Chapter 186 Behind Enemy Lines Group
There are a large number of undead activities at the four city gates, which must have an impact on the residents in the city.
Shop owners with a keen sense of smell raised their prices as if they had agreed beforehand. The price of black bread in the bakery increased to ten copper coins a bag overnight. Even cheap food like potatoes, which usually cost a few copper coins to buy a lot, soared to one or even two copper coins a pound.
But apart from the soaring prices...there are no other problems.
The gang members active on the streets were hired by wealthy people to work as security guards, and the security environment in each neighborhood improved rapidly.
The middle class firmly believed that they were the backbone of the city and that no matter who became the city lord, they would be hired. In addition, it was really difficult for them to abandon their family businesses and flee in such a hurry... so they were relatively emotionally stable.
Ordinary citizens were very nervous, but after discovering that vegetable farmers could still come into the city, milkmen from rural farms could ride tricycles around the streets early in the morning, and newspaper boys from the slums outside the city could hawk their wares early in the morning... they soon calmed down.
Today, the freckled boy Sangji gathered in front of the west gate like the vegetable farmers and milkmen entering the city before dawn and waited for the gate to open. When the time came, the gate soldiers were afraid of the undead outside the city and did not dare to open the door. Sangji then angrily knocked on the door with the people who needed to go into the city to make a living. They shouted for more than half an hour before asking for the gate to be opened, and then hurried to the newspaper office.
Yes, the undead wandering around outside the city gate are indeed eye-catching, but for the lower class who live from hand to mouth, as long as these undead don’t kill them or steal their things, they have to continue living.
Those undead had no intention of rushing into the city gate, and Sangji didn’t know what the soldiers at the city gate were afraid of!
Well... actually, Yang Qiu set limits for the players and temporarily prevented them from entering the city, in order to prevent these guys from rushing into the city lord's mansion before the war started - the main house of the Bartles family had other uses, so it was better not to let these natural disasters cause trouble.
Sangji's business was extra good that morning. From time to time, well-dressed gentlemen would stop him and buy newspapers from him and ask about the situation outside the city. The clever freckled boy knew what these gentlemen wanted to hear, and he was very enthusiastic to tell them how easy to get along with and how welcoming the dead were, and that they even helped the slums clean up the mountain of garbage under the city wall.
In a nutshell, Lord Rex's undead army will not attack people at will, so everyone can rest assured.
Most of the middle class people who asked newsboys for news (rich people had better channels of information) really needed this kind of information, so they paid Sangji an extra copper or two and went to work with peace of mind.
There were also a small number of people who were half-believing and half-doubting. They personally ran to the city gate to take a look, and confirmed that the undead whose sight made their heart beat faster did not attack people entering or leaving the city. Only then did they put their hearts at ease.
Before noon, the inflated prices in the city began to fall.
It has to decline. The premise for merchants to make money from war is that the threat of war can make people feel fear and rush to buy supplies and stock up under pressure. However, the undead from Westram did not cooperate at all. They did not restrict people from entering and leaving the city. As a result, the farmers who found that prices in the city had soared rushed to transport food into the city like a carnival. Their painstakingly planned price gouging actually benefited those peasants. Who could stand this!
When the merchants removed the out-of-stock signs with resentment and put up the original price signs again, the defenders of Innadli City, who finally reached a consensus after a morning of bargaining and exchanging interests, finally set out from the central city area and headed for the west gate.
When this city defense force, consisting of 1,200 city defense soldiers, more than 2,000 noble private soldiers, and more than 400 temporarily hired civilian armed elements (actually mercenaries), marched in a mighty procession along St. Joseph Street, residents on the street closed their doors and windows, pedestrians scattered, and small vendors fled in panic...
There's no way. The army in this world doesn't have a good reputation. Everyone knows that the city defense army with strict military discipline is fine, but the nobles' private soldiers and mercenaries can all put on masks and seamlessly switch into bandits and robbers when necessary. Who wouldn't be afraid of them? Even if they don't "confiscate" your property, they will still suffer if they just capture you and make you a free laborer.
When the garrison troops, who had been causing chaos along the way, arrived in front of the West City Gate, even the gate officers ran as fast as they could, fearing that if they were slow, they would be caught and sent to the battlefield to make up the numbers...
Adela III, who was personally wearing armor and riding a lizard horse to lead the garrison, did not feel anything when he saw the civilians fleeing on St. Joseph Street. But when he arrived at the west gate and found that all the gate officers had fled, he was so angry that his nose was almost crooked: "These shameless rubbish! After this battle, I will replace all the gate officers!"
Butler Gould, who came with his master, sighed secretly... The city gate officials belong to the National Garrison system. The Bartles family relies on the city defense army as their direct lineage, and they don't pay much attention to the non-direct lineage city defense system (National Garrison). These people are certainly not very loyal to the Bartles family.
No, not only are they disloyal, they might even expect Charlie Rex to win - you know, the National Garrison is the main conventional military force in other territories and is valued by the lords; Charlie Rex has even settled Westham's militia, whose value is far inferior to that of the National Garrison, very well. These soldiers at the city gates will certainly expect to have a master who does not treat them as invisible people.
At six in the morning on Earth, or 11 noon in the other world, the territory war officially began.
Due to the special login mechanism of the game "Alien World" , the online rate can be fully guaranteed during the special time period of six in the morning - people who go to work or school can go online and fight the battle when they are taking a nap.
Yang Qiu had sent out an announcement for the start of the war the day before, and at the exact time, the number of online players skyrocketed from over a thousand to over three thousand... Most of them set their alarms to go online on the exact time, and a small number called their relatives and friends online - whether or not to call people online during high-reward events is the most important touchstone of player friendship, and whether the relationship is good or not depends on this moment.
As a lord, Adela III would naturally not charge into the battle himself. After sternly instructing the city defense corps commander Horn to fight with all his might for the Bartles family, this guy went up to the city wall with his butler Gould and more than 20 personal guards who were only there to protect his own safety.
Along with Adela III, those who went up to the city wall included the mayor, the sheriff and other high-ranking officials in the city, as well as a group of local nobles headed by Viscount Darcy.
The third king hated managing the messy affairs in the territory and often talked about the royal city, but he hated it even more when his position was coveted by others. At this critical moment, he knew the importance of uniting local forces - he even brought Baron Marcus, the loser who had lost his territory, to the scene to watch the battle.
This method of forcing the local nobles to stand by him... is still very useful as long as the garrison has a slight chance of winning. Even someone with ulterior motives like Viscount Darcy will have to openly hand over his family assets (private soldiers).
The Mule and Horse Market Square, with its open terrain and perfect for use as a battlefield, was soon filled with the sound of fighting.
At the Westram camp behind the battlefield, Yang Qiu took out a telescope and looked at the local dignitaries on the city wall. He turned his head and said to Rex, "Are you all ready? If you are, then we will act."
"I've been on standby all morning." Rex nodded.
Yang Qiu waved his hand and Rex turned and left.
On the other side of the camp, in front of several warehouses that were quietly set up under the cover of a large-scale prisoner camp, ten "behind-enemy-line activity teams" composed of town hall agents, orc volunteers and two hundred security team members were ready to go, just as Rex said.
"You are about to face another battlefield. Please be careful and safe. Do not advance rashly. If you notice anything wrong, leave the city quickly and protect yourself first."
Everyone laughed at Rex's pre-war mobilization, especially the operators, who wanted to laugh but were also filled with emotion. When they were still members of the city defense force, they only heard officers repeatedly asking them to prove their loyalty with their lives, but never asking them to cherish their lives.
"We will be careful, don't worry Rex." Operator Barton said on behalf of his companions.
"Go ahead, I and the others will wait for you all to return." Rex said solemnly.
Ten "behind-enemy-line activity groups" set off immediately. While all the bigwigs in the city were paying attention to the battlefield at the west gate, they each drove a carriage loaded with "Westham specialties" and entered the city through the south gate.
Security officer Jimmy was assigned to Operator Patton's team. After their team entered the South City Gate, Jimmy, who had worked odd jobs in Innadri as a teenager and knew the South City area well, led the team's convoy all the way around to the largest civilian area in the South City.
The neighborhood adjacent to the Free Market on the southern section of St. Joseph Street, commonly known as the Market District, is the most densely populated civilian area in the southern city.
Residential buildings that were built recklessly without any supervision or planning are densely arranged. Illegal and dangerous buildings that are four or five stories high can be seen everywhere. There are no roads inside that can accommodate horse-drawn carriages, only narrow and dark alleys. More than 20,000 local residents and migrant workers are squeezed into a land the size of an ordinary village. It can be called an alien version of the Kowloon Walled City.
The convoy in charge of the team stopped at an open space belonging to a free market outside the residential area. Jimmy stopped Agent Patton from setting up a stall and selling goods on the spot, and walked towards the coal yard outside the residential area.
The market area has no electricity or gas pipelines, so the demand for coal is not small. There are several coal yards selling loose coal outside the residential area.
Jimmy walked into one of the coal yards, said something to the coal delivery worker who was eating mashed potatoes during his lunch break, and pointed in the direction of the convoy.
Soon, this group of workers, whose bodies were dirty and whose hands and faces were covered with coal dust, followed Jimmy back to the team with curiosity and fear.
Jimmy pulled out a set of dark blue jacket and trousers from the carriage. You could tell with the naked eye that the material was very thick, but the style was rather strange. He handed the new set of thick clothes to the coal yard workers without hesitation and said, "This is the kind of clothes. Only twenty copper coins for a set. It's as cost-effective as the undead cloth."
The workers in the coal yard wiped their hands vigorously on their equally dirty pants before they dared to touch the new clothes. Then they found that this new fabric was not only thick, but also very resistant to dirt...
"Is it really only twenty copper coins per set?" The coal yard workers' breathing became heavy.
Operator Patton didn't have as much life experience as Jimmy, who was a militiaman. But seeing that Jimmy still didn't understand Jimmy's intention, Mayor Jitang and Ms. Zhao's teachings would have been in vain, he immediately stepped forward with a warm smile and said, "Of course, we Westham people never lie in business. If you can help us spread the word and let the residents of the market area know that we have cheap and good clothes here, then we can pay you with these clothes as a reward."
The coal yard had good profits, but that didn't mean the coal delivery workers would earn much. Just running errands and getting new clothes worth twenty copper coins was certainly a good deal for the coal delivery workers, so all the workers signed up immediately.
With the diligent announcement of the coal yard workers who usually delivered goods all over the block and were particularly familiar with the market area, a large number of residents soon rushed out of their homes to see the rare things...
Yang Qiu used his experience of buying cheap goods on Pinshaoshao to find the manufacturer through twists and turns, and purchased them from Provinces G, S and Y by the kilogram (one yuan per kilogram). The denim jackets and trousers, which had been in stock for at least five years and were considered to be relegated to the cold palace in the eyes of Earthlings due to their style and workmanship, were as powerful as the big mushroom at the ultra-low price of twenty copper coins. Both local residents and migrant workers knelt down and surrounded the convoy to buy them frantically.
As this batch of goods flowed out, the news that "cheap goods from Westham flowed into Innadri while the masters were fighting" spread rapidly among the lower-class people at the speed of a plague.
Thoughts and comments such as "Westham's products are really cheap and affordable" and "How come Westham has so many good things" also spread rapidly as if they had wings...
While the garrison troops on the battlefield outside the West City Gate were struggling to cope with the tireless and repeated attacks of the immortal undead, the lower-class people in the South City District were even looking forward to the lord of Westram taking over the city of Innader...
Yang Qiu did not expect to mobilize the masses by doing a "big sale behind enemy lines". The reason why he did this kind of trick outside the (battle) field was very simple: he knew too well the nature of the ruling class in this world. Once they found that professional soldiers could not cope with the crisis, the local nobles would definitely and would definitely forcibly requisition the young and strong men in the city and send these ordinary people who were already exploited to the battlefield.
The "behind-the-enemy-line activity team" was sent to sneak into the southern part of the city, where there were the most civilians, to conduct a big sale during the battle. There was only one purpose: to send a friendly signal from Westram to the civilians in the city:
Westram is not your enemy. If you are forced to go to the battlefield, you can surrender to us without any worries.
