Chapter 285 Ramon and Scorpio
In fact, many things are easy for Li Ang to analyze...
Gaius is an honest man. If he had cash, he would definitely use it to help his father rebuild Siyuan City.
He also had no private army or slaves - Emperor Marius had been trying to change the slavery system, and a decent man like Gaius certainly would not go against his father's wishes.
Therefore, he could only participate in the auction by exchanging land for other purposes, and Box No. 1 had indeed been evaluating the land value from the very beginning.
The Sava River Castle was originally granted to Titus by Emperor Marius, but as an outsider, Titus naturally could not get much arable land - the arable land of the Bacchus Empire was all in the hands of the Bacchus, and a general like Cleon who was born in Pendor did not have much arable land either.
But Gaius was the purest Bacchus, and he was also the eldest son of Marius - this certainly made him the easiest person to obtain 'land attachment'. Although there was no such thing as an eldest prince in the Bacchus Empire, and Gaius was not regarded as an heir by Marius, no one would take the initiative to provoke the son of Emperor Marius.
In addition, Titus had the habit of taking advantage of the land, so most of the landlords south of the Sava River Castle would seek "help" from Gaius, an upright nobleman.
Gaius therefore had a great deal of land in his name, and indeed it was all legal.
Now that Sava River Fort has been destroyed and occupied by the Kingdom of Sarleon, the land south of Sava River Fort is no longer safe.
In addition, the rebels of Hilla Yuzas have been entrenched in that area for the past year, and it is estimated that all the arable land has been abandoned - then, these lands are just suitable for bidding for Ashcoman.
Moreover, this would also allow those lands to serve as buffer zones. Regardless of whether the D'Shar or the Singal people ultimately obtained those lands, at least the Bacchus Empire would not have to directly confront the powerful Fierce Lion Kingdom, which would be very helpful for the Bacchus Empire's recent recuperation.
Therefore, Gaius must have come with the instruction of Emperor Marius. Exchanging a piece of abandoned farmland for a prosperous seaport was a good deal in any case.
After hearing that Alina had been bidding, it became easier to judge this point - Alina must have been sent by Emperor Marius, she was the real representative of Marius, and the two "princes" were probably just investors, providing the capital for Alina's bid.
In fact, Emperor Marius could have directly exchanged Eshkoman with Leon, but he did not agree to Leon's request at that time. He just said, " Let's talk about it after we occupy Eshkoman."
Now, after occupying Eichkoman, Leon understood what Emperor Marius meant - the emperor had probably been thinking from the beginning about how to get people from other countries to cultivate the abandoned land south of the Sava River Fort.
For this purpose, he even tricked all the bandits in the area into joining Desha to get horses...
If Emperor Marius successfully counterattacks and recaptures the Sava River Fort after a while, then that land will return to the Bacchus Empire again - as long as Emperor Marius provides some favorable policies for that land, such as three years of tax exemption, the people who cultivate those lands will even help the Bacchus Empire resist the enemy.
And now the Sava River Fort has lost the support of the Qicha Fortress...
Thinking of this, Leon admired from the bottom of his heart - Emperor Marius was a truly shrewd man, and basically all the business he did did not cost any money... As an emperor, of course he could not trade with the territory, but it would definitely be no problem to let his two sons trade with the territory that would soon be occupied by the Kingdom of Sarleon.
…
Singal was full of discussion and noise at this time, and Ramon's ability to create hype was extremely prominent in this era.
Ramon's City Lord Auction ended successfully.
The auction of the city lord, this kind of gimmick-filled news made the whole Singal boil, and most Singalians had a kind of gloating excitement on their faces.
For the Singalians, they are quite happy to see this happen to the Principality of D'Shar - in fact, civil unrest in any country is something the Singalians welcome.
Anyway, no matter which country nominally occupies Singal, it will not truly recognize the Singalians, so the Singalians naturally will not care which country they belong to.
They care more about their business and dinars.
The more chaotic the continent of Pendor is, the better the business of the Singal people will be...
If they were not unable to do so, many Singalians would probably be willing to take the initiative to create some war.
Anyway, no king would easily attack a chaotic place like Singal. There are countless forces in this city, and most of them are the kind that will do anything to achieve their goals. If they are really provoked, anything can happen.
At this time, a huge crowd gathered outside Ramon's hotel. Probably all the people in Singal had gathered here.
But these guys didn't intend to cause trouble, but instead whispered to each other about the final result of the auction.
After Ramon's hotel opened its doors, the crowd began to surge.
The first few fat guys who came out of the hotel looked outside and then immediately retreated - they probably thought there was a riot in the city and the streets were full of people...
Only after he was sure that the people outside were just there to watch the fun or gather information did he carefully hold his wallet and call for his followers to escort him out of the hotel.
It wasn’t long before the news spread – the bidding for Eichkoman ended up being worth two million dinars!
The one who successfully won Ashcomb was Miss Alina from the Bacchus Empire!
"Hey? This Alina is a woman, right? How can a woman marry Miss Luha?"
"Well, it is said that Miss Alina has never dated a man at the age of 20 - you know, don't limit the gender so strictly..."
"Hiss...are the people of the Bacchus Empire so extravagant?"
"Look at what you said... There is nothing these nobles can't do..."
There was a lot of discussion in Singal City, and the topic soon turned to things like "How would two women get married?"
Leon was also waiting for Ramon, who was smiling, in the suite on the top floor of the hotel.
"Cheers, good brother!"
Leon and Ramon stood side by side on the hotel balcony, looking at the crowd talking downstairs and clinking their wine glasses.
"One million dinars will be delivered to Changhe Town in a few months. I will cash in those deeds as soon as possible... but how will Ashkorman deliver them?"
Ramon explained the settlement-related matters to Leon.
"I'll take care of the delivery. Don't worry. Alina and I have some friendship."
Leon turned around, leaned against the balcony, and asked Ramon another question: "I want to ask you about your flying knife... Ramon, are you the Grand Master of the Scorpio Assassin Brotherhood?"
Ramon was silent for several seconds before he spoke: "...I did work as a Scorpio Assassin, but I am not a Grand Master. Ever since the previous Grand Master was assassinated by his own brother, the Scorpio Assassin Brotherhood has no Grand Master anymore..."
Then Ramon shook his head and smiled unnaturally: "Why? Brother, you don't want to be the leader, do you?"
"No, no, no... I don't want to be assassinated by my own brothers..."
Li Ang shook his head like he was having the hiccups, then turned around and looked downstairs, no longer staring at Ramon, and said to himself: "Ramon, I can guess...you are the former Grand Commander who was assassinated by your own brother..."
Ramon's smile froze.
"Brother, I didn't mean to hide it from you...I just..."
Ramon shook the hand holding the wine glass, seeming a little nervous and even a little panicked.
"I understand... Everyone has their own secrets. I probably shouldn't have mentioned this. I'll drink a glass of wine as a punishment."
Leon drank the wine in the glass, then put his arm around Ramon's shoulders: "But you have to understand, since I can guess it, others can guess it too..."
After all, Leon himself has a lot of secrets buried in his heart, so he can certainly understand Ramon.
Ramon faked his death to escape and hide his identity, and this must be kept secret from everyone.
However, Leon deliberately mentioned this topic to remind Ramon that he was really expressing goodwill as a good brother.
Ramon also drank the wine in his hand in one gulp, then threw down the glass and took out a strange throwing knife from his arms.
"Good brother, I understand what you mean, you take this..."
Ramon turned the flying knife around, held the blade, and handed the handle to Leon.
This is an extremely simple straight-blade throwing knife, about the same length as a palm. There is a black emblem in the middle of the blade, and the black emblem is inlaid with ebony.
The emblem is a scorpion, a black scorpion.
"What is this? Is it the Scorpio Assassin's keepsake?"
Li Ang took the throwing knife and touched the black scorpion emblem with his fingers. It felt cold and smooth. It was indeed ebony embedded in it. The workmanship of this throwing knife was much more exquisite than the one that was auctioned before.
"No, this is a family token. It can mobilize the Scorpio Assassins to a limited extent..."
Ramon said softly: "I have never told anyone my last name. Everyone thought I was a villain from a commoner family... My good brother, my last name was Akarabu. The Scorpio Assassin Brotherhood was originally called the 'Scorpio Guard Knights' to me."
Akarab...
This was the family name of the former Duke of D'Shar who had helped to establish D'Shar independence - that Duke was named Baltar el-Akarab.
Balta is the first name, Il is the clan name, and Akarab is the family surname.
Baltar was the one who founded the Scorpio Assassin Brotherhood. Of course, at that time, the Scorpio Assassins were the guard knights of the Akarab family.
"So that's how it is... Ramon, if that's the case, then you can definitely replace..."
Leon realized that Ramon actually possessed the legal principles of a Desha ruler, and the most orthodox one!
"No……"
Ramon interrupted Leon and said, "My dear brother, perhaps what I said would be disrespectful to the gods - I don't believe in the god Wata. Moreover, I am a sinner... When I was a Scorpio Assassin, I killed someone who should not have been killed... Therefore, I am no longer qualified to use the last name Akarabu."
After saying this, Ramon seemed to be much more relaxed.
Leon was stunned for a moment, patted Ramon on the shoulder, and didn't ask any more questions. He didn't want to touch his friend's pain again.
Everyone has his own sorrow.
Although Ramon did not say it explicitly, judging from the fact that he asked the Scorpio assassin to "assassinate" him, the person he killed was probably his closest relative.
"Huh... don't mention these unhappy things. Ramon, we still have a lot of happy things to do. Where are Emil Xerxes and Bridget?"
Li Ang carefully put the Scorpio Flying Knife into his arms and changed the subject.
"Just downstairs - they're on the fourth floor, room 401... your elven assassin is in the next room, room 403, watching them."
Ramon pointed to the ground and said, "They all came in disguised as slave traders. Emile Xerxes had been in contact with Yunes before. He originally wanted to seek support from the Bacchus."
"He should certainly seek support from Bacchus, but he may have chosen the wrong person, just like Ikram..."
Li Ang sighed: "The Dexia people look down on women...but most of the things in this world are actually caused by women..."
Ramon also sighed: "Yeah..."
…
Room 401 of the hotel is right at the foot of Li Ang's room. It is also large, but not luxurious.
The rooms on the fourth floor are all large suites separated into many small bedrooms. Generally speaking, these suites are provided for big merchants or small lords who come with many followers.
Right now, Room 401 looked like it was on fire, with even a wisp of smoke coming out of the crack in the door. One could imagine what the scene was like inside the room...
It seems that Bridget is very good at tricking people into smoking opium - if everyone didn't have a pipe, such a scene would definitely not be created.
In room 403, which was separated from room 401 by only a wall, Lisa Dilan was eavesdropping by the wall.
"I didn't expect that the successful bidder would be Alina... Yunes was just here to join in the fun as an individual?! Our previous efforts were in vain..."
This is the voice of a middle-aged man, probably Emil Xerxes.
"Who would have thought that the Bacchus Empire would let a woman call the shots... But I can't get in touch with Alina. That lady never sees anyone."
The voice sounded sharper, probably Bridget.
"Then what should we do? Should we kidnap Alina?"
"Khan, if you are willing, we can give it a try..."
"Bridge, are you planning to make an enemy of the Scorpio Assassin Brotherhood? Ramon's words at the auction were very clear - whoever dares to use force against the successful bidder will be hunted down by the Scorpio Assassins for the rest of his life!"
"Then... Great Khan, what do you think we should do? Kadan's troops are just outside Singal City. He must be chasing us! If we can't get a suitable base, we won't be able to fight Kadan."
"Alas... Compared to Ashcoman, I hope that Ramon will auction Toba City..."
There was no more conversation in the room, and the people inside seemed to be thinking.
At this time, Lisa Dilan, who was eavesdropping in Room 403, turned his head and whispered, "Sir, Emile Xerxes and Bridge still don't know about your arrangements in Toba City..."
Li Ang nodded, went out with a group of strong male bodyguards, and knocked on the door of room 401.
"who!"
"Is there a fire in there? I'm here to put it out!"
Li Ang curled his lips as he looked at the smoke seeping out from the gap in the door and simply put on a mask.
