Chapter 357 King of the Rhine
There is an essential difference between a knight's fiefdom and a donated farm land.
The former owns a larger area of land, and all mountains, forests, rivers, etc. are private property; while the latter only obtains arable land within a limited range.
The farm that Coulson gave as a reward to the "captive earl's undead" is less than one-tenth the size of the orange cat's knight's fiefdom - although most of the orange cat's knight's fiefdom is mountainous and forested, the total area is there after all.
But for Huanling, this is not important... He is not a lazy player like Orange Cat, who doesn't have the intention to spend all his gaming time on territory management and development; the ready-made 1,200 acres of land plus a bunch of NPC minions are enough to make him happy!
"Brother said I won't eat alone, so I won't eat alone. Mine belongs to the Blood Alliance! Let's go and see what our Blood Alliance's farm looks like! Oh hahahaha!"
The phantom, dancing with joy, took the deed from Coulson and headed straight to the farm with his jealous friends, not even bothering to do the remaining missions of capturing gang members in the city.
Coulson wiped his sweat and continued to receive the next batch of undead.
The second group of important prisoners brought in were naturally Qin Guan's gang.
Qin Guan's Blood Alliance did not have to spend too much effort in deciding the fate of the prisoner Viscount O'Neill... After all, he was just a viscount, and they had captured people before; the only reason players paid more attention to this viscount prisoner was because he was "Lord Coulson's enemy" in the story mission.
"Lahong's gang is too vigilant. Wherever they go, there are a bunch of them. We didn't have a chance to attack." On the way over, Qin Guan complained with a look of disgust, "How come those bastards are so lucky that they can find the lord's mansion immediately after being teleported here."
"Forget it, it's someone else who took advantage of me." Give Me Medicine said casually, "There's no way to explain luck. That officer boss just happened to be picked up by a small blood alliance of less than a hundred people. Who can I complain to?"
When this was mentioned, Qin Guan became even angrier… Previously, he had held his nose and cooperated with Lahong to form a large battlefield group, and defeated the strongest elite monster army head-on. As a result, when they were besieging the final BOSS, the BOSS climbed over the wall and escaped, and was taken advantage of by a small blood alliance who did not join the large group.
Qin Guan, who was even more unhappy, carried the zombie-like Viscount O'Neill to Coulson, who had the title of the new lord on his head, to hand in the task, and received several hundred points of Adler Territory reputation and game coins, as well as... a single-family house in the South City area of the O'Neill family, which was an extra reward from Coulson "out of his own pocket".
After all, he is his archenemy, so Coulson has to show some respect...and the least valuable property of the O'Neal family is obviously not of the same level as the least valuable property of the Ezekiel family.
"What the hell?! Is there an unexpected surprise?"
Qin Guan and others were also very satisfied with this reward.
After all, it is a private property in the city and can be used as a Blood Alliance base; even if the place is not big and is far inferior to the rewards from Brother Lahong, it is better than nothing.
"This NPC is much more sensible than Rex! That poor bastard is so stingy!"
Qin Guan happily gave a thumbs up to the newly appointed NPC overlord, and then happily took his friends to take over the new map stronghold of his own blood alliance.
Coulson subtly discovered that these undead had similar obsessions with land and real estate as living people. When the players who captured the Red Flame Snake officer and the garrison major brought the prisoners over to settle the rewards, he awarded them more calmly.
The two officers each earned a piece of wasteland in the mountains for the lucky player who caught them - more than 50 kilometers away from the city, it was once the site of the O'Neill family's private coal mine. After decades of mining, the land was left idle after all the coal was mined.
This sloping land in the middle of a barren mountain, with a dilapidated road and difficult transportation, would definitely lose money even if it was developed into a logging site. It was the kind of land that no one would be interested in even if it was put on the market at a loss... It was quite useful to use it to get rid of the undead; if two hundred acres were allocated, one hundred acres would be exchanged for an officer, and the undead would happily hand over the captives in their hands...
"The Tarantan Undead are really our good friends!!" Coulson O'Neill, who solved the reward problem easily, said excitedly to his cousin China.
If it was someone else who helped him deal with such a difficult enemy and captured such a senior enemy officer alive, it would be unreasonable not to give him a lordship!
If you dare to send people away with a wasteland, it would be a light punishment to rebel on the spot!
The players who had exchanged the barren mountains and wilderness were also very happy. They gave thumbs up to the new NPC lord and stepped on the lord of Innadri: "Rex, you poor bastard, why don't you learn from him!"
For ordinary people, the desolate mountains and wilderness more than 50 kilometers away from the urban area with a large part of the mountain road inside is not a problem at all for players.
If you gain friendly players in the Undead Chamber of Commerce reputation and own private land, you can apply for a private teleportation point (only players in the same blood alliance or who have joined a team can activate the teleportation)!
The only price is to provide the materials yourself.
The two players of the small blood alliance who captured the officer cleverly let someone with a good reputation in the blood alliance take the ownership of the land. Then all members worked together to collect materials and returned to the Innadeli Chamber of Commerce base to exchange for a teleportation array. That night, they happily carried the teleportation array to their own private land...
That’s right. The iron plate teleportation array that the Odysseus family had to spend a lot of money to buy can be obtained at a “friendly price” among players... Anyway, the magic consumables are paid by the players themselves , so Yang Qiu doesn’t need to be too stubborn about this.
So… while most players were still working hard to search the city for remnants of gang members, the Lahong Blood Alliance that got the big farm and the two small blood alliances that got the barren mountain land, posted on the forum one after another, showing off their battle results and recruiting life-style players.
Half of the land in the large farm that Huanling got was fallow, and this extensive use of the land...even Huanling, a rich second-generation who had never farmed in his life, couldn't stand it.
Anyway, the farm has tools, seeds, warehouses, water sources, and even NPC employees, so it can be used to recruit a group of players who like to play farming .
The two small blood alliances that got the wasteland already have quite a few living players, but with such a small number of them, they can't make full use of the hundred acres of land at all - you have to know that one acre of land is more than 600 square meters, and three acres of land is enough for players practicing herbalism and alchemy, so one acre is more than enough for several people.
In addition to recruiting people, these two small blood alliances also rent out their own blood alliance land... It can be said that they are very business-minded.
I took some time to log off and look at Qin Guan on the forum. The joy of having just earned a base for his blood alliance was severely dampened. He was worried about the gains and losses for a long time...
The players were barely happy, but the feelings of the natives of Dutata City were indescribable.
Residents of Nancheng District and Port District spent most of the night in fear...Those whose homes face the street could still hear the sound of "clack, clack" footsteps running past their doors in the early hours of the morning.
After finally waiting until dawn, countless residents only dared to approach the window when they saw the sun rising. They carefully opened the curtains and looked out at the street.
The streets looked calm, no different than usual.
No... there is still a difference. At this time of day, you would occasionally see drunks sleeping on the roadside who did not return home at night. But today, in the entire city of Dutata, it is estimated that you would not be able to find a few drunks even if you searched the entire city.
Some brave residents mustered up their courage, picked up mops, brooms, shovels and other items that could barely serve as weapons, and bravely walked out of their homes.
The streets and alleys were still very quiet, except for some buildings near the roadside, where the walls or eaves seemed to have some scratches; the roofs of some houses seemed to have been stepped on by larger animals, and some tiles were flipped up.
The residents stood at their doorsteps and looked around for a long time. Seeing that there was indeed no visible danger, they plucked up the courage to ask each other and their neighbors about the situation.
"What I heard yesterday seems to be true. Things have really changed in the Central City. I heard that the garrison troops and the Earl's army entered the Central City and have not come out since..."
"I saw those undeads catching gang members everywhere. When did they capture the central city?"
"Are you stupid? The Midtown area wasn't in chaos, so how could those gang members be arrested?"
"Shh... don't talk nonsense."
"Will there be no more gang members here in the future?"
"Hey, how can that be possible? Just wait and see, it won't be long before those people wearing leather shoes are everywhere on the streets again..."
Most of the residents in the outer city do not have radios, and cannot listen to the announcement from the Dutata City Radio Station last night like the middle-class residents in the central city, informing the citizens of the defeat of the Ezekiel family and the fact that the new lord Coulson O'Neill successfully took revenge and took over the Adler territory.
On the first day after the change of lord, most residents in the outer city could only rely on word of mouth to understand each other.
The only thing to be thankful for is that the Tarantan ghosts that appeared in the outer city at dusk last night and hunted down gang members did not attack ordinary residents or break into residents' homes to rob. In addition, the gang members active in the city have been being captured and suppressed since the situation in the central city was quickly brought under control. They have no time to take advantage of the situation to rob and disturb public order, so the residents' emotions are relatively stable.
Of course, the fact that there were over a hundred people of all kinds and shapes, and the absence of gang members did not mean that there would be no one causing trouble; just after eight o'clock in the morning, several inexplicable rumors spread in the city.
"I'm telling the truth! The port area is full of blood and the sewers are full of corpses! It's so horrible!"
In Liujiao Alley in South City District, a man stood on a stone platform where he usually placed fruits, and shouted at the neighbors who came out of their homes to inquire about the news: "Hurry up and pack up and run away. The Central City District is finished, the Port District is finished, and the next one will be our South City! Those undead will not let us go!"
An apprentice blacksmith who was about to go to the work site to check the situation could not help but shout out: "The dead also passed by here yesterday. I was upstairs and saw them walking along this street. Why didn't I see them killing people indiscriminately?"
"You didn't see it, but they just didn't kill people in crowded places! If you don't believe me, go to the port area and take a look. The entire Garden Street has been blocked off. There are just too many bodies to hide!" The man standing on the stone platform said in horror, "The bodies of those killed on Iron Nail Street were dragged to Garden Street!"
The crowd was in uproar...
The locals are well aware of the reputation of Garden Street, that is a place where people are eaten without leaving any bones; but to say that all the people on this street were slaughtered by the undead is also an extremely horrifying thing. After all, humans are creatures that will instinctively hurt their own kind.
When some of the affected people were thinking of packing up and hiding in the countryside for a while, several men suddenly rushed out from the crowd, grabbed the rumormonger standing on the stone platform and pinned him down on the spot.
"Don't panic, everyone. We are from the city hall." As the crowd screamed and retreated, one of them took off his cap to let people see his face clearly. "I am Agent Pearson Stanford, from Dutata City. Some of you may know me."
Someone among the residents of Six Corners Alley recognized Agent Stanford and quickly helped to prove his point: "I've seen you, Agent. You were in the newspapers during the Garden Street murder case a few years ago."
"Yes, I investigated that case." Agent Stanford breathed a sigh of relief. Someone recognized him, and things became simple. "I participated in the entire operation to seal off Garden Street yesterday. This person is lying. There are no bodies on Garden Street. There are only poor people who were rescued by the City Hall and controlled by gangsters."
After briefly explaining the situation, Stanford turned to look at the controlled rumormonger and sternly shouted: "You only have one chance to explain the motives of your actions. If you cannot give a reasonable explanation, you will be charged with the serious crime of disrupting public order and receive the most severe punishment!"
The man who was pinned down screamed like a pig being slaughtered: "No, no, no! I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean it! I just heard that Coulson really became a lord. I had a conflict with his mother before, and I was worried that he would cause trouble for me, so I wanted to trick some people into moving away quickly and make them think that I had moved away too, and that they would stop looking for me!"
The crowd was in uproar again...
"Mr. Coulson doesn't have time to deal with a villain like you!" Stanford was so angry that his facial features were distorted.
Following behind that group of energetic undead, cleaning up the battlefield and taking over the prisoners, he finally made it to dawn and thought he could have a rest. However, because of the rumors spreading everywhere, he was sent out to investigate the source of the rumors. As a result, he caught some incomprehensible guys, so Stanford was naturally in a bad mood.
Stanford was so angry that he had the man paraded through the streets, and he continued to investigate in the next district. Not long after, he caught another scoundrel who was usually ignored and looked down upon by gang members. He was just trying to attract attention by making up rumors ...
With red eyes, Stanford forced himself to continue working. Before noon, he had arrested several gossipy women and men, and even caught a thief who had sneaked into a neighbor's house and stolen while the city was being hunted by the undead last night...
"Can't these guys just live a peaceful life?" Stanford cursed Patton in a way that he would agree with, and continued to carry out his mission miserably.
The new Duta Town Hall was so busy that no one had a chance to sleep, and the many foreign merchants and tourists who happened to watch this outrageous battle to capture the city had no time to rest either.
Outsiders living in the central city rushed to the post office to send out first-hand information about the replacement of Lord Adler; wealthy businessmen went directly to the Bounty Hunter Association and passed the news on through bird messengers and the Bounty Association's telegraph station.
In the city of Dutata, the noble families who were lucky enough to escape the attack were not idle either. Countless letters and telegrams requesting royal intervention or hoping that other Rhine nobles would intervene in the matter flew out of the Adler Territory like snowflakes.
On the afternoon of the second day after the change of ownership of Adler Territory, the capital of the Rhine Kingdom, which was adjacent to Adler Territory and separated from it by only the Barcelo River, received the news.
The King of the Rhine, who had been suspicious of the close relationship between the Odysseus family and Innadri not long ago, received the shocking news that Coulson O'Neill had borrowed the undead to kill the Ezekiel family and take power before he received Coulson O'Neill's letter of request for merit.
"—this idiot! Pig!"
The King of the Rhine lost his composure and started cursing on the spot.
The Kingdom of the Rhine has six territories but only five earls.
The Bartles family has been licking the royal family for hundreds of years and almost licked the royal family's ass until it was patinated, but they still cannot get the title of earl. It's not because their licking posture is wrong, but because the royal family does not want to see another earl in the country.
The relationship between the great nobles and the royal family has always been like this. If the royal family does not have absolute authority over the great nobles, the great nobles will in turn influence the royal family.
The reason is... the Rhine Kingdom imitated the constitutional system of the Kenyan Empire four hundred years ago in order to keep up with the times.
Well, it is slightly different from the constitutional monarchy on Earth. After all, even the Kenyan Empire would not be willing to give up the absolute authority of the emperor... It is just that on the basis of the royal family (emperor) ruling the country, the status of the civil service group is slightly improved, so that the civil service group can form a certain check and balance on the royal family (emperor) according to the constitution, so as to reduce the negative impact on the country after the emergence of a tyrant in the royal family.
After all, the country is the property of the royal family. Naturally, the royal family hopes that the throne can be passed down to future generations endlessly. It is not too unbearable to endure the meddling of the civil service group.
What really makes the royal families of the kingdoms and principalities in the Napalm continent that follow the Kenyan Empire uncomfortable is that the civil service groups in almost all countries are monopolized by the nobles of their own country; the will of the civil service group is basically the will of the aristocratic group.
The Rhine royal family has been exhausted from all the games with the five noble families over the years, so how could they possibly support another Bartles family?
The Bartles family, who were born as bandits, were replaced by a wild boy who was born as an illegitimate child. For the King of the Rhine, although he was disgusted by the nightmare butcher behind this wild boy, it was not unbearable to pinch his nose.
Phoenix of Odysseus had been flirting with Nightmare Butcher behind that wild boy, and there were even rumors of a marriage proposal. Although news later leaked that Nightmare Butcher had been rejected by Phoenix, it still disgusted the king - you are an evil black magician, why don't you do what you should do and fight the Church of the Blazing Sun, and come here to flirt with a nobleman? !
His Majesty the King is not stupid enough to be like those small and medium nobles who only recognize the young boy who was pushed out to be a puppet lord. He knows better than anyone that Charlie Rex, that wild boy, is not worth mentioning at all. The one who really needs to be wary of is the Nightmare Butcher behind him.
And now, the Nightmare Butcher has extended his hand to Adler County, which is only separated from the royal capital by a river. Two-sixths of the kingdom's territory has fallen into the hands of this evil black magician!
Compared with this kind of bad behavior, flirting with the Odysseus family is nothing!
"In one day! In one day, a city that had been run for hundreds of years was taken down and I became a prisoner! Even if a wild boar was put in Lord Adler's position, it would be better than the idiot from Ezekiel's family!"
The furious King of the Rhine roared angrily in the empty palace hall.
