Chapter 58 Petitioners

Winter Springs Plain. ()

Jill stood by the river, watching the inky black water flow along its banks, whirlpooling, carrying branches and even dead wood floating downstream.

The south side was in turmoil again, and Fandra was visibly feeling the tension here. From time to time, people from the south loaded carts with their belongings and moved to Fandra with their families. Only residents with full identification have the right to freely buy property in the municipality, and of course, they have to pay a large sum of money. Farmers and craftsmen remained in the city of Fandra for the time being, but they were not left unsettled, and the new plantations and workshops around welcomed them, especially doctors, teachers and artisans.

Of course, some lords also recruited tenant farmers by offering land. These lords generally require those who are homeless to sign contracts for decades or even lifetimes, and in return, the displaced people receive land and houses. The Nord lords have always been very hungry for population, and if there are not enough lords to cultivate so much new arable land every year, it will be like discarding gold coins in the wilderness for them.

There are also some displaced people who do not even have families, and they are alone and have no worries. For such people, the Nord army would welcome them to join. The strongest of these people will eventually stay. Fandra received funding from the king and was asked to establish a standing army instead of the local troops provided by the various lords in the past. As a large port, Fandra could not always pray for the kingdom's assistance, it should be self-reliant.

This time, in the face of the mission to the south, the mayor of Fendra expressed considerable support for Jill, and the mayor of the town only removed less than half of the military salary issued by the kingdom, and kept the rest for Jill, and instructed Jill to spend whatever he wanted, as long as it was beneficial to the country, and did not need to ask for instructions.

In addition to this, Gil received more than a hundred sets of tattered armor and a large number of inferior weapons that were badly damaged as gifts from the Lord of Fendra.

These little lords of the North Sea sent a confused old bookkeeper to take Jill and his party on a tour of the warehouse--- which the lords called the arsenal.

Andre was beside Gil, and his face turned pale: "Is the strong support that King Nord said is all this broken copper and iron?" ”

With that, Andrei copied a spear, which he stabbed into a barrel on the side, and the rusted spearhead fell off, leaving the barrel intact.

"See?" André said angrily, "The Svadians only need to buy a few hundred barrels of fine wine, and while drinking, they can use the empty barrels to fight us to achieve victory, and King Nord is taking this opportunity to leave us to fend for ourselves." ”

Jill looked at the embarrassed-looking lords around him, and had to divert the conversation to ask the bookkeeper how much stuff there was here.

The old man smiled and introduced the history of the arsenal for a long time, and said that the earliest spears in it could be traced back to the time of the Swadi Arazu, and they were extremely collectible. Jill coughed and interrupted the old man's explanation, and then gestured for a long time to finally make the old man understand that he wanted to see the list of items here.

The old man found a parchment scroll on a dusty wooden shelf, and he solemnly blew away the thick dust on the parchment, licked his fingers with his tongue, and then carefully opened the list. The last recorded was shortly after the end of the North Sea War, when one of General Marr's quartermasters requisitioned the last batch of usable bow materials and left behind a pile of weapons and armor that could not be repaired.

At last the old man finally found the record he had made twenty years ago: "Well, lo and behold, my handwriting was as beautiful as it is now." Ahem, I'm going to start reading, gentlemen. Uh''May Swadia win, no, it has been crossed out, it should be that the warehouse of May Nord be victorious, after counting, there are still one hundred and seventy-four shields, and there are many more holes in the shield than in the shield; There are ninety-seven spears, the shafts of the spears need to be replaced, and most of the spearheads need to be reheated; 19 long swords, 47 short swords, 30 hand knives, and 7 armor-piercing hammers; There are forty-seven longbows, all of which are willow longbow materials, and most of the bow bodies are bent due to poor maintenance; There were ninety-seven pairs of leather armor, thirty-two pairs of chainmail overalls, nine pairs of half-body armor, and full-body armor, which had been stolen six years ago. That's it, sir. ”

The people around fell silent, and the more than three hundred people in the swamp formed a legion from these?

"Jill", on the way back to Winterspring University, Andre couldn't help but say, "Is King Nord really willing to support us with all his strength, as you said?" ”

"He had to say that." Jill smiled.

A few months ago, Jill attended King Nord's banquet with a secret letter from the mayor and an accompanying letter of recommendation.

Jill always remembered how King Nord's expression changed when he suddenly mentioned to King Nord at the banquet that he had been a Zen master more than ten years ago. Perhaps King Nord's heart was extremely unhappy, but under the watchful eyes of the surrounding lords and mercenary leaders, King Nord had to praise the help of the Chanda people and expressed regret for their demise.

King Nord said, "You are right, young man. It is true that the Chanda people have given a lot to Beihai, but their final demise stems from their impulse, and I would love to help them, but my army has heard of the fall of Chanda when they are on the road. You know, I'm sad. ”

Jill caught the flash of shame on the faces of the Nord generals around him, "Yes, yes", Jill nodded, "Your Majesty, I think you're right. ”

Speaking of which, the people around the banquet had already noticed this kid who was talking abroad, and since everyone did not know where he came from, the whispered inquiry began to buzz.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen", Jill further focused his already attracted gaze on himself, "Our Majesty has just promised to do everything in our power to protect the peace of the North Sea, and God will be with us"

Prayers rang out, the ladies nodded, and the men raised their glasses.

King Nord frowned, he didn't want to be swayed by a boy of unknown origin, but out of politeness, he had to raise his right hand to greet everyone in return.

"Yes, God will be with us."

The sound of Ying He sounded around again.

"Your Majesty," Jill suddenly bent down and gave a difficult salute, "Xiaomin has come here on a commissioned request. ”

"Say it." King Nord thought for a moment, and had to say this, his interest had been ruined, but he faintly gave birth to a curious mentality, "What do you want?" ”

"Your Majesty, the little people are from the port of Fendra."

The buzz was heard again, and one of King Nord's attendants leaned down and whispered something in King Nord's ear.

"Fandra? Well, I've heard that the harbor was unscathed by the earthquake years ago, and that the people who fortified it seem to have some legs," King Nord gestured to Jill's legs with a raised hand. "Is that you?"

"Your Majesty, that person is Xiaomin. So I was entertained by General Marr a few years ago. ”

King Nord looked at Mar, who was sitting with the generals, and Marr nodded.

"Well, thank you for your contribution to the Kingdom. I'm curious to know why you're asking for your life, and I'll be as generous as I can be. ”

"Thank you, Gracious Your Majesty. As you know, the port of Fandra has just been built, and the population is in dire straits, and now every Fandra person has to work hard to build a beautiful port in the kingdom. With every citizen missing, the prosperity of our town will be deserted; For every one less stonemason, we have one less beautiful stonework in the harbor; With every carpenter missing, the beautiful and delicate windmills of the plains of Fandra will have a hard time running, and of course, we will not have flour for bread", and cheerful laughter rang out all around, "Your Majesty, your recruiting officer is still on business, and has asked Fandra to send seven hundred men for training, and three hundred men to the south. Not to mention whether these people can be a qualified warrior on the battlefield, the departure of these seven hundred people will delay the construction of Fandra's port in all aspects, which will cause huge losses at the moment."

Watching Gil's gushing speeches, King Nord guessed that Gil was trying to relieve Fandra of his military service, and he had seen many of them these days: a man stripped naked outside the castle and sang carols; Two old women knelt down in the street and stopped the king's guards; A group of orphans sang "Long live my king" on the bridge--- delegates from all over the country tried all means to get King Nord to reduce his military service.

King Nord's response was simple: "If you do not send soldiers south, your property will no longer be under my protection, and the kingdom will no longer accept a series of land annexations and financial disputes that arise, and the kingdom will only shelter those villages and towns that are in danger with the kingdom." ”

This threat was effective, and it was known that the war would not last long, but disputes such as land disputes were a long-lasting thing, and it was not a good thing to be hated by King Nord on this.

Seeing that this Jill cleverly used the atmosphere of the banquet to coerce himself, King Nord felt very unhappy.

"Hmm, you mean that Fandra should be sheltered, and it doesn't matter if there is no one to build in other areas?" King Nord asked rhetorically.

"Your Majesty, the little people don't dare."

"So what do you want? I can't trample on my fairness because of the gains and losses of one port, and then I won't be able to face other towns. But since I have promised to hear what you have to say, I will be generous, because I have promised you. You can reduce the number of conscripts by three hundred and let four hundred for training. Then two hundred people were selected to go south. ”

"Thank you, my majesty." Jill bowed again, but didn't move.

"Young man, you should go down", General Marr stood up to relieve King Nord.

"Yes, General. But my petition has not yet begun. ”

There were whispers of surprise around him, and people expressed their bewilderment at this Jill's rudeness.

"Isn't Your Majesty generous enough?"

"No, General. It's just that Your Majesty misunderstood what we meant. Fandra has absolutely no intention of evading our responsibilities to the Kingdom, we are simply petitioning to take on greater responsibilities for the Kingdom, and we hope that the Kingdom will allow us to send real warriors south. Three hundred people, one no less, one warrior on top of one"

"Whew, warrior? I don't understand it anymore," said King Nord's smile, "and tell me about it." ”

"Your Majesty, remember what I said about Zen masters."

King Nord's smile froze, and the people around him, who had not heard Jill talking to the king alone, also gathered around curiously.

"Your Majesty, the Chan people hope to make their own contribution to the stability of the North Sea when you need it, after more than ten years of misunderstanding with you."

Then Jill began to tell those present what those who had been betrayed by the Nords had been doing for more than twenty years. Many Nord people knew that they were forced by the situation back then, but in their hearts, they really thought that they were ashamed to do so. After Jill finished speaking, a long discussion ensued.

"Those people," King Nord avoided using the words "Zen masters," "what do they want?" If they have been faithful to me, what shall I give them? ”

"Your Majesty," Gil knelt down, trembling on his crutches, "those in exile hope to be able to leave the swamp and live a free life with your permission. ”

"Free life" King Nord stood up, "what free life? ”

Jill knew that the time had come for him to make his final request, "They want to return to the Zenda Plains and become Zen masters again--- with your permission and protection." ”

"Is that what they're asking for?"

"Yes."

"Let them go south first, I want to see if they are qualified to have a fertile land in my land"

These are the efforts that Gil made for the Zenda soldiers, but after Gil returned, he simply told Andre that King Nord was very supportive of the Zenda people.

Everything was beginning to be prepared, and the Zen people left the swamp in batches, they burned down the shacks that monitored the swamp, and left the camp to the swamp tribes who had helped them all these years, giving them a lot of crafts and food, and most of the things that could not be taken away were given away.

These Zen masters soon moved into a camp around Dongquan University, where their stay aroused the curiosity of the university's faculty and students, and the two sides had various contacts. The scholars of the Chanda exiles could not help but burst into tears when they saw Dongquan University, which had not been seen for many years; And the Chanda teachers in the university also felt extremely proud to see their army.

After these romantic reunions, Gil had to face the situation of how to arm these Chanda soldiers and then let them serve well in the south for a while, so that they could win the right to self-government.

Jill used a lot of his own money to buy war horses, order weapons, and build armor, but this is not enough for combat. Gil needs more support, needs more gold--- whether it's the Swadia Dinar or the North Sea's Eagle Head Gold Coin, Gil needs it.

Just when Gil was at a loss, Mrs. André told Gil through a message from her former sister that there was a Salander traveling merchant who was in charge of a Salander bank and was looking for an investment partner and a partner to meet him if he was interested.

Jona told Gil that the Salander might be back in Salander in a week, and that he was loading the cargo and ready to leave. His circus has also been cleaned up and is now making its final rests on the docks.

Jill thought for a moment and said to Jona, "I want to see him, what is his name." ”

Ruona looked at Jill deeply, then smiled, "Charlie." ”