Chapter 536: Moonlight, solo, the last swindle, about to set off

Moonlight leaked through the intertwined branches of the ash trees, spreading tiny silver spots in the forest. The beech trees rustled as the wind blew past, and the golden and red dead leaves swirled and fell, a few of which were stuck on the bluestone moss, like butterflies nailed by the night dew. In the distance, there was the sound of pine needles falling into the stream, startling the red deer chewing acorns and suddenly looking up, with two cold moons reflected in their amber pupils.

Lisa didn’t waste any time and quickly finished her bath.

Like a lotus emerging from clear water.

Under the moon, autumn wind, and beauty.

Lysa had always been beautiful, but Rand had not often been able to focus on that beauty.

Maybe her other attributes account for too much.

Once, Lysa came out of the bath slowly, allowing Rand to see some details of her body.

However, this is not too surprising. After all, although Rand had not been able to see the details in the past, they were already too familiar with each other after getting along with each other.

It was so familiar that Rand even knew the arc that would sink in every area of ​​Lysa’s body when whipped.

The moonlight shines.

Lysa put her clothes back on.

It’s not the pure white dress from before.

Instead, it is a gorgeous costume woven from gold and red leaves.

Lysa stepped barefoot on the waves of the stream.

Lysa pulled the strings from the branches of the tree, and buds grew in her hands and became harps.

“Let me perform some elves’ music for you.” Lisa said softly under the moonlight.

Then his white fingers stroked the strings.

As melodious as the gurgling of a stream or as gentle as the sound of a piano in the breeze, it began to permeate the sky.

The moon moved over the golden treetops, which were also coated with silver light because of the moonlight, and the fallen leaves on the ground seemed to come alive and flutter.

Everything seemed like a dream.

At least at this moment, everything seems so dreamy and not like the mortal world.

……

The next morning, Rand went to work as usual.

Last night’s outing with Lysa really took a lot of time.

Rand’s body would not get tired, and his will even had a strange sign of N, but his spirit would still be tired.

So Rand got up a little late today.

Lisa seemed to be in good spirits. It seemed that traveling in the woods was a great way to relax her.

Today’s secretary is Olenna again.

Rand began to inspect the work.

Rand’s leader in his previous life liked to inspect with his hands behind his back, but Rand didn’t like that very much.

Walking with hands behind the back is too dangerous. It is inconvenient to draw weapons or run.

This kind of action makes it impossible to respond immediately when encountering danger.

Now Rand has obtained a lot of hidden population.

Just like the ones in front of us.

Compared with the captured soldiers, these people were much thinner, and some were swollen, looking malnourished.

Their hair was messy and they smelled bad. Rand could even occasionally see bugs dancing in their hair. He didn’t know if they were fleas or something else.

Some of these people are bandits, some are refugees from the mountains, and some are cultists.

But they all have one very obvious thing in common, which is that they are definitely not living a good life.

In this world, only nobles live relatively well.

In theory, the villagers in the village would be protected by the nobles and then pay taxes to these nobles.

No matter what the actual situation is, the villagers can at least barely survive in the village.

In other words, their lives are slightly better than those who are forced to flee to the mountains.

There is no cultivated farmland in the mountains and forests, which means it is impossible to obtain food from the land in a stable manner.

The mountains and forests in this world are also very dangerous. There are monsters, wild beasts, and even mosquitoes can become a source of death.

Perhaps if Rand had not appeared in the cult den in Crescent Territory in the beginning, many of the cultists who were forced to join would have become like the people before us.

Of course, it is also possible that they will be directly wiped out by a passing elf, a passing mage and swift swordsman, a passing assassin or a passing paladin.

Rand walked up to these hidden people and said, “I am Rand Nicholas. You may not have heard of my name, but it doesn’t matter. At least I will provide you with jobs this year so that you won’t starve or freeze to death this winter. Okay, just follow my instructions for the rest.”

Rand’s name is not important, as long as these hidden populations realize that Rand is a nobleman, as for the others, as long as they have food to eat and a house to live in, they will naturally work.

Even if they don’t want to work, the whip will make them work.

But not everyone likes whips as rewards.

After finishing everything, Rand said to Olenna, “Are those people coming today?”

“Yes,” Olenna replied.

Today, some small and medium-sized nobles from the Kingdom of Bollen and around Rand will come to visit.

They came here to invest and form alliances.

Some small and medium-sized nobles have already realized what has happened. What is more worrying is the inequality rather than the scarcity of wealth.

The lords of these small and medium-sized nobles have already made their attitude clear and will get some soldiers and their armor back for them.

Rand has also agreed to return some of the soldiers and their armor and weapons in exchange for some of the villagers, especially the women.

However, the negotiations only stipulated the amount that Rand had to return and the exchange ratio between villagers and soldiers.

But which soldiers and knights to return, which small and medium-sized noble soldiers to return, and what the return ratio should be, all of these were decided by Rand.

The military forces of small and medium nobles are very weak. The insignificant difference in military strength for Rand can decide the outcome of the battle for small and medium nobles.

Moreover, there may be contradictions and conflicts among the small and medium-sized nobles in the Kingdom of Borun.

And if Rand returned some of the small and medium noble soldiers but not others.

The balance between small and medium nobles will be broken.

The balance between them was fragile, and some of the conflicts between them would not be noticed by their feudal lords. At least it was obviously impossible to ask the feudal lords to come again to administer justice and let Rand return an equal proportion of soldiers and knights to all small and medium nobles.

Not to mention that some of the small and medium-sized nobles have already realized that the battle of the Bolun Kingdom’s invincible fleet attacking Crescent Harbor may not have been a great victory as advertised.

These small and medium-sized nobles were led to a secret room pre-arranged by Rand.

Rand sat on the main seat, looking at the small nobles of the Bolen Kingdom who were hiding their faces: “I will not give you actual military support, but most of the returned troops will belong to you.”

These minor nobles in the Kingdom of Bolun nodded silently.

Rand continued: “However, this benefit will not be given for free.”

Of course, these minor nobles in the Kingdom of Bollen knew this.

“After that, you will plunder other small and medium-sized nobles, and I will get half of the benefits of the plunder.” Rand said coldly.

“Is this acceptable to you?” Rand asked.

These minor nobles in the Kingdom of Bollen nodded silently again.

Then the meeting is over and you can leave.

The meeting ended without any nonsense. As for the arrangements of other details, the people below would naturally coordinate with them.

This is not a case of killing three with two peaches, it is simply a destruction of balance and control of interests.

Rand didn’t have to pay anything for it, because it was going to return the soldiers anyway, and due to the content of the previous negotiations, it could also get a lot of ordinary people by returning the soldiers. Strictly speaking, it was a transaction rather than a return.

Rand simply controlled the contents of the return.

You can change a lot of things, such as balance.

And such a slight control of the balance can bring a lot of benefits to Rand. This not only destroys the unity among the surrounding small and medium nobles, but also allows Rand to establish some friendly relations with some small and medium nobles with special ideas to a certain extent.

Then these neighbors of Rand will no longer be a united front, and the trouble they can cause to Rand will be much smaller.

Unfortunately, due to the low level of these small and medium nobles, the effect of this strategy is not so decisive.

After all, even if they all united, they still couldn’t defeat Rand.

Therefore, this strategy can only make the future development of the Dukedom of the Moon more comfortable. After all, Rand is about to leave. If Taner is asked to handle it, many things may not be as convenient as they were for Rand.

As for the interests generated from the struggles and plundering between these small and medium-sized nobles, they are relatively trivial.

Rand has decided to slowly develop himself in the soil of the Kingdom of Bolen, so if he can make his life more comfortable, he must do so.

Now that Rand is a true Grand Duke, many strategies that could not be implemented before or goals that required all his efforts to achieve are now relatively easy. However, his enemies are becoming more and more troublesome.

From the original Baron Huyuan, to the later Count Flying Fox, Countess Snow Fox, and now, the Kingdom of Borun, the King of Blue, the Orcs, and Grand Duke Vladimir.

Looking back, it has been a very difficult road.

That being said, the collection of tips and tricks that I gave to Taner back then could now have some additional content.

Back then, Rand, as a new time traveler, knew almost nothing about military affairs, and Taner probably didn’t understand much either.

Then Rand and Tanel discussed with each other, and later Fenris joined in, and they came up with the current compulsory courses one, two and three in the study of war.

Now Rand can confidently call himself someone who is slightly proficient in military affairs.

Looking back, it’s really sad.

……

After the winter came this year, Rand received news from the White King again.

It is expected that Grand Duke Vladimir will soon take action, and the White King Borlan himself has also actively begun to take action, trying to contain the orcs, vampires and Grand Duke Vladimir.

But the White King still invited Rand to come to the North to assist her if possible.

The White King is very confident in her own strength and the strength of the White Kingdom, but at least she does not think that Rand’s help is useless.

At least at the time, during the first orc purgatory invasion, if it weren’t for Rand, she might not have been able to defend the White Kingdom on her own under the attack of the orcs and the Ice Phoenix.

This time was no exception. The enemy was not a king, but a genuine demigod, although that demigod was far away in purgatory and must be extremely weak.

But he is a demigod after all.

The White King is still confident that she can defeat the danger, but with Rand’s help, the losses will definitely be reduced. Besides, she and Rand haven’t seen each other for a long time, so it would be nice to meet each other.

Normally, if there is no business, Rand also has a lot of work to do, and she, the White King, cannot leave the country at will, so a meeting is a very precious thing.

The White King had long admitted that she had feelings for Rand. Although she had no intention of taking the relationship any further, she would be happy to meet Rand.

The White King does not want his personal feelings to affect the development of the White Kingdom or the Dukedom of the Moon.

After all, these are the foundations on which both sides depend for survival.

The White King is definitely not the kind of person who would ignore the reality. Acting on emotion will only lead to tragedy, and the White King is very clear about this.

However, Rand’s assistance was needed this time. If Rand did not come, there might be many uncertainties in the fight against Grand Duke Vladimir, so she invited Rand as a matter of course.

“Then let’s set off.” Rand was now wearing a mink coat. It was time to completely destroy Grand Duke Vladimir’s conspiracy.

After discussion, they found that many affairs in the territory needed to be dealt with, and the Kingdom of Bollen was not very stable. It seemed that the King of Bollen was going to pass the throne to his eldest son.

The new king may take some unexpected actions after ascending the throne, so we need to pay attention and be cautious.

So this time, only his wife Ellie will accompany Rand to the North.

The rest performed their respective duties in the territory, developing and consolidating.

Today, the cold winter has lasted for a while, so it snowed in the Kingdom of Bolun.

However, the road had been cleared, and the carriage tracks were running on the road, leaving regular ruts.

In the carriage, a small gray-black stove provided some warmth.

This is also a small invention of the alchemy workshop. It will not produce too much carbon monoxide or other toxic exhaust gas to hinder breathing, nor will it be easy to ignite the surroundings due to the vibration of the carriage, and it can provide some heat.

A magical little stove from Magic Craft.

Ellie, who was dressed elegantly and looked like a matron, leaned half-way on Rand, “I hope it goes better this time.”

Rand nodded.

“Does the letter say anything about the progress of the investigation into the Wisteria Kingdom?” Ellie didn’t read the letter. The last time she read the letter that the White King sent to Rand, she began to doubt her life, so she didn’t read it this time.

“We have basically come to a conclusion. Although the details are still under investigation, there must be some plan.” At this point, Rand smiled and told an interesting story. “Speaking of this, it was a team of adventurers who investigated the intelligence in the Wisteria Kingdom. This team of adventurers started their adventure in the holiday villa. At the beginning, I also awarded them the Adventurer Newcomer Departure Award.”

“That’s a really good thing.” Ellie blinked her ice-blue eyes.

(End of this chapter)