Broad World

Since Henry left for Amn, all the government affairs of the Principality fell on Hawke's shoulders. This old man who is over 60 years old is trembling, and he spends almost all his official business except sleeping. After all, it is still a time of war, and the sahuagin marauders in the sea will occasionally come ashore to fight the autumn wind.

Suddenly, a guard appeared at the door of the office. He knocked first, then went straight to the desk and took out a letter.

"Sir, the airship we transported supplies has returned. At the same time, there is also a letter from the Council of Lords of Waterdeep City. They hope to increase the supply of military supplies such as food, wine, arrows, javelins, and magic potions. As for the price, it can be settled at five times the usual price. In addition, the public lord Piergalen also wants to rent our military airship. He dismissed the high price of 300,000 gold coins. This letter requires your approval before the next batch of supplies is delivered."

Hawke took the letter without looking up, and crossed out the food directly. After thinking about it for a while, he said to the guard: "Don't worry about food. Before the autumn harvest, we don't have enough food on the mainland. I need to ask the Mage Tower for advice on magic potions. Wine is fine. As for military supplies and airship rental, you can go directly to Commander Corey. The Duke asked him to take care of military affairs before he left."

"Understood, I'm going to find Knight Cory." The guard bowed, and then went straight to the barracks outside the city with the letter.

Looking at the stack of official documents on the table, Hawke couldn't help but smiled wryly. Although it is a rare good thing to be trusted by the monarch, such a heavy workload is obviously beyond his tolerance. Especially before the subordinate town councils have been established, almost all trivial matters have to be sent here.

Due to the closure of maritime trade, the estimated tax for several years is only one-third of last year or even less. Fortunately, Waterdeep City has always needed a lot of supplies, so now the three iron mines under the Principality are working at full capacity. Especially javelins and arrows are in greatest demand. Every trip can earn tens of thousands of gold coins in profit.

According to the latest news, Waterdeep City is now surrounded on three sides, and even the Deshalin River has been blocked. No one dared to take the commercial roads near the coastline in the west, and the caravans going south from Neverwinter could not even get through the Swamp of the Dead, and would be intercepted by the sahuagin. It can be said that if the supply from the airship is lost. The troops on the defensive line would starve to death within a few days. Now in order to allocate food to support Deep Water City, the Principality can be said to have racked its brains. After all, with such an ally at the forefront, the murloc's eyes would not be diverted to other places.

Just when Hawke was thinking hard about where to get food, Corey and Robert hurried in from the door. Judging from their gloomy faces, something must have happened.

The leader of the thieves directly put a note on the desk and said, "This is the latest information I got. Some dishonest guys want to take advantage of the Duke's absence to launch a coup. They have now united with several medium-sized chambers of commerce. They also ambushed about five hundred armed forces in the city."

"What?! Who on earth has such courage! I remember that during the turmoil a while ago, almost all the nobles and big businessmen died." Hawke was so shocked that his hands were shaking. He couldn't imagine what the consequences would be if there was turmoil at this time.

"Just look at the information on the note. We must take action now. If the number of people exceeds 1,000, the situation will be difficult to control. According to the Duke's arrangement before leaving, I need your signature authorization, otherwise the army will not be able to enter the city." Corey handed out an army mobilization order.

Hawk carefully opened the note. I saw that it was densely filled with when and where a spy named Piero connected with those businessmen, and even the other party did not miss a meal, drink water, meet "qing ren" and so on. Seeing this information, his complexion improved a lot. This shows that the other party is always under the control of the Thieves Union and cannot turn the sky for the time being.

"Have you found out which force sent this Piero?" Hawke asked cautiously. He knew that the principality's current army would not exceed 10,000, and the maximum number of troops that could be mobilized was about 5,000. The rest were responsible for the security of each town. In this case, if the opponent's background is too strong. Then it is necessary to contact the mage tower on the island.

Robert thought for a while and replied: "Someone has been sent to dig out his old background, but there is no news yet. According to my observation, Piero is most likely to be a member of the Iron Throne, and of course it may be the Zhentarim. Except for these two organizations, other forces in the Baldur's Gate area have basically been expelled or wiped out."

Hawke stood up from his chair and circled around the desk a few times, hesitating. If the opponent is the Iron Throne, it's okay to say, after all, it is a merchant organization, no matter how rich and powerful it is, it cannot compete with a country. But the Zhentarim will be different, especially lately, with Cyric's influence starting to get crazier. So-called mad priests have appeared in many cities. They preach everywhere and force people to believe in Cyric, the only true god in the universe. As long as there is any doubt in the language, they will kill people immediately.

Seeing Hawke's tangled expression, the other two looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison. They all felt that the chief minister in front of them was good at everything. Just a little too indecisive. In the end, Corey couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and bowed slightly. "Sir, I must remind you that the strength of the enemy is increasing every moment. Especially those merchants who have lost their power, they are very easy to be drawn by the opponent."

Hawk sighed involuntarily, picked up the quill on the table, and signed his name under the army transfer order. He very solemnly said to the two people in front of him: "I hope you all act as quickly as possible, and also, don't let any news leak out."

"Don't worry, my thieves will cooperate with this operation. No one who participates in this series will be able to escape." After speaking, a cruel smile appeared on Robert's face. Under Henry's instructions, he has begun to transform the Thieves' Union into a national spy agency. Compared with other criminal organizations in Faerun Continent, their structure is stricter and their work efficiency is more efficient.

In fact, Piero had already been targeted as soon as he set foot on the principality's land. It is said that he was allowed to move freely in Belgoost, in order to find out those guys who are not very law-abiding, and then catch them all. You must know that the businessman who was originally closely related to the Iron Throne did not die in the turmoil, but actually changed his identity and hid secretly. In Robert's eyes, these guys are all potential safety hazards, so he planned to lure the snake out of the hole.

However, the development of the situation is obviously beyond his control. This guy named Piero is not only outstanding in ability, but also has many businessmen who are dissatisfied with the current political environment. They borrowed the name of guards and secretly started recruiting adventurers and mercenaries everywhere. In just a few weeks, they gathered more than 500 people, so they had to ask the army for help.

After obtaining the signature authorization, the two people in charge of the operation left Hawk's office. On the road, Corey said to Robert as he walked: "I hope this is the first and last time. You are playing with fire. If you don't make it right, the whole country will be in chaos. If there is another similar action, you'd better say hello to me first. In addition, when the property of the businessman is seized, I hope that part of it can be turned into military expenses."

It can be seen that this serious and rigid knight is very dissatisfied with the private actions of the thief leader. It's no wonder that no one likes to wipe other people's buttocks.

The corner of Robert's mouth twitched slightly, and finally nodded helplessly. "Don't worry, knight. I'm here to assure you that there will be no next time. As for the merchant's property, I plan to divide it into four evenly. One for the thieves' union, one for the administrative system, one for the duke, and one for the army. I don't know if you are satisfied with this?"

"It's fair, and I have no objections at all. But you don't need to give me cash, as long as you replace them with dragon beasts. You must know that the combat effectiveness of the Principality's army is somewhat unsatisfactory, and it is basically supported by the strong personal strength of the Duke and his followers. This is not a good phenomenon. I have thought about it for a long time, and I think a fierce and powerful dragon beast cavalry can solve this problem very well."

"Okay, I will send someone to the eastern country to buy some. But this matter must be reported, this is the rule, you should understand."

Hearing Robert's promise to Charlie, a smile appeared on Corey's serious face. "Of course, I don't think the Duke will stand in the way of this. He was disappointed by the poor performance of the ordinary army before."

"Then it's settled. The surprise operation will be at midnight today. Your people will be responsible for the encirclement and frontal attack, and my people will not assassinate and destroy internally. Remember, don't let any enemy go because of soft-heartedness." After speaking, Robert gave the other party a meaningful look, turned and left to gather his elite assassins.

"Hehe, are you soft-hearted? Don't worry, it will never happen again." Corey couldn't help but smiled wryly.

He never thought of himself as a soft-hearted person, especially when it comes to his attitude towards the enemy, he has always been more aggressive and exterminated. But everyone has a moral bottom line. Not harming pregnant women and young children is Corey's bottom line, but it is this that cost him a painful price.

In the years when the God of Conceded Defenders favored him, his wife and children had a very miserable life, and even became a beggar for a while. Fortunately, he was appreciated by Henry in the end, and he became a noble knight in a wealthy territory and served as a military commander. In order to repay the monarch for his kindness, he has already been prepared, ready to abandon this bottom line at any time.

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