OBS Chapter 271 Counterattack Preparation
Chapter 271 Counterattack Preparation
The food brought by the merchants from Issu has greatly eased the food supply situation in Mondemasan. Combined with the food transported from the northern city of Cassis and the Simon Chamber of Commerce, the citizens no longer need the Andrew Chamber of Commerce to survive.
What followed naturally was praise from ordinary citizens for Governor John. After all, his behavior was like providing timely help. If it were Andrew, he would have hidden the food and sold it to the citizens at a high price. Then a large number of people would have starved to death, and the properties and houses of the dead would have been bought up by major chambers of commerce at low prices.
There have even been calls for John to remain governor of Mont-de-Marsan for a few more years to help solve other livelihood issues. There are also some people who secretly hope that John's struggle with local dignitaries will escalate in order to create a blank area for them to do whatever they want.
Jacques walked into the door of the embassy as usual. After handing his coat soaked by snowflakes to the servant, he was about to go upstairs when he found an old man in church clothes coming down the stairs. When he saw Jacques, he just nodded slightly and walked around him to go outside.
"Isn't this the Bishop of Mont-de-Marsan? Could it be that Governor John has already begun to make arrangements in the church?" Thinking of this, Jacques couldn't help but worry. As John had more and more local people at his disposal, although he was currently responsible for some important tasks in charge of local security and counterintelligence, since those people could now talk directly to John, he could no longer interrogate them in John's name.
"come in."
After getting John's permission, the soldier at the door immediately let Jacques in. When Jacques arrived at John's office, what caught his eye was John working hard on the documents. The thick documents surrounded John from three sides like a city wall.
"You did a good job this time, but I may have to trouble you to do something else." John put down the work at hand and said to Jacques.
"As you command."
"This mission is more dangerous. I will send some troops to go with you. Your mission is to eliminate all the bandit camps in the Governor's territory this winter."
"This..." Jacques was rather resistant to this kind of dangerous work. Having been in the army for many years, he knew very well that the thieves' groups outside the city were no match for the gangsters inside the city. Both in terms of tactics and physical fitness, these guys who had been living in the wild and associating with birds and beasts for many years could even defeat the local lords' armies of the same size if they were to grow in size. Of course, facing a standing army of the same size wearing armor might require more people.
But the wartime patrol team led by Jacques now has only more than 200 people after a month of expansion, less than half of whom are veterans who have participated in the war. At the same time, not all of them are equipped with full body armor. Most of them are just wearing equipment bought from gangs.
"What? Is there any difficulty?" Seeing Jacques's hesitation, John showed an expression as if he had known this would happen and continued:
"The two centurions will follow you with their troops, and the troops stationed in the villages along the way will also cooperate with you. Your goal is to force these bandits out by means of persuasion or forceful attack to prevent the supply convoys from being ambushed by bandits in the rear during the battle on the front line."
Upon hearing this, Jacques felt relieved a little, but he continued to ask:
"The weather is getting colder now. I'm afraid that snowing will affect the morale of the soldiers and the transportation of supplies..."
"Don't worry about that. The snow in Franche-Comté is already above the ankles at this time. My soldiers have no problem fighting in places like that, so nothing serious should happen here either. We just need to ensure the safety of the baggage."
"Besides, if there is a snowstorm, the bandits will hide in the camp and not come out. This is a good opportunity to wipe out the bandits."
Seeing that he could not refuse, Jacques could only obey the order. At this moment, the guard at the door came to report:
"Sir, the Isu merchant representative is at the door."
"I know, let him in."
Then John saw Ramon, the slave trader whom he had met once before in North Port.
"Why, you're no longer a slave trader, and you're becoming a grain merchant instead?"
"Don't be offended, Lord John. We who travel by sea do whatever makes money."
"Okay, that's what I want you to say." John said to the White Wolf Knight next to him:
"Go get 200 gold coins for Captain Ramon."
The unexpected wealth made Ramon so happy that he couldn't stop smiling after a brief surprise. The 200 gold coins were basically the profit from transporting 200 strong slaves.
Before Ramon could thank him, John spoke first:
"This money is not for you. Use it to find me a pirate group with more than ten warships. Tell them that I want to hire them to participate in the military operation against Lana. Let their captain come to me for the details. They can decide the location. Any port in the western part of the Kingdom of Midland will do."
"Sir, this is against the rules. I am just a businessman..."
Ramon was about to explain when John responded:
"Don't try to play that on me. I've been dealing with you Isu people for so many years. How could I not know your work rules? Seven or eight out of ten pirate captains on this ocean are from Isu. You tell me you don't know any pirates from Isu?"
"Anyway, it's done. I'll give you 400 gold coins. If the other party takes the money and runs away, I tell you, don't even think about sailing on the sea north and west of Midland."
Faced with John's carrot and stick, Ramon could only shrink his head. After taking John's gold coins, he immediately left the embassy.
"Prepare the carriages, bring a thousand-man team and a hundred-man team of White Wolf Knights, and head to Port Fosse."
As the largest port on the west coast of Midland, Fosport is also the headquarters of the Midland Western Navy.
Although Midland is a country with a vast territory, its most powerful military is not the army but the navy. (The comics mention that the Midland navy is large, and the novel also mentions that the Midland navy sent envoys to Grand Island under the heavy siege of the Yoda navy.) There are more than 30 three-masted sailing ships and some larger galleons docked in the port of Foss alone.
As the cost of maintaining the local navy, the merchant fleet in the port of Foss pays a considerable commission every year as part of the local naval expenditure, but two-thirds of the expenditure still comes directly from the king's treasury in order to control this huge navy.
"Lord John, I have heard of your name a long time ago, and I prefer the title of Spear of Midland."
Inside the naval headquarters, General Saint Hill, commander of the Western Navy, spoke to John while taking the drink handed to him by the servant.
"This is from Kusha. You know what, these leaves are quite fragrant, but they always add spices to it, and I prefer to add some milk."
"Oh, this is black tea leaves. The Kusha prisoners over there told me about this stuff. I prefer to brew it directly." John took a sip of the black tea and said directly:
"General Saint Hill, the main purpose of my visit this time is to hope that you can lead the navy to participate in the battle with Lana."
"I know that too, but winter is coming soon and it may be difficult for the ship to leave the port." General Saint Hill did not refuse after hearing this, but began to put forward conditions to John based on the question.
"Don't worry about that. I will pay a handsome fee for your loss," John replied.
“How much are you prepared to pay?”
“Half of all the taxes in the entire city of West Liberty.”