Chapter 692
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"Yes, I am looking for a secret agreement," Saleen replied honestly .
"You are really a sordid mage!" Stephanie was overjoyed . She very much admired Ojarvis, "He is such a good emperor, a pity that he has a short life . " Ojarvis, who was fraught with illnesses, definitely did not have poorer foresight than Prince Safilos, he might even be better than his father . Emperor Chanake's individual power was too mighty that sometimes his foresight was not so forward-looking .
When a person was standing on the pinnacle of power, they would usually use violence to solve problems . Who could guarantee that this power was invincible?
Saleen threw his hands in the air and said, "What can I do? I have to take care of a few hundred thousand people . "
"So, how many mercenaries can you deploy?" Seeing that Saleen had stated all his requests, Tiffany decided to probe about the deployable manpower .
Saleen did some calculations swiftly, then said, "If His Majesty waits until the end of the year, I can deploy fifty-thousand troops . Including the ten-thousand which Lex had stationed at the borders, there will be a total of sixty-thousand soldiers . If I recruit some auxiliary troops, I can gather one-hundred-thousand people . "
"The price of these one-hundred-thousand troops will not be fixed . " Stephanie wanted to help Ojarvis save money, she was worried that Saleen would fill in the numbers carelessly . More and more people were defecting to Metatrin City, while a large batch of refugees had appeared at Loulan . Since northern Qin could not accommodate so many people, quite a number of people had entered Phoenix . Phoenix was not a very safe place either . It was only a matter of time before a bunch of these people came to Saleen . Within half a year, the population of Metatrin might more than double .
"How is that possible? I will assemble an elite swordsmen camp, while the remaining fifty-thousand people will be built according to the format of Qin's main army . His Majesty will have to pay the full amount for this elite swordsmen camp . For the remaining forty-thousand, His Majesty only have to take care of the logistics and pensions . As for the auxiliary troops, not much money will be needed, I will help His Majesty foot the bill . "
Ojarvis hit the bullseye once again, Saleen did not have the intention to take advantage of Qin . It was already the greatest victory if Saleen could enter Laiyin Duchy . If there was no secret agreement with Ojarvis, Saleen would have to withdraw from Laiyin Duchy eventually .
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"It will be fine to wait until the year end, but I hope that you can send people to link up with Lex's army first . If Laiyin Duchy takes action in advance, you will have to resist them first . " There was no room for negotiation for these terms proposed by Tiffany, this was some crisis costs which Saleen had to bear .
"That goes without saying . Since His Majesty asked you to discuss these things with me, you must have brought along the secret agreement and deposit right?"
"Yes . " Speaking, Tiffany took out the contract Ojarvis had given her . This contract was not in the form of a scroll, it was a piece of double-layered magic paper made from magic beast skin . After signing, both parties would keep one copy for themselves .
This contract was written in great detail, both parties listed in the contract were Ojarvis De Grukos and Saleen Metatrin . Ojarvis had acknowledged Saleen's status in Laiyin Duchy . If Saleen could conquer Laiyin Duchy, the Qin Empire would definitely not interfere with the affairs over there . Once Sikeqinya attacked Laiyin Holy Rock City would also deploy troops to help Metatrin carry out defensive efforts . The prerequisite before all these was that Laiyin Duchy had to interfere with the battle in Loulan .
The secret agreement was written flawlessly, Saleen was pleased . The agreement did not mention the problem of Loulan, but Saleen implicitly knew that Loulan belonged to Prince Safilos . If Holy Rock City triumphed in this war, the fruits would be taken by Prince Safilos . The lands in Loulan would be distributed to Prince Safilos' associates .
"Lex and I will only receive a tiny portion, taking a pinch of rewards from the north and south only . Since Ojarvis had broached the topic of Laiyin with me, he would have surely settled the problem of Titan Duchy with Lex already . If Lex and I want to make further development, we have to start from these two duchies . As for the problem of manpower, the mainland is never short of free citizens . "
Who were free citizens? They were the civilians who roamed freely amongst the many noble lands . These civilians had no obligations towards the nobles, all their fortune was privately owned . This freedom was not always convenient .
There was a joke which went like this; 'a free citizen in Qin was worse off than a farmer, while a free citizen in Cloudflow was slightly happier than a farmer . A free citizen in Sikeqinya was as cheap as a farmer . While a free citizen in Tanggulasi had no freedom at all' .
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A colossal number of free citizens had made up the population of merchants in various empires, craftsmen, workers, smiths, and such people . The moment war broke out these free citizens had the highest chance of being implicated . When a noble fled, they would bring along their farmers as long as time permitted . The free citizens best chance would be to join the army . When they surrendered they still had a chance of being absorbed by the enemy instead of getting killed .
"I have a request . " Saleen told Tiffany after signing the secret agreement .
"Ask then . "
"There is only one route from my city to Laiyin Duchy, which is the attacking route used by the Holy See's expeditionary army . I wish to build a city at the spot between Qin, Phoenix, Loulan, and Laiyin . Between this city and Metatrin I want to build a resupply town at an interval of every one-hundred miles . Besides this, I want the Deep Forest Town at Phoenix's borders to become the land of my nobles . "
"This…"
"The noble in that small town have already defected to me . "
"Okay, Holy Rock City will acknowledge your authority . " Tiffany did not need to consult Ojarvis regarding such trivial matters, she agreed straightaway . Even Prince Safilos had only one thought towards Phoenix; to let Phoenix be segregated .
The Phoenix family had already declined, it was no longer loyal towards the Grukos family . The nobles in Phoenix bore much hatred towards Holy Rock City . It was best to let such a place fission . The lands in Phoenix were sufficient to be distributed to a few hundred nobles already .
In the eyes of a mage, it was okay for all the nobles to die, only the civilians needed to be kept alive . Stephanie and Tiffany were not repulsive towards Saleen's demands . Saleen himself was a mage, so he would surely understand their thoughts . He thusly made his requests in a straightforward manner .
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Just like that, Phoenix was betrayed once again .
Saleen did not allow the two sorcerers to live in the palace, he asked two people to lead them to Aini's duke's residence . Even though Aini's duke's residence did not build a magical tower, its size was identical to that of Saleen's temple . The important structures in the center were built according to the format of a magical tower, a five-story tower was built .
A mage still preferred to be in a place with a high concentration of the elements . They could practice magic anytime that way . Saleen's temple would never allow people like Tiffany inside unless the two powerful sorcerers had decided to follow him .
Saleen did not dare harbor any expectations, "These two people are different from Nicholas, Nicholas is unable to return to his homeland . The world is so big, if I didn't let Nicholas stay, he would end up in a terrible state . "
Saleen made one move to obtain a passage to Laiyin Duchy and he had been permitted to build a city at the intersection of the four cities, so he was in high spirits . If Ojarvis had not signed a secret agreement with him, Saleen would only dare to deploy troops if he possessed more than five-hundred-thousand soldiers .
"Most importantly, I have obtained the Deep Forest Town, it has become my territory . It place will be developed into a huge city, then I will open a path through the magic beast forest to enter the Chaotic Swamp . Going through the secret passageway, I can attack Sikeqinya directly . In the future, once I go to war with Sikeqinya, I will have three attack routes . One from Laiyin, a second from the Chaotic Swamp, and a third from the sea . "
Saleen planned to station one of Lex's armies at the border and this army would be used to deal with Phoenix in the future . "I cannot be allies with Holy Rock City, but I can be allies with the Bitter Water County . Both of us will split Phoenix among ourselves by then . "
That night, Saleen slept very well . The second day, Saleen summoned the nobles very early in the morning to talk about trade relations with Holy Rock City .
At the moment, Saleen had signed a secret agreement while Duke Barde had brought along a letter of credence . For the time being, there would be no war with Holy Rock City . Trade between the two cities could be greatly amplified . The status of Metatrin Kingdom had been recognized, Saleen's merchant ships could enter Lianyun City's harbor now . He would not need to wait for the southern merchants to come over .
Saleen could finally build ships openly and he was going to do it frantically .
During winter in Metatrin City the shore would have a frozen region spanning two-hundred miles . Saleen's main agenda was to manufacture warships and armored merchant ships . To open the sea route and look for an island which was suitable to function as a military port .
The four dukes had the financial power to purchase merchant ships, but they did not have the ability to build one on their own . The earls and the smaller barons and viscounts could not afford to buy ships, they could only rent from Saleen .
The nobles still made a profit by renting ships, so they were willing to rent from Saleen's city . It was way cheaper than renting from the south . Saleen also owned escort fleets, the merchants would not be afraid of running into pirates .
Saleen never planned to organize a merchant team, he did not even want to open a shop in Qin . He only wanted fleets . As long as the fleets belonged to him, everything else would also be his as well .
In three days Saleen had prepared a ceremony, which was not considered grand, to receive the letter of credence from Duke Barde . Saleen also wrote a letter of credence based on strict rules, he then prepared an envoy group which would return to the Holy Rock City with Duke Barde .
Since Metatrin City had to build an embassy, Holy Rock City had to construct an identical structure too . Both parties would station their envoys in the embassies . In the future Saleen would not need to send people over personally if he wanted to contact Holy Rock City .
Saleen realized that Duke Barde was actually very easy to get along with after his arrogance had been flattened . When Duke Barde held private discussions with Saleen to buy some magic nuclei, Saleen happily gave him one-hundred magic nuclei .
These one-hundred magic nuclei had a market value of two-hundred-thousand gold coins and Duke Barde accepted them gleefully . Saleen did not ask him to do anything . In Qin, this method of maintaining cordial relations was commonplace .
If Saleen had any requests in the future, Duke Barde would not return Saleen more than forty-thousand gold coins worth of items, this was the rule . It was highly likely that Saleen would never demand anything of him . Saleen would let Duke Barde owe him a favor . Using this favor, both parties would engage in activities which were mutually beneficial .
Saleen knew that twenty-thousand gold coins would not be sufficient to bribe a duke .