"Keep chasing, keep chasing!" A Norn rcenary in tattered leather armor, with a bald head and a bushy beard, cursed in heavily accented Leia language, "We've been chasing for seven miles, still chasing!"
But the people behind him, including Old Laver, had no intention of stopping, still grasping their military sabers and long spears, pursuing these fleeing marauders on the wasteland.
Soon, the rcenaries from the Shattered Stone Plain, whose willpower and physical strength were far outmatched by Old Laver and his n, found their path blocked by a fallen deadwood and a muddy pond.
Reluctantly, these rcenaries had to turn around, raise their hands, and shout in a mix of anger and helplessness: "We surrender!"
However, in the "Holy Alliance Infantry Manual," it is clearly stated that war monks must strictly control prisoners who have not been disard.
So Old Laver and his n split into two groups, one pointing their long spears at their vital points, the other moving forward to disarm them.
Slightly raising his head to move his throat away from the tip of the spear, the leader of the Shattered Stone Plain rcenaries could distinctly feel the difference between the spearn and the soldiers with military sabers.
Years of battlefield experience instantly told him that the person in front of him was a genuine rcenary.
"A few dozen dinars a month, huh?" The rcenary spat out a blood-tinged phlegm, panting heavily, "What's the point of risking your life?"
"A few dozen dinars? How much can you get?" The old rcenary said with so lant, "We do receive full pay."
Under warti conditions, Moliat provided each rcenary with full 30 dinars of silver coins at the beginning and middle of the month.
Many rcenaries coming all the way from Norn were in tears; they had never seen such a generous employer in their lives.
Previously, Prince Kongdai had to deploy knights all over to loot for those thirty to fifty thousand gold pounds.
This ultimately resulted in the divided loyalties among the nobles, leading to their eventual defeat.
But after the implentation of the Horn Hundred Households District system, the situation changed dramatically.
Under this system, large numbers of nobles and knights left their fiefdoms, removing the oppressive feudal system.
While the main shares of the Windmill Land financial war were taken by the igedi Comrce Association, and the main indemnities of the Black Snake Bay war were claid by the Holy Machinery Court.
But these two entities almost never saved money, using it instead to repay bonds or for re-production expansion.
The specific thod was first through agricultural mutual aid in the Hundred Households Districts, sharing iron farm tools and animal power, thus freeing up a large population to engage in comrce and construction industries.
So went to Priest Town to work as construction workers, others repaired canals and roads, or worked as dock laborers.
Thanks to these civil engineering projects and supporting industries, everyone had so money in their pockets.
Apart from a few miserly types, most people more or less spent it.
Thus, the robust consumption led to strong demand, birthing vigorous town trade and significant market and customs duties.
The established roads, canals, and housing infrastructure began to feed back into industry and comrce, reducing trade costs.
Originally, the market was held every ten days, later it changed to every eight days, then even every five days, and now many stalls are permanently set up.
This allowed many ordinary artisans and even laborers to make a fortune in this wave.
However, in the current Empire market, the overall trend was soaring prices and depreciating precious tal currency.
Apart from the hot money brought by the Black Snake Bay war and the Windmill Land financial war, the Royal Family of Falan Thousand River Valley Trading Company brought a stable cash flow.
Sugar, spices, ready-made clothes, alchemy potions, especially white paper and printing, beca all the rage in Falan due to their low prices.
Many scholars in Falan, as publishing books dostically was too expensive, specifically sent manuscripts to the Thousand River Valley for printing.
Thus, within the Holy Alliance, the influx of large amounts of precious tal currency also led to rising prices and a quick devaluation of money on hand.
People who made money had three options: quickly spend it, invest it in re-production, or consider financial investnt.
If they buried it in the backyard like before, the devaluation would wipe it out.
The large funds that Horn spent on infrastructure flowed back into their hands, turning into bonds, stocks, and boxes of goods.
So, the Thousand River Valley people had little resistance to financial investnt, with the three major exchanges in Xia Lvcheng, Rapids City, and Joan of Arc Castle bustling with people.
Riding this wave, Moliat followed suit, starting to issue war bonds, guaranteed by the Saintess Bank.
Moliat offered a high 7% short-term two-year bond, issuing 9000 bonds, with a minimum denomination of 5 gold pounds per bond.
This was roughly equivalent to three to five years' surplus for a small landowning family.
At this price, they precisely targeted grassroots citizens and the small landowner class.
The citizen class in Hotam County alone had nearly 20,000 households, not to ntion the noble knights forced to gather around Xia Lvcheng.
These noble knights played their "old ga," pooling funds to engage in the financial industry, establishing several small banks.
They would purchase these war bonds in bulk, then use them to issue low-denomination bonds with around a 5% interest rate to rural small landowners and yeoman farrs.
Then, using the funds raised to continue purchasing war bonds, they would further distribute the small-denomination bonds.
In just one week, Moliat sold nearly 4000 war bonds, raising 20,000 gold pounds.
Prince Kongdai, who struggled for a month causing public outrage, was not as fast as Moliat's one-week pace.
Once they had tied up the howling prisoners, Old Laver and the other rcenaries escorted them, slowly heading towards the not-so-distant Feldheim.
They first returned along the wilderness to the main road, then continued along the main road back.
And these so-called main roads couldn't compare to a single hair of the Holy Alliance's roads, filled with potholes and stones of various sizes.
Yet, on the dirt roads, carts with bodies swaying as they lifted countless mud splatters still traveled back and forth.
The wheels bounced up and down between the potholes and stones, without causing the cart drivers to slow down.
Looking at the mud splatters on their boots and lower legs, Old Laver and the others were not annoyed.
Because they all knew that these were wool-transporting carts.
To boost confidence and raise more funds, Moliat directly dispatched troops to occupy Feldheim Town.
What Old Laver and his n didn't know was that the "igedi Business News," "Cold Spring Weekly," and "Iris Report" had all lavishly praised Moliat's victory and the mountains of spoils.
From Old Laver's perspective, the mountains of spoils hadn't been seen, but there were indeed mountains of wool.
In the Shattered Stone Plain dialect, a small town and a tax collector are synonymous.
And just after the annual shearing season (April and September), the Duke's Warehouse in Feldheim Town was packed with wool brought by shepherds.
Yesterday, when Old Laver opened the warehouse, the dark-edged wool seed like unlting winter snow sleeping in the warehouse.
Many wool rchants from Mountain County hurried day and night to the scene, moving the wool from the town's warehouse onto their carts like large cabbages.
With eyes reddened from several sleepless nights, they rushed to Ladan Castle to board a boat to High Castle City, then northward to deliver the wool to the Ibe River shipping lane.
The textile production monastery in South Mangde County, starved for over four months, devoured this batch of wool like a dog that hadn't eaten in ages.
The screech of spinning wheels once again echoed in the night sky of South Mangde County.
Along with the downstream industry, the previously sluggish Holy Machinery Court Textile Factory and the Joan of Arc Castle garnt workshops beca busy again.
Even the previously critical "Truth Report" gradually shifted its stance towards neutrality.
These complex situations were for the higher-ups to consider, unrelated to ordinary soldiers like Old Laver and others.
Right now, they only had one thought in their minds—that was, when they could eat.
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