Pello sipped his black tea, leaned back in the soft lord's chair, and let out a long breath.

It had been more than two months since he took over Longsong Stronghold, and he found himself liking this hall more and more. The stepped, upwardly ascending structure allowed him to overlook the officials and attendants standing below from the main seat, a feeling of great power that satisfied him.

In the first month, some petty nobles would jump out to openly question him, or secretly plot riots - of course, the masterminds behind them were mostly from the families of the Elk and the Running Wolf. Pello followed his father's advice and sent commoners or underground rats who caused trouble without titles to the gallows, and imprisoned petty nobles with titles, banishing them from the Western Region after their families paid the ransom.

This set of thunderous measures quickly calmed the situation. After all, except for the Honeysuckle family, the knights of the other major families were captured in Border Town, and it was impossible to openly resist Pello's policies. Afterwards, he distributed a portion of the stronghold's profits to compensate the major families for their losses during the capture, so that all the nobles temporarily formed a relatively stable group of interests.

Now, of the stronghold's income, 30% is turned over to Border Town, and of the remaining 70%, 30% is used to maintain the city's operation, 20% to appease the remaining great nobles, and the Hermon territory receives the remaining 20%.

Now, the portrait behind the lord's seat has been changed from Duke Ryan to Fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon, and he looks forward to the day when he can hang his own - Pello Hermon's portrait.

If he could completely own Longsong Stronghold, his own earldom would be connected to the stronghold and become a veritable duchy, and the 50% paid in tribute and appeasement could be saved and invested in the operation and trade of the stronghold, thereby earning even more generous returns.

Of course, the premise is that Roland can successfully ascend the throne and become the King of the entire Graycastle.

"Lord," a guard walked into the lord's hall, handing over a letter, "It's news from Border Town."

Hearing the word Border Town, Pello immediately sat up straight.

He took the envelope, smoothed out the thin papyrus, and could tell from the inferior paper that the letter came from his informant planted in the serf ranks.

The result of the battle more than two months ago was nothing short of incredible. Although Pello did not go there himself, he heard a bizarre story from his father. In order to find out the reason for the Duke's defeat, he arranged many confidants in the hands of the people sent to the town, who disguised themselves as craftsmen, herdsmen, or serfs, and sent back the news and information they saw to the stronghold one by one.

He believed that other families would definitely do the same.

But so far, except for the two who were disguised as serfs who still sent new information every month, those craftsmen and herdsmen had no news, as if they had disappeared.

Did they betray him, or were they all eliminated after being discovered by the prince?

He shook his head and focused his attention on the secret letter.

The content of the letter was written in charcoal, with crooked handwriting, and some places had traces of being soaked in water, it seemed that it was written secretly while working.

The first paragraph said that iron towers of unknown purpose were being built on the banks of the Redwater River. A huge iron tank was placed on top of the tower. Three towers have been erected so far, each close to the height of the stronghold's city wall. The blacksmiths seemed to be making the iron tower in the town, and it was a whole when it was transported to the river. Then the soldiers of the First Army would stand up the baffle around the iron tower, and by the next day, it would magically stand up.

"Construction"...there was that word again, Pello thought. The last secret letter was the same. Judging from the information alone, it felt like the prince was constantly building the town. Last time it was building roads and bridges, this time it was building iron towers. Did His Highness want to spend all the gold royals he had looted from the stronghold's castle to feel satisfied? And the iron tower was still of unknown purpose... You must know that the spies hidden in the serfs were not real serfs, but well-informed guards. If it was a watchtower or an arrow tower, he would definitely be able to see it at a glance.

Maybe the iron tower was not completely completed, and it was not easy to judge, Pello shook his head, perhaps there would be more detailed information by next month.

He shifted his gaze to the next paragraph.

The letter stated that a large fleet of merchants stayed at the town's pier for a week before leaving eastward, with unknown ownership. A large pile of ore ingots and saltpeter was unloaded from the ship during the stay.

It was easy to understand the purchase of saltpeter. The summer will become very hot in the second month, and the castle's cooling requires a large amount of saltpeter, which can also be used to refrigerate wine and juice. As a royal nobleman, he certainly did not want to be covered in sweat all day long, as embarrassed as a farmer in the field.

However, Pello was a little surprised by the purchase of ore ingots. Border Town was originally a place where ore was produced. He remembered that before the Months of the Demons, when he went to the town as an envoy, Prince Roland exaggerated and said that he would double the total amount of ore sold. As a result, now not only did he not export ore, but he had to import ore ingots?

Thinking of the iron tower in the previous paragraph, which was as high as the stronghold's city wall, he found that he was increasingly unable to understand what His Royal Highness the Prince wanted to do.

However, when Pello saw the last paragraph of the secret letter, he was immediately stunned.

Border Town had held several open-air theatrical performances in the square in the past two weeks?

No tickets were charged, the names of the plays were unheard of, and serfs were encouraged to watch. What surprised him the most was that the performer was actually the Western Region Star, Mei Yixiaojie, who had disappeared recently!

What was going on?

Mei Yi's disappearance was a big news in the stronghold recently. The leading actress was replaced in several plays that she should have starred in, and the nobles left in protest. The theater had to issue a notice stating that Mei Yi had left the theater without telling anyone and her whereabouts were currently unknown. As soon as the news came out, the nobles in the Western Region who loved drama were in an uproar.

But she went to Border Town? There was no theater there! And performing for civilians and serfs...Pello's mind could not imagine such a scene for a while. The Mei Yixiaojie in his impression was not an approachable actress.

After much deliberation, he decided to write a letter to His Highness Roland to formally inquire about this matter. As a drama enthusiast, he had not only not seen the wonderful performances of the Western Region Star for a long time, but he also had fewer opportunities to invite Sherry. Since the drama was performed publicly in the town square, it was not surprising that it was seen by merchants, and it happened that the merchant was from Longsong Stronghold, so the news reached his ears - thinking about it this way, he should not expose the guards hidden in the serfs.

Just as Pello was about to have the attendants draft the document, a knight strode into the hall and said urgently, "Lord, the guards on the east gate watchtower have discovered that a knightly team is approaching the stronghold!"

"Knights? Can you tell where they are from?" He suddenly stood up.

"The other party is holding the Twin Gun Towers flag, Lord," the knight replied, "If they are not impersonating, they should be the New King's troops."