, what emerges is a monster.

The domestic resistance to this in Redania is unlikely to be too high. After all, the royal families of the two countries are originally a family, not to mention the benefits that the union can bring are too many.

Thinking of such a huge monster pressing on her head, Herme felt speechless.

Looking at the Civil War now, he feels that the current war is just a game between Nilfgaard and Kevier, and the northern countries are just pawns on the chessboard of the struggle between the two countries.

This kind of feeling of jumping out of the previous chessboard, only to find that there is a bigger chessboard besides the chessboard, is really uncomfortable...

Therefore, during the time when he came down from the mountain, Herme was always depressed.

It made Marendo and Valentin discuss behind their backs whether Herme had been done by the elder dwarf, and then these two cranky guys were reprimanded by Herme.

However, when he completely left the mountains with such a low mood, he also thought through a lot.

Hemei noticed that on this new chessboard, he was not so passive. If he played well, the chess piece might become a chess player in an instant.

Herme's biggest advantage now is that Hogg told him about the hidden war under the northern struggle.

In such a secret war, the most troublesome thing is not knowing that someone is plotting everything.

Once you know it, you can figure out how to deal with it.

And now Kevier is standing in the same trench as him, and Kevier will be his support at this stage.

So after tangling, he still decided to borrow money from Ke Weier, and he had to borrow more.

Kerviel will only borrow on a large scale during wartime, and if he misses this opportunity, he will have no chance.

With the borrowed money, Herme planned to invest them in internal operations and purchase of supplies.

After obtaining so much equipment in Mahakam, Aden currently has no need to purchase equipment, so he also avoided inputting a lot of benefits to Keweier through this.

Although according to what Hogg said, given the degree of penetration of Keville in various economic fields in the north, if you want to spend the borrowed money, a lot of it will have to be returned to Keville's pocket, but if you can avoid it, avoid it. .

Kevier's return of gold should be mainly through the arms trade in Mahakam. If you don't go to Mahakam to buy weapons, you can indeed avoid a lot of economic losses.

As for the issue of owed money, let’s talk about it after the war. Anyway, I can think of other ways at that time, and then I can free up my hands to do many things.

And when Herme adjusted her thoughts, something was happening in Wengerburg.

It has been almost half a month since Herme left Wengerburg, and his absence during this time has caused many people to have different thoughts...

.

Wengerburg, Royal Palace.

Seeing the crowd dressed as citizens around him, who looked like countrymen entering the city, Earl Ferryat felt a bit bored.

The earl once took refuge in the Nilfgaardians, but after finding out that the situation was wrong, he reversed it in time, thus avoiding being liquidated.

But because of this, his status in the Wengerburg court plummeted, and he has been active in order to restore his original status.

(This Earl is the leader of the nobles who sold Upper Aedirn to Henselt before the negotiation between Henselt and Stannis in The Witcher 2.)
That Herme actually let these lowly people wander around in the palace of Wengerburg like this. Sure enough, the lowly people just don't know the rules.

These low-class people from all over Aedirn are polluting the glorious palace of Vengerburg with their rough tongues.

Some guys even had dirt on their feet, leaving their dirt on the beautiful marble floor.

However, what troubled him even more was yet to come.

"What are you talking about? That guy Alex doesn't want to see me? That bastard, don't forget who pushed him to where he is now."

Facing the door of Alex's room, Fylatt complained and paced angrily.

And in the face of his complaints, the guard guards just watched him silently,
"Don't make noise in the palace, Earl Feryate, if you continue like this, then we can only drag you out."

"you……"

Feryat really wanted to scold the person in front of him for not knowing the rules and etiquette, and for doing this to a nobleman like him, but he swallowed his words in the end.

Because he knows that doing so is of no use.

Someone did it once and got literally hauled away.

"Keep that guy waiting! He's going to pay for it sooner or later."

Leaving such a harsh word, Earl Feryate still left obediently.

When walking out of the palace, Feryat saw a few Cossacks sneaking graffiti on the wall in the corner of the palace, writing obscene language.

He really wanted to go up and scold these guys, but he remembered that the last time he did this, he was beaten up by these savages, and immediately stopped his movements.

After he was beaten that time, the guards still couldn't find those Cossacks, which really pissed him off. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation in so many years.

That Herme let a group of savages ravage the capital day and night, and sooner or later he and his dog legs will have to pay the price.

After putting harsh words in his heart like this, he left the palace.

The information that Alex unequivocally rejected must be brought to others as soon as possible, and they must discuss the next step.

"Finally gone."

From the window of the room, Alex watched Fylatt leave and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master Charon, you have also seen that these guys are more and more trying to draw me into their ridiculous rebel group, so when will they do it? If this continues, I might not be able to explain myself clearly one day gone."

In Alex's room, Charon was playing a "finger dance" with a dagger on the table next to him.

The so-called finger dance is to put the palm on the table, and then the dagger keeps interlacing between the fingers.

If you are not careful, your finger will be stabbed by a dagger, so playing this game requires strong willpower and physical strength.

"Master Hemei has sent a letter, and he will be back soon. Since this is the case, it is time to close the net. These clowns have been performing on the stage for so long, and they have caught many people. It is time to let them leave. .”

Charon's dagger plunged into the table between his fingers, and the last force was so violent that the entire dagger was shaking.

"That's really nice."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief again, he could finally deal with these guys, the sooner they were dealt with, the sooner he would break away from them.

Hmph, these guys still want to lure him into the group.

Fortunately, he is a smart person, so he didn't agree at that time.

These guys actually thought that Herme's departure from the capital was their chance. Damn it, how could they be so stupid, didn't they see that none of the big nobles moved?You are so active as cannon fodder, right?

More importantly, if he agrees to the conspiracy of these people, he is afraid that he will be arrested the next day.

The young Duke still remembered the letter that was placed on the desk in the office the day after he refused for the first time. It was written by Charlene himself.

Then, under the instructions of Charon, he kept in touch with these people, so that Charen could find out the information of these people.

And then, here it is, Alex is delighted, to finally close the net.

After resolving this matter, if you dedicate the credit to Lord Protector, you may also get a lot of rewards yourself.

(End of this chapter)