"It's just a small amount of money," Salin said disapprovingly.
"Brother Salin, you don't understand. Killing bandits not only earns gold coins from the empire, but also merits. After accumulating a certain amount, you can be made a noble. I don't care about it, but the merits can be transferred. It's another income. "
Salin smiled. He didn't want any captives this time. Since Sharman wanted to make a fortune, he'd give it to her.
Peace was restored in the city. Because the bandits broke into the city in a hurry, Salin's army entered soon after. The casualties among the residents weren't too serious. Apart from those who fought with the mayor, most of those who hid in their homes survived.
There were more than three thousand residents left in Sidestar City. Salin left the matter of comforting them to Sharman's aunt. Salin brought his men into the mayor's mansion to discuss how to deal with the aftermath.
Sidestar City had been conquered during the black magicians' rebellion. Later, Qin Yin's army invaded and conquered again. It was no longer prosperous. This was originally a distribution center for food. The black magicians' army was made of black puppets and didn't plunder food. Qin Yin's army didn't do such a thing either. After the nobles surrendered, the granary in Sidestar City was preserved.
If that wasn't the case, why would Salin decide to take down this city? Salin didn't lack money, but he lacked food. Sidestar City might be small, but it had a huge granary.
Legally speaking, the granary belonged to the Grand Duke of Phoenix. Salin didn't care about that. The Grand Duke was probably still wetting his bed and wouldn't come looking for trouble. Besides, Sidestar City had fallen several times. It was normal to lose something.
Salin sent Trish to collect the food. Five dimensional stones were enough to take away all the storage.
Sharman and Aini sat with Salin to discuss how to divide the spoils. Without Salin and Sue, they wouldn't have achieved such a feat. But without their guards and servants, Salin wouldn't have been able to kill so many bandits.
"Brother Salin, I'm ready to follow you. I don't want the things, I just want the heads. Humph, my sister always says I'm too young to do anything great. I want to go back and show her. "
Salin laughed. He finally knew what Sharman wanted the bandits for.
After discussing for ten minutes, Salin realized that the servant who reported didn't find any account books in the mayor's mansion. But Trish came back and gave five Dimensional Stones to Salin. After probing with his perception, Salin was very satisfied. These rations were filled to the brim with dimensional stones, and there was a huge amount of them.
In order to appease the Phoenix nobles, the Qinyin Empire did not purge the city like they did to the traitors. Trish whispered into Salin's ear, "Sir, there's another warehouse that also contains rations. Should we take it with us?"
"Is it the nobles' stockpile, or the food distributed to the citizens?"
"It's a noble's."
"How many?"
"One piece is enough."
Salin immediately gave Trish a Dimensional Stone and Trish left. Salin said to Ainphent, "If your parents come over, I think you should support the family business. The two elders are people who are obsessed with their careers."
Ainphent nodded. Salin said, "The armor and weapons left behind by these bandits are too damaged. We can't find anything valuable in the City Lord's Mansion. The food is mine, but there's a lot of armor in the other storehouses. You might not be interested in them, so convert them into gold coins. I'll give you a third. "
Salin thought that Ainphent's parents had been good to him. As long as Ainphent became independent from the Clyde family, it was definitely worth supporting him.
If he raised his friend and let the other noble youths follow suit, Metatlin would not have to worry about people coming.
Ainphent said, "You're quite generous, but I really do need money. I lost eighty demon wolves this time, so I won't be polite with you."
Salin then said to Sharman, "Since you've decided to follow me, you can't leave everything to me. If you want to buy equipment and raise a private army, you will need to spend money. I can't give you all the money, so I still have to transfer the income from each battle to you. "
Sharman said with a smile, "Brother Salin is so nice, then I'll take it."
Salin smiled and said, "It's not that I'm nice, it's the rule of the continent. I have a group of followers myself, and I have to raise them. I know how terrifying the cost is. "
"Terrifying?"
"Yes, when we return to Metatlin, I'll announce the restoration of the Metatlin family. At that time, I'll give you the power to raise a thousand private soldiers. Raising a thousand elites is much more difficult than you think. Those aren't slaves. Have you seen Rex's swordsman camp? "
Sharman nodded. Salin said, "The swordsman camp doesn't count the auxiliary soldiers, just the ten thousand elites. The monthly expenditure is hundreds of thousands of gold coins. Of course, this is for ordinary nobles. Rex and I have our own income, so we don't have to buy magic cores outside. It's much cheaper. Even so, this swordsman camp needs millions of gold coins to maintain in a year. "
"How much will it cost in a war?" Sharman finally understood that being a general wasn't so easy.
"Not too much. Rex's swordsman camp trains regularly, and the loss of equipment is about the same as during war. Food, magic cores, equipment, and warhorses are the main expenses. In times of war, there's an extra pension. So defeating the enemy isn't necessarily victory. You have to control the loss of soldiers. Spend more money to buy equipment. Otherwise, if the soldiers you've trained for ten years die, you'll have to train them again, and it'll cost even more. "
Sharman listened carefully. At this moment, a servant came in to report that the officials of Sidestar City wanted to see him. The noble ran away, but he didn't take the officials in charge of this place with him. Salin occupied the city lord's residence, and a few minor officials in the city had to come and ask what these people were planning.
If Salin planned to occupy this place, these officials had to leave. Otherwise, it would be equivalent to defecting to the enemy. Usually, no one would make things difficult for them. These people didn't have much influence, and their main skill was managing the city.
"I won't see them. Tell them that I'll leave in three days. Let them find their own masters." Salin couldn't be bothered to meet these small characters. In three days, he would plunder Sidestar City. Anyway, this city's location was important. Salin had to rebuild it sooner or later, and he couldn't kill these officials now. It would be easier to deal with this small city when Rex came.
After all, there was Mars City to the west, and a few thousand troops were stationed there. If Salin occupied this place, he would have to defend against Mars City's troops.
The officials waiting outside the city lord's residence heaved a sigh of relief when they heard this news. They saw that those people of unknown origins were extremely vicious and killed without batting an eye. If they really occupied this place, there was nothing they could do.
Salin continued to calculate the accounts of the people around him. Those servants came back one by one to report. Salin wrote down the items that each servant found on a piece of paper and priced them one by one.
What surprised Sharman and Ainphent was that they could still rake in millions of gold coins from this dilapidated city.
There were armor and weapons left in the storeroom, as well as a small amount of magic cores, machinery, and a small factory for making equipment. There were few merchants in Sidestar City. Basically, they were all farmers nearby. This was originally a military town, and those farmers also needed to be trained.
Ainphent had lost a lot on the Demon Wolves, but he was finally relieved after receiving the gold coins that Salin promised him. Salin couldn't possibly bring so many gold coins with him. Even if it was a deposit in the Imperial Bank, Salin only had a few hundred thousand gold coins. Metatlin City was a place to make money, but Salin's expenses were also high.
In the end, Ainphent agreed to go out with the ship once next spring. Salin promised him that he would give him five hundred thousand magic cores worth the market price.
Ainphent was grateful, but he didn't say much. After all, when he became independent from the Clyde Family, he would bring Salin a huge amount of tax.
Ainphent didn't have the ability to go to the Frozen Sea alone. Plus, the route was controlled by Salin, and there was a quota every year. It wasn't something you could go just because you wanted to. The extra five hundred thousand magic cores could be considered Salin's consideration of him.
Salin didn't say the true value of this battle. Not to mention the one million gold coins worth of equipment and materials, the value of those rations couldn't be estimated. Salin made a simple calculation. The rations that Trish brought back were enough to feed the people of Metatlin City for a few years.
These rations were called stored wheat in Qin Yin. They definitely didn't taste as good as new rations, but in times of war, who cared about how they tasted? Filling one's stomach was the most important thing. With this batch of rations, all of Salin's plans could be realized. Otherwise, he would have to spend his energy on how to buy rations everywhere.
The level-5 mage saw Salin's actions and was completely convinced. He was busy to death for a few thousand gold coins, but Salin casually gave Ainphent five hundred thousand gold coins worth of magic cores.
If he followed this kind of person, he wouldn't have to worry about magic cores for cultivation in the future. Luckily, he left with Guya. In the Roland family, he was ostracized by the other three mages, and treated the worst. But he couldn't leave either. Otherwise, he would be laughed at, and other nobles might not want him.
Salin saw his reaction and knew that it would be easy to subdue this mage in the future. If he followed Sharman in the future, he wouldn't have to specially assign a great mage to Sharman.
Ainphent and Sharman were from merchant families, but Salin was from Scottinya, and he knew how to calculate gains and losses. In this operation, he had used the eight hundred soldiers and servants with the two of them, while he and Sue had only dealt with a level-6 mage. In the end, Rex would still take over this city. Salin didn't dare to believe that he had earned so much.
Salin didn't stay for three days. Two days later, the scouts outside the city found traces of bandits. Salin immediately led his men and left Side Star City without hesitation. The bandits dared to come back because they had gathered enough men or powerful military force. There were only two hundred elite soldiers in his group, so there was no need to defend the city.
Anyway, Rex's army was about to arrive. Salin left Sider Star City behind, chose a magic apprentice in the city, and handed the remaining hundred-odd zombie soldiers to that apprentice. Then, he led the team forward with light equipment and quickly headed south.
A week later, Salin had already brought his team to the border of Phoenix.
"Sharman, it's in the city ahead. Hire a convoy and head west with the goods. I want to enter Qin Yin from Guderian City. The war in the west is complicated, so be careful. "Salin didn't treat Sharman like a child anymore, and warned her seriously.
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