And don't care what Offel Mondridge can prevaricate and hide for the time being. At the same time as the superintendent of the Western Expeditionary Army was working on the case, the door of Garcia's two-story stone and wood house slammed open. Several officers and soldiers in their regular uniforms, unarmoured and dressed in bottles, mingled into the crowd of Garcia Market with their voices and laughter.

Garcia's business opportunities after the return of the army ushered in a strange prosperity, but the prosperity was limited to the former general residential areas and military camps where artisans and merchants temporarily lived, and the widest Garcia Boulevard. Knowing that the army would be stationed here, the craftsmen and merchants began to renovate the houses and shops they wanted, the original owner? The original owner has long since disappeared. The houses in the entire city of Garcia are basically in a state of "slow hands", and only when there are people in them, those who want to move in will stop there.

Of course, many of them were merchants and craftsmen who had made their fortunes with the Western Expeditionary Army. Wherever the Western Expeditionary Army went, their business was done. This time, it is completely normal to open the business to the best place.

Behind these merchants and craftsmen was a vast organization capable of supporting the additional logistics of the Western Expeditionary Army. Therefore, they thought that they had enough bargaining chips to trade fairly with the Western Expeditionary Army, and in order to keep the "mass soil" and necessary trade needs of these people, the Western Expeditionary Army obediently bargained with them on the surface. As for the non-superficial? There are many doorways here. Eighty percent of the taxes can be solved by using Elta's old legal code.

The salaries in the hands of officers and soldiers, and even biscuits and bacon that were tired of the soldiers, became the only currency in circulation at this time. They were able to buy wild animals and vegetables from hunters, beautiful glass balls from upstream, tobacco, wine, and all that was left of the women who had nothing.

The leather and meat business that had just been carried out in that house was traded in currency for soldiers' rations. These women of all ages, who were not forced to become serfs, had to gather in Garcia and other central places to sell their last capital in order to support themselves. Some of them ended up being the private instruments of the hard-nosed organizers who had a good relationship with the soldiers, while others were indulged in the food and the bustling streets of Garcia or the tobacco and alcohol by virtue of their good looks. The luckiest group of men mustered together enough capital and courage to continue their westward journey, and bought the sailors of merchant ships at a large price to sail all the way upstream. Arrive at the fabled last paradise of the Elta Empire.

The young woman and her companions, who had closed the door and locked it after seeing the officers and soldiers walk away, were apparently also fellow villagers who had come together as a team to sell tickets to the west. But whether they will be able to get their way, or whether they will not be able to get out of the quagmire, or whether one of them will become the culprit of oppressing other companions in order to gain their own status and happiness, it will be time to test. But even if they come this far, these guys who sell in Garcia are always much better than their predecessors. The serfs who were still working for the demon powder only needed a nod from the soldiers, a glance or a broken biscuit, or even a cookie crumb in a corner of their pockets to serve the Elta rebels...... And then they do it. No one has ever dared to say no - those who say no have long since died...... Phew, there's no place to bury you.

Even compared to their regular counterparts outside Garcia, they in Garcia should feel lucky. Although they all negotiate the price first and then do things, they may have more than one customer in the capital Garcia, and after being bullied here, they can get the support of another unit's customer. Over time, few people are willing to trade fame for a small gain that obviously outweighs the loss. And those small places where only one unit is stationed, after negotiating the price, are being increased construction and other dramas are constantly being staged...... As long as you don't play badly, that's what they're all about.

Looking at this line of defense that runs from north to south, as long as the stronghold is a little larger, from the general to the soldiers, no one dares to maintain a clean slate in the face of drunkenness, leaving the post without authorization, seeking pleasure and gambling. Some people just touch the same, most have to touch both, and a few have both.

In front of color, soldiers at all levels have their own ways of playing. Even the director of the Western Expeditionary Army has played the Tao, so don't expect anyone to be innocent. Naturally, senior officers can raise their own little families in Elta, and junior soldiers will not express much dissatisfaction with the common toys - they just have to play.

As for the wine? That's not to mention. The problem of the lack of alcohol for the soldiers at the grassroots level is not due to rules and regulations, but to the inadequate supply conditions. Whether it was wheat or various fruits, there was not much alcohol left after it was distributed to the mid-ranking officers and the magicians and warriors of some special war groups, not to mention the fact that there was also an alcoholic chief officer above who secretly withheld some of the wine and then mixed the rest with water. The wine mixed with water has been scrambling to such a point, and it can only be said that now that it has turned to the stage of perseverance, the boring Bi-Moon Western Expeditionary Army is indeed too lacking in excitement. Since alcohol is not allowed to be used because of regulations, from top to bottom, drunkards who break through class boundaries begin to exchange their military salaries and biscuits, bread, and bacon with local vendors.

Its demand is so great that even the new district is ready to use alcohol to blend flavors to make a fortune that does not make money in vain. If the cost and price of brewing sake outside the new area are inflated because of the need for solid grains such as wheat and fruits, what about the price of industrial ethanol made from straw and wood chips, molasses and sulphurous acid waste liquid? As long as they are blended with spices, they are real wines, or even more real than the real ones. What are the side effects of drinking industrial ethanol? Of course, the methanol contained in it will make people whimper. However, the blending is mostly strong liquor, which can still play a certain role in alleviating it. Therefore, it is better to only sell this batch of wine for export. Anyway, if you drink the enemy to death, there will be no Bimonthly Church Consumer Association and 12315 to come over to settle people's lives.

Of course, there are many ways to find a thrill. In addition to wine and sex, there is also gambling. After being confiscated from their staffs and even forced to go bare-chested, mages often competed with sword-wielding soldiers. And the stakes, from military pay to fine wine, to the right of replacement for night duty, sometimes a roast leg of lamb, sometimes even the right to use it for a night for the "exclusive" woman of a certain officer, and even sometimes the right of use is exchanged for ownership. Even the lowest soldiers nibbled on the coarse bread handed out from the kitchen, making a bet on the biscuits of their disdainful marching rations. Fortunately, these private entertainments were specially pressed by officers, so that no soldiers were in debt--but they lost not a single trouser left, and the next day there were still unlucky people with no shirts in their armor every day.

Guarding the stronghold requires night shifts. But the gamble made the soldiers linger, and the man who stood guard was intoxicated with gentleness, and the wine, though it could be drunk, had the consequence that the sentry who should have stood could often be seen lying on the aisles of the city walls and the beacon towers, and sleeping till dawn. Even getting drunk by holding on to the city wall and falling off the wall is nothing new. The freshest thing is that Garcia and the unlucky guy who fell down were able to get up unscathed the next day, but they only scratched a little skin and their buttocks were half swollen. Then the guy lay on his stomach on the hospital bed and continued to raise a glass with his visiting friends...... There are many ridiculous things like this, and the soldiers, in order to be on duty and vent, actually brought women into the outpost. The leak coincided with the continuous rain, and the chief who checked the situation at the post suddenly arrived. For a while, the scene was extremely embarrassing. Other similar soldiers gambled on the city wall and held a barbecue party on the city wall, so that neighboring allies mistook it for a fireworks signal and rushed to help, only to find that the barbecue party had long since ended...... Strange things like this are not enough against the backdrop of the previous anecdotes.

Of course, the leather and meat merchants were not treated well, and the ordinary merchants and craftsmen were only slightly better off than them. Except for those who had dealt with their enemies, who had survived and put on a look of buying and refusing to pay any taxes, the others had to pay their taxes, from the rent of the land, to the commercial tax, the poll tax, the special excise tax, the fireworks tax...... All kinds of duplicate taxes were paid, and the soldiers seemed to bargain fairly on the surface, but secretly they were all about using exorbitant taxes to take back what had been exchanged for the reasonable labor income of the merchants and craftsmen. These taxes, which are misinterpreted according to the Elta Code and the Code, cannot be avoided at all, and they have only one market. Even if Garcia's "magistrates" led a few soldiers to the door to collect the rent of the store on a weekly basis, they could only choose to give up a part of their profits to feed the last remnants of the old Elta - otherwise they would have to starve to death if they had no business to do, and it was better to die than to live.

It's not that they haven't thought about resisting, but the legend of the Land of the Red Dragon has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Despite the defeat of the two moons, the fighting power that really terrifies both the Church itself and the Elta people has not yet appeared. The conquest of the Red Dragon Kingdom was also the defeat of the Church of the Two Moons before the God came out. If it is said that it is the decision of the northern territory and its masters who have the ability and capital to wait and see and choose the strong, then what about the ordinary people and those weak women? It is fatal to stay under the "protection" and exploitation of the Bimonthly Western Expeditionary Army, but defecting to the rumored peaceful and warm side of Doniva may directly lose his life in the future. Now, women who are even more exploitative have taken the lead in making the choice to go west. In addition to those serfs and laborers who cannot choose their own fate, what choice will the ordinary people who still have free bodies make? In other words, how long will they be able to endure the slow exploitation of the Bilunar Church? I'm afraid it won't be long.