Chapter 89 - Refugee Camp
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Levs
March 13
After five days of preparation, Lin Yi led the cavalry 1st squadron and Zhao Sihu led the infantry 1st squadron, joining hands to wipe out the territory of an Intermediate Raider’s Camp, seized a large number of materials as well as 216 gold coins.
Ouyang Shuo immediately spent 150 gold coins for the class change of the newly established cavalry 2nd squadron and officially appointed Li Mingliang as the lieutenant of cavalry 2nd squadron. After leaving the barracks, he rushed to the Intermediate Market, spent 20 gold coins to buy a gold ore refining workshop building blueprint, ready to hand it to the Construction Division as soon as possible to start construction.
The negotiation between the Materials Reserve Department and the Xuanniao Tribe were carried out very smoothly. Tian Wenjing had successfully persuaded Shi Xiong to give up the tribal hunting tradition. The tribe of the 1500 young adults, will become full-time miners in Langshan mine. In return, Shanhai town will provide 10,000 units of grains to the tribe, and guide them in plantation skills.
What Ouyang Shuo didn't know was that the reason why the negotiations would be carried out so smoothly was that in silent acquiescence, the tribe’s shaman had agreed to the terms. Otherwise, with Shi Xiong's conservative personality, he would not be easily persuaded.
Langshan garrison team had finished its establishment, it consists of 2 squadrons, led by the tribe’s two best hunters, Shi Bao and Shi Lang respectively. Ouyang Shuo claimed a batch of equipment from the arsenal, and fully equipped the 2 squadrons, effectively increasing their battle capabilities.
That was not the only good news, just as Ouyang Shuo had expected, the Three Flower Wine made by Du Dun using the spring water from Lianzhou basin had been classified as Shanhai’s special local product by the system. The system had named it ‘Lianzhou Three Flower Wine’ and can be sold through grocery shops with half the trading tax as compared to the markets.
In average, every 3 units of grain can be brewed into 1 unit of Three Flower Wine, which had the selling price of 1 silver. Lessing off the cost of grains and manpower, and also the 10% taxes, it had a pure profit of 40 coppers. Such a high profit earning, it surely was enough to make Ouyang Shuo happily crazy.
Without a second thought, Ouyang Shuo shamelessly listed the wine workshop as non-privatized property, putting it under the control of the Finance Department. At the same time, in order to maximize the profit, he had upgraded the wine workshop into a 1000 men large workshop.
The large wine workshop had an average monthly production of up to 50,000 units of Three Flower Wine, providing Ouyang Shuo an additional 200 golds of income every month. Other than its profit, the wine had brought another surprise to Ouyang Shuo, an additional territory buff.
Lianzhou Three Flower Wine: Shanhai specialty wine, +15% chance of territory to attract wine lovers.
Given such a big surprise, Du Dun- the man who made it all happened, would surely be heavily rewarded by Ouyang Shuo. Ouyang Shuo had offered him a monthly salary of 1 gold, making him right away as one of Shanhai’s high salaried members. And most importantly, with the help of the Three Flower Wine brewing technology, Du Dun was now a Master Winemaker, second to reach the Master rank after Master tailor Little Sister Mu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 14
While scouting for intelligence on the raiders camp, the Military Intelligence Division had found a refugee camp, 15km away from the center of Shanhai Town. San Gouzi didn’t dare to delay the news any longer and had reported it immediately to Ouyang Shuo.
“Refugee Camp? That’s rare, how big is it?” Ouyang Shuo was clearly surprised by the news.
“My lord, there are around 1500 refugees.”
“So many of them, how could they survive the wilderness? Were there any leaders of sorts?”
Ouyang Shuo knew only little about refugee camps. They are rare products of the wilderness, extremely hard for one to come across. In order to survive in the wilderness, one would have to be a displaced person, wandering around until they come to a lord player’s territory; Or live in a secluded village, like Zhao Dexian’s village Zhao Jiagou, a paradise far of reach from the outside world; And lastly live as raiders or bandits, wolves of the wilderness.
But refugee camps were nowhere close to the three. It wasn't like the displaced people, it had a constant shelter; nothing like a secluded paradise, it was fully exposed to the wilderness; it too wasn't raiders nor bandits, as they weren’t strong enough to protect themselves. A refugee camp was neither fish nor fowl.
Every refugee camp was formed by chance. Either they had found a place with enough food resources to feed themselves; or they would have a leader, strong enough to lead the refugees and self-protect from the danger of raiders and bandits.
“You are right my lord, there is a leader in the camp that goes by the name of Ge Hongliang, aged 35, ex-military, but had somehow been living in the wilderness. He had quite a strong ability, being able to gather the hopeless refugees together, trained them and had found their place in the wilderness, even though they were just barely living.” San Gouzi’s report was filled with details of Ge Hongliang.
“Even if they were able to fend off the raiders and bandits, but I guess they were still living a poor life?” Ouyang Shuo, even if he was asking, but he was confident about it. Even the lord players that were given special treatments were finding it hard to survive in the wilderness, don’t even talk about the system aborigines, how could they survive without the market’s long-range trading.
San Gouzi looked at Ouyang Shuo with a pair of worshipping eyes, nodded his head and said: “You have guessed it right again sire. Because there weren’t any grain seeds, nor farm tools, they couldn’t grow their own crops. The camp could only rely on the mother nature of foods from huntings and fishings. Therefore, their food sources were not truly promising, they often had to consume wild vegetables and grasses.
“Moreover, ever since the lord players had established their territories in the wilderness, the number of wild beasts had plummeted, which indirectly made their life harder. As of now, they are reaching the limit, almost turning themselves into raiders in order to live on.”
Ouyang Shuo nodded, smiled and said: “This, to us, would mean an opportunity. It would be inhumane to say, but if we are able to absorb the refugee camp into our territory, it would save us quite some time.”
“It is an honor and a blessing for them to be part of Shanhai Town, there is no need for my lord to feel bad for it.” San Gouzi smiled too. Ever since he attended the crash course classes in Lianzhou College, he had improved a lot in his speeches. It seems like the courses were quite successful.
“Has the Military Intelligence Division approached Ge Hongliang?” Shuo asked.
“Yes, I had a short talk with him, briefly introduced him about Shanhai Town, and sire’s courtesy for talents. Hei hei, from what I see from him, he was quite moved, but for him as the camp leader, he was quite reluctant to be the first to open his mouth.” San Gouzi smiled.
“Good, then I will pay him a visit personally.” Ouyang Shuo said as he had understood the situation.
The trip to the refugee camp was meant to bring peace not war, hence it would be unwise to bring an army along with him. Ouyang Shuo only brought with him a squad of the Military Intelligence Division, plus the cavalry 1st squadron.
3 o'clock in the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo and his troops stood in front of the refugee camp. The whole camp was one square kilometer in size, protected by wooden fences. Two outposts stood tall beside the main gate with two sentries on each one of them. As they spotted Ouyang Shuo, they were nervous and one of them shouted: “Name yourselves intruders!”
“I am the Lord of Shanhai Town, please pass the word to your leader!” Shuo mounted on the back of Black Tornado answered aloud.
The sentry was shocked and remembered the words of his leader this morning, and answered immediately: "May the lord wait for a moment, I will pass the word to the leader immediately.”
“Thank you!” Ouyang Shuo ordered everyone to dismount and waited patiently in front of the gate entrance.
After 10 minutes, a middle-aged scholar walked out of the camp. He had a slim and slender physique, wide broad shoulders, although his face was wan and sallow, he had a pair of sharp eyes, dressed in coarse clothes. Behind him followed tens of men, young adults and elders, all of them dressed in rough clothes and they too, had wan and sallow faces.
Before he even reached Ouyang Shuo, he had already opened his mouth: “The Lord pays us a visit, welcome, welcome!”
Ouyang Shuo looked at San Gouzi, using his eyes, asking if the scholar was the leader Ge Hongliang. San Gouzi slightly nodded his head, confirming the scholar’s identity. Ouyang Shuo then smiled and replied: “Sorry for the sudden visit, I hope you would forgive me.”
As the refugees behind Ge Hongliang laid their sights on the well-equipped cavalries, their eyes couldn’t help but be filled with terror, they were terribly awed.
“Let us talk inside!” Ge Hongliang said while smiling.
Ouyang Shuo nodded and ordered the others to stay, bringing only Lin Yi and San Gouzi along with him. As they were walking in the camp, the refugees came out of their houses and looked at them curiously. Most of the refugees were like the displaced, they didn’t have any decent clothes, only ragged and tattered clothes, their face was just like the others, wan and sallow.
Before Ouyang Shuo left for the refugee camp, he had worn his armor and took his sword, dressed as an officer, and looked like a glorious hero. The two walking beside him were also well-equipped, in comparison to the refugees, they were like heaven and earth.
Ouyang Shuo took a good look at the refugee camp’s military equipment, they only had simple and crude armors and weapons, he could not imagine how Ge Hongliang was able to command the refugees and defend themselves against the raiders' invasions. He had again reevaluated Ge Hongliang and had valued the latter much more, this was a man highly skilled in battle tactics.
As they entered the chamber, they sat down accordingly. For the refugees, other than Ge Hongliang, only an elder and a young man stayed back, while the others had automatically left.
“Let me introduce them to the lord.” Ge Hongliang said while pointing his finger to the elder, “This is Elder Xu, an ex-officer in Ya Men's Finance Department." followed by the young man, "This is our military officer, Sun Tengjiao, an ex-sergeant in the military."
Ouyang Shuo greeted them, in turn, smiled and introduced Lin Yi and San Gouzi to the other party. He noticed that when he was introducing Lin Yi, the military officer Sun's sight congealed, filled with excitement. As for San Gouzi, the refugees had already met him in the morning, hence it was easy to introduce him.
Upon knowing San Gouzi's position as the Secretary of Military Intelligence Division, a sudden white light flashed in Ge Hongliang's eyes, he had understood the situation in his heart.
To be honest, when Ouyang Shuo was introducing San Gouzi, he was feeling a little embarrassed, for the Shanhai's Secretary of Military Intelligence Division to have such a name, it really wasn't suitable at all.
If there is an opportunity in the future, let's see if I can change him a better name.