"Taina has already explained to me in detail the purpose of the general's visit, but the national policy has been set and cannot be changed without authorization. Yanji can only be rewarded through clearing and eradication, and cannot be canonized directly. Otherwise, it will be unfair to those who have lofty ideals."
The first person to speak was King Yasang. There was no trace of the first meeting in his words, as if they had already met many times.
It was also true, he had seen Gavin much more often than Gavin imagined, but he didn't know it.
"Your Majesty, do you mean fair competition?" Even in the face of the eyes of the princes and nobles of Cormyr in the room, Gavin did not show any stage fright. A person's courage is in contrast to his strength. When he faced the palace archmage, he was trembling with fear. , is still vivid in my mind, fearing that the other party will kill me with a backhand. Who dares to do this now, first ask Ms. Strategy if she agrees.
"Yes, fair competition. I have summoned everyone who is qualified to do this. What do you think about this matter? Let us discuss it together." King Yasan said very straightforwardly.
With just a few words, Gavin knew what King Asan had in mind.
He is basically cultivating political voodoo, pushing himself and the existing major forces into the voodoo breeding ground of Yandi at the same time.
In order to obtain this territory, they will definitely do their best to develop and fight for it.
No matter who wins or loses, the Obaisqir royal family can benefit from it. Even if everyone fails to develop, they will not lose because from the beginning to the end, it is not their financial and material resources that are used.
"How to determine the outcome of this matter? It can't be through a battle, right?" The person who asked was not Gavin, but another standing member of the Royal Court Chamber, a woman who looked like fire.
She has long fiery red hair, fiery red armor, fiery red cloak, fiery red full lips, and flame-like eyes, exuding a flame-like charm. Just being stared at by her gives the illusion of being ignited, which makes people feel He couldn't help but throw himself into the flames, even if he knew he would be burned to ashes.
This person is none other than Gavin's biggest rival in Rockland, the leader of the Red Crow Mercenary Group, Rayana Rose, a quasi-legendary warrior.
At least the information Gavin originally had said that she was a warrior, but now he is not so sure, because she is filled with powerful fluctuations of flame magic. She is not someone who has been cultivated like a mage, but has been awakened innately like a warlock. Her body The blood of the fire genasi flows in it.
Elementals are a hybrid of native humanoid creatures and alien elemental creatures, such as fire djinn, wind djinn, daou wind elves, small djinn, etc.
There are more or less such existences in Faerûn, and they have a strong regional character. This is related to the closeness of this land to the elemental plane.
There are very few hybrids like this in the Kingdom of Cormyr, and even if there are, they are mostly water elementals. After all, it is close to the Sea of Fallen Stars, and there are more water elemental creatures of all kinds.
The places where fire genasi and air genasi appear most often are in Tethyr, Gavin's hometown, especially in the Calishan Empire in the south. The noble blood there is more or less elemental, because in history It was once ruled by the empires established by Karin the Wind Djinn and Mannon the Fire Djinn. The war between the two reshaped this land and continues to this day.
Elemental energy is naturally flowing in the bodies of these genasi. Even if they are specialized warriors, they will not be ordinary warriors, but magic warriors.
"Of course we can't start a war. We are building Yandi, not destroying it." The Palace Archmage said seriously, "So, we have to judge the outcome through construction. We will give you five years, and you can build Yandi according to your own ability. Develop and build there, and then calculate the results based on the total taxes you paid there. For the sake of fairness, we will assign special royal financial personnel for you to follow up throughout the process to ensure the authenticity of the taxes."
This plan of the Kingdom of Cormyr was obviously not the result of a slap on the forehead, but was carefully calculated.
If you want to get more output from the rock land, you have to spend crazy money here and buy various industries. In the end, what will be judged is not how much money you spend on it, but how much output you make with these industries. .
It is a shortcut to play a shell company and pay taxes directly with your own money, but this method is obviously a stupid way to spend money. If you are not careful, you will lose your pants, because you don’t have any Judging from this method, you will pay more taxes than your competitors.
When Gavin heard this, he immediately became energetic. He was good at this method. He was a man who was ready to peek into the road, and then into the priesthood of trade, wealth and money. He had a lot of money-making business.
Not to mention the distance, he now has the City of Faith on the other side of the Goblin Border Wasteland, and the Land of Three Rivers on the other side of the Battle Valley.
The rocky land sandwiched in the middle only serves as a transit function. Without doing anything, a large amount of wealth will be recorded.
He also has a lot of advantages that others don't have, such as paving roads and building bridges in rocky areas. The tolls alone are very profitable.
The kobolds that have grown into a large scale have advantages in mining that are beyond the reach of ordinary people.
It just takes a bit long, it takes five years.
Well.
These five years are only the time specified by the Kingdom of Cormyr, and it does not mean that it is the time that I use.
When they form a crushing force that they cannot match, as long as their competitors are not stupid, they will take the initiative to stop investing, or even contact themselves to sell their property to themselves and withdraw voluntarily.
Leyana's flaming eyes shrank involuntarily. This proposal was extremely unfavorable to her. Just look at her use of mercenary groups as a way of development. Compared with management and construction, she and her own Most of the subordinates are better at fighting.
This is exactly the crux of the matter. If you want to conquer the rocky land, it is not as simple as defeating or killing the monsters here. Stable construction is indispensable. King Asan and the others are probably looking at Gavin's crazy expansion. She just picked out the roads and the ability to build a city to accompany him.
But retreating without a fight was not in her life dictionary. She continued to ask: "What if two competing parties are interested in the same industry?"
"Before the official start, we will divide Yandi into regions and each will develop in their own areas. Yandi is not a small place. I believe that in a short period of time, your development will not conflict." Palace Archmage replied.
"What to do with the losing party's property?" Although Leyana has the blood of the Fire Elemental flowing in her body, her temper is not that impulsive and irritable. Instead, she is as calm as the Earth Elemental, and does not let go of any detail she thinks of.
"This kind of industry is divided into two types. One is the existing industry that belongs to the kingdom, such as Tiffinton. This part will be taken back by the royal family and given to the winner, and the other part is completely developed by the loser. The royal family will be responsible for valuing and buying it as royal property, or the winner will redeem it." The palace mage gave the underpinning plan.
With this support, all participants can safely invest in it without worrying about losing all their money.
Gavin couldn't help but say at this time: "I think this matter cannot be as simple as one size fits all, but depends on the nature of the industry. For example, industries such as mining and farmland should indeed adopt this method, but shops, There is no need for an industry like the Chamber of Commerce. I believe that no matter who wins, the industry can accommodate such healthy competitors. After all, this is the foundation for the prosperity of a territory."
He only needs to have major control over this kind of territory located in the Kingdom of Cormyr. There is no need to care about small profits. With this energy, there is plenty of land in the wilderness waiting for him to develop. That is completely independent and does not require Constrained by the royal family of Cormyr.
With the development of his strength, the meaning of his dominance of Yandi has changed.
Originally, he wanted to take control of Yandi because he wanted to use this place as a place for his rise.
Taking it now is to serve as a transit point through our own territory. Only by taking it can we connect the goblin wilderness, the Conqueror's Road and the valley.
The Palace Archmage and King Asan looked at each other, and after reaching a tacit understanding, the Palace Archmage nodded and said: "General Gavin's suggestion is indeed more reasonable. After this matter is settled, we will further refine it. Many Things are not static and can be re-agreed as the development progresses. The most important thing now is to determine the members who will join this competition."
Gavin was the first to sign up: "I, Gavin Nott, volunteer to participate in this Baron War."
Leyana followed closely and said: "I, Leyana Rose, volunteer to participate in this baron battle."
After hesitating for a few seconds, the Lord of Tifanton, Aracelin, stood up and said, "I, Aracelin Qiuyi, volunteered to participate in this baron battle."
No one present was surprised by the three participants, as they now have a close relationship with Rockland.
"The royal family's suggestion is to divide the area according to the current location of your main forces. The rocky land, which is the most barren and the largest, belongs to General Gavin. The Red Spring Reclamation Area uses the Stormhorn Mountains and the Thunder Peak Mountains as the dividing line, and the north belongs to Ti. Under Fanton's name, the city owner of Aracelin will develop it, and the south will be developed by Captain Leyana. This division is limited to real estate such as land and mining. Trade and business can be carried out normally by all three parties. The other two We are not allowed to deliberately block it. I wonder if you are satisfied with this division method?" When asking for opinions, everyone's eyes involuntarily fell on Gavin.
Because compared to the other two parties, he suffered the most. Although the rocky land was large, it was the place with the most problems. The entire Hongquan Reclamation Area was tied to it in order to sell it.
"I don't have a problem." If this division method was placed a month ago, Gavin would definitely not agree, but now he nodded and agreed without thinking.
Because he already has a goblin wilderness and a city of faith on the other side of the rocky land, as well as a magic manor with good weather conditions. As soon as summer comes next year, he will have sufficient food supplies. The demand for the Red Spring Reclamation Area Not high.
Even if the Red Spring Reclamation Area is really given to him, he does not have so much manpower and material resources to develop it. As the main body of the conqueror's army, he is neither prepared to stay in the goblin wilderness nor in the rocky land. The valley is the ultimate destination, he would not give up the development of other places just to eat a Rockland Baron.
On the contrary, handing over the Hongquan Reclamation Area to other forces is tantamount to borrowing their funds and hands to develop your own future territory. When the time comes, you can buy it all in one go. Is there a more cost-effective deal than this?
"I don't have a problem either." Rayana replied.
Abel City is the biggest backing of their Red Crow Mercenary Group. Their development is of course relying on this city to expand northward. This is why they knew that Gavin started as a kobold in the rocky land and did not make many moves. s reason.
Because they jumped into the rocky ground rashly, they themselves were exhausted, which was extremely detrimental to development.
"I have no objection," Aracelin said.
She is the Lord of Tifanton City, and this is her main sphere of influence. Of course, everything must rely on this city.
"Very good." King Yasan showed a satisfied smile and said, "We have now been able to reach a basic plan on this matter. The remaining things are to advance in all aspects around this plan. These details are all We don’t need to do it ourselves, we can just let the people below conduct consultations and then submit it for review.”
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty," everyone said in unison.
"If there is no objection, today's court meeting will end here. If there is anything else, we will discuss it tomorrow." King Yasan ended today's meeting.
What they have reached now is just a basic consensus. There are too many interests involved and the land area is too large. After everyone returns, they will definitely have their own small meeting to discuss this matter in detail. They must at least discuss this matter. It's not out of the question to argue for weeks or even months.
If the development of rock land was so easy, it would not have been delayed until now.
After the princes and nobles of the Kingdom of Cormyr left the royal meeting hall, Gavin was led by Tynarasta to the drawing room aside, where King Asan and the Palace Archmage were already waiting for him.
Gavin immediately knelt on one knee and said: "Your Majesty, I want to apologize to you. The violent beast disaster in the King's Forest was not caused by the Maura believers, but was caused by me while digesting the corpse of the plundering bear."
It is impossible for King Asan and others to know about this matter, but they did not mention it in public in the royal court meeting hall. This shows that they are not planning to publicize the matter publicly, but handle it secretly in private. As for the blame, they will leave it to the Maura believers. Memorize it, they won’t refute it anyway, and even if they refute it, no one will believe it.
Princess Crown followed and knelt on one knee and said: "I am also responsible for this, but there is one thing that my father needs to know. Those Maela believers secretly infected one hundred and fifty-two of our recruits and infiltrated into our recruit camp, because The reason for the wild beast disaster was that the lycanthropy in their bodies was triggered in advance, and they were discovered and controlled in time, without causing too many casualties."
After hearing the news, King Asan's face suddenly turned cold, and he said angrily: "These cultists are really all-pervasive and use everything. They dispatched a task force of war mages to launch a comprehensive attack on the regular army, garrison troops, guards, and recruits across the country. Screening, go through all the people to make sure they have not been infiltrated by shapeshifters or lycanthropes. This kind of screening is not a one-time thing, but should be done regularly, every month and every ten days. .”
As the leader of a country, his considerations will naturally not be limited to a new military camp in Luji Town, but will focus on the entire kingdom. After all, the conflict between them and the Maula believers has become acute. These cultists are secretive and difficult to eradicate completely. , we can only start with defense first.
The palace mage bowed and obeyed, "I obey."
King Yasan said with a solemn expression: "You did not do this intentionally, and the merits and demerits are mixed together, making it difficult to distinguish between them.
In addition to rewarding you with the bear forest created by you, the Royal District of Susar City also rewards you with a villa as your place to stay in the imperial city.
You have to compensate the people who lost their lives and whose homes were destroyed, and when all the losses are tallied up, someone will send you a bill. "
"This is what it should be." Gavin breathed a sigh of relief. He just made financial compensation, which made the matter easier to handle. He was afraid that King Asan would ask him to resurrect all the innocent people who died because of this. That would be true. Big trouble.
Although King Asan claims to love his people like his own son, he is not so perverted.
"I haven't finished speaking yet." King Yasan continued, "This is only one of them. The second is that you, as the kingdom's special envoy, will go to Aro Shi, the kingdom of tree spirits in the king's forest, to promote an alliance of peaceful coexistence with them. .”
"Okay." Gavin agreed readily again, because this was what he promised Queen Radhanasi.
"One last thing, I want half of the blood bear berries produced in Xiong Lin." Princess Crown has obviously reported the uniqueness of Xiong Lin to King Asan truthfully.
"I have no objection to sharing half of the blood bear berries, but there is one thing I must inform your majesty in advance. All bears who eat blood bear berries will be transformed into blue bear believers, especially those enlightened non-intelligent bears. In terms of camp and emotions, they will be infinitely inclined to my side." This request did not surprise Gavin, he had already expected it when he took out the blood bear fruit.
"I know, I will make reasonable use of it." King Yasan naturally has his own calculations. The greatest value of this thing is not after the reward is given out, but the temptation formed before the reward is given out. This is the same as a rock baron who will seduce It makes sense for the three forces to develop the rocky land at the same time.
"A total of one hundred and twenty-one fruits have been harvested this time. Five have been used. This is fifty-eight." Gavin neatly took out the remaining half of the blood bear fruit. As long as this thing can It doesn't matter whose hands it is to transform a bear into a blue bear worshiper. It will provide the blue bear with the power of totem belief.
If he didn't want to divide it, he wouldn't have taken it out in the first place. After all, Xiong Lin was in the territory of the Kingdom of Cormyr. He couldn't send a large number of troops to settle in. For security, he had to rely on the Kingdom of Cormyr. Now he has the Blood Bear Fruit as a common interest. , Gavin didn’t even need to say anything, they would be very interested.
(End of chapter)
