Along with Su Ruoyan and Ed, Li Huailin returned to his territory's main city, Sovata City. When he returned, Su Ruoyan wanted to take a look at the city's business development.
"Sure enough, a lot of shops have closed down." Looking at the situation on the street, Su Ruoyan shook her head. Currently, Sovata City's business development wasn't very optimistic. Small and medium-sized shops were having a hard time developing. Some shop owners had already decided to close down or move to another area. On the other hand, Li Huailin's two Chambers of Commerce were taking advantage of this time to expand in Li Huailin's territory.
"Huh? Is the problem serious?" Li Huailin asked.
"Nonsense, it's all because of you," Su Ruoyan said from the other side.
"Ahem." Li Huailin had no other choice. If he didn't do this, he wouldn't be able to suppress the loyalty of the people. Now that the people had already surrendered, if he collected less taxes, they wouldn't be able to withstand it. Soon, these commoners would rebel because their lives were too good. This was simply an official forcing the people to rebel.
Just as they were talking, a loud scolding came from the commercial street next to them, attracting the attention of Li Huailin and the others.
"What did you say? I'm giving you face by taking your things. How dare you ask me for money?" Another person shouted. It sounded like he was about to beat someone up.
Li Huailin turned his head to look and saw that the ones who were cursing him were the guards of the Duke's Mansion. There were four of them, and they were surrounding a vendor that looked like he was selling fruits. Each of the guards was holding a fruit that looked like an apple from the game, and they were surrounding the vendor who was begging for mercy. It seemed like they were looking for trouble. The surrounding civilians were all watching, but no one dared to go up and speak.
"Masters, please give me a way out. You guys keep coming here to take things every other day. Our small business can't sustain itself at all." The stall owner really knelt down in front of the four of them, begging for mercy as he spoke.
"Hmph, you're the one who doesn't know better, and you still have to ask me why? Ask the vendors nearby if there's anything you've forgotten to do, "the guard reminded.
In fact, the guards here were collecting "protection fees" from the peddlers, but this peddler didn't pay them. That was why they would purposely cause trouble for this guy every two or three days, hoping that he would "wake up" sooner.
"Guys, it's not that I don't know, it's just that I really can't afford it. I don't even have a place to eat. I really can't live on anymore," said the peddler.
"I don't care if you live or not …" The guard was about to kick the peddler when he saw Li Huailin walking over.
"My … My Lord." The soldier panicked and almost fell to the ground. He quickly straightened his posture and saluted Li Huailin.
"My Lord!" The other three immediately saluted as well. They were all scared to death. How could they be seen by the Lord at this time? Did they still have a way out? They didn't know how they would be punished.
"You're … that … Marcel's subordinates?" Li Huailin suddenly asked.
"Ugh … Yes, my Lord." The few people thought for a moment and answered honestly. They were Marcel's subordinates from the bandit group. After Marcel arrived, Li Huailin made them city guards. Although the Minister of the Interior Geert strongly opposed it, there was no other way. After all, Li Huailin was the Lord.
"Oh, is that so?" Li Huailin nodded and looked at the group of guards nervously. Marcel had just arrived here, which meant that he had just come to seek shelter. Although he was the leader of the city guards, his position wasn't very stable. Now that the Lord had caught him, would he say that Marcel had neglected his duty and drive him away? Without a boss, they wouldn't be able to survive. Therefore, the city guards looked at Li Huailin nervously.
"Well done." Suddenly, Li Huailin let out a satisfied smile and patted the shoulders of the city guards who were in a daze.
"Huh?" Not only did the two guards not react, but even the kneeling peddler didn't react. Aren't you here to help me?
Of course, Li Huailin was very satisfied. He originally hired this group of city guards to help him suppress the loyal people. If they didn't cause trouble, how could he suppress the loyal people? Now that he saw that this group of people did a good job, it seemed like his strategy was feasible.
"Thank … Thank you for your praise, my Lord." Although they didn't know what was going on, since Li Huailin praised them, they could only quickly return the favor. As long as Li Huailin wasn't angry, it didn't matter.
"But …" Li Huailin said again.
"What?" Hearing the word 'but', the guards' hearts jumped again.
"It's still not enough." Li Huailin looked at his loyalty, it was currently displayed at 84 points. This speed of increase made Li Huailin feel a little dissatisfied, "Did this guy not pay your protection fee?"
"This …" The city guards looked left and right. Protection fee was a private matter. They didn't dare to say it out loud, so they didn't say it to the peddler because the other peddlers had already paid. But now that Li Huailin asked about it, how were they supposed to answer?
"Damn it, thinking for so long, do you want to die?" Li Huailin immediately said.
"Yes, my Lord." When the city guard saw that Li Huailin was a little angry, he immediately replied, "On this street, only he and the other two peddlers didn't pay the protection fee. We have been looking for trouble with them for the past few days."
"Looking for trouble? You call this looking for trouble? " Li Huailin said angrily, "You guys used to be bandits, how can you not even handle such a small matter? You dare to set up a stall in our city without paying the protection fee? Aren't you just looking for death? This is not giving you any face, not giving you any face, is also not giving me any face. This peddler dared not give me any face, and you guys are just looking for trouble with him? "
"Then … My Lord, what do you mean?" The city guard carefully asked.
"Motherf * cker! Beat them up! Beat them to death!" Li Huailin waved his hand and said.
"Huh?" The peddler was immediately stunned.
"My Lord, are you really going to beat him?" The city guard couldn't believe it and asked again.
"Are you fucking deaf? Do I have to repeat myself? "Li Huailin asked.
"No need, my Lord." The city guard quickly said and then waved his hand, "Did you hear that? Beat him up, this guy actually didn't pay the protection fee, beat him to death! "
Since it was the Lord's order, the city guard naturally had no doubts. The four of them rushed up and directly kicked the peddler who was still in a daze to the ground, and then began to beat him up fiercely.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Su Ruoyan felt that something was wrong, so she quickly came up and said.
"He's just a commoner, he won't listen if I don't teach him a lesson," Li Huailin said.
"Nonsense, what you're doing …" Before Su Ruoyan could finish her sentence, the surrounding commoners suddenly all knelt down in front of Li Huailin.
"My Lord, you're really too good to us!" The commoners here shouted.
"There's been so much work recently, I thought My Lord had heard some treacherous rumors and was ready to show us some kindness. Now that I look at it, it's really just a rumor. My Lord is still the same as before. Where else can we find a Lord like this? Everyone, don't you agree?" A commoner said tearfully.
"Yes, yes, long live the Lord!" The commoners on this side shouted.
"Long live the Lord!"
Even Ed, who was here for the first time, nodded. "Yes, I didn't expect the Duke to manage the territory so well." At the same time, his Favorability rose by 15 points.
"Huh?" Su Ruoyan couldn't even squeeze out the words that were on the tip of her tongue. She had no idea what was going on.
"Right, I don't have time for this." Li Huailin thought that now wasn't the time to farm the commoners' loyalty, and that the war was more important, so he quickly stopped a city guard who was beating up the peddler and said, "Stop fighting for now. Go back and inform all the ministers that I'm going back for a meeting."
"Yes, my Lord." The city guard immediately ran back in the direction of the Duke's Mansion.
"You guys, after beating up this one, beat up the rest of the people who don't pay the protection fee, then arrest them and parade them through the streets. Make sure to explain to everyone that this is the consequence of not paying the protection fee," Li Huailin said.
"Yes, my Lord," a few city guards replied.
"…" Su Ruoyan didn't know how to react, and could only copy Li Huailin and hold her forehead speechlessly.
Surrounded by a group of extremely touched commoners, Li Huailin returned to the Duke's Mansion. The ministers had already received the news and were waiting outside the Duke's Mansion. Of course, Minister of Military Affairs Legg was the exception, because he had already set off with his troops. Now that the deputy minister was temporarily appointed by Dramo, he was naturally waiting for Li Huailin at the door.
"My Lord." Seeing that Li Huailin had returned, the people here immediately saluted. As soon as they finished saluting, a few old people saw Su Ruoyan behind Li Huailin. They were slightly stunned, but they immediately saluted and said, "Greetings, Madam."
"Greetings, Madam." Dramo and the other newcomers saw Su Ruoyan for the first time, and when they heard that she was the Duchess, they immediately saluted.
"Oh, hello everyone." Seeing that there were a few new faces, Su Ruoyan nodded and said.
"Alright, let's start the meeting immediately." Li Huailin waved his hand and said, "Geert, this is Master Ed. Help me arrange a place for him, a quiet place. We'll talk about the rest later."
"Yes, my Lord." Geert immediately nodded, but after that, Geert immediately asked, "My Lord, since the Madam is here, should I let the Second Madam come over to greet her?"
"Huh? Second Madam? "Su Ruoyan who was behind Li Huailin was stunned." Who's the Second Madam? What's going on? "
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