The town gates stood wide open, with a steady stream of carts pouring out. From far away came the sounds of clamor and weeping.
"My lord, I've never seen garrison troops so brazen and shameless. They actually haggle with their own lord, nickel-and-diming him over every last coin. No wonder you said the garrison in the family's territory is a peculiar lot. But my lord, I don't understand — why do you tolerate their existence? In any other territory they'd have been declared traitors and crushed by now," Josk said.
Lorist smiled. "Now you've seen it for yourself. For two hundred years, our
Early that morning, Lorist and Josk had escorted five four-wheeled wagons loaded with leather armor, spears, and imperial silver coins to Northwild Town. Only three of the four major families came to welcome them — Master Dunbassen was absent. According to the head of the Morin family, Master Dunbassen had caught a cold and was bedridden, so he regretfully could not attend.
But when the Morin family head handed over the roster of the newly assembled four-hundred-man garrison, Lorist realized his stratagem of turning the families against one another had failed. The roster was composed almost entirely of men from the Morin, Hassan, and Chubim families — not a single Dunbassen. Not even Captain Dunbassen, who had previously served as the garrison's deputy commander, remained on the rolls.
Lorist feigned curiosity and asked why Captain Dunbassen had withdrawn. The Morin family head's answer was that Master Dunbassen had decided to wait until the new town Lorist planned to build was finished, at which point the entire Dunbassen family would relocate there. Captain Dunbassen would then serve as the new town's garrison captain.
Lorist lavishly praised the Dunbassens for their admirable endurance and modesty. After a string of pleasantries, he handed over the leather armor and spears to the Morin family head, explaining that these were equipment for the newly formed garrison. He then pointed to the chest full of imperial silver coins and said that the back pay the family heads had previously protested over had been delivered in full — not a single coin missing. Going forward, however, garrison salaries would be paid once every three months instead of monthly. He was too busy to make the trip to Northwild Town every month for such a trivial sum, so he asked for their understanding.
Lorist then asked Steward Kedan, who stood nearby, whether the population census was complete. Steward Kedan reported that the registration of the families of former family soldiers and the dispossessed residents was finished — over fourteen hundred people in total, ready to depart at any time. However, because the garrison had been reorganized and expanded, those who had been removed were quite upset, and many refused to cooperate with the census. Steward Kedan estimated this group at over two thousand.
At this point the Morin family head stepped forward with a suggestion. He said that some garrison members had been dropped for various reasons related to the expansion, and while their frustration was unjustified, he asked the family to be understanding. If the family was indeed going to build the new town, they could form a new town garrison and recruit these men, who would surely cooperate with the population census then.
Lorist sneered inwardly. Their scheme was quite clever — get the family to build the new town, then have it recruit them into a new garrison, enjoy the same privileged treatment as the Northwild garrison, contribute nothing, and continue living like lords. Wishful thinking.
Lorist deliberately shook his head with a bitter smile. He told the three family heads that the family was at a critical juncture. They all knew the Norton family was at war with Viscount
Lorist said that the family's decision to expand the Northwild garrison was not to have them cower inside the town like turtles — there were several places where the garrison would be put to use. Of course, the family heads should rest assured: the family would not drag the garrison into the war against Viscount Kemmes, because they simply didn't have the capability, and the family had no confidence in their combat strength.
Lorist's barb made all three family heads flush red on the spot. But the Morin family head was old and cunning, with a hide as thick as leather. He pretended not to hear and instead asked Lorist where he intended to deploy the garrison.
Lorist pointed at the territory map on the table. The mercenary company the family had hired was already setting up camp at Poplar Flats, where the new town would be built. If Northwild Town could mobilize its surplus labor and dispatch two hundred garrison troops, they could establish a new military outpost at the mountain pass where two ranges converged, about a hundred li from Poplar Flats. The mercenary company would then be stationed at the new outpost to guard against the mountain barbarians. That would leave the Northwild garrison with only two tasks: first, delivering supplies to the new outpost for the mercenary company every ten days, and second, taking turns garrisoning Poplar Flats to oversee the new town's construction.
There was also an effective incentive: one living mountain barbarian was worth one Gold Forde, and a dead one was worth fifty imperial silver coins.
The three family heads whispered among themselves for a long while, slow to give Lorist an answer. Finally Lorist lost patience. He said he would give them one month to think it over carefully. If they didn't want to take part in the new town's construction, the family wouldn't force them — but once the new town was built, Northwild Town would have no part in it. The family neither cared nor intended to concern itself with what the residents of Northwild thought or what attitude they took.
Finally, Lorist asked that a batch of carts be requisitioned from Northwild Town to transport the registered families of former soldiers and the dispossessed residents to the manor castle. To his surprise, this simple request met with resistance from all three family heads. Lorist flew into a rage. He asked whether Northwild Town was preparing to raise the banner of rebellion. If so, that would be simple — the Norton family would rather pay an enormous price to have neighboring lords send their armies to crush Northwild Town and put down the internal uprising.
Lorist's iron stance caught the three family heads off guard, and they hurriedly stepped forward to beg mercy. Stammering, they explained the reason for their resistance: they were worried that once the requisitioned carts arrived at the manor castle, the family would seize them without compensation, leaving them at a significant loss.
Lorist had never expected this to be the reason — it was almost laughable. He hadn't imagined that the three great families of Northwild Town would risk offending their own lord over a few dozen carts. He couldn't tell whether it was admirable courage or hopeless short-sightedness. In that moment, his disgust for these Northwild garrison families only deepened.
"Very well," Lorist said. "I won't requisition them. I'll hire your carts to transport the people instead. It's only an hour's journey — just deliver them to the open ground in front of the manor castle. I'll pay one imperial silver coin per cart as a transport fee. Furthermore, I guarantee in the name of the Norton family that your carts will not be confiscated."
Hearing this, the three family heads started arguing again — this time over how many carts each family would contribute, afraid of missing out on the chance to make money. After quite a fuss, they finally settled on each family's share and ordered their men to prepare the carts and begin transporting the fourteen hundred-plus people.
"My lord, I still don't quite understand," Josk said, gazing at Northwild Town. "I think with our current strength we're more than capable of wiping out the Northwild garrison. You really don't need to coddle them like this. The more you indulge them, the less they'll respect you."
Lorist nodded. "You're right, Josk. If it weren't for Viscount Kemmes causing trouble, and if we didn't have the fortress construction site at the Morgan Hills, I might have moved directly against Northwild Town the moment I brought you back to the family's manor castle. But right now we can't. If we concentrate our forces on Northwild Town, the casualties will be devastating. Northwild isn't like the garrison of some other lord — they've been entrenched there for over two hundred years. Although the garrison is officially only two hundred strong, if we attack, they can field no fewer than two thousand fighters. And because the garrison families are tied into the community, they won't surrender easily — they'll fight to the death. Even if we won, our losses would be so heavy that we'd have no strength left to build and defend the castle at the Morgan Hills."
"Our family territory has only one town — Northwild. The family has had to make concessions to them in the past. My decision to expand the Northwild garrison is meant to siphon off their population and stir up conflict among them. By using the excuse of building a new town at Poplar Flats, I want the major families of Northwild to purge their rivals and dominate the town. That way, the large population of Northwild will effectively be split in two, and the enemy we have to deal with will be cut in half."
"I gave them leather armor and spears and paid the back wages — first, to placate them, and second, to make them think I have no intention of moving against them, so they won't make trouble in our territory. What we need right now is time. The fortress construction site needs time. Dealing with Viscount Kemmes needs time. Training the family soldiers and forming a new guard force needs time. Waiting for Sir Shrade and the northbound convoy needs time. So what the family needs internally right now is stability."
"My lord, you're not really planning to build a new town at Poplar Flats, are you?" Josk asked.
"Why not?" Lorist smiled. "My father and brother had long planned to build a new town within the family territory, so the family could shed the burden of Northwild and lay the groundwork for dealing with it. But they met with accidents and never finished the plan. The site they had chosen was Poplar Flats. I've studied the map of our territory, and Poplar Flats is indeed the most suitable location for a new town. Building there would effectively double the family's actual territory. The only threat to consider is whether the mountain barbarians would attack, which is why I hired those surrendered mercenaries and had them establish a new outpost at the mountain pass — to eliminate that threat."
"But for now, the new town is merely an idea — or you could call it an excuse to siphon off Northwild's population and intensify their internal conflicts. Our most important priority right now is the fortress construction site at the Morgan Hills. Even after that fortress is completed, what comes next is building the mountain city there and carrying out the Morgan Hills development plan drawn up by the Kemmes family. Once the fortress is done, I plan to make it the main city. Building new mountain cities, crushing the Kemmes family, finding a new trade route for external exchange, and linking up with the northbound convoy — these will be our focus and objectives going forward."
"As for the new town at Poplar Flats, if Northwild is willing to send people and effort we can start with the preliminary preparations — quarrying stone, harvesting timber, refining green binding clay and other materials. None of this can be done in less than a year or two. In that time, the people siphoned off from Northwild will inevitably clash with the garrison troops supervising them. Eventually Northwild will be isolated, and when the time comes to deal with them, it will be much easier."
"My lord, you truly are cunning," Josk said.
"You flatter me," Lorist replied.
……