Realm of Power

West coast of Normandy, Villeneuve-Ayres

This is a new small town on the northwest coast of Normandy, with a population of 30,000. The streets seemed a bit deserted in the afternoon. There were only patrols lazily walking around on the streets that had just been rested, leaving behind a series of short figures.

The flag of the Falcon Kingdom was flying on the spire of the city hall. Probably because it was too peaceful, it seemed to be hanging listlessly without wind. The flag was tightly wrapped around the flagpole. Looking from a distance, it looked like a huge pole. Red Tassel Gun. There is a moat outside the simple city wall, and there are very few sentries on the wall. This situation is very common in the new immigrant areas on the northwest coast. The troops have been transferred to fight on the northern front.

The guards of local cities are mostly composed of city citizens. The main responsibility of these municipal militia is to maintain the security of the city. They work in two shifts, one team during the day and one team at night. There are few affairs during the day, and the patrol team will be there during the day. Go on the road after dark,

There are only 30 people on duty during the day, and most of them are arranged at the city gate, either standing at the city gate chatting, or registering incoming and outgoing goods. Because of the limited manpower, many municipal militiamen also serve as internal positions within the chamber of commerce. , a new area, a new life, everything is like this. It is evening at this moment, and the sun shines through the gaps between the mountains in the distance, reflecting the whole city in a golden color.

On a Chamber of Commerce carriage that the city guards had just released, a middle-aged man with flaxen hair was looking at the small town in front of him.

"Not a good feeling!"

The middle-aged man dusted himself off. It had been three days since he entered northwest Normandy. Everything he saw along the way was full of novelty. The winter sun shone unobstructed on the rough stone slabs, reflecting a white glow.

After a major road construction project some time ago, a connecting road has appeared between cities on the western coast.

Although the road surface is very rough and there are obvious signs of rushing to the construction site, the edges of some stones were piled up without even having time to cut them flat, like building blocks built by children, which does not give people a sufficient sense of security. But after all, it connects the entire The road traffic line on the northwest coast. From this line to the north, you can go directly to a military port of the Falcon Empire Navy.

The carriage stopped at the door of an old tavern in the city. The middle-aged man got off the carriage and looked up at the tavern in front of him.

"Four Barrels" is the most famous tavern in the city. The huge room structure covers an area of ​​more than 20 meters and the wooden structure is solid.

The owner who runs the tavern is said to be a Dongting native from Dongting Grassland. The tavern is famous for its refreshing and fiery black ale. Black ale is a kind of grass-stemmed plant that grows on the grassland. It is dry and bitter in the mouth.

Generally, it is the favorite food of wild horses on the grassland. Wild horses that have eaten black wheat often become very irritable. Later, the Dongting people relied on this and found that black wheat was bitter in the mouth and could only be used as famine food. An extremely fine wine-making material, prairie people rely on this to brew the most beautiful and strongest wine in the world, "Prairie Drunk". It is said that every prairie cavalryman who drank this wine was an alcoholic.

The construction process of this tavern also took more than a month intermittently to be completely completed. This was supposed to be the location of the city hall, but due to lack of money, the city hall could only sell the half-built building first.

The owner who bought it used the remaining wood to temporarily build the tavern according to the existing structure. In order to create his own brand, the clever owner also placed four huge wooden barrels outside the tavern. Not only can It is used as a place to store wine. It can also attract the attention of passers-by to the maximum extent. As long as you are a drunkard, you will not be indifferent to the fragrant aroma of the four wines.

Of course, few people would think of the true meaning of the four barrels. It is actually the Fourth Division of the Imperial Supervision Department. The main responsibility of the Fourth Division is to monitor the comments and discussions from the merchant class. The specialness of the tavern makes everyone who comes and goes The businessmen were all deeply attracted by this distinctive building. The business of the tavern has always been very good.

With his back to the sun, a tall middle-aged man walked into the tavern with his head lowered. He was wearing a uniform of the city's chamber of commerce. He looked not much different from ordinary chamber of commerce staff. There were too many such people. , so when he came in, the guests in the tavern didn't pay much attention to him. Only a few people drinking looked up. Although they were a little strange, they didn't really care.

There were not many people in the tavern today, only twos and threes. But there were people on all the tables. These people were dressed like businessmen, mercenaries, and even some were polite and clean. The fabrics of their clothes were all very good. nobles, most of whom are nobles from within the Falcon Empire,

"Boss, bring four glasses here!" The middle-aged man was about thirty years old, with a high nose and deep eye sockets. His eyes were a little red. Soon, four glasses of black ale with white foam were delivered to him. , eyebrows slightly furrowed and he took a sip, the middle-aged man’s eyes flashed, good wine, I didn’t expect such a small town to have such good things, it can be regarded as an unexpected surprise of this mission.

"Have you heard? The navy has been mobilized on a large scale recently. It seems that it is going to..." Several businessmen-looking people at the next table were talking in a low voice. The middle-aged man's ears immediately stood up and he listened for a while. After that, he gradually lost interest. Most of what the businessmen talked about were hearsay, and none of them were witnessed with his own eyes. After calming down, he put down the half-drunk glass of wine, picked up the second glass of wine, and drank again. Halfway through again, put it down and pick up the third glass of wine,

It is very close to the Falcon Kingdom's military port and has the most naval intelligence. However, it is obvious that the information this middle-aged man hopes to obtain is much more accurate than the sporadic discussions of these businessmen.

This is the fifth transaction between the two parties, but it is the first time they have met.

Under the temptation of a large sum of money from the Intelligence Department of the Southwest General, a senior officer of the Falcon Navy Fleet finally expressed his willingness to provide certain information in exchange for money. In order to show that he had such ability, he first asked the intelligence personnel of the Southwest General for free. Provides the names of some Falcon Kingdom naval battleships The captain's name was called, and after careful verification by the Southwest General Intelligence Department, the authenticity of the intelligence was proved. The Southwest Intelligence Department immediately reported the intelligence and reported this huge breakthrough to the Commander-in-Chief, who received Southwest information on the spot. The Lord Commander's praise made Riels feel very blushing.

But this time, the other party made a request to deliver it in person, and said that the information this time was related to the movements of the Falcon Dynasty Navy in the past half month. Intelligence officer Riels was immediately excited. If he could deliver the information of the other party's fleet, Once the action route is obtained, the ambush site can be arranged calmly and the main force of the opponent's navy can be wiped out in one fell swoop. Under such a huge temptation, even if the other party proposed a sky-high intelligence fee of 500,000 gold coins, Riels did not hesitate to agree.

He sent his most trusted confidant Bemes, an experienced and cautious veteran spy to go there in person.

From the moment he walked into the tavern, Bemes had been quietly observing everyone. Who was most likely to be the guy nicknamed "Fishbone"? That sloppy drunkard sitting four rows in front? Or in the dark corner on the left, a young man with a gloomy face and a drunken drink

But he was disappointed. When he was about to place the fourth half glass of black ale side by side on the upper left side of the table, a young man about five meters away from his position finally stood up from the table and hesitated. After a moment, he walked towards Bemes. The middle-aged man suddenly raised his head and looked at him. It turned out to be him! This is a young naval officer who looks a little down and out. The reason why Beimei excluded him first is because in the previous contacts, the caution shown by this man named Yubone showed that the other party would not be stupid. He just ran out wearing a sensitive navy officer uniform.

"Can I sit down?" the young naval officer asked, somewhat drunkenly.

"Of course!" Bemes glanced at the mark on the opponent's navy uniform and said solemnly. He was wondering whether the opponent was intentional or accidental?

"I'm the fishbone! Are you the person they sent to get information?" The young man picked up the fourth glass of ale on the table and took a sip. He sat down opposite Bei Mingsi, his face looked a little depressed, and his eyebrows were slightly frowned. He hesitated for a moment, then said with piercing eyes, "What a delicious wine! Although bitter and sweet, it reminds me of the beautiful green color of the grassland in March!"

"Are you really a fishbone?" Beimei's eyes were round. The code word the other party said was completely correct, but it was still unbelievable. "It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. What matters is whether you have money!" The young naval officer grinned. He smiled and didn't pay attention to Beimeisi's doubts. He fumbled with his rolled-up cuff on his left hand with his right hand, then took out a small cloth roll from it, put it on the table and said softly, "I know you don't completely trust me yet." , this is the Falcon Navy’s activities in the last ten days, you can Keep some observations at the corresponding port to prove that what I said is true or false! This time it is free. If you are satisfied, we will meet again here in ten days, so please bring enough money! Why not give it to us all at once? A cold light flashed in Si's eyes, as if he was worried, "What if you don't give it to us next time? It's only ten days, this is too short!" "Ten days is just to prove my ability, because I'm afraid that once I’ll give you my sex, and I’ll be killed in advance!”

The young officer chuckled and patted the cloth roll on the table with his hand. "Don't tell me, you haven't thought about it this way? So it's better to be safe. No matter how much money you spend without your life, it will be in vain! I'm just asking for wealth." , not asking for death!

That's it. If you don't believe me, the sale can be canceled at any time and just pretend it never happened.

With all due respect, this month, the Falcon Navy will have a big move against you! That's all I can say! "The young officer stood up from his seat, turned around and walked out of the tavern, leaving Bemeix and the cloth on the table alone (to be continued...)