Chapter 542 Reclaiming Villages and Towns

Hearing the shouts from behind, Xu Lai was in a state of hesitation.

Lin Qiu's character seemed good, and his ability was recognized by Xu Lai.

The key point was that this woman had no ambitions and had been serving as a deputy in the Rainbow Mercenary Group.

Compared with men, most women wanted a stable life.

Xu Lai would be more assured to use a woman without much ambition, especially since he did not stay in this city often.

But then again, women are the most vengeful creatures.

The Rainbow Mercenary Group had passed the deadline Xu Lai gave them, and Xu Lai would never allow this mercenary group to continue to exist.

Disbanding the mercenary group was the lightest punishment and only Xu Lai would show special favor.

But in this case, Xu Lai was not very assured to use this woman.

"What can you do to guarantee that I will not regret this decision?"

After thinking it over and over again, Xu Lai decided to give her a chance. In his heart, he was not a person who liked to kill innocent people.

"I can't promise anything. I can only promise myself at most. I will always be grateful for the opportunity you gave me."

Xu Lai pondered for a moment and said, "There is still one day left. Come to me after you disband the mercenary group."

It's one day, but in fact, Xu Lai can only wait until about 9 or 10 o'clock tonight, because after this time, he will have to rest.

Lin Qiu and the Rainbow Mercenary Group are not worth wasting his rest time.

The most important thing is that one or two hours after this point, it will be 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, which is the early morning of the next day.

"Thank you!"

Lin Qiu didn't know how to describe her current mood. Obviously, the other party was going to kill them all, but she still had to thank the other party for the slightest chance she had.

Xu Lai shook her head and did not accept Lin Qiu's thanks, but said:

"In fact, if I were you, I would take them away secretly.

Although the city gate is closed, I think you should have other ways to leave."

Xu Lai blocked the city gate, but the omnipotent mercenaries definitely had a way to get out of the city.

For example, using invisible props, or changing their appearance, etc.

Anyway, except for the killers and thieves who have been exposed.

In the past two days, Xu Lai has never captured any member of the Thieves Guild at the city gate.

Less than 12 hours is not enough, and the conditions he agreed to were said in a hurry, without discussing with anyone at all.

But when he thought that his leader took on such a deadly task without discussing it with him, the little guilt in Lin Qiu's heart disappeared instantly.

No guilt can't solve the problem. The Rainbow Mercenary Group is the lifelong hard work of his man. It is not easy to let him disband it willingly.

"Escape? Can we escape?"

Lin Qiu also had this idea. If he couldn't make it in this place, he could just change to another place.

However, Xu Lai's angels have been hovering overhead for the past two days.

Moreover, Elvy and the others deliberately lowered their altitude, so that they could be seen clearly but could not be attacked.

Even if they could attack, who would dare to take the initiative to attack these angels?

But no matter what, everyone in the city knew that someone was watching them from the sky.

In this case, unless Xu Lai allowed them to run away, they would only become the first rafter to rot.

Xu Lai shrugged and said indifferently: "Probably you can't run away."

Lin Qiu smiled bitterly, and didn't bother to pay attention to Xu Lai's bad taste. He clasped his fists and said: "Please allow me to go back and disband the mercenary group."

Xu Lai waved his hand, indicating that Lin Qiu could leave.

And he took the remaining heroes and ran to the next manor.

Compared with the village, the manor that Xu Lai and his team went to had a larger area, but the population was much smaller.

This was a farm dedicated to producing food. Those who lived here were all serfs of Aini and hired farmers who had lost their land.

The former worked for Aini for free, and would not receive any compensation except for barely getting enough food and clothing.

The latter were treated a little better than the serfs, and could get a little extra compensation in addition to getting enough food and clothing.

It's just that such a reward only allows them to live a little more dignified than serfs. If they want to support their family, it's no different from dreaming.

However, at least in such a manor, both serfs and hired farmers can survive.

In some places, those who are exploited really can't survive at all.

In Xu Lai's world, if you can't survive, the worst thing is that you will become a king or a general.

But the extraordinary power of this world is all in the hands of the nobles.

As long as there are one or two high-level warriors, many peasants can't break through the defense after being armed.

There is no hope at all. Ordinary people have almost no other chance except being enslaved.

Therefore, even if they are just serfs, I don't know how many people dream of a good place, at least they can survive.

Of course, there is no motivation for such a life.

Therefore, such a large farm has specially pumped groundwater, but the farmland is still sparsely planted.

The owner of the manor took all the farmers in the manor early and waited at the gate of the manor.

As soon as they saw Xu Lai's men, a large group of people knelt down on the side of the road.

"Welcome to the great lord, the hero who defeated the orcs, Your Excellency Xu Lai!"

The manor owner wanted to shout more powerfully, but the serfs all looked like they had not had enough to eat, their voices were thin and they had no strength at all.

Xu Lai didn't even get off his horse. He sat on the horse and said to the manor owner: "Have you received the notice from Conaston City?"

The owner of the manor, who was kneeling on the ground, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Take it, I got it."

Xu Lai nodded and asked, "Why didn't you report to the city hall?"

The owner of the manor rested his head on the ground and did not dare to answer a word.

Xu Lai smiled and said, "Are you afraid that I will kill you?"

I think that’s what he thought, but I just said he didn’t dare.

Xu Lai didn't bother to pay attention to him and said to the heroes behind him: "Who is interested in taking over this manor?"

The manor is the smallest unit and does not even have the heart of a castle. Even if it does, it only requires the smallest camp level.

If other places only have smaller development potential, then such a manor has no potential at all.

Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, but no one stood up.

Xu Lai tolerated it in the previous village, and it is still the same in this manor today.

Fortunately, just when Xu Lai was about to get angry, a friend of Qin Laoliu and the others was pushed out.

"Xu, hello, Brother Xu."

Xu Lai smiled and said, "Hello."

"My name is Zhao Lai. I am willing to take over this manor."

Xu Lai nodded with satisfaction and said: "Okay, I will leave this manor to you. I only have one request for this manor, which is to divide the land among them.

Do everything you can to exceed the previous output based on the 30% tax.

If I can do it, I will hand over Xiangshui Town to you. "

There are many villages attached to Conaston, but there are only 5 towns, among which Xiangshui Town ranks second.

Originally, Xu Lai wanted to hand over all five towns to these heroes for management.

But based on the attitude of this group of people, Xu Lai thought about it and let Jimmy take charge of the other four towns first.

After that, Xu Lai said to the others: "There are only 30 villages and manors nearby here combined.

I originally wanted to hand over the towns to you, but now it seems that with the temptation of the towns, none of you can look down on these manors and villages.

Also, if something is delivered to your door, no one will cherish it.

I was thinking before that I would help you suppress the battle while I have time and effort.

Now it seems that I shouldn't have done all this.

Let's do this. I won't take you to the remaining villages. Whichever village you want to manage, just sign up with me directly.

After registration ends, you can go and set off directly.

My request is also very simple. After the land is redistributed, the annual income should be no less than the previous year without imposing any additional taxes.

If you think you can do it and have the confidence, you can sign up now.

The four of you with the best performance during the year will be promoted to mayor. "

After Xu Lai adjusted his arrangement in time, there were indeed a lot of followers.

No one is picky anymore. Instead, the poorer the village, the more areas it can improve and its performance will be better. Instead, they are all vying to go to poor villages.

If Xu Lai hadn't still been here, these people might have really fought over it and started fighting.

Following Xu Lai out, of course they did not dare to bring their own troops. If they did not have troops and relied on themselves alone, even if they fought, nothing big would happen.

Xu Lai asked Qin Laoliu and Ji Long to take charge of the registration, while he pulled Zhao Lai and pointed at the manor owner who was still kneeling on the ground:

"Go and hang him at the entrance of the manor for three days and three nights. If he's not dead yet, let him go!"

Zhao Lai was very nervous. He said to Xu Lai: "It's not easy to live after hanging for three days and three nights. Do you want to give him food and drink?"

Xu Lai smiled and said, "Here, why not, but ask them what and how much they usually eat, and then give them what and how much they eat."

After hearing what Xu Lai said, the owner of the manor turned pale and howled on the ground: "Great hero, please don't do this to me. I didn't even run away..."

"Just because you didn't run away, I didn't kill you directly, but gave you a chance to live.

Don't worry, the weather isn't hot anymore, and with so much fat on my body, I probably won't freeze to death. "

Xu Lai didn't know whether the owner of the manor was freezing to death.

But the serfs in this manor must really want this guy to die.

After Xu Lai announced that he would allocate land to them, these civilians cried with joy and kowtowed to Xu Lai.

And when Xu Lai announced that they would hang up their former manor owner, these serfs, who were shaking when walking, fetched tall hemp poles and ropes as fast as they could in their lives.

Xu Lai shook his head with a smile and witnessed with his own eyes that after the owner of the manor was hung high, he quickly left with his guards.

The heroes have already gone to conquer the villages and manors they signed up for.

For the remaining heroes who couldn't even tell their names, Xu Lai asked them if they were willing to go to Qingfeng City with him.

Those who are willing to go, after the teleportation array is opened, Xu Lai will take them to Qingfeng City to build farms specializing in food production near the water source.

If he doesn't want to go, Xu Lai won't force him, he just assumes that everyone doesn't have this fate.

Just the trivial matters in these villages delayed Xu Lai for a long time.

But even if the villages were distributed, Xu Lai still couldn't rest.

There were still 4 towns that Xu Lai needed to recapture one by one.

Xu Lai's actions had already made the mayors and sheriffs of these towns frightened.

After experiencing the village that escaped and was massacred before, the mayors of these towns united together to form a mutual aid alliance.

It was just a pity that when Xu Lai's paladins rushed into the town, cut down one arrow tower after another, and killed one trainee infantry and spearman after another, the promised reinforcements were not seen.

Xu Lai even disliked the mayor of the town for his thin arms and legs, and the alarm bell was not loud enough, so he went to ring the alarm bell himself.

The noisy sound spread far, but there was still no one in sight.

Xu Lai originally wanted to save some trouble, but now he had to take his troops and fight one by one.

After the battle, Xu Lai would promulgate his policies as usual, which naturally caused waves of cheers from the residents of these towns.

But the original mayor was abandoned by Xu Lai, so Jimi had to send some people to take over.

After running around for most of the afternoon, the Paladin advanced two by killing these low-level soldiers, and Xu Lai finally took back Conaston and the nearby towns and villages.

Although Xu Lai's move to redistribute land may increase everyone's production motivation.

But compared with before, Xu Lai only collected 30% of taxes, which was much less than Aini's 70%.

So, he had no idea how much he could get in the end.

But at least, not to mention that it was easy to raise hundreds of thousands of troops like Aini, it should be no problem to raise about 100,000 troops.

Besides, Xu Lai didn't plan to let go of Aini's other castles.

After Jimi trained the army and collected the land and cities of the surrendered nobles, Xu Lai might personally lead the team to sweep the entire grassland.

This time, in addition to recovering 5 towns, 17 villages, and 15 manors of various types.

Xu Lai also raided many people's homes and collected a large amount of gold and silver. Several mayors, powerful businessmen and village chiefs contributed at least millions of gold coins to Xu Lai.

He even took out more than one million gold coins and directly rewarded all the troops, including the heroes, before tomorrow's action.

Jimmy's subordinates, except for those captives who were recruited, got less, and each person only received 10 gold coins for resettlement.

Jimmy's men who came from thousands of miles away, each of them received at least 30 gold coins, which was more than the income of many of their families for a whole year.

They had just arrived in Conaston and had obtained such a huge fortune. Everyone's face was filled with happy smiles.

After learning about tomorrow's combat mission, these guys wanted to rush over as soon as it was 12 o'clock.

In short, everyone's morale was very high, and they were all full of expectations for the next battle. (End of this chapter)