Chapter 558: Killing Many Birds with One Stone
The donation of supplies was not simply because of Gavin’s wealth, but because the stall their caravan set up on the Dragon Coast was too big, and a large amount was traded back in a short period of time. Some of the supplies must be streamlined when we go on the road again, and they can be used as gifts.
Although Gavin rejected Ms. Strategy’s title of elector, the two parties became more and more closely tied. Catherine, Zalanda and Veranika, the top three followers of Ms. Strategy, all gathered together. .
What Gavin values most is the potential of the Yinhong War College, which will be an important production site for mid- and low-level officers in Faerun. He must first put his own stamp on it, especially those civilians who have received his own funding. The students will have a natural good impression of themselves, which will be helpful for recruiting them into their ranks.
"What are the conditions? Tell me." Deep in Catherine's eyes, there was a hint of joy that could not be concealed. The Yinhong War College has not been established for a long time. There is another factor that cannot be ignored, her financial resources. We are stretched thin.
The Land of Death, where the Strategic Battle Fortress is located, is not a blessed place. It is also an area with frequent wars. The Land of Death, Troll Claws and Troll Mountain are currently dominated by various monster tribes. They All that can be protected is the twenty kilometers of land surrounding the strategic battle fortress.
Not to mention that they are on the only way for the monster tribe in the High Wasteland to go south.
Just maintaining the army is a huge expense, and the strategic battle fortress was completely destroyed before it was recaptured by ourselves. It has not been completely repaired yet, and we are preparing for a college that will not be used for production at all. , more like a bottomless pit, with huge initial investment but extremely slow returns.
Ms. Strategy’s faith has just begun to expand, and there are really few people who can provide them with financial assistance.
The only close relationship is with the church and temple of Tempus, but the God of War is not the God of Wealth. Accumulating wealth has never been their specialty. The three melons and two dates they donated are only a drop in the bucket.
As for Ms. Strategy, again, gods are not omnipotent. They also have to follow the most basic law of conservation of matter. The various material creations they create require the consumption of divine power, and her followers are Those, the divine power provided to her was only a little, and she planned to use it every day, so she had no energy to support Catherine.
Doing this will also violate the laws of belief of the gods. Even if you build more temples for yourself, it will be useless, because it will not play the role of gathering faith at all - if you build enough temples , one's own divine power will become more powerful, and no one can compare with Wojin, the goddess of wealth.
She has not yet been reduced to the point where her whereabouts are unknown, and the priesthood of wealth is temporarily under the control of the goddess of joy.
Building a temple is a process of proving one's faith. Overcoming various difficulties is to hone and gather faith. Only this kind of temple has meaning and can it become a tool for gods to gather power. The same is true for Yinhong Zhan Academy.
Before this, Catherine had heard from Veranika about Gavin's current wealth, but she did not expect to be so generous, with a one-time investment of three million, let alone subsequent investment. It is no longer simply a matter of establishing the Yinhong War College, but making it twice as large as what he originally planned. The number of the first batch of students has been increased from the original five hundred to one thousand. .
"First of all, I hope that Ms. Catherine can put aside secular ideas and accept some more alternative students to study in the academy." Gavin made his first condition. After all, he plans to take the multi-racial integration route in the future. There will be more and more races of all kinds.
Catherine said thoughtfully: "You are not referring to the hobgoblin, are you?"
Now everyone knows that Gavin gave Blood Gap City a hobgoblin knight. , relying on the Giant Plains, the rise of a force and city belonging to the hobgoblins is inevitable.
"Yes, it's the hobgoblin." Gavin nodded, "I want at least 300 students in the first batch of students, but please don't worry, their study fees do not need to be reduced, they will Go and study at your own expense."
After pondering for a moment, Catherine replied: "Even if I agree to them joining the academy, because of their background. , they are afraid that it will be difficult to integrate into other intelligent races. If they simply learn strategies and tactics, there is no need to go to the academy. We can select some instructors from the academy and send them to Blood Gorge City to teach those great goblin armies. Strategy and tactics, I guarantee, what they learn from it is exactly the same as what they learned in the academy
In this way, you can save academy resources and you can train more hobgoblin officers at one time. ”
As the first choice of Ms. Strategy, Catherine naturally has no shortage of ways to adapt. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Since the other party spends so much money to support her, she should have something on her side. Return.
This is true even if they believe in the same god. Even gods must pay attention to reciprocity.
Gavin thought that this was indeed the case in establishing a friendship between classmates. normal race pie It is enough to send students. There is no need to involve those hobgoblins. It can also ensure the purity of the hobgoblin army and not be easily invaded by external forces. He changed his mind and said, "Originally, I wanted to apply for the second condition. Mention, in that case, Coming to the first condition, I hope to open a branch of the Yinhong War College with Madam. I will provide the manpower and material resources, and I will be responsible for recruiting students. Madam only needs to send instructors. There will be one in Blood Gorge City and one in Battle Valley. One. ”
“This is a dream come true. "For Catherine, this is not a condition, but a benefit delivered to her door.
Her main purpose of opening the Yinhong War College is to spread Ms. Strategy's beliefs. The bigger the scale, the better. As for teaching humans or other intelligent races, it doesn't matter to Ms. Strategy.
Her priesthood is not limited to humans, but all matters that happen on Faerûn, including the strategic planning used in the wars of monsters, are only limited by knowledge. This rarely happens, but rather the barbaric warfare that Uthgar represents.
It’s just that Catherine was born as an orthodox human, and her moral nature has the upper hand. She hopes to use Ms. Strategy’s ability to protect humans and other kind and intelligent races.
Gavin turned his attention to Aidan, the leader of the Sword Monastery and said: "Master, I hope to set up the War College in the Battle Valley in the Sword Monastery. The restoration and construction of this monastery will be carried out. , it’s entirely my responsibility.”
This move is the most typical of killing two birds with one stone.
Under the Sword Monastery, there is not one but several portals, which are important gateways to and from the Battle Valley.
Even if it is not involved in the future war layout and simply wants to develop and grow in the Battle Valley, this place must be in your own hands. Since you choose the Battle Valley as your starting point, the Sword Monastery was chosen by the drow. He was not prepared to let it happen again when the elves were wiped out in a surprise attack.
The fundamental reason why the Sword Monastery was almost destroyed was not simply due to surprise, but the most important reason was its relative weakness. At its peak, the Sword Monastery had the Tempus War Priest and the War Knight. With only two to three hundred soldiers, the number of the drow vanguard was several times theirs, not to mention the attached monster corps and summoned demons.
But if you want to get involved in a temple of the God of War, without a reasonable excuse, you are simply making yourself uncomfortable.
Now is the best opportunity to deliver it to your door, perfect and impeccable.
"This...this...isn't appropriate?" Erdan didn't expect that such a good thing would happen to him.
The dilemma he faces is the same as Catherine's. When it comes to swordsmanship, he dare not say that he is unparalleled in the world, but he is also a master. But in terms of his ability to make money and manage money, he is even better than an ordinary businessman. No, their wealth mainly comes from donations from ordinary people.
But the problem is that the Battle Valley is vast and sparsely populated, and the Sword Monastery was previously a lost land, similar in nature to the Land of Three Rivers.
Except for the dozens of Tempus believers in the Sword Monastery, there is not a single hairy person in the area of dozens of kilometers. Where did the donations come from? They now rely entirely on their own hands to build there brick by brick. The progress is not generally slow - they hold swords with both hands and start construction not much faster than those farmers.
If they can get help from Gavin and the others, they can just drag hundreds of people over, and the construction speed will increase with a whoosh, and the scale will be achieved soon. Gai Wenming knew what was going on and asked: "What? Master Eldan is worried that building a war academy for a strategic lady on the holy land of the Lord of War will desecrate him?"
“How is that possible?” Erdan shook his head repeatedly. “The father-daughter relationship between our Lord and Ms. Strategy is known to the world. A lady’s shrine must be added to all war temples to enjoy worship together with him. It is our greatest honor to be able to establish a women's war college in our monastery. It's an honor, but our monastery is in the early stages of construction, and most of the area is still in ruins. The investment will be quite large, and we have nothing to repay Sir."
Gavin couldn't help laughing. : "Master, you are totally wrong to think so. What you are building now is It's not a personal residence, but the temple of the Lord of War. It is my greatest honor to build a temple for him. What does it mean to spend some mortal possessions?
And the master also underestimated the value of the Holy Land of God, right? As expected, I will practice martial arts in your Sword Monastery. , the speed will be increased, and there may even be an epiphany, or a chance to unlock the grace of the God of War, right?"
"Yes," Erdan admitted generously, "The Sword Monastery is now available. It is indeed filled with a lot of war power and has the ability in this area.”
This matter is not only true for the place where Tempus descended, but also for the places where other gods first descended.
Because they did not come normally at that time, but were knocked down directly from the kingdom of God by the gods, and were forcibly transformed into the state of saints, which caused a large amount of divine power to collapse to the material plane, forming They have some special areas exclusive to them, and the effects they have are closely related to their clergy. The Lord of War is of course related to war.
"I also want to ask the master to be the chief combat instructor of this academy, responsible for teaching those students combat martial arts." Gavin took the opportunity to make new conditions.
Tempus' ability to become the God of War in Faerûn naturally relies not only on opportunism, but also on the world's most powerful force.
If he fights alone, if he is second, no one in Faerûn will dare to be first.
One by one of his devout followers, they are all experienced warriors with rich combat skills, including those exclusive priests. They prefer warriors more than priests.
Eldan is naturally one of the best, especially his sword skills, which are absolutely outstanding. This can be seen from his title of Sword Master.
There is no shortcut to this title in Tempus Church. You must use the sword in your hand to prove that you are worthy of this title, be recognized by at least three sword masters, and defeat or tie one of them. One person is eligible to receive it.
“This is my honor.” Erdan said without hesitation.
The war priests of the War Temple act as martial arts instructors or militia trainers in many cities. Their mission is to actively urge people to prepare for war, whether to resist invasion or prepare for invasion.
Being unprepared is the dereliction of duty of the God of War and the dereliction of duty of the war priests.
Now it is time to further improve the specifications and influence an army by teaching a group of middle and low-level commanders. This is a shortcut to expand the influence of the God of War.
"If possible, I would like to send some instructors to your Sword Monastery to learn combat skills." Catherine took advantage of the opportunity and was greatly impressed. No wonder Ms. Strategy placed a heavy bet on this young man. This man's thoughts changed. It was too fast. In a short period of time, he adjusted his plan and brought a group of Tempus believers in and tied them to his chariot.
According to the other party's development speed, once the conqueror's army successfully arrives in the Battle Valley, the establishment speed and scale of their branch may even exceed the main hospital she built in the Land of Death. After all, their manpower and material resources are There it is.
Before Eldan could answer, Gavin couldn't help but smile and said: "The lady's request is a bit unexpected. The God of Strategy and the Lady of Strategy are not separated. When the time comes, you will send The instructors who go to the branch will have the dual identity of instructors and students. After they have achieved success, they can rotate to other branches or the main hospital, and even allow them to engage in small-scale actual combat, whether it is the place of death where the lady is, or The Giant Plains where Blood Gorge City is located are both good places to go.”
"I've thought too much about this matter." Catherine thought about it and it was true. "This matter is settled for now. The first condition has been said. What about the second condition?"
Instead, she was full of expectations for Gavin's so-called conditions. Because their starting points were different, the two sides had different expectations. The interests between people often do not conflict, but are complementary. The first condition just now, except for the somewhat psychological conflict regarding the hobgoblin, is actually beneficial to her, allowing them to The number of Yin Hong Zhan Colleges increased from one to three, and the two new ones were purely picked up for free.
“The second condition is an extension of the first condition. Please leave 300 places for me in the main academy. I will send 300 students there. For the students who have graduated from the main academy, I will I hope to get priority in recruitment," Gavin said unceremoniously.
Now that there is a Zhanzhan Valley branch, he still chooses to send students to the main campus. The main purpose is to use these students to interact with other students and create a friendship with each other.
It is convenient for you to recruit later. Even if you cannot recruit, there will be many variables in future encounters on the battlefield.
Gavin believed that the future direction of the war in Faerûn would be guided by the officers trained by the Yinhong War College, an officer school, whether it was with the monster race or the intelligent race itself.
Tampas vigorously cultivates strategic ladies, which is to feel the war situation in Faerûn and reach the intermediate point of transformation from barbaric war to strategic war.
This is the general trend for intelligent life to develop to a certain extent.
Tempus has been able to occupy the position of the God of War for so many years. He is definitely not a brainless fool. He was treated like a brainless fool. His divine body had already entered the starry sky and turned into a divine corpse.
"As long as you use normal recruitment methods, I have no objection." Although Catherine hopes that the students trained by the academy will be distributed as widely as possible, because this can influence more people and forces, and provide a better diffusion strategy Lady’s influence.
But she borrowed too much from Gavin, and it was impossible without giving some benefits.
Being loyal to his subordinates can be regarded as a good thing. If he can maintain the current development speed and use the students trained by their academy to form an invincible army to conquer cities and territories, it might not be against Ms. Strategy. A great honor.
Just look at their current army of conquerors and you will know that a war of this magnitude is rare in Faerûn.
"The third condition is that I hope that Madam can equip us with instructors now. I want the middle and low-level officers in the army of conquerors to learn and use them as they go. I believe that when When we walked to the valley, the branches were basically put up. Isn't the military camp the best academy?" Gavin felt that the biggest problem for the middle and low-level officers in his hands was the lack of unified education, so that they could not cooperate with each other. Many questions.
In a small-scale army, this problem is not obvious yet, but when it comes to their size, it is an out-and-out big problem.
In order to mobilize them, dozens of messengers were deployed, shouting hoarsely every day, and the operation was still not as good as Gavin wanted.
This is true for simple migration, but in wars, especially large-scale mobile wars that require close cooperation, big problems can easily occur.
This is also the significance of establishing the Yinhong War College, to unify some knowledge of forming and commanding the army. Even if an army or an organization is defeated or dispersed, multiple organizations can be mixed together and can be quickly reorganized. Become a warworthy army, even if many of them have never experienced anything.
(End of this chapter)