Chapter 939 170. Rat Meat
The Kingdom of Rekaner has not yet transformed from an inland country to a coastal country. To put it more clearly, they can't build ships and have very little trade. The only use of the large coastline is to allow people to harvest food without farming.
The largest cargo ships in the kingdom are one-third smaller than the ships in Free City, so when three five-masted sailing ships came to Noan Port, they had almost no suitable means to fight back.
Even the Archmage cannot float out several sea miles to attack the enemy.
After Nuoan Port endured several days of leaflet offensive, the authorities sent two ships carrying mages to attack them. Half a day later... there were two more smaller ships in the fleet on the sea.
Some people volunteered to row out to sea. At first, Noan Port was still encouraging this kind of dedication, but as the ships that went out to sea never came back, those big ships were like giant dragons devouring the people who went out to sea. No matter how stupid the people in power were I also realized something was wrong.
Coupled with the delay in responding to the message sent to the new royal capital, they acted like a coward, refusing to get out of their shells no matter how arrogant the enemies at sea were.
Dang——Dang——Dang——
The church bells echoed over Noan Port. Except for the nobles and businessmen looking nervously at the sky, the locals continued to do their own things, and the children ran to the street, ready to pick up the scattered leaflets.
The difference today is that as soon as the leaflets landed, a large number of soldiers ran into the street and snatched the leaflets.
Because an order came from the new king's capital to execute all those who colluded with Free City, regardless of status.
They don’t have the courage to cause trouble in Free City, but they have the courage to oppress their own people, and they are very bold. On the surface, it is to prevent the enemy's leaflets from spreading, but in fact, it is taking the opportunity to plunder wealth and attack political opponents.
It was not just the people who suffered, some nobles had leaflets secretly stuffed into their homes, and then guards broke in and robbed their property.
Every day people are caught and pushed to the beach to be hanged. It doesn’t matter whether they really colluded with Liberty City or not.
The streets are desolate, no one dares to do business anymore and expose their wealth. The nobles accused each other in order to protect themselves: "You colluded with the Free City!", "No! You colluded with the Free City!".
The situation in Port Noan was a surprise to the Scarlet Witch. They only sent out leaflets a few times before falling into internal strife on land.
“I thought we pirates were tough enough, they are even tougher than us!”
“This is a good opportunity for us to take action. The more chaotic Noan Port is, the more disgusted the local people will be with Ruikan. Your kingdom," the liaison officer said.
“Isn’t it fun to watch them beat themselves up?”
The liaison officer said directly: “Remember our purpose. We are not only going to plunge the Kingdom of Ruikan’er into chaos, but we also need to rescue those who Innocent residents who were deceived by the kingdom.”
"I am against landing." The Scarlet Witch just wants to watch the world burn.
"Then I will take the people there myself."
The liaison officer did what he said. He took a team of soldiers and leaflets, let the ship dock at the port, and set foot on land.
The nobles of Noan Port blamed each other, but when Free City actually landed, they all remained silent, huddled in the house and did not even come out, even the guards pretended not to see it.
They are not stupid. The orders belong to the Royal Capital, but their lives are their own, and there is no benefit to them from beating Liberty City to a bloody head.
As a result, Noan Port maintained an eerie calm: when the liaison officer arrived, the authorities and guards remained silent. As soon as the liaison officer left, they searched everywhere for people who were colluding with Liberty City.
This tacit understanding lasted for two days. Finally, some residents couldn't bear it anymore and expressed that they wanted to leave with them after the liaison officer logged in again.
Annan's reply was: "Then take them back."
Then let them continue to harass coastal ports. The more noise they made, the safer Francois' side became.
It would be nice if the permanent element was still there... Annan thought. They don't have to encroach on the kingdom bit by bit. Hundreds of water elements stood in the sea, and the epic mage was not interested in causing trouble.
"That's what you said!" the Scarlet Witch said excitedly.
Annan confirmed that he did not say anything that allowed rape, murder and robbery, but just in case, he still warned him: "Don't do evil, you are from Liberty City." "Tsk..."
"One more thing. Both Francois and Elder have lost contact. I need you to find a way to contact the local area, investigate the situation, and be careful to stay hidden. Francois is probably still going on. Mission."
"Understood."
...
Francois thought about many troubles he would encounter, such as someone snitching, people being ignorant, or himself being exposed... but he never thought that food would become his biggest problem.
He took another amount of money and asked Dar to purchase grain. As a result, I spent the same money this time and only bought two-thirds of the first time.
It has only been a day...
Dar said aggrievedly that he had not committed corruption, but that the merchants had increased the price - the resources supplied by Xing'er City were limited, and they bought more, and others There is less available to buy, and if you buy elsewhere, you will easily be targeted by local gangs.
"Who is the businessman?"
"I don't know, we are all used to calling him Adi."
"I know, I will find a way. Little Small, you go and tell the people on the street Hand out bread. Dar, go and plunder the Shark Gang's property."
People living on this street discovered that the suddenly powerful Salted Fish Gang did not bring about the expected chaos, but was going from house to house. Distribute food and herbs door to door.
However, the food is limited, and they can only give it to their own people first, and then to the men, elderly, women, and children outside.
As night fell and the fireplace was raised in the big house, Francois discovered the second problem: winter was approaching.
Xing'er City is in the middle of the North. Winter will arrive later than Breeze City, but only later... It would be fatal to spend the night outside wearing only a thin piece of clothing in late autumn.
So besides food, they also need clothes and firewood.
Fortunately, these things are not difficult to get, but the biggest problem is still the food problem.
Dahl proposed to use all the money to buy black bread to last longer, but Francois refused: "We have to leave here, and we may have to fight with the kingdom. What can we do if we don't have the strength?"
Lame Babu then suggested: "We can buy rat meat."
"Rat meat cannot be eaten." Francois shook his head.
"It's not a rat man, it's a rat."
Rat meat is sold in the market, and it is more expensive than black bread, so civilians would rather buy black bread, but at least it is meat.
Francois agreed, people who were about to starve to death were not qualified to choose.
Dar took people to the market. Purchased a large number of skinned rats and brought them back.
While cooking, Lame Babu put some herbs into the pot and then cooked them and everything was fine. As for the taste... Francois could only say that it brought back tragic memories of his childhood.
Others are not willing to eat it. Rats have become synonymous with disease.
Francois had to pick up a piece of rat meat in front of everyone, put it in his mouth, and then told them: If you want to get out alive, eat it.
(End of this chapter)