Chapter 134 After the War
In the early morning, Brian walked to an oak tree on the hill behind Rock Bunker and overlooked the entire town from a high position.
From here he could see all the town's narrow, winding alleys and wide streets, as well as its many striking arenas.
These bowl-shaped arenas are scattered messily in every corner of the town, like a destroyed chess game.
To the north outside the city wall is the golden sand sea. The verdant green grass and jungle outside Mokou Town are charging towards the vast desert like a green army as time goes by.
When Brian's eyes fell on some kind of distant sea swamp to the west, he frowned slightly.
Distant sea swamps.
A lost civilization that predates the elves lies dormant in this ugly swamp. Its only remains are gorgeous buildings made of hard glass as hard as steel.
As the casters of Shade City melted into the high glaciers, the climate near the Enook Desert was imbalanced, so that the high sea swamps were moving along the Stormhorn Mountains at an extremely slow speed, towards Mokou Town. expansion.
This swamp full of plague and disease is only more than fifty kilometers away from Mokou Town.
He knew very well that when the Shadow City formed an alliance with the Dragon Cult, the lizards and troglodytes controlled by a black dragon of the Dragon Cult in the Far Sea Swamp would also become another threat to him.
Two days have passed since the battle of Rock Bunker.
During the unexpected surprise attack by Gral's men and the Dragon Skeleton mercenary group, a flag embroidered with a purple dragon fluttered on the city wall of Mokou Town.
With only a caravan and a mercenary group, he captured Mokou Town from the Zhentarim in less than a day.
The fierce battle was cruel and bloody. After he occupied the rock bunker, he fought with the remaining Zhentarim town garrison, slave owners and other merchants in the town who had temporarily assembled forces.
At the same time, many slaves also rose up to resist with his secret help, becoming the last straw to crush the defenders.
The battle lasted until dawn the next day, and then gradually came to an end.
At the end of the battle, Brian walked through the ruins and broken windows of Mokou Town, and passed through the brick and stone streets. The gutters were filled with stiff and swollen corpses. The delighted slaves raised their bloody hands as he passed by. , shouting 'Lord of Mokou Town'.
Now, as long as he successfully resists the counterattack of Ghost City and quickly builds his wizard tower, he can truly gain a foothold here.
After determining the foothold of the Wizard Tower, Brian no longer wasted time and walked down the hill overlooking the entire town.
Because there are more troublesome things that he needs to deal with personally.
Although he successfully recaptured Mokou Town, how to deal with the merchants, slave owners, freedmen, adventurers, slaves and captives living in the town was a question for him. A rather troublesome problem.
Brian admitted that he was not a qualified lord, and he was even more confused about how to manage his territory.
If he had a choice, he would rather be a hands-off shopkeeper and the ruler behind the scenes.
Unfortunately, it is obviously not that easy to find such a person.
Fortunately, the experience of dealing with this kind of problem has already been experienced once in the small world where he was reborn. Although this is a little troublesome for him, it does not mean that there is no solution.
This made him miss his little devil a little bit.
This little guy once served as the Duke of Hell in Avernus, the first level of Baator Hell, and the chief commander of the bloody battle in the abyss. Not only did he manage a group of unruly devils, he also resisted countless The abyss demon's crazy attack without even a single defeat.
It has no trouble at all with such trivial matters as how to govern the territory and manage the army.
At the beginning, when he established his own power in the small world, he basically let his magic pet come forward to govern, while he put forward his own opinions on the side.
"After the wizard tower is built, we must find a way to find its location and capture it again." Brian thought to himself.
As his demon pet, he also signed a master-servant contract. If his strength allowed, he had many ways to use the binding force of the contract to make it come back to serve him.
While Brian was walking and meditating, a fly buzzed in his head, and he waved his hand angrily to disperse it.
Seeing the flies, he immediately realized that the town at the moment seemed peaceful on the surface, but there were definitely a few people who were as annoying as flies.
He must take measures to deal with these flies before Yinhun City attacks Mokou Town.
Before fighting the outside world, you must first make peace with the inside.
He didn’t want to be stabbed in the back by this group of slave owners and businessmen while he was having a good fight with the people in Ghost City.
Brian came to the audience room of the Rock Bunker. The spacious room was dominated by black marble walls and was full of echoes.
Although this place is solemn, it is extremely eerie.
At this time, his men were waiting for him.
The old swordmaster Balerius stood beside his seat, with disheveled gray hair and deep crow's feet around his light blue eyes. However, the years had not bent his straight back, nor had they worn away his superb martial arts.
Saluo, the leader of the Dragon Skeleton Mercenary Group, has pale skin and a thin and stiff face. He stands with the sharp-looking human ranger Puranda, who is as thin as a sharp knife.
Across from them are the businessman Graal, who is nicknamed the 'Fat Catfish', and Zander, who is strong and has a weathered face.
Except for the mages of the Silver Scholars Association who are still in Aldus King City, these people in front of them are Brian's current power.
Seeing that Brian had sat on the chair, Graal immediately moved his fat body, stood in front of him, and reported to him.
"Lord, the total value of this harvest has been calculated. A total of 896,981 gold coins. In addition to the treasure house in the castle, the gold coins include all the people who have participated in Mokou Town. Resisting slave owners and merchants."
"Nearly nine hundred thousand gold coins." After hearing Graal's report, Brian nodded secretly and did not feel any surprise.
Because after the battle, he paid attention to the belongings in the treasure house.
The property is very miscellaneous, including sets of fine armors that have been forged, as well as weapons such as swords. In addition to ordinary equipment, the most eye-catching thing is naturally the boxes of gold coins.
He also noticed that Graal personally took the documents and quill and recorded every item in detail, with a very serious attitude.
If it were Brian personally, these gold coins would undoubtedly be an astonishing amount of wealth for him, but considering the reconstruction of Mokou Town after the chaos and the enemies he was about to face, even with more than 900,000 gold coins, it was unimaginable. So sufficient.
"All this money will be placed in the treasure house of Rock Bunker, and will be managed and dispatched by you personally." Brian pondered for a moment, then said to the fat businessman who was bowing in front of him with some difficulty, "After all, we need to spend the money next. There are still a lot of places to sell it.”
Although it is all managed by Gral, every expenditure and entry needs to be reviewed by him personally and signed with his name before he can touch the money.
Brian knew that he was extremely short of manpower at the moment and was simply a mere commander.
Managing such a huge town, if he doesn't delegate any power and does everything himself, he won't be able to spare any time for learning spells.
Moreover, these people are all within his control, and he is not afraid of them running away with their money.
Hearing this, Graal's eyes, which were almost squeezed into slits by the fat, flashed with shock and joy. Then he nodded in agreement and expressed his loyalty to Brian with a very sincere attitude.
Obviously, the Lord's ability to hand over the financial power of Mokou Town to him without hesitation means how deep the other party's trust is in him.
After all, two perfect battles against the City of Shadows and the Zhentarim had already made him admire the newly appointed lord.
Faced with the high expectations given to him by the lord, he naturally had to seize this opportunity, perform well, and display his due value. Then, Graer immediately took out his account books and some lists, and began to report to Brian on the aftermath of the reconstruction of Mokou Town, as well as the purchase of supplies and food from other places.
Brian was well aware of the situation reported by Graal, and he also knew very well what difficulties this town was facing.
After seeing that the problems reported by the other party were not significantly different from my own ideas, they all nodded in agreement and asked him to implement it immediately.
At the same time, I was secretly surprised that Graal, who was a businessman, except for the shortcoming of being fat, actually performed so well in the management and logistics of the town.
So, he immediately included the other party in his investigation scope to observe whether he was the kind of subordinate who could cultivate confidants.
"As for the issue of slaves and prisoners, don't worry, I have already thought of a countermeasure."
Brian looked at Graal and said to him, "You arrange your men and plan how many things will happen in the town. Gather them all together in a concentration camp, and I will go there personally to appease them later.”
Across the continent, the most common farmers are farmers or serfs, who are not protected by law and belong. The property of a lord, who in turn controlled the land on which they lived.
In a few cruel areas, slavery was even practiced, and their hard work could only be rewarded with the threat of whipping or quick death.
This kind of slavery, which is close to despair and cruelty, is relatively common in the form of indentured slaves.
The slave owners of Zhentil Keep, mainly the Zhentarim, followers of Bane, shamelessly engage in this kind of slave trade almost anywhere in the heartland.
Mokou Town, which is occupied by the Zhentarim, is naturally no exception. In addition to the gladiators in the arena, the slaves here also have manor lands and mines outside the town.
Now that the entire town has been occupied by Brian, the most serious problem at the moment is how to solve or appease this group of nearly 2,000 slaves.
If it is not handled well, it may trigger a riot.
As a person who has studied in the 'Starting Point Traveler Training Association - Farming Department', Brian naturally knows how to make these slaves wholeheartedly belong to him and let them play their due value. .
Seeing how confident the lord was, Graal could not help but breathed a sigh of relief even though he did not see the final result.
As a businessman who is good at observing words and expressions, he can read certain meanings from Brian's expression.
And Graal remembered very clearly, Brian's confident eyes and words, which he had only seen when dealing with the City of Shadows and the Zhentarim.
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and prepared to take a big gamble, simply betting all his money on the future of this young half-elf lord.
"Lord, I have one more thing to do."
After confirming his idea, Graer no longer hesitated and said directly: "I am willing to donate 500,000 gold coins to Mokou Town to jointly build the future of the town."
Donate 500,000 gold coins!
As soon as Graal finished speaking, a gasp of air suddenly came from the audience room.
Zhan De even knitted his brows together and looked at his cousin in disbelief.
The leader and deputy leader of the Dragon Skeleton Mercenary Group each looked at each other, with a hint of shock in their eyes, and then nodded slightly, secretly exchanging glances.
Even the old swordmaster Balerius, who was standing straight next to Brian, couldn't help but cast his eyes on the businessman.
Noting the determination in Graal's eyes that were about to narrow into slits, Brian knew that he had met a businessman who liked to gamble, and he dared to bet all his worth on him.
He naturally welcomed this situation with both hands.
"On behalf of all the people of Mokou Town, I would like to thank you for your generosity, Mr. Graer."
Brian looked at him, grasped the appropriateness, nodded to him, and showed a trace of Smile, "I will remember your great contribution to the construction of Mokou Town."
"This is what I should do." Graal bowed deeply to Brian and led his puzzled cousin to leave together.
Seeing the leaving businessman, Brian immediately regained his calm and composed expression and looked at the leader and deputy leader of the Dragon Skeleton Mercenary Group.
"Captain Salo." He said expressionlessly to the commander who was slightly nervous under his gaze:
"Now, I appoint you and your mercenaries. All members of the regiment are the city defense forces of Mokou Town. Your main responsibility is to maintain the security of the town and resist the invasion of foreign enemies."
Saluo secretly exchanged a look with the deputy commander Puranda, and he subconsciously exchanged a look. He looked at his eldest brother Balerius, trying to see the Lord's true intention from his eyes.
However, he was disappointed to find that when his eyes met with Balerius's, the other party immediately dodged away without leaving a trace.
Saluo did not dare to waste time and quickly bowed and said: "Thanks to the lord for your kindness, the Dragon Skeleton Mercenary Group will be disbanded from today and become the defense army of Mokou Town."
"Very good." Brian nodded slightly, with a hint of coldness in his words.
“I don’t care if your members were deserters on the battlefield, wanted criminals, or bandits who committed murder and arson. Since you have chosen to join the system of Mokou Town, I hope you can change your mind and start a new life. I will no longer pursue the past matters, and I will not even recover the stolen property.
From now on, I order you to restrain your men and stop violence, if you still disobey. The murderer will be hanged, the robber will lose a hand, and the rapist will have the tool of the crime cut off. I don’t want the price of restoring peace to the town to be a pile of bloody limbs and soft red worms.”
Like most fallen towns, after Mokou Town was completely occupied by him, it was looted by some mercenaries from the Dragon Skeleton Mercenary Group who could not resist the temptation.
Before the war started, Brian had emphasized this matter to the mercenary leader, and the other party also patted his chest and promised him that he would restrain his men.
In fact, he did not expect that the other party would really strictly implement it.
Because even a well-disciplined army may not be able to make no mistakes.
He just took advantage of the topic and beat this group of mercenaries.
"Don't worry, Lord, I will restrain my men and train them into an army to protect Mokou Town." Salo, the mercenary leader, secretly wiped his cold sweat and assured Brian righteously.
“I hope you can keep your word.”
Brian calmed down and said to him, “I know you lost many men in this battle, so I allow you to All the mercenaries who died in the battle will be put into uniforms and their weapons will be buried with them. If they have family members, the pension for their families will be doubled, and each mercenary who participated in the battle will also receive additional rewards."
"Next, I need you to do one more thing." He thought for a moment and then added:
"In the name of the lord of Mokou Town, go to the town's Adventurer's Guild to issue a notice, Tell them that any adventurer who is willing to defect to Mokou Town and obey the rules and regulations can choose to join your army.”
Hearing this, the mercenary leader subconsciously glanced at his deputy. There was a hint of joy in their eyes at the same time, and he quickly assured Brian, "Don't worry, Lord, we will definitely complete the task you assigned us."< br>
After saying that, Salo retreated with his deputy, Ranger Puranda.
Seeing the two people resigning, Balerius said: "Sir, the priests of the God of Knowledge have been waiting for a long time. I will place them in the study."
"The God of Knowledge God's pastor."
A hint of surprise appeared on Brian's face. He nodded thoughtfully and asked, "What organization do they belong to?"
"The gilded laurel crown comes from the Temple of Knowledge in the city of Arabe." Balerius answered truthfully.
“Gilded Laurel?” Hearing the name of this organization, a smile appeared on Brian’s lips, “These bookbinders are quite good at finding opportunities. I’ll go meet them.”
(End of this chapter)