Chapter 435: 135 Act Romantic’s 2 Plans (Part 2) (Update 3)_2
However, this indeed requires an extremely grand plan and consideration at every step. It’s not just as simple as distributing resources. Brand wasn’t proficient in this area, but he had a simple example to reference. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novelFirｅ.net
Infrastructure and external warfare.
“Rather than saying it’s about buying hope, it’s more about buying labor. Although for lords, labor is an additional value, they don’t understand that while all the wealth within the territory belongs to the lord himself, there is a difference in the speed of creating new wealth,” Brand answered. “Of course, if we were to do this, how to distribute this wealth would be key.”
“Antitina, what are your thoughts?” the young man asked casually.
The noble daughter’s idea surprisingly aligned with her lord’s. She hesitated for a moment and then finally lowered her voice to ask softly, “My lord, what do you think of this place?”
In the past, Antitina could hardly imagine urging her lord to attack another legitimate lord of the kingdom and seize their land — this was outright rebellion. But as time passed, the situation of this ancient kingdom worsened day by day. Reports of turmoil were coming from outside, and having witnessed the actions of these cold-blooded, corrupt nobles herself, her last bit of fantasy for the kingdom had begun to shatter.
Brand nodded and then shook his head.
Of course, he had thoughts. Baron Gruding’s territory was almost adjacent to his future territory, and given that this fellow was nothing good, naturally, he would be the first to be targeted when the time came. But not now; he lacked both the strength and the timing. In two months, when the November coup (also known as the December coup) started, various regions would declare independence, and no one would care about a small skirmish between minor lords on the southern border.
However, he did have a headache. He had to admit, Tonyger was indeed one of the poorest territories in all of Erune. He initially feared that Roman might be hampered in such a place, but to his surprise, Miss Merchant’s instincts were strong enough to perform well anywhere.
Brand even suspected if he threw Little Roman ‘down below,’ she might happily do business with those demons.
But regardless, now that he had a preliminary idea, the remaining issue was how to perfect it and deal with the money problem. The money problem wasn’t a significant issue for Brand for the time being. The money extorted from that little noble and the funds being transported from Brags would serve as his startup capital, and the rest would rely on the rich mineral resources of the Southern Territory.
As a basic rule of being a transmigrator, if he couldn’t leverage the mineral resources, Brand would feel like he lived in vain.
But at that moment, a loud whip crack ‘snap’ interrupted his thoughts. Brand came to his senses and turned around with everyone else, just in time to see a small squad of cavalry riding into the town. Though their equipment was all mixed up, their banners were clear. The young man saw the emblem on their flags — a pelican on a black and white checkered background, the colors derived from the family crest of Jandener, indicating this noble’s direct relationship with Count Jandener. Hence, Brand immediately understood that these men were Baron Gruding’s private soldiers.
At this moment, these cavalry were raising their whips to drive away the residents on both sides of the street. Anyone who was slow to get out of the way would receive a heavy lash. The emaciated men and women scattered like livestock being driven away. This scene appeared exceedingly amusing to the riders, who couldn’t help but laugh heartily, nearly doubling over with laughter.
Antitina frowned, a scene she had often seen. The security cavalry in Brags were no less arrogant.
Then she heard the red-haired girl Qian beside her snort coldly.
“It looks like they’re dragging something behind them,” Sanfde suddenly pointed at the riders’ rear and said.
“It’s corpses,” Brand replied. “These noble private soldiers went out to fight bandits.” He concluded with a light sigh.
Antitina was taken aback. Wasn’t this a normal thing?
But Brand shook his hand, gesturing for her to remain silent, and pointed out to her. The noble daughter looked intently and indeed saw some women in the distance collapse to their knees and start sobbing upon seeing those corpses. She was slightly stunned and then asked, somewhat bewildered, “… What is going on?”
“They are said to be bandits, but more accurately, they are farmers driven to the brink by the lord’s taxes. The bandits in the forests outside are more like refugees escaping the taxes. Most of their lives are similar to ordinary farmers, and those who participate in looting are few. They are defined as ‘non-human’ simply because they evaded taxes,” replied a Gray Wolf mercenary, very familiar with it all. He bit his lip and said, “My father died this way. These damned nobles…”
“Only men?” Antitina took a deep breath and asked.
“Of course, life outside is not paradise either.” Brand nodded.
After saying this, a strange silence seemed to envelop the surroundings. Apart from the nobles’ private soldiers’ curses and the women’s low sobs, no one spoke again for a while.
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