My XX deal with Sister Nero

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Chapter 61: Work for me and bleed for me!

"Your Highness, regarding dinner..." At this moment, Ola reminded.

Boudica's arrival was quite unexpected, because usually when a king or queen of a country goes abroad for a visit, they will first send someone to tell the people of that country what time their boss will arrive. Then when their boss is about to reach the destination, the soldiers who are on the vanguard will go ahead to notify the other party in advance that my boss is coming and you should get ready.

In this way, the country being visited can prepare in advance, whether it is a welcome ceremony or a dinner afterwards, so that they can prepare things that match their status.

But there was no advance notice, so Tony didn't prepare anything.

Compared to other nobles, Tony is relatively frugal. Although the ingredients given to Tony are of quite good quality, Tony requires that the dishes be cooked according to his appetite and try to avoid waste.

So, if Boudica didn't notify the kitchen in advance that there were guests, she would have nothing to eat.

A queen comes to visit her master but is not given any food. Is this going to cause a diplomatic conflict?

"Sister Ola, go tell the kitchen to prepare more food." Tony whispered.

Ola nodded and left the tent.

"What did you call her just now? Sister Aura? Shouldn't he be your servant?" Boudica asked curiously.

Tony shrugged and said, "That's right, but she's not older than me, right? Regardless of status, she's of the same generation as me and older than me, shouldn't I call her sister?"

Regardless of status? Just saying this sentence would make Boudica look at Tony with a higher regard!

In this era, how many people can do what Tony did? As the emperor's younger brother, his status in the entire Roman Empire can be said to be second only to the emperor, but he can call a little maid sister and put this maid on the same level as himself. In a society where people can be divided into different levels, who can do this?

"Oh, by the way, Sister Ola will have dinner with us later. I wonder if you mind, Sister Boudica?" Tony asked.

Do you mind? Boudica certainly doesn't mind.

The Iceni Kingdom was a kingdom in name only, but in reality it was just a tribe. The king and queen had very close relations with the general public. Tony had already stated that he placed Aura on the same level as him. Could Boudica refuse? If she refused, wouldn't that be a slap in the face of Her Highness?

Seeing Boudica shaking her head, Tony said, "Okay, let's discuss the other details."

Boudica stayed here for a total of three days. During these three days, Boudica and Tony signed a trade treaty. Tony invested in the purchase of iron ore and coal mines, and at the same time offered a higher price than the British oath to purchase animal furs from them.

The purchase of iron ore and coal was because Tony planned to update the equipment of his army, and the purchase of animal furs was for most of the people in the town to help them survive the winter.

The town of Odney will provide a new thing to the Kingdom of Iceni, that is cement.

In fact, many people don’t know that cement also existed in the Roman Empire. By mixing lime and volcanic ash in a certain proportion, a new mixture could be obtained, and this mixture was similar to the later cement.

As a member of the royal family, when Tony really wanted to do a business without any cost, who would dare to say no? For example, cement was basically a strategic resource in that era. No private person dared to sell it at will except the state. But Tony not only wanted to sell it, but also sold it to other countries!

But who dares to tell anyone about this? This Prince of Odney is the emperor's younger brother. Even if His Majesty the Emperor wants to punish you severely, it is estimated that Prince of Odney Tony will have time to deal with you first before punishing you severely.

And few people know that Tony now wants to create something new, which is gunpowder.

But then again, saltpeter, one of the raw materials... Tony has never heard of any famous saltpeter mines in Europe.

Okay, let’s not worry about that for now.

The day after Boudica left, Tony received two pieces of good news. The first was that his temporary residence had been repaired, which meant that he finally didn't have to live in a tent. As for the second, the people he sent out to recruit workers brought back more than a hundred workers from the city of Sanoni.

In that era, the price Tony offered was ridiculously high, and many people would be tempted. It was a piece of cake to gather more than a hundred workers.

For the town of Odney, which wanted to continue to employ workers, one hundred workers were far from enough, so Tony thought about it and decided to first detain the dozens of slaves who were building a temporary residence for him.

To the governor of Sanoni City, these dozens of slaves were worthless, so when he learned that the young prince had detained the slaves, the governor gave all the slaves to Tony without a second thought.

Tony was not vague about it. He naturally accepted such a gift with a smile.

"I don't know what you have been through in Sanoni City, and I don't know how Sanoni City treats you, but I only know that here, I can give you food, I can also give you money and even houses, I can also give you the status of free people, so that you and even your descendants can get rid of the status of slavery. If you behave well, I can also generously give you a small piece of land enough to support yourself, but I have only one request, that is, I need you to work for me and bleed for me!" Standing on a temporary platform, Tony's slightly childish voice spread throughout the small square.

In the central square of the town, facing Tony's bold words, the eyes of many slaves who were originally like zombies began to shine!

Becoming a slave means that not only the person concerned will be slaves for generations to come, but even his descendants and his descendants' descendants will be slaves. They are like objects - no, even worse than objects!

At least people will choose to handle some items with care.

Now Tony has made his attitude clear. If you work for me and do a good job, you can regain the right to be a "human being". In order to obtain this right, Tony thinks that many people should have some motivation.

that's the truth.

Tony made a promise that as long as they worked hard, they could become free again and even have a small piece of land of their own. Faced with such a good thing, no slave would not aim for it. Although some slaves doubted whether Tony's promise would be fulfilled in the end, why not believe it now? Anyway, there would be no loss, right?

Next, Tony mixed the more than 150 slaves and laborers together. Some were responsible for mining stones, some were responsible for transportation, and others were responsible for paving the gravel into roads. According to Tony's plan, the main road of the town must be completed before the arrival of this winter. If possible, a part of the main road could also be extended to connect to his castle.

PS1: Let me explain why I updated so frequently recently. As I said before, I am an entrepreneur. Although I failed halfway, at least it doesn’t seem to be a complete failure now. I can still flutter around. Due to policy adjustments, I should have been very busy, but I have a rare vacuum period to rest during this period. However, this vacuum period will not last too long, so I may continue to be busy later and have less time to write and update. This is why I am updating like crazy, because I may not have time later.

PS2: If anyone wants to hear about the popular science of Nero in history, sure, I will open a separate chapter for that later, but not now, because updates are more important. Also, I originally collected a bunch of information about Nero in a comment at the beginning of the year in Bilibili, but was later 404-ed by the UP host, and I didn’t save the information. If I want to popularize it, I’ll have to find the information again later.

PS3: emmmm, nothing much to say for now

Chapter 62: Threats from the Town

In the following period of time, Tony could be said to be as busy as a Husky.

First of all, there is the problem of roads in the town.

Following Tony's orders, the slaves built a temporary road leading to the quarry and set up several small sheds next to the quarry. Then they carried the gravel from the quarry back on their shoulders and hands and laid it on the road.

It doesn't take long to build a gravel path like this, so during the time it takes to pave the road, Tony is also doing other things, such as fertilizing the soil.

China is an ancient agricultural country. Tony had lived in this country for more than 20 years in his previous life. In addition, his hometown was in the countryside, so he learned a lot from his surroundings, such as how to fertilize the soil.

The main food in Europe is bread made of wheat, but the Roman Empire now mostly sows wheat in spring and starts harvesting around June. It’s not so bad in the south where the climate is milder. The town of Odney is basically the northernmost town actually controlled by the Roman Empire. Who would be willing to grow winter wheat in such a cold winter?

Since everyone is afraid of the cold in winter and doesn't want to go out to farm, spring wheat has become one of the main winter foods.

It was still okay in previous years. After all, there were only so many people in the town, and there was always some surplus food in the granary every winter, enough for everyone to eat. But now so many people have suddenly arrived, and with so little food, how can they be fed?

In the early stage, you can spend money to buy food, but this is not a long-term solution. So Tony thinks the top priority should be to fertilize the soil first and increase wheat production.

At this time, it is natural to use the Jinkela that we are familiar with.

Ahem, I'm talking about wood ash fertilizer.

In this day and age, there is certainly no magical fertilizer like Jinkela that can absorb nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium two meters underground, so Tony chose the most common wood ash fertilizer.

The so-called wood ash fertilizer is actually made by burning firewood or something like that, and then spreading the ash rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on the ground, and that’s it!

Originally Tony's idea was to recruit as many people as possible, but he overlooked the problem of insufficient food. However, it is not too late to think about it now.

The administrative structure has been established, and road construction within the town has begun. The first phase of internal construction can generally be left alone for the time being. The next step is the second phase, the exploration of the town's exterior.

According to Tony's request, the Ministry of Transportation is not only responsible for supervising the construction of roads in the town, but also has to provide a complete map of the town, and at the same time make road signs to mark the name of each road in the town.

As Tony was born in modern society, he naturally understands the importance of maps. In the game, this is basically equivalent to placing wards. Under the same geographical environment, I am familiar with this land but you are not. I can ambush you in certain areas and beat you so badly that your parents won't recognize you.

After the town map was drawn, Tony hired several experienced hunters and asked them to go out hunting with the militia squad to enhance their combat effectiveness.

The army must maintain a certain level of combat effectiveness. Although the entire British province is basically in a state of peace at this time, there is no guarantee that war will not occur in the future. Therefore, maintaining the combat effectiveness of the army is a very necessary thing. The best way to maintain the combat effectiveness of the army is to let the army go out and see blood, such as hunting.

There is no need to say much about the guards. Tony's guards were separated from Nero's personal guards. Although these soldiers are women, since they can enter the most elite Germanic Battalion among the Imperial Guards, it is enough to prove how strong their combat capabilities are.

Originally, Tony had planned that there was no rush to train soldiers. He wanted to first improve people's livelihood and the economy, and then form an army. In this way, the logistics of the army could be adequately guaranteed. However, he did not expect that all this was disrupted by an accident.

At noon that day, after lunch, Tony was lying comfortably in bed, learning Latin under the guidance of a court teacher. Suddenly, a female guard came in and reported that old William wanted to see His Highness.

Tony knew Old William. He was one of the best hunters in the town. His hunting skills were second to none in the town.

He suddenly came to see me. What happened?

Thinking of this, Tony quickly asked someone to summon old William.

"Greetings, Your Highness." Not long after, a white-haired old man in his fifties or sixties wearing a fur coat walked in and knelt on one knee in front of Tony.

I heard that old William used to be a soldier and participated in the war to conquer Britain more than ten years ago. After the war, he stayed here like many veterans and became the first Romans living in Britain.

"Is there anything I can help you with? Mr. William." Tony was quite respectful to this veteran.

William said, "Your Highness, when I took Mingbin out for a hunting trip today, we found a lot of animal carcasses. Judging from their appearance, these animals must have been killed and devoured by some large carnivorous creatures. There were many jagged teeth marks on their limbs."

A large carnivore? A lion?

In this era, there were lions in Britain, and most importantly, lions are social animals.

If there were only three or four lions, it would be fine, but if there were more than ten or twenty lions roaming around, then the problem would be serious!

After all, in this place, the guard team and the militia squad together have less than forty people. With only a half-man-high wall, defending against the lions is simply a joke!

"How far are those animal remains from here? Are you sure it was done by a lion?" Tony asked nervously.

"Your Highness, looking at the claw marks left at the scene, they are probably not those of a lion. They look more like those of some large flying animal," replied old William.

"A large flying creature? An eagle or a vulture?" Tony asked.

Old William shook his head and answered the question irrelevantly: "From the scene, the creatures killed include wild goats, wild boars and the like."

Wild goats and wild boars? Tony's face suddenly changed when he heard this!

Are you kidding? If a smaller creature like a rabbit was eaten, it could be an eagle or a vulture, but a wild boar is probably too big, right? No matter what, an eagle or a vulture would never lay its claws on such a large animal, right? And certainly not eat it, right?

"Shit, could it be a dragon?" Tony muttered to himself.

In this world, in addition to the large carnivores that Tony had lived in in his previous life, there are also fantasy creatures that should not exist!

And these fantasy creatures naturally include dragons, griffins and the like.

Didn’t the Iron Fist Saint Martha capture the evil dragon Tarasque with her bare hands?

"Sister Ola, please call Sister Mary over here quickly. Also, call Mike over here, quickly!" Tony stood up suddenly and shouted to the maid beside him.

Looking at the serious expression of his highness, coupled with what old William said just now, Ola could naturally guess that something big must have happened, otherwise Tony would not have summoned the captain of the guard and the squad leader of the militia squad over.

After Ola left, Tony said to Old William, "Mr. William, I would like you to gather a few veterans in the town. I need to form a new mobile force. If there really is a dragon nearby, then things could be very serious!"

PS1: As I said before, if I get busy my updates will be irregular, but I can at least guarantee one thing, that is there will be updates every day, but the amount may not be much.

PS2: Come to think of it, there is only one period of time when I haven't updated, and that is the Spring Festival. During that time, I will be going out to visit relatives, and in the countryside, let alone the Internet, the signal is not very good. And my nephew at that time... Considering that he is a naughty child, I will not bring my computer.

PS3: Currently there are 873 total collections, 701 total recommendations, 35 monthly tickets, 1600 rewards, 3 valid book reviews, 41 valid intermittent posts, and currently 87 updates are owed. The conditions for the next update are 949 total collections, 704 total recommendations, 55 monthly tickets, 53 valid book reviews, 89 valid intermittent posts, and 2400 rewards. Just meet any one of the conditions.

PS4: Please stop feeding me blades, feed me something else, I have no use for this thing this month! No matter how diligently I update, I can only guarantee the minimum, after all, I only started the book on the rd, and I can't meet the full attendance requirement.

Chapter 63: Army Expansion

Honestly speaking, although Tony had known for a long time that dragons existed in this world, he had never seen one with his own eyes. Besides, the Tarasque was more like a dragon turtle than a dragon. Moreover, when Martha used her ultimate move, Tony was hiding in Tita's yard with a pitchfork and had not seen the dragon turtle with his own eyes, so he was really unwilling to believe that dragons really existed around him.

But what if he doesn't want to believe it? The existence of dragons is an objective fact, not something he wants to believe or not.

Old William was born a hunter and joined the National Army many years ago. He had a lot of experience in the forest. Although he had never seen a dragon, he knew that such claw marks were definitely not left by an eagle.

"I understand, but there are not many veterans in the town. There are only three of us, including me," said Old William in a deep voice.

Three people? What can three people do? These aren't three Gundams!

Tony was a little discouraged. Although he didn't know how strong the dragon was, it was definitely not something that three people could deal with.

"How about this, Mr. William? You gather your two old partners and recruit seven more experienced hunters. The ten of you will form a squad and divide into three groups. Two groups will hunt and patrol, and one group will stay behind to teach the militia squad some skills. Is that okay?" Tony thought for a moment and said.

According to Tony's idea, although the militia is a reserve force, there is still a certain difference in their combat effectiveness compared to the regular army. Now the town of Audini is in a peaceful state and there are no extra troops to form a regular army. In the future, the militia will sooner or later be disbanded and reduced to a police force.

But now, we have to improve the militia’s combat effectiveness first.

If it is finally confirmed that there is a dragon nearby, Tony would even pay mercenaries to do the job!

Soon, guard captain Mary and militia squad leader Mike were summoned, but Tony felt that this was not enough and summoned the director of the city hall and the ministers of the four departments again.

This was the first general meeting of the town of Oddney since it was assigned to Prince Tony.

"Everyone, I think we are in trouble." Tony said after everyone was gathered.

"Your Highness, what happened?" asked the mayor of the city hall, Varo.

"Mike, did you find anything when you went out hunting today?" Tony did not answer Varo's question, but turned to look at Mike and asked.

Mike glanced at old William standing next to him, and then said, "Your Highness, when I was hunting with the militia squad and Mr. William today, we found that there were basically no animals in the forest. We only shot a few sparrows in the whole morning. Finally, Mr. William found some animal remains and determined that there must be some large carnivorous animal nearby."

Large carnivores? Upon hearing this term, many people present changed their expressions slightly.

Like Tony before, they suspected that a group of lions might have migrated here. The town now only has a circle of half-man-high walls, which is definitely not enough to defend against lions. Moreover, the blacksmith shop has just been built and has not yet started working. Even if it starts now and forges swords according to the new steelmaking method proposed by His Highness Tony in Thessaloniki, there is no guarantee that the lions will appear to attack the town only after the weapons are fully equipped!

"Your Highness, I think our top priority now is to suspend the construction of the castle and the road. We should first build a wall to protect the town!" Civil Minister Thomas said anxiously.

"Your Highness, I am willing to lead the guard team to defeat the large carnivore!" Mary also said.

Tony scratched his head and said, "Ms. Mary, it's enough that you have this intention, but according to the intelligence, this large carnivore should be a bird. After all, there are claw marks similar to bird creatures left at the scene. Do you know what this means? This means that our opponent is very likely a fantasy creature! In other words, a dragon!"