Chapter 73: Chapter 72: Preparations for the Expedition Against the Wilderness Tribe

Under Wilson’s supervision, the 102 slaves were divided into five large groups: a construction squad, an ironwood squad, a logging squad, a manure collection squad, and the newly formed blacksmith squad.

The purchase of this batch of slaves was exceptionally timely, as it didn’t disrupt the work schedules of the other Peasant Slaves and Free Tenant Farmers.

As mentioned before, slaves held a status even lower than that of the territory’s Peasant Slaves. They were regarded as talking tools.

While Peasant Slaves also had a low status and were bound to the land, unable to easily leave or change their standing, they were legally entitled to an independent family, marriage, and some personal property.

As the master of these slaves, Ronin had the authority to decide their status.

Following the instructions he had previously given to Gallon, he made a promise to the slaves: as long as they worked diligently for Mountain Forest Castle for ten years, Ronin would strip them of their slave status and elevate them to the rank of Peasant Slaves.

Ronin also permitted the slaves to marry and have children. Although their children would also be born as slaves, if the parents managed to shed their slave status, their children would no longer be slaves either.

’Status is something you have to earn through your own efforts.’ Although Ronin possessed the soul of a modern man, he couldn’t afford to be a pure philanthropist in this world.

The fact that he could provide them with a path to change their status was already quite remarkable. Any other Lord would never care whether slaves lived or died.

These two promises might seem small, but they were enough to awaken a desire to escape their fate in the hearts of some slaves.

Of course, it was unrealistic to expect the slaves to be completely self-motivated. Ronin had no intention of giving up his right to use the whip, and he would have Wilson and the others exercise that right as well.

Minor offenses would receive minor punishments, and major offenses would receive major punishments. If they committed a capital crime, Ronin wouldn’t hesitate to kill them just because he had bought them.

Ultimately, it all came down to making them work hard.

In addition to the slaves, Ronin also announced similar incentives for the Peasant Slaves.

Building upon the current system, if Peasant Slaves farmed the territory’s land for ten years, Ronin would reward them with ten acres of land.

Although the title to these ten acres would still belong to Ronin, he would allow them to keep whatever was left after turning over just 30% of the yield to Mountain Forest Castle.

Currently, the Peasant Slaves had to hand over 50% of their harvest to the castle. After setting aside seeds for the next planting, they were left with barely 25% for themselves. They could only scrape by, supplementing their diet with wild vegetables to make Black Bread.

No matter the world, human desires are universal. Everyone wants to have enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear.

Ronin had set a long-term goal for the Peasant Slaves. Combined with the recently announced incentive plan for the four villages to compete in production, and the upcoming implementation of the Curved Plow and Ridge Cultivation Method, he believed the motivation of most farmers would increase significantly.

After returning from his visit with William, Ronin stopped by to check on the training progress of Macken and his men.

The Guards brought from Wushan Castle were now fully exempt from manual labor, and Ronin had no intention of making them work in the fields.

Even though he and Macken had both been away from Mountain Forest Town recently, before leaving, they had both instructed David to continue the Guards’ training while ensuring the castle remained well-defended.

The open field to the west of the castle had now become the Guards’ training ground.

Macken had divided the twenty-seven regular Guards into three groups of nine. Each day, one group was assigned to guard the castle and patrol the territory on a rotating basis, while the other two groups continued their daily training.

In addition to formation drills, the regular Guards now had to practice military-style boxing. Macken had also arranged for close-quarters combat sparring, Swordsmanship practice, and was preparing to start archery training in the next couple of days.

As for the Professional Knights—David, Tom, Juliet, and Sim—their training focused mainly on combat techniques and was far more intense than that of the regular soldiers.

A Knight could only strengthen their internal Fighting Qi by constantly pushing their physical limits. Slackening off would only cause their Cultivation to stagnate.

The only exception was Commander Ridder. He had been gone since early this morning. According to Macken, Ridder had left Mountain Forest Town at dawn and entered the Wubei Forest Land alone.

’Indeed, it’s time to start gathering intelligence on the Wilderness Tribe. Compared to the Sain Territory, the Wilderness Tribe should be easier to deal with.’

After all, openly waging war against other nobles would inevitably invite condemnation and intervention. Even Wushan Castle might step in to mediate or even punish Ronin for the sake of maintaining unity within the Wushan Territory.

To launch an overt attack on the Sain Territory, Ronin either needed to be so powerful that no one dared to object, or he needed to isolate Reisen to the point where no one would plead his case. Neither was possible at the moment.

The Wilderness Tribe was a different matter. They were enemies who had been driven into the forests by the Wushan Territory’s Noble Alliance Army in the first place.

Back then, if it weren’t for the difficult mountain roads, the troublesome logistics of supplying troops, and the various nobles’ lack of interest in expending great effort to annihilate the enemy’s last remnants, the Wilderness Tribe wouldn’t have been left alone.

If Ronin were to move against the Wilderness Tribe now, not only would he face no criticism from any noble, but he would also be making a contribution to the Wushan Territory and proclaiming the might of the Wushan Clan.

It seemed that Wushan Castle hadn’t done anything noteworthy in years.

Ever since old Lord Lurans retired from the forefront and handed matters over to Wiggin, the family had fallen into a period of quietude.

Ronin watched the sparring Knights and Guards from a distance. Mountain Forest Town now had two Advanced Peak Knights, one Intermediate Mage, four Basic Level Knights, plus himself, a Dual-Profession Intermediate Lord—a total of eight Transcendents.

With just a few more Transcendents, he could form a full Knight Squad.

Back when he was selecting Guards at Wushan Castle, Ronin had looked at Sir Gaman and wondered when he, too, would have his own Knight Squad. He never expected that just one month later, that dream would be within his grasp.

“My Lord, you’re here!”

Macken and the others stopped immediately when they saw Ronin approaching.

“I was just passing by to take a look. Continue your training.”

Ronin beckoned to Macken. “Carpenter William has made a batch of Ironwood Armor and Weapons from the Black Iron Trees. Arrange for a couple of men to go pick them up and equip the Guards. The Shields are pretty good quality. You all should be able to use them as well.”

Macken knew about the Black Iron Trees; he had been there when they were discovered while accompanying the Lord on an inspection.

At the time, Macken was only an Intermediate Knight, and he hadn’t been able to cut down a Black Iron Tree with a single sword strike. Armor made from this material would definitely have considerable defensive power.

“I didn’t expect William to process the Black Iron Tree so quickly,” Macken said with a smile. “I’ll have someone bring it over later. We’ll equip the Guards first.”

“I’ll leave the distribution of the Ironwood Armor and the five sets of Full Body Armor we got from Pedro and Princest to you.”

Ronin glanced at the two new Knights who were sparring. “Over the next little while, give Juliet and Sim some extra guidance. And David and Tom too. I want every last one of them to increase their combat strength. Once Ridder returns with intelligence on the Wilderness Tribe, we need to be ready for battle.”

Macken’s expression turned serious. “Yes, My Lord. I understand!”

As the two were talking, a Guard came running toward Ronin. “My Lord~”

Macken looked over. “That’s one of the Guards on castle duty today.”

Ronin was a bit puzzled. The Guard seemed to be in a hurry, which must mean something important had happened. The last time this happened, it was Knight Philton’s visit. ’Could someone else have arrived today?’

The Guard ran up to Ronin, panting heavily. “My Lord, some Knights are here, asking to see you.”

’Someone really did come. Mountain Forest Town is getting lively. But I can’t think of who would be bored enough to come all the way out here.’

“Is it Knight Philton of the Sain Order?”

“No, it’s not. They’re Knights from Pasture City.”

The Guard answered, still catching his breath, “The one in the lead said his name is ’Rogner Ironhoof’.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep