"Lord Allen, please take a look. This is the latest income and expenditure." Jordak handed an account book to Allen and frowned, "I know your Excellency wants to support the Hungry Wolf Leader, but you seem to be dumping a little too much." If this continues, it will soon affect the balance of payments in the territory. "Although you have invested all of your own private property in the past few days, and your selflessness and generosity are admirable, I still have to remind you that it's time to gather your resources and export them."
Allen opened the account book and looked at it. In the past three days, he had spent nearly 1.7 million gold coins, which was already about half of his private property. He nodded and said to Jordak, "Your suggestion is timely. I know what to do. However, in the past few days, I have also done what I should do. Next, the territory will have to operate on its own. Construction and benefits are not something that can be seen in a short period of time. "
"Indeed, just like our Dawn Castle, it has been managed by our ancestors for several generations to reach its current scale. In my opinion, the resources you invested in the early stage are already enough. With the situation of the Hungry Wolf Territory, they can completely support their early development. As for the future operations, it will take time to test them. "
Allen nodded and said, "Then it's time to expand the army. Jordak, sort out the information about the army for me in the next two days. Including the number of people, equipment, and so on. I'll decide on the amount of expansion based on the situation. "
"I will do it for you, my lord."
Watching Jordak go down, Allen stretched. Jordak was also considered a talent. He knew a lot about territory management, but he lacked experience. Now was the time for him to gain experience, and Allen needed such talent. After the forces here stabilized, he would continue to expand into the hinterland of the empire in the future, and his focus would definitely tilt. In that case, the territory in the rear would need people like Jordak to take care of it for him.
Although he had a suitable helper like Edward, Edward's ability was not limited to the management of one or two territories. Allen needed him to contribute in more areas. He had already thought about it. After everything here was settled, he would return to Storm City. First, Edward would conceal his identity. Second, he would move Lin Si and the weapons workshop. Third, he would move Edward, Father Miro, and the others to the new territory.
Here, there was a wider space for Edward and Father Miro to display their skills. He believed that the soil here was more suitable for the expansion of the Church and the Crusaders.
Jodak's efficiency was indeed unparalleled. Two days later, he compiled a detailed and accurate military report for Allen. Judging from the current situation, Allen's army was clearly lacking in numbers. After all, compared to the vast space of the three territories, an army of less than 1,500 people inevitably made people feel that they were strong in appearance but weak in reality. Among them, the miscellaneous soldiers that Allen had pulled over earlier were also included.
Allen could only smile bitterly after reading it. Previously, he didn't think much of pulling an army of less than a thousand people to fight in various territories. Now that he had stabilized, the number of troops in this army was too small. Normally, it would be more appropriate for the three territories to have an army of around three thousand people. At the very least, there would need to be around 2,000 troops to be able to deploy flexibly when needed.
Right now, Allen's army clearly did not meet the standard requirements. Although there was no doubt about the quality of the army, a corresponding number of soldiers was necessary after the territory was expanded. Therefore, Allen decided to speed up the expansion of the army. With a large wave of his pen, he took out a million gold coins under his name for the early stages of the expansion of the army. Under the operation of this fund, a wave of conscription was quickly set off throughout the territory.
Allen's army had generous benefits, which had been widely spread. The most interesting thing to talk about was the battle with the two Sir's allied forces outside Sunset City that day. Allen's miscellaneous troops erupted with a terrifying aura, and gold coins played a role in it. After all, not any army could offer a bounty of one gold coin per person. At that time, Lafus' army used a reward of one gold coin for ten people to boost their morale. Unexpectedly, when they heard that the enemy had ten times the reward, it had to be said that the morale of Dawn Castle had been severely damaged.
Now, Allen had removed the special reward of a thousand gold coins for a hundred people. After all, as the power expanded in the future, the scale of the war would only grow larger and larger. Killing a hundred enemy soldiers in a battle was not necessarily a special case. If this reward was still retained, then Allen's purse would continue to shrink. However, the most basic reward was still retained. It was a reward of one gold coin for an enemy soldier. Many hot-blooded young people enthusiastically signed up to join the army.
In a few days, Allen had added 500 recruits. This was almost all the recruits' blood in the three territories, but it was not enough for Allen. Thus, after a few meetings, some adjustments were made to the content of the recruitment. The army opened its doors wide, not only for ordinary citizens, but also for slaves. In Allen's territory, as long as slaves were willing to join the army, they could get rid of their status as slaves. And after three years of service, they would be free. At that time, they could choose to retire, or continue to stay in the army, and enjoy the treatment of regular soldiers, as well as participate in the competitive system, and so on.
As soon as the news spread, the territory almost exploded. Slaves weren't fools. As long as they were normal, they would know how to choose. However, not everyone supported Allen's policy. The big merchants and slave owners strongly opposed it. In the end, Allen reached an agreement with them. As long as the slaves were willing to join the army, he could pay for the slaves' ransom first. As for this money, it would be repaid to Allen in the form of service after the slaves joined the army.
In this way, the merchants didn't have much of an opinion. After all, they didn't necessarily lose much. After a large number of slaves joined the army, Allen first brought nearly 500 recruits. At the same time, it also indirectly created a large number of jobs for those ordinary citizens. After all, the slaves were gone, but the merchants still had to maintain their businesses. However, the work that used to be done by the slaves was now done by the citizens. Unintentionally, it also stimulated the development of various industries in the territory.
Just like that, Allen had a thousand more recruits. They were scattered to Dawn Castle and Sunset City for training. Roy and Broy were the ones who trained them. When the training was over, Allen's army reached about 2,500 men. This number was enough to maintain the security of the territory.
Among these people, Broy could choose some people he thought were suitable to join the Mountain King and become a new member of that special squad. As for Inch Fire, Allen didn't think there was any need to expand. Right now, Inch Fire had about a hundred people, and each of them had a set of Blazing Battle Soldier equipment. This wasn't something that Heaven Star could get. However, it was a good choice to set up a reserve force. Once an Inch Fire warrior died, as long as their equipment wasn't too damaged, they could be replaced by a reserve force, thus maintaining the combat strength of this force.
In fact, it was the Dark Blade army that was in urgent need of expansion. Right now, the twenty or so Dark Blade members were clearly not enough. However, Belmord, who could train this army, had yet to return, so Allen could only give up. When Belmord returned, he would let him choose his own qualified members to join the expansion. He would have to expand the Dark Blade to at least fifty people in order to meet Allen's ideals.
Fifty highly skilled Dark Blade Warriors could act as assassins and spies. Whether it was assassinating important members of the enemy, or spying on intelligence, or spying on military intelligence, they played a vital role.
It was only now that Allen felt that his Heavenly Star career was finally taking shape. However, he didn't know how long it would take to turn Planet Heaven into his own colonial planet. At the very least, it couldn't be considered a true colony until he put this human empire in his pocket.
However, this planet was unexpectedly vast. In addition to the known Bailey Empire, there were also behemoths like the Fairy Royal Court and Shadow Park. Even if such a vast planet was handed over to the Federation to develop, it would still take months and years. Moreover, Allen was only a member of a clan, so the process of conquest would take even longer. However, it was precisely because of the hardships of the process that the fruits obtained afterwards were even more memorable.
While Allen was developing the territory with great fanfare in terms of commerce, agriculture, and even military, Jorah, who had already arrived at the Bauhinia Collar, had a hint of letting go of the territory. She left a lot of civil affairs work to Glar, and every day she either went in and out of the barracks or stayed in a three-story building that had been prepared for her. As a result, Glar was exhausted. Thinking about how the Viscount had just lost a large sum of money for no reason not long ago, he was in a bad mood. Helplessly, he came to Bauhinia because of Ou Ban's orders, but he still had to fight against the endless work every day.
Fortunately, Ou Ban had transferred his own staff out to help. Otherwise, Grar wouldn't know how busy he would be. Bauhinia was much larger than the territory of Sunset City. A larger territory naturally meant more work. When he thought that he didn't have any real power here, Glar regretted that he shouldn't have agreed to take the job.
However, complaining was complaining, but the work had to be done, so Glar got up from dawn to dusk and was active in front of people with the last diligence he had before. Jorah didn't know, but she just smiled in her heart when she saw it.
Originally, he thought that the days would go on so peacefully. However, when Ou Ban sent Daniel a third invitation to negotiate, the situation in the Bauhinia Collar suddenly changed.
It was evening, and the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the mountains and plains golden. Some farmers had finished their day's work in their fields and were planning to go home for a hot dinner. Then, they would rest early so that they could recover their strength to deal with the next day's work. The lives of ordinary people were so ordinary and repetitive. However, in this seemingly boring life, they also had their own fun.
For them, who did not possess great strength, knowledge, or military talent. Living a good life and allowing his family to eat and drink was the greatest achievement in his life.
As the setting sun gradually disappeared and the sky was gently closed by the red clouds, three or five farmers walked out of the fields. After greeting each other, they didn't forget to joke a few times before going home. Suddenly, a man stopped. He seemed to have heard something and turned to look at the other side of the mountains. There, the setting sun converged everything into a silhouette. The silhouette was originally dark, but under that silhouette, a figure with an even darker color appeared.
A horse hissed.
The rest of the farmers also turned their heads, and the expressions on their simple faces gradually turned from surprise to panic. A terrifying scene was reflected in their eyes. In the silhouette of the setting sun, there was first a pitch-black warhorse covered in a black iron harness. There was a Knight sitting on the warhorse. The Knight wore a black cloak with a scarlet interior.
When the warhorse turned sideways, the cloak rose in the sunlight. From within the scarlet cloak, there seemed to be a dense blood energy surging out like a tide.
His body was covered in ferocious spikes, and his armor decorated with dark red curves made the Knight look like a demon god from hell. He pulled out the gorgeous black sword from his waist and pointed in the direction of the village.
That was like a signal, a signal to attack!
Suddenly, more black horses and black-armored cavalry surged out from behind the Knight. A total of nine black-armored Knights galloped forward. Behind them were even more infantry soldiers. They raised their banners and spears to form a moving steel forest, charging towards the small village that belonged to the Bauhinia Territory at a constant speed.
The black steel forest quickly spread to the village, and the small village disappeared like a wave in a sea of rage, quickly drowned by the steel army. The houses in the village were razed to the ground, and the men who resisted were killed. The women and children were gathered by the wolf-like soldiers and imprisoned in the prison car that followed the army. Then, the demonic god-like leader personally set the village chief's house on fire. Soon, the village was set ablaze, including the fields that the farmers had worked hard to gather. They were also burned down.
When the black iron forest moved again, the village had already turned into ruins under the flames.
Three villages were razed to the ground by the iron hooves of this army. Very quickly, the news reached Jorah's ears the next day. At dawn, Glar was woken up and invited to the meeting room. As soon as he stepped into the meeting room, he felt that the atmosphere was solemn. Especially the Countess, who had been lazy since arriving at the territory, was actually fully armed today. Grar knew that something big must have happened.
After he sat down, Jorah's sword-like gaze swept across the faces on both sides of the table and said in a deep voice, "Just last night, three villages in our territory suffered devastating attacks." According to the information we have, the other party is under the banner of Daniel. As for the real situation, we are still investigating. But judging from the trajectory of that army, they will eventually arrive here. So everyone, we need to prepare for war! "
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