My XX deal with Sister Nero

dragon!

When Tony uttered this word, everyone present fell silent almost instantly.

Although no one has ever seen a dragon, everyone has heard countless legends about dragons. In various legends, dragons may be arrogant or evil. But no matter how many different descriptions there are, there is at least one thing that all descriptions of dragons have in common, and that is power!

That’s right, dragons are very powerful, far more powerful than humans. Anyone who dares to slay a dragon is worthy of being praised. This is the so-called “dragon-slaying hero”!

"Your Highness, with the troops we have now, I'm afraid we are no match for Long." After a long silence, Mike looked at Tony and said in a deep voice.

Including the mobile team that is about to be established, there are less than seventy soldiers in the entire territory, and only fifty of them can actually fight.

Fifty people are enough to kill a lion, but they are still far from enough to slay a dragon.

The only options now are to escape, hire mercenaries for help, or report the matter and ask the British Governor to send someone over.

"Well, hurry up, Tam, as the Minister of Agriculture, quickly organize the people to cultivate the farmland and spread the wood ash into the fertile soil, so that we can plant wheat in the spring. William, immediately organize the mobile force and notify them that the members of the mobile force will be paid as follows: first, two of the three meals a day will be guaranteed to have an egg each, second, a piece of meat every two days, and third, a subsidy of five silver coins every month!"

Five silver coins are basically worth five hundred dollars. In modern society, this amount of money is about the same as the allowance of an active soldier, but in the Roman Empire, five silver coins were simply a high-paying job!

When the National Army goes into battle, they always provide their own weapons and equipment, and the troops are responsible for providing them with food and other things. The field army is slightly better, as they have military pay, but it is only one or two silver coins a month.

In the small town of Odney, in addition to the mobile force that is about to be established, there are two other armies, one is the Prince's Guard, and the other is the militia squad. The essence of the Prince's Guard is the transformation of the Emperor's Guard, so the salary of this cavalry brigade has always been borne by the imperial government, and Tony does not need to worry about it. The only salary paid by Tony's city hall is the salary of the militia squad.

The militia had an even lower status than the national army in the combat sequence of the Roman Empire. Logically, they had no salary at all. But after Tony arrived, he felt that it was not a big deal for this unit to have no salary, so every ordinary soldier in the militia squad received a salary of eight copper coins, while the squad leader and deputy squad leader received a salary of one silver coin.

"Your Highness, isn't the military pay too high?" Old William was also surprised when he heard five silver coins.

After hearing Old William's reminder, Tony thought that the salary was indeed a bit high, so he changed it: "How about this, the captain of the mobile unit will get five silver coins per month, the two core veterans will get three silver coins per month, and the remaining ordinary members will get one silver coin. I give the mobile unit such a high salary, naturally hoping that you can give me enough rewards. Mr. William, I hope your subordinates will not let me down."

Old William naturally read the hope in Tony's words. Although he didn't know why Tony had such high hopes for this unestablished army, Old William still replied: "I will definitely live up to your trust!"

PS1: You never expected that! There is another chapter update!

PS2: Actually, the military pay of Roman soldiers in history was quite good, not as low as mine. It's just that I set the military pay lower because of the plot needs and because we use a different currency than the historical Roman Empire.

PS3: Currently there are 907 collections, 743 recommendation votes, 37 monthly tickets, 1600 rewards, 42 valid intermittent posts, and 3 valid book reviews. I currently owe 87 updates. The conditions for the next update are 949 collections, 754 recommendation votes, 55 monthly tickets, 2400 rewards, 53 valid book reviews, and 89 valid intermittent posts. You can just meet one of the conditions.

PS4: I have to go on a business trip on Monday, which is expected to last for two to three days. I may be very busy during the day, but I will try to write something at night, at least to ensure that I have something every day within the next two or three days. Well, I will save up more manuscripts on the weekend... Or would you consider giving me some tips?

Chapter 64: I'd be sorry to the audience if I didn't come up with some gunpowder

The reason why Tony expanded the army was definitely not because he wanted to fight the dragon head-on, and he couldn't do it either. But since he knew there was a dragon near his home, he would definitely not be able to do it without making some preparations for defense and exploration. Among Tony's several plans, the guards would naturally be responsible for protecting themselves and the townspeople's retreat, while the militia squad would assist the guards in protecting the townspeople. As for the mobile forces, they would be responsible for early reconnaissance, and if possible, it would be best to explore the dragon's lair.

The army was just being established, so Tony thought he should hold a general meeting to boost morale.

Speaking of which, I have been so engrossed in studying these past two days that I haven't been out for a few days. I might as well take this opportunity to go out and see the changes in the town.

Accompanying two guards and Ola, and putting on a thicker coat, Tony walked out of his temporary residence with a shaky step like a wealthy landlord.

From the outside, the town has not changed much. A road has been under construction for several days and has only been repaired for about half the distance. In addition, Tony also arranged for the Civil Affairs Department to form a cleaning team, who get up early in the morning every day to clean up the feces on the main road.

In 43 AD, after the Roman Empire occupied Britain, although it did not fully implement Romanization in the British province, Romanization was still being promoted and implemented in some aspects.

For example, the toilet.

Residents of the town of Odney rarely have toilets in their homes. Except for a few families who moved here from the mainland, the local indigenous residents still urinate and defecate anywhere. The economic condition of the town itself is very poor, and there are only two public toilets in the entire town. How can this be enough?

So Tony stepped up the construction of new public toilets while also forming a cleaning team to maintain the sanitation of the town.

Come to think of it, feces can actually be collected and used as fertilizer. It’s natural and pollution-free, and much better than those pesticides that come later, right?

Although the town has not changed much, the residents are very friendly and even the slaves have been integrated into this small group.

Kind, simple, warm and hospitable, this should be the true portrayal of the small town of Oddney.

"Brother, look, this stone is so beautiful and shiny." At this moment, Tony suddenly heard a little girl's voice coming from the side. Turning his head, he saw a little girl about seven or eight years old standing there with a stone like an ice cube in her hand, handing it to an older boy next to her.

"What kind of stone is this?" The little boy took the stone handed to him by his sister, looked at it carefully under the sun, and found that this stone seemed to have no special features compared to other stones except that it was shiny.

Frowning and pinching the stone, the little boy finally carefully stretched out his tongue and licked it gently.

"Pah, so bitter!" After the child licked it, his eyebrows were twisted into a ball and he was about to throw it away.

"Wait a minute!" At this time, Tony walked over quickly and stopped the little boy: "Let me see the stone in your hand."

When the little boy saw that it was His Royal Highness the Prince coming, he quickly handed the stone in his hand to Tony.

Tony looked at the stone and then asked, "Where did you find this stone?"

The little boy turned his head to look at his sister and softly repeated Tony's words.

The little girl hid behind her brother, timidly poking her head out to look at Tony, then pointed to a house not far away and said, "I found it in the corner of that house."

Corner? Looking in the direction of the little girl's finger, I saw that there seemed to be some crystals in the corner of the house, shining brightly under the sunlight.

After casually taking out a copper coin and giving it to the little boy, Tony and his three followers came to the corner of the wall, took down a small piece of the crystal from the corner, looked at it carefully, and said, "My goodness, this thing is most likely saltpeter!"

"Saltpeter? What is that?" Ola asked curiously.

Tony laughed and said, "Saltpeter is a good thing. With this stuff and some charcoal and sulfur, I can make black powder. Once I have black powder, I can beat ten Armenians and Parthias by myself!"

The production of black powder is not difficult. You only need to mix saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur in a certain proportion. When Tony confirmed that what he found was saltpeter, the first thing he did was to go home quickly and organize a group of people to search for saltpeter all over the town.

In addition, he also set up a new department, the Gunpowder Manufacturing Bureau, which had saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. Tony felt that he would be sorry for the audience if he did not develop gunpowder.

That night, almost all the teams he sent out to search for saltpeter returned, and everyone brought back some saltpeter, but when Tony looked at the pile of saltpeter on the table, he was disappointed.

It's simple, there is too little saltpeter!

In Tony's memory, when he was in geography class, his geography teacher seemed to have said that the main saltpeter producing countries were China, India, and Chile. The first two countries were too far away from the Roman Empire, and there were several powerful countries in between, so it was impossible to conquer them by force. What about Chile? Although it was only separated by the Atlantic Ocean, and there was no country in South America that could withstand the attack of the Roman Empire, Tony felt that with the current shipbuilding industry of the Roman Empire, it was really difficult to build a warship that could cross the Atlantic Ocean.

But where did saltpeter come from in Europe?

Looking at the less than 500 grams of saltpeter piled on the table, Tony couldn't help but frown.

In the Eurasian continent, saltpeter mines are mostly concentrated in Asia. No saltpeter mines have ever been heard of in Europe. However, Europe already had relatively mature gunpowder weapons around the 16th century. How did these countries get their gunpowder? They couldn't have all been imported, right?

So Europe must have a way to make saltpeter, and it definitely wasn't like collecting it on the streets like I did.

But before he came up with this method, Tony felt that he had no choice but to collect saltpeter ore from the streets.

Tony remembered that the reason why there was saltpeter mine in the corner seemed to be due to the weather, so that night Tony organized a group of people and ran to several surrounding cities, towns and villages to collect saltpeter. He didn't believe it. Could it be that only the temperature in his place was wrong?

Time flies and a week goes by quickly.

During this week, Tony collected about ten kilograms of saltpeter. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the main road in the town has been renovated.

On the other hand, the news that there might be a dragon near the town of Odni has been reported to the city of Sanoni. If it was any other town, it would be fine, but this is the fiefdom of His Royal Highness the Prince, and there is a His Royal Highness the Prince here. If something really happens to him, His Majesty the Emperor will definitely not let him go!

Just as the governor of this city was preparing to assemble troops to go to the town of Odni to assist His Royal Highness in retreating, outside the south gate of Sanoni City, a white-haired woman dressed boldly and holding a strange knife was striding towards the city.

PS1: When I said you can vote for something else, I meant a reward or something. Please be kind and have mercy on me.

Chapter 67 I've Seen You in the Notebook

From the time he walked in the door to the time he sat down on the chair, Tony had been wondering where he had seen this woman before, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

"Your Highness, don't you think it's rude to be distracted in front of a woman?" Looking at Tony who was sitting in a chair in a daze, Jie Luo was a little dissatisfied.

"Oh, ahem, sorry." Tony felt a little sorry after hearing Zero's voice. He coughed twice and said, "Sir Zero, you said you were here to slay a dragon, right? I think you should know how powerful a dragon is, right? Although you have proven your strength by defeating my guards in a very short time, as a creature that exists in fantasy, the power of a dragon is not something you and I can guess. I hope you can think twice before you act."

While playing with her snow-white hair, Zero looked up at Tony and said, "Are you concerned about me? Or are you questioning my ability?"

Tony wanted to say that it would be a pity if such a beautiful girl died, right? However, Tony felt that if he said this today, he might not be able to leave the house...

"To be honest, it's hard for me to judge your strength. First, in my opinion, you are very strong. I'm afraid there are only a limited number of people who can be compared with you. These people are either demigods or messengers of God. Even if you are weaker than them, you are not much weaker. But I'm still very worried. If I rashly let you go without being sure of the dragon's strength, what if something goes wrong?" Tony said in a deep voice.

"So you're concerned about me? I think what you should be most concerned about is how to fulfill your promise when the time comes. I'm a mercenary, I take money to help people get rid of disasters. If I die because of my lack of strength, then I deserve it." Jie Luo stood up, looked down at Tony, and said expressionlessly.

At that moment, Tony felt speechless. Why did this person say such a rude thing? If she wasn't a woman and he couldn't beat her, Tony would have taken off his shoes and thrown them at her.

"How about this, Lady Jie Luo, you have come from afar, so why don't you stay in the small town tonight, recuperate and set off another day, okay?" Tony thought for a moment and said.

Since this girl was determined to slay the dragon, Tony had no reason to stop her, so he just provided her with a delicious meal and let her have a good rest, and then let the mobile force slay the dragon with her tomorrow.

Although the combat effectiveness of the mobile force is far inferior to that of this Jie Luo, as old hunters who have been active in the woods for more than five years, they can provide Jie Luo with a lot of unexpected assistance, such as making some traps.

"Oh? What an interesting little boy." After hearing Tony's arrangement, Zero raised the corner of her mouth, then stretched out her right index finger, gently lifted Tony's chin, and said: "Perhaps, you are different from other archons."

Eh hey hey?! What's going on? Wasn't everything fine just now? Why does the style suddenly feel like a book? The story of the sexy queen and the little boy?

Just when Tony's brain froze, suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck his mind!

Wait a minute! I remember! Tony suddenly slapped his forehead and remembered where he had seen this girl.

In my previous life, I was searching for books once, and the heroine in one of the books was her!

Tony remembered that this seemed to come from a game, but he had never played it.

My brother, this is amazing! The heroine of a book has become a dragon-slaying hero. This world is doomed!

But then again, that game doesn't seem to have anything to do with FATE. It seems that I have always thought that this is the world view of FATE, which is a cognitive error.

But it is precisely because of this that the world seems to be becoming more and more interesting.

Forget it, let’s not worry about it for now. Whatever the world view is, just do things according to the original pace.

After arranging a vacant room for Zero in the town, Tony called Ola, who had been waiting outside the door, and asked her to call old William over.

Since it has been decided to let the mobile force cooperate with this Jie Luo, it would be better to discuss it with the people in the mobile force in advance.

"Your Highness, are you looking for me?" After a long time, old William came to Tony and knelt on one knee.

Tony nodded and said, "Mr. William, you get up first."

After William stood up, he said, “Your Highness, what happened?”

Tony thought for a moment and said, "Can I ask how it's going?"

Because there are more and more wild animals near the town in recent days, in addition to some bison and rabbits, there are also many carnivores such as wolves and lions that have appeared near the town, causing great panic among the residents, so Tony ordered the mobile force to dispatch a combat team to explore deep into the woods to see if they can find the lair of this new forest overlord.

The combat team returned early this morning. It is said that two of them were injured and are now receiving treatment in the medical clinic.

But Tony still wanted to know the news these people brought back!

"Yes, Your Highness. Now we have verified that the new forest overlord is indeed a dragon as we expected. Its lair is in the northwest, about fifteen miles away from the town. It is a green two-legged flying dragon."

Wyvern? A dragon with two legs?

In Tony's impression, a Western dragon is a flying lizard with four legs and a pair of wings. Why does this dragon only have two legs? Is it disabled?

Well, regardless of whether it is disabled or not, Tony always feels that this dragon is not as powerful as the four-legged dragon, so he said to Old William: "Go back and prepare, take the other two teams, and tomorrow the mobile force and our new dragon slayer will go slay the dragon together. In addition, I will also go and take a good look at you slaying the dragon."

"Your Highness, you can't do that!" When old William heard that His Royal Highness was going to the battlefield, he was so scared that he almost jumped up on the spot!

As a soldier by profession, old William had no objection to Tony's arrangement for him to assist the brave man in slaying the dragon. After all, a soldier has the responsibility to defend his territory and protect civilians and lords.

But why are you going there to join in the fun, Your Highness? Although as a lord, you have the responsibility to protect your people, but come on, brother, you are not a military commander, you are just a child in your teens, it's a war, why are you going there to join in the fun? Aren't you just looking for trouble?

Besides, even if you are a military general, don't forget that you are a prince, the emperor's younger brother. If anything happens to you, how many people will be buried with you?

Tony naturally knew what Old William was worried about. He just smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't go to the battlefield myself. I will pay close attention to your heroic figures in the rear."

"But Your Highness, this is still very dangerous!" Old William shouted.

How far can human vision see? Old William was not very clear, but he knew one thing: if His Royal Highness wanted to watch the entire battle, then he must stand in a place where his line of sight could cover the battlefield, and the dragon must be able to see this place!

PS1: I haven’t played Dragoon, so I don’t know much about Zero’s personality. Well, you can think of Zero in the novel as a person with a similar appearance and the same name… That’s right, apart from those web game ads, I have really seen Zero in a notebook!

Chapter 68 I just want to see the dragon slaying!

Seeing the unbelieving look on Old William's face, Tony stood up and took out a long tube-shaped object from a box nearby. He said, "This is a good thing. Have you heard of magic? There is a magic called Eagle Eye. Do you know it?"

Old William shook his head and said directly: "I don't know."

"Uh... okay, you can think of it as magic, a realm that ordinary humans cannot reach, such as Eagle Eyes, which allows humans to see farther." Tony explained.

I was originally planning to use Type-Moon's concept to make fun of him, but I found out that the old man didn't understand it at all.

"Isn't it magic that is a realm that ordinary humans cannot reach? Why is it called magic?" Old William asked curiously.

Tony smiled and said, "In terms of the physical body alone, humans cannot see further, but there are some things that humans can achieve with the help of external objects. For example, if humans want to leave a wound on someone's body, you can use magic or a sword to do it. But anything that humans can achieve with the help of external forces cannot be called magic, but magic."

"That means this thing can also achieve the effect of magic? The effect of Eagle Eyes." Old William said in surprise.

In his opinion, magicians are mysterious and powerful. How could there be anything that can allow humans to reach the level of magicians?

Tony laughed and said, "I had someone make this for me. I call it a monocular."

People had mastered the glass manufacturing technology in this era, so as long as they put in a little effort, they could make two convex lenses. However, since the production process was a bit complicated, they could not be mass-produced.

In addition to convex lenses, the blacksmith shop is also capable of making two hollow copper tubes of different thicknesses, which can then be connected end to end and locked together to form a retractable monocular telescope like the one used by navigators in the Age of Discovery.