Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 171 AIA Surprised
When shaking hands with Mayor Faulkner, Xia Houyan turned his head intentionally and peeked at Karen and Master Laurie.

The resentful expression of Karen Lepergue, the former head of the Luna Village, means that this hot-tempered and vengeful mixed-race girl has obviously not forgotten the bloody battle with Faulkner's men before;

As for Master Laurie, it should be said that he is indeed the former chief mage of Eagle's Rest Castle. At least on serious occasions, this old wretch can still keep a polite smile;
However, Xia Houyan accurately captured the worry hidden in the master's eyes——

——In the master's world view, a bloodthirsty bandit turned mayor of a small town is obviously not the most ideal partner for Shuangfengling.

However, Xia Houyan felt that there was nothing taboo about Faulkner's banditry record:
What he and Shuangfengling want is the right to recruit soldiers from Huafang Town. No matter whether the mayor of Huafang Town has been a bandit, thief or flower picker, as long as the other party is willing to help, then it is nothing to Shuangfengling. the difference.

——Whether it is a bandit or the mayor, he has done what he wants to do at every stage of his life, so what else can Shuangfengling want from him?

resign? !

In fact, Xiahouyan himself has a very good impression of Henry Faulkner: He can see that the other party is a pragmatic and smart person in a few simple exchanges, and it will always be easy to communicate with this kind of person—as long as you can take it. Pay enough chips, and Faulkner will give you the corresponding compensation in return. There is no nonsense, and there is no need to waste time.

If only love could be this simple.

Moreover, Xiahou officials firmly believe that Mr. Henry Faulkner's insight is obviously far beyond this era: when other bandits and bandits were still waiting for the caravan on the wasteland , Faulkner discovered early on that the riverside towns that collect money on the ground are the largest wealth gathering places in the land of cracked souls.

Ordinary bandits often have a fixed mindset, thinking that if I robbed the Tao yesterday, I will continue to rob the Tao tomorrow, and the law of the ancestors cannot be changed;
Only Henry Faulkner, as soon as he seized the opportunity, implemented the strategy of encircling the town without hesitation, relying on his military strength to enter Huafang Town in an open and aboveboard manner, which can be regarded as completely cleansing his black industry. , and the original cold blade bandit who did many evils has also turned into the security force of Huafang Town——

——Of course, only Mr. Faulkner knows whether they are still doing Jiedao's old business.

With this kind of strategic vision, Xia Houyan sincerely felt that even if Henry Faulkner did not carry a saber, but carried a Chicago typewriter instead, he could travel to the free America in the early twentieth century and create an underground world.

Such characters show their willingness to cooperate, and of course the lord has no reason to refuse;

Of course, he did not relax his vigilance against Faulkner at all.

For example, when this handsome silver-haired uncle proposed to personally select some unemployed boys from the town to send to Shuangfeng Ridge, or even borrow Huafang Town's armed forces at a low price, both of these proposals were declined by the lord.

There is no other reason: God knows if you Faulkner will mix a few spies among these hard-pressed people?

The location on the left bank of the Lionheart River, known as "Southern Kashmir", is too sensitive after all. Xia Houyan didn't want to find out one day that Faulkner suddenly turned his guns and defected to the Grand Duchy of Houston in the north.

So, at the welcome dinner held at the town hall of Huafang Town that night, the lord who was chewing beef said this to Mayor Faulkner:

"Our Frost Maple Ridge is recruiting volunteers. The military pay is clearly stated, and volunteers will come! You don't have to worry about recruiting people. When the propaganda team from our territory arrives in Huafang Town tomorrow, as long as you don't stop them!"

"Propaganda... Propaganda team?" The well-informed Mayor Faulkner almost choked on a mouthful of bread when he heard this novel vocabulary.

It wasn't until the next day that the old fox was sure that the lord was not joking.

Because the propaganda team really came.

Before the cold morning mist dissipated completely, Tom Lawrence brought a dozen or so eloquent little brothers and came all the way from Shuangfengling to Huafang Town.

This newly formed "Shuangfengling Temporary Propaganda Team" personally planned by the lord is all dressed in straight porcupine leather military uniforms - the style template of the imperial military uniforms, plus the hard and dark "Spine Arrow" leather , mixed with the chaotic stitches, it just rendered a rough and heroic and stern posture to the gang of Shuangfengling scum.

The Huafang Town guards who were startled by this group of people hurried forward to check if they were carrying any dangerous goods, but they didn't even have a saber, a stick, or a brick. turn up.

However, the items that the Frost Maple Ridge militiamen wore around their waists and on their backs made the guards even more nervous:
Recorders, trumpets, snare drums, lutes...

The guards of Huafang Town opened the door to make way for this group of people in fear, while whispering, are these bastard grandchildren invited by someone to release witchcraft or something?

And Mayor Faulkner, who was standing side by side with Xia Houyan in the town square, preparing to meet the Shuangfengling propaganda team, was also confused by the costumes of Tom Lawrence and others.

"This, this, this..." Faulkner, who was so personable and could be called a clear stream in the bandit world, couldn't maintain a calm and unrestrained attitude at this moment, and stuttered a bit.

"Mayor Faulkner, this is our Frost Maple Ridge recruiting propaganda team!" The lord patted his chest shamelessly, "Since volunteers are to be recruited, of course we must use various propaganda methods to attract townspeople to volunteer. Join the army!"

Faulkner clapped his hands politely, saying yes and yes, and cursing every day in his heart.

The former bandit and now the mayor really felt that his world view had been impacted:
In Haven Continent, especially in the Empire, "noble conscription" is actually a very rare phenomenon - logically speaking, the nobles who own the territory have the unconditional right to recruit their own people into the army, while the private standing army is often only a minority The rich and powerful aristocratic lords are often selected from the conscripts rather than openly recruited;

Things like "as a noble but can only recruit soldiers from outside the territory" can only be done in Shuangfengling, which is extremely short of population;
Therefore, Mayor Faulkner subconsciously thought that the so-called "recruitment of soldiers" by the young nobleman should be to recruit some people from the street to join the army according to the bandit model, and at most it was to spend gold coins to hire a mercenary group or something— —In fact, Faulkner is ready to forcibly tie up some defenseless Hanafang townspeople and give them to the lord as a meeting gift.

The arrival of Shuangfengling's "Propaganda Team" caught the cunning Faulkner by surprise.

He racked his brains and couldn't figure it out, if you recruit soldiers, you should recruit honestly, what does it have to do with the propaganda team!

When Faulkner was still doubting his life, the propaganda team led by Tom Lawrence, after greeting the lord, quickly set up a shelf in the square of Huafang Town.

So, Faulkner saw a huge ice-blue maple leaf flag, symbolizing Frost Maple Ridge, fluttering in the morning breeze over the town square;

He also saw that the never-fading golden goshawk coat of arms of the Igor family was raised high by a golden and simple ritual spear;
Immediately afterwards, the large banner of "The First Shuangfengling Cultural Festival and Recruitment Ceremony" was hung;

Then, as the dead-faced middle-aged guard gave an order, Faulkner saw speechlessly that the members of the propaganda team pulled out all kinds of musical instruments from their waists, and several of them took out sheepskins. The paper, which seems to be vaguely written with lyrics and the like...

"Our Shuangfengling is really short of manpower. It took me three days to select these talented members of the publicity team..." Xia Houyan enthusiastically introduced to Faulkner Said, "If they don't perform well, please forgive me..."

Mayor Faulkner could only respond with a stiff smile—the ugly kind.

And the fanfare publicity activities in the central square of the town soon disturbed the townspeople of Huafang Town who stayed behind closed doors.

It didn't take long before the townspeople, who experienced the monotonous life day after day in the wasteland, couldn't stand their loneliness. They braved the cold wind in the morning and walked out of their houses one by one, and surrounded the town square in a cloud of darkness. , the poor people who worry about their livelihood every day, have they ever seen such a western... uh... Oriental view?

Seeing that the audience was already in place, Lawrence quickly snapped his fingers and asked the boys to hang up the huge recruiting poster of Shuangfengling.

This poster was drawn overnight by Katerina, Anjie, and Welf. The main body of the picture is a handsome and unrestrained lord with a firm gaze. He pointed a finger at the viewer fiercely. With the slogan "The Land of the Broken Soul Needs You!"

Lawrence stood in front of this poster and announced the official start of the conscription ceremony.

The opening program of the whole ceremony was a song written and composed by the lord himself—the members of the Frost Maple Ridge Propaganda Team, led by a former Eagle's Rest farmer who had learned vocal music, held their buttocks between their buttocks and squeezed their throats. The choir in the church came to a loud chorus:

"The sky in Shuangfengling is a clear sky, the people of Phoenix Terrace really like it..."

After several other shoddy performances, Lawrence took two steps forward and announced loudly to the crowd with his speech:

Respected Sir Elliot Igor, has followed His Majesty's will and become the legal lord of Frost Maple Ridge, the land of broken souls. He will do his best to destroy bandits, maintain peace in the wasteland, and protect the people of the wasteland...

Then, Lawrence briefly introduced the superior conditions of Frost Maple Ridge, and then declared that Frost Maple Ridge urgently needs soldiers to form the "Igor Pioneering Army".

In the crowd of onlookers, the buzzing and whispering like flies began to echo very soon.

After talking for a long time, conscription is no stranger to the people in the wasteland.

To put it closer, many mercenary groups entrenched on the south bank of the Lion Heart River often openly recruit members in the town, and those young guys who can't make a living with normal work are quite willing to defect to the mercenary group, risking life and death Take the risk of gambling tomorrow with your youth;
But going further away, in fact, the bandit villages in the Land of Broken Soul have never given up their plan to recruit more bandit accomplices to expand their combat power. Every year, many townspeople leave the town full of rivers and lakes dreams and go to the cottages. Fallen grass is bandit.

The only thing that surprised the residents of Huafang Town was that the recruiter this time was not a mercenary regiment, but a serious imperial nobleman!

How many years have there been no nobles and lords in this wasteland!

It has to be said that many of these free people on the left bank of the Lion Heart River couldn't stand the exploitation of the nobles in the Central Plains of the empire, so they went to the land of cracked souls to settle down. Therefore, they naturally have a sense of distrust of authority-this year's harvest It's not too good, if the recruiter is a mercenary group at this time, there may already be many young people rushing to sign up;
However, in the face of the Shuangfengling conscription propaganda team beating gongs and drums, they hesitated and hesitated, and no one responded to the call: The concept of "serving the noble lord" in their minds has obviously been compared with "being exploited by the nobles". until death" was drawn with an equal sign.

Faulkner glanced at the lord with a half-smile:
"Master Igor, your recruitment campaign doesn't seem to be working, does it?"

"It doesn't matter." Xia Houyan laughed, his overly confident attitude made Faulkner blink in confusion.

Then, Tom Lawrence, who was standing in the middle of the square, took out another sheepskin scroll from his arms, cleared his throat, and read according to the script the treatment that conscripts can enjoy after becoming a soldier of Frost Maple Ridge.

And the whispers in the air stopped abruptly, as if being strangled by the neck.

Because Lawrence announced unequivocally that anyone who is recruited to serve Frost Maple Ridge can automatically obtain Frost Maple Ridge citizenship and residence rights, not only with food and housing, but also his family can be permanently exempted from all taxes!
At the same time, anyone who has made great achievements in killing the enemy can get job promotion and monetary rewards in the "Igor Pioneering Army", and may even be canonized as a subordinate nobleman!
The onlookers who looked at each other suddenly realized that the treatment of this so-called "Igor Pioneer Army" seemed to be terribly generous-the military salaries of the wasteland mercenary regiment were all distributed according to the length of service. Reward" thing?
As for "tax exemption"...

"Master Igor, you can become a citizen and be permanently exempted from taxes?" Faulkner snorted, "You have to think twice, taxes are the most important source of income for a noble lord like you, who can support hundreds or even thousands of people. You will never have to pay taxes, and you will only eat and receive military pay. Needless to say, you can imagine the financial burden you will suffer, right? According to the market conditions in the wilderness, soldiers’ military pay can be more than three gold coins per month !"

"Thank you for your concern, dear Mayor Faulkner." Xia Houyan said with a chuckle, "But what does that old saying say - our Shuangfengling is so poor that only money is left!"

As if to match the lord's speech, Lawrence announced loudly:
"The military salary standard of Igor's pioneering army is five gold coins per month. If you sign up on the spot today, the military salary will be doubled in the future!"

This proclamation filled with the breath of nouveau riche was like dropping a bomb into a cesspit, immediately stopping the breathing of everyone present.

Henry Faulkner opened his mouth wide like a stranded salmon.

It took a long time before he regained his composure and stared at the lord:

"Your family was expelled to the wasteland by the empire, was it because of serious corruption or theft of the treasury?"

Before Xia Houyan could answer this question, a little gray-haired old man squeezed out from the noisy and chaotic crowd, trotted all the way to him, bowed hastily, and opened his mouth to ask:
"You should be the lord of Frost Maple Ridge, right? I just want to ask you... besides soldiers, do you want craftsmen? The ones who are very skilled and can make anything!"

(End of this chapter)