Chapter 104: Chapter 46: The Knights’ Excitement and Loyalty

Su Li originally had no expectations for the monetary gains from gold coins, as he knew that goblins and green skins used teeth as their common currency instead of gold coins.

The stronger an orc, the more teeth it had. Goblins, on the other hand, the more cunning they are, the more teeth they have, as they always slyly steal wealth from less intelligent orcs.

Some particularly clever and insidious ones would even strategically use their status and shrewdness to make the strong orcs obey their orders.

Additionally, they enjoyed exploiting the weakest members in the tribe, the goblins, which are the shortest members of green skin society, with brains the size of peas (and intelligence to match). They resemble eternally energetic, fanatical, and uncontrollable small pets, infesting the green skin’s gathering places. They clean garbage and dung, and sneakily steal all sorts of small trinkets, acting as the community’s “scavengers,” living on food scraps and bones and bouncing around joyfully, hiding their picked-up “treasures” in caves.

The orcs particularly like these little creatures, treating them as mischievous little pets. Some orcs even catch a few goblins to perform shows or train them to complete certain tasks. The smartest goblins can even serve as servants, like scratching places orcs can’t reach. But they are never entrusted with any truly meaningful work.

However, goblins despise and dislike goblins, as they too have the habit of stealing, but when there are many goblins around the orcs, it’s hard for the goblins to steal. Moreover, these little creatures have a habit of tattling and make small reports to orcs, pointing out goblins’ thefts, revealing the locations of stolen goods, and miming witnessed murder scenes. To avoid retaliation from the goblins, goblins would hide between orc legs, and the orcs would soon vent their anger on the goblins. Goblins would seize every opportunity to abuse these little creatures.

But anyhow, goblins are usually the wealthiest in a tribe, conning and pilfering from orcs above, exploiting and tormenting goblins below, and digging out their treasure caves.

If Su Li were to stroll through a forest one day and find the goblin’s territory, he could make a small fortune just by relying on the intelligence system to reveal the treasure cave locations.

But Vandar’s reply surprised him.

“Lord, in terms of gold coins, we’ve gained little, only around 200 Golden Crowns, mostly decorations from orcs and goblins, combined with human skulls, knuckles, and such; it seems these were spoils obtained from battles against forest bandits or trade team guards.”

“However, we found over 150 Dwarf Oath Gold coins! This tribe must have once tunneled to a dwarf fortress somewhere and emerged victorious.”

Dwarf Oath Gold coins!

Su Li’s eyes were filled with delight; the value of this Dwarf Oath Gold was exceedingly high.

It could be exchanged at various dwarf guilds for numerous precious items, and even Refined-level, Perfect-level, or Rare-level equipment could be directly purchased with Dwarf Oath Gold!

Even if at the crudest exchange rate, this could be swapped for 1500 Imperial Golden Crowns!

But Su Li, of course, wouldn’t squander such treasures foolishly; these are Dwarf Oath Gold, and dwarves hold oaths in the highest regard. If he had enough Oath Gold in hand, he could even directly purchase a dwarf territory in the Gray Mountain Range, making them his vassals and subordinates.

When that time comes, for any equipment he needs, he could have them crafted to order.

This would be legal union indeed. The relationship between dwarves and the Empire in this world is closer than in any other. Assisting dwarves is even written into the core doctrines of the Empire’s National Church.

Militarily, the two sides frequently form joint armies to combat evil together. In domestic affairs, knights of the Empire may not develop well, as various territories have lots of dwarf engineers aiding in the construction of water projects and city developments.

So if he could establish good relations with the dwarves, that value could not be compared with 1500 Golden Crowns.

Vandar put all the Golden Crowns and Oath Gold into a large box on the wagon and then continued to explain to Su Li: “In addition to gold coins, our gains in weapons and equipment are also substantial. These green skins use any readily available materials as weapons, some even made of precious gold. Once we refine them, we can acquire at least 6000 jin of iron and 100 jin of gold.”

jin of iron could manufacture 50 sets of fine plate armor; this yield is indeed considerable.

Sadly, the territory has no minting rights, and the minted coins would not be highly valued, only about a third of a Golden Crown. Otherwise, this 100 jin of gold could also bring him substantial gains.

Perhaps selling this gold to Marle Castle would be a great choice, and if the territory discovers a gold mine in the future, it could become a great source of income.

While Su Li was pondering, Vandar continued: “There are still many other remaining items, including valuable seeds, minerals, and some special tools. The goblins in the forest always manage to find some good stuff, but we need to sort them out slowly after returning.”

Su Li nodded, then said to the nearby Military Commander, Knight Oerstein: “My dear Commander, while victory is joyful, never forget strict military discipline. The wealth I grant is theirs. What I do not give, they must not take. Anyone caught hoarding spoils will face immediate execution.”

“Regarding awards, I will allocate two-tenths of the spoils for generous rewards to everyone, once the Minister of the Seal has sorted through everything.”

The lord’s majesty is undeniable.

In this territory, everything requires Su Li’s consent before they can be taken.

With rules maintained, wealth will certainly not shortchange them.

The magnitude of these rewards even made Knight Oerstein excited; he exclaimed, “Praise your generosity, Lord. Your virtue will be praised even by the Goddess.”

Two-tenths of the spoils are to be distributed among the people!

This two-tenths does not include slaves or armed attendants, referring solely to the dozen or so knights in the territory.

Slaves are not entitled to obtain spoils and rewards; being freed from slavery is the lord’s mercy and generosity.

As for the rewards for the armed attendants, these are distributed by their monarch, with each knight typically setting aside one or two-tenths of their rewards for them.

This means that, on average, each knight might gain several gold coins from this battle, equivalent to one to two months’ salary for an Elite Knight, something an Apprentice Knight would struggle for one or two years to achieve!

After all, the spoils of this battle wouldn’t be less than 5000 Imperial Golden Crowns!

When Knight Oerstein announced this news, the entire camp erupted instantly.

According to the tradition of Nineteen Taxes, it was already good for the knights to receive ten percent of the spoils. Now, with the Lord doubling the reward, they immediately supported his orders enthusiastically.

Any unwise Armed Attendant who dared to steal or hide would quickly learn their fate!

After all, for every Gold Coin stolen by the Armed Attendants, the knights lost two Silver Coins in earnings.

Moreover, the stronger the knight, the greater the loss.

Because although each knight could receive an average of a dozen Golden Crowns, it’s impossible for the rewards to be evenly split.

A serf and the Lord, on average, would still have 2500 Gold Coins in assets.

The distribution of spoils must certainly be related to strength and merit, and Minister of the Seal Lauren would record it in detail and complete the distribution plan.

For those powerful knights, like the Military Commander Lord Oerstein who strategically deployed a highly effective decapitation tactic, achieving greatness, the reward would naturally be more, at least equivalent to his six or seven months’ salary.

Given his contribution and strength, with the territory’s current vigorous growth and high efficiency, awarding him a 16-fold or 18-fold salary is obviously very reasonable. If a competent Monarch lacked even this bit of generosity, he would end up like Xiang Yu, committing suicide in Jiangdong. And he still dreams of ascending the throne like Liu Bang?

In this way, he alone could receive nearly a hundred Gold Coins.

Other Elite Knights could get anywhere from tens of Gold Coins.

Smiles spread across the faces of many knights, gathering in groups for enthusiastic discussions, truly a good day indeed. As the Lord said, today is a good day, a divine day! Anyone who survives today and returns home safely will be revered each time today is mentioned thereafter.

The knights are not responsible for cleaning the filthy battlefield; it’s the Armed Attendants and slaves handling these tiring tasks.

Watching the towering knights crossing their arms with pride, talking and surveying the battlefield, every Armed Attendant’s longing reached its peak!

Knights! It is the privilege and honor of this Empire.

Everyone eagerly desires to enter this class.

Yet, as some knights smiled and conversed animatedly, others wore expressions of intense sorrow, kneeling on the battlefield to pray for fallen comrades.

Hilude, with a solemn expression, approached Su Li, her voice low: “My Lord, casualty reports are out.”

“145 from our territory perished in this battle, among them 84 slaves, and 17 knights directly under your command, including one Elite Knight, 3 formal Knights, and 13 Apprentice Knights.”

“Moreover… a piece of sad news, your first Attendant Reve has fallen in battle.”

The smile on Su Li’s face instantly vanished, his jaws clenched, and he gripped his fists tightly.

knights! All loyal and brave knights to him.

Their charge illuminated the sun and moon, and moved mountains and rivers, it was their repeated trampling of the Green Skin phalanxes that crushed the enemy’s formations, allowing their side to decisively defeat the enemy army.

Yet in this arena of glorious victory, 17 knights and their broken longswords lay down together on this blood-stained battlefield.

And sweet Reve, the adorable girl with a bun-faced smile.

Su Li remembers distinctly, she was his first acquired Attendant, though broad-minded, each step accompanied by violent aftershocks, she was an extremely cautious girl, even when gambling with Su Li, she placed bets with utmost care, calculating everything to ensure she may not win big, but would never lose.

But such a cautious girl donned Fine Plate Armor, fought fearlessly, charging again and again against massive monster formations, finally falling victoriously on the path of assault.

She had advanced to the Middle Tier Apprentice Knight; if she hadn’t perished, she might have become a remarkable Elite Knight in the future, possessing a renowned title.

Su Li wanted to admonish her, asking why she wasn’t more careful, why not stay further back.

But he knew all too well that this thought was erroneous.

It was precisely because of many like her, bravely charging and fighting earnestly for him, that this hard-won victory was achieved for the territory.

If every knight hesitated and avoided battle, how could the territory’s Impact Knights fearlessly charge repeatedly, breaking through the enemy’s solid formations?

Thus, Su Li sighed and said to Hilude, “Let the soldiers take care of the knights’ remains. I’ll personally conduct their funeral, awarding them the Bauhinia Victory Medal, and bury them in the Heroic Spirit Cemetery behind the castle with dedicated guards for their tombs.”

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