Volume 2: Empire Chapter 75: Western Territory Nobles
While Luke, Agatha and Alex were discussing how to start this mission, in some remote corners of Crescent City, hawks were flying into the sky.
Then flew towards the west.
The news that the imperial delegation had arrived in the Western Territory spread quickly throughout the Western Territory on the wings of a carrier eagle.
One of the many westward-bound eagles flew across the desert, past the Jiaomu camp, and then over the mountains into the Harmutu Basin. The basin's terrain easily retains water, and it is nourished by inland rivers and lakes. Looking down from the air, it is a large oasis.
The oasis is dotted with villages of varying sizes, cultivated farmland, grazing livestock, and camel caravans carrying goods along trampled paths. There are also castles standing in strategic locations, with family flags flying at the top of the towers.
The oasis was divided by yellow sand and streams, forming a natural dividing line between the noble territories. The banks of the streams were patrolled by fully armed soldiers. The precious water source was the private property of the lord, and stealing water here was a serious crime punishable by hanging.
The eagle continued to fly westward, and the stream became slightly wider. The abundant water not only nurtured more lush grasslands, but also sparse trees. However, the sky was still filled with dust, and people who went out had to wrap themselves up tightly.
Moving forward, a rammed earth wall appeared on the empty land ahead. Inside the wall was a prosperous city rarely seen in the Western Territory.
Prosperity is only relative.
Most of the buildings in the city are low rammed earth houses, covered with blue and white striped tarpaulins, which can provide shade and cool down, as well as collect rainwater on rainy days.
The exterior decorations of slightly taller houses are very exquisite. Wood and wooden crafts are luxuries that show one’s status in the desert, and a layer of gold powder adds to the sense of wealth.
In the middle of the city was a garden with a large number of transplanted trees, cultivated flower beds, and various birds and small animals living there. There were also slaves watering the plants. They carried wooden buckets filled with water and used wooden spoons to scoop water to water the roots of the plants , counting silently in their mouths. If they watered one spoonful more or less, they would be punished.
In the middle of the garden is an artificial lake. In the middle of the clear lake is a small island. On the island is a castle. A bridge connects the castle and the garden outside.
The eagle landed on a tall tower in the castle. The falconer waiting there took out a scroll of note from the wooden cylinder in the eagle's claws, and immediately ran down from the tower after confirming the sealed information.
In the attic on the top floor of the middle building of the castle, a tall and burly man looked out through the open window. The lush garden and the sandy yellow city presented a very sharp contrast.
"Count Urd, you are probably the only one in the entire Western Territory who has the financial resources to maintain such a large lake and garden. Especially those tall trees consume a lot of water."
The man turned around and revealed obvious features of a barbarian. If Viscount Isklan were here, he would be able to tell his identity at a glance.
Erguya once went to Nutao City as the special envoy of the Duke of Celtic.
Count Urd, whose beard and hair were already gray, stood beside Erguya. He was wearing the traditional clothing of the Western Desert Nobles. The main colors of blue and white were the colors of the Urd family.
Earl Urd was very respectful to the Celtic Duke’s envoy: “In the desert of the west, ordinary rich people use wood to show their wealth, and richer rich people use water to show their wealth.
The more wealth a place has, the more attractive it is to wealth!
The annual harvest festival will be held soon, and many lords and chiefs are looking forward to visiting here."
Erguya was not interested in hearing Count Urd show off his wealth. He said directly: "My Lord Count, you already know the purpose of my visit. My Lord Duke was persecuted by Augustine, and the Barbarian Legion is fighting with the main empire legion in the Tedega Hills.
But this is not just a war for my Lord Duke. Augustine's goal is to eradicate the Brotherhood of the Blade, which is a check on the imperial power. Augustine has betrayed the covenant of his ancestors. He turned the noble title of nobility into a commodity for money. As a member of the Brotherhood of the Blade, it is time to fulfill your responsibility. "
Earl Urd turned around and sat down on a chair, then said awkwardly: "Baron Erguya, I know that what you said is true. After the war started, I also donated several considerable sums of money to Tedega Hill.
As for your request that I send troops to attack Crescent Oasis...
You know the situation in the West, everyone is guarding their own oasis, and everyone is trying to seize other people's oases. I personally don't have the ability to attack the Crescent Oasis, and even if I send out my army, someone will definitely attack me.
I'm sorry, please apologize to the Duke of Celtic for me, and you can take away a donation from me."
Before coming to see Earl Urd, Erguya had already visited several nobles. Their answers were exactly the same as Earl Urd's, all of them were concerned about their own safety.
The noble territories in the western part of the empire were very fragmented. Those who could support three or four thousand soldiers were considered great nobles, and those who only had a dozen or dozens of soldiers were not counted. But no matter whether they were great nobles or small nobles, they all faced great pressure to survive here.
Where there is no order, fists and swords are the order.
All the nobles were trapped in their own piece of land. The scarce resources made them only able to protect themselves and they did not have much spare energy for attack.
Letting Urd lead his troops alone to attack the Crescent Oasis would be tantamount to seeking death.
"What Tedejia Hill lacks is not money, but allies to fight against traitors together." Erguya sat next to Earl Urd and persuaded him, "The Blade Brotherhood is a community of interests. If Tedejia Hill is captured by Augustine, he will definitely send his army to invade the West next.
Can you stop the joint attack of the Western and Northern Legions of the Empire?"
Count Urd knew that Argu was right.
It has been some time since the Empire's second prince, Alec, arrived at the Crescent Oasis. He came to the Western Territory in the name of suppressing bandits, but is it necessary to send a prince to suppress bandits?
The spy stationed in Crescent Oasis reported to Alex that he had integrated the Empire's military forces in the west and reorganized them into the Empire's Western Legion. Now, there are trains transporting military supplies into Crescent Oasis every day, and the strength of the Empire's Western Legion is growing stronger day by day.
The pressure on the nobles in the Western Territory is also increasing.
It can be predicted that once the Empire has freed up its hands in the Tedega Hills, the good days of the Western Territory nobles will be over.
“Baron Erguya, I know what I should do as a member of the Blade Brotherhood, but… I can’t do it alone.
I can help you invite powerful nobles to come here for this harvest festival. As long as you can convince them to send troops, I will definitely send troops to fulfill the power and responsibility given to me by my ancestors."
"Okay, as long as they come, I will be the one to convince them!"
Erguya was happy to be able to take this step.
A harvest festival would not attract those powerful nobles to attend in person, but with the invitation from Earl Urd and Duke Celt, they should give this face.
It would definitely be more efficient to gather all the great nobles together for a talk than to visit and persuade them one by one.
At this time, the falconer came in with a note: "Master, urgent information has been received from Crescent City."
“Bring it here!”
Count Urd took the rolled-up note from the falconer, and after confirming that the seal had not been opened, he unsealed it and unfolded the note.
After seeing the contents of the note, Urd couldn't help but frown.
Erguya immediately asked: "What happened in Xinyue City?"
Earl Urd handed the note to Erguya and said, "The Empire has sent an envoy to the Western Territory, and they have arrived in Crescent City. The chief envoy of the envoy is Princess Agatha of the Empire, and the deputy envoy is Viscount Meteorite, the governor of Raging Waves City.
This is a heavyweight delegation. Emperor Augustine really values us nobles from the Western Territory too much."
Erguya listened to what Count Urd said and immediately looked at the contents of the note.
A few days ago, unconfirmed news came out from Crescent City, saying that the Empire might send people to participate in the Harvest Festival in the near future.
According to the current situation of the empire, it is normal to send people to participate in the Harvest Festival to appease the lords of the Western Territory.
But they never expected that the specifications of the delegation sent by the empire this time would be so high.
The chief envoy was the only princess canonized in the empire.
The deputy envoy is Meteorite, the governor of Nutao City who controls the economic lifeline of the empire.
It can be said that the specifications of this delegation have been maxed out, which caused Count Urd, who had just discussed sending troops to fight the "traitors", to suddenly change his tone and call out Augustine the Great.
Full of honor and pride.
It also gave Erguya a full sense of crisis.
He immediately said to Count Urd: "My Lord, there is one thing you must pay attention to. Agatha manages the Imperial Secret Service, and Meteor is also a senior spy trained by the Imperial Secret Service. They are best at assassination and subversion.
You must have heard some rumors about how they snatched the City of Raging Waves from the Cross Society."
Earl Urd smiled and replied, "Don't worry, I am just happy to receive such a grand reception. I know that if it weren't for your arrival, the princess would never have come to the West to eat sand.
I will continue to summon the great nobles to participate in the Harvest Festival. If you can convince us to send troops, capturing Agatha and Meteor will definitely be a fatal blow to the empire."
Erguya couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Yes, if Agatha and Meteorite are captured, the imperial court will surely be in chaos!"
While Erguya was fantasizing about persuading the Western Territory nobles to capture Agatha and Meteorite and then gathering a large army to attack Crescent Oasis, Meteorite was receiving batches of visitors in Crescent City.
I wanted to rest, but there was no time at all.
Who made him the biggest god of wealth in the empire now? Moreover, after the news of the economic boom in Nutao City spread to the western border, people made up even more mysterious stories.
Now that the Governor of Nutao City, Meteorite, has come to the Western Territory as a deputy envoy, those who want to establish a relationship with him have tried their best to use their connections to get an audience with Governor Meteorite.
After Luke realized that too many people wanted to meet him, he simply held a banquet at the largest hotel in Crescent City in the evening and invited all the big businessmen in Crescent City.
Drinking and making promises made everyone happy, as if Crescent City would soon become the center of the entire western border of the empire like Raging Waves City.
The land price in Crescent Oasis doubled overnight.
Now, it can be said that every word Luke speaks is valuable, and a casual word he says may affect the rise and fall of a place's economy.
The next day, the delegation left Crescent City and headed towards the Harmutu Basin.
In order to demonstrate the military power of the empire, the second prince, Alex, specially assigned the most elite cavalry to Agatha. Under the blazing sun, the armor of the fully armored cavalry reflected a dazzling light. The knights in the team held high the large royal emblem, the flag of the royal princess, the flag of the Western Legion of the Empire, the flag of the Viscount, the emblem of the City of Raging Waves...
The flags are flying and the military power is mighty.
There were an endless stream of camels, horses, pack animals and vehicles in the team. Not only the envoys, troops and laborers were heading to the Harmutu Basin, but many merchants and civilians from Crescent City followed the team.
During the Harvest Festival, sand bandits are rampant, and traveling with the army is definitely safer than traveling alone.
At this point, the members of the delegation left the protection of the empire and officially set out on their journey to the Western Territory. They didn't know what was waiting for them ahead, nor did they know what they would bring to this isolated Western Territory.
All the chess players entered the game to see who would win the final game.
While Luke rode a camel and followed the team through the desert, Qingkong and his team crossed the Halmutu Basin after a week of travel. The camel team climbed a sand dune, and Kelhain jumped on the camel's back, holding the monocular steadily and looking west.
"Ms. Qingkong, this alchemical tool you gave me is really amazing. It makes things that are so far away seem to be right in front of me. This... is such a precious thing, are you really giving it to me?"
Qingkong took out a water bottle, opened his mask and drank a sip of water, then said to Kalhain, "I told you that the telescope is not an alchemical tool and is not very valuable in the eastern part of the empire. The western border is too isolated and the supplies are too poor. We have no idea what is happening outside."
Jennifer said, "If I hadn't come here in person, I really couldn't imagine that the Western Territory would be like this. This place is just like the ancient times described in history textbooks, but it is indeed in the same era as where we live."
Kelhain sat back on the camel, carefully put away the telescope, and said cheerfully: "I have heard many travelers talk about the east of the empire. It is a different world compared to here. But the desert makes it difficult for things from outside to come in. Even airships are afraid of the unpredictable weather here.
When I save up some money, I will leave here and go out to see what the world is like. I will definitely go to Saint Lun City to find Miss Qingkong. "
Qingkong put away the kettle and looked into the distance through the yellow sand: "It's not the desert that blocks the outside things from coming in, it's the human heart and the greed for power.
Are we approaching the Steppes of the Ancients?"
Kelhain said, "It's almost there. I've seen the grassland. We will definitely be able to enter the grassland before dark."
Kelhain urged the camel forward along the sand dunes.
