Chapter 331: King Of The Mountains
Chapter 331: King Of The Mountains
On this day, a badge was assigned to Allen's hand. The badge lay quietly in a crimson lacquer box made of black velvet cloth. The shield-shaped badge was indigo-colored. On the left was a human-standing unicorn, and on the right was a palace. Below the palace was a decorative path with the words "Glory is Life" written on it. This was a Knight's Medal from the Bailey Gang Empire. Knights were the lowest nobles in the empire, and their medals would vary according to their rank.
Like the baron medal Edward inherited, the unicorn was replaced with a silver eagle. Sir Maud, who was also a baron but possessed a certain amount of military power, would have a conspicuous golden feather on the eagle, symbolizing the status of a powerful baron.
Alan picked up the medal and looked at his name carved on the back. He smiled and pinned it to his chest. When they arrived at the outskirts of the city with this knight badge, the city guard captain, Matto, immediately saluted him straightforwardly when he saw him.
"Congratulations, Mr. Allen." Matto extended his hand to congratulate him.
Ellen shook his hand and said, "Mr. Matto, how is the matter that I asked you to do?"
"Today's items will be delivered. There are a total of 30 sets of portable armor and standard sabers. As for the short hammers that you asked the blacksmiths in the city to make, due to the limited materials available, you can only complete 15 of them at most." Matto reported accurately.
"Isn't there a few iron mines in Sur City?"
"Yes, but the output is very low. After all, this ore vein is very barren. Otherwise, Sur City would not have developed a cotton industry." Matto smiled bitterly.
Alan nodded and said, "I see."
At this moment, the cheers of the soldiers came from the camp playground. Matto smiled and said, "Ever since you brought those barbarians No, Bymonds." After they were trained with us, everyone became much more enthusiastic in their training. Hey, those guys who live on the mountain are really strong. The three of us here can only beat one of them. I really don't know how you managed to convince these strong warriors to come down the mountain. I have never heard that they would be willing to leave the Ash Mountains. "
"As long as there is enough goodwill, Mr. Matto. By the way, have you made any progress in the recruitment?"
Matto nodded and said, "We have already recruited a hundred or so young men. If we train them, they will become qualified soldiers. As for more, I'm afraid Sur City does not have so many young men who meet the requirements."
"It's like recruiting outsiders or adventurers. As for funding, I'll discuss it with Sir Edward. Once Saul's economy develops, its defense will have to keep up. Otherwise, it will attract wolves." Said Allen, pointing at him.
Arriving at the camp playground, the young Baymond named Tima was wrestling with a few soldiers from Sur City. As Alan walked over, Roy was about to salute them when Alan shook his head and signaled him not to say anything. He stood beside Roy and watched Tima easily and nimbly interweave between the soldiers. He saw the opportunity to stack them up.
A moment later, Tima fell down all the soldiers and howled with high spirits. Then, she was raised and thrown up forcefully. In midair, Tima saw Alan and waved his hand in greeting with a smile. Alan waved his hand, and Tima fell to the ground and trotted over.
"Gather everyone here. I have something for you." Alan said.
Tima shouted in their native language, and soon the thirty Baymonds lined up. They lined up neatly. It could be seen that Roy's training had not been in vain these past few days. When they first entered the city, they didn't even know what the line-up was. Matto and a few quartermaster officers transported the equipment to the playground in carriages, handed the equipment to the young men, and instructed them to put on armor.
Tima put on her light armor and frowned, "Yura, the Baymonds don't need to wear these things."
Yura was the Baymonds' title for warriors, and Alan had killed the Abyss Devils that Baku had incarnated and was highly respected among the Baymonds' younger generation. At first, Allen wanted Tima to change his tune, but when he saw that he had no intention of changing his tune, he let him go. Now that he heard Tima say that, Alan smiled and said, "I know how brave the Baymonds are, but Tima. These things won't stop you from fighting, and putting on armor doesn't mean you're cowards. On the contrary, people who know how to protect themselves can be braver. It's a sign of arrogance to be so self-centered that they don't want to make any changes."
"There is a saying in our hometown that arrogance is a sin."
Tima didn't quite understand.
Allen said to the rest of the crowd, "Brave warriors of the Baymonds, you are valiant and fearless of sacrifices. I can foresee that you will raze the mountains and conquer the earth. You are invincible mountain kings!"
"From now on, the Mountain King is your title. I hope that its name will be known to the entire empire!"
All the youths, including Tima, felt their blood boil when they heard this. They waved their weapons and shouted the name "King of the Mountains". Alan looked at Roy with satisfaction and said, "I'll leave this army to you in the future."
Roy's grey eyes flashed and he nodded solemnly.
In the afternoon, 15 short warhammers were rushed to the camp and distributed to the Shan King's army. However, the number of warhammers was limited, so Roy only gave them to warriors with good strength like Tima. From today onwards, Roy began to teach these people how to use warhammers, and Tima and the others also liked this heavy weapon.
The next day, Xiao En of the Chamber of Commerce came to look for Alan early. He brought with him a piece of cloth that, thanks to the production technology of the Crosses textile machine, had a fine needle-hole that was not comparable in quality or design to previous manual operations. "Sir Allen, this is just one of the products from the assembly line," said Shawn, smiling as he held the cloth in his hand. "What's so valuable about these new fabrics is that they are of the same quality, unlike the ones we used to do by hand. There are always differences in the quality of a batch of fabrics due to habitual problems."
After Xiao En finished speaking, he sighed again.
"The quality of the product is not bad. It will definitely sell for a good price. Why does Mr. Xiao En still have a sullen expression?" Alan asked curiously.
Sean smiled bitterly. "You've just arrived in Sur, so you don't know. The cloth we produce every year is eventually sold to the merchants of Violet Harbor and then sold by water to the interior of the empire by their hands. But there's another part to it."
"What link?"
"We can't sell the cloth directly to Violet Harbor because there's a bloodstone wasteland between Sur City and Violet Harbor. The thugs were rampant there, and with the strength of the Sur City Chamber of Commerce, they were unable to organize enough guards to transport goods to Violet Harbor. That's why we usually sell it to Storm City at a price 30% lower than the market price. That's why they sold it, and the difference between them is too big. Let's not talk about it "
"In other words, our profits have all been earned by Storm City?" Alan whispered, "This neighbor is really a wolf."
Xiao En nodded, "This is also helpless. If we don't go to Storm City, we won't even be able to earn back the cost."
"Then change it this year." Alan patted him on the shoulder and said, "After Mr. Shawn has prepared the first batch of new cloth, I will personally organize a bodyguard to Violet Harbor. The difference will not be cheap for Storm City."
Xiao En was delighted.
Allen added: "The margins from producing new cloth are actually limited. Once we have some productivity, I will find a way to bring in designers and turn the cloth into ready-to-wear, which will add three to five times or even ten times more value than pure cloth. Mr. Shawn, do your job well and tell the other workshop owners that we have a bright future ahead of us."
"You are a real genius in business," said Shawn sincerely.
Alan shook his head. Turning the fabric into clothing was only the second step. There would be a third and fourth step in the future. When the fabrics produced in Sur City could create a brand effect and successfully break into the empire's aristocratic class, that was true success. At that time, Sur City was not afraid that there would be no business to do.
Of course, all of this had to start with the opening of the trade route from Sur City to Violet Harbor.
"Yawn!"
Maud sneezed heavily. On this slightly cold morning, he put on his clothes and pinched the woman who was still asleep on the bed before he walked out of the bedroom with satisfaction. He was in his prime. As the lord of Storm City, Mo De still had a trace of pride in being able to manage the city and the surrounding towns in an orderly manner.
Especially after the discovery of a silver mine in the past two years, Storm City's income increased greatly, followed by the strength of the army. This caused Mo De to be filled with high spirits. Unfortunately, there weren't any extra nobles in this remote place for him to attack. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted that level 17 Origin Energy.
Although there was a Sur City not far from Storm City, it was a barren place that Sir Maud, who had a long-term vision, could not take notice of. He didn't want to drag down the overall economic strength of Storm City because of the addition of Sur City. He would rather blackmail the lord of that city if anything happened. But then again, the turmoil in Sur City this year was simply too great. In less than half a year, three Lords had been changed in a row.
The new lord, Edward, did not say anything. Maud did not even know what kind of person he was. He only knew that he was very young. However, this was enough for Maud. Maud was even wondering if it was time for the young man named Edward to pay him a visit by sending his troops around Sur City.
Of course, Sir Mord would not mind giving him a little lesson if he did not know the most ordinary of societies. After all, there were still war reparations that could be collected afterwards, which would also be a decent amount of income.