Three Philosophical Questions for Travelers

But I'm not an idiot either!

Haiwen thought for a while, and then said, "I really don't know much about fighting, so according to your opinion, how should these bandits be suppressed?"

The young man folded his arms and said with a smile: "According to me? According to what I said, the city is condescending and cannot be attacked forcefully. We must surround them to death; the jungle must not go deep. We must lure the snake out of the hole and fight with them when they come out to rob. decisive battle."

Haiwen agreed with his idea, so he said, "It's a good idea, why don't you implement it?"

At this time, the young man's face turned sour, and he stopped talking; the veteran smiled wryly to himself, and Wen Kai also put on a straight face.Haven and Delaire looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

At this time Wen Kai said: "It's not that we haven't tried it. We tried to use a caravan to lure the jungle robbers and wipe them out in one fell swoop. This happened three months ago, and I led the team myself." He said It stopped here, and no one took over.The atmosphere in the headquarters became more and more tense.Dreyer opened his mouth, but he couldn't utter a word.

The wind blew through the tower, and the planks creaked; the veteran coughed a few times, but still no one spoke.

"And then? It's brought out, and then?" Haiwen couldn't help asking, "Is there anything I can't say? If you don't talk about it, how can I find a way for you?"

Long-legged Frante suddenly shouted: "This is not something you can think of, my lord! If I could solve it by thinking of a way, I would have done it long ago!"

"That's not necessarily the case." Hai Wen looked at Wen Kai, "What's going on?"

Wen Kai let out a long sigh and said, "We failed."

"How did it fail?"

Wen Kai had an embarrassed expression on his face. "We underestimated the extent of the snake cave, and the entire forest is their 'cave' - in short, we lost, it was a... shameful defeat."

Chapter 140 Three: Army Rules

Chapter 140 Three: Army Rules

Can't beat it?

Haiwen raised his hand to suspend the discussion. He said, "Let me sort out the information here. As far as I know, the Bear-Ling Garrison is a well-trained army. The Bear Mountain Army fought with the old Earl in the Civil War, There was a civil war in Hewan. Then you have enough food and equipment, and you are fully armed. The enemy is a group of bandits, you lured them out, and fought them decisively, and then you haven’t fought? Why?”

Wen Kai's face was very ugly when he said this, "Those bandits... are not ordinary bandits. There may be wizards or druids among them. Animals in the forest are helping them. We were attacked by wild animals and birds. Attack. And they are good at the jungle, walking like flying in the forest, but our soldiers rarely fight this kind of battle. They can make traps, and their weapons are poisonous... We chased them at first, but we suffered a lot after chasing them into the jungle .Many of us died with festering wounds and high fevers after the first battle. No one wanted to sacrifice their lives for a group of robbers. The most important thing is..."

Wen Kai stopped here, Hai Wen frowned and said, "What is the most important thing?"

Wen Kai gritted his teeth and said, "The most important thing is that we can't offer generous rewards for the soldiers to go to war. Let alone rewards, our military pay for this month is almost cut off. We... have no money!"

What?Is Bear Mountain so poor?Haiwen was speechless in surprise.

Wen Kai continued: "Soldiers fight for glory and money. First, killing robbers is not considered military merit. Second, we really have no money."

Haiwen asked, "Where did all the money from Xiongshan go?"

Wen Kai looked at the long-legged Frante, and the long-faced and long-legged man sighed, and said in an extremely melancholy tone: "The crops have been poor this year, and the bear leader has no other sources of income. Usually, he can sell some mercenaries." Or the slaves go out. Now that there is a war in the river bend, the boats can’t get out or come in. If you talk about land transportation, there are mountains to the east of our place, and there are deep mountains and old forests to the north and south. You can walk all the way without waiting to leave the bay. , I guess the slaves are exhausted. There is still a business of animal skins and antlers. These businesses can’t make much money in the first place, and now there are thieves, and no one hunts in the mountains.”

It seems that it is essentially a matter of money.Haiwen thought to himself, if you don't have money, you can't support an army.Xiongling is an important border town, and it has to maintain a military expenditure higher than the local economic conditions at all times. It used to rely on blood transfusions from Fengleibao and Jinshabao above to survive.Now that Grand Duke Trident is dead, it's like saying he's broken.

"What do the thieves in the mountains look like?" Haiwen reckoned that it was the group of slave thieves from the south, the same gang he had met before.

Brian the Bear said, "He has black and green paint on his face, and he speaks Southern dialect—who knows where they came from!" After he finished speaking, he spat thick phlegm on the ground.

It seems to be those slave fighters in the south.Haven had dealt with these people before, and he had an agreement with these slaves at that time, saying that if conditions allowed, he would send them back to the south.He asked these soldiers, "Let's unify our opinions first. Do you plan to kill all the bandits, or do you want to drive them away?"

Veteran Bryan slammed the table and yelled, "Of course they're all killed! I'm gonna fucking chop up this shit and stuff it up his own ass-hole!"

Haiwen nodded and asked the other two, "What do you think?"

Wen Kai and Frante looked at each other, and then Frante said first, "I'm afraid you have an idea when you ask this question?"

"Yes, but I want to hear your thoughts first."

Wen Kai touched his bearded face and said, "Aside from beating, is there any other way? Don't tell me that you want to do business with robbers. They don't know how to do business, they don't even talk to people." He would say that if you talk to them, your head will be cut off with a knife."

"If I say that I can drive the robbers away peacefully, will you agree?"

Wen Kai and Frante looked at each other again, and Frante immediately said, "That will cost money, right?"

"Of course it costs money to do business."

Wen Kai asked, "How much did it cost?"

"Three or four hundred gold coins. Let them go next spring, first by land and then by sea, and hire a boat to send them back to the south. Although it's a bit of a detour, it's cheap and safe."

Hearing this, Frante laughed and said, "You think you're leaving just now?"

Haiwen asked back: "Then do you think they want to stay here?"

Frank was dumbfounded.

Haven continued: "I met this group of robbers on the way from Wild Horse Land to Bear Mountain. These people were slaves captured from the south. Later, they escaped from the slave owners and had nowhere to go. They don’t want to live in this place either. They miss the moist rainforest and warm sunny days, and the thick soil in the south that is favored by the god of midsummer. This place in the Gulf is cloudy and cold, and people don’t like to be here. So I said to them: 'Guys, if you let us go, I'll come back to you when I'm settled. I'll help you get back home.' Now it's time for me to deliver on my promise."

At this time the veteran shouted: "You are such a fucking coward!"

Haven said: "I must do this, old hero. I take old women and children with me, and my recklessness will kill them without a place to bury them."

"War is about courage! Bandits are mobs. If you kill their leader, they will be defeated." Bear Brian blushed, as if he was on the battlefield, "If I was there, I would kill him The leader of the bandits, and then took his head to force others to surrender!"

Haven said: "I am not you, Mr. Brian, I have my own way of doing things."

"Then you can't negotiate conditions with robbers! Especially slave robbers, these people deserve to die! Slave robbers are worse than ordinary robbers! Slaves absconding without permission is a crime in itself, and now you still condone them! Slaves for a day , a lifelong slave!"

When Haiwen heard this, he thought of Hyacinth and Violet, and he felt a rush of heat rushing to his forehead. He retorted loudly: "They are innocent southern civilians! They farm and graze on their own land, living a life of peace with the world." They were captured by the criminal southerners and transported to foreign lands as slaves. They dared to resist the slave masters. In my opinion, they are all great fighters. Do you understand me, old heroes?"

"You..." The old bear stretched out his hand to draw the knife angrily, but Haiwen was not timid. He stretched his neck and shouted, "Come on! Cut it like this!" Both sides hurried up to persuade the fight, but the housekeeper stopped Haven, while Frante and Wen Kai held down the old bear Brian from left to right.

Wen Kai said: "Everyone, what we have to do is to solve the banditry. The method is not important, and it doesn't matter whether the slaves are just or not. I just want to know now, Master Haiwen—" He turned to Haiwen, "If I Here... I'll give you some more, just five hundred gold coins. If I give you the money, can you really get things done? If you can't, so what?"

"I……"

"My lord, my lord! Young Master!" Dreyer stepped forward and said with a smile on his face, "This matter has to be discussed in the long run, I am thinking..."

"roll!"

Dreyer's face froze, and he retreated behind Haven.

After scolding Dreyer, Wen Kai looked at Haiwen and said, "Haven? Ambside, I just ask you, how are you going to take responsibility?"

"According to your rules?"

"It's a waste of military expenses to suppress the bandits. You have to pay double the fine and be expelled from the military. If you don't have military registration, it means that you will lose the opportunity to cooperate with the Xiongshan Army after this time. In other words, you only have one chance. "

"Then let's do it," Haiwen said.

Chapter 140 Four: What are you hiding

Chapter 140 Four: What are you hiding

So they decided.

Wen Kai went to get gold coins for Hai Wen, and Hai Wen went to discuss business with the robber.If the business is negotiated, then everything is easy to talk about, if not, then it is as agreed.In the evening he returned to the monastery, and called his cadres to discuss the next thing with everyone.

The smiling cat is guarding the outside of the monastery, and the shops of Little Hammer and King Kong are also close, and they are always on call.Hai Wen counted the number of people, and then asked, "Why didn't you see Zhe Lite?"

"She's sick." Yisruite said, "It's said that her stomach was ruined by eating, and now she shrinks herself in the room to cure her illness."

"What? Use energy to cure illnesses?" Haiwen asked in surprise.

"She said it herself." Estherite shrugged, "She said that no one will be allowed in, and those who violate it will be at their own risk. My lord, it should be fine. Teacher Zhe Lite always does these things."

"Well, let's leave her alone."

Afterwards, Hai Wen talked about the suppression of the bandits, and said: "Although I have an agreement with Hollander, they are bandits after all. And we are now counts, obviously their enemies. I don't know who they are. Will you continue to trust me? For this, I need to bring two guards—Smiley Cat, Fasnat, you two will accompany me."

His left and right protectors nodded together and said, "Yes, my lord."

"Then I need an interpreter——Violet, please run with me."

"Yes, my lord." Violet saluted.Then Hyacinth said, "I want to go too!"

Haiwen said: "If you stay here, the more people there are, the more trouble you will have."

Hyacinth pouted with dissatisfaction.Isrit asked: "My lord, are you really going to send them to the south?"

"Of course, Isrit."

"The nobles agree?" Isrit's tone was not without worry, "The nobles treat robbers like animals, and slaves are even worse than animals. They will not negotiate terms with 'beasts'."

"I don't think Wen Kai is a fool. He should be able to understand this simple stake. Two hundred gold coins can handle everything, so why should he use force? Right?"

Estherite nodded and said, "What you said makes sense."

After talking about this matter with everyone, Haiwen asked some questions about opening a store, and brainstormed ways to find some ways to make money.The earl had three requirements, the first was to suppress bandits, and the second was to make money and solve the financial difficulties of Xiongshan.Now he needs everyone's strength.

Laya first said that she could recruit some people from the White Clothes Association to help, and then build a hospital here and raise money for charity.However, making money is a drop in the bucket; Little Hammer said that there are many unemployed craftsmen and laborers here, and if they are recruited, they can do a lot of work; Ramon said that they have no power and no capital now, so they want to get rich empty-handed It is too difficult.

Haven asked Delaire to record what everyone said one by one.He has many ideas about making money, but it is difficult to implement them.For example, the first one, he had discovered a coal mine on the way to Bear Mountain before.The druid Sean and Treant 0032 occupy there, drawing some kind of creature's power from the coal mines.He wants to collect coal mines and become a coal boss.But mining coal requires people, basic start-up capital, and the Earl’s nod—every grain of sand in the Earl’s Land is the Earl’s property, and private individuals cannot mine any minerals.

In addition, he has to get the people of the Gulf to get used to burning coal.The people here are not used to burning coal. He has to popularize knowledge, build basic facilities, and complete a complete industrial chain... This is not something that can be completed in a month or two.

In addition to digging coal, there is also road construction.Xiongshan's business is blocked because of underdeveloped traffic. If he can build roads, then Xiongshan can be revived.

There are many more, such as his previous experience in Mustang Town, which can be used.

But now he has no power, he is not even a mayor.

Where can I change my money?he thought.

After the meeting he went back to his room.The three of them lived together, and Isrit sat on the bed with Mirsalu in her arms, reading to her.The bed was too small for two people, so they added a floor bed underneath, and the husband and wife took turns sleeping.

But then they have no private time.So Hai Wen said: "Israite, let Violet take care of the child for a day today. Let's go out for a while."

"Ah...yes, my lord." She nodded silently, and then said to little Mill: "Mill, go sleep with Violet tonight, and he will tell you stories about the South."

Mirsalu has always been very sensible and never pestered them.But this time she asked, "Can I sleep in Smiley Cat's room? I want to hear him tell me stories about Rangers."

Mirsalu was only nine years old, a child.Haven thought about it and said: "Yes." However, almost at the same time, Estherite said in a stern tone: "No."

They looked at each other, and then Estherite said: "She is nine and a half years old, maybe in another year..." She whispered, "There will be menstruation, and then she should get married. Here I was going to raise her to be a lady before."

Haven said: "It's still too early. Isrit, I think Mirsalu can live a more relaxed life. You can wait for her...after she is ten years old, and slowly teach her those ladies etiquette."

"But I can't wait a year!" she said suddenly.

After saying this, Estherite's complexion changed instantly, and Hai Wen also felt that Estherite was indeed hiding something from him.But he didn't ask questions right away, he carried out the bewildered Mirsalu, handed it to Violet, and then brought Isrit to the hotel outside.He opened a corner room, closed the door, and asked her:

"Isrit, since you left Mustang Town, you seem to be hiding something from me—what is it?"

Estelle shook her head and remained silent.Haven walked over, held her by the shoulder, and continued to ask her, "What's the matter?"

She still doesn't speak.Haiwen asked him: "Do you want to say it, or can't say it?"

"It's all, my lord." She murmured, "Now...is not the time, I don't want to distract you."

"You are enough to give me a headache. The person I care about most in this world is you, but you have been acting so... unnaturally lately, I worry about you." He suddenly remembered what Estherite said before, "I I can't wait for a year." He felt a thump in his heart, and then he thought of the old Ramon who died of illness in the mountains.He asked in a deep voice: "You...is there something wrong with your body?" Their foreheads were touching, and Estherite seemed to have a normal body temperature.

She said quickly: "No, my lord, don't think about it. I just... just don't want to talk about it."

"Then I'll let you speak." He unbuttoned his lover's blouse, and then pressed a deep kiss on her chest.Isrit immediately groaned.

Chapter 140 Five: The Academic Witch

Chapter 140 Five: The Academic Witch

They had been on the go since they left Mustang Land.Haven had a lot to say to Estelle, but he couldn't find a chance.But now, he believes that physical intimacy is more real than words.

Estelle was very cold and worried at first, but it didn't take long before she fell into his arms.About two hours later, he asked Isrit about the past again.At the moment they were lying naked on the bed, nothing could be concealed.

"My lord, I'm too incompetent." Isrit said to Haven.

"I didn't think so, why did you say that suddenly?"

"When I'm by your side, I can only wash your clothes, bake your bread, and raise your children. I can't help but look at your pain, which makes me feel..." She rested her head on Hai Wen's chest, whispering Said, "It's sad."

Hai Wen said: "It's not your fault for all this. If someone should be held responsible, that person should also be me."

"Please don't say that, my lord. I am your wife, and I should take care of all this with you. Hyacinth can also do things like washing clothes and cooking well, so there is no need to find an extra person."

"What do you mean by that?" Hearing this, Haiwen suddenly remembered something.Recently, Isrit and Hyacinth got very close, she has been teaching Hyacinth how to be a qualified woman.Including housework, maid, taking care of children, serving her husband, etc... and she is intentionally or unintentionally letting Hyacinth come into contact with her husband more.Haven didn't pay attention to it before, but now he suddenly thought of:

Estelle wanted Hyacinth to replace her.

Why replace it?Is she leaving?

At this time Estherite said: "My lord, my mother taught me to be a 'real lady'. I asked her what is a 'real lady'. She said to me: 'Just the words and deeds are qualified. No, it’s not a real lady. The most important thing is the heart. If a woman is beautiful on the outside but depraved on the inside, she is not qualified.'”