I have to jump out of this pit, Laurist encouraged himself in his heart. Of course, that's what he did. He immediately invited Viscount Penélope and a few other nobles of the Commerce Alliance to a banquet. After reiterating that the Norton Family's occupation of Morent City was only to reach a peace and armistice agreement between the two countries, he felt that it was a good time to negotiate now that the flames of war in the Mana Hill Plains had been extinguished. Thus, Laurist sincerely hoped that Viscount Penélope and the other nobles could make a trip to Mawei Fulin Province and represent the Norton Family to express their sincerity to the higher-ups of the Commerce Alliance.
At the banquet, Laurist affectionately described the huge pain and blood price that the cruel war between the Commerce Alliance and the Andinac Kingdom had brought to the innocent people of both countries. This was a war with no victors, Laurist said solemnly. Look at the former rich and peaceful Mana Hill Plains. What has it become now? There are ruins and battlefields everywhere. You can no longer hear the pastoral songs of the past, nor can you see the joyful farmers welcoming the harvest, nor can you see the village girls dancing in the sweet orchards …
We must stop this war. This damned war only brings destruction and pain. I can't believe that the greatest commercial city in the Galinthea Continent, which left me with the most beautiful impression during my ten years of schooling, has become like this. There is no life, and millions of citizens can only rely on coarse grains to fill their stomachs. As Laurist spoke, tears flowed down his cheeks.
Viscount Penélope and the other nobles were moved by Laurist's words and tears. They all expressed that they would spare no effort to rush to Mawei Fulin Province and do their best to convince the higher-ups of the Commerce Alliance to stop this war and reach a peace armistice agreement with the Andinac Kingdom. Laurist also expressed righteously that as long as the armistice agreement was signed and peace was restored, the armed forces of the Norton Family would immediately withdraw from all the fortresses on the Mana Hill Plains and return Morent City to the Commerce Alliance.
After sending Viscount Penélope and the other nobles on a carriage to Mawei Fulin Province and sending a large group of cavalry from the Flying Tiger Legion to escort them, Laurist's face immediately sank into the basin of water that Genolio brought over. Alright, during the banquet, Laurist accidentally smeared a little too much fruit powder on the corner of his eyes, causing tears to flow non-stop and his eyes to turn red. But the effect was very good. Viscount Penélope and the others were so moved that they insisted on leaving before the banquet was over.
Then, Laurist waited for the next seven days. Finally, Fatty Shi, Steward Spear, and a large group of family civil officials arrived at Morent City.
It had been almost twenty years since Fatty Shi had left Moronte City when he followed Loriste's northbound caravan to his family's territory. Although Fatso Shi's homeland was the Tellimbo Kingdom that had been destroyed by the Trade Union, his father had sent him to Moronte City when he was seven or eight years old. He had spent his youth and most of his youth here, until he met Laurist.
Fatty Shi wanted to show off in front of Director Spear and show off in front of Manager Spear, who was from the northern region. He wanted this bumpkin from the Northern Region to see the glory of the top commercial city on the Galinthea Continent. But the impatient Laurist didn't give him the chance. He had already prepared a carriage and sent them to the conference room immediately.
They were all trusted and reliable members of the family, so Laurist didn't hide anything. He went straight to the point and told everyone about the current predicament the family's armed forces were facing.
"What? We captured Moronte City but didn't gain anything? Instead, we have to feed more than a million residents? " It was Steward Spear who screamed. On the way to Moronte City by ship, she had dreamed that the family could earn tens of millions of gold coins this time. After her beautiful dream was dashed, Steward Spear grumbled. What kind of broken city was this? How dare they call themselves the continent's number one commercial city …
Fatty Shi, on the other hand, frowned tightly. He had never imagined that Morent City would become like this. It had almost become a completely unfamiliar city. It had nothing to do with the vibrant Morent City in his memory.
After carefully reading the documents in front of him, Fatty Shi said, "Your Highness, give me three days. We will organize people to investigate the entire Moronte City. We will see what the situation is and think of countermeasures."
Laurist smiled bitterly and said, "I regret it now. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have refused His Majesty's request. I would have given him the responsibility of the five fortresses on the Mana Hill Plain and this Moronte City. Then, I would have led the family armed forces back to the Northern Region. That way, even if there was a mess, His Majesty could clean it up. It would have nothing to do with the Norton Family.
I can only blame myself for asking for trouble. I shouldn't have boasted before the expedition that we set out to stop the war, defeated the Invincible Fleet, and occupied Morent City. In the end, I got myself into such a huge pit. Now, I only hope that Viscount Penélope and the others can reply as soon as possible. The sooner we reach a peace agreement with the Commercial Union, the sooner our armed forces can leave this big hole Moronte City … "
Fatty Shi laughed involuntarily, "Your Highness, the situation shouldn't be as bad as you think. Look, isn't there good news as well?"
Laurist looked at the document that Fatty Shi was holding on the table. It was a report on the prisoner camp that had more than 100,000 captives in the inner city. The tavern set up in the prisoner camp had finally opened. In the past ten days, they had made tens of thousands of gold merits every day. Of course, this was also because Laurist had once again deliberately reduced the free porridge that the prisoner camp provided. Previously, one bowl of porridge and water had become two bowls. The starving prisoners in the inner city had no choice but to buy expensive bread to fill their stomachs.
"On one hand, we have to keep the promise of the nobles and not infringe on the rights of these prisoners' sacred private property. On the other hand, we have to think of ways to plunder money from these prisoners. This is only a small matter. But the problem now is that more than a million residents of Moronte City have nothing to do. Although our family has provided them with free coarse grains, there have been many fights in the 24th district of the outer city these past few days. I'm only worried that it will lead to an even larger disturbance if time goes on … "Laurist said with a heavy heart.
"I understand. The most important thing now is to find suitable jobs for these more than a million residents of Moronte City to prevent them from causing trouble. However, Moronte City is not a territory that our family intends to occupy for a long time. Therefore, our family cannot make a large investment here in order to prevent our family from falling into a situation where they will lose everything after Moronte City is taken back by the Commercial Union." Fatty Shi hit the nail on the head and pointed out the crux of the problem.
"Yes, that's right. Unless we also implement the ration distribution system in Moronte City like the Commercial Union, we will not be able to get something for nothing. However, we are the occupiers. Compared to the Commercial Union, we cannot make the residents of Moronte City trust us. In order to avoid conflict, we cannot forcefully implement this system. However, if we do not implement this system, our family will have to invest a large amount of gold coins. This is not worth it … "
Laurist was interrupted when he said this. Genolio walked over and reported softly that the commander of the Imperial Guard Regiment, Ell, was urgently requesting an audience. He was currently waiting in the small study room.
Laurist stood up and left the meeting room in large strides. He walked to the small study room. Ell, who was sitting on the sofa, quickly stood up and saluted. "Your Highness, can you come with me somewhere?"
"Ell, you are my brother. Don't be so polite. Alright, we will go now. Right, Genolio, ask Baron Shredder to wait for us at the Red Raven Tavern. We have not seen Old Gard for a long time. Let's get together there. "Laurist agreed without asking where Ell wanted him to go.
"Sigh, my uncle's tavern has now become one of the taverns in Moronte City. The residents can only go in and drink a cup of ale according to their allotted ale. Even the head chef, Fatty Mai, has left with a marquis because the tavern no longer has any use for him. There is no food for him to cook," Ell said with a sigh.
"You went to see Old Gard?" Laurist asked curiously.
Ell nodded. "I went with Redi. My uncle has aged a lot these few years. He rejected many invitations from nobles who wanted him to become a family knight. He only stayed at home to teach his two sons. The Red Raven Tavern only has Aunt Louise in charge now. However, she can only provide the most ordinary ale. Redi and I wanted his family to follow us back to the north. Our territories are connected anyway, so they can live there. But my uncle refused. He said he did not want to leave Moronte City. We tried to persuade him, but he still flew into a rage … "
Laurist put on the cloak that Genolio had given him. Fatty Mai came over and asked, "Can I go with you?"
Ell thought for a moment and hesitated. However, he made a decision in the end. "Yes, but we cannot attract attention. We need to dress up. Don't dress like nobles."
The place Ell brought Laurist and Fatty Mai to was the base of his former association. It was a three-story bluestone building at the edge of the neighborhood. There was also a rather large courtyard. Not only was there a fountain with an exquisite sculpture of a little angel, but there was also a small forest made up of about thirty trees.
According to El, this mansion used to be the secondary residence of a count of the Kingdom of Telimbo in Morent City. After the Glass War, this courtyard was confiscated by the Chamber of Commerce. Later on, it was auctioned off and bought by Ledos as the base of their organization. Although Ledos was not a noble, he was still in charge of the order and taxes of the three neighborhoods in the outer city. He was quite famous in Moronte City.
Ledos was already waiting by the side door on the first floor. After entering the room, Laurist realized that he was the only one left in the building. Seeing Laurist and the other two come in, Ledos did not say anything. He only nodded at them and led them to the kitchen. Although Laurist was surprised, he did not say anything and only followed him.
After entering a storeroom next to the kitchen, Ledos dug around and found a hole in the ground. There was also a wooden ladder. Ell walked down the wooden ladder without saying anything.
"Your Highness …" Fatty Mai said.
"It's fine." Laurist shook his head and followed Ell down.
Below the wooden ladder was a small dark room and a small tunnel that led to an unknown place. There were burning torches three or four meters apart on both sides of the tunnel. Ledos was the last to come down. He closed the hole above the wooden ladder and walked a few steps in front to lead the way.
"This is the tunnel that leads to the sewers of Moronte City. It's also an underground smuggling channel for the association. In recent years, because the Trade Union has implemented a rationing system for food and daily necessities in Morent City, Ledos and his gang have no choice but to make some profits through smuggling. This way, they can also let their brothers eat better, "El explained.
"Then why did you bring us here? We don't smuggle, and we didn't forbid you from doing so … "Fatty Mai asked curiously.
"Ledos wants to give you a gift. There are too many people up there, and he's afraid that it will bring bad consequences to the association if it gets out, so he can only arrange for it to be underground," Ell replied.
At this time, Ledos stopped and said in a low voice, "It's here."
This was a hole near the sewers. It was dug out to be a temporary warehouse for the smuggled goods. It was about seven or eight square meters in size. However, there were no supplies inside, only two people who were tied up tightly and drunk.
"Who are they?" Laurist asked.
"The bearded one is the head manager of the Livord Chamber of Commerce. He used to be in charge of the food and daily necessities distribution for the twenty-four communities in the outer city for a period of time. We, the various associations in the outer city, have to grovel to him in every possible way to get some leftovers from his fingers to fill our stomachs. Last year, he was called back to the territory of the Chamber of Commerce. The big man behind him is the leader of the Golden Guards of the Livord Chamber of Commerce. He's somewhat famous in Moronte City, "Ledos answered coldly.
"Then why are they here? Why are they like this? "Fatty Mai asked.
"They are here because they took the initiative to find me. They want me to cooperate with them and incite the residents of Moronte City to cause trouble for you. If we do a good job, they can request us to become nobles in the future at the Chamber of Commerce. I heard them say that they first found us because we are more united, organized, and have fighting power. So, I invited them to drink and did something to the wine. That's how they ended up like this, "Ledos answered without batting an eyelid.
Laurist looked at him with interest, "Ledos, why aren't you going to do as they say?"
"I don't want to become their cannon fodder. They aren't even nobles themselves, so why would they ask for credit for us? Only an idiot would believe that. The most important thing is that the residents of our community are our family. We won't push our family into the abyss of suffering. It's easy to incite the residents to start a riot, but people will die. They will be safe hiding in the back.
If they didn't say that they volunteered to be the first batch to come to Moronte City and that the Chamber of Commerce would send reinforcements later, I thought they might be of some use to you. That's why I thought of giving them to you. Otherwise, I would have buried them alive long ago. I'm not trying to curry favor with you. It's because Aire is our big brother, and we don't want to see any riots in Moronte City that would sacrifice the innocent residents … "Ledos' expression was still cold.
"Thank you, Ledos. Even though you don't see me as a brother, I still see you as a kindred spirit, a warm and sincere friend. "Lolist thanked Ledos solemnly.
"Ugh …" Ledos froze for a moment. He turned around and saw Aire smiling. His expression was a little unnatural, "Take them away. Don't go over my head to avoid being seen. I'll take you to the exit of the sewers. It leads to a remote corner outside the city. You can go there directly. "
… …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
