He had to jump out of this big hole, Lorist cheered himself up in his heart, of course he did the same, immediately hosted a banquet for Viscount Penelope and several other nobles from the business alliance, and reiterated the Norton family's occupation of Morocco. Lent City only wanted to reach a peace and armistice agreement between the two countries, and believed that now that the war on the Fali Hill Plain had been extinguished, it was a good time for peace talks, so Lorist sincerely hoped that Viscount Penelope and other nobles could go to Mawyford Lin Sheng and his party represented the Norton family to express the sincerity of the peace talks to the senior management of the business alliance.
At the banquet, Lorist expressed affectionately the great pain and blood cost to the innocent people of the two countries caused by the brutal war between the Commercial Alliance and the Antinac Kingdom for the past three years. The war, Lorist said very seriously. Look at the rich and peaceful Faliqiu Plain in the past. What it looks like now, there are ruins everywhere, and everywhere has become a battlefield. You can no longer hear the pastoral songs of the past, and you can’t see the joyful farmers welcoming the harvest. The village girl dancing in the sweet orchard...
We must stop this war, a damn war that brings nothing but destruction and misery. I can't believe that the greatest commercial city in Galintia, which I left the best impression of after ten years of study, has turned into what it is now, with no vitality, and millions of residents can only rely on coarse grains to feed themselves, Lorist Talking and talking, shed two lines of tears.
Viscount Penelope and other nobles present here were moved by Lorist's words and tears, and said that they must spare no effort to rush to Mawy Forint Province, and try their best to persuade the top management of the business alliance to stop this war, and Andy The Kingdom of Nak reached a peace and armistice agreement. Lorist also declared that as soon as the armistice agreement is signed and peace is restored, the Norton family's armed forces will immediately withdraw from all the fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plain, and return Morant City to the Merchant Alliance.
After sending Viscount Penelope and several other nobles to the carriage to Mawvelin province and dispatching a brigade of cavalry from the Flying Tiger Legion to see them off, Lorist immediately turned his face to Genorio's. in the basin. Well, during the banquet, Lorist accidentally smeared a little more spicy fruit powder on the corners of his eyes, so much so that his eyes were flushed with tears all the time. However, the effect was very good. Viscount Penelope and the others insisted on leaving immediately after the banquet they were touched by was over...
After that, Lorist waited for the stars and the moon for seven days, and finally waited for Fatty Shi and Manager Speer to arrive in Morente City with a large group of family officials.
It has been nearly twenty years since Fatty Shi left Morente City when he followed Lorist to organize a northbound convoy to the family territory. Returning to his hometown this time is also considered a homecoming. Although Fatty Shi’s home country should be regarded as the Trimble Kingdom that was destroyed by the Business Alliance, Fatty Shi was sent to Morente City by his father when he was seven or eight years old. Here He spent his boyhood and most of his youth until he met Lorist.
Fatty Shi also wanted to give some pointers on the country in Morente City with great interest, and show off in front of Director Speer by the way, so that this bumpkin from the North could see what is the number one commercial city in Galintia. . As a result, the impatient Lorist didn't give him a chance, he had already prepared a carriage and sent them to the meeting room immediately.
They were all trusted and reliable high-ranking members of the family, and Lorist didn't hide anything at all, straight to the point and presented the current difficulties faced by the family's armed forces in front of everyone.
"What? We captured Morente City and didn't gain much. Instead, we are responsible for feeding the more than one million residents?" The screaming was Director Speer, who was delusional on the way to Morente City by boat. It means that the family can earn tens of millions of Jinford this time. After the good wishes were shattered, Director Speer complained loudly, what kind of broken city is this, and he still has the face to call himself the number one commercial city in the mainland...
Fatty Shi frowned tightly. He never expected Morente City to become like this. It has almost become a completely strange city, nothing like the vibrant Morente City in his memory. Not related.
Carefully reviewing the documents and materials collected and seized in front of him, Fatty Shi said: "Your Highness, give me three days, and we will organize people to investigate the entire city of Morente. See what’s going on, and think about what to do about it.”
Lorist smiled bitterly and said, "I regret it now. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have rejected our king's request. I left him responsible for the five fortress cities on the Fali Hill Plain and this city of Morente, and then led the family Armed and returned to the Northland, even if it is a mess, it can be handed over to the king to clean up, and it has nothing to do with our Norton family.
I should blame myself for asking for trouble. I shouldn’t have boasted before going out that we went out to stop the war. We defeated the Armada and occupied Morente City, and ended up sinking ourselves into a big pit. Now I just hope that Viscount Penelope and the others can send a reply letter as soon as possible, and the sooner we can reach a peace and armistice agreement with the Commercial Alliance, the sooner our family armed forces can leave the big pit of Morente City... "
Fatty Shi couldn't help laughing: "Your Highness, the situation shouldn't be as bad as you imagined. Look, isn't there good news?"
Lorist looked at the document that Fatty Shi was holding on the table. It was a report on the submission of the prisoner-of-war camp with more than 100,000 prisoners in the inner city. The tavern set up in the prisoner-of-war camp has finally opened, and the daily income in the past ten days has reached tens of thousands of Jinford. Of course, this was also the reason why Lorist deliberately reduced the food quota of porridge provided free of charge by the prisoner-of-war camp. The previous one bowl of porridge now became two bowls with water, and the prisoners in the inner city were so hungry that they had to buy expensive bread to satisfy their hunger.
"On the one hand, we must keep the promise of the nobles and not infringe on the rights of these captives' sacred private property. On the other hand, we must make up our minds to collect money from these captives. This is just a small matter. But the problem now is Morente There are more than a million residents in the city doing nothing. Although our family provides them with free coarse food, there have been many fights in the twenty-fourth district of the outer city in the past few days. Large-scale turmoil..." Lorist said thoughtfully.
"I understand that the most urgent task is to find suitable jobs for the more than one million residents of Morente City so that they don't cause trouble, but Morente City is not a site that our family intends to occupy for a long time, so it is impossible for our family to carry out large-scale activities here. Large-scale investment, so as to avoid the situation where our family will fall into a catastrophe after Morente City is taken back by the business alliance." Fatty Shi pointed to the crux of the problem.
"Yes, that's it. Unless we also implement the quantitative order distribution system in Morente City like the Business Alliance, we will be empty-handed. But we are occupiers. Compared with those chambers of commerce in the Business Alliance, we can't let Morun The residents of Special City have a sense of trust in us. In order to avoid conflicts, we cannot forcefully implement this system, but if we do not implement this system, the family will have to invest a lot of gold coins in it, which is very uneconomical... "
Lorist was interrupted as soon as he said this, and Genorio came over and reported softly that El, the commander of the Guards Corps, urgently asked to see him, and he was waiting in the small study now.
Lorist got up and strode out of the meeting room, walking to the small study. El, who was sitting on the sofa, quickly got up and saluted: "Your Highness, can you go to a place with me?"
"El, you are my brother, don't be so polite. Okay, let's go now, by the way, Genorio, let Baron Shredder wait for us at the Red Crow Tavern, we haven't seen Lao Jia for a long time, so we Get together there." Lorist agreed without asking El where he wanted him to go.
"Hey, my uncle's tavern is now one of the taverns assigned by the ration order in Morente City. Residents can only go in and drink a glass of ale according to the assigned ale ration order. Even the chef Fatty Mai followed a marquis. Because there is no room for him in the tavern now, and there is no food for him to cook." El said with a sigh.
"Have you met Old Gal?" Lorist asked curiously.
El nodded: "I went with Reddy. My uncle has aged a lot in recent years. He rejected many nobles' invitations to make him a family knight, and only stayed at home to teach his two sons. The Red Crow Tavern Now only Aunt Louise is in charge, but only the most common ale can be provided. Reddy and I want their family to follow us back to live in the Northland. Anyway, our two territories are connected, and they are there Either side is fine. But my uncle refused, he said he didn’t want to leave Moriente City, and he lost his temper after we persuaded him a few words... "
Lorist put on the cloak Genorio sent over, and Fatty Shi came over and asked, "Can I go too?"
El thought for a while and hesitated, but finally he made a decision: "Yes, but we can't make a big show of attracting attention, and we need to dress up so that we don't look like nobles."
The place where El took Lorist and Fatty Shi was the residence of his former society. It was a three-story bluestone building on the edge of the adjacent community, and there was a rather large courtyard. In the courtyard was not only a delicate sculpture There is a fountain of little angels and a grove of more than 30 trees.
El said that this mansion used to be the other courtyard of the Earl of the Trimble Kingdom in Morente City. After the Glass War, the courtyard was confiscated by the Chamber of Commerce Union, and later it was auctioned off and bought by Ledos. It is the resident of their community organization. Although Ledos is not an aristocrat, after all, he is responsible for the order and taxation of the three communities in the outer city, and he is considered a celebrity in Morente City.
Ledos had already been waiting by the side door on the first floor. After entering the room, Lorist found that he was the only one left in the whole building. Seeing Lorist and the three of them coming in, Ledos didn't speak, just nodded at them and led them to the back kitchen. Although Lorist was surprised, he didn't make a sound and just followed him.
After entering a sundry storage room next to the back kitchen, Ledos dug around somewhere, and there was a hole in the ground and a wooden ladder. Al walked down the wooden ladder without chewing.
"Your Highness..." Fatty Shi said.
"It's okay." Lorist shook his head and followed El down.
Below the wooden ladder is a small dark room, and there is a small tunnel that leads to nowhere. A flaming torch is inserted three or four meters apart on both sides of the tunnel. Ledos came down last, and he closed the hole above the wooden ladder again, and walked a few steps ahead to lead the way.
"This is the tunnel leading to the sewer of Morente City, and it is also an underground smuggling channel for associations. In recent years, because the business alliance has implemented a rationed distribution system for food and living supplies in Morente City, Ledos and their associations I have to seek some benefits through smuggling, and I can also make my brothers eat better." El explained.
"Then why did you bring us here? We neither smuggle nor forbid you to smuggle..." Fatty Shi asked a little strangely.
"Ledos wants to give you a gift. There are too many people at the top, and I'm afraid that if it leaks out, it will bring bad consequences to the society, so I have to arrange it below." El replied.
At this moment, Ledos stopped and said in a low voice, "This is it."
This is a cave near the sewer. It should be used as a temporary warehouse for storing smuggled materials, and it is also seven or eight square meters in size. But there are no supplies here now, only two drunk people who are tied up tightly.
"Who are they?" Lorist asked.
"The man with the beard is the chief steward of the Liward Chamber of Commerce. He was once in charge of the general affairs of the distribution of food and living supplies in the 24th community of the outer city for a period of time. We, the various associations and organizations in the outer city community, have to bow our knees to He tried every means to please him to leak a little leftovers from his fingers to fill his stomach. Last year, he was called back to the territory of the Chamber of Commerce. The big man behind him is a leader of the gold guard of the Liward Chamber of Commerce, and he is also considered a leader in Morente City. Some fame." Ledos replied coldly.
"Then why did they appear here? They became like this again?" Fatty Shi asked.
"They appeared here because they took the initiative to find me and asked me to cooperate with them to incite the residents to riot in Morente City and cause you some trouble. If they do well, they can give us some help in the Business Alliance Council in the future. Please confer us as nobles. I heard them say that they were the first to come to our club organization because we are more united, organized and capable of fighting. So I invited them to drink and did some tricks in the wine, and they became like this Yes." Ledos replied calmly.
Lorist looked at him with interest: "Ledos, why aren't you going to do what they say?"
"I don't want to be their cannon fodder. They are not aristocrats themselves, but they will ask for credit for us? Whoever believes who is a fool. The most important point is that the residents in our community are our relatives, so we will not put ourselves It is easy to incite the residents to set off riots, but this will kill people, and they will be safe by hiding behind.
If they didn't say that they volunteered to be the first batch to come to Morente City, and the business alliance would send people to support them later, I thought it might be useful to you, so I thought of giving it to you. Otherwise, they would have been buried alive. I'm not flattering you, but because El is our eldest brother, and we don't want any turmoil in Morente City to sacrifice those innocent residents..." Ledos still had that cold expression.
"Thank you, Ledos. Although you don't regard me as a brother, I still regard you as a congenial, warm-hearted and sincere good friend." Lorist thanked Ledos solemnly.
"Uh..." Ledos froze for a moment, turned his head and saw El was smiling, and said with an unnatural expression: "Take them away, don't pass over me, so as not to be seen. I'll take you Go to the exit of the sewer, which leads to a remote corner outside the city, and you can go back to the city directly from there."
…