Two days later, the village of Fidné.

The Lord Lords only repaired for three hours after Serendil had killed those python knights, and he was basically as fast as he could reach Fidenne.

Governor Justes and Alina are no longer on the team, nor are the Freikorps.

Justus went to the port of Dillin, where he intended to meet the serf general Ivaylo.

In order to set up an ambush before the Serpentarian army, Leon had Jocelyn and Sigismund follow up with the Freikor, while he himself hurried to Fidenne with all the cavalry.

Located at the base of an unnamed mountain, the village of Fidné was originally built as a stopover at the pass of the mountains, and then gradually developed into a village over the centuries.

It's the main road connecting the port of Dilin and the city of Boshi, and it's a must-go if you don't plan to go over the mountains and take a detour.

Normally, the villages that make up the main traffic routes are relatively affluent, as was the case in the village of Fidenne in previous years.

But that was a few years ago......

Today, the village of Fedne looks very bleak.

The fields are barren, the roads are full of bones, the eyes are full of messiness, and the ten rooms are empty.

There are no mosquitoes and flies in winter, but the vultures and rats everywhere seem to be quite fat.

Ten rooms and nine empty rooms are not adjectives here, but literal - most of the houses are empty, many houses have been set on fire, and the whole village has been burned to the ground.

Obviously, it doesn't matter if the Red Death visited this place, but there certainly were raiders.

"My lord, there are still people in the village, and the army of the Snake Cult should not have arrived yet. But...... The village seemed to be full of old people, and not a single young man was seen. ”

Walking to the entrance of the village, Risadilan, who was exploring the road at the front, came back to report the situation.

"There must be some raiders in this village...... But only saw the old man? The least self-protective group survived? It's kind of weird......"

The lord looked around and walked towards the village.

There are several high-walled compounds in the center of the village, which seem to be the mansions of nobles, and there seem to be people in the mansions looking around.

However, when they saw the lord's army, these people were busy closing the door, and they could hear the sound of the wooden bolt being killed inside the door from a distance.

There weren't any snake worshippers in the village of Fedne, but there were residents—or survivors—here, which clearly meant that the snake cult army hadn't arrived yet.

Obviously, although Leon and his troops first went to Thrindir to fight a battle and then turned to Fidenne and went around in circles, they still came earlier than the Serpent Cult's army.

The sheer number of Serpent followers had probably severely slowed down the Serpent army.

But the reaction of these people in the village is a bit strange, it stands to reason that in the event of the Red Death or looters, the villagers will usually run away.

What's the point of closing the door and hiding in the house after encountering the army?

Leon told his troops to stop at the mouth of the valley outside the village, and told Rissadiran to take someone to find out.

After all, it is not sure if there is a Red Death rampant in this place, so let the Noldors go and investigate first, lest the other troops get infected with the Red Death.

Not long after, Risa Dilan hurried back and brought back an old man.

Or rather, he tied up an old man, because Rissadillan had caught him on horseback.

The old man was well dressed, with a typical Bacchus aristocratic ribbon on his body, and looked like a tribune.

But he was in very poor spirits, and was left on the horse's back by Risa Dilan for a while, and he was already out of breath.

"My lord, this is the family that just closed. As soon as I got closer, he attacked him with a throwing gun, so I had to force my way down the door and arrest him...... But he had no servants or slaves in his house, and no young man was strong. ”

After bringing the man back, Risardiran threw it directly to the ground, and the old man howled.

The tribune of the Bacchus Empire, who has no servants and young men at home?

That's pretty rare.

Looking at the style of the house, this old man should be quite rich, so he won't be so miserable.

"Heroes spare their lives...... The hero spared his life...... "After being thrown to the ground by Risadiran, the old man collapsed to the ground and begged for mercy.

Hero?

The meaning of this title at this time is roughly similar to words like 'good man', right?

Does this old man think that Risa Dilan is mixed with the green forest road?

However, Risadiran's forcible arrest is probably very much like a bandit......

Understanding the reason for people's fear, Li Ang took off his homemade mask, squatted down and asked the old man who was paralyzed on the ground in a soft voice: "We are not bandits...... What the hell is going on here? Why didn't you leave here? ”

Seeing that the lord was gentle and kind, the old man stammered twice, and asked tremblingly, "...... You're not bandits? ”

“…… When have you ever seen bandits under the banner of nobility? ”

Leon felt that most of the grassroots officials in the Bacchus Empire might have some kind of fault - either bad or stupid......

Well, other countries are probably about the same.

"But these Noldor elves ......"

"It's all my subordinates, don't worry, they don't bite."

The old man seemed to be relieved, and slowly got up, and looked at Risadiran with fear.

Risa Dilan spread his hands: "I'm sorry, I was just ordered to figure out the situation, and I couldn't break the door of your house, and the adults will pay you ......"

Leon glared at Lisa Dilan, took out a few dinars and handed them over: "You also saw that the Noldor elves are very sensible and good people...... What's going on in this village now? Did you get the Red Death? Who is the lord here? ”

The old man didn't take the money, but looked at the dinar and sighed: "Forget the money, it's useless to have money now...... There was no Red Death in this village, but it was worse than the Red Death......"

This old man is indeed a local tribune.

Perhaps it was fate, the lord of this Fidenne village turned out to be an acquaintance of Leon - Febius.

That is, the son of the governor of Livius.

In fact, most of the village of Fedne is the family property of Livius, and Febius can become the lord here because no other lord dares to go to the territory of the Livius family.

After Levius and his son were caught by Leon last year, they were packaged and sold wholesale by Leon to his good brother Ramon, so that Ramon, a professional ransom broker, could do the business.

Speaking of which, the father and son were lucky, because it was a change of hands, they went to Singar, and the journey took a long time. As a result, the Livius father and son got a great benefit - after they returned home, they happened to encounter internal and external troubles in the Bacchus Empire, and no one cared about the trouble of this defeated general.

Under the White Deer Fort, he was defeated and captured with superior forces, lost the Shield Wind Fortress, and not only lost his troops, but also lost thousands of people by Li Ang......

If this were in normal times, Emperor Marius would definitely take the opportunity to get Livius to the end and replace him with his cronies as governors.

Like Creon or Agathon......

But in this current situation, it is natural that these things cannot be taken into account.

In fact, due to so many recent events, the Livius father and son are almost forgotten...... Even if they weren't forgotten, no one in the entire Bacchus Empire would have the heart to think about them for the time being.

When the father and son return to Fidiner, Livius and his son find that no one cares about them......

Then, they discovered that the Bacchus Empire seemed to be at war everywhere.

The father and son took advantage of the domestic turmoil to think a little carefully.

Livius actually knew very well why he himself sat in the governorship's position, and anyone who could hold a high position usually understood the simplest truth - a soldier in his hand is a hard waist.

However, the father and son together now only had 300 slaves and 200 soldiers in their hands, and they felt that it was not enough.

These are actually the private property of the Levius family.

Most of his original men, the captured Shadowfoot soldiers, were redeemed by the soldiers' own families after they were transferred to Ramon by Leon.

After the people were captured, they were not ransomed by Levius, and the soldiers naturally did not return to Livius's hands.

So, when the country was in danger, Levius planned to 'start from scratch' and build a large army, and he wanted to 'save the Bacchus empire from fire and water'......

That's what he said himself, anyway.

And it seems that this is really the case - the so-called self-made army is to forcibly kidnap young and strong people into an army, referred to as catching strong men......

He does this work a lot and has a lot of experience......

As for saving the Bacchus Empire from fire and water - if Emperor Marius killed Hirayuzas in Siyuan City, it would be Emperor Marius's Bacchus Empire that was saved.

But if Sheila Yuzas's rebels win, then Lord Livius will naturally save Sheila Yuzas's new Bacchus......

Anyway, Livius is also a member of the Shadow Legion, and he has a bit of a friendship with General Sheila.

This is not because Levius is naturally rebellious or has a penchant for being a wall-to-wall, in fact, it is a habit that has been consistent for thousands of years in any wealthy family, and has been the case throughout dynasties.

This is true even in the face of alien subversion.

There is a word in the East called 'home country and the world', and it is clear that the home is in the front and the world is in the back.

Therefore, what the wealthy and aristocratic of any country have done for thousands of years basically revolves around the same logic: investment.

Or it's called betting.

When the country is in a unified state, powerful and prominent families will use family power as capital, invest in court power, and eventually control the country in the same way as controlling the aristocracy and bureaucracy.

Therefore, the place where the most right and wrong of the great unified country is next to the prince...... The nobles would bet on the princes they supported, which was to invest their own resources in the future king.

Instead of the time of great unification, when faced with a divided continent in a state of war, the wealthy nobles will shift their investment methods to the local area - from controlling resources such as knowledge and official promotions to controlling land, population, and private soldiers.

Of course, the essence remains the same, after all, it is all about controlling more combat effectiveness.

No one is stupid, in fact, everyone knows that power comes from the barrel of a gun.

It's just that when the centralized authority is relatively large, everyone doesn't dare to be a warlord, for fear of being targeted by the king and then killed, so there will be a tacit understanding.

And once the world is in chaos, the slightly smarter nobles will clench the soldiers in their hands and then invest in bets.

In fact, for the aristocracy, the so-called allegiance is actually investment in shares.

Join a more powerful force that can fight and work together to achieve a monopoly – that is, to control the country.

Only the low-level commoners pay attention to loyalty, and the high-ranking nobles only pay attention to the return on investment.

Moreover, the logic of most aristocrats is the same as the mentality of many venture capital institutions.

To put it simply, it is optimistic about a certain project, thinking that it is possible to achieve a monopoly, so investing resources into shares, and being able to obtain greater benefits after the project is successful.

During this period, many VC firms will invest in two competitors in the same industry at the same time - either one beating the other will become a unicorn, and the VC will bet on both sides.

Because any company that successfully monopolizes the market, as an investor, can reap ten times and a hundred times the benefits.

And the Governor of Livius, at this time, intends to bet on both sides.

But betting always requires capital, and the more capital invested, the higher the status and benefits will be in the future.

The Livius father and son didn't intend to help anyone in the war, they were just investing in the winners.

In other words, after Emperor Marius and Sheila Yuzas finished fighting in Siyuan City, they would take their soldiers and horses to attach themselves to the victors.

Therefore, in order to make their soldiers and horses look a little more - that is, to get a higher status when they are pasted to lick the winners, the father and son went around again to forcibly kidnap the people and strengthen the army.

Anyway, it's to rely on the winner, to get status rather than to fight, so it doesn't matter what the combat strength training is, just a lot of people.

But violent conscription, the young and strong people will definitely be disobedient, maybe when will they mutiny, what should I do?

Levius naturally has the means......

To be precise, this means came from his son Febius.

He probably learned what Li Ang did when he hooked up with those people in White Deer Castle, and he didn't just recruit young and strong people this time.

He moved with his family, took his young and strong family members with him, and placed them in designated settlements.

In this way, with hostages, these young men can only obediently obey.

And Febius did it thoroughly - the entire village of Fidenne and the surrounding area, with a total population of about 8,000 people, except for the old people, he was violently requisitioned!

Yes, regardless of whether those were civilians or slaves, and were forcibly recruited along with women and children.

This is really a great job.

After all, both commoners and slaves belonged to various noble lords, and in this era, the people could be regarded as the property of the local lords - the forced conscription of the entire population was undoubtedly robbery, robbery or under their own rule.

Of course, this will offend everyone in the area.

However, Febius, who lost the support of the people, immediately encountered a large-scale rebellion by the Serpent Cult after completing the forced conquest......

Because he is competing with the Serpent Sect for population resources......

It's going to be troublesome now, the news of Siyuan City hasn't come for the time being, and the Livius father and son don't know who wins or loses, so they can't stick it and lick it......

But they forcibly conscripted nearly 8,000 people under their rule, and offended the whole territory!

At the same time, many of these 8,000 people are people who have already joined or plan to join the Serpent Worship Sect, and these people are going around in tandem to do things.

So Livius and his son felt quite uneasy, and couldn't sleep at night—they had to deal with the danger, or they might be killed at some point.

So, they gradually killed nearly 3,000 people in batches in half a month—in fact, they weren't sure if those people were snake worshippers, but as long as they felt like them, they would kill them.

This is really better to kill three thousand by mistake than to spare one.

Of course, there are also very rare cases where Livius has a crush on someone else's wife......

But this did prevent the Red Death from appearing in the village – the snake worshippers here were indeed killed in batches.

However, after solving the chaos of the Snake Cult, the father and son still felt very uneasy, because they had never been able to see the battle situation clear.

And the remaining 5,000 people in their hands have no real combat capability......

Forcibly conscripting these people means that no one can engage in production, and the daily consumption of food is frightening to death, and their food stocks are obviously insufficient.

Neither Klevius nor Fibius dared to let go of these forcibly conscripted 'armies'.

On the one hand, they need these people, which gives them a sense of security.

On the other hand, since these people have already formed bonds with all the nobles and commoners when they are forcibly recruited, if they are put back, maybe these people will form a force and cooperate to kill themselves!

So the father and son simply broke the jar and broke it, not only did not release the forcibly recruited people, but forced all the young and strong among them to be enslaved soldiers, and let his cronies and soldiers go out to forcibly collect the surrounding food again!

In troubled times, everyone knows that food is fate, and no one wants to pay food!

So there were skirmishes everywhere.

And what kind of quality the subordinates sent to levy grain can be imagined.

It certainly can't be a good person who serves the public with a smile......

When the grain was requisitioned, the first reaction of Livius's subordinates was to suppress it!

This bomb pressure turned into looting and massacre.

The bones all over the ground were not actually made by the raiders, but by the lord of the place, Fabius himself.

Houses are robbed and slaughtered, like locusts crossing the border, more bandits than bandits.

Only some of the local nobles or officials survived - such as the elderly tribune.

But there is no doubt that the food in everyone's homes has been robbed of almost everything......

That's why the tribune said that the money was useless......

There are only a few elderly people left in the whole village, who have neither the ability to work, nor enough food rations to make ends meet, nor the ability to travel thousands of miles to migrate to other places, so what is the use of taking money?

There's no food to buy around......

"Where are those who were forcibly recruited? Five thousand...... That's not a small amount! ”

The lord felt that the father and son of Livius had once again refreshed his three views, and they were definitely representatives of unscrupulous nobles, but he didn't want to bother with this matter now, after all, the army of the Snake Cult was coming, and Leon only hoped that the father and son would not spoil him.

"In the mountains...... The bastard, father and son, took them to the mountains to the east, and they didn't know where they were. ”